A few of the Buell guys wanted to go on a ride for New Year’s day. Seeing as how the temperatures looked like they would be pretty nice, I started planning. Initially, I started planning a multi-day trip. However, nobody wanted to do a two day ride, so I remapped the route so it was more or less what the BMW club I’m in does occasionally. Actually, I combined a few routes and added some things like going out to Hunt, TX where there is a mini Stonehenge and Easter Island statue. A couple of people agreed as long as it wasn’t too early. So, I set the time for 11 AM.
I'm about two minutes away from the HEB parking lot and I get a call from Ken K., who says "I'm here, but there isn't anybody else here." I tell him I'm two minutes away. As I pull into the parking lot, I'm amazed. When he sent me an email about the trip, I recognized his name, but didn't put two and two together. Turns out Ken is one of the officers in the local BMW club I belong to who purchased a 2007 Buell Lightning Long recently.
We hung around a few minutes more before a guy on a BMW GS comes cruising into the parking lot. After a tour of the parking lot, he stops and to talk with us. I'm not sure if it was more a talk or trash talking about Buell and HD and how he wouldn't own one. Ken and I both told him we also owned BMW bikes too, but somehow I don't think that won him over since we were there with Buells and not BMWs. Whatever... After a few minutes his buddy shows up who he is trying to meet and they get into the guys car. Ken and I look at our watch 11:20, nobody else, “OK, their loss, forget about 'em”. Ken had a dinner engagement, so we decide to shorten the ride a bit from the original course.
The sun is out and things seem great as we ride down RR 12, the sky gets a bit cloudy. As we turn west, and get closer to Blanco, the sun can't be seen. It's cold. I tossed my winter gloves into the Uly topcase along with my fleece, but in the sun it wasn't all that cold, so I didn't put them on. In Blanco, we stop for a bio break and I don my winter gloves and fleece. Ken probably knows these roads better than I do, but both of us have been on these roads quite a bit with the BMW group. When we ride with them, it's pretty tame and I'm keeping up that tradition.
We hit Comfort and decide to go up Old San Antonio Road towards Fredricksburg instead of going through Kerrville and out to Hunt. We stop in Fredricksburg and fuel up. Ken and I compare how much fuel we put in the bikes. He has just adjusted his timing and only puts in 2.? gallons, my Uly is just over 3 gallons (hmm... it's almost time for the 10k service, but I really should be getting better mileage out of the Ulysess). Turns out the way Ken wants to go back is how I planned the trip originally. But as I said, he knows these roads probably better than I do. I tell him to take the lead, but somehow I end up leading again, at least for a little bit. On RR 2721 I think Ken was tired of my 10 MPH over the speed limit pace, as I'm gazing at some cattle off to my right, I see a blazing man on a Buell wizz past me... Ken takes the lead and suddenly, our pace picks up quite a bit. On the turns he really is pushing me. Did I mention that Ken is old enough to be my dad? Yet this guy rides a mean bike? He is really pushing me as we go through the corners. Hell, I had no idea that's how he wanted this ride to go. ;-)
We arrived back at 71 & Hamilton Pool Road and thank each other for the ride and headed home.
Total miles: 194
Total Time: 4 hours
GPS track (actual route)
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