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Show Me Some FUN! 2017 National Routes and P.O.I.

G

G-Mazz

Moderator
Member
The Show Me MO Twisties Rally is quickly approaching.  This thread is dedicated to share information about the great riding/roads and Points of Interest in Missouri.  In this thread Our "MAP GUY" Tony Koenen will share his wealth of knowledge of about things you can see and do while riding in Missouri.   

This is a great opportunity to ask questions and discuss with Tony our routes and favorite places to visit in Missouri.

Let the FUN begin.
 
We're waiting....
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still waiting...
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Come on June!!!

Ron
 
Hi every one.
I've built four longer routes going north , south ,east and west plus two shorter rides.
My objective was to route you on secondary roads that are Twisty and low traffic.

I'll be more than happy to route you a custom map to anywhere you might want to go.  ( Gary said that I will have a table in the hotel lobby )
Also, I will try to answer any questions you might have.

Tony ( " the map guy" )
 
Tony K said:
Hi every one.
I've built four longer routes going north , south ,east and west plus two shorter rides.
My objective was to route you on secondary roads that are Twisty and low traffic.

I'll be more than happy to route you a custom map to anywhere you might want to go.  ( Gary said that I will have a table in the hotel lobby )
Also, I will try to answer any questions you might have.

Tony ( " the map guy" )
Click to expand...

:great: :great:
 
I think I like "Tony the bear slayer" better than "Tony the Map Guy", but by either name, I know he'll take good care of us!
Thanks Tony; looking forward to seeing you in a couple of months!  and Irene says "HI!".

Jorge
 
Jorge said:
I think I like "Tony the bear slayer" better than "Tony the Map Guy", but by either name, I know he'll take good care of us!
Thanks Tony; looking forward to seeing you in a couple of months!  and Irene says "HI!".

Jorge
Click to expand...

Map Guy , bear slayer , dumb ass , a$$hole                  Jorge      As you can see, I wear many hats.
Look forward to seeing you and Irene in June
 
            DUEL-SPORT  RIDE at the National

This year we will be using the tracks from the 10th annual "Mo Swinging Bridges Ride"
This will be a SELF guided ride using GPS tracks. You can pick up the track about 15 miles from rally central and ride in either direction.
Since this is your ride you can ride the SBR as many days and as far and any time as you like.

Here is the link to the Adventure Rider Forum site. READ the first post by Camel Bill. All the info is there. Just disregard the dates.
You can get the tracks from the file at the bottom of his post.
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/2017-missouri-swinging-bridges-ride-may-6-7-2017.1203896/

 
History of the Swinging Bridge ride.
I started this ride back in 2004 as a one day ride. Mark Sampson did a ride report on his web page www.bigdogadventures.com
( still there and is a good read with photo's of some bridges that are now gone )  He also placed his report and tracks on advrider forum.
From there it took on a life of it's own. Riders added a little here and a lot there, and changed this and that.
The SBR became a two day annual 450 mi. mostly gravel road ride.  Always held around May 1st and draws close to 100 riders from
around the Midwest. This year is the 10th running.
 
Tony, ADV routes sound great! I may need to bring two Motorcycles to the Rally.
It was great seeing you at Cliff's, looking forward to June.
 
FYI..............About 50 miles south of the rally is the FORT LEONARD WOOD Army base in St. Roberts Mo.
On the base there are 3 museums. Engineering, Chemical, and Military Police. If you are in to or curious about these things, I understand they are quite impressive.

If hungry ,I recommend Cafe Korea or Dr. Phils Catfish & Ribs.  Both are close to the Base gate
 
Tony,

Are you saying that we could tour the base? I spent a few weeks there back in mid '71 learning how to become a soldier. I wouldn't mind going back for a quick look-see after all these years.  Might be fun.
 
Jerry_Layman_NE said:
Tony,

Are you saying that we could tour the base? I spent a few weeks there back in mid '71 learning how to become a soldier. I wouldn't mind going back for a quick look-see after all these years.  Might be fun.
Click to expand...
I don't know about touring the whole base.You can get on to see the museums. If you would happen to get lost while on the base,well.....stuff happens.
 
