Dual Sport Ride Starting in San Antonio?

[daddykirbs]

I'm a noob to the forum so feel free to point me to other thread until I get the hang of how things are set up around here...

My (almost) 16 year old son and I talk about doing a dual sport trip someday. I like street bikes and have a little experience in the dirt. He like dirtbikes and gets crazy on his YZ125. He has broken a few bones, but that hasn't discouraged him yet.

Both of us want to do a trip where we can do both. We want to take a nice scenic route somewhere then get off of the pavement and see what Texas really looks like. We live in the NE corner of San Antonio so if there is any advice on what kind of trips we can start planning, I'd appreciate it.

[Eric2Tex]

You and your son can get your feet wet, literally by heading north on 281 to johnson city. From there to Llano lie several dirt/street roads off the beaten path. The roads of Texas atlas illustrates these somewhat, and a copy can be picked up at the LBJ state park visitor center. maps.google.com is a good source too.

Your post talks about dual sport riding, you wouldn't want to take the YZ on these roads, that would surely tick off the ranchers and since these are county roads would be illegal.

I usually make loops out of my rides to avoid taking the same road twice, a good day ride from your AO might look something like this: pickup fm 3009 in schertz to 46, west on 46 to 311. 311 to rebecca creek rd all the way to 281.

Take 281 into blanco, NW on rocky rd to 290. 290 to 1320 north to 1323 west. 1323 to althuis davis rd, p/u CR309 just after the dirt section, following it to CR308, the big city of click to CR315 all the way to 16 into llano for lunch at Cooper's. If your up for more after lunch work your way to mason then south to the eckert bat cave and one of the biggest water xings around.

from there work you way to tarpley, or make a bee line to luckenbach
and back home.

[daddykirbs]

Wow, thanks for the detailed directions. Of course, I would not want to take the YZ out. That is strictly a motocross bike. We are looking into whether we want to rent bikes or purchase some. This is going to be a while in the planning stages. I don't want to put him out on the road too young. He is a learning driver right now... would kinda like him to get at least a years worth of driving experience before we get out there on two wheels.

[daddykirbs]

Google maps is not the best source for following your directions. It seems that a lot of the street names are different.

How much of that trip would be "in the dirt"?

[Eric2Tex]

Google maps is not the best source for following your directions. It seems that a lot of the street names are different.

How much of that trip would be "in the dirt"?

You're right, someone must have changed something at google, its not listing road numbers. mapquest does a better job with names. I would say maybe 1/4 of its dirt. Starting with Rocky road, which is mostly dirt\gravel, 4 miles of althuis davis is unpaved, and all of the CR's are dirt, but none are especially difficult. The farther west you go, the more dirt you'll find.

I think this is the road from round mountain to sandy not mentioned, fairly typical
http://eric2.smugmug.com/photos/61462947_4CLTc-M.jpg

This little Xing is on CR315, not nearly as wide now due to the drought
http://eric2.smugmug.com/photos/193695945_YsUyo-L.jpg

[daddykirbs]

Thank you sir.

I'll look into that. I also have to look into what kind of bikes we'll be renting or buying. I do miss riding.

[Hemibee]

Since you are looking to get information for a future trip and not one within the next week or two I would suggest getting him into the MSF Basic Course or the Riders Edge Course. This will serve a couple or four purposes:
1. He will be learning from experienced road riders that are good instructors
2. The on bike segments are not on the busy streets
3. Taking the course will serve as his on road portion of the Motorcycle endorsement for his license
4. Will help transition from dirt to street thinking

I not 100% sure about the MSF but the Riders Edge provides the bikes for the class.

If this is something you will only do once or twice I would suggest renting the bikes for the ride. The only problem with renting is you will probably have to wait until he is 21 to rent him a bike. You might get lucky and find a company that will rent a street legal bike to someone under 21 but they are few and far between.