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[Ride Report] Showing Shy Alter the backroads of East Texas

Tourmeister

Keeper of the Asylum
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Location
Huntsville
First Name
Scott
Last Name
Friday
Howdy,

Just prior to Christmas, I was contacted by a fellow from Toronto wanting to come to Texas to do some riding on his new 1200GS and to escape the snow and sleet. He made it as far as Memphis before the snow forced him to stop for the night. His plan was to make it to Dallas to stay with friend of mine, drop off his car/trailer and start his exploration of Texas. Well, it seems the weather here had other plans. It snowed all the way down in freaking Brownsville in the very Southern tip of Texas. A rare occurence to say the least. The two days of snow meant my new friend would have to forgoe the Big Bend part of the itenerary. He managed to explore Central Texas and the Hill Country before heading East here to Huntsville. He had never done any off roading and was eager for me to show him some nice roads. It was overcast most of the time he was here, but mere days after record breaking snow fall, it was again a balmy 70 F :lol: Gotta love it here in the Lone Star State! Here are a few pics from two days of riding with him here in the Piney woods of East Texas.

My GS on a sandy road
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Shy on his purty new 1200 GS learning that standing is a good thing!
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A favorite cafe where we do a weekly bike night
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Shy having fun on a short section of paved road before getting back on the dirt
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A sample of the road quality! Mostly good where the logging trucks have not rutted it to pieces :eek:
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Shy learning how to corner in the loose stuff... He takes to it like a natural!
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Must be some serious lenses on a satellite that can make out two bikes under the overgrowth of trees :brainsnap
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An infamous red clay backroad of Texas
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Both of us being sans knobbies, we didn't even consider an attempt...
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No argument when I tell him we are going to do a little backtracking
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Back on the sandy roads we stop so he can take it all in
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We had a blast. We did about 230 miles each day. For a total newb to off road riding, Shy took to it like a fish to water. He loved the loose deep gravel, the sound of that satisfying crunching under the weight of his German ubermachine! He had a few moments where he was out of control and flailing around, but he never dropped it! :dude: We would have both been a little better off sporting TKC-80's, but it was still a serious hoot!

I got to test ride the 1200GS on the pavement and on the loose stuff. No doubt it is a lighter more powerful bike. However, I found it much easier to ride smoothly on the unpaved stuff on the 1150 GS. On the road though... the 1200 is da bomb!!

Adios,
 
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