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A section Of Arkansas Road 123 in north central Arkansas. 7% grades and "S" turns, oh yeah! 2005 By: Joe "Heavy Hand" Morgan Home
October 2007 Please keep checking back for some exciting information on upcoming 2007 GCVROC plans! Click on an event for more details
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Coastal ride with Joe "Spork"
Ride Report by J.D.

And a good one it was, too, overall. Met Spork and some friends of his at the San Jac Monument at around 6, after finding out there ain't no gas station on Battleground Rd. between there and 225. Old Dawg showed up to meet us there, and visited before we left out on the ride. Really nice guy, and I look forward to sharing some miles and smiles with him in the future. Two or three others were going to go, but one of them split a rim on I-10 on the way to the meeting point, and they left to go help him out. After a few minutes meet and greet, Spork led off on his new ride (even nicer in person than in the pics), followed by a VTX, 1200 Harley, Kaw ZRX 1200, and myself on my VN750. (I _think_ there was supposed to be another Vulcan going along, or maybe it was a Connie; what's that guy's name again Spork? Pete, or Paul, or Pablo--something like that? <G>)

I don't remember all the roads we took, altho I could find them again fairly easily. We took 146 to TX99, and then went around below the Baytown racetrack to end up on I-10 at the Old and Lost Rivers, crossed the bridge on 10, and exited for Anahuac. After that, I didn't pay much attention to what roads we were on. My bike decided she was going to act up; I've got trash either in the tank or the petcock. After quitting two or three times, and getting her started again, losing the cover off my right hardbag, and Brent recovering it for me(scratched up some, but unbroken), I topped off again on 124 just for safety sake. From that point the bike ran OK, sputtering a couple times but picking back up; the only other thing that it did was kick out a couple times because of a weak ignition switch. Wiggle the key, and she'd take off again.

After turning on the coast road, due to being delayed by Ol' Cranky being contrary, Joe decided to stop at Decoux's Pub and Restaurant in Crystal Beach, where we sat down to a pretty good feed and some cameraderie. The food was good, the prices weren't bad, and the company was great.

Leaving there, we crossed Galveston Bay on the ferry, then rode the Seawall, where a drunk idiot in a Grand Am almost sideswiped me, before trying again for Brent. The rider of the ZRX (damned if I can think of his name!) had a little discussion with the driver a bit further down the street, after which we pulled into a station and fueled up. We then headed back thru the backside of Galveston--Stewart Rd. and 61st St.--to I-45, then 146N thru Kemah. Spork, Garry(sp?) and Brent split off at Fairmont Pkwy, the Pasadena Flash and his ZRX split off on 225, and I continued uneventfully up 146 to 330 and I-10W back to Channelview, arriving home at 12:20 a.m.

Thanks go to Spork for arranging a really nice ride on some roads I hadn't been on before, and to him and the others for putting up with Raggedy Ann's moodiness. As soon as I can get her kinks ironed back out, I'll be ready to do it again! Looks like next weekend it'll be pull the fairing and tank time; otherwise I'll have to cage it to Florida the middle of the month, and I sure don't wanna do that!

It's really too bad Pablo the Great missed this one...

Photos can be found at

http://picasaweb.google.com/bikerjoeTX/CoastalCruiseEast

Coastal ride with Joe "Spork"

Ok, I am posting for the evening ride I mentioned in an earlier
post. Here are the details as I know them:

Where:
San Jacinto Monument located off SH225 and Battleground Rd

When:
May 31, 2007 at 545pm.

What:
We will depart at 6pm and ride through backroads around Baytown over
through to I-10. We will take I-10 to Anahuac and jump off the main
roads to High Island. If the produce stand is still open at High
Island we will stop and do some shopping. The place is amazing.

After that we will cruise down Hwy 87 with a stop on the beach along
the way.

After that we will head over to Galveston for dinner at "The Spot"
and then head back 45 then depart our separate ways. (insert popular
song from Journey called Separate Ways) :)

Hope to see many of you there. I know the roads are nothing like
that of the Montgomery area but I have had many good trips out this
way and it is really very nice in the evenings.

Let me know if you need any further information.

Total Miles to "The Spot" is about 106.

Iron-Butt saddle Sore 1000 Ride
Joe "heavy Hand" Morgan  May,11 2007

Sunset Over West Texas

It was a dark and lonely night as the moon cast its lonely shadow upon the wavering trees while the stars kept their distance from the heated city lights........Hold on now! This was supposed to be a bike ride report wasn't it? It was a dark night, morning actually as I woke 1 minute before the alarm clock would have snatched sleep from my still tired body. Seems I had an unusual time getting some solid sleep, even with the absence of caffeine in my diet. No time to think about it now. I have only an hour and a half before my scheduled start, so it was off to the morning’s preparations, last minute check on the bike and down the road I went to my starting point in Katy. It was on this 12 mile trip that I would discover that I would not be needing my neck wrap cooler and I would be needing my leather jacket in my saddle bag. Once at the service station I made the required evacuation, donned what would be the proper attire once under way and filled the bike with fuel being careful not to finish until the clock was about to strike 6:30am, bingo I’m off at 6:26am.

