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| May 2006 | Louisiana HSTA Newsletter | Bob Chappuis, Editor |
On Friday, May 5th at 12 o'clock noon, I was sitting at my favorite restaurant in Monroe watching the rain fall like cats and dogs. Sipping on a glass of ice tea I contemplated what all I might do with the weekend since motorcycle riding looked like it was going to be out of the question. I figured I would start with taking a nap. At 1 o'clock I woke up from a good 30 minutes, checked the weather on the internet and in 15 minutes was heading west on I-20. The clouds were still there but I guess I was so anxious to get out of town I just headed the R1150R west
I rode into Shreveport circumventing town by taking the 220 loop. By the time I got to Highway 79 and started heading south the sun was breaking through the clouds. As I stopped for gas in the small town of DeBerry, Texas I had to put my sunglasses on! I wasn't trying to get to the Hill Country since I had worked a ½ day. The plan was to make Palestine and spend the night and finish the rest of the trip on Saturday morning. I continued down 79 making good time with good weather. I got to Palestine at 3.75 hours of riding time. The days are long now so I continued heading south on 79. South of Palestine I came to some road construction that had left grooves in the pavement. These little grooves wiggled my front tire and I found them very disconcerting and I rode on the shoulder for a good while. I was very glad to come to the end of road improvement. I continued for an hour and a half or so and decided to stop in Hearne, Texas. I spent the night at the Brazos Valley Inn and watched the Weather Channel. I had ridden into the middle of numerous storms crossing the Hill Country and at 2:30 in the morning was awakened by a very strong thunderstorm moving through. I tried to go back to sleep not knowing what I would wake up to
I got up and looked at the morning sky. The clouds were very black and ominous looking to the south and the weather channel had Kerr County (my destination!) under a severe thunderstorm watch. I headed west on 79 and figured if I took a northerly route I might be able to avoid the rain. I rode on 79 till I intersected I-35 at Round Rock. I took the interstate north for about a mile then exited on FM Road 1431 west. On your Texas map this is a faint little grey line, but in reality it is four-lane for about 20 miles as the city of Austin has moved up this far and there are new suburbs growing far north of the capital city. Once all the red lights were behind and I entered into the country on my way to Marble Falls, 1431 turned out to be a great motorcycle road with plenty of ups and downs and lefts and rights. Once I got to Marble Falls, I turned south on 281 to Johnson City where I had some great Mexican food. From Johnson City I turned west on 290 and rode to Fredricksburg which has turned into a huge tourist attraction. There were plenty of cars, RVs, bikes, and pedestrians which were coming in and out of town. To this point the weather had cooperated and I was closing in on my destination. I took Highway 16 from Fredricksburg to Kerrville and then on to the Koyote Ranch Resort which was a new location for Brad and Cynda's annual springtime ride
Koyote is a very motorcycle friendly establishment that is less than two years old. There is a convenience store there along with a little grill complete with inside and outside tables and chairs. The resort also has plenty of RV parking and improved and wilderness campsites. I chose a single cabin that had a very firm mattress and scorpion on the lampshade when I checked in. I quickly disposed of the scorpion and sat on the porch waiting for the other riders to return from their day's exploration of the Hill Country.
Approximately 40 to 45 riders were present and we had a nice Mexican buffet prepared on the premises at 7pm. Brad made a few announcements and introduced me and let me talk up Cajun Christmas 2006 - which I did. Several of the folks there had attended CC in 2004 and were looking forward to returning this year. It was nice to see folks I had not seen in a good while including Jim Poulos riding a new BMW RT!!
After a great meal (yes I did eat Mexican food twice in the same day and survived!) everyone retired to their various camps. I slept well and left at 7am Sunday morning. I took 16 back to Kerrville and onto Fredricksburg where I continued east on 290 through Austin then east on 71 to Bastrop. In Bastrop I exited 71 for 21 and headed east towards Bryan/College Station. About nine miles west of Bryan I took the Old Spanish Road and by-passed Bryan. I added a few miles by doing this, but I like the scenery on OSR and picked 21 back up east of Madisonville. I stayed on 21 till Nacogdoches where I rode 84 to Joaquin, TX then crossed the river into Logansport then rode LA 5 to the Mansfield Highway and on up to Shreveport where the interstate brought me back home.
