Bastrop, Tx Trail Ride 1/22/11

[RollingJ]

That was a lot of fun. I enjoyed meeting all of you and am happy to say that no one broke down and no one got hurt.

We left at 9:15 with an even dozen, and I think we got up to 16 or so by the end of the ride. A couple of stragglers showed up a little late and I went back to lead them in. I led everyone around the boundary and realized how hard it was going to be to keep it together. The serious cold was gone by 10 (told ya) when we broke into smaller groups. I enjoyed following and watching everybody explore. I went though deeper water than I should have, but powered through. A tailbag was lost, and subsequently found. Except one turn where my front end wanted to push out, my almost-classic dualsport did remarkably well. I have a major desire to upgrade to the 21st century, but that will have to wait. Those KTMs were tearing it up. Heck, everybody was ripping in my book.

Noon came around, and we headed off to Murphy's in Winchester. We rolled dirt back roads and got there at 1:10. At one point on the ride (remember, I don't know how to get where we are going) I looked back and there was empty road where there should have been 8 bikes. O....K.... I honked as I slowed down, but the group in front of me keep motoring along. Crud. I turned around to check on the group and about a 1/2 mile back I find all the bikes parked and 4 guys pissing through the barbed wire. It turns out, a case saver popped off, and they stopped to get it. The group in front waited for us at a turn and we all were back together.

Understanding my time dilemma, I was allowed to order first and I slammed my steak home. Thanks for buying lunch for me, guys. I flew back toward home (indicated 85 at one time), and with stopping for gas I still made it home at 1:56 with 4 minutes to spare. Of course, my lovely wife was taking a nap.

I live to ride another day!

 

[JasonJ]

pics man pics!

 

[Coolhand]

Haha! Classic report Joel, I'm glad you made it back in one piece. Great ride call man, very cool play area. It was literally like a bunch of 3 year olds had just gotten dropped off at the play scape. Nice to take us up that first hill to get everybody sorted out. Thankfully my fingers had thawed by then, so I could get pictures of the carnage.

Kudos to Mathew (Matt?) for making it there after being introduced to the TWTexans at about 10:30 last night. And then staying up till 3:30 AM... and still making it. Y'all other sand baggers don't have an excuse

I'm wiped out. The vibes on my 450 while on pavement are pretty bad... gotta put on my MT-21s, balance 'em, and eventually maybe a cush-tail hub. Also need some more fuel capacity (Thank you sir, was it Clark??) I'm trying to get a beer down without being mauled by my kid but I'm falling asleep at the same time.

I'll let somebody else lead off with the photos. I have photo-noia after hearing that Mathew is a pro-photog...

 

[troyfromtexas]

Hey Joel, thanks for setting up the ride and laying out the first tracks. Very nice playground indeed.

Nice riding with the rest of y'all.

Troy

IMG_0257.JPG

 

[tjrockit]

Excellent ride gentlemen!! Aside from the ride from Austin to Bastrop where I thought my finger tips were going to freeze and fall off, the weather was excellent. Turned out to be a beautiful day.

While looking for the lost bag, Troy and I found some roads that looked a little uncharted. As I was making my way through the tall grass, it turned into a swamp and I almost dumped the bike. Troy's bike was tired and decided to take a nap there.

You really have to be careful with those large puddles. I thought I would just blaze right through one and my front end dropped a foot and I almost lost it. I was much more careful to go around them after that.

Sorry no pics, I didn't bring the camera this time.

We'll have to do it again!! Glad everybody stayed safe. Thanks for showing us around Joel!!

 

[tjrockit]

Somebody was asking me about my headlight guard. I think they road a DR650. Here is a link and pic.

https://tciproductsusa.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=144_166_185&products_id=565

 

[Marc B]

I had a blast, ditto on the 3 yr olds, Mud clod and medic jeff will have video, I have a few shots of us standing around in the woods, will get em up when I get a second wind, Thanks to all for help finding my bag and much thanks to Joel for a terrific day, well done.

