Puppy Dog Ride Week of July 17th

Ted Hall (Heifermeister) will get people started on the Puppy Dog Ride on Tuesday, July 18, in Brattleboro, VT, between the hours of 8:00 am and 9:30. Location: Parking Lot at "Brattleboro West Plaza", 1.7 miles west of intersection of Interstate 91 (at exit 2) and Rte 9, West Brattleboro, Vermont. NOTE: The store(s) in this "plaza" are not currently occupied.

You will be given a map and set on your way. You travel at your own pace. The ride ends in the Jonesboro / Richmond area with easy access to I-89 so you can then proceed to Lake Carmi. The ride to the end point is about 192 miles.

Wednesday morning, July 19, you will be given maps to complete the ride from Lake Carmi back to the Richmond/Jonesboro area. This ride is about 65 miles long.

At the completion of the ride, you will receive your Puppy Dog reflective sticker.

For those of you not arriving early who want to run the Puppy Dog Ride, maps will be available from the Hospitality Tent at the Rally. The northern route is new, and is completely different from our annual PDR northern route.

Hope you join us,

Muriel Farrington

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is the Puppy Dog Ride?
Inquiring minds want to know.

Me too...My ex- use to put our "son" Oliver, a minature poodle in a back pack with the pack on her chest. Oliver went everywhere with us. The ex- had her own bike. This sounds like "take your best friend for ride"

I really want to do this ride, but I will not be arriving until Wednesday. Why not post a GPS file for this ride? This is 2006, alot of BMW rider have GPS. Offer the paper maps for those who want them.

Scott

The Puppy Dog Ride is written up in the June issue of ON. Basically it is a two-day ride from near the Massachusetts border to the Canadian border on mostly dirt roads- and the roads are town-maintained . . . graded. Conditions vary with the weather, but are usually rather friendly. The route designed for National is shorter than our normal annual ride. The routes take you into the real back country with views that one never gets used to.

GPS is a good idea, but those of us laying out the route don't have GPS - we tend to keep things simple. There may be people out there who do have the GPS coordinates, but I don't know who they'd be. Besides, using GPS takes some of the challenge out of it

You can either ride before National (Tuesday and Wednesday) or run it on your own.

Muriel

Puppy Dog

so you can do it in one day and without a GPS?? Is it 1100RS friendly?? thanks john shuck

Can you do it in one day? On a street bike? I guess that depends on your skill level on dirt and the condition of your tires, as well as the condition of the roads. One year we had a guy do it on a Goldwing . . . but he was a Blue Knight. Since I haven't done the shortened southern portion (30 miles shorter than our normal route), and I've never done the new northern portion, I can't really say how long it would take. The beauty of the ride is you are not far from paved roads, so you can bail at any time. Typically the roads are in better shape than some paved roads, but that's no guarantee. Although town maintained, if they've recently been graded, and it rains, the conditions change rapidly. If it has rained hard previously, you may find washboard sections. It it's been very dry (not this year so far!), you can find more sand and dust.

Muriel

Getting to Brattleboro

I will be staying in Burlington the night of the 17th. I am evaluating two routes to get to Brattleboro. Interstates 89 and 91 vs. US 7 south to Bennington and then VT 9 east. My Mapsource software plots the interstate route at just under 3 hours and the more scenic route at about 3:25. Where I come from, Indiana, most US highways are riddled with stop lights and can be painfully slow going over the long haul. Is this true of US 7 or is like most state highways where you just throttle back, drop down a gear or two and coast through small towns for a minute and hit your pace again on the other side.
I really detest Interstates (being a PDR kind of guy) but my fear is that the relatively long morning run to the starting point will take longer than predicted.

Your thoughts, anyone?

Barry Martin

Barry - you were planning to come down early the 19th to Brattleboro? or the evening of the 18th and staying closer to Brattleboro?

If the former, take the interstate. It is still scenic, and you have less likelihood of hitting a 4-legged beast if you leave early, early.

Rt 7 near Burlington can be slow with lights, but you'd have to leave pretty darned early to get to Brattleboro. Getting on Rt 100 in Waterbury and heading south to Rt 30 (Near Peru, north of Jamaica) to Brattleboro is *very* scenic, no real traffic, slow for towns, but would take quite a while.

