A few weeks ago, Curtis Sloan put an advert on the Sloan's website talking about his desire to go on a dual sport ride and invited those interested to join him. When this was originally posted, he was looking at riding a portion of the Trans-America Trail, or TAT, as it's referred to. I followed along as more details about this ride became available and eventually it was decided that he was going to take a ride on the Tennessee Dirt Devil. Now I was really interested as I had heard about the Dirt Devil a few months ago and had been wanting to check it out. Let me back up for a minute.

Back in the first couple of weeks after launching Nashvilleriders.com Dave Maddox, who runs Dualpurposetn.com, contacted me after finding our site advertised on Craigslist. He wanted to spread the word about the dual sport rides that his group puts together riding on what they call the Tennessee Dirt Devil. The Dirt Devil is a collection of about  200 miles of dirt and some paved roads that are all public access, not private land, which is great for dual sport riding. Dualpurposetn.com not only offers guided tours of these roads but also offers maps of the Dirt Devil for purchase so one can find their own way around.

This NX250 is one we purchased for Carmen as a starter bike for her as she was just learning to ride last year. She went with me one day to Castle Powersports to look (just look) at this NX250 they had for sale. I wanted to go look at it possibly for myself as I was thinking about getting some type of dual sport ride. Well she liked it. She liked the looks and she liked the light weight and low seat. We brought the NX home the next day and she rode it often until she left to be in Italy for most of this year. She encouraged Johnny and I to ride it so it wouldn't just be sitting and so we did but, it had always been on the street. Today was going to be it's first trek (with me) off the paved path.

I arrived at Puckett's in Leiper's Fork about 8:45am and there was already a sizable group of enduros there in addition to the usual sportbikes and cruisers you'll find there on the weekends. I parked the NX and made my way over to a group of bikes at the back of the lot which included KLR's, a KTM or two, and a DR650. I assumed that these were probably riders that would be joining us and I was right. People were grouping together and talking about their bikes, their gear, and if they had ridden the Dirt Devil before. I moved from group to group introducing myself and checking out the bikes and taking some photos.

At one point I started to talking to a guy named Blake, who turns out is one of guys that helps Dave out with these rides and would be riding sweep today. I talked to Blake a bit about my experience (or great lack thereof) and asked him what to expect on the ride. He was very forthcoming with information and gave me several pointers on dual sport riding in general to help me get through the day. It was a lot to take in but I did actually remember a few things. There would be a few more times during the day's ride where Blake would help coach myself and others on the best ways to approach what lay in store for us.

A little after 9:00 Dave showed up on his Yamaha XT600. Before he even had a chance to swing his leg off the bike several riders had come to him to introduce themselves and ask about the day's ride. Dave's an outgoing and friendly sort and he seemed very happy to answer all questions and give out plenty of handshakes. He really seemed in his element and his enthusiasm for dual sport riding shows. The fact we had nearly 20 bikes on this Sunday definitely was certainly making his day and the anticipation for the start of the ride was reaching everybody. Curtis Sloan had shown up now too with his friend Justin on a brace of Yamaha WR250r's. Another friend of their's had been there for a while and it turned out he was on the KTM I spotted earlier.

So the group was pretty much set now and Dave gave us some quick instructions to follow him for a few miles til we reached the first of the dirt roads and there we would stop and have a brief rider meeting to go over the few, but important rules. I finished off my Puckett's coffee and stepped over the NX and geared up. Having already decided I was going to hang in the back today, I took my time and let people start heading out of the parking lot while I sat on the idling NX. Finally after there were only a couple of bikes left I headed out onto the road.

After only a couple miles down Old Hillsboro Road one rider already had some trouble. A couple of riders had already pulled over with him so I continued on to the meetup for the rider meeting. After a few minutes we took a right off of Old Hillsboro and started up a dirt road. The road was pretty smooth and was easy enough to navigate and at this point I started thinking to myself "Stay off the front brake". Being a street rider I rarely use my rear brake much except when on a loose or wet surface so the instinct was sort of already there, but can't be too careful. I'd never had to rely on it for a long period of riding so the voice in my head would remain for while at least to remind me.

We only had gone a mile or two when we stopped by a spot about 10 feet or so above a creek. This was the spot for the meeting. Dave was already off his bike and started talking to us about what to expect. One thing he wanted to press upon us was the fact that, despite the way the roads looked, these are public roads and we may run into the occassional car or truck coming the other way. We needed to keep this in mind going around blind turns and make sure we stayed to the right side of the road. He told us we would be taking some detours today due to road construction no doubt caused by the recent flooding, and that we would be getting back on the pavement here and there to get to the "good stuff".

