DS West of Austin 11/19

[WoodButcher]

Well, Harpoon, Irondawg and I decided to hit some dirt roads SW of Marble Falls today instead of riding down to Blanco for pie. Sorry guys, the dirt was calling and we had to answer.

Anyway, at the first good photo op, Harpoon and I both discovered that our camera batteries were dead. So, 210 miles on the worst seats know to man and no pictures. I got some good practice standing up on my DRZ, mainly because I couldn't stand to sit any longer. Hmm, roads from memory are 1431 to Cow Creek,then 1174 back to 1431. Then 2731 out of Marble Falls to 71, then 310 to 308/309. Things get fuzzy there, then 962 to Round Mountain for Harpoon to tank up. I decided I didn't need any...only bit me slightly later. Back on 962 to cr 302, 303, 40? eventually back on 281 going into Marble Falls and home on 1431. When I hit 199.9 miles on my new 3.9 gallon tank it started to miss, couldn't reach the fuel valve in time and had to coast to the side of the road. Oh well, glad there wasn't traffic and now I know when I will hit reserve.

Well, it was a good ride and got to see lots of country. Thanks John for the tour and Neil, glad to meet you finally.

[Tourmeister]

200 miles on a 3.9 gallon tank is pretty darn good!!

[WoodButcher]

200 miles on a 3.9 gallon tank is pretty darn good!!

Yep, went 6 more miles and filled it up. 3.82 gallons. Guess I don't have as much reserve as before.

Now I need to run it down before the dirt ride next weekend so I don't have to haul all that much weight. I wonder if the wife will buy that excuse?

[whoa]

Well, Harpoon, Irondawg and I decided to hit some dirt roads SW of Marble Falls today instead of riding down to Blanco for pie.

Wondering if you found a detour. How many of the roads you listed are dirt? I assume the are all Tiger friendly, at least when dry? Are any of them like that rock road we took up to the animal reserve off 1431?

[harpoon]

I think there is something wrong with my wrist!!! 3 gal and change = 128 miles:shrug:

It was good to get out. Thanks John for leading and good to meet you Rusty. :thumb:

[WoodButcher]

Wondering if you found a detour. How many of the roads you listed are dirt? I assume the are all Tiger friendly, at least when dry? Are any of them like that rock road we took up to the animal reserve off 1431?

Thanks for reminding me. We did that road too. That was were we discovered the dead camera batteries.

No, none were as steep as that. CR310 has some elevation changes down to low water crossing (all dry right now) that would slow you down on the Tiger. But none of the dirt roads were rough or rutted. There was some washboarding, but not deep or long. I never even felt the bike float going over them and that's a sign they were mild. CR308 had less elevation change. It had a little loose stuff on top in a couple of sections, but not more than an inch thick so you could actually go through slow (as opposed to deep sand that you can't go slow through).

The paved sections would be a blast for you. I think it was about 30% dirt. As soon as I get new batteries in the GPS I'll pull off the data and post it as a gpx file since Scott has allowed those as attachments. Those batteries died after we got back on 1431 heading home so I didn't miss anything important.

[WoodButcher]

I think there is something wrong with my wrist!!! 3 gal and change = 128 miles:shrug:

It was good to get out. Thanks John for leading and good to meet you Rusty. :thumb:

Could be something to do with the gearing too. You were reving more on the high speed sections.

[WoodButcher]

Okay, let's see if this attachment thing works. Here is the tracklog from our ride. You can open it in Mapsource, Google Earth or GPSexpert.

I edited the tracklog to start at Rudy's on 620, and it ended when the batteries died on FM 1431 on the way back.