DG Rider
Member: Triple Clutch Club
Lifetime Member
What's the single best ride I've ever been on?
I think for me this would have come in the early 2000s. This time frame represents the last days of the private lands my neighborhood friends and I grew up riding. It was shrinking, and the future was going to be elsewhere. This was in the northwest corner of NC, near the TN and VA borders.
Through a cousins' inlaws, we ended up riding with some groups even further up in that corner of NC, staging in an area known as Horse Creek. The area we typically rode was known as Pond Mountain to the locals. Those of you like @Hondasxs that were somewhat familiar with the short-lived riding area known as Callalantee were essentially riding the TN backside of this area.
Pond mtn...like every thing else, was slowly being sold off, but at that time, it was the go-to riding area for locals. Much like I would imagine the outlaw trails are in WV are now, it was kind of a free for all, and nobody much cared as long as you didn't trash the place.
I don't remember the exact dates, but I did have my new Rubicon that had just come out, and it was deer season. For that reason, we were doing a night ride, so we met at the staging house, and took off into the night.
There was some gravel road riding to get up into Pond, and then the leader proceeded to lead us through all kinds of cool trails, some of which were high pasture lands where you could see the distant lights of small towns. We rode for what seemed like forever, and when we stopped, we usually ran into another group. I specifically recall that one group had come in from the TN side, and yet another we ran into had done the same from VA.
We rode past rock fences, and stopped at an old cemetery said to contain civil war graves.
We were all drinking, for the most part, but not drunk, and everyone was feeling good and having a good time. At some point someone whipped out deer biscuits, and they were just the best tasting thing I could have had at that moment. A festive, party atmosphere on quads, on a fall night, in a beautiful area.
We rolled back in the staging driveway about 1-2 am, having racked up somewhere around 100 miles...a staggering amount for that area at the time. My low fuel light was on...and I'd never seen it before!
I guess I'm an odd bird. I ride alone a lot. I guess i have a somewhat difficult time warming up to strangers, so it can be tough to get me to do group rides. Yet, when someone dragged me kicking and screaming on one, I almost always have a blast. So you'd think I'd do it more?
Truth be told, I went on several rides with this group, and all of them could have qualified as one of the best rides ever. But time and people move on, so pretty soon the rides stopped. But that first ride with them always sticks in my mind, and is probably the best single ride I've ever been on.
I think for me this would have come in the early 2000s. This time frame represents the last days of the private lands my neighborhood friends and I grew up riding. It was shrinking, and the future was going to be elsewhere. This was in the northwest corner of NC, near the TN and VA borders.
Through a cousins' inlaws, we ended up riding with some groups even further up in that corner of NC, staging in an area known as Horse Creek. The area we typically rode was known as Pond Mountain to the locals. Those of you like @Hondasxs that were somewhat familiar with the short-lived riding area known as Callalantee were essentially riding the TN backside of this area.
Pond mtn...like every thing else, was slowly being sold off, but at that time, it was the go-to riding area for locals. Much like I would imagine the outlaw trails are in WV are now, it was kind of a free for all, and nobody much cared as long as you didn't trash the place.
I don't remember the exact dates, but I did have my new Rubicon that had just come out, and it was deer season. For that reason, we were doing a night ride, so we met at the staging house, and took off into the night.
There was some gravel road riding to get up into Pond, and then the leader proceeded to lead us through all kinds of cool trails, some of which were high pasture lands where you could see the distant lights of small towns. We rode for what seemed like forever, and when we stopped, we usually ran into another group. I specifically recall that one group had come in from the TN side, and yet another we ran into had done the same from VA.
We rode past rock fences, and stopped at an old cemetery said to contain civil war graves.
We were all drinking, for the most part, but not drunk, and everyone was feeling good and having a good time. At some point someone whipped out deer biscuits, and they were just the best tasting thing I could have had at that moment. A festive, party atmosphere on quads, on a fall night, in a beautiful area.
We rolled back in the staging driveway about 1-2 am, having racked up somewhere around 100 miles...a staggering amount for that area at the time. My low fuel light was on...and I'd never seen it before!
I guess I'm an odd bird. I ride alone a lot. I guess i have a somewhat difficult time warming up to strangers, so it can be tough to get me to do group rides. Yet, when someone dragged me kicking and screaming on one, I almost always have a blast. So you'd think I'd do it more?
Truth be told, I went on several rides with this group, and all of them could have qualified as one of the best rides ever. But time and people move on, so pretty soon the rides stopped. But that first ride with them always sticks in my mind, and is probably the best single ride I've ever been on.
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