I pulled into my driveway 10.5 hours after I had left Koyote Ranch 565 miles before. I did not encounter rain one time, though I did ride on many wet roads. I was very fortunate. It was great to see everyone and I expect this ride to expand next year as everyone seemed to like the new location. Brad and Cynda have sponsored this ride for nearly 20 years!! It is always good to see our Texas friends and I hope we can return some of the hospitality in December during our renewed, revised, and improved Cajun Christmas 2006!!
This ride, originally scheduled for April but postponed due to rain was attended by only 3 riders: two members and a guest. The weather was near perfect until the afternoon which was just a bit warm. Kevin Yeats rode up all the way from Hahnville to meet me in St. Francisville on his Honda ST1300. He was waiting for me at the McDonalds on 61 when I arrived early on my Honda VFR 800. At 9:20 we concluded no-one else would show but just as we were about to exit the parking lot Matt pulled in on his SV650S. Matt is a member of DSRL, DualSportRidersofLouisiana.com online community. Like myself, Matt does not yet have a dual sport bike but joined the forum because of the many great members there who are hard core enthusiasts of all forms of motorcycle sport. I know and have ridden with several members of DSRL and this is a group of riders I feel comfortable inviting on an HSTA ride.
We took a quick break at the restroom facility at the entrance and then located a nicely shaded picnic table. A group of 4 beautifully restored antique autos rolled by our spot on there way to another group of picnic tables in the area. We parked the three bikes, shed our riding jackets and had a nice lunch. Lunch consisted of roast beef, ham and turkey sandwhiches and chip plus cold drinks we picked up at the gas stop. Nothing special but quite enjoyable! Kevin wanted a more direct return route to his home near New Orleans and it just so happened that it took him in the vicinity of Hospital Road between Union Church and Meadville. So at my suggestion of a minor route change we all enjoyed one more fine twisty on our way home! We backtracked to Port Gibson ( a cool, historic town that deserves a longer visit in the future) and turned off onto MS 547. Then West on MS 28 to Union Church. At Union Church we hooked up with Hospital Rd where, you may recall, we lost an ST1300 a few months back. No problems this day but I made note of the curve that caught out our friend on the ST, a bit more than the casual bend in the road that it seemed just standing at the scene. From Meadville we went East on 98 for a while before Matt and I turned south onto 569 too Liberty while Kevin continued to I 55. At Liberty we hit 48 to Centreville where Matt and I stopped for gas and some smoked deer sausage and then parted ways. It was a great day and a great ride, and a shame so few participated. Despite the lack of attendance I feel this ride deserves to be an annual affair so consider tracing with us next spring! |
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8 LA HSTA members attended a special track day event held by Tiger Track Days at No problem Raceway park in Belle Rose, LA on Sunday, May 28. Two of those members took to the track while the rest observed the on track antics. A crawfish boil was also held at the track by Rocket Madness, Louisiana's premier online sportbike riders' community. Also, Woods Wireless Accessories of Baton Rouge provided a complimentary jambalaya dinner to all pre-paid track riders and raffled off sveeral nice items. Numerous free items were also given away by Lightspeed Kawasaki of Gonzales, LA. Tony won a folding chair and I won a 90 quart igloo cooler!
In addition to the above this track day featured a grudge match initiated by our own inimitable road warrior and routemeister, Tony "Tino" Crowell! Last year at his first track day, Tony noticed a red DL650 V-Strom passing him on the track and was thus inspired to inlist his own blue V-Strom as a track bike rather than my SV650 which was simply too cramped for him. He has since ridden several track days on his Blue-Strom and eagerly anticipated matching his riding skills with there other V-Strom Rider but Craig, the other V-Strom rider never again showed up at the track since that first day in July 2004! It finally took a public challenge by Tony to get Craig back to NPR. Since Craig works for a local Motorcycle dealership and is well known in the local sportbike community as a fast and fearless rider he could not refuse!
News of the grudge match spread and trash talk on the Rocket Madness forum was rampant. There were many who said they would make the trip to NPR just to watch the spectacle. On Sunday, May 28th NPR was as full of people as I have ever seen on a track day. There were 50 people pre-paid for the crawfish boil and I estimate about 40 riders participating in track day. Most of the Track Day regulars were present and many first timers were there as well. HSTA members Paul Lefort, Stacie Chappuis, Bill Ellis, Kevin Yeats, Scott Toups and John Thompson were among the spectators and supporters.
