Sunday Morning Breakfast in SW Houston

[Squeaky]

It was a beautiful morning :-D . A little chilly to start out, but the sun was welcome after the hard rain we had yesterday. Some of us started the ride at the Avalon Diner on 59 in Stafford. Based on forum responses, we were only expecting 3 or 4 to meet up, but it turned out (albeit a half hour later than scheduled :roll: ) to be 9 of us at the Avalon.

Steve "strat1701" on '95 Ninja custom 5150
Chris "homermacleod" on '03 SV650S Silver
Jesse H (from TXSV) on '03 SV650S Copper
Jack "linjy1" (from TXSV) on '02 SV650S Blue
Asim on Ducati 900 Yellow
Rehman on GSXR 600 Blue/White
Safeer on (brand new) Ducati 749 Red
Ali on CBR 929 Yellow/Black
Rebecca "squeaky" on '03 SV650S Copper

http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1199.jpg
http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1200.jpg

After getting to know each other and waiting for everyone to arrive, we were off down 59 South towards Rosenberg to meet up with the rest of the group for breakfast at Bob's Taco Station. Rehman made it known that he was new and had never been on higways :help: , but unfortunately the feeder didn't run all the way down to Rosenberg. We kept the pack staggered and in the right lane (most of the time) and kept an easy pace. Everyone did just fine keeping him shielded from the crazy Suburban-driving soccer moms. A quick misguided turn and a change of leaders along the way, but nothing a quick re-grouping at the gas station on 1st Street couldn't fix :bigokay: .

When we got to Bob's, parking was a bit tricky :shrug: . The side lot wasn't paved, so we all just fended for ourselves and didn't worry about blocking each other in. Once inside, it was clear our group size was a surprise for Paul "ducmonster", Steve "steve_n_houston", Chris "mrr1150gs" and his daughter, and Randy "r1150gsrider" and his two children who were already there and seated. They had saved us space at a few conjoined tables, but the restaurant was busy and a line of patrons had formed. Some of us sat at that table, others had to wait for something to open up. The waitress tried her best to add another adjoining table when it was vacated, but she was quickly overrun by the people waiting in line that were obviously not pleased with us and our desire to sit together :pound: .

After breakfast, those of us who were riding out took a route vote and posed for a few quick pictures:

http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1201.jpg
http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1202.jpg

We said Adios to Chris, Randy, and the kids, and the ride proceeded back down 1st Street to 59. Homermacleod split off from the group and the 10 of us remaining stopped for last-minute gas and a few basic ride rules and pointers. Ducmonster was kind enough to take lead (lucky us, since he was probably the only one who knew where we were going :hail ) and I took sweep. Everyone had been so patient with my slow pace on previous rides, I figured I would repay my debt to riding society by going as slow as the slowest rider and being responsible for keeping us together ;-) .

We headed up 59 and ended up on Crab River Road (FM 762). We took it all the way down to Brazos Bend State Park, and once there it was easy to see there were smiles and kudos abound for the route choice :mrgreen: . Even though it was windy and the road had recently been patched in many places, the turns were easy sweepers with good visibility and no surprises. We stopped for a break and Jesse got a few more pics:

http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1203.jpg
http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1204.jpg
http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1205.jpg
http://www.twinturboz.net/users/juicyhung/SV650S/rides/050204/IMG_1206.jpg

From here, we headed back up 762 to from whence we came, and stopped at the gas station to end our day. We all talked about the day, the ride, the weather, and the bikes riding past us. A few other riders were meeting up in that same parking lot or gassing up while passing through, and one of them was even a TWTexan! Ok, I can't remember his name :scratch , but you know who you are.

We said our goodbyes, encourged those not already on the forums to join up, and thanked everyone for staying "shiny side up". :chug:
Thanks again Jesse for remembering a camera and hosting the pics!

[Jesse H]

Excellent writeup!

Thanks to everyone for riding responsibly and more importantly having a good/safe time. Thanks to Rebecca and Chris (unfortunately I didn't get to meet before you headed off) for organizing this. Thanks to Paul for taking the lead and showing the roads.

I had fun as this was my first group ride and looking forward to many more.

[strat1701]

Excellent writeup Squeaky. Next time we'll phone in a reservation at Bob's!!! Traffic sucked going back up Highway 6 for me, hope it wasn't bad for you off Wilcrest.

[Squeaky]

Glad you had fun Jesse. I like ending the day with everyone still smiling.

Steve, the ride back wasn't bad at all, except for the wind. Maybe next time we'll get a head count in advance and send someone down to Bob's to get the table before we arrive.

Pray for good weather on Sundays, folks. We could make this a regular thing.

