Saturday July 15th, 2017
OK, here is the report for the Bonham 1A run.
The day was looking pretty good. A possibility for scattered showers, which meant that the temps were going to go down which would make the day more tolerable.
We started at the large parking lot next to McDonald's in Bonham Tx. There were 20 of us riding a wide range of bikes. From a beast BMW R1200 to a Honda CRF230.
We started about 5 mins late and headed North. The roads went from asphalt to gravel. We skirted the Caddo National Grasslands up CR2275 up thru Elwood.
We continued over to Riverby, where we took a group photo. Upon leaving Riverby we got our first flat, NO PROBLEM!..we had English Gary (we had 2 Garys)...aka Tail End Charlie. We had been thru his trail flat training course... The flat was fixed in no time at all. Jennifer had to leave because the heat was making her not feel well...So Steve took her back and once feed and rested she recovered in no time..THANKS STEVE!. PACO had to take off as well but enjoyed the ride so that left us with 18.
We left Riverby and headed over and south down the west side of the Pat Mayse Wildlife Management area. The ride got more CR350 challenging because the gravel was disappearing and the dirt and mud was more common. We had already crossed one mud area which was a preview to the larger mud area. The water and mud was about a foot to foot and a half deep. The R1200 actually bottomed out in one area, but was able to power thru.
After the North of 82 route we stopped and had lunch and got gas on the west side of Paris TX. We headed west down 82 to shorten the ride because it was already noon and get hot. We turned down CR3501, the last time I saw this it was so overgrown that i though it would be an interesting ride, however someone had cut it all back. BUT, the grass was cut level, and what you couldnt see were the ruts and water lying below the thick grass... and yes it claimed one rider. The delays were compounding with 2 more flats and riders wiping out on the course. The rain was coming, and the decision was to call the ride and head back to Bonham. The rain was a blessing, it cooled the temps from 100 down to mid 70's...AWESOME. But we finished the course with 15 riders about 3pm.
What we learned on this was that what was thought to be a simple easy ride, turned out to be one of the most difficult rides we had. More dirt, less gravel....Rocks...Mud..and alot of trees covering the route. Some of the "county" roads were barely visible due to the overgrown grass and weeds.
So North East Texas has alot to offer as far as riding goes. This 158 mile planned route turned out to be 115 miles (changed route midstream) which took us 7 hours to complete.
So if you were on this ride.. you did very well. Especially if this was your first ride. This was really one of the more technical and difficult rides we have done since we started in January.
Looking a August 19th for the next ride. I am thinking we do the south part of this route that we didnt get completed. And keep it to about 100 miles.
Thanks again for joining me for this ride.
The link below is to the youtube video that i put together... MY FIRST VIDEO
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZdLeQ3cnkA"]Bonham Run 1 - YouTube[/ame]
OK, here is the report for the Bonham 1A run.
The day was looking pretty good. A possibility for scattered showers, which meant that the temps were going to go down which would make the day more tolerable.
We started at the large parking lot next to McDonald's in Bonham Tx. There were 20 of us riding a wide range of bikes. From a beast BMW R1200 to a Honda CRF230.
We started about 5 mins late and headed North. The roads went from asphalt to gravel. We skirted the Caddo National Grasslands up CR2275 up thru Elwood.
We continued over to Riverby, where we took a group photo. Upon leaving Riverby we got our first flat, NO PROBLEM!..we had English Gary (we had 2 Garys)...aka Tail End Charlie. We had been thru his trail flat training course... The flat was fixed in no time at all. Jennifer had to leave because the heat was making her not feel well...So Steve took her back and once feed and rested she recovered in no time..THANKS STEVE!. PACO had to take off as well but enjoyed the ride so that left us with 18.
We left Riverby and headed over and south down the west side of the Pat Mayse Wildlife Management area. The ride got more CR350 challenging because the gravel was disappearing and the dirt and mud was more common. We had already crossed one mud area which was a preview to the larger mud area. The water and mud was about a foot to foot and a half deep. The R1200 actually bottomed out in one area, but was able to power thru.
After the North of 82 route we stopped and had lunch and got gas on the west side of Paris TX. We headed west down 82 to shorten the ride because it was already noon and get hot. We turned down CR3501, the last time I saw this it was so overgrown that i though it would be an interesting ride, however someone had cut it all back. BUT, the grass was cut level, and what you couldnt see were the ruts and water lying below the thick grass... and yes it claimed one rider. The delays were compounding with 2 more flats and riders wiping out on the course. The rain was coming, and the decision was to call the ride and head back to Bonham. The rain was a blessing, it cooled the temps from 100 down to mid 70's...AWESOME. But we finished the course with 15 riders about 3pm.
What we learned on this was that what was thought to be a simple easy ride, turned out to be one of the most difficult rides we had. More dirt, less gravel....Rocks...Mud..and alot of trees covering the route. Some of the "county" roads were barely visible due to the overgrown grass and weeds.
So North East Texas has alot to offer as far as riding goes. This 158 mile planned route turned out to be 115 miles (changed route midstream) which took us 7 hours to complete.
So if you were on this ride.. you did very well. Especially if this was your first ride. This was really one of the more technical and difficult rides we have done since we started in January.
Looking a August 19th for the next ride. I am thinking we do the south part of this route that we didnt get completed. And keep it to about 100 miles.
Thanks again for joining me for this ride.
The link below is to the youtube video that i put together... MY FIRST VIDEO
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZdLeQ3cnkA"]Bonham Run 1 - YouTube[/ame]
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