Ride to West Texas from Houston and back again.

[Doobage]

Foreword: I learned a few lessons on this ride. It was my first all-day group ride. I had ridden with Marc and Tim before on a 3 hour ride. But on this ride, we ended up having another person to the mix (John), and Marc was riding with a trailer attached for the first time (as well as John trying out a home made trailer). Tim was our leader, I was on my ST, Marc and his wife were two-up with trailer, and John was with trailer. I was only going to go for a full day, while Tim and Marc road on, while Jill (Marc's wife, road back with me).

Foreword rant:
I didn't realize who John was until he arrived. About 4 months earlier (just before I got my ST), my company had recently acquired another contract and we were doing our traditional Keg and Dog parties, where we get together about once every 4 months and have hot dogs and beer after work. The company had grown to 450 people and there were some new faces. I have always helped out in the setup and cleanup of these events and they've always been low-key, fun events. John, apparently a BBQ caterer, had started poking fun of our operation and touting how he could do it better. I noticed he had come on a bike. A Kawasaki Cruiser. It was a very shiny bike and I figured it would be a nice way to not only talk about bikes (since I was finally about to get one) but also a way to change the subject away from the insults he was lobbing at the other people setting up and cooking.

John described how he had been riding for 30+ years. He described the multiple bikes they had. I asked what he liked about the different bikes and let him talk about them. Eventually he asked me what I was getting. When I told him an ST 1300, he began to tear me and the bike down. The bike was too powerful for me (even though I had told him I had years and years of motorcross) and that the ST was just a poorly engineered, stolen concept of the BMW. After a few minutes of trying to convince him that I felt I was qualified and doing additional training and that Honda and BMW may share similar concepts (2 wheels, an engine that spins the wheels, etc...) that most assuredly they are developed independently and while some features may be similar, they are unique. As for the quality of the product, I can only rely on the testimonies from the internet boards...etc... He didn't hear a word. Just continued down his road of idiocy and beratement. I gave up and simply decided it wasn't worth my trouble.

Last Thursday (before my weekend ride), we had another Keg and Dog. This was a special one since we were celebrating 25 years of being a company. The company had catered the food (to help take the load off of those who always help) and who should be the caterer, but John. I laughed to myself, but decided that it was nice to eat and run. This meal had burgers, hot dogs and chicken. I opted for a burger and dog. The burger was chewy and the dog was hot on the outside and cold on the inside. Hmmmm. I found out the next day that many people were unhappy not only with the food, but the "care" of the food. Apparently John had licked his fingers and wiped them around the queso (cheese) bin in order to tidy up. And later wiped up the mayonaise jar and flung the residue mayo back into the jar.

[Doobage]

Ride Report:
We all met at the 7 o’clock McDonalds arranged meeting place. I had a friend that “might” come, but didn’t think he would. Tim also invited a friend of his…John. John had built a new trailer and wanted to test it out, so had loaded it with camping gear, but was planning to double back midday. I didn't realize who John was until he arrived. We walked into the parking lot to meet him and he immediately began insulting my ST, stating it was a bad copy of a BMW. I looked back at his cloned Kawasaki Cruiser that looks like a Harley, shook my head and walked away. It's just not worth it.

We stood by the bikes until about 7:15 when my wife showed up in the parking lot surprisingly on her way to the horse barn. She then suggested for me to camp with Tim, Jill and Marc (Jill decided to go camping as well). Woot. Only problem is that I needed to run back home, put my cookie sheet (luggage rack) back on my bike, grab my sleeping bag and a pillow and head back. It took me about 20 minutes to drive there and get my stuff together. I met the gang down the street at a gas station since Tim needed gas. When all was said and done, I believe we got rolling around 8 a.m.

We took hwy 6 up to I-10. It seemed to take forever. We got out about an hour and stopped to check on the trailer folk to make sure nothing bad was happening. It seemed as if they were going slow. John’s Kawaski cruiser apparently had bad gas and was having trouble burning smoothly. He kept falling back about a 1/4 mile, causing the Dufours who were last, to fall back with him. This would cause cars to get between the group and Tim would then slow us down, causing cars to pass us while we crawled along. I didn't care for that, but since I am new to group riding, I figured it was some what normal.