 My first leg was to Luling about 110 miles for fuel and then off through San Antonio and to Comfort where I would meet up with Mitchell who would be coming in from Corpus Christi. It was on this first leg that I discovered I was nearly a half hour ahead, good so far but would this put me in a situation to deal with San Antonio’s morning rush hour? This was not to be the case, I breeze through San Antonio and as I reached Boerne and spotted Mitchell we were both now a half hour ahead.

I first did the Saddle Sore in 2000 on a trip to Durango, and I made several trips that exceeded the required mileage in the allotted time but I wanted to make it official this time. So when Mitchell piped in on the GCVROC News group looking for a riding partner I jumped at the chance, planned the route and now we were riding the plan. Meeting Mitchell was a real pleasure, he had equipped his bike nicely for the trip and we both shared tips on preparation and I felt this would really be a good run, I was not disappointed. We greeted each other at our stop in Comfort Texas, then made quick adjustments and preparations for our first leg of the ride together now about 35 minutes ahead.

 Having not ridden with Mitchell before I was not sure what to expect and he probably felt the same about me. But once we hit the road it was clear by the way we worked the traffic and the time we were making our styles were similar. As we passed by the milestone and I checked the schedule I had attached to my tank and compared it to the GPS, I could see we were making great time. The weather in West Texas was also very pleasant this day, the wind was mild as was the sun and a few scattered clouds afforded us a few darts in and out of some cool air. As the sun stayed behind our backs as planned we pushed on. After our next fuel stop we had a long run for my bikes tank almost 150 miles so we had to slow the pace a bit to insure I would not have to use the 1 gallon of fuel I had attached to my luggage rack. We made it…….and I filled my 4.3 gallon tank with 4.26 gallons of fuel.

It was at this point in Fort Stockton that we turned northwest on Highway 285 for the just over 50 mile run to Pecos our turn around point. As we rolled into Pecos I scanned the scene for a decent place to rest and eat, as we continued down Main Street I would check with Mitchell to see if he had the required miles as he needed a few more then me. Once he had them we pulled over to get fuel. Having made the required fuel stop we headed for the County Courthouse for pictures. I’m collecting pictures of all the Texas county Courthouses by bike and I needed this one. Pictures done it was time to rest a bit get some food in us and head back, we were now just over an hour ahead.

And The Road Goes On Forever

Lunch took a bit longer than expected and as Pecos drifted out of sight in our mirrors we were now only 15 minutes ahead. I got comfortable on the Nomad, set the GPS for the trip home and scanned the gauges and was just about to twist harder on the throttle when….what the…….my Passport 8500 was screaming at me to slow down from 85MPH to the legal 65 MPH that Highway 285 required. As I looked up I saw the cause of the alarm rolling in the opposite direction as we rolled the throttle off we received a courtesy flash of the lights as we replied with a friendly wave. A few miles down the road and it was on again.

Once back on I-10 with the sun at our back as planned things were once again uneventful, we made the scheduled stops, as we watched a most glorious sun set in our mirrors. As we neared Kerrville we stooped to switch to nighttime glasses and then pushed on to Boerne our last scheduled stop together.

West Texas Wid Farm

 Once in Bourne  I was kind of sad that Mitchell and I would soon be splitting up in San Antonio as we had rode together so well and I was getting used to having his headlight keeping me company in my mirror. But Split we did and he headed back to Corpus and I to Houston. Most of the way back to Houston was again thankfully uneventful, a few boys in blue doing their job with the speeding cars, me fighting a little fatigue by now and the road passing quickly beneath my wheels. The last event happened just as I was setting up for a lane change in preparation for my exit a few miles ahead. Suddenly the entire road surface turned red with fresh blood and about that time the bike left the ground as it very nearly flew over a freshly mangled deer carcass. While it scared me I was relieved that the bike handled such an event so well, I had often wondered what would happen in such a case and now I know.

Back in Katy as I fueled for my final receipt, I heard the phone ring, and an email came across form Mitchell, he too had made it.  A few more miles to home and I had a nice bottle of water and shower and off to bed.

1086 miles total on the GPS with an average overall speed of 56.5MPH and a moving average of 73MPH, 19 hours total with 4 hours of it being stops.

Bike Night

Please join your fellow GCVROC riders for April Bike Night

When - Tuesday April 24 at 7:30pm

Where- Lopez  Mexican Restaurant MAP

Let's meet on the last Tuesday, April 24th for Mexican food at Lopez  Mexican Restaurant@ Wilcrest and 59. This has been a family favorite of ours for many years. It's also close enough in to be convenient.
Here's a link with reveiws and a map.

http://houston.citysearch.com/review/9956074
 

National Forest run with "Heavy Hand"

Join Joe "Heavy Hand" for a ride up to Kings Cafe in Montgomery and then a ride through the National forest-Anderson Loop. We've all been on this same route many times, yet it's still a way to get out and enjoy the spring air and get the riding season started.

