The merry band of idiots and the devil's backbone

So, we decide that there must be riding. I am definitely in need of Brain Drain-o (tm). How do I choose to clear my brain.....? By pulling a 6 bike chain to and from the Devil's Backbone. First off, I have to say that the name sounds menacing. People hear about it and talk about the number of deaths each year on it. This quickly conjures up visions of the blacktop of doom. Since I went to college in San Marcos, right at the bottom of the backbone, I had a bit more realistic view of it. I tried to warn everyone appropriately that it was not that bad.....unless it was windy. The whole stretch of road is only about one mile long, but it is along the top of a ridge with canyons on both sides. This can lead to some horrid cross winds. There are also deer in abundance. The big thing about the backbone is that it is not scary the first time through. The second time through you think you have it nailed and want to go fast. That is where you realize that all of the turns are decreasing radius turns, that are blind, with deer, and up to a 500ft drop off....on BOTH sides of the road. The nice thing about the backbone is the trip to it, not the backbone itself. From Austin, there is a lot of very nice twisty road that goes through some small towns. There are a few spots where you could collect some trees if you are not careful, but overall it is pretty much sweeperville. Here is the route:



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The running joke through the whole trip was that we were a WWII re-enactment group. There were 6 of us. Me on the Russian beast, Kel on the BMW R90/Sidecar, Glenn on the Kawasaki, Vern on the Goldwing, Gary on the Harley, and Laura on the Suzuki. For the next ride I want to pull our friends with the BSA and the Ducati, and we can have the full cast of WWII. Quite possibly the defining point of the trip was when we stopped in a parking lot to make some adjustments and the Harley was parked on a slope. The kickstand was pacing downhill so when we went to leave, Gary could not reach the ground on the uphill side of the bike. This put him in a position where he could not get leverage on the Electra -Glide. Kel's monkey had to go over and push the bike off of the stand so he could get it moving. No, we will not ever let him live that down. The Glide was what he got for wrapping his old 1400 Intruder around a cow. I guess there is a learning curve on those big Road Sofas.

We made it back in one piece, got a couple pictures, had some awesome mexican food at this little restaurant at the junction of RR12 and RR32. The pictures are included below....I know they suck, but I took them with my phone. Deal with it.






Time to get ready for my next run to the Ural campout in Waco in two weeks. This will be the first time this many Ural riders have gathered in one place in texas in a long time....ever I bet.

Have fun,

Dave

going mobile

finally got a data plan on the cell phone so I don't have to take the notebook with me when I travel. I should also have a sattlite tracker soon. I will update as soon as I get the link to the track site set up.

Dave

Unseasonably warm........

Basic high school math here..... unseasonable warm weather + a merry band of idiots = housework getting put off till the next rainy spell. Actually, we had a good excuse...Vern got a new bike. An 85 Goldwing. Of course we had to take it out and see how it was going to handle on all of the different kinds of roads that we tend to ride. All of them......in one weekend. Granted, we only killed off about 300 miles this weekend, but in the grand scheme of things, that was actually pretty good. Vern is learning a new bike, and Kel is training a new monkey. This has to be a fairly light weekend. We are jokingly referring to it as a "paper mache'" butt weekend.

Saturday we added another bike to the line, a friend from work. We went to San Marcos through Wimberly. Had to go and get some of the best cheap Mexican food I know of. A little place in San Marcos called Mana's. We got to let Vern see the twisty stuff on RR 12 on the way down, and try out the straight line cruising coming back up TX 21/US183. Now that he knows it works, we shall never take that road again......long and straight........painfully straight. Here is the map......



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Sunday was a little bit more exciting. Vern got his confidence up on the oldwing, and Kel's new Monkey got down to business. We decided to do Hamilton Pool Rd out to 281 and then 1431 back to Austin. I thought Kel's monkey was going to giggle himself to death. He was all over that chair moving weight to balance out turns. Having a good monkey actually brought her cornering speeds up to where those of us on 2 were going. He now has a new title....he is now the PFM (Poo Flingin' Monkey). We made it to Marble Falls just as the Bluebonnet Cafe closed, so we hit the River City Cafe instead. Not bad food, but the Bluebonnet it ain't. Here is the map for Sunday.




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Hopefully, next weekend I will be able to schedule a solo go away. I need some one on one time with Eyegor......

TTFN.

For the polar bear in all of us.........

Its 30 degrees outside and it looks like a nice day for a ride. The initial plan was to run to Fredericksburg to get BBQ. When we made it to the turn on Hamilton Pool Rd, we decided that pie would be a better choice. Also about 60 miles shorter. We ended up making the run to Marble Falls and have some pie at the Bluebonnet Cafe. Damn good pie. Just to provide a bit of perspective on the temp...... 30 degrees at 65 MPH equals about 10 degrees. All told, we knocked off about 150 miles and we were under freezing with the wind-chill most of the way.

So, I made some interesting discoveries about my new trick shoulder. The cold is nasty. The colder my shoulder gets, the more stiff it gets. As long as I am going in a straight line, it isn't a problem. When I go into a turn it is a bit blocky on the turns. I also learned that long sweeping left turns are ok, but the long sweeping right turns hurt after a while. I am pretty much assuming that this will go away over time, but it still temporarily sucks.....

Here is the route we took....



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Weather predicting shoulder.......

So this morning the weather predicting shoulder spoke. 35 degrees, 20 MPH wind, and an 80% chance of rain on Saturday canceled the plans for the bikes this weekend. Looking outside right now, I think it was a good choice. It is actually raining outside, and this is when we would have been hitting Dallas. I just hope the shoulder stops reacting to cold like this as it heals, cold and damp is not even a little bit comfortable. Oh well......

Enjoy

Dave

Cold, windy, wet, and on two......

The forecast calls for 20 MPH winds, chance for rain, and 42 degree weather. This is called payback weather. For people who ride in Texas and gripe about the heat. I always tell rookies to enjoy the 100 degree days because when (if) winter comes in, you will miss the heat. I am sitting in the garage next to a loaded bike, listening to the wind blow outside, and all I can think of is how nice it will be to be knees in the breeze even if it is below freezing.

For anybody that wants to check my math...... 42 degrees + 65 MPH = 27 degrees WCF.

http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/earth/wind_chill/chill_wcscript.html

I think Kel has the best observation for my particular outlook on these things... "It is just different for you, you're stupid"

on that note, I will go to bed and dream of a vibrating lawn chair.

TTFN

Dave

Thanksgiving prep....

The shoulder is doing well, full range of motion, very little pain. We will know when we get to Waco if riding with the shoulder was a good idea. Got the beast inspected and the tags renewed today. I had to teach the guy at the station how to inspect a motorcycle. All that is left to do is an oil change. I just hit 15000 KM. I want to make sure it is in good shape before the Dallas trip. I just changed out the vacuum lines, looked like I had a leak in one. Not good for the engine.

TTFN

Dave