Recommend going down the night before - just to enjoy the roads.

Muriel

Morning Route

Muriel said:

Barry - you were planning to come down early the 19th to Brattleboro? or the evening of the 18th and staying closer to Brattleboro?

If the former, take the interstate. It is still scenic, and you have less likelihood of hitting a 4-legged beast if you leave early, early.

Rt 7 near Burlington can be slow with lights, but you'd have to leave pretty darned early to get to Brattleboro. Getting on Rt 100 in Waterbury and heading south to Rt 30 (Near Peru, north of Jamaica) to Brattleboro is *very* scenic, no real traffic, slow for towns, but would take quite a while.

Recommend going down the night before - just to enjoy the roads.

Muriel

Click to expand...

Thanks, that is what I needed to know. I am planning to come down that morning (Tuesday, I thought that was when it is starting). I will be arriving late on Monday night after two long days of riding with my travel companions. I won't be in the mood to continue on to Brattleboro that night.

Barry (RDOG on advrider.com)
R1200GS
Bloomington, Indiana

Posted Speed Limit

Reminder: Top "Posted Speed Limit" on Vermont secondary roads is 50 MPH. State Police allow for plus 5-9 mph & that's it.

South Burlington

camping?

Is there camping near the start of the ride ? as I will be coming from NJ on monday. Also do you for see alot of people [30 to 60]for this ride or just a small group? thanks

Excellent ride

My wife and I did the southern part of the Puppy Dog on our way up to the rally on Wednesday. We finished the northern part on Thursday. What great fun! It was the first time either of us had ridden on dirt roads. We saw parts of VT most folks never get to see, and were challenged by a variety of road surfaces and by several road graders. Wound up on the wrong side of a piled up hill of dirt raised by a grader for a good long ways until I got my nerve up to go through it. Small beer for real GSers, I know, but exciting for me.

We met the designer of the southern route at the Cooper Hill Inn while we were admiring the view. Well done picking the route!

thanks, bws

P.S. Thanks for the Gee Ess stickers!

Puppy Dog Ride Finishers

Glad you had a great ride - and got your Gee Ess stickers. Did you get just the Puppy? Or did you also get one with words on it? Let me know.

I heard a couple people came to collect their stickers and didn't get them as the volunteers who happened to be on duty weren't aware of where they were (our oops). Let me know who you are, and I'll see you get them.

Isn't Vermont great?

Muriel

Hey Statdawg - glad you had fun too. Sounds like you did what I thought might be a good slogan for another Vermont Rally (now your turn not to be offended): Welcome to Vermont, now Get Lost! I'll bet you have some tales to tell (not just puppy tails).

I'll watch for the PM. Glad to see you any time. Our Green Mountain Rally is the 3rd weekend in September . . . on the Middlebury Gap Road (Rt 125). See Where and When for details. Come back and ride some more.

Muriel

short ride

we had a great time till my GS puked a rear diff bearing about 50 mioles South of Burlington. Great scenery and big cows. 50 people must have stopped and asked if we needed help. One stayed and talked for 1/2 hour. 2 days later I was back on the road thanks to Cliff's in Danbury and Franks in Essex Junction. john shuck 02 GS

Is that on a Yellow, blue, red, or orange road ?

Click to expand...

Statdawg - Rt 125 is a red road I believe (no map in front of me), but you turn off onto a graded dirt (Class III/town maintained) for about 1/2 mile to the rally site. The whole dirt road (Goshen/Ripton Road) is shown in brown on the Gap Rides sheet we handed out at Hospitality, and continues north of Rt 125 on Natural Turnpike, and South Lincoln Road - Class IV (not town maintained) Roads. Great riding.

Muriel

Hey Statdawg,

It was fun doing the PDR with you - stopped by a couple of times looking for your tent, but no luck in finding you there (did see your bike, but nobody could point to where you were).

The PDR was great fun - and yes, the southern section was the best!

Hope everyone made it home safe. Here are a couple of shots of our group...
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjs7m/2006-Vermont

Take care,
Bob S.