Hill Country 500: Nov 8-10, 2019

[TheD-Man]

This was a great event!
Mike and Mary: Thanks so much for hosting and sharing your place will all of us.
Richard: Thanks for putting this together - the routes were awesome!
JT and Gina: Thanks for leading both days. Really enjoyed riding with you. We did not get a chance to talk about what happened Sunday afternoon when I lost you guys, but I will just choose to blame Monica Basically the road forked and I chose the wrong fork! I was wishing my GPS file uploads had not failed at home on Friday!
I should have stopped at the fork and waited for you to return to confirm which way to go! Lesson learned.
Hoping to get a chance to sample more of Gina's Mulled Mucous Wine this season.

It was great to get some (albeit slow) "off pavement" time with the new to me GS beast. Thanks to my riding group for patience.
It was fun to ride the paved country road hills and twistys.

The scenery was fantastic. Some Fall color in the trees.

I survived a white knuckle ride home in the dark on a very loaded bike on 281 and 1431; there were deer carcasses every 1/4 mile! Don't like riding at night in the Hill Country. My prayers were answered and I arrived home safe, tired, and hungry -> for more camping and back road exploring!

 

[Rigid]

I agree this was a great event.

Thanks to Mike, Mary, and Richard for the facilities and putting this together. I want to thank Thomas for leading, and I rode with a great bunch of guys.

 

[EETTU]

It was a cold ride from Houston on Friday but well worth it. It was nice to finally meet a bunch of TWT members. Mike’s place was perfect.
I can’t wait to ride with you guys again.

After seeing the turnout, one thing is obvious, there are way more people reading TWT than posting.

 

[Monica]

This was a great event!
Mike and Mary: Thanks so much for hosting and sharing your place will all of us.
Richard: Thanks for putting this together - the routes were awesome!
JT and Gina: Thanks for leading both days. Really enjoyed riding with you. We did not get a chance to talk about what happened Sunday afternoon when I lost you guys, but I will just choose to blame Monica Basically the road forked and I chose the wrong fork! I was wishing my GPS file uploads had not failed at home on Friday!
I should have stopped at the fork and waited for you to return to confirm which way to go! Lesson learned.
Hoping to get a chance to sample more of Gina's Mulled Mucous Wine this season.

It was great to get some (albeit slow) "off pavement" time with the new to me GS beast. Thanks to my riding group for patience.
It was fun to ride the paved country road hills and twistys.

The scenery was fantastic. Some Fall color in the trees.

I survived a white knuckle ride home in the dark on a very loaded bike on 281 and 1431; there were deer carcasses every 1/4 mile! Don't like riding at night in the Hill Country. My prayers were answered and I arrived home safe, tired, and hungry -> for more camping and back road exploring!

Yup yup, I totally take the blame on that one, was totally my fault



D, I had so much fun riding with you. I love your stories.

When I took off that night for home I thought you had already left town otherwise I would have gone down to visit. Guess you got your cap back??

 

[TheD-Man]

Yup yup, I totally take the blame on that one, was totally my fault



D, I had so much fun riding with you. I love your stories.

When I took off that night for home I thought you had already left town otherwise I would have gone down to visit. Guess you got your cap back??

For the record - NOT YOUR FAULT! I was just kidding. My fault totally, but wanted to distract from that by teasing you.
1. I should have had the route on my GPS but failed at that.
2. The process is to simply stop and wait in a situation like that. You would have come back for us as soon as you didn't see me in your mirror!
My fault.

Great riding with you and getting some time to chat.

 

[BigPick]

I really enjoyed my first ride with this group. All of the folks I had a chance to talk to were quality people, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys to ride with. Thanks to Richard for organizing and Mike and Mary for hosting us. This was a great event with a well selected route and I'm ready to do it again next weekend!

 

[Monica]

For the record - NOT YOUR FAULT! I was just kidding. My fault totally, but wanted to distract from that by teasing you.
1. I should have had the route on my GPS but failed at that.
2. The process is to simply stop and wait in a situation like that. You would have come back for us as soon as you didn't see me in your mirror!
My fault.

Great riding with you and getting some time to chat.

Aww lol you're too kind. I was reviewing the sequence of events in my head, I saw a couple spots where I should have done something different instead and it would have worked out. I totally dropped the ball. But glad everyone got home alright and I'll be better next time.

 

[cdc1]

Thanks Mike and Mary for allowing us to enjoy your beautiful property and for all the hospitality.
Thanks to Richard for organizing the event, you are a pro even arranging perfect weather and great routes.
The buddy system works, we tested it several times.

