All in all I had a good time. Yeah, the rules where a joke. Even the officials where drunker than hell at night! Bottlenecks didn't bother me, it was the signs to get to the place, some of the "c" trail bridges where totally gone, or once you crossed the bridge the ruts going up the bank where too deep for the 2wd's. Yeah, I would like to see a seperate trail for each, but that's impossible. One comment on the help, I asked 3 different people which trail was the best...same answer from each. "I can't tell you". And you where only allowed to ride one trail!? That was just plain wrong. For 30 bucks, with that many entries, one day, unless the trails are called out by difficulty before the ride and you can take more than one loop, I doubt you'll see me agian.

Marrienville gets half the people in, and for $25 you can ride both days. Yeah the terrain is mostly roads, but atleast you can ride.

 

Extreme,

I guess that I've been spoiled by most of the smaller poker runs. The TDF does have one thing going for it, it does have plenty of space to pass the slower riders. The best ride I've ever gone to is the CPATVA ride last fall. There were few riders there, but the trail was perfect, well marked, people moved over for the faster riders, etc.. We genuinely had a really good time and if it wasn't for the fact that I had to work that night, I'd have taken a second trip around the course.

It's been said by many people who know me that patience isn't one of my virtues. I detest traffic jams on or off road. Driving around Washington DC during a holiday weekend was one of the worst times of my life. If the ridership holds the same as this year, I might see you there next year, but we'll see.

 

heres a suggestion for ya, how about opening up the "bike only " week to biks and quads. It could possibly even things out a bit. Plus what about the guys the ride quads and have buddies the ride biks only. If I understand it there was less then 1000 bikes it seems to me this could be an answer to most of the probs that most of the people encounter. I too pulled in thurs night so that I could escape most of the friday rush. I also think there has got to be something for the guys to do ie mud pulls, and drag races. Most of the people get antsy just sittin around. Now I know you know ahead of time what to expect but some "activities" could be charged an entry fee.

 

You guys should consider yourselves lucky. My riding buddy and I search our trails for other riders. What can be more fun than watching 5,000 quads all over the place getting stuck!

 

xplor- theres nothing fun about waiting in line behind 50 to 100 other riders in tight woods for an hour

 

Glad to hear that most had a good time. I pulled in Thursday. Spent most of Friday watching people get stuck in the mud. Had a few laughs watching rather large RVs with trailers getting pulled INTO the field by tractors. Then watched, in amazement, the ever increasing number of idiots ride ATVs around high dollar RVs with no respect for the rules let alone their fellow campers, only to get caught by the quad police and turn around and do it again. Saturday, I awoke to (the same idiot) ATV riders racing up and down the rows of campers at 4:30 in the morning. I thought I read not to unload ATVs till 5:00. Guess my watch was wrong. Got in line at 8:30 for trail B. Spent mind numbing hour after hour waiting in lines to arive a the finale of waiting over 3 hours to come down the hill before the gas stop and decided that this sucked worse than I ever imagined. Got directions from the flag-men back to the campsite, only to be ticketed by the State Police for riding on the burm of SR173. (Thanks for the directions bud!) Got to my camper, had a beer, went to sleep to the sound of my favorite idiots racing around, woke up, drove home. Dumped $139.00 into Pennsylvania's pot. And I'm here to say.. Hope the lack of my presence next year will allow all of you to have a nicer ride through the "woods". Not my cup of tea..

 

TOTALLY RIDICULOUS. I arrived Friday evening and was denied driving access to the registration/ camping/ parking area due to the mud, alcohol, and idiot factor being out of control. After roaming around town for about an hour I boarded a school bus that was taking riders in for registration. My impression that the registration procedures surely would have been improved with the new location and expectation of 10,000+ riders was soon crushed when I found a line of registrants snaking through the campground to one, count 'em, one registration site. My spirits still high, I decided just to wait it out. After minutes, then an hour, I had only moved a few hundred feet. Spying a helmet with a sticker on it someone near me asked how long the wait was and received the report that we still had 2+ hours to wait. By this time it was ten oclock and I was asking myself if I really wanted to do this to myself, my vehicle, and my quad. No. I boarded the next bus headed back to town with no regrets.
Great location, great idea, but with all that income I think I'd hire professionals who know how to deal with large crowds. Hmm- a decrease in attendance this year. Was it the weather, or is this event no longer meeting the expectations of ALL ATV enthusiasts?

 

I did not go this year because of my work schedule, but frankly I did not miss it. I heard from a few that went (and follow the rules) that they went 10 miles in 5 hours. Needless to say they will not be returning. My hat is off to all the volunteers, however, the staff should look at the decrease in attendance as a sign of things to come. I predict a steady decrease in attendence for the next 5 years until someone realizes that all the money in the world isn't worth the chaos. They should cap it out at about 4000 people and call it good. Utilize a lottery system and if you don't get picked and your buddy does, well tough crap. Hate to say it but there are better runs for less money. I don't even like Terd De Forest but I think I am going....like someone else said at least you can ride!

 

Need I remind you gentlemen that we on this Forum (those of us who can (1) read and write, and (2) have a computer) are NOT the typical ATV demographic! I mean, what do you guys expect?!

Did you even GET A GLIMPSE of the cross section of the majority of the people at Cochranton? I'd have to estimate that 85% were drunk by early Friday morning!@#! To assume for ONE SECOND that ANYONE of this large majority would follow any "rules" is ludicrous to say the least.

I'm no better than the next guy. What I AM capable of doing though is somewhat following the rules. Yes, I refused to wait in an insane "starting line"---we paid our $30 but we simply merged onto Trail B. You don't like that? Tough! I learned after year 1 not to wait in those stupid lines.

Cochranton is simply mayhem! It CANNOT be organized. We're not dealing with a Doctor or Dentist Convention here. We're dealing with a bunch of weekend warriors. ACtually I find it amazing there were no deaths via knife!

Year after year I continue to be disgusted at the mentality of throwing beer cans along the trail. How stupid and ignorant can you be? Have these people no parents? Say or think what you will about me and my generalized, stereotypical views, but look no further than the large amount of hoopies that feel a need to (a) bring beer on the trail and (b) litter the woods like the white trash they are.

These are the same folks who throw old refrigerators and tires down the same hill their house is on!

ANyway, what was I talking about?

Oh yeah, Cochranton. I personally don't waste my time thinking about how to tell a hillbillie not to kick mud in the air or not to revvv his stupid Banshee at 3 am.

See, there are some simple things in life that people should know inherently. It's called interacting in society!

Im never going back to Cochranton. It's a joke. We have plenty of nice illegal places to ride around the Pittsburgh area. For free!

Take care.

 

I'm not going back either. There are many things that they could do to improve this run. The starting lines are a joke. Why can't they give you a time to start according to the number on your sticker? How about marking the trails a little better? How about building by-pass trails around difficult spots? I really enjoyed the atmosphere in the campground, but the ride was the worst i've ever been on. I think that it is great that the people of Cochranton put so much time and effort into a charitable event, but you couldn't pay me to go back unless they make some major changes.