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Post your Day Rides Here!

Since our lack of rain lately (three days ago) I decided to ride in the shade as much as possible and headed east to the Centerville area. One word, SAND! I love riding sand and was not disappointed.

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Great breakfast here.


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Egypt was uneventful with little political un-rest I'm afraid!


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Road the rails for awhile.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYGwSQszVoc"]Runnig the Rocky Rail Line - YouTube[/ame]


They never have my size...

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The impending front was approaching so I high tailed it back west.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjEdEChgl8s"]Falls County near Blue Ridge - YouTube[/ame]


I love that sand!!!


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKOnkBH6ExQ"]East Texas Sand - YouTube[/ame]


Great Day Ride!

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Had the backroads to myself all day. Thornton, Marquez, Leona all beautiful gravel roads.



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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAE6cdW68VU"]Thornton Texas Backroads - YouTube[/ame]


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The Trinity River bottom was lush and full of roads to explore.


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SwampFox, with your user name, here is a place you may want to avoid for obvious reasons. [Foxskin Bayou] The outcome may not be pleasant, LOL.:eek2: It's toward the east end of Sligo Road in Bossier Parish.

Yikes! I might get skint down that way. :eek2:
 
Very nicely done Mud, your day ride reports are epic. I loved the sand riding video :)
 
Mud, I need to find those Trinity river basin roads. Thanks for the pics.
 
I mostly rode deadend roads to see how close to the river I could get between Centerview and Austonio. Found some cool primitive boatlaunch's. I was hoping for some old bridges but that didn't happen.
 
Made a breakfast run up to Caddo Lake on the KLX trying to keep up with several 100+hp pikes. They even let me lead on the way back to town so as I wouldn't get left behind. I did take 'em to to visit Johnson's Ranch, the oldest inland marina in Texas:

get-photo.asp


get-photo.asp
 
I've always wanted to go ride the twisted sisters and visit the motorcycle museum in Vanderpool, but from where I am it's a bit much for a day ride. Last week, some friends invited my family to come spend the weekend with them in San Antonio, so I took that as my chance and hauled the airhead down with me.

I took off from SA at about 8:30am on a hot humid Friday morning. I skipped wearing the Cortech suit as I was afraid it was going to be too hot. Once I got on 16 and was headed west, some looming storm clouds and a cool breeze blew in and I found myself shivering a couple of times in my mesh gear. Luckily, I didn't get any rain and the weather turned out to be perfect for the whole day. It was only when I was back in San Antonio that it got really hot again.

On the return leg, I hit the museum and had lunch. What a great collection. That original Brough was amazing. I got back at about 3:30 that afternoon after about 300 miles total for the day. I didn't take very many pictures on the road. I couldn't make myself stop long enough. :mrgreen: I'll bring a GoPro next time too. I did take a few at the museum though if you're interested.

http://s175.photobucket.com/user/JasonH_photo/library/Hill Country 7-13?sort=3&page=1

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I had an opportunity to get some riding in yesterday so I took off in a generally Southern direction. The little DR and I had a blast.

I found this crazy hill on a road we're nick naming CR1134. :sly:

Here's the view looking down the hill. What you can't see is the pile of rocks behind those fallen limbs in the center of the road.

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Looking back up after scouting a line.

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Ruts down towards the bottom.

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A shot of what amounts to a mere fraction of the mud on the way out. Perelli Scorpions are not knobbies. :sly:

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Then I piddled around and made my way back to this georgous piece of gravel so I could run it from the direction we'll be traveling during the rally. Launching off the little ledges was a lot more fun than picking my way up them and the cattle guards make better jumps this way. :D

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Then I decided to look at just one more road and found this guy. :banghead:

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What makes HD tubes so hard to patch? I hate those and will be replacing front and rear with new tubes tomorrow. Needless to say I couldn't get it to hold air.

Look Ma! No ramps!

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MVP gear choice for the day goes to my hydration pack. It was instrumental in hosing my shirt down while waiting on a ride out.

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Made a good pillow too... and taking pictures of it killed some time.

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Sent from my HTC using magic.
 
I've always wanted to go ride the twisted sisters and visit the motorcycle museum in Vanderpool, but from where I am it's a bit much for a day ride. Last week, some friends invited my family to come spend the weekend with them in San Antonio, so I took that as my chance and hauled the airhead down with me.

I took off from SA at about 8:30am on a hot humid Friday morning. I skipped wearing the Cortech suit as I was afraid it was going to be too hot. Once I got on 16 and was headed west, some looming storm clouds and a cool breeze blew in and I found myself shivering a couple of times in my mesh gear. Luckily, I didn't get any rain and the weather turned out to be perfect for the whole day. It was only when I was back in San Antonio that it got really hot again.

On the return leg, I hit the museum and had lunch. What a great collection. That original Brough was amazing. I got back at about 3:30 that afternoon after about 300 miles total for the day. I didn't take very many pictures on the road. I couldn't make myself stop long enough. :mrgreen: I'll bring a GoPro next time too. I did take a few at the museum though if you're interested.

http://s175.photobucket.com/user/JasonH_photo/library/Hill Country 7-13?sort=3&page=1

IMAG0797_zpsf90d81d8.jpg
Very nice bike Jason!
 
Outstanding find Veriest, those roads look sweet. I've got to check them out! I don't run HD tubes for that very reason, they can't be patched. A quality thick tube is sufficient in my opinion.
 