Hi Folks,

My name is Doug Freeman. I used to be member of COG in the 80's/90's riding my '86 gray ghost. I've lived in MO and ridden the roads for ~20 yrs. I will post some gpx files with road routes of the best sport riding roads in the area. Because of size limits it will be several posts. Unfortunately, due to your location it's 100 miles to the best roads, either SW or SE. These are roads with a lot of 25-35 mph marked corners, decent to good pavement, clean , low population, low traffic. Most of the stuff closer to your lodge is 40-45 mph stuff requiring excessive speed to really be fun. You might be able to run these on your way in or out.

I can probable swing a day or 2 off the week of the rally to ride with a group if anyone wants to. I live in Lebanon, ~45 mi south of the lodge. I would designate a meeting place and time ~45-60 min from the lodge. There would be a SW and a SE route ~350 mi from the lodge and back. It would be a spirited, brisk pace (still 2 digits tho) with a short sandwich or pizza type lunch and plenty of short breaks. I like to stop every 1 to 1-1/2 hours for a few minutes to move my old bones around. Trip time from the meeting point back to the lodge would be ~ 7 -8 hrs. Let me know if interested.
 
Dwfree said:
Is there some place I can post a gpx file larger than the 350kb limit? The file is ~1M.
Click to expand...
Hi Doug,
While I agree that there are some great roads further away in the state, I have put together some really good routes in the rally area. We will be posting them soon.
I think you will be surprised. As far as posting your GPS routes, that is beyond my capabilities. I'm lo tech Tony. Perhaps someone who knows will chime in. Come on up for a
visit or a ride. Guess I havent seen you since the Frosty memorial last year.

 
Hi Tony,
I wasn't sure if that was you. I guess the "bear slayer" in a previous post should have given it away. Hope you are doing well. I'm pretty much back up to full speed (and replaced the Bandit with a newer one) after my little deer slayer incident last year - animals have taken over the #1 spot in my most dangerous list surpassing texting drivers - at least they don't come out of the trees in the middle of nowhere at a dead run and run into to ya. I hit one and Neville hit 2 last year.

I'm sure you have done a wonderful job with the routes, trying to meet all the wants and needs of a large diverse group. I've ridden north of I-44 quite a bit over the years and while there are some nice roads, they are more of the "touring" variety. I just wanted to offer an opportunity for those not familiar with the area, that are  of the more "sporting attitude", to ride the best twisty roads Missouri has to offer. For those interested in various attractions, things to see or do, etc., your routes will be far better. I don't want to compete, just offer an alternative for those interested. I'll be very clear - there won't be any site-seeing stops or interesting lunch stops etc. The attraction will be the roads, and nothing else. These are roads I consider "destination roads" - those that you would travel a day to just to ride. I did when I lived in OH and IN, but I'm probably a bit hardcore...........
 
Dwfree said:
Is there some place I can post a gpx file larger than the 350kb limit? The file is ~1M.
Click to expand...

You must have all the routes in a single GPX for a file to be that large.  Please email the file to jkerkow@outlook.com. and I will take a look. I have converted Tony's routes to electronic format. We are waiting to post until we can get the latest information. We just found this week a couple of bridges closed so we are adjusting the routes.

I will be available at the National to help with loading of electronic routes.

Are you attending the National Rally ?
 
Hi Tony,
Are you doing paper routes also?  I have mentioned this to several rally teams route guys the last several years since we did the 2012 rally.  I find printouts of the GPS route software as paper instructions to be about worthless on the bike.  They just have to much info jammed on there and you can not follow it when on the bike.  I really like a small map that gives you a clue of the area you are in but also a usable route page.  By usable it is BIG TYPE where you can read it and gives clear instructions like.

Left on 125, 4.5 miles to Toma

R, Hwy 7,  17mi to rd. WW

Make any sense?  It is easy to just glance down and get your next turn and distance info.

Thanks for doing routes.  It is so much better to have someone that knows the roads tell me where to go.  I have people tell me where to go all the time and this is one of the good times.
 
Hi All, I'm even more low tech that Tony.
Will be needing help after I arrive.
Will someone be there to assist loading maps into my GPS?

Yes, I know I are a dummy.

Ride safe, Ted
 
smithr1 said:
Hi Tony,
Are you doing paper routes also?  I have mentioned this to several rally teams route guys the last several years since we did the 2012 rally.  I find printouts of the GPS route software as paper instructions to be about worthless on the bike.  They just have to much info jammed on there and you can not follow it when on the bike.  I really like a small map that gives you a clue of the area you are in but also a usable route page.  By usable it is BIG TYPE where you can read it and gives clear instructions like.

Left on 125, 4.5 miles to Toma

R, Hwy 7,  17mi to rd. WW

Make any sense?  It is easy to just glance down and get your next turn and distance info.

Thanks for doing routes.  It is so much better to have someone that knows the roads tell me where to go.  I have people tell me where to go all the time and this is one of the good times.
Click to expand...
Try http://www.gpsvisualizer.com/  to convert gps files google maps. Does other conversions too.
 
smithr1 said:
Hi Tony,
Are you doing paper routes also?  I have mentioned this to several rally teams route guys the last several years since we did the 2012 rally.  I find printouts of the GPS route software as paper instructions to be about worthless on the bike.  They just have to much info jammed on there and you can not follow it when on the bike.  I really like a small map that gives you a clue of the area you are in but also a usable route page.  By usable it is BIG TYPE where you can read it and gives clear instructions like.

Left on 125, 4.5 miles to Toma

R, Hwy 7,  17mi to rd. WW

Make any sense?  It is easy to just glance down and get your next turn and distance info.

Thanks for doing routes.  It is so much better to have someone that knows the roads tell me where to go.  I have people tell me where to go all the time and this is one of the good times.
Click to expand...

That's what Tony has done
 
connie_rider said:
Hi All, I'm even more low tech that Tony.
Will be needing help after I arrive.
Will someone be there to assist loading maps into my GPS?

Yes, I know I are a dummy.

Ride safe, Ted
Click to expand...

That would be me
 
YES  We will have paper route sheets. They do not have the miles to the next turn as a rule. I myself like to highlight the routes on a state map. Most of
the turns will be the next turn or I have noted the town were the turn will be. I have found that mileage gets confusing unless you zero each turn.
 
I really only use the distance to set how long till I have to worry about next turns.  If it is 2 miles I try to keep my mind awake.  If it is 50 miles I know I can stop worrying about next turn for a while.
Thanks for the efforts.
 
Did You Know ........... There are 6 National Park Service sites in Missouri. For those wanting to get a stamp or just to visit, these are doable while at the Rally.
                                  Gateway Arch  St.Louis                      Scenic Rivers  Van Buren Mo.                            Truman Library  Independence Mo.
                                  Gen. Grant home    St. Louis Co.        Wilson Creek Battlefield  Republic Mo                George Washinton Carver site  Diamond Mo
                                  Also close        Pea Ridge Battlefield  Pea Ridge Ar.                            Fort Scott    Fort Scott Ks.

                                Go to NPS.Gov for more info
 
To answer a previous post, yes, each interesting part of a road is a route and all routes are in 1 file. I have files for quite a few states accumulated over the past 30+ yrs of riding around the country. We will see if this works. I see that up to 5 files can be posted at once, so I'll try to post all 3 I have split up.

From reading through posts I suspect people may still be arriving Monday, and Thursday is a big day with a bike show and banquet, so I am proposing Tuesday to do the southwest roads, and Wednesday to do the southeast roads. The best roads are in red, lesser roads in magenta. I had to strip it down to get the file size down. The routes are very flexible, especially getting back to your lodge (depending on time and energy levels).

Southwest Roads - Tuesday - I have designated a meeting place in Lebanon for the southwest roads. ~45 min ride from the lodge.

Southeast Roads -Wednesday -  meeting place is in St. Robert right off I-44. ~1 hr ride from the lodge.

My thought would be an 8:30 or 9:00 kickstands up time. Can be earlier. Those interested post here so I know if I need to show up.

I have also included an "other" file with roads to far to reach, but you might do coming in or leaving. They are southwest and southeast.
 

Attachments

  • MO Roads Other.gpx
    335.9 KB · Views: 97
Guess I don't know how to post multiple files. Here's southwest.
 

Attachments

  • MO Roads SW.gpx
    241.8 KB · Views: 109
LSGiant said:
I have converted Tony's routes to electronic format. We are waiting to post until we can get the latest information. We just found this week a couple of bridges closed so we are adjusting the routes.

I will be available at the National to help with loading of electronic routes.
Click to expand...

This is why they are not posted yet.
 
