OH555 or Ohio cousin of the Dragon?

[drey4211]

I got a day off tomorrow and I was thinking about going on a quality ride with the weather being nice. Looked up a couple of routes and these two stood out. 

 

Has as anyone ridden them recently and if so how are they? Road conditions, etc. I was thinking about taking a my Diavel out there so I'm looking for some good twisties. 

 

Also so if anyone wants to tag along or is already going let me know!

[jacobhawkins]

Head east, 555 is good, not the most fun I've had though.  Check out the Epic Ride threads for mapped out day rides that about anybody can hit.  @Hellmutt or @snot may have suggestions for routes closer to Dayton.

[drey4211]

Thanks! I've gone up Red River Gorge just this Wednesday so distance isn't too much of an issue for me but I would like to keep it within 3 hours one way. I've exhausted Dayton and I've done the KY routes across the river. Just looking for something new. 

[jacobhawkins]

I did 83, 78, 377, 550, 339, and back to 83 the other direction today.  All very good condition except for a bit of 339 I think?  It was getting prepped for new blacktop so was all grooved and whatnot for a few miles.

[drc32-0]

A lot of good stuff in very good condition in SEO right now,it really depends on how far you want to slab to it.536,556 should be finished paving now.If you're going that far east you might want to include 147 and 9 also.

If you want to stay more to the west get off in Zanesville and head down 555 towards 78 and do some of that ride that Jacob mentioned that includes 78,377,550 and maybe 676.676 drops you off kind of close to a couple good Washington county roads...Dalzell and Germaintown.

I'll probably be out and about tomorrow if you don't mind riding with old farts.

[jacobhawkins]

Ride with this old fart ^, he'll show you the best roads.  

[drc32-0]

3 minutes ago, jacobhawkins said:

Ride with this old fart ^, he'll show you the best roads.  

Lol

I'll be riding my new FJ09 so the pace might be a little relaxed. I only have about 200 miles on ot so far.

[jacobhawkins]

Cool man, glad you got one!

[flick311]

I rode 555 today... A little dirty, but fun none the less!

[drey4211]

I was thinking about doing something like this. I'll map out 536 in a few. What time were you guys leaving? And where from? 

[TimTheAzn]

What app is that?

[drey4211]

It's called inRoute. Very handy. 

[drey4211]

3 hours ago, drc32-0 said:

A lot of good stuff in very good condition in SEO right now,it really depends on how far you want to slab to it.536,556 should be finished paving now.If you're going that far east you might want to include 147 and 9 also.

If you want to stay more to the west get off in Zanesville and head down 555 towards 78 and do some of that ride that Jacob mentioned that includes 78,377,550 and maybe 676.676 drops you off kind of close to a couple good Washington county roads...Dalzell and Germaintown.

I'll probably be out and about tomorrow if you don't mind riding with old farts.

I decided on going East. I work third shift so it all depends on what time I get up tomorrow. It's almost a 9 hour round trip from where I am but I need the fresh air! 

 

[drey4211]

Roads look good. There is a little bit of gravel here and there and some construction going on but 90% is good to go. I just wish it was closer to home. 

[Chuck78]

I called off work today since the foliage around Zanesville Tuesday was peaking, & the 75 degree weather today may be the last we see of that for another 5 months... rode 10 hours. Epic ride. With some of the leaves down, you can get a much better perspective of just how epicly huge some of the Southeast Ohio hills are... the foliage was the icing on the cake, until near the end of my fun roads. 536. Wow. First time it's had good pavement in a very long time. still has one section closed down to one lane with a temporary traffic light to repair the outer lane slipping down the hillside

 

33 from Columbus

78-685-13

78 from Gloster to 377

377

266

792

676

Watertown Rd

Waterford Rd

Lowell Hill Rd

60 (gas)

530

821

Dalzell to Co Rd 15

565

260

537

26

800

255

7

536... oh yeah...536

78 into the sunset at a deer watching pace

669 testing out my LED retrofit's prolific high beam

555 to Zanesville 

I-70 home... where I was actually more afraid of hitting deer than on the back roads. Without being able to use my high beam, and so much oncoming traffic headlight polution, you can't really see much other than the other cars. I should have kept it to backroads & a slow night time pace. 204.

 

Overall that was a totally epic ride. 537 had a lot of patch work, as did 255, but still totally rideable. Great day.. and I actually managed to ride like a civilized person for the majority of it! Wow. A rarity...

Edited October 20, 2016 by Chuck78

[drc32-0]

I wish I knew you was going to be out and about,I rode a lot of the same route Tuesday.I was taking pictures so I only rode about half of what you did.The trees were definitely peeking!I'll try to post some pics in the next few days.

[Chuck78]

Pics, please?! Or links?

I only snapped a quick few of a Wayne National Forest campsite area, & the obligatory shots from Kiedaisch Point Park overlook 3 miles off 536. The ridgetop vista imagery is very well burned into my brain, however... 255 about 60%-75% in southbound nearing the river I believe I'd say had the best of all views. 

Route 78 of course is always going to be at or near the top of the list, several Vistas from the Burr Oak State Park entrance to just past "the barn" picnic table overlook...

There was one other spot where I caught some epic ridge views of huge hills off to the north that blew my mind. Maybe it was Lowell Hill Rd, maybe 530, maybe 676? Heck I can't remember. It was quite an awesome ride...

