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Romney Ride - who is really coming?

9K views 36 replies 11 participants last post by  V-Tom 
#1 · (Edited)
Note to moderator: I started a new thread because I lost the ability to update the first post of the original thread. The attendees list was hard to find in the original thread. I wanted to make it easy for people to see who is coming.

It's just a little more than 3 weeks, so time to get a better idea of the headcount. Over the months we've had more than 40 people say there were possibly going to attend. Now we need to let Romney Cycles know how many they should prepare to host. I've pasted the "possible" headcount below. Please post here to confirm you are still planning to attend. I'll make the updates below. If you have no idea what I'm talking about click here to see the info on the event. Then join us.

It will also be helpful to know your plans and interest. Post up if you're planning to camp vs motel, and if you are interested in the twisty pavement group ride, the dirt road group ride, or non-group.

Confirmed planning to come (Red)
No confirmation yet (black)

Confirmed - Accomdations (camp/motel/other) - Ride (group twisty/group dirt/non-group)
Dirt_Dad - camping - dirt group
kitesurfer
Stromin' Nroman
Buckee - camping - dirt (1), twisties (2)
WEE4ME
TAZ650 - Camping - dirt riding
Scary
jarz21 - camping - twisty
favarcat
Newhoco
 
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#2 ·
I'm definitely coming and will be camping. As for group ride, I'll say twisty with the possibility of dirt (depending on the route/ terrain).
 
#4 ·
I'm still in - camping - dirt, twisties in that order. Thanks for pulling this together.
 
#8 ·
Sorry to hear that.



By the way...for anyone considering the dirt group ride we have added a second, pavement/dirt ride. Since there is another option I am going to make mine a more technical ride, which I personally would not have tackled on either my old Vee or Wee. Not to worry, I believe the other pavement/dirt ride will be regular dirt roads and not a problem for any dual sport bike.

I will probably limit my ride to 6 people. If you're still curious this video shows some of the uglier stuff I'm planning.

 
#12 ·
So everyone has an idea of the some of the routes available I've uploaded a few. If you are heading east from Romney on Sunday morning and want a little more dirt, I've posted my dirt covered route towards home. If anyone is interested feel free to ride along until you get to a good break off point for your destination.

You can download a .gpx file from this website, or if you need a .gdb for your Garmin send me a PM with your email address and I'll send one to you.

2012 DCStrom Route. This is the one we did last year with Trevor in the lead. Nice paved route with one 10 mile dirt road. Worked out nicely to have lunch on the porch at Seneca Rocks. Full day ride. We left at 9:15am and return at 5:45pm on this one.
Route Map: 2012 Romney Actual - Romney, WV

2013 Dirt_Dad Technical Ride. IF there is enough interest, and if the weather is good, this is the technical course we will do on Saturday. Right up front I have to reiterate this is not a route I would have enjoyed on my old Wee or Vee. The most technical portion includes Blackwater Canyon Road, as well as a few steeper than usual (nothing extreme) downhills with wet sections, and a lot of pointy sticks. The only water crossings are in the Blackwater Canyon video. On a small dirt oriented dual sport with reasonable tires this course is pretty easy as long as you know how to pick a line. On a bigger bike with more street oriented suspension it will be more challenging. I would consider a skid plate as mandatory for a Tenere on this ride. I heard a fair amount of stuff hitting mine last week when I rode this route. You should have above average dirt skills and experience to do this ride on a big bike.
Also, this route is too long to do in a 9am to 6pm ride. My expectation would be we will get as far as we can on the route, then when it's time to make a straight ride back to Romney we'll just get on the pavement and head straight back. The other choice is an earlier start. I think we could do it if we were rolling before 8:00am. That will be up to the riders in the group (no more than 6 riders).
Route Map: 2013 Romney Full Hardcore - Hampshire, WV

2013 Dirt_Dad Dirt Road Ride. If there are not enough takers for the technical ride (and who could blame you), or if the weather is less than ideal, I'm very happy to do a nice mix of pavement and regular dirt roads. This route includes Dolly Sods, the wonderful Rt 72, and Seneca Rocks. This route does include an out and back section that is more challenging, but there is no need to ride it. If you decide to ride this route on your own the challenging section is the little line that appears on its own just south of Rt 72 (points 100 - 102 on the map). I've ridden all of this route except the section that parallels Rt 28 down near Seneca Rocks (points 131 - 144). It's an adventure, we'll ride that one together or turn around and hit 28. Should be no problem with this route in a 9am - 6pm ride.
Ride Map: 2013 Romney Easy Dirt - Romney, WV

