n e arkansas riding at byrds

[ATC King]

I haven't dropped off the radar.

I had an oil leak to repair (meaning it was dripping oil on the ground when I wasn't moving) and by the time I got around to it, summer was here. I mean July-August in Arkansas, and it's not the best time to enjoy being in the woods with no breeze, near 100% humidity, and enough no-see-ums to eat a person alive. Breaking down and having to walk in those conditions is not a situation I care to invite upon myself. Been there, done that, and only had a few hot beers for a ten mile walk (no water).

I also refurbished (brass brazed holes then RedKote) a spare fuel tank, because I thought several years of running around with a screw plugging a hole in the current one was begining to push my luck just a little too much. I've got a couple plastic tanks for the 185/200 ATCs, but I feel they have all the wrong shapes to even remotely look like they belong on these trikes.

I've got everything to put it back together and am just waiting on a little cooler weather before riding some more. Maybe the later part of September or begining of October.

[ATC King]

After looking at Byrd's event schedule, I've decided I'm going to attend ByrdFest 15.

http://byrdfest.com/home.html
https://byrdsadventurecenter.com/eve...usic-festival/

I've never been to ByrdFest and I can't think of anywhere else that has a music festival and OHV park together. It ought to make for a unique experience. Ride during the day, then kick back for some live music at night.

The band list consist largely of cover bands for the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin and Tool, along with some bands with original material. The link above includes YouTube links to get an idea of what to expect.

Same set-up for me, truck with camper shell and E-Z UP canopy. At least a dry place to sit if it rains. I do have a small tent or two (2-4 person) I can lend if anyone else attends and needs one.

They have their other ATV rally later in October, which I also plan to attend again.

[ATC King]

The plan so far is to be there early Friday. Sept. 22-23 is the music festival, but if anyone would like to get there Thursday and get some riding in, I can do that.

The fee for Friday-Saturday is $60 per person, which covers camping and music. It's and additional $10 for Thursday (normal primitive camping fee). Their bathrooms and showers are good enough I don't consider it primitive though.

ByrdFest dates are the same as Bikes Blues and BBQ, which is about an hour away in Fayetteville. All of the highways around there will be heavy with motorcycle traffic, especially the Pig Trail (Highway 23), 215 (highway to Byrd's), and 103 (to Clarksville). I normally lead a small motorcycle group on scenic rides during BB&BBQ, but I'm going to spend this year at ByrdFest. A LOT of motorcycle riders are going to make a trip out to Oark to eat at the Oark Café (historic general store). If anyone would like to eat there, earlier is better, because the closer to lunch, the more packed it will become.

There will be no shortage of things to do in 2-3 days, but I'd like to keep it relaxed; not overdo it. Some trail riding, live music, and cold brews sounds like a nice weekend.

[ATC King]

The 200ES is ready and the weather has cooled down, a lot.

Less than two weeks to go.

3 wheeler riding, music, and some cold beer. It should be cool enough for a campfire too.

[ATC King]

Great weekend!

Temps (and humidity) came back up from a couple weeks ago though, but Saturday night was actually a little on the cool side, so it made for a nice finish to the festival.

I had a busy week before and I didn't get out there until Friday noon. I also bought some electrical accessories for the BR and didn't have time to install them during the week, so I installed them Friday afternoon there. I bought a new GPS, but it's an automotive type so it needed external power. I installed a power port (12v and 5v USB) for it. I bought a cheap motorcycle stereo off EBay and installed it too. I didn't clean up the wiring for the stereo, but it works and worked well all weekend.

Friday, because of trying to finish up that stuff, I didn't ride.

Getting into the festival meant a quick vehicle search for the typical stuff they don't want in there. I didn't care for that much, as I'm not accustomed to even going through checks to get into a ball game (I don't go to ball games), but like I said, a quick search. Essentially, if someone is stupid enough to leave something out in the open, that's what they're looking for. The police patrolled the grounds on an ATV, but it wasn't intrusive at all, they would just ride through once in a while and not stop to get off.

That was just for this festival, it's not like that for the ATV rally. Different crowd. The office checking my truck did comment that he hadn't seen a three wheeler in a long time. He was the one patrolling by ATV. The three wheeler got approval throughout the weekend. Something like, you meet the nicest people while riding a Honda three wheeler. If you don't like to stop and have a conversation with strangers, don't ride a three wheeler.

All types of people have memories with three wheelers, they're great conversation starters (unless it has a Cobra exhaust).

Friday, I started to meet some people and get settled in. After settling in, I realized I needed to camp closer to the road, simply because this is a music festival and technically, ATVs aren't allowed. Yes, it's somewhat odd, because Byrd's is also an ATV destination, but they have such a diverse event schedule, they try to tailor each event so those people have the good time they expect.

