Route Suggestions for MO, KY or OH

[maconjoe]

A couple of us here in TX are planning a fall trip to some of the areas I have not spent much time riding. If anyone has any suggestions as to specific roads, routes or general areas in MO, KY or OH, please share so that I can try to plan in Base Camp a 7-10 day trip. Planning to go in Sept when we hope temps will be a little cooler. Thanks for any input.

[doug mcpeek]

In Ohio the best roads are generally south and east of I-71, and there are many fun roads.  Any route that goes uphill away from the Ohio River toward the interior of the state is a good bet, especially the triple digit roads like 763, 775, 555, 260, etc...  Two digit roads like 41, 78, etc are usually less twisty but still very good.  Clusters of great riding can be found around Hocking Hills State Park near Logan or in Amish country near Dover, but perhaps the best is around Marietta in the southeast.  I'd be glad to help you narrow it down a bit when your plans are taking shape.  Are there any kinds of sights you want to see along the way?

[HawkGTRider]

Plan on visiting the Mail Pouch FlyBy in late August. Norm Kern and predecessors have many many fantastic routes laid out from Marietta, OH.

I'll bet there are somewhat interesting roads in many parts of Kentucky. But for my money, pretty much anything on the eastern side of the state will be your best bet. The border between Kentucky and Virginia is a gem. Our national rally was based in Lexington in 2005 and 2013. We might go somewhere once just to be different, but we don't go back a second time (or more) if it's not really good.

We have an event called the Bull Shoals Rally in September. This is one of our longest standing events. Please refer back one paragraph in regards to returning somewhere. This is a fun place.

[Patmo]

The roads in western KY, anywhere west of I65, are pretty much meh.  From central Ky over to WV you will find wonderful roads and very little traffic. I would be happy to share routes with you.  I host an MSTA rally located in Mt. Sterling, Ky, which is about 30 miles east of Lexington, and have several 200-300 routes out of there. We have also hosted it in Georgetown, Ky and Middlesboro, Ky. and have some routes out of those locations too.

[Larry Fine]

Don't rule out W. Va. We (ST Owners) will be staying at Canaan Valley for WV-STOC 9 from Sep. 29 through Oct. 3. It's a great base camp. Let me know if you want more info.

[maconjoe]

Thanks for all the input on areas in KY & OH. For the most part, the only things we are looking for is fun roads, not too much interested in historic locations, state parks, etc. Any particular ideas on cool lodging or awesome diners is always appreciated. As the plans develop, I may circle back to you guys for more specific routes via gpx files if available or just route numbers. Thanks again!

[Larry Fine]

Joe, I meant my last post to be an invitation.

They make a group breakfast every morning, we stop at a different local place for lunch, and eat a great dinner every evening around the fire.

Of course, all bike brands are welcome.

[stevegrab]

I'll echo what Doug said about Ohio. The roads up and down to the Ohio River in the SE corner are great, one of the Mail Pouch routes uses them, up one, down the next, up the next and so on. 26 through the Wayne Forest is one of the best.

Beallsville Diner in the town of Beallsville (NE of Marietta) is a pretty cool place many of us have eaten at. Hopefully they're still open (have noticed more closed places over the last year).

[maconjoe]

Thanks for the info and route #s. Really have to expand BaseCamp to find those routes. I welcome any other input as to OH roads and locations as it looks like we will focus on KY/OH. Anyone I can contact for Mail Pouch routes? Thanks again.

[Patmo]

Thanks for the info and route #s. Really have to expand BaseCamp to find those routes. I welcome any other input as to OH roads and locations as it looks like we will focus on KY/OH. Anyone I can contact for Mail Pouch routes? Thanks again.

www.flybyweek.com

[stevegrab]

Mail Pouch Routes - you should be able to access the GPS files from last year, try this link.
https://flybyweek.com/EZselector.html  (Pat beat me to it as I wrote my novel)
Norm Kern runs that event and if you want to contact him click the Contact link on that page. He's one of the clubs routing masters too.

Focusing on KY/OH is probably a good start. There's also some real good roads in WV, that will be part of various Mail Pouch routes. One of the favorites for many people is WV16, its not great close to OH River but the rest of it south of Harrisville is a blast.

I usually have some general plan (need to get from one place to another in X days) and then start stringing together the "good roads" with bits of less appealing stuff to make the trip.

I haven't used this site in some years, but motorcycleroads.com was one I'd use when trying to plan routes in unfamiliar areas. It does a good job showing the routes on scalable/scrollable Google maps  with various colors. I can see they've made a lot of nice changes and I need to explore the site more.

Enjoy your planning, and the riding