2013 Sunday Ride East/Southeast. Heading back home over a couple of my favorite rides. This include my favorite way to cross between WV and VA, plus Woodstock Tower Road. If you are heading east to hit the highway home, or going back to Northern Virginia this is a dirty way to do it. Happy to have some company on the way home.
Ride Map: 2013 Romney Sunday Dirt Mt Weather - Hampshire, WV


These are not all the options. There will be an all pavement ride and a second pavement/dirt road mix ride on Saturday.
 
#14 ·
Career-wise, things are looking great.

Riding-wise, not so much.

There appears to be a direct correlation.
 
#15 ·
Sorry to hear it, Norm. I was hoping to catch up next week. Now I hope to see you in September in Ohio.

Stay safe, glad the business is going well. Give my regards to Jeanie (and my apologies if I spelled that wrong).

Jon
 
#18 ·
Five days and counting. At the moment the forecast looks fantastic.

Everyone will be arriving whenever it works for them. Here's what happened last year...

Those of us who were at the site by 6:00pm on Friday went to town for dinner. Had Italian at Marios. Nice place very convenient and right across the street from the Sheetz gas station, which was a good place to fill up and purchase some beverages for the evening.

Here is a list of restaurants in Romney: Romney Restaurants

We only had one ride group on Saturday last year and we all went to Shirley's Diner for breakfast, then left directly from there by 9:15am. We returned to Romney Cycle at 5:45pm and went into the dealership for a dinner.

I anticipate the schedule will workout to be something similar this year...or maybe not.
 
#19 ·
Will find room in the bags for stogies to share - anything else I can bring to help out? Sorry, the banjo is out - it's a sensitive instrument & too risky (risqué)?...

Seriously, any help needed?
 
#21 ·
Damn Jon, why do you have to be 14 hours away? This looks fun! And your technical ride is reminding me of parts of Craig's route for his BBA a couple years ago - a good test of determination and skill on a Wee, with a few moments where you wonder what the hell you just got yourself into, but ending with an intense feeling of accomplishment.

Have a blast and hopefully the weather trends continue! Hopefully see you this fall, if not sooner!
 
#24 ·
Are Canadians accepted at par ? I apparently have those days open ( I will confirm today ) and I definitely have the urge to explore ....

Alex .
Come on down. And if those are Canadians pictured in your signature line, bring them, too. :yesnod: Even if they're not Canadian, bring 'em.
 
#25 ·
I'm on my way .

I'm leaving this morning , avoiding slab ( google says 11 hours ) , and should arrive in Romney before dinner on Friday .
I'll be camping , and look forward to sampling your local roads...

Alex
 
#27 ·


Great event everyone. We had excellent weather, and a good turnout. Because of the different arrival times it's hard to know the exact number, the best guess is we had 28 riders. Whatever it was, it was a good group and made for a fun time around the fire each evening.

Have to say a huge thank you to Romney Cycles. They put in a lot of effort to getting the site ready for us and I think it really paid off. Hot showers, coffee, ice, water, dinner and more. Plus the last minute bike service several people told me about, it was a good example of why so many of us have realized Romney is different from other dealers. It seemed like every time I stopped in over the last few months Keven (the owner) and I would eventually talk about showers for the event. He really put some thought into it. So it was amusing to arrive on Friday and see Kevin. He was so excited to show off his showers. Both he and Larry were very proud of the solution they constructed.
Kevin/Larry: The showers were a huge hit. Very appreciated, thanks for the showers and everything else you did to make this a great weekend for everyone.

To anyone that wants to say anything to the guys at Romney just post it here and I'll make sure they see it. I know they would appreciate hearing any feedback from this event and any suggestions to make the event better next year.

Thanks to thfraser for leading the ride on Saturday, and to Checkswrecks for having a ride ready to go. I do hope your son's plumbing issues workout quickly.

Due an overflowing septic system in Pennsylvania on Friday evening, I ended up leading a pavement ride on Saturday morning. It's the one route I didn't have loaded in my GPS, but fortunately I'm pretty familiar with the roads in that part of West Virginia. Fortunately there so many fantastic options nearby it wasn't too hard assemble a good ride. We set off with newhoco from Toronto and the "Fabulous Baker Brothers" from Ohio.