[linjy2]

We could make this a regular thing.

haha, i could definately do this regularly :-D

[r1150gsrider]

It was great meeting you all for breakfast today. With such a good turn out maybe 9am might have been less busy at Bob's Taco Station.

I would liked to have joined the ride today, but with two kids and my GS waiting patiently at home in Austin, it was not in the cards.

The pics were great.

I was thinking that it would be great to meet you guys for breakfast in Bellville some weekend. Maybe I could ride with the Austin gang over there, we meet for breakfast, we ride around Bellville / Fayetteville for an hour or so, and then we can each head back to Houston / Austin / or Huntsville (Scott?).

So I got back to Austin around 5:30pm today and was able to get a short ride in by myself. This would have been fun with the group.

My ride started at RR620 and Volente rode here in NW Austin. I rode Volente Rd to Volente, then took Lime Creek road to FM1431. I saw two Travis County sheriff patrol cars along the way looking for someone going a bit fast. Luckily it was not me at the time I saw them.

I took 1431 to through Jonestown and Lago Vista, again Jonestown police cars and another Travis County sheriff making sure all of the cycles were traveling the speed limit. Hmmm...

I went past Lago Vista and entered into the Balcones Badlands Conservation Preserve area. You know you're here by the cattle guard and the "Loose Livestock" sign. The road narrows from 5 lanes to 2 lanes and get a bit twistier. I'm making good time and am doing about 60mph in a 50mph zone and come across, YATCSPC (yet another Travis County Sheriff Patrol Car). He sits there as I pass him and then in my rear view, I see his red/blue lights flip on just as I round the curve and lose sight of him. Unfortunately I was traveling about 10 mph over the limit and had my bright lights on (visibility - I typically drive with my brights on during the day just to give more visibility). At this point I slow back to 50mph and wait for him to catch up to me before I pull over. I keep riding and don't see him in the rear view. I keep riding and he's still not coming. Finally I see a van behind me but no patrol car. Now I'm starting to wonder whether I changed his mind. He never came my way. Phew! I keep riding and find this road to the left marked as Travis Peak. I take this road out to an old LCRA Resource Area (forget the name). There was neat elevation changes on this road going from high peak to deep valley. After I explore, I head back the same way I came and made it back around 8 pm. Just in time for dark.

[VRRacr]

rebecca: you left out the part where some of us went to the restroom. j/k. talk about detailed! :-D

safeer

[Squeaky]

If you think that's detailed, wait 'till you see one of Scott's rides!

Randy, the Bellville idea sounds like fun. Would be a good change of pace. We'll have to get it together.

[homermacleod]

It was nice meeting everyone yesterday.

Sorry I could not stick around and ride after breakfast, I had to go to school to finish a project :angryfir: .

As far as making this a regular get together, what are you guys thinking, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly?

Chris :chug:

[VFRinAustin]

What a mottly looking crew :twisted:

JK

Very nice right up there Squeaky, sounds like you all had a good time, what a beautiful day it was.

Hey, is that your SV with the High mount Scorpion on it? If so, when did you get that, how much and how do you like it? Looks very schweeet. :mrgreen:

[Squeaky]

No, sadly mine is still bone stock. That one is Jesse H's. I'm sure he'll share the info.

[ZapataZR7]

WOW....!!!! Great report and pictures....!!!!

Thanks for sharing..!!! :chug:

[strat1701]

lol @ mottly looking crew! I passed on some pics from yesterday's jaunt to co-workers today and two people wished they had bikes to partake in all the fun. I have the dubious distinction of being one of two people who ride at the office I work at. One person has the bug really really bad. They asked me if an 2003 Yamaha R6 with 1500 miles on it for $3800 bucks AND FREE SHIPPING from NYC thru cycletrader.com was a good deal. If it's too good to be true, it probably is! There HAS to be something wrong with that bike despite the owners claims of immaculate condition. Pics look nice, but giveaway number one was the guy said he had the frame painted to match the bike color. Probably went down and scratched it up bad! I have a feeling that soon they will get a bike so we might have another rider here!!!

strat1701

[gsguy]

Great read. I'm looking forward to joining you guys at some point.

I rode to Katy Sunday morning to look at some houses--I may become a suburbanite. Awesome weather.

R

[Jesse H]

Hey, is that your SV with the High mount Scorpion on it? If so, when did you get that, how much and how do you like it? Looks very schweeet. :mrgreen:

That would be mine. Thanks for the compliments!

I got it from that group deal over at SVrider.com for $275 shipped. It took longer to cut off the stock pipe than to actually put it on. For a "race only" can it's really not loud at all. Pops a bit on deceleration but I haven't remapped it or anything.

GF's getting used to it. Sunday night we went to Memorial/Allen Parkway and she didn't get burned on it. :twisted: