Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to Today a friend and I decided to take a short ride SW of Houston. I am a dual sport rider first and like my pavement riding to be on as small and as twisty of roads as can be found here in SE Texas. We started down the 59 South frontage road. We popped up on the interstate right lane to avoid the light at University and then back off onto the frontage road over the Brazos River and onto to a left at the Grand Parkway. The wind and air temperatures were perfect - just cooling off my armor for a comfortable ride. Given that today is the equinox, the sun was due east as it rose over the trees. Consequently the strong yellow sunlight was mostly 90 degrees to our travel. Whenever we turned into the sun I dropped my helmet's integrated sun visor until we turned back away from the glare. The traffic dropped way off as soon as we crossed the railroad track berm on FM762. The fog was still rising from the trees as we passed though the George Ranch with the long horn cattle munching the moist grass. We stayed at or below the speed limit of 55mph just enjoying the feel of the wind. At these speeds and with my earplugs in there is little buffeting or wind noise inside the helmet and the ride is super comfortable on my recently purchased KLR650. There were only a few vehicles along 762 and it seemed that we saw almost as many motorcycles as cages on this trip. FM762 is a mostly straight road punctuated by wide sweeping 90 degree curves. We turned left at the FM1994 intersection to stay on FM762 and leaned through a few more sweeping curves. Finally I prepared to turn right onto FM1462 after we passed the Brazos Bend State Park entrance.
A few miles down FM1462 we turned right onto Cow Creek Rd. This road changes somewhere along the route to CR25. CR25 has long straight lengths punctuated by very tight 90 degree “S” curves. The black ribbon is broken/repaired in spots but this just adds interest to this dual sport rider. The curves are perfect for practicing the techniques I learned from a recent read of Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well by David L. Hough. Hough’s book is all about developing complete control over one’s motorcycle and these curves were great practice and fun! For each curve I approached from the far outside, pulled in the clutch, braked, leaned into a delayed apex and then powered through and out of the curve. Sublime!
The trees close on the side of CR25 kept us in comfortable shade with a hint of fog but I had to be alert to the possibility of deer. We stayed at or under CR25's typical 45mph speed limit so I was not overly concerned about the deer, but I did keep an eye on the road shoulders. I believe the best way to avoid deer is to limit my top speed, to shed speed quickly once sighted, and only then to proceed very slowly past. The first huge deer popped into view after a corner. It was in the middle of CR25 so I rapidly slowed to a crawl to get by him safely. Not long after he jumped off into the woods we saw another few deer cross in front of us. Beautiful but I prefer to avoid getting too close!
We passed by a couple of lakes along CR25 but the only way we could tell was the tall levy behind the houses raised on stilts and the big boats in the front yards. Finally CR25 ended at TX35 so we hung a right and rode into West Columbia for breakfast. While at breakfast a group of folks arrived. When I returned to the parking lot it was filled with restored classic cars. I believe the group was a Katy based classic car club.
Finally we headed back the way we had come. What a fantastic ride! Any bike ride is way more alive than any car trip. But this one took it even further. So close to home, so rural, so comfortable. I hope to do it again sometime!
A few miles down FM1462 we turned right onto Cow Creek Rd. This road changes somewhere along the route to CR25. CR25 has long straight lengths punctuated by very tight 90 degree “S” curves. The black ribbon is broken/repaired in spots but this just adds interest to this dual sport rider. The curves are perfect for practicing the techniques I learned from a recent read of Proficient Motorcycling: The Ultimate Guide to Riding Well by David L. Hough. Hough’s book is all about developing complete control over one’s motorcycle and these curves were great practice and fun! For each curve I approached from the far outside, pulled in the clutch, braked, leaned into a delayed apex and then powered through and out of the curve. Sublime!
The trees close on the side of CR25 kept us in comfortable shade with a hint of fog but I had to be alert to the possibility of deer. We stayed at or under CR25's typical 45mph speed limit so I was not overly concerned about the deer, but I did keep an eye on the road shoulders. I believe the best way to avoid deer is to limit my top speed, to shed speed quickly once sighted, and only then to proceed very slowly past. The first huge deer popped into view after a corner. It was in the middle of CR25 so I rapidly slowed to a crawl to get by him safely. Not long after he jumped off into the woods we saw another few deer cross in front of us. Beautiful but I prefer to avoid getting too close!
We passed by a couple of lakes along CR25 but the only way we could tell was the tall levy behind the houses raised on stilts and the big boats in the front yards. Finally CR25 ended at TX35 so we hung a right and rode into West Columbia for breakfast. While at breakfast a group of folks arrived. When I returned to the parking lot it was filled with restored classic cars. I believe the group was a Katy based classic car club.
Finally we headed back the way we had come. What a fantastic ride! Any bike ride is way more alive than any car trip. But this one took it even further. So close to home, so rural, so comfortable. I hope to do it again sometime!