 

Denny I may have to try to rope you into some of my rides next season. My only remaining friend who loves going on 10hr rides with me just moved to SC... all the rest of my buddies prefer 3-5hr rides at most. Riding to and from 536 the quickest rpute from Columbus plus one pass on 536 is nearly 6 hours round trip... I REALLY REALLY liked that road now... 

We just need to keep it civil and keep the rev's down on our bikes as to not piss off all of the residents by very audibly alerting them that bikers are fully aware that the road is up and running great again...

[Chuck78]

Here's 2 photos from my ride yesterday 10/19/16. One at Kiedaisch Point Park off of 536 (Long Ridge Rd to Short Ridge Rd), & the other at a recreation area in Wayne National Forest Marietta Ranger District off of 537.

2 more pics of Wayne National Forest Athens Ranger District, the Monday Creek ATV trail system, from this past Saturday 

Edited October 20, 2016 by Chuck78

[Chuck78]

Okay this forum doesn't like the standard ubb forum code for images...

 

Okay again, this forum won't even let me upload a photo from a photo bucket url...

 

[Chuck78]

19 hours ago, Chuck78 said:

537 had a lot of patch work, as did 255, but still totally rideable. Great day.. 

 

Come to think if it, just recently as I watched them pave 93 and 60, they ground up only the real bad sections at first, & patched them in lane width strips 50, 100, 150 feet long. Then I noticed a week later, they were paving the other end of the road entirely. Then a week or two later I noticed they ground up the patchwork sections and completely resurfaced those. 

 

If the same is true for 255 and 537, we may be seeing new pavement on both of those roads very soon as well!

Edited October 20, 2016 by Chuck78

[drc32-0]

On October 20, 2016 at 3:59 PM, Chuck78 said:

Pics, please?! Or links?

I only snapped a quick few of a Wayne National Forest campsite area, & the obligatory shots from Kiedaisch Point Park overlook 3 miles off 536. The ridgetop vista imagery is very well burned into my brain, however... 255 about 60%-75% in southbound nearing the river I believe I'd say had the best of all views. 

Route 78 of course is always going to be at or near the top of the list, several Vistas from the Burr Oak State Park entrance to just past "the barn" picnic table overlook...

There was one other spot where I caught some epic ridge views of huge hills off to the north that blew my mind. Maybe it was Lowell Hill Rd, maybe 530, maybe 676? Heck I can't remember. It was quite an awesome ride...

 

Denny I may have to try to rope you into some of my rides next season. My only remaining friend who loves going on 10hr rides with me just moved to SC... all the rest of my buddies prefer 3-5hr rides at most. Riding to and from 536 the quickest rpute from Columbus plus one pass on 536 is nearly 6 hours round trip... I REALLY REALLY liked that road now... 

We just need to keep it civil and keep the rev's down on our bikes as to not piss off all of the residents by very audibly alerting them that bikers are fully aware that the road is up and running great again...

I'll try to get some pics up either tomorrow or Sunday.It's been a long time since I have tried to post pics on this forum,so we'll have to see how it goes.

It sounds like a great idea to meet up for some riding next year.I know we both like the same type of roads.

[El Toro Joe]

Hey Denny, we need to get a ride in, before the snow starts.

[Chuck78]

75 degrees and sunny Saturday, fellas...

Just be very careful of those antlered woods missiles. I'm seeing an alarming number of them strewn across the pavement on the sides of the state routes and interstates the past few days compared to 10 days ago. That frightful time of rut is upon us once again. 

 

Ride slower if you have limited visibility on the sides of the road such as dense forest/underbrush, steep grades, corn rows, or just darkness.  Riding in the dark on the interstate 8 days ago from 555 to Columbus, I saw no deer but I really was unable to see anything much with only my courtesy (low) beam on other than oncoming headlights. On 78/669/555 on my way home from 536 riding into twilight and then total darkness, I saw lots of deer and critters with my massive high beam on, but no roadkill deer and none running out into the road (a rabbit bounced off my rear tire sidewall though, & a racoon and possum ran in front of me 30-40', however)

 

Be careful fellas (& ladies). They start running around like horny maniacs during daylight hours this time of year, too...until they find a mate. Then things settle down again in winter 

 

Don't learn the hard way like I did! 550 west of 555 a few miles several years ago, Nov 11th-ish, 440pm...7hrs of riding behind me, blasting out of an uphill turn at high speeds (65-ish?)....WHAM!!!!  

I only saw a flash of fur for a mere split second before impact. Steep drop off to my left on the other side of the road, the deer ran full sprint speed up it and touched down in the road right in front of me... speedo needle was stuck at 57mph with blown apart guage housings, so that was my approximate speed after the impact slowed me... 

Edited October 28, 2016 by Chuck78

[drc32-0]

9 hours ago, El Toro Joe said:

Hey Denny, we need to get a ride in, before the snow starts.

Good to hear from you Joe!I've been spending a lot of time over in Indiana this year for work...not as much riding as usual in SEO.I'm heading back over Sunday night for a week or more.Kind of a shame I can't ride more over here because the northeast side of SEO is looking pretty good for new pavement.

[El Toro Joe]

Denny, 2015 FJ09...when did you get that? I may try to get down that way tomorrow, if I can get my chores don. Can't do any weekday trips...work is a little crazy, right now.