[Ride Report] DS Ride West of Huntsville 02/20/05

Howdy,

I was a short notice ride. I did not get anything posted until late Saturday night, the night before the ride. Will and I had decided we were going to do some dualsport riding Sunday so he could get in some miles on his new F650 GS Dakar. We figured we'd get one or two people to show up even with the short notice. Sure enough, we got two!

Sunday morning the phone rings around 8:30am or so, I think... I am never real clear headed that early in the day Someone named Steve is on the other end and wants to know if we are still doing the dualsport ride today? I assure him that we are, give him directions to the house and then roll over. The next thing I know Beth is coming in the room to tell me some guy with a truck and trailer is out front Hmm... time flies when you are having fun. I was sleeping, and in these heady days of having a newborn in the house, that is FUN! I peek out the window and sure enough, there is a nice Honda XR650R sitting on a trailer, and now that strange sound I've been hearing makes sense. It is pouring down rain!!

I hate cancelling a ride the day of the event. I don't have the knobbies on the GS and the prospect of sliding all over the place on the backroads on my DS tires is not all that thrilling. I check the weather radar and the only storm to be seen is sitting right on top of us, everywhere else is clear. Hmm...? Perhaps if we head West we might reach dry roads? Beth comes in and informs me there is an R1200GS that just pulled in the driveway. Another peek out the window and I spot Randy on his new 1200GS. I go out to meet him and he and Steve are on the front porch. It is still pouring

We hang out and chat for a while, watching the rain and listening to the wind blowing through the trees. Hopefully this will blow through pretty quick. Will shows up a short while later. I decide we're going riding. A quick shower and I get suited up for the ride. Fortunes have always been made in the West, so that is where we will head in search of great riding. With everyone geared up, we head out on wet pavement and leave town on Hwy 30 to FM 1791. I normally try to have some kind of idea what route we will be taking before we leave. Today I think I am just going to play it by ear and see what we find...

The next hour and a half we wander along a lot of little dirt/gravel backroads in a general Southwesterly direction. The guys following me must think I am drunk the way the route wanders and weaves all over the place. I am having to string together a bunch of little roads in my head hopeing that I can keep us from spending too much time backtracking or hitting the same roads twice. I am lost in thought thinking about roads yet to ride when I crest a short hill to see a HUGE pot hole just behind the crest With nothing else to do, I shift my weight as far back as I can and WHACK the throttle wide open. The front lifts over the hole and the rear just catches the far side... not too bad! Then I check the mirrors to see what happens behind me. I see Randy dodging to one side while trying to indicate to the others to be careful. I don't know if they realize what he is doing or not. When we get stopped, everyone starts in with, "Did you see THAT pothole!!??"

Rims intact and shocks unblown, we continue running through the National Forest heading West into the area between Richards and Hwy 30. There are tons of fun little country roads here. I have one stretch that I really like to do and it only seems fair to share it with the other guys. As we crest a mild hill, the downside becomes sand and goes into a ninety degree bend, then a few hundred yards of straight followed by another bend. The first time I hit this, I was flopping all over the place in the sand and freaked out. This time it seems like no big deal. I stand on the pegs, shift my weight back and stay on the gas and the bike just wiggles its' way along with no problems. Everyone behind me seems to be doing fine!

Soon we are back on hard pack with lots of loose gravel. This makes for some fun corners as I get on the gas coming out and slide the back end of the bike around. Eyes up the road, hard on the throttle, the bike squirms under the acceleration as it spits gravel out into the pastures. It has been grey and overcast since we left the house, but no rain really. The roads are pretty dry as I am sending up quite a cloud of dust for the others to enjoy Occasionally, the sun breaks through a hole in the clouds and sends down a ray to let us know it is watching over us. A few more tight bends, an old wooden bridge over a squalid creek and we find ourselves on FM 1486 just South of Shiro. We pull over for a few minutes so Randy can get rid of his rain suit. It is actually pretty warm and I decide to lose the jacket liner! Will uses the stop to moisten the local foliage Steve takes the opportunity to empty his spare gas tank into the tank on his bike. He's concerned that his XR650R won't have the range of our bikes. At over 50mpg with a four gallon tank, he has nothing to worry about!

