SoCalRob's 2006 Texas Hill Country Spring Ride Report

[socalrob]

The following is an acount, to the best of my recollection, of the Infamous Texas Hill Country Spring Ride of 2006. The tale includes rain, whiskey, crashing, multiple bikes riden, ABS comments, police activity, great roads, friends & food, & an all around fun time.

Getting There:

Left home at some god awful hour Thursday, early enough that I breezed through downtown LA and on to the airport in maybe 30 minutes, its actually a pleasure to drive in LA before 5:45 am, when rush "hour" starts, drove past a "valet parking lot with 5 minute shuttles for $12.95/day" and into the public lot with crappy slow shuttles every 20 minutes for $10/day (won't do that again), but made it to the terminal on time. Was wearing my MC boots & had the helmet in a carry on, had to take off the boots of course for security, got some strange looks. Got on a tiny airplane (3 seats x 25 rows) with overhead bins too small for my helmet in bag, space under seat too small, had to keep the thing pinned under my feet for 3 hours. Nice little plane though, the pilot really gunned her up.

On to San Antonio airport & a $15 cab ride to the Harley dealer. Everything was in order, & had possession of a new (2,800 mile) 2006 HD Dyna Glide Custom, 6 speed, 88 inch motor, in a nice white. Had some kiiller straight pipes on it too. Also had much more forward controls than I expected and a more raked front end with a skinny 19 inch wheel. Told em that I'd pass on the funky little black 3/4 helmet & pulled out my glaring white Arai with all the reflective stickers. I don't think they'd seen one before. They also seemed intrigued by the magnetic tank bag "hows that thang ther stick on??" Come to think of it you don't see tank bags on HDs. It did block the neutral & turn signal indicators, but I can find neutral on my own & you can see the actual turn signals.

Outside, while it started to rain, they give me the whole song & dance about how I'm liable for $2,500 pretty much no matter what, including theft (hey, don't they have insurance on these)? Also, how if I let the thing out of my sight it'l be stolen.

I get all loaded up about the same time the drizzle is pretty constant, but stupidly think it will stop & don't bother with the rain gear. Hey, I'm from SoCal, and in the 2 years I've owned rain gear I've only used it once or twice. I never seem to learn to put it on before the rain. By the time I'm actually riding away the roads are nice & slick & that little front tire looks even skinnier. The first onramp I'm just trying not to lean too much, which actually ain't to tuff as this bike is LONG.

I stopped at the local fuel station, got the IPOD fired up (with noise isolating earplugs), got a map, & took off up the freeways. The HD has great roll on torque, & will cruise all day at 70 in 4th gear, there are still two more. Somewhere around 70 is a comfortable cruising speed with the relativly high handle bars, low slung seat, forward controls, & no shield. I did find I could lean forward ala sport bike, with my head between the handlebars, & knock it up to 90.

The rain started & stopped, but never enough for me to bother with rain gear, until, of course, when it was actually raining hard enough for the gear, but by then I was too wet to bother, & besides I had the G'Dead on the IPOD cruising on a HD across Texas. A bit of rain was no bother. Leaning back, feet forward, rockin out, I'm a regular Captain America. Even got bunches of thumbs up from cagers. Maybe it was the full on BMW textile airflow bright yellow jacket with the white full face helmet leaned forward & rockin down the road? On second thought, between ATG & the tank bag, I may have looked like an idiot, but I was having a time. Sure was fun doing full throttle roll ons between 60 & 90. With the IPOD & shure earplugs/phones, the loud pipes sounded great, to me at least, & hey, I don't own this noise.

I got off the interstate, took 27 into Kerrville from the east, & for the last 15 miles or so it was raining pretty serious for a SoCal rider. Not that I fear the rain, but I don't actually ride to work in the morning if its raining. Now if it starts raining later in the day, thats an adventure, but I don't start in the rain. Plus that skinney front wheel doesn't look to great for traction, & by then my spine was hurtin. About the time I hit the west edge of Kerrville, I figured out maybe the motel wasn't on Highway 27, & stopped at a gas station under a cover to ask for directions. Just then the sky really cut loose, maybe even some small hail. Still didn't have my rain suit on.

A great Texas gentleman gives me directions, then as we pull out (almost clear skies by now, love the on/off Texas weather), the guy tells me to follow him to the hotel. I gotta admit that would be unlikely in LA. We waved off as he got me going the right direction on the right road.

Finally, about 100 feet from I-10 that I had detoured off from 20 some miles back, I spot the Motel Super 8. Pull into the parking lot, & there I meet the infamous Dallara & a few other riders. 72 miles from the HD dealer, & I'm stiffer than if I'd been on my RR all day. I spy Allan (Dallara) with his 2 bikes & make an inquiry about riding his RR on Friday, to which he cheerfully agrees. A fateful decision for sure.

