Relentlessly Twisty Hilly Tree Covered Western Maryland and Pennsylvania Ride
388.6 miles for them that are curious.
Green Ridge State Forest Dual Sport Ride
The gravel/dirt/4x4 trails start immediately as you exit off I68. Green Ridge has much better and more interesting dirt and gravel roads than Michaux State Forest does. We found one 4x4 trail at an advanced beginner to intermediate level that was fun.
The forest is simply beautiful. We will have to go there again.
Frederick Municipal Watershed and Michaux State Forest Dual Sport Ride
Three DR650's met for a day of pavement, dirt, sunshine, rain, mud, and cold.
Freakishly Warm December 27, 2015 Day Ride in PA and Md
Duncan and I rode out North and West on a freakishly warm December day to find yet another set of truly wonderful roads. Especially the roads heading North from 68 and then west along 30 were just wonderful.
2015 October Surprising Little Roads Ride
On Columbus Day, Duncan and I did a short little 117 mile ride through some surprisingly nice tree covered roads hiding between areas of suburban sprawl. While none of these roads would make for a destination, if you happen to be around Annapolis, they might make for a nice afternoon excursion. Chesterfield Road and Johns Hopkins Roads are particularly nice.
We did a lot of doubling back as we explored these little roads. There was little traffic, many cross streets, and driveways, but regardless it turned out to be a very nice fall ride.
2015 Ian's British Columbia Weekend Run
Ian did this ride over the weekend and posted a description in the forum. I really need to get this mapping software more usable.
2015 Very Wet Western Maryland West Virginia Fall Ride with Joel
Joel and his father John came down to Maryland from New Hampshire. While John was in class, Joel and I took a little ride out to Western Maryland despite the weather forecast. The early part of the day was entertaining. We ended up on Harpers Ferry Road which is this bouncy hilly twisty little fun road where the crests are so narrow you're likely to catch air if you're not careful. We found our way to Berkeley Springs for lunch at which point the rain started, more of a drizzle really. We followed Route 9 for quite some time trying various dead end side roads. We eventually found our way to Bear Hill Road which was quite nice but at this point it had started to rain consistently. As the sun went down into a soggy horizon we opted to super slab it back.
2015 Joel and John's PA Ride
Loosely influenced by the maps I posted 
isurfne and 
John St John recorded the route below.
Route 400 Across Kansas
While much slower than taking the Interstate, I find this route across Kansas to be much less monotonous and more interesting. It goes through cattle country and wends it's way through a number of cattle towns. Dodge City is a real treat.
2015 September Western Maryland Twisty Tree Covered Mountain Ride
Why didn't anyone ever tell me the roads in the Western Maryland Panhandle were so good?
buffaloare I took our sport touring bikes (he on his 2009 BMW K1300S and me on my 1992 BMW K100RS) and rode out from the DC area to exit 34 on route 68 just past Cumberland Maryland. I had see Savage River Road on a map another member here posted and wanted to check it out. I thought it might turn into gravel but it turned out to be just a wonderful little twisty hilly tree covered mountain road that went on for a good ways along a mountain stream. In higher elevations the leaves were already starting to turn so some corners appeared treacherous.
This went on for quite some time and that road is worth the trip out there alone. It just a stunningly beautiful area. Duncan had never seen Deep Creek Lake before so we made our way out there and had lunch at the Pine Lodge Steakhouse. I had been there last year.
From there we took Sang Run Road to White Rock Road and once again found ourselves in just wonderfully hilly tree covered mountainous terrain. This trend continued to the Westernmost border of Maryland and through West Virginia as we made our way South.
We took Route 7 east. This was a bigger less interesting road which eventually turned into 39 and then 135. Once we turned off on 38 the roads got good again and this trend continued on until we reached 220 at which point it was time to head back home.
All told our loop was just under 420 miles and we hardly noticed the distance. Over the last few weeks we've just had the best luck finding great roads, but this area around the Western Panhandle will need to be explored a little more thoroughly.