At this point our other riders who had stayed behind with the XT rider had arrived. Turns out the XT had a fueling problem and the rider was going to go back to Puckett's where he had trailered the bike to this morning. One rider out already, but at least it didn't happen to him in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't much left to discuss and we soon were back on our rides heading up the hill. This first road was relatively tame and gave me some time to get used to turning and pushing the bike under me instead of wanting to lean with it.

After a short while, the dirt and small gravel gave way to sections of large 5-6" sized rocks, the kind used to repair roads I guess and used as a base layer (like I know what they use). These were spots you wanted to stand up  on the pegs and use your clutch to adjust your speed. This was something else that I needed to keep in mind. You'll use your clutch a lot when on dirt and such to adjust your speed. The brake can be too touchy and using the clutch will let one spin up the motor to keep it in the power range for your engine. This was somehting I had been told I would need to stay aware of and I was surprised out how quickly I adjusted to this. The NX is a very forgiving little bike and put up with my experimentation while I adjusted to this style of riding.

Going up hills was great fun on the NX and the 250 engine pulls better than one would expect. Coming down the hills though could be something of a sphincter tightening experience. Downhill turns can be a little unnerving  on the street at times, but doing it on a loose surface is another animal altogether. The rear drum is actually pretty strong and can lock a wheel rather easy so I tended to be a slow poke coming down hills. I feel bad for those that were behind me for making them wait as I putted through those portions but no one seemed upset and let me ride my own ride.

So I've been over dirt, rocks, bigger rocks and so far no real drama and I started feeling good about this.. and then there was a line of bikes forming ahead. "Did someone go down?" I was thinking. Nope, it was a creek. Great! Our first water crossing of the day and my first one ummm, ever. I know this is like "the" fun part for many dual sport riders but to the uninitiated (OK, me) it makes as much sense as a football bat. The good thing about being in the back though is that you can sit back and watch the other riders cross and see where it's shallow and where it's not. I was able to watch about five riders make the crossing before it was my turn. It didn't look that deep or slippery and to quote the great philosopher Clarkson "How hard can it be?".

Now I know you dual sport and dirt riders reading this are saying right now "Dude, it's just a little creek, just roll on through." Well maybe I heard that in my head at the time or maybe it was Clarkson's words, but either way I rolled into the creek and spun up the engine. Using the clutch to control my speed as mentioned earlier, I coaxed the little NX through the water all the while watching the creek just ahead of the front wheel. Somehow I was reaching the other side and sort of jutted out of the water as I was still spinning the engine up too much. I grabbed the front brake instinctively and then quickly let off. I was lucky the ground was well packed there so I had slowed down without losing the front but once I was back on the throttle and following the rest of the group I was able to feel good about getting through the water and still be upright.

The NX and I trundled on for a while to the next crossing which was a bit larger but also had a steep bump up on the other side. I was feeling a little better about the water thing and so I rode on through without hesitation. Coming up on the other side though I found the bump dropped sharply on the other side and that I was heading for a muddy, foot deep rut from what looked like a truck tire. I ended up looking too much at the rut and of course instead of avoiding it I ended up riding its edge for a moment before the front wheel dropped into the rut. Unstable to say the least I did what I was told by others to do when things get sort of "wonky" when off road.. Gas it! And so did.

It wasn't pretty and I'm sure it was pretty comical looking, but I did get through the rut and ended up heading for the left side of the road with my back tire bouncing about. I finally came to a stop only a few feet ahead of the rut, but I was stopped basically going up the hill off the left side of the road with my front wheel essentially off the road entirely. Somehow I had kept the bike upright and then I looked behind me to see the next rider had hit the same rut and fallen over. I asked if he was alright and he was already getting up. I'm not sure what help I would have been anyway since I really couldn't get off my bike with out rolling back over his to get back on the road. Once he passed by I scooted back on the the road and we headed up to the next stop where everyone was waiting for us to catch up.

In short order we were all back on the "road' and the ride continued. Again we met with various surfaces involving rock, dirt, silt (no fun) and more water crossings. Not too much later we had another rider take a spill around a sharp corner at the bottom of a steep hill. He was able to get up and keep going but I think he left at the next patch of asphalt we reached. Another rider had left also bringing the total to about fifteen now if I remember correctly. More steep grades and changing surfaces kept coming my way and I was starting to get it now, the appeal of this type of riding. I actually recall being able to look around briefly and enjoy the scenery around me. I was hot and getting a little tired but I felt like I was making progress.. and then we got to the next water crossing.

This one was much larger than the previous ones and it involved having to ride along about four feet from the edge creek before cutting across to other side. How did we know this? By the time I was able to see the creek I saw several people off their bikes having to push a familiar blue Yamaha XT through the water. Yep, Dave had found a nice deep spot and his bike quit running while in the water. After they got his bike to the other side the rest of us lined up to ride through. Again I was lucky to be in the back so I had time to watch see where everyone else was going through.