 

[_RG_]

AWESOME DAY!!!

Joel...you da man!

Genuine pleasure to meet new riders and sling some dirt with friends again.

One great mud slinggin, rock throwin, corner slidin, hill jumpin knobby tire fest to go in the books.

 

[mathewsturtevant]

Thanks y'all for letting me tag along. I'll try to get rest next time so I won't be quite as slow. That being said, I'm usually the slowest but I had a blast today. Justin, I would love to see your photos and don't be intimidated to show me photos, I am not on the clock on saturdays and my pics weren't very good. I 'm sure yors are better.
Thanks eveyone for making a noobie feel welcome!

 

[Coolhand]

I was in snapshot mode and the camera wasn't liking the huge dynamic range required between shaded woods and open sky, that's for sure. There was some pilot error as well... I have a couple uploaded from the AM and only three short videos.

Cold morning at 07:25, filling the tea cup that passes for a gas tank on this thing. No better place to be than heading out for a ride.

(Note to self: morning light is already good, no need to try and warm it up any...)
Waited at the meetup spot by an old abandoned strip mall or something? Yes, that is frost on the ground. I rolled in kind of early and was curious how many others would show. Eventually Marc rolled in from Georgetown with LEVIS on?! He's a better man than I. He was followed by Jeff, Tom, and Troy.

Jeff trying to thaw his fingers. And I somehow managed to focus on the background... my fingers weren't working very well either.

We made it to Bastrop after hanging around at our meetup for an extra 15 minutes but there were no more arrivals. The trip down was chilly to say the least, but I was toasty (or at least not freezing) everywhere except my fingers.

I really liked Troy's goggles.

Joel then led us into the playground and we got down to bizness on the first hill he took us too. Jeff got sidetracked into the bushes and I got slowed down and stuck in deep gravel, therefore screwing the climb up for everybody. It's always nice when your fancy KTM is buried in gravel and not moving, and some dude on a KLR motors by like he's riding down to the 7-Eleven for beers. (Thanks a bunch RG...)

I still need to go through the rest of my shots, but I do have a few videos to follow this picture... Mathew since you went through the trouble of signing up, you get to star in the video footage.


Mathew's second attempt at Gravel Hill and/or a new Olympic Event called the "DR650 Camber Toss".


Mathew's third attempt, after airing his tires down 20 psi. No problem-o! I believe the gentleman before him on the Dizzer came all the way from Baytown??


And finally a general video of the TWT DS hooligans doing what they do best...

I'm about to crash... I'll try to get the rest up tomorrow.

 

[thumper_tx]

Geeshhhhhhhhhh!

No wonder the traffic was backed up when I got to the hill.
the bike in front of me stopped and I had to stop or run him over.
Stopping is easy on a hill. It's just the getting started again is a pain.
Still don't know how I got lost. No tracks, no motor sounds..nuthin".
Me who did not think I neded to bring the gps. DUH!!!!!!!!

Equipment repair 101 tomorrow.

Thanks Joel!!!!!!

 

[tjrockit]

Mathew's second attempt at Gravel Hill and/or a new Olympic Event called the "DR650 Camber Toss".

I think that is called target vision. I was shocked that somehow his whole body hit the tree and his bike went flying off to the side.

 

[atrisk5]

good times. 2 1/2 hour drive from Baytown but well worth it. Thanks Joel for putting this together. Nice meeting everyone.