Back under way, we head South into Richards. I decide to just stay with FM 1486 and run South out of town. A few miles from town, there is a neat County road that wanders back into the woods. It wanders through the area South of FM 2819 between Dacus and Anderson. It seems dry enough, yet I am still leary of wet spots. It would not take much to cause the front end to slide out on the GS and I'd be on the ground before I knew what happened! This stretch of road is great. I has lots of sand, gravel, hard dirt, broken pavement, thick woods, beautiful pastures, nice homes, HUGE Longhorns... Everything you want in a nice DS road

There is this one corner on one of the little county roads that is all gravel, I mean little tiny green pea sized stuff. Everytime I come through here, this corner gives me fits. Today is no different. The front end refuses to grab and slides as I try to balance the bike while feeding in the gas. I continue to drift wider and wider. I finally make it most of the way through the corner and see that there is nothing but flat open pasture and no fence on the side of the road. Rather than force the issue with the gravel, I decide to just stand up on the pegs and ride out into the grass along the edge of the road. Then I just nudge the bike back on up to the road and keep going. I am definitely wishing I had the knobbies on the bike.

Shortly, we are back on pavement, heading North on FM 2562 toward FM 149. There is a neat little loop I like to do here that brings us right back to this intersection. It has lots of gravel, tight corners, and places where we can really open up the bikes and cruise! It brings us out onto FM 2562 North of FM 149 and then we head West toward Anderson a mile or so before heading back into the woods on yet another gravel road. Soon we are blasting down a narrow road in a tunnel of trees, swampy pastures to either side. It is apparent that many of these roads have had some recent maintenance on them in terms of fresh gravel! All the better!! We eventually find ourselves on Hwy 90 South of Roans Prairie and head South to Anderson.

Once in Anderson, I decide that we will head out towards FM 3090 and do some of the county roads that criss-cross the area. They are usually hard pack and higher than the surrounding land so they should be relatively dry. A few miles West of town on FM 149, we cut back to the East of the road and head down a rough gravel/paved road. This is actually a short cut that will drop us out at the sharp 15 mph 90 degree bend in 3090. If you've ridden 3090, then you know exactly where that is. As we approach the end of the gravel road, I spot some kind of sportbike heading away from us.

Never one to miss chasing down someone so I can tell them about the TWT site, I give chase. Besides the last few miles of FM 3090 before reach FM 244 has some fantastic curves It is not long before I catch the biker and follow through some of the curves. I recognize the style of riding and the rain suit... It's Snoopster! She's obviously out for a solo ride and having a great time gracefully slicing through the corners. No new convert for me today... It becomes apparent that she recognizes the GS looming up behind her in the mirrors. She stops at FM 244 and we chat a few moments while waiting for the others to catch up. Will and Steve show up pretty quick, but Randy is nowhere to be found. I was planning to double back from this point anyway, so we say goodbye to Debbie and turn around.

Scarely a few moments after leaving Debbie and turning around, tons of huge fat rain drops come pounding down on me. I've seen this kind of rain before and there will be no time to run from it to don the rain suit. So as I am steeling myself for a soggy ride the rest of the day, it quits as suddenly as it started. Cool! Moments later Randy comes cruising around the corner towards me and I motion for him to make a u-turn. I slow to wait for him to catch up and then notice that Will is no where to be seen?! Must have stopped to put on his Frogg-toggs. I pull over and we wait for him. Regrouped and with no rain, we head back toward Navasota on FM 3090.

Everybody knows about THE decreasing radius curve on 3090. It has caught many a rider unaware and sent them into the barbed wire fence that follows the curve of the road. I flag the others to slow down and we run it with no problem. At the next corner, we keep going straight and head down another of the many gravel roads out here. This one takes us out to the West side of the old lignite coal mines that used to fuel the fires at the powerplant just North of Carlos. The mine has been closed down for close to fifteen years. The road is nice and wide, well graded and smooth! We really open the bikes up here and cruise along at close to 70mph, like riding on a cushion of air! The GS rocks! There are some fun curves with steep elevations changes and then we are back into the woods again. Soon we reach Hwy 30 about a half mile West of the gas station in Carlos. We head over for a fill up and a break.

It's sometime around 1:00pm I think and I am getting a bit hungry. The others agree about being hungry so we decide to check out the biker bar just up the road on FM 244 from the gas station. I have been by it numerous times but have never stopped. When riding, I prefer to avoid bars However, with the weather being so iffy today, we figure they won't be too crowded and the likelihood of our bikes being set on fire is slight. I think this place is called Yankee Mike's or something? Smack me for not getting a picture Anyway, the food is great. I could do without all the cigar and cigarette smoke, but the "tough" Amigos leave us alone Some of the characters in the place remind me of Halloween where all the little kids buy the costumes with the cheap plastic masks that they think make them look scary, hehe. Too each his own I guess...

Slightly stuffed and feeling very relaxed, we head North on FM 244. The next few miles have some fun curves. It is a shame that there are cruisers launched through many of the barbed wire fences along this stretch of road on an almost regular basis. Pretty much every single accident is alcohol related. The really ironic thing is how all the other riders are always so shocked to here Joe Blow put his bike to pasture two curves from the bar after an afternoon of drinking. I guess some people just never make that cause effect connection... Eh, enough preaching, back to the road...

Just North of the tiny tiny town of Keith, we head East into the woods on some nice sandy roads. Soon we are running down a long straight sandy road paralleling a rail track. We're heading East toward Hwy 39. These little roads are rutted pretty good and have lots of potholes. I am spending most of my time standing on the pegs and gliding over it all with seeming effortless ease. I have a moment of clarity when it occurs to me that when everything seems to be going perfect, beware!! I slow down a bit for good measure...

We hit Hwy 39 and turn North for a few miles until we find our next little side road, more sand and more ruts. The nice thing is that most of it is dry. I was really sweating this before we left town this morning. So far, the tourance tires seem to be doing fine with only a few moments of ham fisted throttle induced butt puckering squirreliness. It keeps me sharp We continue working our way Northeasterly toward Bedias in a zig zagging meandering manner. There are quite a few sharp corners with lots of loose sand and no run off area. I have to nail these because there is no pretty grassy pasture to catch me if I go wrong! Now that I have been doing more and more offroad riding on the GS, I am finally getting it ingrained into my head, "The throttle is your friend!" Point and shoot baby

We pass through Bedias in the blink of an eye. That is not hard to do because time has passed this little town by and it is not much more than an intersection of a few roads, without even a stoplight. We head out of town on FM 1696 toward Huntsville. It occurs to me that I have not taken any pics all day! I always have this problem when I am having fun on a ride. I get distracted having so much fun and forget to stop. No matter, I know the perfect place to stop and there is sure to be something worthy of a few pictures

A few miles out of town, we turn North on another county road. There are a mess of these county roads that criss-cross the area just North of FM 1696. Most of them are in pretty good shape. There is more pasture and rolling hills with lakes than thick woods. Some of the homes are really nice and then on the very next piece of property there are homes that look like they have not been inhabited for years and years, but there are people living in them. I guess it is better than cardboard boxes under a noisy freeway overpass I miss a turn and we have to do a short backtrack to get back on the route.

A few more turns and we are near the photo op spot. The last time I was out here, there was no discussion about trying to get past the mudbog that had consumed the road. We took some pics and turned around with out tails tucked under our fenders. Today, I plan to see if I can convince the guys to give it a shot. They all have knobbies or fairly aggressive treaded tires. We do a quick walk through to check things out and see if there are any paths that stand out as better than the others. There is a nice relatively firm rut to the left side of the road. I setup for the photos and Randy elects to go first. Screw the easy path, he charges right through the goopy stuff!

4.5Mb vid- right click, save as, you know the drill

He makes it through and makes it look easy. So easy in fact that he turns around and charges back through! He stalls on a big rut about half way across but gets it refired without dropping it. Steam rises off the underside of the bike from the water being spashed everywhere.

Refired, he spins his way out of the muck for a third try!


5.4Mb vid - Getting dirty!

Things don't go so smooth on the third attempt. So much for the third time being a charm

That's gonna take some serious hose time to come clean!


Inspired by Randy's bravado, Will and Steve decide they will give it a whirl.

20Mb vid - Getting dirty!

And then it is time for me to brave the slime with my nice slick street tires...

5.3Mb vid - Getting dirty!

A few wiggles and slides and I am through!! All that worry for nothing, hehe. Randy heads the way up the road to the next mud pit. He stops just short of it and looks back at us as if wondering if we really expect him to keep going...?! We crowd up behind him and apply the peer pressure Undaunted, he goes slipping and sliding through the mess, kicking up a rooster tail of mud as he goes. I know I can make it back the way we came so now I am wondering if I really want to try this :scratch Steve and Will plunge in right behind Randy so it looks like I have no choice, you know, being the ride leader and all I nudge the fat GS down into a good rut and start applying the gas. The rut is so deep the engine guards are scraping and so are my sidecases! I am duckwalking the bike but my knees are up near my shoulders!! Somehow, I just keep on moving forward, the sound of the rear tire spinning works its way through my ear plugs. Soon I am on the far side, happy to have made it. The thought of getting off the bike and trying to pick it back up while standing in that slime was not appealing

It is aroud 4:00pm now and we still have a few hours of daylight so I decide to take a few more scenic fun roads before heading home. We make a big loop around Round Prairie Road and then had back down to FM 1696. The run down FM 1696 is a nice relaxing sweeping ride. The pavement is smooth, the woods line the road, and it gently undulates up and down over the hills as it winds through the woods. A few miles down the road and we turn North onto Bishop Rd and head into the woods. I guess at this point, the scenery and all the roads are starting to look the same... As soon as I start to let my mind wander, I am snapped back to the moment by lots of fresh new gravel! This wasn't out here a few months ago when I last rode the area. No matter, I stand up on the pegs and let the bike float along, slightly wandering around under me feeling like a boat rolling on small waves. We reach Guerrant road, I miss the turn and have to circle back. Then we head South, more gravel, up and down the hills and round the corners all the way to FM 1696 again.

We head back to the West on FM 1696 a mile or so to pick up Scales Ranch Rd. I love this road. It is some kind of greenish dirt that is hard packed. Even when wet it makes for pretty good riding. The road is ruler's edge straight, right through the woods with long climbs and descents. When I finally reach the sharp 90 bend at the end, I realize I have run off and left everyone behind. I wait a few moments until I see their headlights coming and then set off again. The road runs West a while just South of FM 1696 before it makes a big sweeping turn to the South. We continue heading South on various little roads until we finally reach Hwy 30.

As I start to pull out onto the highway, I hear cheesy motorcycle horns bleating behind me. I look back and it appears that Will has something wrong with his bike. It would seem the little beak on his front fender has decided it only needs one bolt to hold it in place instead of the normal three! I guess all the bouncing around and vibration got the better of the bolts. As Will removes the dangling fender piece from his bike, Steve laughingly comments that this is what you get when you don't stick with a Honda. Moments later as we are getting set to go, despite vigorous kicking, Steve can get his bike refired... Touche! :rofl







While we are standing around watching Steve, it occurs to me suddenly that is is really hot out here standing around in full gear! Off come the helmet and gloves. The cool breeze blowing across my hair challenged scalp is quite refreshing! The last rays of the fading sun are tearing small holes in the cloud cover. It is a little after 5:00pm and I am hoping to get in a few more miles of the fun stuff before we call it a day. However, even if we have to call it quits and go get Steve's truck, we are only a few miles West of Huntsville. Randy gives it a go for a bit, then Will. I spare us all the agony of watching me thrash my crapped out right knee in a futile effort. Push starting is a vain effort. Finally, after much jumping up and down, the bike finally refires!! We still have time so I decide to see if we can do the last bit of dirty riding before heading to the house.

