Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

wha t should be life-long embarrassment. The proprietor affixed a new door to the o uth o use in time for the dual sport riders, but suggested that no one smoke whi le usin g the facilities. Or so the story goes. After lunch, the tra il spli t up again. The regular, or "easy" ro ute took riders across 10 miles o f two-t rack di rt ro ad; the "advanced " trail led rid ers throu gh a series of tight trails th ro u gh trees so thick tha t it was like ridi ng in a tunnel. The two courses met up again for 30 miles of gravel and back country roads that ended up back in Canaan Vall ey. Saturday's route to taled 190 miles . That even ing, ban jo p ick er Dw ight Diller and h is fell ow musicians enterta in ed th e g ro u p ba ck at Blackwater Lodge with some a u the n tic mountain music and story -telling. Th e Davis Inn also invited rid ers down for live music. That es tab lish me n t is owned by Davis ma yor- e lect Lad Ja sper, a long time friend of area mo torcycl ists. Th e next morning th e group found poker stop num ber four a t Blackwater Fall s. Riders ,we re requi red to wa lk down to the ove rlook of the.falls to earn the che ck. Aft er leaving the park, the rou te he aded tow ards nearby Thomas, where it p icked up an old railroad bed and so me old Fores t Service dirt roads. The advanced course cu t off through an eight-mile loo p down in to the town of Sain t George, and there riders met up with the rest of the pack and head ed to Pa rso ns. Th is was wh ere eve ry o n e found the su p port cr ews from Suzuki, Hond a a n d Ka w a s aki at t h e Big-T Restaurant. The roa d soon jammed up with bikes and traffic, causin g quite a co m mo t io n o n an otherwise ca lm Sunday mo rning. Next was a 2D-mile loop through the Ferno Experime n tal Forest, an isola ted fo res t ge ne ra lly closed to th e public. However, with the help of West Virginia Depa rtment of Hi ghways superviso r Frank Mullenex, a d ua l sport rider himself, the 200 was p ermitted exclusive entry i nt o th e fores t. Mu lle nex ga ine d , 'a cces s fo r everyo ne a fter com bi ng thro ug h old state ma ps and d iscovering the state sti ll owns many short righ t-ofways. (Th e y are kn o wn as "o rp ha n roads" because the sta te no longe r cares for them , ye t they are s till open to th e public). The co m p letion of the rid e took the riders back to the Lod ge, where the last po ker stop a n d lunc h awaited a ll. Sunday'S course - 110 miles in length was less st renuous tha n Saturday'S. "We ' try to end a little earlier on Sunda y s o the r iders can get their awards a nd p rizes and he ad for home before it ge ts too late," sa id Coombs. Da v e Da v id s on of Clarksville, Tenn essee, wa s the w inner of the poker run with four kin gs. Second with a full . ho use was Joe King of Greensburg, Ind iana . Plaques were awarded to those ho lding the 10 best hands. Speci al a wa rd s were given by Kawasaki field technician Greg Quador to Mary Sheppard of New Richmond, O hio, and Jac k Shuffstall of Rochester, New York. "We call them the 'Low-to-No Mainten ance Awards:" joked Quador. It seems that while providing technical ass istance to Sheppard's Kawasaki, Quador was amused at the mi nuscule amount of brake pa d at Mary's dis posal. But nothing cou ld compare to the almos t co mp lete ab sen ce of sprocket teeth on Sheppard's Kawasaki KDX200. After a series of eliminator questions, Robin Fi s ch er of Ci nci nnati, O hio, e merged w ith the Sherlock H olm es Award. The Iro n Butt Award wen t to Charles Ashton of Water ford , Michigan, who rod e his BMW through parts of five sta tes to get to the event, followed the advanced courses througho ut the week- On e of many s tops alon g the two-d ay ride was at the Si nks of Gandy cave. Rid ers cou ld exp lore the cave if th ey da red . Many did. Riders combined efforts to pull out another riders bike after it made an unplanned detour off the side of a mountain. Many of the dual sport riders took a time out to soak in the many views of the Canaan Valley. end, th en g u ided th e Beemer.back to Mich igan. Th at's a roun d trip of more than 1000 miles. The Silver Fox Awa rd went to 67year-old Sherm Cooper of Trenton, New Jersey, wh il e Deb b ie Sisnets k y of Pembroke Pines, Florida, earned the Sports ma nship Award for helping a fello w rider. The Cool Duds Award was giv e n to T im H e a gy of A le xandri a , Virgi nia, who actua lly wore a su it and tie on the trail. The Hard Luck Award was earned by Bobby Moo re of Den ver, North Carolina , an d h is bud d y Tom Tra nso u of Lenoi r, North Ca rolina. On their way to Wild , Wo n d erful We st Vi rg inia, the ir m oto rhome bl ew up, stranding them on th e h ighw ay. TJ1ey unloa d ed th e ir dual s por t b ikes and rod e off in sea rch of help . They fina lly mad e it to Blackw a ter Lodge jus t in time for the ride rs ' mee ting. Finally, the Vintage Bike Award was pres ented to Rob ert Al d re d of Waterford , M ichi g an, who m ad e it through both days of the dual sport ride on a '69 Greeves. Qli 13

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