Tourmeister
03-22-2003, 01:08 PM
Howdy,
:tab Despite the weather, we made a run down FM 1791 and FM 149 to King's Cafe. It was pretty overcast but dry with temps hovering around 65 F. After we turned on to FM 149 and started to climb the first hill, we came upon lots of bike on the shoulders, some vehicles, and one thoroughly trashed BMW 1100 faired touring bike. Hard to tell which bike as it was in bad shape. Beth and Deb said they saw someone lying in the ditch, either dead or unconcious. Another man was trying to walk and was being assisted by someone else. He looked like he was either severely distraught or had a serious concussion. Either way, he was having trouble just standing up and walking. Further up the shoulder was a woman sitting up in the ditch with other women huddled around her. I've no idea if she was injured. There had to be about 10 cruisers stopped and three or four cars and trucks. We went through pretty slow.
:tab The crazy thing is I saw no skid mark. The curve can easily be taken at 80+. The hill makes a slight crest as it curves to the right so the bike will get a little light while you are leaning over. But you have to really be hauling to get it real light. The hill just isn't that severe. A few miles further down the road a couple of Sheriff's came whizzing by with their lights flahsing, soon followed by a skidplate wrecker.
:tab Needless to say, we ran a slightly more sedate pace. Debbie was on my bike with me and she is still a relative newbie to the world of riding. I could tell that she had tensed up after seeing the accident. But we still enjoyed a brisk ride down through the forest.
:tab Near the end of the run, we came around a right hander to see another skidplate wrecker on the left side of the road, some cars and bikes stopped. Good grief :huh: A cruiser had been coming the other way through a descending left hander and blown the curve going striaght into the ditch. The frontend of the bike was in bad condition. Apparently the rider was already gone from the scene. The only people there were the two wrecker guys collecting up the bike. This curve eats bikes on a regular basis even though it is not really a bad curve. If you are heading North on 149, this is the first really sharp curve, posted for 35mph I think.
:tab We grabbed a snack at King's and then headed home. We knew rain was coming and hoped we'd be down and back before it got here. No such luck. We rode home in the leading edge of the front. Fortunately, it was not coming down real hard, just enough to dampen the jeans and drop the temp into the mid 50's :shock: Debbie had never been on a bike in the rain and she was alittle nervous. But once we got home she admitted it was not as bad as she had expected.
:tab Looks like the rain is here to stay for the day. Perfect for a nap :wink:
:tab Despite the weather, we made a run down FM 1791 and FM 149 to King's Cafe. It was pretty overcast but dry with temps hovering around 65 F. After we turned on to FM 149 and started to climb the first hill, we came upon lots of bike on the shoulders, some vehicles, and one thoroughly trashed BMW 1100 faired touring bike. Hard to tell which bike as it was in bad shape. Beth and Deb said they saw someone lying in the ditch, either dead or unconcious. Another man was trying to walk and was being assisted by someone else. He looked like he was either severely distraught or had a serious concussion. Either way, he was having trouble just standing up and walking. Further up the shoulder was a woman sitting up in the ditch with other women huddled around her. I've no idea if she was injured. There had to be about 10 cruisers stopped and three or four cars and trucks. We went through pretty slow.
:tab The crazy thing is I saw no skid mark. The curve can easily be taken at 80+. The hill makes a slight crest as it curves to the right so the bike will get a little light while you are leaning over. But you have to really be hauling to get it real light. The hill just isn't that severe. A few miles further down the road a couple of Sheriff's came whizzing by with their lights flahsing, soon followed by a skidplate wrecker.
:tab Needless to say, we ran a slightly more sedate pace. Debbie was on my bike with me and she is still a relative newbie to the world of riding. I could tell that she had tensed up after seeing the accident. But we still enjoyed a brisk ride down through the forest.
:tab Near the end of the run, we came around a right hander to see another skidplate wrecker on the left side of the road, some cars and bikes stopped. Good grief :huh: A cruiser had been coming the other way through a descending left hander and blown the curve going striaght into the ditch. The frontend of the bike was in bad condition. Apparently the rider was already gone from the scene. The only people there were the two wrecker guys collecting up the bike. This curve eats bikes on a regular basis even though it is not really a bad curve. If you are heading North on 149, this is the first really sharp curve, posted for 35mph I think.
:tab We grabbed a snack at King's and then headed home. We knew rain was coming and hoped we'd be down and back before it got here. No such luck. We rode home in the leading edge of the front. Fortunately, it was not coming down real hard, just enough to dampen the jeans and drop the temp into the mid 50's :shock: Debbie had never been on a bike in the rain and she was alittle nervous. But once we got home she admitted it was not as bad as she had expected.
:tab Looks like the rain is here to stay for the day. Perfect for a nap :wink: