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- Joined
- Feb 28, 2003
- Messages
- 51,226
- Reaction score
- 8,211
- Location
- Huntsville
- First Name
- Scott
- Last Name
- Friday
Howdy,
So I have not been riding much this week. Our bike night had to be scrapped Thursday evening because of nonending rains. According to the weather guessers, it is supposed to blow out and Friday is supposed to be partly cloudy and in the mid 80's. I am hanging out in the HSN chat room shooting the breeze with a few folks and Kawi_jm and I decide to head to King's Cafe Friday morning for breakfast. Sounds like a plan.
I roll out abuot 8:00am and take a peek outside. It is grey and overcast outside. :? But it is not raining and the streets are patchy dry. I get geared up and take off with time to spare. There is still a very light drizzle. When I get to my usual turn on FM 1791 to head South, the road is closed. Hmm...? They have been doing a good deal of patch work on the road lately so I ride around the sign thinking I'll be able to just skirt any construction and go on my way. A few miles down the road, it drops down into a low lying river bottom area. About three hundred yards of the road is under fast moving water that ranges from a few inches deep to what looks like six to eight inches judging from the water on the big truck ahead of me that goes right on through. Water is splashing up quite high on the upstream side of the truck so I know it is moving fast. Not for me. My time to spare just went down the creek.
I head North back to Hwy 30 and then run West on Hwy 30 to FM 3179. To get there I have to cross the San Jacinto River. It is completely out of its' banks and looks like a forested lake. Any more rain, and even this stretch of highway may have gone under. I reach 3179 which is a road I have seldom ridden. It is a little out of the way, but it really has some fun fast sweepers. It comes out back on FM 1791 a few miles South of the flooded area. The problem is, I have just had to go fifteen miles out of the way!! I am running late now!
The road alternates between damp and dry patches. I make haste for FM 149 and head down through the Forest. There are puddles of standing water in a few places and the drizzle has picked up slightly. It is not really very cold, low seventies, but the damp really makes it feel colder. The run down through the woods is nice and mostly traffic free. I reach King's to find John sitting out front waiting for me. I'm about 10 minutes late 
After breakfast and a little chatting about what John's next bike ought to be, we suit up and head back up through the Forest.
The drizzle is getting worse and is collecting on my visor. I don't really want to mess with the rain suit, but my Tourmaster Cortech jacket and pants have long since quit pretending to be even remotely waterproof. I'll wait and see how bad it gets. We run out to Richards and pick up FM 1486 South. More fun sweepers. There is a series of 25mph marked corners about halfway back down to Hwy 105. Right in the middle of the second corner there is a little road off to the left. This is a nice little shortcut that comes back out on FM 149 just North of Montgomery. It's under water 
We check out a floating mound of Fire ants and then head back to FM 1486 and run back up to Richards. We run FM 149 back East towards Montgomery. I peel off on FM 1375 to head home and give John a wave as he heads back down through the Forest. I make my way East to Lake Stubblefield Rd.
This is a narrow lane and a half road that is chip sealed. It runs back up into the National Forest to a camping area on Lake Stubblefield. It is a nice little shortcut over to FM 1374. It is bumpy though so going much over 50mph is rough. There are also a few really sharp corners with gravel in them 
When I cross the edge of the lake, I get a lot of stares from the local diehard fishermen. I'm sure they are wondering why a sportbike is hauling down their little remote road in such crappy weather on a weekday? That's okay. I'm wondering why in the world they are sitting out here in soupy weather this early in the morning just to hopefully catch some dumb fish?!
Soon I pop out onto FM 1374 and head North to Huntsville. 1374 is a really nice ride. The road surface is nice. There is very little traffic because the road doesn't really go anywhere. It just loops West from I-45 down by New Waverly and then comes back out on I-45 in Huntsville. This is a perfect road for new riders to learn their basic skills. I put a lot of miles on it when I first started riding. 
