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 
Andrew T
0
I rode the Heart of Texas rally this past Saturday. It was my first distance/time limited rally, and I'll be doing another. I started from the bonus Whataburger in Corpus Christi at about 6:05 am and headed for the first stop on the Bridges route. The Old Salt Creek bridge about 8 miles out of Three Rivers was nowhere to be found, so the new bridge stood in for it:
The Old Nueces Bridge sits in the Valley Wells cemetery 18 miles southwest of Cotulla:
Next stop, the Easter Island head in Ingram, but first, a performance award from Kerr County's finest:
Deputy Arredondo was extremely professional and sent me on my way with a written warning. On the road again to Ingram:
Interstate time! The Connie loves a big road, and we blasted up to Junction for a quick view of the South Llano bridge:
Then up to San Angelo, with a stop at the Pioneer Rest Cemetery in Menard:
It was a little hard to find the parking spot for the Celebration Bridge in San Angelo, and it was kind of hot and windy crossing the plains, but the ride was rewarded with a shot of the Pearl of the Conchos:
Now for a blast back East to pick up the Regency suspension bridge between San Saba and Goldthwaite; the plan was to shoot the bridge first, then the Conoco station in Placid on the way back to Brady if time permitted. Here I made my second (some, such as Deputy Arredondo, might say third) poor decision. I saw the FM road for Placid, and was so excited to have spotted it that I went for it:
Due to my previous poor decision (not buying gas in Eden when I stopped for a snack) I felt the need to make a 30-mile detour to San Saba for fuel. A quick reroute put me on the bridge at 5:10 pm:
This left 50 minutes to blast back down to Brady for check-in; I made it with 4 minutes to spare. We walked to the Hard 8 for steaks, then to the Brady Inn for results at 9 pm. My 2750 points was good for 19th place of 40 or so finishing; the manager came out about 10:15 to shut down the parking lot party due to noise complaints.
Next time: Stick to the plan! Good decisions are made when one is well rested, NOT 10 hours into a 670-mile marathon. Maybe a radar detector; I feel that my behavior contributed strongly to the brevity and good results of the stop. I saw him hit his brakes (he was going the other way, and when I saw him hit the brakes, I just pulled over and waited. I had my helmet and gloves off, hands on bars when he approached, and always asked before doing anything like getting off the bike etc. There's never a bad time to add fuel; I stopped with 1/4 tank or so showing, and didn't think of having enough juice to finish.
PS: Apologies to the ADVRiders who have already seen this post - a fair number of you cross-post but by no means all.
The Old Nueces Bridge sits in the Valley Wells cemetery 18 miles southwest of Cotulla:
Next stop, the Easter Island head in Ingram, but first, a performance award from Kerr County's finest:
Deputy Arredondo was extremely professional and sent me on my way with a written warning. On the road again to Ingram:
Interstate time! The Connie loves a big road, and we blasted up to Junction for a quick view of the South Llano bridge:
Then up to San Angelo, with a stop at the Pioneer Rest Cemetery in Menard:
It was a little hard to find the parking spot for the Celebration Bridge in San Angelo, and it was kind of hot and windy crossing the plains, but the ride was rewarded with a shot of the Pearl of the Conchos:
Now for a blast back East to pick up the Regency suspension bridge between San Saba and Goldthwaite; the plan was to shoot the bridge first, then the Conoco station in Placid on the way back to Brady if time permitted. Here I made my second (some, such as Deputy Arredondo, might say third) poor decision. I saw the FM road for Placid, and was so excited to have spotted it that I went for it:
Due to my previous poor decision (not buying gas in Eden when I stopped for a snack) I felt the need to make a 30-mile detour to San Saba for fuel. A quick reroute put me on the bridge at 5:10 pm:
This left 50 minutes to blast back down to Brady for check-in; I made it with 4 minutes to spare. We walked to the Hard 8 for steaks, then to the Brady Inn for results at 9 pm. My 2750 points was good for 19th place of 40 or so finishing; the manager came out about 10:15 to shut down the parking lot party due to noise complaints.
Next time: Stick to the plan! Good decisions are made when one is well rested, NOT 10 hours into a 670-mile marathon. Maybe a radar detector; I feel that my behavior contributed strongly to the brevity and good results of the stop. I saw him hit his brakes (he was going the other way, and when I saw him hit the brakes, I just pulled over and waited. I had my helmet and gloves off, hands on bars when he approached, and always asked before doing anything like getting off the bike etc. There's never a bad time to add fuel; I stopped with 1/4 tank or so showing, and didn't think of having enough juice to finish.
PS: Apologies to the ADVRiders who have already seen this post - a fair number of you cross-post but by no means all.