September 2015 Michaux State Forest Road DR650SE Dual Sport Ride
buffalo and I spent a day riding through Michaux State forest after I had done an exploratory trip the day before. There is a vast system, for near DC standards, of gravel and dirt forest roads all through this area. Most are distressingly well maintained, however a few range towards challenging. There are switchbacks up over small mountains, tree covered sunbeam lit passages, and a whole range of scenery.
Pennsylvania Recommended Roads
After I posted the map from yesterday's ride to the BMW MOA group on Facebook I got some replies about other roads in the area we should check out.
These routes were recommended by Lee Hetrick.
Saving them here for posterity.
Pennsylvania Dual Sport Tracks
I found a set of GPX files over at ADVrider in this thread:
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/pa-md-va-wv-route...;
Saving them here for posterity.
buffalo
Pennsylvania Whipples Dam Road
Another track found at ADVRider
2015 September Fantastic Pennsylvania Little Bouncy Mountain Country Road Ride
This was arguably the best day long ride we have ever had anywhere around Washington DC. We slabbed it up 85 miles from North of the City to Mont Alto, PA where we picked up Route 233.
Route 233 is simply a fantastic twisty hilly mountain park road that goes one for quite some miles in tree covered beauty. We continued on to Pine Grove Road which was more of the same.
From Mount Holly Springs where we had lunch we continued on to Route 74 which we short circuited to ride route 944 West which was a surprisingly fun hilly curvy farm country road. From there we picked up 233 to head over the mountains. Again 233 is just fantastic with tree covered serious inclines and all kinds of corners. We turned left on route 850 for more cornering fun all seemingly devoid of traffic.
From there we found our way to Black Log Road which was this lane and a half wide endless road that went through isolated little mountain settlements in the middle of nowhere for so long we began to worry about fuel.
August 2015 Northern Virginia/Maryland Gravel Roads Ride
buffalo (Duncan), who helps me run Miles by Motorcycle, and I took our #dr650se's out across White's Ferry near Poolesville, Maryland to go in search of gravel roads to ride in the area North of Leesburg, Va and South of Frederick, Maryland. We were surprised at the number of tree covered gravel country roads there are in this area. Some went up into the hills and had some nice elevation changes. All were tame and easily traversed by car but it was a beautiful ride nonetheless. Is suspect there are more challenging roads hiding in the hills to the West.
September 2015 Pennsylvania Orchard Loop
On Sunday, Duncan and I took the BMW's out for a 360 mile loop through Pennsylvania. Having ridden so many roads closer in to Washington DC we decided to hit the super slab to go explore areas we haven't often ventured into. It's easy to forget how close things are. After just 81 miles of slab we found ourselves in Clear Spring, MD. From there we took Route 75 north which, while pretty, was not that great. Where things got interesting, however, was when we headed East along Route 74. This went over a few mountain ranges and included some beautiful vistas. Our luck with roads improved dramatically as we found ourselves on the wickedly little lane and a half farm roads through apple orchard country. Of particular note was Route 233 through Michaux State Forest in addition to Cold Springs Road. For the next ride, I think we'll explore the rest of 233 further north.
Wonderfully Twisty Maryland Pennsylvania Tree Tunnel Ride
Duncan and I went on a 250 mile random loop ride where we just followed random roads in Pennsylvania and Maryland. This turned out to be a fantastic ride of some wonderfully twisty little tree covered roads especially in the upper left quadrant of the map. In places the tree canopy covered the road creating a tree tunnel effect.
June 2015 Wickedly Twisty Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia Ride
buffalo and I went on a 305 mile loop ride with a group of riders led by Jim Ford of the Riders Workshop ( http://ridersworkshop.com ).
Jim's ability to stitch together small sections of twisty roads into a cohesive tour is truly impressive. It's hard to believe there are all these small gnarly roads so close to DC.