Tony and I went out for the first morning B rider session while Craig waited to take the track with the C group to work off some rust and get his V-Strom modifications sorted out. He was sporting new RaceTech fork internals, a steering damper and new track day spec tires. He was serious! During this session I caught a close up view of a crash at speed that occured a few yards in front of me. Blair on a blue SV650S and I on my Silver one were rapidly overtaking a Kawasaki ZX10R exiting turn 9 with Blair ahead of me. Blair attempted an outside pass on the straight but the ZX rider, not knowing he was there moved over a bit closing the already too narrow space. Blair clipped the ZX and immediately went down in a cloud of dust and screech of scraping plastic and aluminum. Blair was unhurt and was able to return to the track after repairing minor damage. I later learned that the ZX10 rider was non other than past HSTA member and SD Bob Hennesey!
Tony and Craig went out together with the next B group for a practice session with Tony's camera mounted. You can find the video here. Enjoy the close up track photos below compliments of HSTA member and First Class Photographer John Daigle and a couple longer shots by Stu of Rocket Madness. For a blow by blow story of the actual race from [one of] the horses' mouth see Tony's story below!
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My name is Tony and I'm a Trackaholic. Just like a [no] good drug dealer, Bob Chappuis got me hooked. At first he let me ride his bike, a Suzuki SV-650 S, just to get the taste of it. That was last July. Now, I'm officially hooked and I'm lovin' every minute of it.
I go 6'1' about 270 so the SV-S was little cramped. I knew that I had to find another bike in order to be able to enjoy myself to the fullest. Enter the DL-650 V-Strom. Some may scoff at my selection as a track bike, but it fits me well and I get great satisfaction out of passing "sport" bikes in the corners. No, I'm not the fastest, not by a long shot. But I have managed to pass a few high horsepower machines and that makes every track day special. Normally, my V-strom is the lowest horsepower bike on the track. However, in a recent session a guy showed up on a KTM 640 with about 4 HP less than me. Imagine my surprise when the guy not only lapped me but also passed a gaggle of R-1's and CBR 1000's. It was a thrill watching his display of riding ability.
This all brings me to my recent unofficial "race". Back in July I saw another Strom on the track and noticed the guy was really movin' on the thing. Come to find out he's the local parts pusher at a Suzuki dealer. I thought it would be fun to run with him on the track since our bikes are virtually identical. I finally goaded him into showing up at the track. Through pages of internet messaging and good natured ribbing back and forth, the stage was set for the "Battle of the Stroms" at NPR Raceway
The rules were simple: Three laps, just me and him. The rest of the group of riders would be waved off after we had gone far down the track. That was the plan at least. In reality, Our "B" group of riders was waved off, and "Craig" (as we'll call him) and I left about 14-15 seconds after.
Even though I outweighed my opponent by about 80 lbs, I still managed to get the hole shot and beat him to turn one. I led the first lap and most of the second. He caught me at turn 10 and made his move. I was now following him. I actually felt more comfortable in the second position. On the final lap I passed him on the back straight before turn 8. It was a good clean pass but it didn't set me up very well for turn 9. He passed me back between 9 and 10. Uh-oh only four more turns and part of a straightway left. I tried to make a move up the inside at turn 10. I could have made it but it would have run him wide and possibly into the grass, so I braked hard and he went around the outside. Damn! I was running out of track quickly, plus I could see we were catching traffic up ahead. I had one more trick up my sleeve. A gamble but I thought it just might work.
Turn 14 is a big sweeping right hander that leads on the straights and the finish line. I had noticed before that he would run a little wide there. I thought I would try to get under him and blast out of 14 and across the finish line. Just as I was about to make that move a guy on a Ducati Monster, who was also on the outside line, decided to move over to the inside, right in front of me. That was it. There would be no race win for me. After much internet trash talking I had to concede defeat. It wasn't by much, but second place just means I'm the first loser. Oh well, even in defeat it was about as much fun as a 46 year old guy can have. See you at the track.
No scheduled lunch ride for June. A large percentage of our usual lunch ride participants will be on the road to STAR 06 in Avon, Colorado for a good part of the month. Next ride will be July 15.
We will meet at our Baton Rouge meeting spot - Starbucks on Corborate Blvd just off College Drive at 8:30. Lunch destination and route TO BE ANNOUNCED
Well, need to wrap this up and get it out there. KEEP IN TOUCH! chappuis@demco.net
and Ride Safe,
Bob Chappuis