 

[StromXTc]

Great pic M

 

[Thrasherg]

Sounds like some of the basic group riding rules need refreshing in people's minds!! You should never arrive at a junction and not see someone in front waiting for you. Group riding rule #1, Never proceed at a junction until you see the guy behind you arrive!! We remind everyone of that rule before we start every group ride!!

 

[MadVenTur7]

+Eleventy on all the kudos to Mike, Mary, and Richard -- a first-class location, and a fantastic route. This was my first TWT/TARA ride, and I had a fantastic time. Thanks to Mike (Gourdhead) and group for putting up with my slow pace on Saturday, and thanks to Thomas (BigPick) and crew for letting us tag along on Sunday! Really had a blast, and enjoyed meeting everyone I had the pleasure to converse with.

Cheers!!

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Sounds like some of the basic group riding rules need refreshing in people's minds!! You should never arrive at a junction and not see someone in front waiting for you. Group riding rule #1, Never proceed at a junction until you see the guy behind you arrive!! We remind everyone of that rule before we start every group ride!!

The much-practiced talk by Rich had been given that morning. There were some extenuating circumstances combined with newb riders that led to some confustion in our group. But it only took a few minutes to establish communications and get everything straight.

 

[Monica]

Great pic M

Mary gave us a tour of the place which presented that beautiful view of the Pedernales River. Saw this great little bird and a ton of doe and a real nice buck chasing them around across the way.

If I remember what I was told it is a Vermillion Flycatcher (thanks Kathy!). Pic doesn't do it justice, it was bright red and black

 

[StromXTc]

I met their border Collies last year and I noticed she was in the picture. I'm partial to Collies too. This pic was taken after her ACL surgery. Mike said he didn't even know there was such a thing for dogs. Neither did I.

 

[Dazig]

What a great couple of days in The Hill Country. This only happens because of a few dedicated riders and I am grateful for all who put this together. Special thanks to Mike and Mary for all they do.

 

[Dazig]

One of the locals warned us that a bunch of bikers wiped out on the crossing earlier. I hope everyone was okay.

Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

I am not sure about who had trouble with the crossing but one of our group from Oklahoma (Terry I think) used his bike to do a little deer hunting and ended up with an overnight stay in the hospital. As far as I know he is ok with nothing more than a few bad scrapes. It could have been much worse.

 

[Boulder Ed]

dang . I never knew about this ride. looks fun

 

[SpiritAtBay]

I am not sure about who had trouble with the crossing but one of our group from Oklahoma (Terry I think) used his bike to do a little deer hunting and ended up with an overnight stay in the hospital. As far as I know he is ok with nothing more than a few bad scrapes. It could have been much worse.

What I heard is that it was more like the deer was hunting HIM! So glad he is gunna be all right.

News of this had me on hyper alert all day Sunday

 

[synthlegend]

I am not sure about who had trouble with the crossing but one of our group from Oklahoma (Terry I think) used his bike to do a little deer hunting and ended up with an overnight stay in the hospital. As far as I know he is ok with nothing more than a few bad scrapes. It could have been much worse.

During the ride or on the way home?

 

[Merlin]

During Saturdays ride.

 

[BigPick]

One of the locals warned us that a bunch of bikers wiped out on the crossing earlier. I hope everyone was okay.

Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

We had two from our group go down on that crossing. We were likely the last to pass through though, and it was super slippery so I don't doubt that several others had issues with it.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

The steely eyed adventure rider, D-man

(it was hard to get him to stop smiling for the photo, i think he still is a little.)


Here we are, Sunday morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready for the day's adventure.

But first, breakfast at El Agave.

A beautiful cypress tree lined creek and a slick, shallow water crossing.

Monica handles it like a pro.

As does the big D.

Some coaching from JT, and Rebecca is ready

And she has no problem.

Finally, JT rolls through, slow and steady although he can't help but roost us a little as he peels away

There were some high fives before we took off again.

 

[SpiritAtBay]

D-man's super hero cap was found wandering around alone. Monica recognized the potential value of the thing and nabbed it. Together we planned to hold it for ransom.


Here is the "proof of cap" photo.

Our prisoner!

Unfortunately for us and our evil plans, some dang do-gooder freed the prisoner and returned him to his owner before we could pen the ransom note.

Foiled again! "What shall we do tomorrow, Brain?"

 

[Brooks]

 

[StromXTc]

I see yall were riding respectability toward the adjoining landowners. Great pics!