We hit Rt 72


Mount Storm


Blackwater Falls




And even found the other group during the ride.


Everyone seemed to enjoy the pavement ride. It was the first time I've ever lead a ride that included a scooter (Bergman). I have to say I was impressed with both the scooter and the rider. He did a great job riding it pretty aggressively. At lunch we were joined by Sail2xxs. After lunch the morning group headed north, and Sail2xxs and I set off for some rough dirt road.

We ripped it up pretty good for a while. We took a break by a river and were deep in the woods when a 21 year old Russian girl came walking up to us with a beer in hand. We talked for a while, then she told us she was a terrible driver, loves speed, and is getting her motorcycle license. Then she asked if we had any advice. We did what we could.

No photos of the Sail2xxs ride, but I do have some video of the technical road that I need to go through over the next few days. Chris is a hell of a rider. With almost 3 Tenere miles to every one of my Tenere miles, he puts me to shame. Chris, did you really need to catch me so quickly after I passed that car heading down Mt Storm leaving you stuck behind and out of sight? Actually I love riding with people who are better than me. It keeps me humble and lets me know I've still got a lot of room for improvement. Thanks for kicking my ass, even while following me.

I need to go through the helmet video I shot, and steal some of the photos you guys shot and I'll put together an event video. I'll post it here when I'm done.

Thanks everyone. it was a great weekend.
 
#28 ·
Most Excellent Romney adventure

I got home safely today , after ripping up the countryside for a couple of extra days , with Mike from Buffalo .
Sadly , we got separated in a coffee-induced navigational disaster in Altoona , of all places , and when I couldn't find him again , I beat feet towards Canada .
( But I bet a lot of relationships fall apart in Altoona ).
Sorry 'bout that , Mike , I hope to ride with you again - and I'll never refer to a KLR650 as a " tractor " again - that thing FLIES !
Many thanks to the excellent crew at Romney Cycles who took such good care of me and my Vstrom , and please tell them NOT to have a fully-farkled Tenere ( with luggage ) on the floor next year . The lack of bags probably saved my marriage !
Special thanks to Dirt Dad for luring me down , and to all the folks around the campfire : I hope to hoist a cold beverage with all of you again ...

Alex
 
#29 ·
Many thanks to Jon, Kevin, Larry for all the prep & comforts, especially arranging dry weather! Chris & Scott & I had a blast together as "the lost patrol" once the 50/50 group broke up after the cattle stampede & infamous leaf climb. Closed out the trip with a near death experience on Woodstock Tower Road thanks to a careening 4wd truck flying thru my side of a hairpin - a weekend to remember for sure. Ride safe - Scott (Buckee)
 
#30 ·
Closed out the trip with a near death experience on Woodstock Tower Road thanks to a careening 4wd truck flying thru my side of a hairpin - a weekend to remember for sure. Ride safe - Scott (Buckee)
Woodstock can be pretty tight on those hairpins. Glad it worked out for you.
 
#31 ·
Here it is. I didn't take many pictures or video, so I used what I had and whatever was posted.

The group riding video includes the shots were "Infamous Baker Bros" and our Tronto friend Newhoco out front. The single Tenere rider video was Sail2xxs from the Tenere board
.
 
#32 ·
I had a great time at the event, and had been interested in a Tenere so riding WV roads with Tenere owners made it even better. I decided to buy one and while there Romney Cycle made me a great deal on one so I went back down this weekend and picked up a 2013 white Tenere..:thumbup: The Vstrom is still a keeper although it may see more commuting than touring duty. I would recommend checking out Romney Cycle if anyone is looking for a new bike since they made the deal easy and provided excellent customer service...
 
#33 ·
Didn't realize you got the white one. Makes me a bit jealous. Guess that's your color. I saw your former white KTM at Romney yesterday. Sweet, but the Tenere is a keeper.

Enjoy.
 
#36 ·
Dirt_Dad-

Please count DC_Dave and myself in for the ride (bmwguy).

Long time no see! we attended the Romney ride in 2017.

We probably won't camp but will ride in for Friday and Saturday.

Do you know if there will be Triumph Demo ride on Friday?

Thanks, and looking forward in seeing you again.
 
#37 ·
Do you realize you are replying to the Romney thread from 2013? @Dirt_Dad

Here's the link to this year's Romney thread:


..Tom
 
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