How rough are your trails??

[wvspeedfreak]

I have been riding at several places in Virginia and West Virginia at designated atv trail areas and most of them are really rocky.It seems like most places are geared more towards 4x4's and utilities than for sport bikes.I was just wondering what the trails are like where you ride?

[KY Woods Rider]

I ride mostly on private land here in KY, and the trails really vary from one region of the state to the next, and in some cases you don't have to travel too far to find different terrain. However, most of the places that I ride in KY tend to be on the hilly, hardpacked, and rocky end of the spectrum, although most aren't as bad as the trails I ride right around where I live.

Where I live, the trails are mostly hardpacked, which resists the formation of ruts, braking bumps, and acceleration bumps. However, there's a lot of rocks ranging from small pebbles up to larger rocks that are about 8" thick and 2ft in diameter. None of the rocks are what I'd consider huge, but the larger ones will definetly give you a good whack if you hit them at decent speed. The biggest problem from the rocks is just having several fist-sized rocks rolling around on the trail and getting sprayed with pebbles when you're riding close behind someone. Of course since the trails are in the woods, there's big tree roots just about everywhere. The terrain that I usually ride around home isn't what I'd consider rough, but it is very technical because the hardpacked dirt is tough to go fast on. The majority of the traction comes from the small berms (they don't get very big, there's not that much loose dirt) that get piled up around the turns, and several of the turns have a nice coating of rubber laid down on them. Then, if there is even the slightest amount of moisture on the ground, that hardpacked dirt gets a very thin but extremely slick coating on it, which offers just about as much traction as greased glass. I also live where there's several pretty good size hills, so the trails run up and down the hills and across the side of the hills. When you combine rocks with slick hardpacked dirt and a bunch of hills, it gets tricky in a hurry even though it's not all that rough.

The roughest trails I've ridden are at my cousin's house, about 35mi from where I live. His trails follow along a small creek through the woods, and the dirt is very sandy. While it isn't actually sand, it's very fine dirt, it's very loose, and it won't pack down solid. At least on his trails you get pretty good traction because the dirt is soft enough to allow the knobs to sink in and get a good bite. However, the dirt is so soft that it gets the biggest braking and acceleration bumps that I've ever ridden on. I'm not talking about acceleration bumps where you just get some bouncing as you come out of a turn, I'm talking about acceleration bumps that are about the same size as the whoops are on most MX tracks. In addition to having very good suspension, the best solution is to have very good timing, because you can come out of a corner and start doubling through some of the worst acceleration bumps. The braking bumps are the worst part though, because there's no way to time them or stay on the tops of them, you just go into the corners getting the snot beat out of you. If you're running stock shocks on something like a 400EX and you're like me and charge into corners as hard as you possibly can, you just have to alter your riding style and quit being so aggressive when entering corners, because you'll bottom the stock front shocks in every corner if you try riding like that. Of course the ground ruts up severely too, and there's sections where you will drag, but you just have to slow down a bit so you don't get thrown over the bars and then hit the throttle and hope you make it through without getting stuck. As long as you don't try to go slow you can usually make it through these badly rutted sections, because the ground is so soft that the skid just scrapes off the dirt more and more each time. If all this bouncing and getting beat up isn't bad enough, his trails are just like most of mine, they're extremely tight 2nd and 3rd gear trails. Basically, anyone that's running +2 a-arms or a +4 axle will be getting wood just about as soon as they leave the fields and head into the woods, because the quad simply won't fit through. I'm not even going to pretend I'm in the best possible physical condition, but I'm in decent shape, and his trails have me wanting to take a break within about 15 minutes of riding.

[LethalCVBz]

Well...What little trails we have up here in VT. Most of them are pretty rough

[Cody_300ex]

mine are not rough there just super narrow, some I have troubles getting through with my stock width 300ex!! :eek: :eek2: :eek: :eek2:

[marksuttonjr]

I have both sport and utility quads. I ride everything from smooth open sand to wallering in the mud to rock crawling. I prefer the hill climbing and rock crawling on my utilities over any of the other riding that I do, so I guess that I should say that MOST of my trails are too rough for sport quads.

[lol]

Originally posted by LethalCVBz
Well...What little trails we have up here in VT. Most of them are pretty rough

same here in ny

our trails are pretty narrow and have big tree roots and ruts and have loose pebbels and some mudholes

[rancher 350 kid]

our trails are hilly lots of hillclimbs,mudholes off camber ,we ride utility quads and dirt bikes

[90ccmidget]

same up here in texas, we ride utility & dirt-bikes cuz we got 2 do more than just play around like u city slickers(just joking):p






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[4punksdad]

:)

[jdboy]

We've got everything covered here in TN. Most of the trails are decent in width but can be a little rocky for some.

[jdboy]

Here's another pic, taken at the half way point at Buffelo Mt. offroad and atv trail.

[TRX_450]

where im at it all depends on your location....around my house its nice and smooth except for my ruts and ill go to my bosses house and its huge arse hills with alot of rocks and fallen trees

[4punksdad]

technical in places..................

[HondaDude93]

my brother went to a place here in louisiana called forest hill with his friend and he said the place was BUMPY he broke his thumb riding there. me, my brother, and my dad also go to a place called the spillway it is kind of bumpy but not to bad.

Originally posted by 90ccmidget
same up here in texas

"up here"? so r u saying we're in like mexico lol...

anyways, in jersey, my trails are rocky, small, hills and dusty but muddy in diff. spots...

i hate rocks!

