MSTA Forums
Main Forums => General Discussion => Topic started by: Brick on January 27, 2015, 11:16:11 AM
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This should kind of put it all in perspective! I think if you click on it... well try it!
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Huh?
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Huh?
What he said.
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I understand him lol but he rides a lot in his own area also.
He's one of the lucky ones that have wonderful roads right in his back yard too.
Me I have to travel 200 miles to get to a set of curves :(
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I understand him lol but he rides a lot in his own area also.
He's one of the lucky ones that have wonderful roads right in his back yard too.
Me I have to travel 200 miles to get to a set of curves :(
Yeah, but you've been known to click that off before breakfast.....:)
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This may have been less confusing without the map and Brick just saying "I got great roads here that I ride".
Otherwise group me in with the crowd of HUH.
I have a hard time seeing SE which has very good roads as standing out on that map as a place to ride. Its a ways from the promiment mountains of Appalachia.
It does make it pretty clear why most of us love riding out west. The lower population and beautiful scenery are also big factors.
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Your comment about the SE being a location of good riding can be a bit distorted. The map above doesn't just make the Appalachians "appear" to be further north than you think...they ARE further north. From my home in mid-eastern Tennessee, I'm probably 100 miles closer to southern Ontario than I am to northern Florida. Yes, I know I can go in a slightly different direction and go more than twice as far northward without leaving the U.S., but I'm just trying to put things in perspective. Compared to going all the way to Maine or to Minnesota or the like, I'm definitely in the southeast. But you don't see that so much on that map.
I'm spoiled by the close proximity of excellent riding. I don't know if this is historically correct, but I theorize that our Appalachian roads today started as game trails, then foot paths, horse trails, wagon roads, and finally modern roads...to a great extent, they still following the original game trails. If accurate, my gratitude to the little furry creatures that created all of those curvy little paths is immense.
Again, this is just my theory, but the roads through the mountains of the west tend to have been created recently enough to be a victim of road builders' desire to make roads more direct. Instead of following the lay of the land, the roads plow straight ahead. It may be more efficient for road users, but it's a lot less interesting to me. I absolutely agree that the scenery can be spectacular and there are wonderful sections of road. But for the most part, they just aren't as curvy and tight as what you'll routinely find in the Appalachians.
Feel free to disagree...your opinion will be just as valuable as mine.
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Your comment about the SE being a location of good riding can be a bit distorted. The map above doesn't just make the Appalachians "appear" to be further north than you think...they ARE further north. From my home in mid-eastern Tennessee, I'm probably 100 miles closer to southern Ontario than I am to northern Florida.
Feel free to disagree...your opinion will be just as valuable as mine.
I'm not totally disagreeing with you but looking at maps like the one in question distorts lots of stuff. On the technical side, relief needs to be exaggerated by a factor of two or three to show off elevations. Shading really helps. When it comes to judging distance the map projection distorts either distance, area, or shape. You can't make a flat map that converts a round world accurately. When I did a quick mileage check using Nashville as a starting point. It is farther to the closest entry point to Canada than to the junction of I10 and I75 in FL. (but not by much) But your point is well taken that just looking at that map can lead to the wrong conclusions. First, the Appalachians start in Alabama and go through Maine into Canada. The map doesn't show the foot hill areas on both sides of the mountains very well that have fantastic riding. If Brick's point was to say he lives in fantastic riding country, that is spot on. IMO, he just needed a better map. LOL
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Hmmm... this wasn't supposed to be a trick. I was just showing where the mtns are compared to where one might live and ride. Not a big deal really.
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Dang!! I think I hear banjos playing!!:-)
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I agree the relief map could have been enlarged more but it does show the great difference in the height of the Rockies to the Appellations.
They range in height to 14000 ft where the Appellation top out at 6000 ft. Having grown up in Colorado and now living in north Georgia, what makes riding in this area so great is that it was settled many years before the West. Thus many more (Quantity & Quality) paved back roads that are maintained and frost heave free. You can set almost any destination and pick four or five ways to get there. And those are paved roads, throw in back dirt roads and it opens many more options. The West just doesn't have that. Building and maintaining those high roads out West, remember, the severe weather out there, also prohibits there making.
Add to that I can be in a part Georgia, NC, SC, TN, AL in an hour. I am not moving!!