DS Ride, Saturday, Jan 21st, Austin to San Saba

[Richard_]

Okay, it's time for the next adventure.

There are some really interesting looking roads southwest of San Saba that have been calling to me for the past couple of months. The map says they are dirt roads, really long dirt roads. So, Jan 21st is the day to go ride those roads and confirm they are there and are dirt.

Grab your updated Roads of Texas atlas and turn to pages 104 - 105. From San Saba check out CR roads 228, 233, 258, 261, and 174, coming off Hwy 1030 and Hwy 2732. Those CRs are our target. (If you don't have the most recent edition of Roads of Texas atlas, I highly recommend it to you. You can get it at Barnes & Noble for $17.95 or at Sams for around $12.)

I haven't ridden these roads and haven't heard of anyone else riding them either. If anyone here has ridden them, please chime in and let us know how they are. If not, well, that's why it's called an adventure.

Please note, this is going to be a LONG day of riding. I'm guessing 10 hours of riding, with significant portions of highway riding to get up to the San Saba area. That being the case, we are going to have to get started early. The goal is to get back prior to dark.

Meet at 7:45 in the parking lot of Albertsons, at the "Y" in Oak Hill. Stands up at 8:00 a.m.

Here is the route from the "Y":

North on 71
West on Hamilton Pool Road / 962
North on 71 to Llano
North on 71
North on CR 410 (first dirt road of the day and the start of the major
dirt road exploration part of the trip)
North on CR 229
North on CR 228
West on CR 258
West and then North on CR 261
East on CR 233
North on 2732
East on CR 174
North on Hwy 1030 to San Saba
Lunch in San Saba
South on Hwy 1301
South on CR 203
South on CR 209
South on Hwy 16
East on Hwy 501
South on CR 232
South on Hwy 16 to Llano
Time permitting we will run some of the back roads back to Austin
Time not permitting we will run 71 south to 962 south back to Austin.

[Tourmeister]

:tab Hmmm... All my GPs maps and every online map I can find all show CR 410 going North, then West and dead ending. There is a private road off of that which cuts Northwest to Field Creek Rd., which then runs North. CR 229 and 228 are no where to be found near 410 :scratch: All I can find are CR's 347 and 343 :shrug: Interestingly, I cannot find any of the 2 series roads listed before you reach FM 2732. I see a lot of roads but they are all 3 series roads. I would guess they are in reality the same roads, but it is curious that the numbers would be so different. The same is true for all the numbers after FM 1301. Everything between there and Hwy 16 I show as 4 series roads. The only place I see all the 2 series CR's is North of US 190 and West of Hwy 16. Also, just as an FYI, FM 580 is a great paved ride!!

:tab I would definitely make sure you take your maps with you! ;-) Hopefully, someone with a GPS will go with you and record the track. That area looks like it has a lot of fun roads!

[Richard_]

Scott,

Hmmm, this may turn out to be more of an adventure than I'm anticipating. I used the latest edition of Roads of Texas atlas to plan the route and my experience with this atlas so far is that it has been quite accurate.

Hillcountryrambler did a recon of part of the route last week in his truck (228/229/411 if I remember correctly), so minimally, those roads are there, dirt, not private, and passable.

I'll report back on the route, map accuracy, and any cool/not cool stuff we encounter.

You wrote, "Also, just as an FYI, FM 580 is a great paved ride!!" Ha! I knew it. I spotted that road during my map recon and thought it would be a fun paved road. I orginally planned for us to ride it as we went north to San Saba, but pulled it off when I changed the route so we would take a more direct route north. Now I'm seriously considering re-routing for our run south back to Austin by taking 190 east of San Saba, turning onto Hwy 580 southeast, then taking hwy 501 southwest and grabbing CR 190 to CR 209, which then puts us back on the original route.