We were in the process of making one last accuracy check of routes before posting and Tony learned that Mo-DOT is starting bridge construction on three of our routes.  This is unfortunate but we'll get the amended routes ready.

Tony and I are meeting Friday afternoon to make changes and get the written instructions finished.  Jeff will update the electronic versions.  We can also try to get a map version posted tool  I hope we can get them posted early next week but we are at the mercy of work and people's availability over the holiday weekend.  However we will get this done.

Thanks for your patience.  As Tony said earlier these will be very good routes and you'll enjoy riding them.  Again sorry for the delay. 

 



 
Thanks for trying to get these out.  I am sure it is rough with all the changes from the weather and closures.  I do like to get them before the rally though so I can check the load and re-calculating at home rather than the hotel room.
 
:popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple:
:popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple: :popcorncouple:
 
OK Folks

Here you go.

As you have guessed from following this thread that Tony is old school. I have taken his written directions and couch ridden them in Basecamp. I hope they all work out. I know most of the routes have been ridden that is how we found the road construction.

The Swinging Bridges is a pure "Track" with a gpx route to get you to the beginning.

The zip files contains both the written instructions and the routes.

I wish had an extra week to go ride them as nothing is as good as being there.

I will be at the Rally to help anyone if they are having trouble making this work on your GPS and Tony will be there for first hand knowledge.

 

Attachments

  • Rides 1.zip
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  • Swinging Bridges.zip
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  • Rides 2 ver 2.zip
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Missouri DOT has an excellent traveler's map, here http://traveler.modot.org/map/.  There is also a smart phone app available. It shows road construction, closures, etc. If you look at Hwy 125 near Bradleyville, you will see there is now a bridge out. It was washed out last week during one of our recent heavy rains. All of 125 is accessible to ride, but requires doubling back. The part to the south of the bridge is the best part, and well worth a trip to the bridge and back.

I have incorporated this change into the route for Tuesday. It will be ~ 8 hrs, ~350 mi,  from the meeting point back to the lodge.
 
I plan on doing the Swinging Bridge Ride Monday at 9:00 AM. We will be depart at 9:15 I will be on a KTM 690. Anyone with a good attitude meet me at Rally Central for fun and Adventure.
 
LSGiant said:
OK Folks

Here you go.

As you have guessed from following this thread that Tony is old school. I have taken his written directions and couch ridden them in Basecamp. I hope they all work out. I know most of the routes have been ridden that is how we found the road construction.

The Swinging Bridges is a pure "Track" with a gpx route to get you to the beginning.

The zip files contains both the written instructions and the routes.

I wish had an extra week to go ride them as nothing is as good as being there.

I will be at the Rally to help anyone if they are having trouble making this work on your GPS and Tony will be there for first hand knowledge.
Click to expand...

There was a mistake in the Dam route GPX I have corrected the mistake and the new file is attached. Thanks to Mr. Smith for the catch.
 
I played with Tyre a little bit and did a few routes based off some routes found on some websites. Having never ridden in MO these could be not viable but if you're adventurous maybe they can make for an interesting ride.

 

Attachments

  • More MO rides.zip
    131.4 KB · Views: 95
Your welcome Jeff,
I spent an entire riding day at the 2010 nationals trying to make the gps routes work for me.  Partly not knowing what I was doing and part the routes were not done in the best way.  Since then I try to help each team put a better route out.  That helps me and everyone.
 
Tony K said:
FYI..............About 50 miles south of the rally is the FORT LEONARD WOOD Army base in St. Roberts Mo.
On the base there are 3 museums. Engineering, Chemical, and Military Police. If you are in to or curious about these things, I understand they are quite impressive.

If hungry ,I recommend Cafe Korea or Dr. Phils Catfish & Ribs.  Both are close to the Base gate
Click to expand...

Fort Leonard Wood is where my youngest son did his boot camp and MP training.  They have a very nice museum. The soldiers there "lovingly" called the place "Fort Lost In the Woods"
 
It's beautiful in Missouri this week. Unfortunately It's going to warm up a little for next week. As always be sure to hydrate.
Be sure to carry plenty of water and snacks. I suggest that you get an early start on your rides because the mornings are
a good time to ride. Start every ride with a FULL tank of gas !

We have paper routes and GPS routes, Short rides and longer rides. See me , Tony the "Map Guy for custom maps to any other
destinations that might interest you.

See ya soon !
 
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