I get back to Huntsville and the drizzle is about as heavy as it can get with actually being rain. I park the bike in the garage, peel off the wet riding suit, get in the car and drive to work. I guess some people might think the morning's ride was ruined by the weather, but I had a really good time. Sunny and beautiful gets old after a while 
Adios,
So I have not been riding much this week. Our bike night had to be scrapped Thursday evening because of nonending rains. According to the weather guessers, it is supposed to blow out and Friday is supposed to be partly cloudy and in the mid 80's. I am hanging out in the HSN chat room shooting the breeze with a few folks and Kawi_jm and I decide to head to King's Cafe Friday morning for breakfast. Sounds like a plan. I roll out abuot 8:00am and take a peek outside. It is grey and overcast outside. :? But it is not raining and the streets are patchy dry. I get geared up and take off with time to spare. There is still a very light drizzle. When I get to my usual turn on FM 1791 to head South, the road is closed. Hmm...? They have been doing a good deal of patch work on the road lately so I ride around the sign thinking I'll be able to just skirt any construction and go on my way. A few miles down the road, it drops down into a low lying river bottom area. About three hundred yards of the road is under fast moving water that ranges from a few inches deep to what looks like six to eight inches judging from the water on the big truck ahead of me that goes right on through. Water is splashing up quite high on the upstream side of the truck so I know it is moving fast. Not for me. My time to spare just went down the creek. I head North back to Hwy 30 and then run West on Hwy 30 to FM 3179. To get there I have to cross the San Jacinto River. It is completely out of its' banks and looks like a forested lake. Any more rain, and even this stretch of highway may have gone under. I reach 3179 which is a road I have seldom ridden. It is a little out of the way, but it really has some fun fast sweepers. It comes out back on FM 1791 a few miles South of the flooded area. The problem is, I have just had to go fifteen miles out of the way!! I am running late now! The road alternates between damp and dry patches. I make haste for FM 149 and head down through the Forest. There are puddles of standing water in a few places and the drizzle has picked up slightly. It is not really very cold, low seventies, but the damp really makes it feel colder. The run down through the woods is nice and mostly traffic free. I reach King's to find John sitting out front waiting for me. I'm about 10 minutes late After breakfast and a little chatting about what John's next bike ought to be, we suit up and head back up through the Forest. The drizzle is getting worse and is collecting on my visor. I don't really want to mess with the rain suit, but my Tourmaster Cortech jacket and pants have long since quit pretending to be even remotely waterproof. I'll wait and see how bad it gets. We run out to Richards and pick up FM 1486 South. More fun sweepers. There is a series of 25mph marked corners about halfway back down to Hwy 105. Right in the middle of the second corner there is a little road off to the left. This is a nice little shortcut that comes back out on FM 149 just North of Montgomery. It's under water We check out a floating mound of Fire ants and then head back to FM 1486 and run back up to Richards. We run FM 149 back East towards Montgomery. I peel off on FM 1375 to head home and give John a wave as he heads back down through the Forest. I make my way East to Lake Stubblefield Rd. This is a narrow lane and a half road that is chip sealed. It runs back up into the National Forest to a camping area on Lake Stubblefield. It is a nice little shortcut over to FM 1374. It is bumpy though so going much over 50mph is rough. There are also a few really sharp corners with gravel in them When I cross the edge of the lake, I get a lot of stares from the local diehard fishermen. I'm sure they are wondering why a sportbike is hauling down their little remote road in such crappy weather on a weekday? That's okay. I'm wondering why in the world they are sitting out here in soupy weather this early in the morning just to hopefully catch some dumb fish?! Soon I pop out onto FM 1374 and head North to Huntsville. 1374 is a really nice ride. The road surface is nice. There is very little traffic because the road doesn't really go anywhere. It just loops West from I-45 down by New Waverly and then comes back out on I-45 in Huntsville. This is a perfect road for new riders to learn their basic skills. I put a lot of miles on it when I first started riding. I get back to Huntsville and the drizzle is about as heavy as it can get with actually being rain. I park the bike in the garage, peel off the wet riding suit, get in the car and drive to work. I guess some people might think the morning's ride was ruined by the weather, but I had a really good time. Sunny and beautiful gets old after a while Adios,
...how ever tame it may have to be :wink: