brd
0
Well, there's a chance for rain this weekend and I wanted to put some miles on the VFR and see if I fixed the low gas mileage problem. Last night I decided to take a little trip out west and ride to Palo Pinto. I'd been on FM4 before and it's a good road. I thought I'd go through there and then up to Jacksboro, but as I was looking at the map I saw Possum Kingdom Lake, and remembered hearing someone say there were good roads up there. So I looked at the map for a while and planned a route.
(To skip the report and go straight to all the pics: http://www.pbase.com/brd/palo_pinto)
This morning I got up and left at 10am. I hopped on I20 and droned out west about 70 miles to FM4. The road is not much til you get past Santo, and then it gets good. Lots of 35mph curves and then a few marked 25mph. At one of these, there were a lot of bluebonnets, and I turned back and pulled off the road to take a picture. A lady passed me, turned her car around and came back to ask if I was alright. Don't see that back home in the big city.
Then you pass Lone Camp and there is a long (tempting) straightaway before you start climbing the hills and the good stuff starts again. One particularly good 35mph curve seems to just go on and on.
The only problem was that I noticed I was tense on all these curves and not taking them as good as I should be. Not sure if I just wasn't warmed up or out of practice or what. So, when I got into the town of Palo Pinto, I decided I really hadn't enjoyed that road to the fullest, so I turned around and ran back South down it to Santo (14miles) again, turned around and ran it N again. 8) A light drizzle started and stopped a few times, but I knew it would burn off later. I got much more comfortable and corners that had scared me into braking for them the first pass were much easier and smoother.
The only incident was as I came back toward PP, a cop passed me as I was doing 10mph over. Whoa. So I dialed it down and took the next corner and dang, here comes another one. Hrm.
I stopped for gas and a soda in Palo Pinto and Cop#2 pulls into the gas station. I start to get paranoid. Why had he turned back around already? Maybe some of the locals complained about a motorsickle terrorizing them and now he's trying to intimidate me. Probably just paranoia on my part, but I still putzed around and waited til after he left before I got back on the road. I was afraid maybe he was waiting and then would follow me as I left.
Also, I was sad to discover my gas mileage was still crappy. The reserve light came on at 170miles and I got 36mpg. Blah.
I also discovered that I'd lost yet another map out of the pocket of my damned Tourmaster Tankbag. I love the bag, but the velcro on the map pocket is piss poor. My last trip my OK map got sucked out and today my TX one. They were both free at the state info centers, or else I'd really be pissed about it. I'm going to have to fix that, somehow.
But back to the riding. I hopped on US180 and headed west to Park Rd 33. This was also a very fun road. The curves were a little more spread out, but it was very enjoyable and even less traffic. As you get close to PKL state park, there's a long uphill stretch that is fun to open it up on. Unexpectedly, though, I came upon the entrance station to the park. Hrm, must have missed my turn off. The lady told me what road I should have taken and also said I could ride down to the lake and look around without paying. Sweet.
I snapped a pic and then headed back out of the park. There are also some really good corners inside the park perimeters. Then down the long straightaway. I wicked it up and tucked in for a high-speed run. Except the road isn't entirely level, so I came up on a ridge faster than I would have liked. Uhoh. I braked some, but realized I was still about to do either a Dukes of Hazzard or Isle of Mann TT impression here. Quick, stand up on the pegs! Relax deathgrip on bars! Vroomm.... The front wheel got some air and touched back down and my butt hit the seat. Phew! Wow, that was incredibly dumb and I don't even want to know how fast I was going at the time. Pucker factor: 7.2 Chalk another save up to the bike's superb suspension and also I had to give thanks to the new 0.9kg racetech springs.
About the time my heartbeat returned to normal, I came up on FM 3253, where I should have turned off. Oh well, at least I remembered most of the roads I was looking for. Took that up to 1148.
1148 is a great road. It runs along the north shore of PKLake and is almost entirely 25mph stuff. Up and downhill, hugging cliffs, and looking out over the lake. The downside is that it's on the shore of the lake, so it's lined with lakehouse driveways. Also it dead ends at a marina with a boat ramp. There was considerable traffic on a thursday afternoon. It's probably so full of cars and trucks pulling boat trailers on the weekends that you wouldn't want to ride it.
Hunger started to set in, but I hadn't seen anything along the lake. I went back 1148 and then up 1287, which was mostly flat and straight, into Graham. As usual, I rode all the way through town, scoping potential eateries, before turning around and coming back to the winner: Sanderson's BBQ. I missed the end of the lunch buffet (2pm) by 14 minutes, but had an excellent brisket plate for less than $7.
So now it was almost 3pm and getting over 80F. I took the liner out of my Kilimanjaro and opened up all the vents (**** that thing has a lot of velcro). I was amazed how much airflow I got. It seemed just as good as my JR Phoenix while moving. I headed S on Hwy 16 out of town and back toward home.
I wanted to explore some of the roads on the East side of PKLake, but didn't really remember which one went out on the peninsula. I ended up taking 2353, then Park Road 36 back to 16, which was pretty much just a waste of time. FM2951 is the one I wanted, but didn't see. Oh well.
16 was mostly straight, but there were a couple of really good curves. I took some pics at this one overlooking a valley.
I got back down to US180 and headed East. The plan was to take it all the way back through Mineral Wells and Weatherford to I-20. But as I came up on Palo Pinto, I thought, maybe I should just ride FM4 one more time, you know, while I'm here. Didn't take much to convince myself.
This time I was in the zone. There was a little traffic, but nothing that held me up long. I couldn't believe how much more comfortable I was with the road this time and that I had been so timid on it in the morning.
Ride it back up again? Yes, please.
Got gas again at the same station and this time got 34mpg. Grrr. Then I headed home on 180, which was a mistake. Too many lights through the cities. Then hit the metromess in time for rush hour. I was going against traffic, but there was construction in 2 different places that caused traffic jams. Hrm, I saw some land for sale out there on FM4...
(To skip the report and go straight to all the pics: http://www.pbase.com/brd/palo_pinto)
This morning I got up and left at 10am. I hopped on I20 and droned out west about 70 miles to FM4. The road is not much til you get past Santo, and then it gets good. Lots of 35mph curves and then a few marked 25mph. At one of these, there were a lot of bluebonnets, and I turned back and pulled off the road to take a picture. A lady passed me, turned her car around and came back to ask if I was alright. Don't see that back home in the big city.
Then you pass Lone Camp and there is a long (tempting) straightaway before you start climbing the hills and the good stuff starts again. One particularly good 35mph curve seems to just go on and on.
The only problem was that I noticed I was tense on all these curves and not taking them as good as I should be. Not sure if I just wasn't warmed up or out of practice or what. So, when I got into the town of Palo Pinto, I decided I really hadn't enjoyed that road to the fullest, so I turned around and ran back South down it to Santo (14miles) again, turned around and ran it N again. 8) A light drizzle started and stopped a few times, but I knew it would burn off later. I got much more comfortable and corners that had scared me into braking for them the first pass were much easier and smoother.
The only incident was as I came back toward PP, a cop passed me as I was doing 10mph over. Whoa. So I dialed it down and took the next corner and dang, here comes another one. Hrm.
I stopped for gas and a soda in Palo Pinto and Cop#2 pulls into the gas station. I start to get paranoid. Why had he turned back around already? Maybe some of the locals complained about a motorsickle terrorizing them and now he's trying to intimidate me. Probably just paranoia on my part, but I still putzed around and waited til after he left before I got back on the road. I was afraid maybe he was waiting and then would follow me as I left.
Also, I was sad to discover my gas mileage was still crappy. The reserve light came on at 170miles and I got 36mpg. Blah.
I also discovered that I'd lost yet another map out of the pocket of my damned Tourmaster Tankbag. I love the bag, but the velcro on the map pocket is piss poor. My last trip my OK map got sucked out and today my TX one. They were both free at the state info centers, or else I'd really be pissed about it. I'm going to have to fix that, somehow.
But back to the riding. I hopped on US180 and headed west to Park Rd 33. This was also a very fun road. The curves were a little more spread out, but it was very enjoyable and even less traffic. As you get close to PKL state park, there's a long uphill stretch that is fun to open it up on. Unexpectedly, though, I came upon the entrance station to the park. Hrm, must have missed my turn off. The lady told me what road I should have taken and also said I could ride down to the lake and look around without paying. Sweet.
I snapped a pic and then headed back out of the park. There are also some really good corners inside the park perimeters. Then down the long straightaway. I wicked it up and tucked in for a high-speed run. Except the road isn't entirely level, so I came up on a ridge faster than I would have liked. Uhoh. I braked some, but realized I was still about to do either a Dukes of Hazzard or Isle of Mann TT impression here. Quick, stand up on the pegs! Relax deathgrip on bars! Vroomm.... The front wheel got some air and touched back down and my butt hit the seat. Phew! Wow, that was incredibly dumb and I don't even want to know how fast I was going at the time. Pucker factor: 7.2 Chalk another save up to the bike's superb suspension and also I had to give thanks to the new 0.9kg racetech springs.
About the time my heartbeat returned to normal, I came up on FM 3253, where I should have turned off. Oh well, at least I remembered most of the roads I was looking for. Took that up to 1148.
1148 is a great road. It runs along the north shore of PKLake and is almost entirely 25mph stuff. Up and downhill, hugging cliffs, and looking out over the lake. The downside is that it's on the shore of the lake, so it's lined with lakehouse driveways. Also it dead ends at a marina with a boat ramp. There was considerable traffic on a thursday afternoon. It's probably so full of cars and trucks pulling boat trailers on the weekends that you wouldn't want to ride it.
Hunger started to set in, but I hadn't seen anything along the lake. I went back 1148 and then up 1287, which was mostly flat and straight, into Graham. As usual, I rode all the way through town, scoping potential eateries, before turning around and coming back to the winner: Sanderson's BBQ. I missed the end of the lunch buffet (2pm) by 14 minutes, but had an excellent brisket plate for less than $7.
So now it was almost 3pm and getting over 80F. I took the liner out of my Kilimanjaro and opened up all the vents (**** that thing has a lot of velcro). I was amazed how much airflow I got. It seemed just as good as my JR Phoenix while moving. I headed S on Hwy 16 out of town and back toward home.
I wanted to explore some of the roads on the East side of PKLake, but didn't really remember which one went out on the peninsula. I ended up taking 2353, then Park Road 36 back to 16, which was pretty much just a waste of time. FM2951 is the one I wanted, but didn't see. Oh well.
16 was mostly straight, but there were a couple of really good curves. I took some pics at this one overlooking a valley.
I got back down to US180 and headed East. The plan was to take it all the way back through Mineral Wells and Weatherford to I-20. But as I came up on Palo Pinto, I thought, maybe I should just ride FM4 one more time, you know, while I'm here. Didn't take much to convince myself.
This time I was in the zone. There was a little traffic, but nothing that held me up long. I couldn't believe how much more comfortable I was with the road this time and that I had been so timid on it in the morning.
Ride it back up again? Yes, please.
Got gas again at the same station and this time got 34mpg. Grrr. Then I headed home on 180, which was a mistake. Too many lights through the cities. Then hit the metromess in time for rush hour. I was going against traffic, but there was construction in 2 different places that caused traffic jams. Hrm, I saw some land for sale out there on FM4...