When- Saturday March 31, 2007 8 am

Where- The Whataburger at Spring Cypress and Hwy 290. Coming from downtown go about 11 miles past the Beltway and exit Spring Cypress-Cypress Rosehill the Whataburger is on the right. There is plenty of gas at this exit please arrive at the rally point with a full tank. 

There will be a short riders meeting with KSU about 8:15 for the 35 mile trip up to Montgomery and breakfast. After breakfast we'll make the loop through Richards, Dobbin through Magnolia and a stop in Pinehurst for a brief refreshment/fuel break and we can decide routes back to our various parts of the city. For more information or directions please contact Heavy Hand

Ride The Hill Country 3's with Heavy Hand

Okay folks this is what you've been waiting for a chance to ride the 3's (F.M.'s 335,336, &337). This is an all day trip riders but don't worry there will be a few rest stops on the way and lots to entertain you. ON this trip your likely to see Plenty of tight switch backs up the walls of canyons, high speed sweepers if you want (or can) drag your knee, Hill climbing with great vista views as your rewards. Oh and we'll also be stopping buy an exotic ranch (we will remain outside the gate) and you are likely to spot Kangaroo, Giraffes, Wildebeests, gazelles, Impala, Deer and who knows what else. Along these roads I usually see plenty of dear, a few rattle snakes and even the occasional wild turkey (sorry Trent you can't drink this one). Of coarse we'll stop buy a bike shop in Leaky, and have some lunch in Camp Wood. And did I mention the stopping at the Texas Stonehenge? And that's just the beginning. There will be so many stream crossings including the Frio River, that you'll be tempted to take a dip.

Here's Some VERY Important Information

This will, be a long day for some round trip is about 240 miles so come prepared. If it's cool i the morning wear layers, bring a bottle of water with you for road side breaks. These small towns don't always take plastic so bring  a little cash along for gas and lunch. We'll finish the ride at the HCR dinner so if you want to change into a fresh shirt before chowing down bring it. This ride offers a lot of everything we will be going over some notoriously dangerous areas for bikes, many accidents have happened recently in the tight turns on Hwy 16 between Kerrville and Medina. ride your own ride to your own abilities. Don't keep the pace the leader is setting if you don't feel comfortable. You won't be left behind there will be a tail gunner bringing up the rear.

The Itinerary
A map to follow along with

Meeting time is 7:15 am Friday at the Super 8 Motel there will be a brief ride meeting with maps handed out and then we will depart on time at 7:45 am so come with your tanks full and your bladders empty. We'll be heading towards Kerrville on Hwy 16 not much to see here but just wait for the last 10 miles before we get to Medina, be careful on this very tight stretch. In Medina we catch the first 3 in the form of FM337 towards Vanderpool and beyond were the road gets very good to Leakey. In Leaky we'll stop at the little bike shop for 30 minutes, relax it's only been 85 miles since we've left. The bike shop serves some drinks and has a few places to sit but don't get to comfortable lunch is around the corner (almost anyway). We'll continue on FM 337 to camp Wood for some gas and lunch  you should expect to be here for about an hour.

After lunch it's a short ride up Hwy 55 to the second 3 FM 335 and a good one it is, this is were we'll stop and see some exotic wildlife so have your cameras ready. 335 T's into Hwy 41 and we'll make a right, travel a bit and make another right on FM 83. Now for those paying attention you'll notice I left out FM 337, truth is it would cause us to get back to late if we rode this one and we'd have to cut out some sightseeing. So to make the ride interesting for everyone I opted to leave it out, but hey now you have a reason to come back. Heading south on Hwy 83 we'll take a left on Hwy 39 a very curvy road with lots of stream crossings and usually little traffic. A quick stop near Hunt will reward us with the Texas version of Stonehenge, then it's back on the road to Kerrville. In Kerrville we'll jump back onto Hwy 16, get some gas and make a mad dash to Fredericksburg for dinner. It was hard to create this route because there are so many good roads and I didn't want to leave any of them out but I think what I have planned offers the best, I hope you all enjoy.

Ride to Coopers with Heavy Hand

Details
Wake up late, skip breakfast and save room for some of the best BBQ in the land. Leaving the Super 8 Motel at 9 am sharp. ride scenic route past Enchanted Rock with a brief stop. Then it's on to Lanno home of Coopers BBQ. We'll make the Willow City Loop on the way back to Fredericksberg. Round trip is under 100 miles so you'll have plenty of time for that afternoon nap.

Amy's Ride, March 17. 2006

Ride with Ken Spring

Possible ride this Sat… Montgomery Richards Anderson Tomball Spring (home)…  7AM -12PM…. Or less.. (wife has a baby shower to attend)…

 Contact Ken Spring for more

2006 VROC  Hilll Country Ride

Joe "Heavy Hand" is leading a GCVROC ride the 3's ride on Friday details will be posted by April 1

Past Events

BBQ Run To Lockhart