Southern TNJT, solo on the WRR

TNJT= Trans NJ Trail....series of connecting loops that were put together to try and get as much legal offroad riding from the top of NJ to the bottom of NJ. Thanks to Rob23(ADV) all his hard work, and his helpers, for putting it all together.

A special thanks to to Doug(Deerslayer ADV) for all of his hospitality. he graciously offered up tent space in his yard, when I was looking for the furthest southern camping in NJ...since the route ends up at Cape May. That in and of itself was more than enough, but use of pool, and the hours of BS'ing about bikes, and life in general, was great as well. Thanks again Doug.

OK, let's get started.

Bike Prep:

I went with Dirt Bagz, which I already had from my DRZ, and did not like the Dirt Bagz racks...so I went with the Wolfman racks. You can see here for how I adapted them:

http://photobucket.com/tripprep

I also have Wolfman Expedition Tank bag, Alfa-Beta bag and a discontinued dry duffle bag. The bike was a rolling Wolfman bill board.

Getting things started:

Dirtbagz mounted, Walmart ATV seat cover, and one of the spare fuel containers.


Other MSR fuel container in the tool tube, mounted to bottom of wolfman side rack.



I did not have time to make up a system to mount the tent poles across the bars, like I had wanted, so they got ziptied to the rear rack, inline with the bike.



For me personally, no camping trip is complete with out some wine...in this case..Spanish Quarter Tempranillo...and the bladder I use to take it with me.





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And the food for the trip. It was only a one night trip, ride down the route Saturday and back on other roads/dirt Sunday.



I did not even eat half of it. LOL

Speaking of food....the great breakfast my wife made for me Saturday morning to send me off. French toast, bacon and eggs.



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Bike packed and ready to go. I way over packed, but I wanted bike to have just about as much stuff as if I was doing the TAT. I wanted to see how the lilttle bike handled it. I also had my tent and hammock tent..normally I'd take one of the other.




Rolling Wolfman advertisement:



And your's truly ready to go. Trailer hooked up to truck...just in case...wife would have been the rescue crew.



And we are rolling:

First stop, Lake Osewago...first water I had seen and wanted to check the bags straps.






Apple Pie Hill....It is a shame.....has been closed down due to being vandalized....not by motorcyclists.



After this section was cleared..at the Apple Pie Hill...I went onto route 118. That one stands out in my mind as the most difficult of the trip. There were a couple sections that I went through, almost got the bike stuck, and literally questioned why I was doing this and why by myself. That included doing the sand highway on a fully loaded down bike. I have plenty of experience in the deep sand. It was still an eye opening event... the bike handled totally differently and had to get used to the front end being extra light due to the weight of the gear on the back of the bike.

Until this next one, I purposely did not take any pictures of the route in this section. There are a lot of issues with riding in the pines and taking pictures of it. So, to save any headaches, I made sure all of my pictures were perfectly fine, in places where cars and trucks go daily.

OK, so onto the rest:

Getting out of the "hard section"..I was actually happy to see some pavement...I need a cool off:





This is where the section ended. I wrote 118 in the gravel so I would remember the section that was not the easiest.





This is the end of a nice little section of dirt trial/road. It was ;'questionably marked at the start, but luckily, clearly marked at this end.







End of the next section..I think maybe 119. Looked familiar to me. Saw it in a previous TNJT RR. LOL




The track ended there and so did I. I could have taken it....but it just went straight to the inlet I believe.

This is the first of the Atlantic ocean I saw. I then saw some more, next pics.









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More on next post

I had finally made it to the end of the track. Light House at Cape May. The second pic if the dune that stop cars from driving into the Atlantic. LOL





Mileages. I always took a pic of the speedo and the GPS. With A 12t front sprocket, I am inclined to trust the GPS.





Not bad for one day...mostly dirt...and the day was still not over.

This was the milage after I made it to DeerSlayer's(ADV) casa.







"camp" set up at Doug's. It was not that dark out at this point, but flash made it washed out and seem darker out.

"camp" set up at Doug's. Was not that dark out..but camera made it seem that way.





6 am, up early due to a rooster crowing..LOL...redbull, cliffbar, and checking out online. This was the one and only time either the camera tripod or the Alite monarch chair came out.



And this was the glorious pool that cooled me off( and cleaned me up), after a full day of riding.