[ironman250x]

Originally posted by jdboy
We've got everything covered here in TN. Most of the trails are decent in width but can be a little rocky for some.
Where are you located at in East Tennessee. Have you ever been to Windrock/Coal Creek OHV area.

[#1rmman220]

Originally posted by LethalCVBz
Well...What little trails we have up here in VT. Most of them are pretty rough

where are you located in vermont i live here to and the only place i have to ride is our local sand pit (not supose to)

[exrider008]

Originally posted by #1rmman220
where are you located in vermont i live here to and the only place i have to ride is our local sand pit (not supose to)

well i would say hes from Montgomery cuz it says it in his profile

and i ride up in vermont to and the trails pritty much suck. there r roots every were...thank god for elkas:devil:

[EvilEwok]

Originally posted by KY Woods Rider
I ride mostly on private land here in KY, and the trails really vary from one region of the state to the next, and in some cases you don't have to travel too far to find different terrain. However, most of the places that I ride in KY tend to be on the hilly, hardpacked, and rocky end of the spectrum, although most aren't as bad as the trails I ride right around where I live.

Where I live, the trails are mostly hardpacked, which resists the formation of ruts, braking bumps, and acceleration bumps. However, there's a lot of rocks ranging from small pebbles up to larger rocks that are about 8" thick and 2ft in diameter. None of the rocks are what I'd consider huge, but the larger ones will definetly give you a good whack if you hit them at decent speed. The biggest problem from the rocks is just having several fist-sized rocks rolling around on the trail and getting sprayed with pebbles when you're riding close behind someone. Of course since the trails are in the woods, there's big tree roots just about everywhere. The terrain that I usually ride around home isn't what I'd consider rough, but it is very technical because the hardpacked dirt is tough to go fast on. The majority of the traction comes from the small berms (they don't get very big, there's not that much loose dirt) that get piled up around the turns, and several of the turns have a nice coating of rubber laid down on them. Then, if there is even the slightest amount of moisture on the ground, that hardpacked dirt gets a very thin but extremely slick coating on it, which offers just about as much traction as greased glass. I also live where there's several pretty good size hills, so the trails run up and down the hills and across the side of the hills. When you combine rocks with slick hardpacked dirt and a bunch of hills, it gets tricky in a hurry even though it's not all that rough.

The roughest trails I've ridden are at my cousin's house, about 35mi from where I live. His trails follow along a small creek through the woods, and the dirt is very sandy. While it isn't actually sand, it's very fine dirt, it's very loose, and it won't pack down solid. At least on his trails you get pretty good traction because the dirt is soft enough to allow the knobs to sink in and get a good bite. However, the dirt is so soft that it gets the biggest braking and acceleration bumps that I've ever ridden on. I'm not talking about acceleration bumps where you just get some bouncing as you come out of a turn, I'm talking about acceleration bumps that are about the same size as the whoops are on most MX tracks. In addition to having very good suspension, the best solution is to have very good timing, because you can come out of a corner and start doubling through some of the worst acceleration bumps. The braking bumps are the worst part though, because there's no way to time them or stay on the tops of them, you just go into the corners getting the snot beat out of you. If you're running stock shocks on something like a 400EX and you're like me and charge into corners as hard as you possibly can, you just have to alter your riding style and quit being so aggressive when entering corners, because you'll bottom the stock front shocks in every corner if you try riding like that. Of course the ground ruts up severely too, and there's sections where you will drag, but you just have to slow down a bit so you don't get thrown over the bars and then hit the throttle and hope you make it through without getting stuck. As long as you don't try to go slow you can usually make it through these badly rutted sections, because the ground is so soft that the skid just scrapes off the dirt more and more each time. If all this bouncing and getting beat up isn't bad enough, his trails are just like most of mine, they're extremely tight 2nd and 3rd gear trails. Basically, anyone that's running +2 a-arms or a +4 axle will be getting wood just about as soon as they leave the fields and head into the woods, because the quad simply won't fit through. I'm not even going to pretend I'm in the best possible physical condition, but I'm in decent shape, and his trails have me wanting to take a break within about 15 minutes of riding.


Where abouts in ky are you? Right now I'm up at highland heights/alexandria, but my house is down in russell county, near pulaski and lake cumberland.

BTW trails are a mix where I live, depends on how the weather is. It's good though, not to hilly, not to rocky, not to muddy. Just good overall.

[Ghost-Rider]

Snady dirt so lots of ruts and roots and its all on an angle so easy to flip and a big reviene and a bowl now thats at my house go up north a little more and you get nice smmoth-whoops will hills sand pit and some rocks.
Or you could go to Silver Lake Sand Dunes
But im a woods guy :blah:

[LWL-Yamaha]

Some public trails in VA,,,,,,,,,,This is the best part of the trail........The rest are way to ROCKY!

[wvspeedfreak]

Originally posted by LWL-Yamaha
Some public trails in VA,,,,,,,,,,This is the best part of the trail........The rest are way to ROCKY!

Is that Taskers Gap?It sure looks familiar.

[4punksdad]

Originally posted by wvspeedfreak
Is that Taskers Gap?It sure looks familiar.

it sure is........

[jdboy]

Originally posted by ironman250x
Where are you located at in East Tennessee. Have you ever been to Windrock/Coal Creek OHV area.

Coal Creek is great! It's about a 2hr drive to the west of me. I mainly ride Buffelo mountain in Erwin or I-81 Motorsports park off Exit 44.