2up ride Sunday, Sept 23rd

KSU (kick stands up) 0915hrs out of Exxon in Helotes. Will be riding to Camp Verde http://www.campverdegeneralstore.com/main/index.php for lunch. Route TBA. If you're the 'driver' of the bike make sure you've filled out a liability release waiver and returned it to us before the day of the ride. A copy may be found under Important Member Info. Also, if you've not ridden with us (or as a reminder) please review STDG ride rules also found under the same topic.

Cindy and I will be there with a friend.

Awesome! Should be great weather! Some aspects of the road are can get technical so make sure you're in good gear (gloves, jacket etc.)

Had a great time, but a bit slow at times, here are some suggestions for future rides.

We usually meet up at a gas station, so lets make sure everyone starts off with a full tank! Yesterdays ride was only 125 miles but we stopped three times for gas, we should have only had to stop once. In addition the one planned stop that we did was at a very small gas station in Medina that probably only had 2 pumps and you couldn't pay at the pump, you had to go inside. Next time let's try and plan a single stop at a major gas station that has a dozen pumps and pay at the pump.

Anyway, was still a good ride and always nice to see the regulars and meet some new riders.

My bad for not fueling up initially... i was running late and thought I was ready to roll with fuel from when I topped off last ride. Error in judement and I know better than that anyways. I agree on the points above from Greg... it is too warm with the gear on to get all of us pulled over and fuel up so much. Lesson learned for sure.

Great to see us all get together and a great route for sure! I think we all had an awesome time... no accidents... nice sunny day! Let's try to do this again sometime down the road as I think the women enjoyed themselves!

I agree Greg about the pace. As we discussed at Starbucks and for everyone's benefit who may read these posts it can be difficult to keep everyone together with the various riding abilities. It's everyone's responsibility to keep up with the group. We don't want to push anyone, but we also dont want people lolly gagging as it affects the entire group. For the most part everyone did a GREAT JOB. AND if anyone's curious, at the front of the group we maintained the speed limit or less for the majority of the ride. The only time I upped it was through turns and then we'd slow for everyone to catch back up. If anyone feels like the pace is to slow or to fast PLEASE tell the ride leader. I promise, who ever it is won't be upset! We're very keen on not only everyone having fun, but getting themselves and their bike back safely.

As far as the gas topic the last time I'd stopped for gas in Medina was many years ago.. 10+ at least & I'd not remembered it was so small, DOH. I 100% agree on better planning on gas stops. I'm thinking about a 100-110 miles per tank per bike might be a good number to plan on limiting fuel stops.

The food at Camp Verde was excellent and would be strong competition for any restaurant in SA. Will definitely go there again in the future. If anyone has more feedback to provide please do so as it'll only help future rides. ALSO, anyone can be a ride leader/sweeper (many thanks to Greg for being the impromptu sweep). If you're interested please let us know!

Also, please (everyone) take a look at our ride rules https://southtxdesmogruppo.forumotion.com/t60-stdg-ride-rules which discuss some of these points and more!

I had a great time and so did Cindy. Here is my take on the Two up ride.
A two up ride usually involves girls. Most of them like to participate, but they will only do so if they are comfortable and if the ride is not too long or fast. This ride tried to accomplish too many things. It tried to make the guys happy by extending the ride and wanting to go fast through the twisties. If we want the girls to participate in the future we may have to make the run a little shorter and a bit more direct, then have a separate run scheduled another day for the guys.
By the way thanks for putting the ride together. I appreciate the effort that goes into setting up a ride.

wasabi wrote:I had a great time and so did Cindy. Here is my take on the Two up ride.
A two up ride usually involves girls. Most of them like to participate, but they will only do so if they are comfortable and if the ride is not too long or fast. This ride tried to accomplish too many things. It tried to make the guys happy by extending the ride and wanting to go fast through the twisties. If we want the girls to participate in the future we may have to make the run a little shorter and a bit more direct, then have a separate run scheduled another day for the guys.
By the way thanks for putting the ride together. I appreciate the effort that goes into setting up a ride.

Well said amigo. What's funny though is that is exactly what I tried to do! lol To some of us that was a shorter ride! It DID however get extended time wise due to fuel stops and multiple slow downs. Camp Verde was specifically chosen so they could 'shop'. Man, that sounds sexist doesn't it? Seriously, I knew Sara liked that place so was thinking they would too. Brian, thank you for inviting your friends! Not only was I impressed with Loren (sp?) being able to ride that chopper through some tight stuff, but I know SAG and I were well pleased that Cindy did so well!

ps. man, i'm just stoked that people are using the forum! woohoo!

Cindy here-I had a really great time! it is great to be back on a bike. Unfortunately, I'm sure that I contributed the frustratingly slow pace experienced by others. I expected this to be a slightly slower ride being two-up. Since I'll not be riding as aggressively as the Gruppo prefers, I think I'll pass on future rides and enjoy the comeradery of the group at 1st Wednesdays! Thanks for the ride and the useful feedback in this thread!

Cindy your pace was fine, and others have said, this was a two up ride so we cannot expect the pace to be as quick. We need to make accommodations for all riders, or the group will not grow.

Thanks Greg! Perhaps on future rides we can designate two separate groups and just meet for lunch rather than trying to stick together. I'd rather have fun and build technical skill slowly, rather feeling like I'm in a competitive situation and outriding my ability only to wind up totaling my bike and my self-although a good fast wreck might provide some entertainment and a good story!

Did Brian receive my email? I sent it to him yesterday. I dont have either one of ya'll's phone #'s either. Can you please email them to me?

I'd been out on surveillance & then a subsquent search warrant so I'd been wanting to reply to your post all day. Was killing me that I didn't have Brian or your #'s! Please continue to ride with us and NO you weren't the cause of the 'frustrating pace'. There's more to it than that and I did not want to get into that here. Hence why I tried to get in touch with Brian right after these posts got started. If he'd checked my email I was hoping to thwart you from taking any issue. I'd be sorely disappointed C if you don't ride again