We took some cool back roads through the country and stopped at a parking lot in a road not too far from I-10 for about 20 minutes. Everyone in the group except me smoked. So our brakes tended to be long. I went scouting on the bike to find the road to get us to I-10 and came back. By the time we got on I-10, we were starting to get to at least 65 mph and then John pulled out of the line-up and cut off an SUV and climbed up to Tim (the lead) and pointed that he needed gas. He then slammed on his brakes, causing the SUV behind him to lock em’ up, nearly swerving into the Dufour’s…Tim had darted across and made the same turn to follow John, but I felt that it was safer to go up and take the next available exit. The Dufour’s followed me and we got back. John was literally down to his fuel line worth of gas. So everyone filled up. I was still over a half tank, but not knowing what was ahead, I filled up.

Jill mentioned she was hungry, and I knew there was a rest stop not too far ahead beyond Smithville, so I suggested we eat there instead of at the gas station. We hopped on after a long fill up (John was starting to think he’d camp with us and was seeking approval from home). We got to the rest area and the Dufour’s missed the turn (it was a fast sneaky one). So they doubled back and thanks to Jill packing, she had plenty of food for the additional guests (John and myself). So we ate, looked at these two chickens that were at the rest area in the middle of nowhere and then took off again. It was about 11:30 now and we were approaching Bastrop. (normally about a 1.75 hour trip was taking twice as long and I knew we would need to set up camp before sun down).

We ended up on 290 headed into Austin, an unfortunately miss by our lead. The traffic was harsh, especially for the trailer folk. But we made it through there and turned off north of Austin on the “road”. John had nearly caused several more wrecks (from what the Dufours had seen). We ended up stopping at a gas station, as Tim stated, “This is where the ride begins”. He was right! After another long break (in which John got approval to go camping) we started down the road. After a few stop lights, the curving, hilly road narrowed down, traffic thinned and Tim pointed to me to “take it”. So I did. I hauled butt down the road and my bike and I never felt better. I took the road at a fast pace and ended up getting stuck behind some “cages”. I’d wait for a few minutes and when I saw Tim coming up behind me, I’d dart up ahead again and catch the cages in no time. At one point I saw a turn-off for a place called Turkey Bend park, which looked cool (and I was thinking about taking it) right as Tim came up behind me. I swerved and probably scared Tim a bit (oops) but was soon accelerating and on a fast pace.

I used the rule of group bicycle riding in that the lead can ride ahead, but waits at a turn in the road so that the next person knows which way to go, and so on through the chain of people so that nobody gets lost or left behind too far. I waited awhile. Eventually the whole group came into view and we pulled into Marble Falls to get gas. Marc was ready to get camping as we had been plodding along and it was now 2 o'clock. We were still probably about 3 hours from Garner (where Tim had made reservations), but John was suggesting we head North to go to Inks Lake about an hour ride. I was okay with either, but would have preferred going where we had reservations. Jill also was wanting to head to Garner, but John felt it would be better for us to get to a camp site quickly. I think all of us were getting a bit tired, so setting up camp didn’t sound like a bad idea and I don’t think anybody wanted to argue with Tim's friend John - as we all like and respect Tim.

Unfortunately Marc discovered that some of his bottled beer in his cooler exploded and broke. Not only that, but a jug of water in his trailer started leaking and was draining out of a hole in the back part of the trailer. It was getting on his nervers so I caved and we went north. Tim, our lead, was on the phone, and I assumed had secured a campsite at Inks Lake. We rode for about another 2 hours and got to Inks Lake.

The park was full (boy scouts from hell). The park wasn’t offering to help us find a camp locally, so Tim started calling numbers I through at him from the park camp guide. Everyone was full. But Tim got a referral to a private park about 2 hours away in Junction. It was about 4 o'clock. The Dufours needed at least an hour to setup camp since they had a new tent (and setting up a new tent in the dark is NOT fun - much less for people new to camping). John decided that he was now not going to go camping, but needed to pick his route home, but using Tim’s map. So we sat around for awhile, eating into our day light. I suggested to Jill that we all might travel faster if she rode with me for a bit. So we took off around 4:30ish and Tim led us on at a good pace (85-95).

