SR555 Ohio's Tail of the dragon

[twolanefun]

Well I tried and most missed my point. I discovered 555 and many other roads in SE Ohio as well as some other locations on my own and through word of mouth. I freely share my knowledge with others who I know on a personal basis are experienced and responsible motorcyclists. And if you get invited on one of my rides you get a route sheet as long as you agree not to post it on any forum. While it's true that I'm older than many on this forum, it's not an age thing, it's the personal knowledge that I have of the roads that have been totally spoiled/ruined by posting on forums, email lists etc... Until you have experienced this and seen what can happen you really do not have an appreciation of how serious it can be. I'm not the first one to take this approach, Larry Grodtsky, RIP, of Stayin Safe used SE Ohio and some other locations for years as part of his training program, changed his routes, never posted any of them. I do about 45K miles a year and other than some local roads I try not to wear out any of the roads I ride, including the 3-4 times a year I travel to SE Ohio. I doubt there is anyone on this forum that knows as many roads in SE Ohio as I do, as well as some other locations, now do you really want me to start posting all that on this and other forums?, better yet I'll put it in a book and sell it via the internet. And don't think for one minute that the location of SE Ohio will keep some from coming over there, acting like idiots, crashing etc... and raising the visibility to the locals and ultimately the LEOs will have to do something. This forum does not prevent anyone from stopping by and reading anything said on here and that to me is a big deal. I know I won't change the mind of some on this forum, as evidence already by some of the posts, now that I know that I wish I hadn't made my post, just should have shook my head, kept silent, and took SE Ohio off my ride list, I've still got VA, WV, NC, and now some great roads in PA to keep me busy. - Gene

[Stick]

Well given the publicity 555 has had, like the AMA magazine, God knows how many motorcycle forums and such if its not ruined now I don't think it'll get that way anytime soon. Once you start seeing T-shirts with like "I rode the trail of corn!" and cute little curvy cornrow stickers or something, then maybe we can assume the word is out to the general population. I agree with Zoom that age does have an effect and Gene in that is not applicable, he's not lost anything with age.

[vw151]

We are all certainly entitled to our opinion.  I guess we'll have to agree to disagree.  There are a lot of good roads out there all over the country and there are a lot of widely read publications already listing them.  It takes more than just a road to draw large crowds.   

Either way,  I do like riding in SE OH and WV but that's mainly because I live in Columbus OH and it's the closest good roads I can get to.  Takes me about 50 miles to get into the decent roads, I can ride 200-400miles all around that area and then head home in 1 day.    I could never see my self trailering my bike to OH or taking a multi day road trip to hit SE OH from other parts of the country.  Only reason I might do it is nostalgia since I live here now.

[zooom]

  I agree with Zoom 

 

[twolanefun]

Here have at it, they got a few of the good ones but thankfully not most of them. http://www.motorcycleroads.com/index.htm. Zooom you took the quote out of context, not to mention the post is from someone who doesn't even own a Ducati, let alone a Monster, he rides a Goldwing, why he is lurking here is beyond me. - Gene

[zooom]

Here have at it, they got a few of the good ones but thankfully not most of them. http://www.motorcycleroads.com/index.htm. Zooom you took the quote out of context, not to mention the post is from someone who doesn't even own a Ducati, let alone a Monster, he rides a Goldwing, why he is lurking here is beyond me. - Gene

yes...I did...and to your benefit...but that is not the point...

yeah...he doesn't own a Ducati anymore...but he rides...and there are alot of people on this board who don't own Monster's or Ducati's that participate here actively...so why not Stick?

Stick, I look forward to seeing you at the Crew meeting Thursday buddy!...SAVE DA BOOBIES!

[Stick]

I still have my Ducati jacket, which is some kind of wonderful for riding, let me tell you.

[matt922]

all it takes to find decent roads is a close examination of google maps  

worst case scenario you waste a day riding a motorcycle and <$20 in gas (sounds like a win-win to me  [moto])

Hardly anyone knew of U.S. Route 129 until the early '90s when Snavely began publishing news letters and got Deal's Gap mentioned in Rider Magazine.  As a result motorcycle riding increased dramatically at the Dragon.  And just think that that was well before the current level of proliferation of the internet and enthusiast forums like this one.  Estimates are that the number of motorcycles and sports cars on U.S. Route 129 almost doubles each year.  And common sense would tell you it's not because of any other nearby attractions.