I camped in the lower area, the one right next to the river. They open up more camping closer to the gate for ByrdFest. Next time, I'll set up there. From what I've seen, it's the more family type area and a couple other ATV riders set up there.

Friday was hot and humid, and I probably took a couple showers. The bands were great. I stayed up much too late (early), but some chick gave me some Glostik Willy stickers while I was talking to a college student from France and I started to get more relaxed from there.

I got a late start Saturday, but I did ride. I had already planned to ride to Oark and back, but it was nearly 2P.M.. Screw it, lets go. I loaded up a can of gas, some water, some food, and hit the trail. I was hoping to make it back before dark, so I didn't stop much.

A rear rack on a hardtail is almost a cruel joke. About 30 minutes in, I look back and my gas can is off the rack and dragging behind me by the strap. Sure, stuff stays on the rack at farm speeds, but anything faster than that and you're lucky even the rack stays attached. I strapped the crap out of the gas can after that. Another 30 minutes in, I hear something rubbing. The stinking right rear mud flap had been sucked under and rubbing on the tire. Ruined a good mud flap. The cheap EBday stereo is still going strong though and actually loud enough I can clearly hear the lyrics.

Now, the route I took was about 1/3 rocky ATV trail, 1/3 unmaintained gravel road, and 1/3 maintained gravel road. If anyone from the group I rode with last year (jonolanracin)
, about all of that 1/3 maintained gravel road is what we rode. That was the easy part. In all, it was a 70 mile round trip and I only used ~1/2 tank of fuel. Oark store sells 87 E-0 fuel, but I took extra anyway, although I never used it.

I'm not going to make it seem easy. On a hardtail, I was pretty worn out by the end. It would be very easy to make a 100 miles out of it, there are plenty of other trails and gravel road. That should be an early start and all day ride plan though. I'm no racer, but doing this on a hardtail took me all evening and I only averaged low 20's on speed. The trails here are very rocky and rough. My BR is also in need of a rebuild, and thus, very weak. If the road isn't flat, my BR (with me on it) isn't capable of top gear, or even third. Some hills had me down into high range first, and that was the roads. There is a lot of elevation change on this route. Good brake are a necessity.

It's still a very rideable route on a hardtail, but realize the '84 200ES is the heaviest and slowest of the 185/200 hardtails. It would be much easier on a 185S/200S with the right tires (no trail pros).

When I got back from Oark, I was pretty tired. I was setting down, trying to get motivated, then I could hear the band playing some Talking Heads. Psyco Killer got me up, fa fa fa fa fa fa fa...


Really good Saturday night. I carried my chair and beer to the stage area and really enjoyed the bands, the fire eaters, the hoop girls and some dude with squiggly lights that were really trippy. A whole lot of stuff going on. The entire stage area was surrounded by vendors and food trucks, so there really wasn't much need to bring food or clothes. Buy some tie-dyed shirts and eat some tacos.

FIREWORKS!

Yes, they even had fireworks. It was freaking awesome. I didn't expect that.


It was a very unique weekend and I want to go next spring. Several of the people I talked to had been going for years. I got the whole music festival experience, with the added benefit of being able to explore the Ozark forest at length in the same time.

I'm just going to lump the pics in together. You get the location and the event and I'm sure you can make them out.

[ATC King]

I won't be going to the ATV Rally in October. I could be talked into it, but unless there is some serious rain before then, it'll be a dust fest and that just isn't fun.

I would definitely need a mask and goggles.

Some time after some rain later this year is my plan for more riding.

A little off topic, but because I'm out there by myself a lot, I'm always thinking about things like bears and other wildlife if I'm in the woods at night. Large animals are the quietest, you've really got to be looking for them and sneaking through the woods at night is a great way to possibly surprise one. I was talking to someone about bear hunting yesterday and I learned it's a bigger deal in Arkansas than I thought. 440 bears were harvested in just two days last year.

Point is, at least carry a bear bag if you're going to wilderness camp. Food in your tent is a very, very bad idea.

[ATC King]

It's still very dry here. Most of the state is under a burn ban.


It looks like it'll be next year before I'll ride again, possibly not until Spring. In the meantime, I'm working on getting a couple hardtail projects going. I've got a pile of freshly painted parts and bags on new OEM small parts and need to start putting them together.

[ATC King]

There's a lot of negative mojo on this site right now. Is anyone just wanting to ride and have fun?


Edit: Getting a little cabin fever and got carried away with the dribble, thinking about riding. We did get some rain though. I probably won't be riding until a couple more months. It sucks not living somewhere I can just hop on the trike and go, like many other places I've lived. Some day...

[ATC King]

I won't be triking much this year, if at all.

I had an opportunity to travel the country for a good cause, and I took it up. It may be a few months to nearly the rest of the year. I have so many irons in the fire, that my year is going to be pretty busy, but in a very good way.

There's earning a check, then there's experiencing life and bringing it to others.

Not to be cryptic, I'll be volunteering for a cause that helps MS patients by raising money for treatment and research. We'll also be directly helping MS patients during many of our stops.

Anyone with more interest is welcome to PM me. I have a lot of emotions going into this, but it is still very exciting.

[ironchop]

I won't be triking much this year, if at all.

I had an opportunity to travel the country for a good cause, and I took it up. It may be a few months to nearly the rest of the year. I have so many irons in the fire, that my year is going to be pretty busy, but in a very good way.

There's earning a check, then there's experiencing life and bringing it to others.

Not to be cryptic, I'll be volunteering for a cause that helps MS patients by raising money for treatment and research. We'll also be directly helping MS patients during many of our stops.

Anyone with more interest is welcome to PM me. I have a lot of emotions going into this, but it is still very exciting.

Always good to see someone doing something significant that makes them feel good and makes an impact on others.

Bravo!

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[ATC King]

Life is made of memories, and the year I rode with you and others at Trikefest is part of mine.

You and your son in the rental box truck (awesome idea), the guys who camped next to me and I straightened out their BR bars at least once, the ATVonDemand guys who camped to my other side (the picture of me sitting on the 350X and I bought the DirtWheels edition to go with it), and the guy who got me back on track after I got to overwhelmed and was sleeping it off in a ditch. Yeah, some of you may remember that (and the butthole who decided to ride my trike while I was absent, yeah, I was mad about that, but I asked you 'how it rode' because the alternative would've ruined my trip and been an insult to the guy who helped a stranger), but I recovered and had a blast the rest of the night. Whoever let me sit on their Tecate and rev the crap out of it ++.I was embarrassed during the awards though, when my name was called for a newbie award, because they also called a girl's name who actually helped with the event. I just had too much fun, and didn't contribute anything, so I stayed seated so someone who actually done something could get it. I've always felt I offended that guy because I didn't answer when my name was called; I apologize. He really befriended me.

The mud from there is very difficult to remove though, and I lost part of my front fender because of it. I did find a dirtbike rider's front fender while looking for mine (and gave it back to him).

[ironchop]

Life is made of memories, and the year I rode with you and others at Trikefest is part of mine.

You and your son in the rental box truck (awesome idea), the guys who camped next to me and I straightened out their BR bars at least once, the ATVonDemand guys who camped to my other side (the picture of me sitting on the 350X and I bought the DirtWheels edition to go with it), and the guy who got me back on track after I got to overwhelmed and was sleeping it off in a ditch. Yeah, some of you may remember that (and the butthole who decided to ride my trike while I was absent, yeah, I was mad about that, but I asked you 'how it rode' because the alternative would've ruined my trip and been an insult to the guy who helped a stranger), but I recovered and had a blast the rest of the night. Whoever let me sit on their Tecate and rev the crap out of it ++.I was embarrassed during the awards though, when my name was called for a newbie award, because they also called a girl's name who actually helped with the event. I just had too much fun, and didn't contribute anything, so I stayed seated so someone who actually done something could get it. I've always felt I offended that guy because I didn't answer when my name was called; I apologize. He really befriended me.

The mud from there is very difficult to remove though, and I lost part of my front fender because of it. I did find a dirtbike rider's front fender while looking for mine (and gave it back to him).

Yup good times. That whole dirt cul-de-sac was full of some great ppl who I hope to be camping next to this year.

I was hoping to see your orange dentside but I know you have a bigger mission right now. Someday I'll get down to AR if I borrow my sister in laws 200ES and you can tour me thru Byrd's of you're not busy. Beautiful country down there.


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[ATC King]

Alright, there's a whole lot going on in my life right now. Byrdfest is going on right now and I think I'm going tomorrow. I know I'm closer than just about anyone else and it's last minute.

My BR is having issues, but I'm just going to keep it close to Byrd's and hang around for the music.

Shortly after Byrdfest, I'm traveling across the county, but before that, I'm quitting my job and moving, but I already have another job waiting. A lot of changes going on for me and I need a good send-off, so I'm just going to bite it and have fun.

The weather has been really stormy, but I'll try to make the best of it and have some major chill on Saturday.

[ironchop]

Alright, there's a whole lot going on in my life right now. Byrdfest is going on right now and I think I'm going tomorrow. I know I'm closer than just about anyone else and it's last minute.

My BR is having issues, but I'm just going to keep it close to Byrd's and hang around for the music.

Shortly after Byrdfest, I'm traveling across the county, but before that, I'm quitting my job and moving, but I already have another job waiting. A lot of changes going on for me and I need a good send-off, so I'm just going to bite it and have fun.

The weather has been really stormy, but I'll try to make the best of it and have some major chill on Saturday.

Where you moving to?

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[ATC King]

Still in Arkansas, just a couple hundred miles from where I am now.