Curly Fern Enduro This Sunday

[RednekF350]

The Curly Fern Enduro is this Sunday March 25, 2012 and is run through Wharton. The starting point is the Indian Mills Gun Club on Atsion Road.

Click on the history link and you can read about my good friend and member of this site Bill Schemel (Y-Buc Bill). Bill, along with three others, started the South Jersey Enduro Riders in 1963 and got the their first national event sanctioned in 1969.

http://www.sjer.org/curly_fern/curly_fern.cgi

 

[manumuskin]

Those are the B%st&rds that ran me off the road intoa ditch and damn near broke the axle on my brand new truck back in 96.no flag men ,no signs no nothing just wham out of nowhere here came 20 guys on bikes around a hairpin turn just east of Hampton furnace and the first few would have went through my windshield if i didn't take to the ditch,I was informed the next day by a friend at work who runs his races from the Interboro gun club that it was the curly fern guys and they always run their races like that.Clubs like that should be run off state land.Your going to have a race,have people out there warning other motorists.

 

[RednekF350]

Sorry to hear that Al. I road motorcycles through the pines for many years, starting in 1976, so I am very partial to the mc crowd.
Overall, I believe they are a good group and their organizations have been using the woods as long or longer than any other special interest group in NJ.
The Sandy Lane just ran their 75th annual last week.
One of the reasons for my post was to make everyone aware of the event this weekend.

 

[manumuskin]

Sandy lane I believe is the club my friend is in.He helps set it up but doesn't race in it.He said the Curly Fern were known to be irresponsible.I have to admit motorcycle noise gets on my nerves but I am not against cycles in the barrens,just wish they were quieter and I realize in a race safety is foremost on their minds but the y should be mindful of it.They would have broke my windshield and maybe lumped me up but I would have killed them.If it hadn't of been for the tight bend I'd of been moving faster,I imagine so would they but then again visibility would have been better also.UP michigan has thousands of miles of trails mad just for cycles and atv's and stop signs at intersections miles from anywhere.I first seen a stop sign out in the middle of nowhere on what was obviously an atv trail,they are maintained to specific widths and I know my jaw dropped open.You could literally drive for days on these roads.They have roads for suv's and trucks also.

 

[woodjin]

Somebody really dropped the ball if they didn't have a flagman there. It is in everyones best interest. Somebody screwed up.

 

[Y-BUC-BILL]

Al....I never met you,but I take exception to you bad mouthing the South Jersey Enduro Riders.I have been involved in Enduros since 1947.We put flag men where they are needed..I don't know your situation,but if I happened on a Enduro in progress,I would have pulled off the road and watched them go by.All those roads are open to the public.Share and share alike,horse people,hikers,and pineys like you who enjoy the woods.Back in the 40's hunters were the users of the Pines.Nowthe Pines are used by all.Enjoy.

 

[manumuskin]

Bill
There was no pulling off the road they ran me off the damn road.If I could have caught them They would have learned something about how to share the road.They came around the bend balls to the walls in the middle of the road.There was no sharing and no warning and almost a bad accident.Clubs like that need to be shut down.If you don't like it thats tough.I'm more then willing to share the road,Hell I'd of even stayed out of that area of the woods that day if I'd of known there was a race in progress.Whosever race it was ,I never found out for sure needed to be shut down.There was about fifty more bikes after that but from hampton furnace to 206 is a straight road and I could see them coming and moved over for them.It wasnt even the bikers fault really it was whoever set up the race,morons plain and simple.

 

[ecampbell]

Al, the same thing happened to me several times. They came at me and pased on both sides of me at high speed, barely missing me. My wife ducked down in her seat. Do they suspend rules of the road, speed limits and courtest for these events? Your right, no warning, it was completely unexpected. I would have gone elsewhere if I had known. These events should at least be published.

 

[manumuskin]

Here is my route.I headed north up the old tuckerton stage route to high crossing.I then turned left and headed west to hampton furnace.I believe it was about here 39.76924° N 74.66731° W but it was before I crossed skit branch they came flying sround the bend at high speed heading east.Now they were racing.I can't fault them for high speed travel,they were obviously legal but someone should have had the road back at high crossing flagged and at every sand road that intervened on the route where cars/trucks could have wandered into the race.I know hundreds of people attend these events,I have been to the greenbriar in belleplain before.There are more then enough volunteers to cover the crossings,if not don't do the race.This was the first woods expedition i had in that truck,I had it two weeks,brand new,now I was going to scratch it up eventually anyway but i ended up in a ditch with mega scratches and would have been stuck if it wasn't for the four wheel drive.I thought I snapped an axle i hit so hard.When i got out to 206 I still had yet to run into one flag man or even spectator even though I passed at least forty more bikes on the way out of which i pulled over for.If I had known of the race I wouldn't have even been there.I don't care for the noise and would have avoided the whole area.Heck large signs could have replaced flag men,.I'm not advocating the banning of enduro just asking for a little responsibility to be taken to avoid me killing a biker when he goes over the handle bars at high speed.I hit a guy on a bicycle once and lumped him up pretty bad.Its' a bad feeling knowing you may have killed someone even when it was their own fault which it was and then it makes you damn mad when you realize they could have killed you.