While i will agree with you that publishing it has made it has probably made it extremely popular, i will also tell you that the amount of people(not motorcycles necessarily) heading to the mountains has EXPLODED since the mid 90s.  All you have to do is look at how the real estate market exploded (and inflated likewise).  Also, if you look at the general geography of the southeast, it is the closest place to ride in the mountains for everyone in LA ,AR ,MS, FL, GA, TN, SC, NC (read a helluva lot of people).    It is also probable that it isn't JUST the 129 that attracts people, but nearly every road in eastern NC/western TN is pretty freaking awesome, not to mention the awesome scenery. 

Before i even had a car and went there on vacation with my parents in the mid 90s and early 00s, i had dreams of driving through the mountains. 

[motolocopat]

all it takes to find decent roads is a close examination of google maps  

worst case scenario you waste a day riding a motorcycle and <$20 in gas (sounds like a win-win to me  [moto])

I had the pleasure of doing a project in Southern Ohio a couple of years ago and before I ever went up there I looked at Google Maps and decided that there would be some pretty good riding. It was the first job I had done in the USoA in some time and I decided to buy a truck/toyhauler to live in so I could bring my Duc & KTM up there. It was pretty muchj what I expected b ased off of the topo maps and I had a real good time in the little bit of off time that I had a great time cruising the little back roads that wind through the valleys of the little hills. ALso lots of good little burgers and beers places scattered all along the Ohio River frequented by the large local HD crowd.

I don't know that I'd get to worried about it becoming the next "In-Spot" and the whole area destroyed by squids and cops.....
It is worth discussing though but instead of trying to keep it all quiet. Cats allready out of the bag... What we all have to do though to preserve the sport is be pro-active with educating/setting good examples for the newbies in regards to speed & sound.

[DoubleEagle]

The great roads that I ride all season long ....and especially this Fall have mostly Cruiser traffic.

I see some Sport bikes and all season long I have seen maybe 2 or 3 Ducatis .

I have a 180 mile loop of roads in the Hocking Hills and the Wayne and Zaleski Forests that I like to ride and I'm surprised at the lack of Sport bikes I see for as great as these roads are to ride and the low   count , sometimes 1 or none in 180 miles.

Those 180 miles run through parts of 5 counties.

To me it's a Paradise, an area where I can ride as fast as I want to ride..... but w, care.

I'm only riding 5-10% of the great roads that are within a 100 mile radius.

Hills, valleys, and the roads that connect them make for ideal riding roads.

When I go for a ride during the weekdays , I may not see 10 motorcycles on my entire ride and not 20 cars or trucks in 180 miles, Paradise !

Dolph    

[twolanefun]

Yep, and there are places in VA, WV, TN, NC, and GA like that, hopefully they will stay that way. 587 miles last weekend, all on nice twisty roads, very little traffic, and low  activity. I only saw them closer to the known areas where there has been a lot of incidents. - Gene

[ab]

Did another 320 miles on this routes again on Saturday alone and there was hardly any bikes at all.  It was a great weather too.  There are so many great routes to be discovered along this roads.  I am lucky I have met a few people that are great riders on the twisty and to top it off know so many cool routes.  Again on Sunday, surprisingly I only saw a handful bikes on 555.
I am not too worried about spoiling the routes per se, I only discovered this routes because I read about it somewhere. 
I now realize that I am going to this routes a lot because I now know the names of the shop clerks on some of my stops  :-)

[vw151]

Did another 320 miles on this routes again on Saturday alone and there was hardly any bikes at all.  It was a great weather too.  There are so many great routes to be discovered along this roads.  I am lucky I have met a few people that are great riders on the twisty and to top it off know so many cool routes.  Again on Sunday, surprisingly I only saw a handful bikes on 555.
I am not too worried about spoiling the routes per se, I only discovered this routes because I read about it somewhere. 
I now realize that I am going to this routes a lot because I now know the names of the shop clerks on some of my stops  :-)

I was out there recently as well.   I actually have some more video processing, should have it uploaded in a day or 2.