Riding the MABDR: Part 2 – There are always obstacles

This is one of a series of posts about riding the Mid Atlantic Backcountry Discovery Route with a couple of my old motorcycle friends.

Stage 3 on the Mid Atlantic Back Country Discovery Route is one of the longest day’s rides on the route, running 193 miles, a high percentage of which are unpaved. It is also famous/infamous for its many water crossings. I think I counted six, although not all of them were that significant. (But one of them will play an important part in our journey.)

For our group, the dominating features on Stage 3 were the the three downed trees blocking the road. The first two we managed to get by without too much effort – we just had to jump off the road and go around them in the woods.

Howard contemplating the first downed tree of the day. (Photo by Matt Riegel 6/23/22)

Bishop Matt rides around the first downed tree of the day on Stage 3 of the MABDR. (6/23/22)

Howard and I ride around the second downed tree of the day – Well, Howard rides around it, and I duck-walk around it, and we then ride through a rather substantial puddle. (6/23/22 – Video by Matthew Riegel)

While the first two were mild obstacles, the third downed tree encountered mid-afternoon completely blocked the road. What’s more, the road was on a hillside that sloped steeply up on the right side and steeply down on the left. There was no way around this one, so we had to go through it. Fortunately, Howard is a certified arborist, and he had a handy, dandy folding Fiskars saw with him. So before too long we were back on our way.

There were paths around the first two downed trees. Not so much with the third one of the day.

Howard, The Bishop and I worked at clearing a path underneath the tree.

There’s finally a path underneath the tree that should let us through. Bishop Matt standing in front gives you the scale of the opening.

Howard ducks low to ride underneath the tree in the George Washington National Forest.

Overall, we had a great day on Stage 3, but Bishop Matt, who was something of a novice at riding off-pavement, had a rough time in three places. I should note that The Bishop is an excellent road rider, but those skills don’t always transfer directly to riding on gravel and in the dirt. (You can read Matt Riegel’s own account of the day in an extended public Facebook post.)

Rough Time #1 – In the morning of Stage 3, Matt got his Royal Enfield Himalayan stuck in a  muddy bank on the right side of the road, but we got him out, no harm/no foul.

Rough Time #2 – Later in the day we encountered a mix of wet sand and leaves in a corner that Matt attacked a bit too aggressively, and he went down, trapping his foot under the bike. I was just behind him and helped lift the bike off his foot.  Following a brief pause to let Matt recover from his adrenaline hit, we were back on the road. (Please note, I am throwing no shade here. Back in 2018 I went down in fresh gravel on an otherwise fine road on the Idaho BDR, ending that trip for me.)

Rough Time #3 – Late in the day when we were all pretty tired, we came to the toughest water crossing of the day. There was lots of fresh big gravel and everything was slippery.  Howard and I made it across without trouble, but once again Matt went down, trapping his foot under the bike in the middle of the stream. Howard and I ran down to get Matt extracted. There was water in his exhaust pipe, but fortunately none in the engine. So after a few coughs and water being spit out the tailpipe, Matt and his Himalayan were back in action. I should note that there was still one more water crossing to go, and Matt handled it like a champ.

Howard’s helmet-mounted GoPro camera kept taking pictures every 30 seconds as we got Matt recovered from his mishap. (Photo by Howard Koontz, 6/23/22)

As soon as we hit pavement, the three of us decided to take the most direct highway route to our hotel for the night.

The next morning, Matt made the right decision to head home – he had only about 100 miles of easy pavement to get there. But his ankle, wrist and shoulder were all sore, and we all knew he would be likely feel worse in a day or two. I think Matt summed up his experience well (which matches my own experience) with what he wrote on his Facebook post:

The backcountry is unforgiving, and even our attempts to introduce roads and machinery don’t really change that. Adventure biking is not a solo activity. Without a riding partner, who knows how long I would have been lying on my side? The first time I went down, I could have probably gotten myself out with time and effort. The second time, I was in a mountain run, water flowing through my riding gear, and in a position which did not lend itself to self-extrication.

I am very fortunate to have multiple good friends to go riding with. And The Bishop is correct, it is always much, much smarter to do challenging backcountry rides with friends you trust. I’m so glad Bishop Matt could join us for as much of the ride as he did, and I’m glad he had the good judgment to head home when he did.

Ralph, Howard and Matt before Matt heads home.

Bishop Matt heads for home as Howard and Ralph prepare to head on north toward Pennsylvania.

Preview of coming attractions: The Bishop will rejoin Howard and me for the last part of the paved ride back to Morgantown when we finish our MABDR ride.

You can find the whole story of our trip here, once all the sections have been posted.