Where do you ride does matter.

[ob1]

Saw some posts in the Ride Reports section...

The descriptions of what used to be called "cow-trailing" are entertaining, but sadly those days are pretty much gone. Liability laws and people abusing others property have caused this.

Disobeying posted private property, riding off trail on public lands and a general "Rules, what rules?" attitude do nothing to help improve the image of offroad cycling. This is not a chinabike problem, it is universal in the offroad community; quads, dirtbikes, dual sports and utes all contribute.

Got a tag? Any forest road not marked "closed" is open to you. The woods surrounding it, probably not, unless there is a legal trail through it.

No tag? Only the legal trails are open to you.

See a chunk of private property that looks sweet to ride? Try asking permission, you may be surprised with a "yes". Dont abuse the property, pack out any trash you make, and any you find. Leave open gates open, and close closed ones after you pass. Dont ride a plowed or planted field. Thank the landowner when done, and report any possible problems on the property to him.

Check into the legal riding areas in your area, and dont be part of the problem.

South Carolina C-bikers, here is a link to where you can find all the legal trails, www.scohv.org

How about everyone doing some research on their home states trails, and posting links to where the legal trails are?

[fatboy250]

ob1, are you from SC?

[blimpman]

+ 1 OB1, Great post! Could not agree more.

[mdsuave13]

i prefer the excitement of knowing i could get busted at any second, plus legal fees are SWEET!!! I love riding in the back of a police cruiser and having my girlfriend/family/ex wife bail me out!

all joking aside, its tough going these days to find trails in some states, southern states and midwestern states probably dont run into this problem very often, but around the metro areas, trails just dont exist, we always seem to end up on powerline access roads, contruction sites nestled in wooded areas, old factory property, farm land etc.. believe me when i say i have gotten in trouble numerous times and it sucks, but i mean what are people to do when even the state parks dont have anywhere we can ride these? its a shame i tell you.

[John22j]

We used to just go make our own trails in the woods and nobody cared, but those days are pretty much gone... now I just pay my $15 to ride at a private facility. Some MX tracks also have trails, you'd have to find the tracks near you and see what they offer -- also if there are harescramble races around those facilities may open up for some trail riding as well.

A site that could be a place to start: (it's a pay membership site, but you can get names of places around you possible and search for that on your own)
http://www.trailsource.com/dirtbike/index.asp

[ob1]

Fatboy, I'm in Charleston.

Guys, you dont have to join Trailsource to find the trails. Just do a little internet homework.

NC tracks www.ncdirtrider.com
NC trails, as well as other southern states www.atvnc.com
Georgia tracks and trails www.georgiaoffroad.com

So, YOU do a little homework, and post the results...

[mdsuave13]

Originally Posted by ob1

So, YOU do a little homework, and post the results...

I don't wanna.... WHAAAAAAAA...

I know for a fact that the only places to legally ride in MD are either real far west, or out on the beach over at Assateauge Island. either way, its a 3 hour ride to be legal.

So you know whats going to happen

[FMYStreetRacer]

any place that i ride around here will soon be all torn out to have buisness' built on them. all the private land is gone down here and only comercial is left. any peice of woods around here now get's torn down and made into acommunity or a hotel, mall etc. so i really don't care cause all they are goin g to do is come tear it all up anyways and add tons of fill to build it up.

obviously if i see something like 10 acres that looks like it could at one point be turned into someones land/ home site i either don't go across it or i just take it easy till i get across it.

[mdsuave13]

thats the way it is up here, all the woods are marked for clearing and for development, so hell with it, if they are going to level the woods, who cares if i ride on it for a month or two till that happens...

in fact some of those places have been scheduled for clearing and havent been cleared, that was like 10 years ago, so we kinda all end up riding there because of that...

[ACD]

Maine is still "fairly" ATV and snowmobile friendly with hundreds of miles of Paper company roads. Something I recently noticed is these signs that say open for use by snowmobiles and ATV's and 4-wheel drive vehicles. No motorcycles allowed... "such and such" paper company. I don't get it. But I respect their wishes and take the Kodiak 4-wheeler out on those roads.

Aaron

[mdsuave13]

sounds like a blast. I know there are fire trails up in west virginia... i may have to hit those up when i have the chance this summer.

[Ferrit]

As lands have become more scarce to ride it seems that the atv boys have been the most organized in opening up areas to ride. One of the reasons that I prefer to ride a plated bike is, as ob1 points out, any FS fire road is open to ride. I'm a little concerned about getting run down by an atv or jeep or dunebuggy when out in some of the riding areas. There are some single track riding areas in the Daniel Boone National Forrest that limit it to bikes only.

Here are some areas in Kentucky that are open:

Running along the eastern side of the state
http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/boone/recreation/ohv_main.shtml

Located in the SE corner of the state. 150 miles of trails
http://www.harlancountytrails.com/blackmountain.php

And if you find yourself in the far western part of Kentucky you need to check out

http://www.lbl.org/OHVTrails.html

[ob1]

And what list of Southern/ Mid Atlantic trails would be complete without the Hatfield-McCoy trails?

Check it out, www.trailsheaven.com