Texas Hill Country Ride

My son and I finally were able to take 4 days and do a 650 mile ride through the Hill Country and had a blast. Actually, the 650 miles was over two days, with the other two travel days to and from. Both bikes ran great, my Maxim 750 and his Seca 750. It was really great to spend a little quality time with my grown son. Only one problem, and it could have been very ugly. We were pulling in to a motorcycle rest stop late Saturday afternoon in a tiny little town, Leakey, TX, when his clutch cable snapped. There are no dealers, no repair shops, no cell phone, etc., within 50 miles of the place. Even the rest stop was getting ready to close. They told me there was a hardware store in town, so I booked it there only to see a closed sign on the door. Fortunately, they hadn't locked the door yet and I got in before they could stop me. I had one shot to find something to repair the cable or we were going to have to cut the trip short and try to limp the bike back to the trailer, using the old "shift without the clutch" method. I bought everything I could that looked like it might help and was able to fix the cable with a very small cable clamp. The cable had snapped at the lever end and about 1 to 1.5 inches of cable had vanished. I removed all of the adjuster components, rigged a piece as a cable stop, loosened the cable at the clutch end, ran the broken end of the cable through the hole at the side of the lever, slipped the small clamp over the cable and tightened it til I thought I might strip the threads. After adjusting the cable at the clutch end, we were able to continue the trip with no further problems, but continuing to worry that the clamp might let go. If that hardare store had been closed, we might still be sitting under a Mesquite tree somewhere. I think Len needs an emergency number we can call for weekends and overnight shipping! In spite of that bump, the bikes were great and handled the twisties, the open stretches, the steep hills, the cattle, goats, deer and buzzards on the road, with great ease. And, by the way, the motorcycle rest stop was full of Harley guys and not one of them even offered to help us. They didn't even come over to see if there was a problem. Guess we don't fully qualify as bikers in their eyes.

 

Congrats, I am jealous. I'd love to go on a ride like that.

 

Thanks, Tumble. I see you are in Gahanna - I lived in Reynoldsburg for many years. You should have some pretty good riding to the south, thru Lithopolis and on down toward Kentucky, maybe toward Athens. Are there good riding roads down that way?

 

Yeah, all stuff I have seen ... I have always wanted to visit Texas. Hopefully this summer I will be able to take a couple of rides in the Appalacians. Problem is I really don't have anyone to ride with and doing it alone just isn't as much fun. When I was first starting to ride I had a couple of minor issues dealing with slow turns, particularly from a stop. Even though I have moved well past that point, my wife is not willing to ride with me and she isn't going to drive one either.

 

Tumbleweed, I'm always looking to ride on weekends, If you want we can meet up between Dayton and Columbus and head out some weekend. Might not be riding my Seca but my Vsart is always willing to carry my but any where.

 

Sounds great!
This next weekend is out. we'll hane touch base then.

 

So, did you do the FM2222 run? If so, how did you like it?

 

Here is the exact route we took. Totally beautiful and very often challenging. I posted this a couple weeks ago but will again. If any of you can get to this area, the ride is highly recommended. I first saw an article on it in "Ride Texas" magazine and customized it to suit.

 

Opps, forgot to attach the route.

Hill Country Trip
Friday, May 8 – Monday, May 11


Starting point –Lampasas

Day 1 (Saturday, 5/9/09) – Lampasas to Rocksprings
Starting point – Country Inn at the Park, (800) 556-2322 6:30 AM
580W to 581/501S (20)
581/501S to 16S at Cherokee (19)
16S to 965S (15)
965S to 16S at Fredericksburg (28)
16S to 173S at Kerrville (22)
173S to 2828SW (15)
2828SW to 16N (9)
16N to 337W at Medina (4)
337W to Leakey (36) (Turn north a few miles on 187 to Lost Maples & Lone Star MC Museum)
336N to 41W (27)
41W to 335S (27)
335S to 55N at Barksdale (28)
55N to 377S at Rocksprings (29) (Sorrells Inn, $60, American owned (830) 683-1800)

End Day 1 (279)

Day 2 (Sunday, 5/10/09) – Rocksprings to Kerrville
55S to 335N at Barksdale (29)
335N to 41E (35)
41E to 336S (27) to 1120/2748S at Leakey
1120/2748S to 1050E (2)
1050E to 187N at Utopia (10)
187N to 470E (2)
470E to 16S (29)
16S to 173N at Bandera (1)
173N to 16N at Kerrville (26) (Hampton Inn, $70, (830) 257-0600)

End Day 2 (161)



Day 3 (Monday, 5/11/09) – Kerrville to Lampasas

16N to 501/581N at Cherokee (94)
501/581N to 580E (19)
580E to Lampasas (20)

End Day 3 (133)

At this point, you can choose to stay in Lampasas or continue on into Dallas, eliminating Day 4