Reddit reviews Iowa Sportsman's Atlas: Back Roads and Outdoor Recreation

edit: I realized I answered questions you didn't ask. These are things I wish I had known when I started riding.

Other people have answered your gear/bike questions well enough that I won't get into it. I can help with resources for finding places to ride. During the winter I like to do research for the rest of the year so I don't waste time in good weather. Having DS friends is extremely important as well. You really don't want to break yourself or your bike while you're all alone and possibly hundreds of miles from home. Cell phones tend not to work in the best riding areas.

I'm originally from Iowa where finding interesting scenery and roads is difficult so I honed my research skills in the right area. When I moved to Oregon the first thing I did was go to the office for the Forestry Service of my county and asked questions. I was given dozens of free maps and brochures for various parks in the area. There was a very large map with color coded sections that indicated public areas and detailed legal usage of the land. They also have detailed topos of smaller sections of land that show some really cool features. They charge a small fee for printing though. It gave me loads of ideas of where to go. Information on a lot of the government websites are not up to date so it's probably the best to go in or call. For example, the Patterson Mountain ATV Trail System is now closed.

A map (pdf) of a park somewheres in Virginia that might be worth checking out if it's close to where you live.

Watch out for all the regulations. It's ridiculous.
>In any forest, no games or athletic contests shall be allowed except in such places as may be designated thereof.

That's a state forest regulation in Virginia.

I'm curious about places to ride in Virginia because I used to live there so I've done some research for you.

A nice [table of parks in Virginia](http://www.dof.virginia.gov/stforest/recreation.htm
). Includes number of miles of various trails and roads. Two of the parks have links to trail maps. ALWAYS look for roads that are black/white dashes on a map. These are usually good roads to ride. You know they're public and they probably are in horrible condition.

In Iowa I found this map book that's designed for hunters so they can find out about all the lesser known parks, get contact information and see what amenities are available. It is the best map book I have ever owned, lost twice and repurchased once. It is now worth a lot of money. :( Each page contained one county. I highlighted all the black/white lines within 100 miles of my home. These books are highly rated by rider as well but I really preffered the black and white, spiral-bound, Sportsmans Atlas. Link goes to the Virginia version. Wait a minute I take it back. The DeLorme maps are the friggin' excellent and I regret losing the Oregon one my friend gave me.

Register on advrider.com and visit the South East regional forum. Look for topics that are relevant to your area and find meetups, rallies and parties located within distance. This will be the best way to get the secrets for your area. I went to my first ADVrider meetup two weeks ago and had a friggin' blast.. actually I have a video of it on youtube if you're interested. A lot of those guys won't post the information about where they love to ride but if you talk to them in person and you're not going to go out and ruin their favorite places they'll probably share some really good info with you. You can start by going to this party and listening and talking to every one. Keep an open mind because people from the internet can be weird :)

Good luck! I hope this information helps you get started.