 

[manumuskin]

Also they were on the main road in that area no doubt because they needed to get across Batsto river.They came into atsion hampton road from the south side I believe off a cycle trail.I know at certain points they have to use dirt roads to access bridges and possibly to avoid private property,my issue isn't them using the roads but to warn or even keep the rest of us off of them during a race.

 

[Y-BUC-BILL]

Al....If you were on an arrowed trail on the day of the event,THAT IS YOUR FAULT.PERIOD.We have road crossing guards on all major crossings.We have permission from the State and Pinelands to us that trail one time on the day of the event..glad you were not injured because of your stupidity.

 

[manumuskin]

I think your the only one here thats stupid.I just wrote there were no crossing guards,there were no signs.Whats a mater,can't you read.The stupidity is all yours Bill.
I would consider High Crossing to be a major crossing.No one there Bill.

 

[Y-BUC-BILL]

Al....I don't want to make a big issue of your incident.In the future you can pick up a route sheet at the start-Indian Mills Gun Club.That way you would know where the bikes will be and what time..Enjoy the Pines as I have since 1941.I love this site.

 

[manumuskin]

Bill I can't even swear it was the curly fern gun club that did it.Like I said I have a friend who was in the Sandy Ridge club and when i told him what happened and where he said it was probably curly fern enduro.I have no problem with enduro even though it's not my thing.I would have gladly given the whole road to the enduro and stayed out of the area if I had known it was going on.I don't generally think to myself that today i want to go to the barrnes,hmmm, i better check the enduro schedule.I swear there was no crossing guards or signage from high crossing to where they came into atsion hampton road near where the road south takes you to quaker bridge and I saw about 40 bikes.I was already in it by the time I knew what was going on a figured it was better to proceed forward then to try and turn around and get blind sided and at least where the road was straight I could see to pull over for them.Now I know what your talking about with the arrows,I didn't see any but there may have been some.I never even think about arrows because the enduro clubs down here (greenbriar,beehive) do not pick up their arrows when their done,they leave them in the woods till the weather turns them to mush so a signed trail down here means nothing because those arrows could have been there for months.Anyway this happened to me about 12 years ago.I didn't mean to piss you off,I didn't realize it was your club,I forget what time of year it was,I actually got the truck in august so it had to be august or september so it may not have been curly fern if the hold their race this time of year.By the way my parents weren't even born in 1941 so I hope you have many more years in the barrens and actually feel good enough to enjoy them,strike the stupid remark,I'll take it we are both having a bad day and we'll be better tomorrow.
Al

 

[RednekF350]

They are coming down Pestletown road now. They have a manned crossing on Chew at the RR too.

 

[oji]

If I didn't have a prior commitment with a local civic group I would have volunteered to help at Curly Fern today.

 

[manumuskin]

Momma confirms we bought that truck in august so if curly fern is always held this time of year it could not have been that club.perhaps it wasn;t even an enduro but there were at least forty bikes over two miles of road travelling at high speed with no one guarding the roads.perhaps it was just dirt bike renegades?

 

[46er]

....perhaps it was just dirt bike renegades?

On any Sunday Al, they are still out there

 

[RednekF350]

On any Sunday Al, they are still out there

I loved that movie, I was in 7th grade when it came out. It really fueled my desire to get a motorcycle.

I begged my father to let me get a dirt bike but just like the "You'll put your eye out kid." speech, all I ever heard was about a friend of his who hit a car while riding a Harley back in the 30's. He flew out of his shoes and was killed.

I didn't give up the dream of getting my own bike and got my first while still in high school, a '76 Yamaha DT-400
After not coming home dead on multiple occassions, my father actually started liking motorcycles and had me teach him how to ride it. He thought about getting a mc license but never followed through.

I later bought a '78 DT-400 and then a week before I got married, my father loaned me half the money to buy the beast of beasts, a CR-480. My to-be and still-is my wife didn't mind so much and I was still living the dream.

That bike is still in my garage in very good condition, I could never bring myself to sell it. One of these days I'll hire somebody to kick it for me and off I'll go back into the dream !

 

[turtle]

If I didn't have a prior commitment with a local civic group I would have volunteered to help at Curly Fern today.

A friend asked for help with flagging at an intersection and I offered.....slapped myself for not stopping at Scott's for refreshments afterwards......I (wo)manned Chew Rd. and RR with flags and 4 yds. of orange clothing! Picked up 3 bags of trash to boot. All is well.