Here's a bit of a ride report following two weekends of riding in Texas. I am presently traveling back to Minnesota in the truck Bryan (my co-worker) and I took to Texas. We hauled 4 bikes (ours and two others) for some Texas style riding.
First, I can't thank Girard (aka, gasgasman) and Keith (aka, sled fiend) enough for hanging out with us. These two are possibly THE NICEST GUYS you'll find on the planet.
Girard could also be known as fastfastman as he is really really good in the woods. He's also as humble as he is fast, and just an all around great guy. We're lucky to have him on the forum.
The first weekend was spent in the Sam Houson National Forest (SHNF). Girard met us Friday night at the trail head. He arranged for some of his buddies to come out and ride with us.
The weather was perfect on Saturday (as it is every day in Texas, or so we were told), and we had about 7 riding in the morning. In the afternoon, we added three more, bringing the total on the trails to 9 (one went home). After riding all day, Girard fired up the barbie, and grilled his special Texas wings. which were unbelievably good. It was really nice to hang out with the Texas riders. We felt right at home.
After a night camping at the trailhead, we rode again Sunday. Keith was able to join us Sunday PM, and took us on the trails we hadn't ridden with the other groups prior to his arrival. Keith gave us some good information, and we were on our way.
The next week didn't go so well for work, but we were able to have dinner with Girard and Keith on Wednesday. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but the food was the best we had in Texas. Another good call.
Thursday didn't go so well, either. After addressing technical difficulties caused by AT&T's wireless network, we were able to do our work. Unfortunately, the bus we also brought from Minnesota for our demonstration developed engine problems. We lost our opportunity to keep testing / improving the demo.
Thursday PM, we picked up the other two Minnesotans whose bikes we brought to Texas. Houston suffered from a light rain/drizzle Thursday PM. On Friday, it was still drizzling while we hung out at the Transit agency while the engine issue was diagnosed. The others were going to head to the forest, and i was going to hang with the bus. I called Girard to ask for a ride up to the forest on Saturday, and he informed me that the trails were closed due to rain.
In Minnesota, this level of rain would not lead to a forest closure, but it does in Houston. The SHNF is under incredible pressure from environmentalists, and to preserve what trails they have (90 miles, down from 400(!)), they close at an precipitation level which may lead to erosion.
This was frustrating for us, but must be even more frustrating for those who regularly (try) to ride in the forest. Just a reminder of the forces against us who want to ride on public lands.
Those who flew down were really bummed by hanging out at the bus garage instead of riding, but what could we do? Unfortunately, the Transit agency didn't use that engine, and was unable to diagnose the problem. Off to the local Cummins dealer the bus went, where we were promised it would be ready Monday AM.
So, what to do? After a few episodes of "Cash Cab," Keith called and took us to dinner. Keith subsequently suggested a post-dinner trip to a bar, and when I balked, issued the "well, if the ladies need to go home...." challenge.
OK. OK. We went to the bar.
On Saturday, we were deciding what to do. We decided to travel to SHNF to see whether the ranger had opened the forest. It turns out he had left for the weekend, and in his absence, no one can open the forest. So, it was going to be closed all weekend.
So, (Keith and the four Minnesotans) made the decision to head to Austin to ride on private land. It was another 4 hours in the truck, but upon arrival at the Hidden Hills Adventure park, we found out the trip was worth it. We don't have rocks and step-ups like that in Minnesota, so it was really good to ride on other terrain. To make things better, we ran into one of the guys we rode with the previous weekend. we rode with their group twice, and it was all great fun. I think we had 9 in the group by Sunday PM.
We arrived late back in Houston Sunday night, and the bus was ready Monday AM. the bus had lost 2 of six fuel injectors. We made a GPS change on Friday, and only had an hour to "tweak" it before the first demonstration. It was OK, but not great. Girard called to go to dinner Monday, but Bryan and I had to collect more data so we could make the system perform at its best. Although I missed hanging out with Giarard and Keith, our extra work paid off as the system worked just as it was designed for the rest of the week. Hopefully, we scored some points with the funding agencies, and we can keep our lab goiing.
Again, thanks to Girard and Keith for setting this up. It was touch-and-go for a while, but it worked out great. We actually can't thank them enough. I also appreciate the forum, because without it, we would have been bored to death in Houston.
blitz