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Great Sunday morning ride this weekend



Howdy,

	Sunday is fantastic. We have partly cloudy skies, a slight
breeze and mid seventies temps. I meet up with a group of riders in
Northwest Houston for a B.S. and tire kicking session at 9:00am at
the Starbucks on Kuykendahl and Louetta. There are mostly sport
bikes: A CBR 1000, a few 929's, a Sprint ST, some VFR's, an SV650
S, and a beemer. We ride out through the Woodlands and head east,
skirting around Conroe and generally heading north. Eventually, we
stop in Willis to stretch our legs and take a break. Then we head
back east into the midst of the Sam Houston National forest to romp
around on the back roads.
	It is a blast. I am bringing up the rear for the
sportbikes, and then there is the lonely Magna VF750C trying to
keep the pace hehe. We generally cruise around at about 70mph until
we hit the curves. That is when I keep losing sight of the Magna
until the next straight section. I love sitting back and watching
the other bikes snake along through the curves ahead of me. The
trees here are still changing and losing their leaves. Most are far
beyond their peak, but there are still some that are glowing like
blazing infernos. The roads are smooth and empty of traffic. Leaves
are scattered about and blow lazily up into the air as the bikes
slip through them. Bringing up the rear, I get to ride through them
after they are kicked up by the bikes ahead of me. I find it very
relaxing. There are no deer strikes. Several dogs momentarily give
chase. One dog wakes up at the roaring sound of a herd of bikes
coming down the road at him and he decides to find a better place
to sleep than the middle of the road! 
	The roads in the national forest are not quite as smooth as
some of the ones we hit before our first stop. However, they are
still fun. There are some great sweepers that swoop down around the
side of a hill and come back up the other side only to crest and
head back down the other direction. I love that light feeling in
the stomach as I crest the hill leaned over and have to flick the
bike back the other direction for another long graceful arc through
the woods. We finally stop in Coldsprings and grab some greasy
burgers and fries at The Hop, a local burger joint. The locals
always seem to have a funny look when they glance our direction. I
get the feeling they are thinking, "There goes more dem funny city
boys on dare flashy toys... yep...sumtin not right wit dem boys
waring funny suits."
	After lunch, several riders decide they are going to start
working their way back toward Houston. Jim Huber and myself decide
to head for Huntsville. It is home for me and he is going to stop
off and see some friends there. We say our goodbyes to the others
and head north into the woods. He is riding his new 2001 Red
SV650S. I follow on my VFR. We take some really fun deserted back
roads. I love watching Jim throw that little bike around hehe. We
hit one short stretch of road that is a favorite of mine. It is
Waterwood parkway between Hwy 190 and FM 980 on the east side of
Huntsville. It is seven miles of up and down, back and forth, and
good pavement. We do the run at about 70-85mph. A nice relaxed pace
;-) Then we are off to Huntsville where we say goodbye and go our
separate ways.
	It is great to get in such a fun ride with a great group of
guys (the fem's stayed home hehe). If my memory serves me right, it
was Bob Mizner on the CBR 1000, Rick Paukert on a Sprint ST, Jim
Huber on the SV650S, Greg Russell on the 96 Magna, Dave Kenny on a
94-97 VFR, Bill Bray on a 99 VFR, Paul(?) Tanner on some dual
purpose BMW, and myself. All of these guys are serious riders, safe
and geared. I've had the pleasure of riding with many of them at
previous rallies and look forward to more of the same.
Unfortunately, the cold front that came through this afternoon
seems to have put that on hold indefinitely... could winter
actually be here finally? 

Adios,

Scott Friday
98-VFR800@xxxxxxxxxxxx
1998 Honda VFR 800 Fi
1999 Triumph Legend 900
2001 Suzuki SV 650 S
http://pages.tca.net/sfriday/



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