Outstanding find Veriest, those roads look sweet. I've got to check them out! I don't run HD tubes for that very reason, they can't be patched. A quality thick tube is sufficient in my opinion.

You NEED to ride this area. Just let me know about when you want to and I'll gladly head out with you.

There's some good stuff but and it's a shame it's not all this choice but Tom has another nearby area he wants us to check out... something about an 18" ledge?!

I'll PM you my didgits.

Sent from my HTC using magic.
 
Got 'em! Let's go soon. I took advantage of the rain week and rode Erath, Eastland, and Commanche counties. My destination being Lake Leon.

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Best road of the day was a deadend!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alVXMwIukuk"]Deadend County Road - YouTube[/ame]

Found a beautiful area on Rush Creek that you have to look hard to find.

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[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAhk6AYd6HY"]Old Bridge Find - YouTube[/ame]

This area is usually bone dry this time of the year.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-YmxV-UjMo"]Explore Erath County - YouTube[/ame]
 
Spring like conditions prevailed and the temperatures were moderate.

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So much beautiful scenery it was hard to capture it all.

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Got in some good sand riding on my way west!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=latQBnK7GJo"]Commanche County Sand - YouTube[/ame]

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Break time.

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Lake Leon did not disappoint. The recent rain put the water level over the norm and many were out recreating on such a beautiful day.

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The best riding in the area was once again gated off but that didn't defer my fun. Time to cool off!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUh3SMuym3Y"]Explore Lake Leon - YouTube[/ame]

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Mudclod,

:tab I am totally NOT bagging on you, but do you always ride without any elbow/knee protection? Having hit the ground a few times on gravel, I can't imagine what my legs and arms would have looked like had they not been protected. I wasn't running crazy speeds either. Even low speed drops hurt like the dickens!! :doh: I've gotten to the point now where I don't even run down the street without the gear just because you never know when something might happen. One a two mile ride from my office to home on deserted roads, I nailed a deer in broad daylight. The gear saved me from a LOT of nasty rash while the bike was dragging me along the ground after we went down and my foot was stuck under the bike. I only wish I had been wearing my dirt boots because they might have prevented a nasty ankle break that required surgery. My regular Alpinestars street motorcycle boots didn't get the job done :tears:

:tab I did ride for several years on the street in jeans and a riding jacket, so I can't be throwing any stones about gear ;-) In the nearly 200K miles of street riding I've done, I was REAL lucky that the few times I have hit the ground I just happened to be wearing full gear on those days :bow: That is what finally made me go ATGATT, that and seeing some accidents up close and personal where folks didn't have good gear... :uhoh:

:tab Anyway, I do enjoy the reports and pics, so please keep them coming! I just hate the thought of those manly legs getting all banged up :-P
 
Re: KLR Backrest Modification, and then off to Wimberly!

My daughter shot this of us rolling out from the house to Wimberly
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:tab I'm thinking you might REALLY want to upgrade that rear shock... You will be amazed at the difference it makes in handling when you are hauling that much combined weight. The stock shock is real soft and under damped. A good shock will hold the rear up better, give you better control over the bouncing, and even improve the feel of the front end of the bike.

:tab On my KLR, I just went with the stiffer Progressive 420 spring on the stock shock, so I still had the lame damping. Even that was better than what it was. I don't know what the popular rear shocks are for the KLRs. But here is a good place to start...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=207609

:tab Even if you get the rear sorted, the front is still real soft. My first try at improving them was thicker oil and a set of Larry Roesler progressive fork springs. They sucked on wash board roads or roads with fast sharp bumps. So I switched to straight rate Race Tech springs and it was WAY better. I was still using the stock damping internals, slightly heavier oil, and increased preload. This helped a LOT with front end dive under braking.

:tab Setting the rear and front preload to "balance" the bike as it will be loaded when you ride it makes a huge difference in how the bike handles and feels.

:tab As for the not so stellar braking... There is actually a front rotor upgrade kit that even has a new caliper. I have no idea what it costs, but it still leaves you with just the one rotor. So you really have to think ahead about your braking because those panic braking situations can easily overwhelm the stocker. EBC HH pads do help some.

:tab I eventually added a Vstrom 650 to the stable to compliment my KLR because I wanted something a little more street biased. The Strom also has soft suspension and needed work, but the brakes are vastly superior and made carrying a passenger much easier. It also has better power for accelerating with a passenger. The Strom cost me $3800 in almost new condition and the KLR set me back about $3200 in almost new condition. So pretty similar price point, but very different ride. Just tossing that out there as an FYI.

:tab I look forward to more of your ride reports and creations!
 
I finally got to cross the big river a couple weeks ago.

My camera malfunctioned due to operator error so most of the pictures never happened.

This one made it

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Along the east bank of the Mississippi River at the old ferry
crossing at St. Francisville
 
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Muclod,

I was thinking the same thought as Scott Tourmeister...better fully gear up (despite your level of expertise). There will be that one crash you didn't expect that will take you out for a while.

...just sayin.

RB
 
Muclod,

I was thinking the same thought as Scott Tourmeister...better fully gear up (despite your level of expertise). There will be that one crash you didn't expect that will take you out for a while.

...just sayin.

RB

Don't worry, I demonstrated this for him last Sat. But I was atgatt and will only be down for 2-3 weeks. If I hadn't been... a bruised up knee would have been the least of my worries.

On the bright side, I get a new helmet out of the deal.

Sent from my HTC using magic.
 
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