We head a few miles up Hwy 30 to Hoke Road and turn South. Last time I was running through here, the sand was deeper and much more loose. It would seem the rain earlier in the day, combined with traffic from the locals has packed the sand down pretty good. It is hard and firm and we are able to run pretty good on it. We reach Pool road and head East back toward FM 1791. A few more little roads in the area and then the light is starting to fade. Deer will be out and about so we hit the pavement and just head up to Hwy 30 for the run back into town. We reach the house right as it is getting dark, 205 miles. Steve makes quick work of getting his XR loaded up on the trailer, Will and Randy ride South together, and I head inside for some peanut butter and honey sandwhiches. Beth is gone and I have to revert to bachelor mode to get dinner Desert consists of a few Ibuprofen... The joys of aging...

The Route

We were never much more than 30 miles form Hunstville at any given time.

Adios,

Nice writeup as usual! Looks like yall had a blast, I always enjoyed off roading because you get to see some of the country side you normaly dont see. I guess i need to buy myself a dual sport someday too

Scott, yu shure dew rite gud storys.

I always enjoy reading them. Have you ever submitted anything for publication?

Makes me want a D/S really bad. You guys are having way too much fun.

Wish I was closer, maybe we should check out some roads somewhere here and there...

Scott, you should be getting pretty good at handling that behemoth now, maybe it's time for an easy ride on the SHNF singletrack. I can probably get Dad to let me use the NX... 'up for a day of hangin' out in the woods?

I can sure relate to Steve's kicking, after putting oil and cleaners in my 620's cylinder and soaking for a week it took a good 3-4 hours of kicking to finally get it up and running Saturday. Sunday my legs were so sore I could hardly move.

Pops off every time in 2-3 kicks at idle now, tags go on this week and inspection as soon as I can get a new brake light switch. Looks like I'll be down for the next one.

Don't count on me to stop for any mud and muck though, I was raised DS'ing in the flooded cowfields and rice farms in Alvin.

What kind of highway speeds are you guys running? I need to decide which sprocket to put on.

We were running a highway speed around 65-75. Or my speedo may be totally off.

dower said:

We were running a highway speed around 65-75. Or my speedo may be totally off.

Click to expand...

Yeah I think I'd want to sprocket down a few teeth for those speeds for any distance. I put a great big old sprocket on the bike last for riding through the goat trails at red river.

So how are you liking that beemer so far Will? Looked like a fun ride.

Man, I hate you guys that can remember the roads you took. I went for a ride at lunch today and the debriefing went something like "So where'd you go? Uh, someplace on the other side of Lake Lewisville... I don't know, Frisco maybe?"

Uhhh... I don't think I am up for single track on the wide GS hehe. If Bagwell would ever bring his dirtbike up here and leave it in my garage like he keeps saying he wants to do...

Adios,

Tourmeister said:

Uhhh... I don't think I am up for single track on the wide GS hehe.

Click to expand...

Okay, then you ride the NX, I'll ride the GS I'll teach that piggy to jump

I'll teach that piggy to jump

Click to expand...

With the tall first gear, it will only jump a few times before you start to smell the clutch cooking... I really wish I had the lower gearing of the Adventure, but then I would not have the great mpg of the regular GS Guess I will just eventually have to figure out a way to get a dirt bike!

Adios,

Ain't that just like someone on a Beemer, the sign said "NO DUMPING $200 FINE". :rofl

What's really funny is the sign also says they use satellite surveilance to monitor the area! I wonder if they have a pic of Randy's GS laying over in the mud?

Adios,