 

[greenhornet]

Great pic's and videos. I had a great time riding with you guys even if we were a "little" late in getting there. Thanks Joel for hosting this ride. On the way back from Murphy's, Jerry and I decided to do some more exploring where I introduced my KLR to the fine art of log jumping (hey I saw some guy on a video do it, why can't I?) The log won that one. Then I found out why you're not supposed to focus on the obstacles you're trying to avoid when a huge rut jumped in front of my bike and promptly dumped both of us.(Me and the bike, not Jerry) The irony is that after I finally got my 400 lb bike standing up, I looked back at the rut (hereafter known as the mini grand canyon) and noticed that there was about 15 to 20 feet of flat trail directly to the side of the rut where I could have easily passed. My only explanation is that there was obviously a swirling vortex at the bottom of the rut that sucked me in. Strangely enough, it didn't seem to faze Jerry!

 

[XRMAN]

Its always a good feeling to walk in the door while the wife is taking a nap.

 

[Coolhand]

I think that is called target vision. I was shocked that somehow his whole body hit the tree and his bike went flying off to the side.

He saved the bike, that is always the primary concern.

Hornet, if there aren't any pictures of the log jumping gravity vortex crashes, they didn't happen.

Photo's uploading now... gotta go deliver the wife to her MTB ride...

 

[Mudclod]

bastrpjoel outdid himself by organizing a great trailride complete with water pre-placed on the route for us. After needlessly splashing Clark in a puddle, karma shoved me in a mudbog half way up the motor and showed me why the carb-vent hose mod is so popular with KLR owners! My hero RG helped pull my bike out and miraculously it fired right up. Coolhand got to test his fuel range on his barely legal KTM and SZrider entertained us on a break with his DRZ bike tricks. I still say he would have had better luck had he lightned his load-oh yeah, he tried that! ha! Glad we found his lost bag.

 

[Meriden]

Great ride guys. Sorry I missed you all at Murphy's.

Joel, Thanks for putting it together.

RG, thanks for the tip on Gotier Trace. Rode it this morning, great fun.

 

[greenhornet]

He saved the bike, that is always the primary concern.

Hornet, if there aren't any pictures of the log jumping gravity vortex crashes, they didn't happen.

Photo's uploading now... gotta go deliver the wife to her MTB ride...

okay, I feel better now that I didn't get stuck straddling a tree, nor did I drop my bike, thanks coolhand (though I do remember picking it up by myself, groan.)

 

[Marc B]

Hey Jake, Thanks for riding around with me looking for my stupid bag, Love your bike, Marc.

 

[Rman of 237]

Looks like y'all had a blast!! Wish I could've made it. Hopefully there will be a next time.

 

[Marc B]

Donation made to TWT in Thanks to everyone searching for my lost tailbag, Thank you, Marc.

 

[RollingJ]

Yeah Marc, any time, I would have ridden all afternoon to find that bag, wasn't gonna leave it out there. Real glad the other guys found it, kudos to them.

Double that. You lose something in my house, I'm riding until it's found. When it was found, we were about to ride down to where it was found.

I'm think that soon I'm going to blaze some singletrack out in the middle of the loop. Real tight and twisty and away from prying eyes.

First, I need to upgrade to new bike or swap out my tires for knobbies. I could find a second set of rims and set it up with lower gearing for the dirt, so it's quick and easy to swap back to dot tires to get inspected. Or, I could find a DRZ400s for the right price. The second would be better long term, but I would have to sell the relic first and hope for the right one to pop up. I don't know it I can go bikeless right now...

Thanks for all the backslapping, guys. It's nice to feel a part of a greater community of helpful, friendly people. I wanted to share the trails with those who would appreciate and respect them, and understand the rarity of a free place to ride in a constricting world. I couldn't be happier with the group of people I met, and while you may not see me on many rides for a little while, I feel like a part of the extended family and I will be around for the long haul.

Thanks again!

 

[Marc B]

Awesome Joel, I'll be buying dot knobs when these DS tires are done as well, You are really quick on that NX. That was the most fun I've had in a long time and I'm not even sore, Great meeting you, Marc.

 

[Coolhand]

Alright I'm back but the kid isn't in bed yet so the remainder of this RR may take awhile. Where did I leave off...

Pretty cool that we seemed to have gained at least three down and dirty TWTers with Joel's ride, including the instigator himself.

