Richloam 7-16-11

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Heading in at seven; out at noonish…home in time for mx on Fueltv. Anyone with a twenty-one inch front is welcome to tag along.

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Think I’ll go again next weekend. 

[mrbones]

Nice! You got there a 7:00am?!

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Didn't quite make that, about 8:30 I think. Then the sky started looking bad about 11:30 so I headed back and just beat the rain. Gotta tell you, it was really nice this morning. Almost cool. The KL did real good today. It's still in the run in and it just seems to run better and better. Ya know, I still have the entire east side of 471 to explore. I've never been in that side with the bike or the jeep.

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Think I’ll go again next weekend. 

It's next weekend...I'm going.

[mrbones]

Have a good one. I bet it's cool in the morning.

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Have a good one. I bet it's cool in the morning.

The weather was great this morning. You should bring your KLX back from Floral City some weekend and go. I stick to the less fluffy forest roads, although sometimes they turn into this…



Then a lot is like this.



Okay, some is like this.



^ Believe it or not, that's the North Boundary Road all overgrown.

[mrbones]

That place looks like it getting pretty wet. That can be frustrating on a dual sport.

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That place looks like it getting pretty wet. That can be frustrating on a dual sport.

Yup. Two photos up...notice the mirror missing.    Three photos up...tried to go around, I didn't make it.   

The Bridgestone Trail Wings on there are great on the road, but not too good out on the trail.

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...tried to go around, I didn't make it.   

Now that I think about it, neither did this guy. Ran into this on...where else but…Graveyard Road. There were no bodies inside.

[ducatifla]

Fired up my Garmin 60CSX, fueled up my 2008 WR250R, called my brother-in-law "Mr. BMW" aka "Hot Mess" and met up for a September 11th ride to Richloam.  I've driven past the entrance off Hwy-50 for the past 20 years and never thought to turn in.  I've been riding at Croom this past year and for an enduro rider it's a bit more than my 40 year-old, surgically repaired knees are looking for.  The roads at Richloam are exactly what my WRR is needing.  There is a large area to explore and I've only just started to scratch the surface of what Richloam has to offer.  Ya, I'll still roll through Croom ride the trails and sand pit with the YZ and 2-strock-chokes, but I'll finish my day exploring the Old Florida fire trails at Richloam.  Looking forward to camping on Northside Poters Gap.

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Hey! Welcome Ducatifla. Great photos, thanks for sharing. I used to ride a G450X up until last fall and the YZs for many years before that and the 2 smokers before. That one looks like the 650? Either way, you don't see many around. I think I've only ever seen one over at a bike night at steak & lube. Never had a WR but I know that they attract many a dual sport enthusiast.

Richloam is an awesome place to ride. If you like the forest roads, there's also the Croom WMA which is right on the west side of the fence from the MC Area. It's a lot smaller than Richloam but still fun. Another place I've recently been to 4 wheelin is the Citrus WMA. I've been meaning to get up to Citrus on my KL, but I just got another bike that's getting all my attention at the moment. Soon for sure. Here are some maps of the forest roads you might like from our sister site jeepflorida.com. Richloam, Croom, Citrus. You'll find more single track in Richloam than the others.

Anyway...damn! Glad you lobbed the post in. Hang around. Our admin is a dual sport guy too.

[mrbones]

Cool! Some more Richloam riders.

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Hey ducatifla, when you stop back in tell me what head light you have on the WR. Just noticed it...interesting.

[ducatifla]

DT:
The headlight is a 8" BajaDesign Sol-Tek
 
https://www.bajadesigns.com/NET/C-175/LA+PAZ+8+INCH+RACELIGHTS

The mount is custom built.  It shoots flames for miles.  The nice thing is the switch used lets me turn it on and off.  Bad thing is it's on HIGH all the time...  You can see in the photo at the top of the light/mount it does allow me to manually adjust it up and down with ease while riding.  I bought the bike in December of last year with 350 miles on it, from a guy who set it up for a continental divide ride, but didn’t go.  I’ve got less than 900 miles on it, but I hope to change that as it gets cooler. 

Any idea if it's safe to camp out off the bikes at Richloam in a group?

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That's a cool headlight. It looks like something you'd want on some gnarly trails in the dark.

I don't camp myself, but I've never heard of anyone having problems camping. I'm also a member of a large Jeep 4wd club that has camping trips to these WMAs all the time. I would suggest staying in the designated camping areas. When I see things like that burnt out pickup above, makes me wonder. Also, I've heard that the rangers want people to use the camping areas if they're going to have fires. Otherwise, you could camp anywhere in there.

The one thing to keep in mind is people hunt in these WMAs. During the hunting season (starts around November) everyone I know kind of just stays out for obvious reasons.

Another place for you guys to check out is Ocala National Forest if you haven't been. I was just up there yesterday playing around on some of the gravel roads on my adventure tourer.

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Winter coat (with liner), base layer, wooly socks and leather gloves...it was a little brisk when I left this morning, but it was nice to have the cooler weather. I've been neglecting the Sherpa a little with the new bike, so thought I'd hit the trails some. I haven't been out on the trail since having installed the risers. What a difference! Very enjoyable bike.














When I got back to Tampa I checked out a new place I'd heard of in West Tampa. Not sure how big the place was, not huge, maybe a couple hundred acres. I just spent about twenty minutes or so but really just looked around. It was a little on the gnarly side in spots from dirt bikes and atv churning up the sugar sand (nothing close to croom, though); some cool elevations. I'll go back when I have some more time. PM for location disclosure if anyone is interested in checking it out.

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Thought I’d run the KL today seeing as I haven’t had it out in awhile. About 20 miles on the trails, and 127 total miles. It was a little on the cool side this morning, but warmed up as it always does. Richloam is still a little wet in places, but many of the trails seemed hardpacked…which is good for those Bridgestone deathwings. Check out my new bash plate and engine guards. I got a killer deal!