The weather started out gloomy but dry, and we were all prepared to get sprinkled on if it should come down to that. I met Gary (DrBlackbird), Nathan (Low), Shawn (sqvvcd), and Paul (scratch) at the Oshman’s parking lot. Gary had graciously agreed to transport me on the quest for pie, as the rear tire on my bike was not in any condition to attempt this ride. We get the “Great Pumpkin” (Gary’s orange Goldwing) packed and ready to go, Paul decides to hang back to wait for Kent (kocook), and we head west for Brookshire to meet Stuart (Thermalser).
Shawn’s gorgeous ’05 R6 Raven…
The Great Pumpkin…
My DJ for the day…
I don’t see a mute button, but Gary claims to have used it throughout the day to hush me. I’m happy to have music piped into the helmet, although it means wearing Gary’s ¾ passenger helmet instead of my own full-face.
Stuart on his FZ1… (note the helmet on the grass – what Stuart doesn’t know is that Nathan just kicked over an ant hill!)
As we head out on the road, it is obvious the fog wants to stick around for a while. Gary points out the gray skies, almost as if to taunt them.
These guys are a regular motley crew – reaching to slap off each others’ bikes kill switches, taking keys when they turn their backs, and lots of inside jokes and slapstick humor. I’ve now dubbed them the “West Side Boyz”.
“Who took my key?”
The roads are clean and dry despite the clouds, and the sweeping turns offer a great opportunity for me to continue to practice looking through the turn even though I’m only a passenger. This way, (in theory) I can’t panic when something appears in the road.
As the MS150 ride approaches, bicyclists are out in droves. Some are huffing and puffing and walking the bikes up the hills, some are riding side-by-side. As we near the top of a small hill, a rider has crossed our lane and has stopped on the right shoulder. That was close, but why is he over there? As our line of sight comes over the top of the hill, all I hear over the intercom is “Oh no, Low…” – I look ahead and there, in the grass on the right, is Nathan standing above his now-horizontal bike. Oddly enough, the color of the bike matches well with the long, plush grass and is almost camouflaged by it. All of the men hop off their bikes and they quickly get the ZX up on her tires. I stand around and take pictures…
Damage is minimal, but heartbreaking nonetheless. There are easier ways to mow the lawn, Low! What I find out is that a truck pulled out into our lane to get around the bicyclists, so Stuart slowed (or stopped?) to avoid him. Nathan smoked the back tire trying to avoid Stuart, and managed to only clip his right leg and right mirror on his way into the grass. I’ve been told there were some acrobatics here, but I was not witness to the event. His new leather jacket has some damage, which his wife will not be too pleased about, but we are all glad he is up and moving with no serious injuries.
The left now matches the right from his previous mishap in the forest…
Although he will be sore later, Nathan gets himself back on the bike and we press on. We are now running seriously behind schedule, so I call Kurt (txmedic) to let him know that the Austin group should head for Marble Falls without us, and we’ll meet them there. He has just arrived at the Taco Cabana in Cedar Park, and there are at least a dozen bikes there already. I’m excited about the decent turnout, and bid the Kurt Adieu. We have what could possibly be the longest gas stop for only six bikes I’ve ever been witness to, then we’re back on the road.
The sweeping turns are coming more frequently, and we pass a small town that (I think) is New Ulm. It sounds familiar, but I thought we would be closer to Austin by now. Maybe I’m getting the towns confused. (Notice there are no road numbers in this entire ride report!) Going 2-up on a barn door in gusting winds has slowed our pace on the Pumpkin a bit, so the majority of the group is out of sight ahead. Shawn is riding sweep behind us and seems to be enjoying the relaxing pace. After banking through a wide turn, I hear over the intercom, “Wasn’t there someone behind us?”
There was, and I had seen Shawn’s headlights only moments ago before the last set of turns. Gary gingerly turns the Pumpkin around in the middle of the straight and we head back to see what the issue is. Gary spots Shawn standing hunched on the side of the road, “I can’t believe it, he’s taking a leak” is his immediate reaction. But as we draw closer, my heart begins to race as I see the bike tires-up in the ditch. As quickly as he can, Gary gets the bike parked and is getting Shawn seated. A few questions to make sure he is alert, he asks him what hurts, if he blacked out at all, and if he can move all of his limbs. Locals passing by have stopped and are calling 911 for help. Shawn tries standing up to go to the bike, but Gary settles him down and gives him the Ok to take the helmet off.
I didn’t take a picture of the bike standing on its tank because I thought it would be insensitive while Shawn was still staring at it and digesting the reality of what had just happened. Looking back, it would have been the perfect picture for him to remember the incident by, and everyone has asked if I got that on film. Sorry. The image will be permanently stored in my head, though. For more details about the crash and pics of the crash site, see Shawn’s post
here.
After the Sheriff finished writing up the incident (but not writing a ticket), we flagged down a flatbed truck (how lucky of us that he was passing by at that moment) so that we could get the bike over to the grocery store down the road. The men heave-ho and get the bike up there… careful not to scratch it!
After offloading the bike at the store, I called ahead to the Blue Bonnet and asked the waitress if there was a group of bikers there. “Honey, there have been bikers in and out of here all day, you’ll have to be more specific.” She pages anyone from Two Wheeled Texans up to the phone, but nobody responds. I decide to call Beth (BlueBomber) and she calls Will (birdwh) and John (irondawg) to let them know what happened. She gives them both my cell phone number, and I wait for a return call. The neighbor’s dog amuses us quite easily, jumping and biting onto a shoe that dangles from a tree. He hangs there for quite a while, and all we can do is watch.
We take a vote and decide that pie is no longer the plan for today. The new plan is going to be for the remaining five bikes (and six riders) to stay upright on the way home. Thus, our journey ends in Webberville and we begin our return trip. We’re all hungry (it’s noon and we expected to be eating at 11), so we stop in Bastrop at the Chilis.
In lieu of pie, we settle on a desert that is a chocolate lover’s dream: chocolate cake filled with warm chocolate cream, topped with ice cream and chocolate magic shell. We get only one and share it.
We decide on the route home through La Grange and Bastrop State Park.
We stopped at a scenic overlook, and most of the group apparently heard the call of nature.
When I asked where MY tree was, they pointed “over there”. Seriously guys, can we stop for a restroom break? “If you want to ride with the boys, you’ll have to pee with the boys” was the answer.
They did, in fact, stop so that I could use the facilities. When I returned, I found them all huddled over a map. I have no idea what the discussion was, but since I was just a passenger I decided it didn’t matter if I knew where we were going.
The sun has finally peered out from behind the clouds and haze.
We make it back to Brookshire, and the Blues Brothers head south while the rest of us head east.
Back in Katy, Nathan split off for home on the Grand Parkway and Gary brought me back to my truck, safe and sound. It was an interesting day, and I was physically exhausted despite sitting back and relaxing as a passenger on the ‘sport couch’.
Oh yeah, and Stewie doesn’t like to have his picture taken…
Stewie behaving badly
Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
All I can say is 
Good thing I had my pilot lisence (not current though).
But all in all I had a good time and met some good folks. I look forward to riding with y'all in the future. I'm glad to hear that even with some bike misfortunes, everyone made it home safe.
Woodbutcher, you could have just done a cut and paste of your text. After you highlight and hit cut/copy, just back out of the original post, go to the new forum, start a new post and paste the text 
Piece of cake... er.. pie!