To Be Continued...

[Tipstall]

:038: :038: :038:

We need the little popcorn smile.

Nice write up, waiting for more.

Ken

[HiOSilver]

Alright, Rob. I'm hooked! Let's have the rest of it. Great write up...

[Capt. Blackadder]

http://members.cox.net/baldur/media/lurker.gif

[socalrob]

THE PARTY STARTS

Thursday afternoon the weather cleared, Dean & Allan were at the motel, & soon Dave Howe with his beatiful Speed Triple in the back of his pickup pulled up. Dave had been caught in an extreme hail storm, the size of "hens eggs" (which I understand in Texas are larger than rooster eggs), which had battered his pickup pretty bad, but left his bike untouched (plastic comes in handy). About the same time Lewis Jordan & Mike Callas pulled up with their R1150RTs on a trailer, which IMHO at least style wise look better than the new R1200RTs. We all spent a bit unloading the bikes, Allan broke out some great shrimp & a full bar, and a pleasant afternoon was had by all. Between the drink & talk can't recall who all showed that afternoon, but I at least was pretty happy to keep my rear end off the HD when it was decided we would drive Allan's Suburban & Lewis's Tahoe to dinner at a great resturaunt overlooking the Guadalupe river. First big outing & were in cars, for me that means I get to drink. The first of several steak dinners on the trip (hey, in Texas seems to me the steak should be good), the food was top notch. Dean had some dessert, and went on and on, somthing about bluebell or bluebonnet or bluebird ice cream, that while available at the minimart in Texas, its too good to export to the rest of the US. Allan picked up the tab for the whole group, the first of many above & beyound gestures of the weekend. This trip was cheaper than I was counting on.


FRIDAY'S RIDE, OR CRASHING ALLANS BIKE

Friday's ride got off to a bit of a late start. We all had breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, which after getting directions to, piling in cars, we found out was basically in walking distance. After breakfast came back & most of the rest of the group was there. Allan needed to wait around for a late arival, & I don't think we got off before 10 am. Thats always the problem with groups, but fortunatly for this weekend, was about the only time it happened over the weekend.

For the day I was riding Allans non ABS R1150R. Its a beautiful blue single spark (2002?) with a stainintune collector box in lieu of cat, & a nice pipe. Sounded very good compared to my stock exhausted R1150R bike at home. Revved freely & smooth. I bought my R new back in 2003 to get the twin spark (I read all the surging crap), & to be honest if I rode Allan's bike first I would not hesitate to buy a single spark. Not sure if it was truly faster than my bike, but it sure didn't surge.

We took off north & into some tiny farm roads (no centerlines), but with some debris & gravel, at least partly from the storm on Thursday. The countryside was a pretty mixture of ranch houses & fields. We would ride 5 or 6 miles to a junction & then wait for all the riders. We had guys from Dean (R1200ST), Dave (S3) & Allan (his new FJR) racing up front, to the Harley guys Dave Mock, (Road King), John Breidenbach (Fat Boy) & Mitchell Box (Road King) having a nice relaxed ride, with myself & various other riders, including the RTs in between. As I was to find out Sat., those HD guys really knew how to ride those big bikes through the twisties, which takes a good skill set. Dean & Dave got a bit fed up waiting for the rest of us, & I at least would not see them till lunch.

Riding Dave's R bike I was having a great time. The non ABS brakes were great. As we went on there seemed to be a bit more gravel, & for some reason I was having some trouble with cattle grates. Not too many cattle grates in and around LA, so I tended to bring the bike straight up while crossing the grates, & for some reason I found myself frequently crossing over the center of the one lane road on the far side of the grates. The problem was that by now there was often a pretty good amount of gravel in this non traveled part of the pavement. Added to that, for some mysterious reason there was often a curve right after a cattle grate. I felt the rear end break loose a time or two, & got a little bit more careful. I also started using the rear brake more, & even locked up the rear wheel for one stop, not something I'm used to on my ABS bike. Did seem to me that the rear brake was more effective on the non ABS bike, which seems to have the ABS cycle in pretty light rear braking.