We got on a very cool back road (1821), BUT the sun was directly in our eyes, and to make matters worse, deer were everywhere. Tim being the lead, had a few near misses, and I’d honk in hopes they would not double back and smack Marc. As we came to the end of that road, there was a 30 mph turn which I took a bit fast (40-45). As it turns out, it was a diminishing curve on the last bit. I had leaned the bike as far over as it would go, to the point of scraping my pegs, but the edge of the road was creeping closer to me. And the edge had gravel. I looked out beyond the road and saw that it was grass, hard clay, and no obstructions (no rocks, trees, holes, etc…) So at the last second I straightened the bike up, and went off road, hitting the brakes evenly and riding sort-of parallel to the last 50 yards of the road before we got to a stop sign. I pulled in behind Tim, who had no idea what happened. Marc came up behind me, with mixed emotions (seeing his wife ride off the road will undoubtedly do that!). We did a quick check of things and found out that Jill had tried to put her foot down, which slammed her heel into the hard case saddle bag. Aside from that, we were good. No nerves rattled (except maybe Marcs)…but overall I just felt “stupid”. Too fast, unknown road, sunlight in my face (aka bad road condition), a little fatigued, and with a passenger. But as Tim said, “You made good decisions to correct it as best you could and nobody got hurt…and you now have a story”. So hopefully that story helps me from being stupid again. I attribute my decision making to MSF. Every thought of the situation was filtered through what I was told to do. And it worked.

Jill decided to continue riding with me, which I was pleased that she wasn't scared off (get back on the horse) and we were both laughing (partially about how lucky we weren't to get hurt and that we were just now starting to have fun, even with the Deer, sunlight and going too fast). One thing that surprised me was that she commented on the one thing that I have had professionals say about the ST. She and my wife have both stated how "smooth" and "powerful" the ST felt. Which is the same report from all Magazines. Jill said initially it felt like a toy because it was so nimble and smooth. But when we took our brief off-road tour, she realized the gravity of it still being a "motorcycle" and not a magical flying craft.

We got to the park with about an hour of sunlight left. Tim and I doubled back to town to get some liquor and marshmellows. The Dufours meanwhile setup camp. We got back and Marc cooked up burgers and chili. I ate my fill and then ate more. Unfortunately that left me feeling “bad”. I felt like I was going to hurl. And being in the Dufours tent, I didn’t want to do that. So after awhile I drug my stuff outside and slept out side and managed to get my gut moving. I slept well for about 6 hours.

[Doobage]

We all got up surprisingly early, but nobody seemed to be moving quickly, it was 10 before they were ready. I needed to get back home by 3:30 in order to go with my wife to pick up my daughter and my nieces birthday. So unfortunately I was going to need to haul butt back home in order to maybe make it in time. I was deeply bummed by this, since the whole point of this ride was to hit the roads near Bandera, which I’ve been wanting to do before I even got my bike. Grrrrrr. Oh well, another time.

So I started going down I-10 and my sleeping bag nearly leapt off my cookie-sheet (luggage rack). So I pulled over and reset it. I got another 15 minutes and it fell OFF, but was hanging on by the draw string. So I redid the straps and it finally held. I was confused by this, because the stuff was tied down the same the previous day…So I have no idea why it didn’t work the following day. I got back by 2:30, and was doing an average of 90 mph.

Lessons learned:
Never ride better than the conditions. Not just environmental, but all the other junk (pressure to get there fast primarily).

Go with your instinct. We had a predestined plan...if I wasn't comfortable with the "group" I could have left and gone ahead of the group and arrived at the camp on my own.

Questions:
Should you never ride with unfamiliar riders?

Was this a bad example of group riding or is it typical for the group to ride dangerously slow (where cars pass, weave between, etc...)?

Another rider that was not with us, but has 100,000 miles of riding experience said that I should ride with Sport bikers. But that doesn't really seem to be my style either. Sure I like to enjoy the twisties, but I'm not a Squid by any measure (I don't do wheelies, or ride at horrifically fast speeds (I agree 90 is fast, but in west Texas it's LONG straight roads with no cars, so seemingly "safe" in my opinion). So I'm guessing Sport riders will ride too fast for my tastes and on shorter rides?

I bought a sport touring bike to go on "fun" "tours". Fun being the ability to enjoy twisties with some speed and agility, and "tours" for the long duration, overnight camping aspect of what a "tour" might imply. Am I missing something, or was it simply the fact that the "cruisers" I rode with are too drastically in their own classification and comfort zone?

I appreciate ANY and ALL feedback, even if it's negative towards what "I" had done wrong...in hopes that I will become a better rider. Obviously the off-road thing was my fault, but learning how to escape being put in that situation, or alternatives for while your IN that situation would be good to hear. (Going slower is the obvious answer, but I'm thinking earlier than that, like how do you escape from a group ride when the group is dysfunctional by one member?) Do I confront the dweeb? (Thereby making myself out to potentially be a dweeb)?