Anyway. So we were at the Hill of Death or whatever and I'd posted pictures and video of Mathew going up it. I think he was surprised how easy it was on 20 psi tires instead of 40 psi tires. I was surprised how darned heavy that DR was after riding my orange bike

My only shot of us regrouping at the top. Our fearless leader had taken off and left us in search of some other riders and we were alone in the wild.

It really is steeper than it looks, yadda yadda...

Sadly, just caught the end of Tom's wheelie. Darned shutter lag . Tom it would look a lot better if your feet were on the pegs though

More "technical" talk. At this point the sexy Husqvarna (TE450?) had appeared with a trick Brittannia (I assume) fairing. It was clean enough to eat off of. Jake remedied that with the first large puddle we approached. Speaking of puddles, a few of them were well iced over. Fun to wheelie through those...

So after Joel showed us around, we basically all split off and started riding around in different directions. Nobody knew where the heck we were, so we tried to be careful at intersections to avoid T-boning anybody else. At one point I snuck ahead and got a handful of shots over my shoulder... all heavily cropped so don't expect too much. This is Marc I believe. His dizzer was also painfully clean before this ride...

Jeff must have had his fuel cap loosened a bit, because his bike is running. (He can tell that story ).

Atrisk (please correct if I'm wrong...) negotiating the mud and the guy sitting in the trail with his camera out...

Mathew with the countersteer.

RG riding that KLR like it's his *JOB*.

Clark, I believe, with his KTM fuel tanker.... er.... DR650.

The eastern boundary seemed to be this powerline road, very fun. The dudes are negotiating a mudhole in the background...

Marc and Jake at the pre-lunch meetup I believe. It wasn't long before that when Marc realized that his camera bag had taken flight after I'd presented a blue bungy cord that I'd found and asked if anybody recognized it. D'oh! We did some preliminary looking and it didn't turn up.... Marc looked around a bit more with no joy, so we all broke up to make a quick sweep. I went towards the rough stuff where I'd found the cord and was lucky to find the bag at the end of a rough downhill. We were lucky it didn't end up in the bushes. Marc that was cool of you to make a donation to TWT for that..

So lunch was going to be in some place called Winchester. I didn't quite appreciate that it was 20 miles away... I went to reserve about 3 miles outside of town. D'oh again!

The famed Murphy's Steak House - worth checking out.

While we were there a bunch of dudes and their ladies in leather arrived. I thought it would be cool to get a shot with both (very different) types of bikes in the shot. I wonder what those five Hogs weigh, versus the 11 or 12 DS bikes behind them...? Winchester has about 4 stores (don't know if they're occupied) and a handful of houses. This restaurant probably contained 3x the population of the entire town at that point. Interesting pose ya got going there Mudclod...

Ron and John debate the finer details of how to get a starved KTM to a gas station while I tank from a DR650 For years I was the tanker with my KLR and my DR... funny to be on the other side of that coin for a change. It's kind of nice not hauling around 40 extra lbs of fuel all the time

Mounting up for the return ride in much warmer weather, full of burgers and (in some cases... you know who you are Mudclod.. and... uh... myself) beer.

The final goodbyes after processing and getting rid of some of the beer in Bastrop. Man that's a long ride home (Winchester to north Austin) on a KTM 450 after a long day. I'm sure the cagers were wondering why this guy on the orange bike was standing up so much... but they'd know if they sat on that KTM seat all day

I had a great time and it was very nice to meet some new people. Thanks a bunch Joel! And Mathew, I'm glad that this moto-experience turned out better than your run-in with the hipster Cafe-racer types It's going to be a good year. Now if I can just find a job.... (H.I., you're young and you've got your health, what you want with a job?? Sorry... Raising Arizona flashback.)

BTW, Joel can ride that old NX250 like he stole it. Putting him on a DRZ would be unfair to the rest of us.