Well, like I said, the whole group would stop at cross roads & wait for all the riders. An hour or two into the ride I see Allan & a couple of riders stopped, a mailman in a car stopped, & a nice wide section of the road. I inocently pull up to stop, & before I realize that what I'm riding on is not sun bleached old pavement put an inch or two thick layer of nice smooth round pea gravel that is the exact color of the pavement we've been riding on. Of course I was using the front brake, after all I own an ABS bike with the front & rear brakes linked to the front, I ride in LA where the traffic pretty much makes gravel an odd thing, & I'm too lazy to use the damn rear brake. At about 5 mph or less I dropped Allan's bike faster faster than I could begin to react (thankfully I didn't have time to do something stupid like try to get a foot down). The bike kind of pivoted on the cylinder valve cover, spun around about 90 degrees so that the rear of the bike, if it touched down at all, was in nice soft grass, and to complete my idiocy the handlebars swung over so that the tank bag fired up the horn. Just in case nobody saw me, I'm sittin on my ass in the gravel next to the honking (literally) bike. If we weren't a bunch of brittle boned middle aged & older guys, I'm pretty sure there would have been some serious laughter. As it was, being in full gear, I lucked out & didn't really even feel the fall; maybe the gravel bed helped.

And about that gravel. In California we use CRACKED gravel and/or cinders on our roads. At least if you get inches of it, it interlocks & is a decent surface. For your future info, in Texas they use ROUND GRAVEL WITH THE CONSISTENCY OF BALL BEARINGS.

Anyway, I jump up, Allan comes over at me screaming, no, strike that, he did in fact make sure I was A-OK. In fact, considering I just dropped his bike, he was very nice about it. Took him at least a minute to make a crack about how normally in Texas riders don't honk the horn to attract attention when the go down.

I got the bike up, drove it up onto a clean section of road, & looked her over. Amazingly there was not a scratch on the bike except for the plastic head guard & the valve cover, which was either scratched or cracked, but was not leaking oil. All in all, a really lucky outcome. The only other time I've dropped a street bike was when I dropped my R bike in my driveway (I ran over a raised/popped up brick which sheared off under my tire) at about the same speed. Scratched the same head guard, rear peg, front bar end weight, & pushed the switchgear into my tank for a nice ding. Happened 2 years ago or so & I left the ding in to keep me honest (& to save $1,000). Anyway, I figure $200-$300 and Allan's bike would be as good as new, so felt pretty lucky.

Of course I still can't believe I dropped another rider's bike. But thats life.

more later . . .

[Tipstall]

and to complete my idiocy the handlebars swung over so that the tank bag fired up the horn. Just in case nobody saw me, I'm sittin on my ass in the gravel next to the honking (literally) bike.

OK, people are looking at me like I'm nuts because I was laughing so hard.

Rob, great write up. Sorry about the fall, great that you can write about it.

Ken

[Dallara]

Hey, Ken...

You should'a been there. Doug Smith (FotoMoto) and I are sitting there waiting for the group to pull up and the next thing you know Rob is doing this lazy tilt-over to the left... Horn honking all the way.

And my R-1150-R has one of those LOUD Stebel TM-80 Magnum Blaster horns on it. You could hear it in the next county.

And poor Rob... To add insult to injury, once the bike was stopped completely on its side the horn stopped honking, but whenever he tried to pick it up the horn would honk again. The postman in his car even stopped and turned around to see what the commotion was. Doug and I were sitting there laughing so hard that it took us a bit to get our sidestands down and get over there to help him.

And I promise... I didn't make the "Announce You're Crashing By Honking The Horn" joke until we stopped for lunch!

Rob's a sport, and took it all in stride, even when damn near everybody was ragging him about being the only one on the trip that dropped a bike. Not only that, he had all the parts necessary for me to fix it, along with a really nice gift, here exactly nine days (he dropped it on a Friday, and the pieces were here a week from the following Monday) after the mishap. Truly outstanding!

Cheers!

Allan (Dallara - NACD)

[arkline]

Great story. I am soooooooooo jealous. I mean really, really, really envious. Wish I'da been there.

Oh, and I did drop my R twice on my ill fated sojourn. But the horn didn't honk.

[Sir Limpsalot]

I'm loving it! Shame it's such a long way to Texas from here. Actually I'm told it's a long way to Texas from ANYWHERE!
Next instalment please...................
Si

[Deans BMW]

Rob, enjoying your write up a lot.

I am ready to head back to Kerrville.

[socalrob]

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

I was lost, but then I was found, & finally some gravel free roads.

We all pulled up into some little outpost of a town at about noon. Nobody was especially hungry as we all had breakfast, but we stopped in at a fillin station. For some idiot reason either I called my office or my office called me, & I was busy giving em hell when everyone geared up and road away. I swear I was only a couple of minutes behind, & up until that time I figured they always stopped at turnoffs, so I wasn't too worried.