This was a nice little fish pond. It was nice....the water fountain running all night......you guessed it...made me have to piss all night long. LOL



Random shot of the knobbies...holding up surprising well for the miles...southern sections were a lot of pavement..simply because there is no legal dirt that far south.


seems edits only allow so many characters.

Random shot of the rear tire. Knobbies holding up surprisingly well..especially after many pavement miles. The southern sections are mostly pavement, simply because there is no legal dirt down there.



Since I was not doing the TNJT back up( I was planning on seeing a buddy in Sicklerville before he moves to MA), Doug had given me some nice legal dirt roads to check out on the way back. These shots below are of the Tuckahoe WMA, IIRC.







Another nice legal dirt road...not too maintained anymore.



The McD's I ate brunch at..it was Sunday.



Stopping at my buddies house..unfortunately he was not there. Mixed signals. LOL




And the final mileages. Not bad for a weekend trip....70% offroad I'd say.

I came home on mostly pavement. After doing so much of it the day before, i was more used to the way the bike handled it. I basically winged it taking random roads, lefts and rights in the general direction of where I live. I was able to get back on dirt closer to home which was a nice way to end the ride. Nothing like riding familiar ground and know you're almost home.

thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it.

Awesome RR Doug! Looks like the XCMH's held up really well! Any idea how many pavement miles went on them?

probably about 100 or so on this trip.

How much of that ride could you have done on Distanzias?

Sand really sucks with Distanzias. Anything deeper than a few inches makes the front feel like it's slipping out from under you.

I'd love to cross the bridge some time and get some good off-road/trail experience, but the deep sand thing keeps making me stay on this side of the Delaware.

First, apologies for the repeated pics. something weird was happening on this site that did not seem to occur on another site. I'll fix it when I can.

Moto: 80% could have been done on Distanzias. One whole section, and part of another, would have been impossible with those tires. Heck, I was wishing I had new knobbies. LOL

So, being back to work and the normal routine has given me some time to reflect on the trip. Its one of those type things where there are times you are hating it and ready to bail on the whole thing, but once you get through and you are done and can see the finish line, you are glad you kept going and finished it.

I had two crossings that could have easily ruined the trip and my day. Before I did either one of them, I had to fight off thoughts of bailing right there or turning back and finding a go around. Both of these areas though, would have been 1.5 hrs plus go arounds. I had decided to just go for it and hope for the best. Obviously, since I made it, I got through them.

I had two drops for the trip as well, and both were in deep soft sand. I know how to handle sand just fine for normal riding, but like I had mentioned, the fully(over) loaded bike was a new animal. Each time, I was mad at myself for letting it happen..knowing better. Picking up the overloaded bike twice was no fun chore. If I had more drops than that, it could have been a trip sour point as well. I had a couple times where I got lucky, and somehow got the bike total sideways in the sand, while doing a good clip, and still pulled out of it. I did not stop to take any pics, but they were each those kind of moments when you get through and thank your lucky stars.

Finally, the bike. I loved and hated this bike during the trip. When I was in the sand, I was happy not to have a bigger bike. A bigger bike being loaded down would have been unbearable. Then, On the smoother dirt sections and the street stuff, I was wishing I had a much bigger engined DS bike. Especially one with a comfortable seat and power. Overall though, the bike did everything I asked it to...even getting me out of some situations where I would have buried the DRZ to the axles. I typically hate riding on pavement with the knobbies..but on the mostly street ride home on Sunday, I actually got used to it. I started trusting them more and having fun on some of the curves. If I ever get a bigger tank, I can see myself starting to ride it to work more. I can see how fun it is on the street.....especially if I ever find a fair priced(cheap) set of SM wheels/tires for it.

Thanks again for checking it out and hope you enjoyed it.

Wow, amazing trip man! I cant wait til spring(Northeast rider here!!) Id love to do a short weekender to kick off my ds riding career!! Ive been sport touring for 2 years on a 1k superbike. Cant wait to go on extended ds trips. Nice pics too!!

SOUTH of HEAVEN wrote:

Wow, amazing trip man! I cant wait til spring(Northeast rider here!!) Id love to do a short weekender to kick off my ds riding career!! Ive been sport touring for 2 years on a 1k superbike. Cant wait to go on extended ds trips. Nice pics too!!

Thanks, glad you like it. I am looking forward to doing it again soon....with a much smaller camping set up I now have. Sooner or later, hopefully, I get on some trips outside NJ too.