[sherob]

My thoughts...

John is an idiot judging by the actions on the freeway. That guy could have caused a major accident by the way he was acting... could have killed you, your friends, himself :eek:

You made a mistake... fatigue? frustration? Looking back you realized what you did... learn and ride on. ;)

I wouldn't hang with John... he's trouble waiting to happen. Life is to short to spend time with somebody like him... there are so many other NICE, SAFE riders out there to tag along with ;) You seem to enjoy riding... day rides are great... camping too, from what I hear :p: ... the ST is great for both :D

JMHO...

Ride safe!

[nurseBob]

My thoughts...

John is an idiot judging by the actions on the freeway. That guy could have caused a major accident by the way he was acting... could have killed you, your friends, himself :eek:

You made a mistake... fatigue? frustration? Looking back you realized what you did... learn and ride on. ;)

I wouldn't hang with John... he's trouble waiting to happen. Life is to short to spend time with somebody like him... there are so many other NICE, SAFE riders out there to tag along with ;) You seem to enjoy riding... day rides are great... camping too, from what I hear :p: ... the ST is great for both :D

JMHO...

Ride safe!

Well said! My sentiments as well.:bow1:

[Horst]

"Was this a bad example of group riding or is it typical for the group to ride dangerously slow (where cars pass, weave between, etc...)?"

I limit my group riding to: one group of Wingers I've known for years; they are good riders, predictable, go fast only when safe, and on overnight rides we always know the plan and stick to it. When we split into 2 groups (snails and rabbits) we agree on where to meet for dinner :) .... the other 'group' is one of my two brothers; they each ride and we have become closer as a result, even if we only ride together every now and then.

Having said that, I've met some ST riders as on the Oregon trip this summer and to a person, ST owners and sport touring riders in general are 'normal' !

Many sport riders are very young and inexperienced ... many cruiser riders have a chip on their shoulders and have something to prove ... not for me :D

[Medicine Bear]

Great post, Doobage! I've never been on a group ride and enjoy all the stories. I glean as much from them as I can. Of course, nothing substitutes for experiencing the real thing. I admit to being a little reluctant as I don't want to be the "John" of the group through inexperience but, hey, how am I going to get my feet wet without jumping in? I just don't want to take someone down with me.

Having said all that, I'd ride with you anytime. Your concern for safety is well balanced with your desire for the twisty miles.

Fred :03biker:

[Doobage]

Thanks everybody for the feedback and psycho-analysis derived from what little can be gleaned from my writing.

I plan on doing some solo riding (beyond my daily commute). However, I had always seen so many group rides and organizations that I figured it must be some sort of "higher" level of enjoyment. I can see clearly that I'll need to be more selective with whom I ride. I imagine the "right" crowd could truly make it a more unique/enjoyable experience.

It's still one of my major goals to actually meet some sport-touring riders and/or ride with them to see if it is a form of similar mind-set as a general stereotype. It seems a great deal of people on this board "think" in similar patterns and perspectives, so I suspect there are similarities hopefully in riding styles. As harsh/funny as stereotypes can be, there are some truths to them.

Thanks and I hope to meet some of you guys out there!

[sherob]

I've ridin with 4 others from this board in group rides... I would ride with them again in a heart beat! :D Safety and fun can go hand in hand ;)

We need to hook up sometime... ;)

[Txrebel]

Great story! I love group rides and have been on rides with the 'st' guys and with the 'wing' guys, some cruisers mixed in for good measure. I have always settled in to whatever pace the 'group' seemed comfortable with. (sometimes that was still pretty fast)

Attention all you Houston area riders, Sunday a few folks are heading over to Lafayette La for the Ride For Kids charity event benefiting the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. I would like to extend an invite to anyone who would like to join us. We are leaving early Sunday morning in order to be in Lafayette by about 0900 or so. There will be a group ride with Police escort around Lafayette and then the ride back to Houston. It will be a pretty long day but it is for a good cause. If interested please let me know. Ride Safe!

[Horst]

If there are no ST'ers around, I would recommend a BMW club ... they are sport tourers and generally good riders with little or no attitude. You could always look up the GWRRA chapter as a last resort ... :D