After being in a group there is something to be said for rolling alone through nice open terrain. I really enjoyed the ride, but was not going particularly fast. I maybe should have factored in that there was food at the end of this leg & everyone must have picked up the pace. I only got worried when I crossed Interstate 10 & no sign of anyone. I knew going down I-10 would take me back to the motel, straight ahead into Kerrville. Well, no one to signal a turn, I head into Kerrville. I make it to Highway 27, which is the main drag through town, & the road I'm on peters out into a little residential street. Still no sign of anyone, so I keep going. After about a mile, I figure I'm lost, & head for the motel. Just as I get to the hotel, empty parking lot & all, Allan rides up wondering where the hell I've gotten myself lost to. Turns out I should have telepathically know to turn right on Highway 27, but I'm a bit dense for that.

Lunch turns out to be a nice riverfront cafe, & we eat outside. Afterwards we head down the road & get some gas. Somehow I end up next to Allan at one of the few available pumps, & he gives me free gas. After crashing his bike.

Allan leads us out to a local Texas wonder, a mini (maybe 1/2 size) replica of Stoneheng. Pretty strange thing out in the middle of a field. I always thought everything in Texas was bigger, but it turns out things just look bigger due to all the space, up close everything gets tiny.

Allan leads us through some ranch gates, across the grass field, & right up to Stonehenge. I will say that when I saw the original in England the access was much more restrictive. I though maybe we would just circle it a few times, like Indians, I mean NonImmigrant Americans, circleing a wagon train. But no, Allan just wants a picture of the bikes next to the monument. About the time he gets the pix the presumed owner/artist pulls up in his pickup & politely askes us to park OVER IN THE PARKING LOT WITH EVERYONE ELSE.

We get out on the road, a nice country highway with almost no traffic & no gravel, a definate plus for me on this trip. A nice mix of straights & curves, the sun is shining, the sky is blue, life doesn't get any better. At some point I spy Allan up ahead on a long straight, & lay into the throttle, knocking his pretty blue bike up to maybe 110 as I pass him. Of course I have no idea where I'm going, so I'm not the stayin out front for long. I think we rode one of the three 330 highways, they call them the Twisted Sisters. Really are fun roads.

After reading this board for the past few weeks deer are on my mind, & we do see some deer, some parts of deer, & some buzzards eating some deer. My personal preference, I like the dead ones, but it seems that Texans put out alot, I mean alot, of deer feed. I picked up a real estate mag on Texas ranches, & it looks like all the adds talk about deer & not cattle. I guess hunting is more fun that ranching. Maybe they will have to change that saying to "Big Hat, no deer".

We stop at "The Motorcycle Stop" in I Leakey Texas. Interesting place, a big steel building/barn with various MC parts nailed up. Dirt floors, shady tables, & a nice breeze. Would be nice on a really hot day, as I'm sure there are many. There are way more HDs than anything else. On todays ride, with the non HD riders, we somehow all park across the street. Next day, when I'm on the HD, I roll right up in the side yard & park on the grass with the other HD's. HA.

We ride back to Kerrville, the road between Leakey & Kerrville, Highway 337, is a fantastik ride. I go by the motel & fill up Allan's bike, & by the time I pull into the motel Allan is thinking I'm lost again. No, I'm just enjoying Texas.

For dinner I again manage to get a ride in a Tahoe to the resturaunt. Looks like another night of drinking. The eatery is in a historic 2 story house, we ate in a bedroom. Another great steak dinner, & the place even gives me a second bottle of wine when they manage to jam the cork down inside the first bottle. I think Dean was still going on about Bluebelt Vanilla Ice Cream. I think he needs to move back to Texas.

Back at the motel there are now lots of bikes, at least 2 or 3 other groups, HDs & Goldwings abound. Allan had everyone help themselves to his bar, & also passed around some Ceegars.

BTW, somewhere in all of this I met up with Acacia (Brian Gurney), a very nice/smart guy originally from South Africa. Calls himself a Pale African, which fits. Brian has a very nice R1150R, with some great mods including an oil temp. gage with the sending unit in the oil drain plug. Temps don't bother me too much, but then again in Cali we can lane share when we are worried about engines overheating in the summer. I can imagine it can get pretty brutal sitting in traffic in the Texas sun. I lived in FLA for 8 years & for at least 5 of those drove a car with no airconditioning, so I can relate. Anyway, Brian has let me know that I snore, now I myself have never heard myself snore, but I have been told of this by others. Everyone may want to keep that in mind when room mates are chosen up on future rides. Might want to have an extra set of ear plugs.

next, Saturday's ride on the HD

[jamming]

Rob, keep going!!!!!
Enjoying the read, I'm gonna make it next year!
Roger

[Tipstall]

:038: :038: :038:

[BobFV1]

Rob -

You are the Cafe's Hemmingway! Who knew?

Looking forward to the next chapter.

(PS - Wild WIll, don't take offense, there's room for a Hemmingway and a Joyce on the same board :) )