RideForum.NET

Hello,

I haven't been out on the bike in a while so a buddy (John Beckman) and I are heading out on Sundy from Derby. We don't have any plans on where to go but anyone in the area is free to join us. We will leave from the Derby Dillons on Rock road at about 7:30 AM

Hey Slim, wish I could have made the ride w/ you. I was occupied with a major garage sale at our house for the last two days and haven't even been online until this morning!

Catch you next time,
KC

Hey, we ended up going to Kaw Lake, OK and exploring. Spent a little time at the ORV area but the guy I was with is on a KLR 650 and wasn't comfortable in the tight trails so we weren't there long. I can't blame him, it was tight and slimy enough on the DRZ. I'd like to go back there sometime and spend more time riding the trails. Lets try to do that sometime. I'd want to trailer down because I'd put my 14/47 sprockets on for the trails. That and my hind end hurts from the 200mi we put on today. How much closer is it for you to go to Kaw lake instead of Milford? I'm guessing it's not much further for you to go to Milford?

I should also add as part of my ride report that we crossed a really deep water crossing. Probably 3/4 of the way up the tires but I'm not sure. We rode through some open gates, no signs posted about staying out and we ended up on the end of the airport runway near Winfield. We found a perfect dual sport road that paralled the river, had trees arched over the road and had grass growing down the center (those are always the best) About halfway down the road a sign was posted that it was private property. After some discussion and gps checking we decided that it went through and that someone possibly just wanted to keep party goers from tearing up the place and it couldn't possibly be to keep dual sports from dual sporting. We came to a bridge that looked like someone had fabricated it out of scrap metal with a fairly challenging hill right after. After the hill we came to a easy to open road gate and let ourselves out into someones farm yard and headed straight to a more traveled road. I think they were at church. In hindsight it wasn't probably the best idea to continue after the sign. Anyways, good day, got a little wet on the way back near Oxford.

Whoa! You opened the gate and went through the yard?! You got bigger balls than Kyle, Russ, & I! We did that same road, but gave up near the top of that short hill climb when we realized we were in someone's back yard! We figured our engines had already given us away and the shotguns were loaded.

It is a very good road to ride. Like you, we paused at the "Private Property" sign, but (foolishly?) rode on. If my memory serves me, it curves along a river, passes some oil tanks or something. Then it does a short run through a field to that "bridge". One side of the bridge appeared to have fallen a bit, so you had to bump over some dirt to get onto the bridge, then up that hill that appears nobody has been on in a few years...up to the pipe gate.

It was a cool find.

You ended up at the end of a runway?!

Last year, Kyle & I hauled our bikes to that ORV area at Kaw only to discover it was closed due to vandalism. So we went on down to the riding area at Keystone Lake--which was really crowded, but we still had fun. It would be more fun on a Trials bike, though. It's a lot of very difficult stuff and a lot of sand.

Glad you guys got out there today! I enjoyed my ride, but it was only about 80 miles for me.

Yes, that was exactly the road! I used my ex-military skills to quickly and quietly escape and evade detection. That or they were at church. We walked across the bridge and up the hill first to look the situation over. That should have been enough for us to decide to turn around but it was so quiet in the yard we decided we could be outta there in seconds. I rode up first, killed the engine and manned the gate. we were gone in an instant.

Yes we did end up on a runway. We didn't stay long of course but I think that the farmer that was working the fields near the runway left the gates open on the road we were traveling. No signs at all.

The Kaw ORV looked promising and the few trails I rode on were really good even after the heavy rain. I want to go back and spend more time in the future.

I've learned some expensive lessons in my day. One of them is: never ride on what is ambiguously posted as Private Property. I'm not talking about those guys that put up signs on the side of the road that try to intimidate people from travelling on public roads. I'm talking about gates, maybe even open gates, that have a sign. Some day when we drive to Denver I will tell you how I wound up in court, about five times, with an attorney on the clock, and still got cleaned out. Don't ride on what you plausibly believe is Private Property. These people don't have a lot to do. They make a hobby out of calling the Sheriff and going to the courthouse.

You are right. It wasn't a wise move and it could damage all riders reputations. I wouldn't want strangers opening my gates and riding on my land without prior approval but I wasn't thinking that at the time.