The 2005 PRFH  Flower Sniffing Rides

The 2005 MTF Poker Run From Hell

Flower Sniffin' Rides

Sniffing Ride Coordinator:  TBD

All data here is preliminary and subject to change as the ride planning evolves

Texas has thousands of miles of great roads and unique destinations.   If you just like to roam, these rides are for you.

For each day, there will be one suggested route.  You can ride that, either with a group or own your own, or head out wherever you desire.   We do ask that you give some information about where your heading and when to expect you back only so we know when we should start worrying about you.   If you don't want to do that, then we won't worry about you.

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Motorcycle riding is inherently dangerous.   Do not exceed your limits.   The MTF, it's members, it's management team, it's board or any of the events organizers are not responsible for your actions and in no way bear any liability for anything that might happen to you before, during, or after this event.  The Texas Hill country offers some great ridings, but does have a few quirks that you may not be used to which are described below. 

Many of these rides are in open range country.   That means that cattle and other livestock are free to roam and there are no fences.    As a result, there are two things you are likely to encounter.   First are cattle guards.  These a are a series of parallel round steel pipes that run across the road.   Since the pipes are round with a space between them, cattle won't step on them, so it provides a barrier to the cattle.   You need to be aware of these as they can be very slick when they are went and don't provide the best traction even when they are dry.   There are normally signs that announce their presence, but they are not consistent.   Second, you will likely encounter cows either on the road or adjacent to it.   Cows are big.  Really big.  Bigger than deer.   Adult cattle don't seem to notice motorcycles much.   In fact, if there lying in the road, you may not be able to get them to move.   However, calves startle easily and their reaction is typically to run in a random direction.  So be really cautious if there are a lot of calves in the area.

The Hill Country is known for its prodigious deer population and this ride is right in the middle of deer country.   There are both the smaller white tail deer and the much larger mule deer in the area.  An encounter with either one can ruin your day.   In my experience, deer may be active any time of the day or night.   Do not depend on the fact that you are riding during the day as your only measure to avoid a close encounter.   Like calves, a deer's reaction to stress is to jump and run in a random direction.   Often you can see deer grazing by the side of the road or in the medium.   My advice is to slow down and get as far away from them as possible.   I blast my horn several times and they will usually retreat from the road.   However, be prepared for them to come out of nowhere.    For this reason try to ride towards the center line in the Hill Country whenever possible.

Low water crossings are numerous in the Hill Country.  The Hill Country is on the fringe of the Sonoran desert and doesn't get a lot rain most of the year.   For that reason, bridges are seldom built across small streams and gullies, but the road will cross a stream-bed on a concrete slab.   As a rule, these are no issue.  However, be aware of a couple of things.  First, even when dry, they usually have sand and rocks on the road.   Second the interface to the actual road is usually rather bumpy.   Finally, if there is water on them, be very careful.   Unless you can see the bottom, you really don't know how deep the water is.   Also, if the crossing has been wet for any length of time, they tend to be somewhat slippery, so do use caution.  Finally, in the unlikely even that you get caught in a torrential down poor and a low water crossing has a lot of water going across it, do not attempt to cross it.   Either go back the way you came or wait it out.   The water usually subsides pretty quickly unless there is major storm cover a lot of the upstream area.   

Finally, the Hill Country is hilly.  Some of these roads have significant drop offs.   Just about every spring and fall, we get to read about some rider that overshot a curve and died on impact with the bottom.   Ride within your limits.   A lot of these roads have blind or unexpected curves.   For example, you might come over a rise only to face a very sharp curve.   This is not good if you just unloaded your suspension on the rise.   Also, many of the curves you see have decreasing radiuses.   My suggestion is that you ride well within your limits.   If you really like a stretch of road, go back and ride it again after you've seen it.

Gas is generally available on all these routes at regular intervals.   If you have a 100 mile range, I would not pass up a gas station after 50 miles though.

The Rides

Obviously, there are more than five rides shown below.   This is to allow some alternate rides and give some variety.    So that this page doesn't load too slowly, the graphics and descriptions of  the routes are on separate pages.   Click on "Display" to see the route in a new window along with a description.

You are free to ride any of the rides on any day you please.   The "Day" category is only there for folks that wish to have someone lead the ride and which days those rides will be on.   If you would like to lead one, or more, of these rides, please let the event manager know and we will put you down for it.

About the rating system

The scale is 1 to 3.  One being the worst, not that there are any bad rides in the Texas Hill Country, and three being the best.    These rides are rated relative to each other and nothing else.  The "Get Lost" category is a little different.  It indicates how likely you are to get lost on that ride.  A 3 rating means there is a pretty good likely hood of getting lost unless you or someone you are with either knows the area or has the route in a GPS.   Wet indicates how ride-able the roads are if they are wet.  Of course wet roads are always a challenge, but some of these roads don't ride well if the are wet.   3 is best, 1 is worst.