A few minutes later I was lined up and ready to roll. I started into the water and kept my eyes directed to the spot where everyone else had turned to "dogleg" to the other side. Of course I still did something stupid and took my feet off the pegs like I was going to be able to hold the bike up if I started going over. Despite that though I made it to the spot and turned to my right. Now I kept my eyes on the opposite bank and not looking just ahead of the front tire. Ahhh, that's what you do. It's just like street riding, you need to look where you want to go. It should have been obvious all along but better late than never. I rolled up on the other side and parked the NX.

Now here's a tip for new riders. Don't wear short boots if you're going to be crossing water. My bonehead foot-down maneuver garnered me two boots full of water and while my boots are waterproof, this feature actually became a problem. As the ride went on my waterproof boots held that water for the rest of the ride including the entire way home. Here's where I got my first of two pieces of advice from Butch, the rider in black on the DR650. Keep your feet up on the pegs and dont' put them down in the water. You'll catch your foot on something (and get water in your boots) and then you're really screwed.

After everyone finished crossing our attention was turned to Dave's XT. The bike wouldn't start up again so while a group worked with Dave on the bike the rest of us took the time to take hang out in the shade and relax for a bit. The situation was kinda getting grim for Dave's XT as it still wouldn't fire up. At one point they tied Curtis' WR250r to it and he pulled Dave on his XT in the grass next to us to try and get her going, but no such luck. Finally they were able to get the spark plug out and found that it was wet. They turned the engine over several time with the plug out to try and ge the water out. Then Butch suggested (he's good at this) that they screw the plug in just a bit and do it again. This would create a smaller, higher pressure opening that would make it easier to force the water out. After doing this they put the plug in the rest of the way and fired her up again. It took a bit of cranking but eventually the XT came back to life.

This had taken about 45 minutes or so and now that our leader's bike was going again we geared up and got back on the trail (road, trail, whatever). The next portion of the ride was without drama. I was feeling more comfortable with the ability of the NX to keep my inexperienced butt out of trouble and now I was looking forward to the water crossings. Nothing else I ran into for the rest of my ride was too out of hand and the NX just kept purring along. We stopped a couple of more times before we reached Hwy 100 which then took us to Centerville where we stopped for lunch.

At this point it was a little after 1:00 and we were all ready to eat and chill for a bit. I mentioned as I was getting off my bike that I was going to take off my boots and get the water out. Butch said it was a bad idea and I should wait till I get home as I would find it more uncomfortable to be stuck in damp footwear than flooded ones. This was the second of the two pieces of advice I got from Butch that day so I left my feet squishing in my Alpinestars.

Lunch was excellent and the water glasses couldn't be refilled fast enough but by about 2:15 we were making our way back to our bike. At this point the Tennessee Dirt Devil had seen the last of me for the day. I was tired and that combined with lack of experience was just asking for trouble and I wasn't going to push my luck. I mentioned to Dave and Blake that I was going to head back to Old Hickory and it turned out Blake was heading back to town too. Dave thanked me for coming out and I in turn thanked him for the great day of riding. We left the square in Centerville to gas up at the nearby Shell Station and from their Blake and I took off down Hwy 100.

I'm not sure how much longer everyone stayed out that day but I hope they had fun. The 75 mile ride home gave me plenty of time to think about the experience. I definitely want to go back and do some more and hopefully with many of the same people. Dave and his guys did agreat job of watching out for everyone and getting us around the detours that stood between us and the good roads. Dave had told me that this is a great ride for people getting started in dirt/dualsport riding and I have to say that I agree. I actually survived the day with out any drops (I tried a couple of times though) and after a while was developing a comfort level with conditions I was encountering. However, I would recommend that if you have the means, definitely go and get some seat time on a dirtbike or dualsport off the road somewhere.

In closing I have to say that I see the appeal now to off road riding. While I don't know that I'll ever like it more than street riding, the challenges it presents are enticing. The Tennessee Dirt Devil certainly has a wide variety of terrain and it constantly changes so no matter what aspect of dual sport riding you like, you'll likely find it here (ok, maybe not desert riding). If you want to experience this for yourself, and you know you do, then contact Dave Maddox and/or go to his site Dualpurposetn.com. I'll be contacting Dave myself here shortly to see if he has a schedule I can post on our calendar here at Nashvilleriders.com.

I want to thank Dave, Blake, Curtis, and everyone else that made this ride happen. If you were on this ride with us and you have pictures and/or video you'd like to share please contact me. I was only able to take a handful of photos but I know some people had cameras running that day (that's you Curtis) so if you got some pics & vids let me know.

-Brandon

More pictures to come...