GPS? Hey, we are a group of hard core, manly-men, Adventure riders; we don't need no girly-man, non-map readin, GPS baby sitter. (Either that or we are a bunch of cheapo KLR riders with narry a GPS amongst the entire bunch. Well, okay, maybe there is 1 GPS in our group. But that guy isn't going with us.) I've got a good idea. Why don't you trailer up to Austin Friday night and ride with us on Sat. That way you can record those coveted GPS waythingamajigs. You can bivy at my place Friday and/or Sat night if you want. We might even be persuaded to eat at Coopers in Llano if you talk real nice to us.

[Tourmeister]

:tab Sigh... I am on call again :roll: The price I have to pay for getting the weekend free when I went up to Dallas to get my KLR ;-) I wish I had more free weekends, but at a minimum, I lose every other weekend to work. After work, there are more and more things that seem to take over the free weekends. Play time seems to be getting squeezed out pretty good and I can only imagine it will get worse after the new kiddo arrives. I guess it is one of those inevitable things about starting a family, but I believe it will be worth it. Soon enough, they will be old enough to come out to play with me :trust:

[Richard_]

Scott,

That's a lot of weekends to lose to work. You have my sympathies. My wife and I run a small pro-shop at a local mx track on weekends, so I understand. Luckily for me, my wife helps me out a lot so I can often get one of the weekend days off.

[WoodButcher]

Scott,

That's a lot of weekends to lose to work. You have my sympathies. My wife and I run a small pro-shop at a local mx track on weekends, so I understand. Luckily for me, my wife helps me out a lot so I can often get one of the weekend days off.

Ah ha. I knew I recognized your signature line from somewhere. I just never put things together. We've met before about a year ago. I haven't been out to that track in a while. The DRZ really isn't a track bike...and I'm not a track rider:lol2:

[fallendown]

Richard......

I just have to ask this, and if it's true you are among the greates pranksters of all time.....In your avatar, are you peeing by the side of the road?

it sure looks that way!


Jason

[reverendbiker]

I own a small ranch about 13 mi. South of San Saba, off of CR 310 and have ridden many of the roads you've chosen; the ride should be great fun and you'll see some beautiful country. I'd love to go, but as you can tell from my handle the weekends are a time of work for me. For a few pics of scenery you're apt to encounter, check out my page here:
http://www.reverendbiker.com/vstrom/whyvstrom.htm (http://www.jackphelps.com/vstrom/whyvstrom.htm)

[Richard_]

fallendown,

Here's the truth about that avatar. That's not me in the picture. It is a picture I took of my Uncle, standing next to my KLR, looking out over a valley from CR 341 south of Burnet. He is actually standing with his hands on his hips, but the picture is so small it is hard to tell. I liked the full size picture so I used it as my avatar, without realizing that when shrunk down to avatar size it is difficult to tell exactly what he is doing.

[Richard_]

Thanks Rev.

[fallendown]

Oh ok.....I hought it was kinda funny, and was chuckling at it. I was not offended at all. Just thought it would have been funny.

[DaveC]

:tab Sigh... I am on call again :roll: The price I have to pay for getting the weekend free when I went up to Dallas to get my KLR ;-) I wish I had more free weekends, but at a minimum, I lose every other weekend to work. After work, there are more and more things that seem to take over the free weekends. Play time seems to be getting squeezed out pretty good and I can only imagine it will get worse after the new kiddo arrives. I guess it is one of those inevitable things about starting a family, but I believe it will be worth it. Soon enough, they will be old enough to come out to play with me :trust:

I'll volunteer to use your KLR and GPS, wouldn't want the gas to go bad:lol2: I then would be able to stop by Coopers:eat: I can tell the wife" but they need me" "they're countin' on me" I can bring it back dirty and in need of an oil change and tires:haha: This is a deal, I even put some new gas in it:roll:

[Chirpy]

Play time seems to be getting squeezed out pretty good and I can only imagine it will get worse after the new kiddo arrives.

You are correct sir! :thumb:

You are also correct in that you won't mind. :clap:

Other than you might be embarrassed to let people see your odometer...:shock:

[Tourmeister]

It's not too bad. There are times when Beth "suggests" I go for a ride, hehe. She hates seeing me moping around the house :mrgreen: