I didn’t know where else to post this, thought I would add it this thread. I mentioned I up top I was going to try to get the Heart of Texas Rally done. I did. You might remember last October I rode my first rally. It was the 30 hour version of the Heart of Texas. I did SO well, that’s a lie, I decided to try the 4 day version.
There were 74 riders, including a slew of IBR successful riders. The weather was atrocious, rain, rain and more rain. Big thunderstorms. I believe there were 2 bikes totaled by a hail storm in DeHanis, west of San Antonio. Both riders were able to take shelter. I know I ran all day Thursday and Friday in some sort of rain.
Lots of bikes went down in low speed drops, muddy roads being the major contributing factor. I personally went down 3 times on Godzilla. One was a low speed intentional lay down to avoid a cager who disregarded a stop sign. That went well until the wing caught something and decided to switch from a low to high side. The second spill occurred a couple of hours later in Bastrop. Lots of road construction, lots of mud on the roads from said construction. Enough said. The third occurred the next day in Zephyr Tx. I needed to turn off 183 into a nice gravel and mud church parking lot. What could go wrong? A 1000 pound goldwing and more mud? I didn’t make it into the lot. It was pouring and the approach was probably 8 or 10 feet wide of runoff. Shouldn’t been an issue. What I couldn’t see was a baby Grand Canyon lurking in the muddy water. Turns out , when the front wheel drops into an abyss abruptly stopping forward momentum and causing the rear end to lift and turn 90 degrees it’s impossible for me to stay mounted. I did get the bonus.
I was running behind schedule now forcing me to ride in torrential rain to Tow, Tx. It was now 10:30PM Friday. I really needed to get back east of I35. The rain was so heavy I was probably only able to run 30-35 mph, struggling to see the edge of the roads. My phone rings, it’s my riding buddy Porcupine from San Antonio. He’s been watching my spotwalla. He suggested I take a look at my weather radar screen. I’m so fortunate he was watching. I came into Burnet from the west on 29 and ducked into the first motel I saw. I believe it was the La Vista. Turns out most of the rooms come with a carport, a very lucky thing. I pulled Godzilla in, got off, the big storm hit. The wind was so strong I had to lean against my bike to prevent it from getting blown over. I was able to get a ratchet strap and tie my bike to a post.
Saturday started early, still raining. It’s the final day. I have to pick up 3 additional bonii to complete a 13,000 point combo. I depart Burnet about 06:00 headed to New Sweden. From there I need the world’s smallest Catholic Church at Round Top. The rain finally ends about Giddings. That bonus collected, I’m off to Anderson,Tx. For my final bonus. Done. Now back to College Station and finish. I’m in with about 2.5 hours to spare.
So how did this 69 year old man do? Oh wait, I started the rally as a 68 year old and finished a year older, lol.
As stated before, 74 intrepid riders left the start line. I believe Paul said 3 withdrew and went home, 71 left. Two lost their bikes to a historic hail storm, 69 left. Which happened to be my Rally number. Of the remaining 69, 43 riders scored enough points to be considered finishers.
I came in 28th. I was told had I not missed 1 meal bonus I would have been 19th. The funny thing about that is I’ve never been accused of missing a meal.
As a side note, Godzilla came through it like the monster it is, no damage other than every crash bar wears their tattoos proudly.
The Worlds smallest Catholic Church