Ride Report: Secondary roads lead to first-class riding

By Grant Parsons

It’s called an Adventure Ride, so I should have expected this.

But I still have to smile when the narrow, tree-covered two-track I’m riding crests a steep hill, turns right and unceremoniously turns into a mud bog -- and not just any mudbog, but the kind of snot-slippery mudbog where solid surface and a 3-foot-deep mud hole look exactly the same.

I’m on mile 18 of the Nutcracker 200, the first day of one the best, laid-back woods-riding weekends you’ll find anywhere.

Like all rounds of the AMA BMW National Adventure Riding Series and the AMA KTM National Dual-Sport Trail Riding Series, the Nutcracker 200 is a great way to experience some new routes and let someone else do all that finicky mapping and route-chart stuff. It’s already delivered, sending me along some great gravel roads and two-track that I never knew existed, despite living in this region for a decade.

But then there’s this mud-bog, right here in the middle of the road. It doesn’t matter. I still need to get to the other side, despite the somewhat conservative street tires on the KTM Adventure I’m riding. I cruise through the pothole-dotted stretch, feathering the clutch a bit to smooth the big twin’s power. With only a few slips, I emerge a bit later miraculously unstuck.

My adventure started that morning, when I pulled into the Woods at Kaeppner’s Place, located north of Logan off state Route 93. The Woods are the brainchild of lifetime off-road riding junkie Bill Kaeppner, who spent years riding in and around Logan County, and then decided to buy 200 acres, build tons of trail connected to the Wayne National Forest Monday Creek OHV area and stage races and rides (see www.kaeppnerswoods.com).

The Nutcracker 200, traditionally held every fall, is promoted by the Buckeye Dual Sporters, a long-time Ohio off-road riding club. The club also puts on the Hanging Rock 200, one of the most popular adventure and dual-sport rides on the national calendar. The Hanging Rock is held at Ohio’s Lake Hope State Park every spring.

Like many stops in the AMA BMW National Adventure Riding Series, the Nutcracker 200 is a dual round of the AMA KTM National Dual-Sport Trail Riding Series (read about the dual-sport route here). Both series start from the same staging grounds -- in this case, Kaeppner’s Place -- but there are two routes. One includes gravel road and two-track for large adventure-class bikes like the KTM Adventure I’m riding. The other involves as little road as possible to connect miles of trail, some of it considerably hard-core, for barely legal dual-sport bikes.

I’m a big fan of adventure riding and dual-sport motorcycles, and I’ve owned at least one for most of a decade. Living in Columbus has given me a chance to find some great gravel roads over the years. All I’ve ever had to do was point my front wheel southeast toward the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and pick any gravel turnoff I pass.

But as I look over the route sheet’s 121 turns in 148 miles, I come to three quick conclusions.

One, I’m going to be riding on a heck of a lot of roads I’ve never been on before. Two, with this many turns, maybe I should have brought my GPS to download the route into. Three, if I don’t slow down to enjoy the scenery, I won’t see any of it, because I’m going to be spending most of my time staring at this route sheet and doing mile/turn math.

Sounds like my kind of day.

As I head out of Kaeppner’s place, I use the first half-hour or so remembering my old-school route-chart skills. By the time I gas up at our first break in Shawnee, I’m feeling at enough ease to start appreciating the scenery.

The route is a good one. Southeastern Ohio’s rolling hills make the perfect backdrop for the sinuous gravel roads draped over and between them. On this particular day, fall color is just starting to poke through.

The backwoods routes are the kind of lightly maintained dirt roads that are perfect for the KTM. The thin layer of gravel has been worn away in the center, leaving marble-sized rollers that make for fun, easy mini-powerslides in corners. And they’re practically devoid of other traffic.

As the miles roll by, I can’t help but marvel at the choice bits that the Buckeye Dual Sporters strung together for this ride. I spend hardly any time on paved roads, and though I occasionally spot a landmark I know, I almost always come on it from a different direction than I have before. I even cross a covered bridge or two.

I thought I knew this area pretty good, but apparently not.

By midday, I pop out of the tree canopy and roll into the town of Murray City and find the volunteer fire department, where lunch is provided for the ride participants, as well as for those riding the dual-sport route.

The parking lot is jammed with woods bikes, many of them covered in mud—the dual-sport ride must be challenging. Riders mill around, bench racing or resting up for the next round.

I take a minute to talk with Kaeppner, who’s there making sure everyone’s having a good time. He notes that for the dual-sport route, he’s managed to get permission from dozens of private landowners for trail access, testament to the goodwill that trail-riders have built up in the area.

“For most owners, the No. 1 issue with motorcycles in the woods is noise,” he says. “That’s why we test every bike with a sound meter to be sure they’re quiet. It makes a difference.”

After lunch, there’s more backroads, as we chase over the hills. The complicated route chart keeps me on my toes, and it gives the ride a rally-like flavor.

“Let’s see, according to the route sheet, the odometer should read 43.5 miles at the next turn, a left,” I’m figuring. “That means another seven-tenths of a mile before the turn, but my odometer is off about two-tenths miles right now. So that means my odometer should read 43.7 at the turn. No, wait. It’s 43.3.

“Got it -- now, was that a left or a right?”

It goes that way during most of the afternoon, rolling along past houses, farms and fields.

As I close in on the end of the ride in Logan, I cross over a highway, where I can see an exit sign that tells me we can’t be more than about 8 miles from the rally site. But my route sheet says we’ve got more than 20 to go -- my kind of ride.

On my own, there’s no way I could have covered 140 miles of gravel this easily, what with all the stopping and map-checking I’d need to do. Here, I’m making each turn like a pro.

Finally, with the sun low in the sky, I pull back down the gravel road to Kaeppner’s place, to find the field packed with campers, dirtbikes, tents and riders making their way toward the dinner tent.

As I pitch my own tent before heading over toward the food, I realize the best part about the Nutcracker 200: There’s a whole second day of this tomorrow.

Grant Parsons is the director of communications for the American Motorcyclist Association.

Grant Parsons