My Ride To Jefferson, TX

I rode out to Jefferson, Texas on my (new to me) 2000 VFR, for the Annual North Texas Norton Owners Association Lake of the Pines rally. Let me first get the rally out of the way. I am not a big rally person. There were lots of bikes in trailers. There were lots of bikes in tents with lots of dudes my age sitting in canvas folding chairs looking at them. There were lots of nice bikes down by the lake shore being judged. It was cold. After a typical Texas summer the skies darkened and brought 50 degree temperatures to all of North Texas. There were lots of people huddling around massive, smoky fires and the only riding that was being done were the droning of three or four pit bikes that circled the area ceaselessly. Since I am not big on camping out and since I didn’t know anyone there it was kind of a bust for me. I did talk to a few people but didn’t meet anyone I knew. It took me less than an hour to see all that I wanted to see. I was ready to get back on the road.

This was my first time out on my VFR and I was not disappointed. I just wish I had a better day to ride. I did a little more than 300 miles and I am not sore (much). Most of my discomfort came from the temperature which stayed in the lower 50s during the day and started to drop with the setting sun. I was dressed in layers and resembled the Michelin man but I was still very chilly and shivered a great deal. My wrists started to bother me a bit and I think that had something to do with the cold as well. I was not adjusting my body position. I was kind of locked in so my wrists bore the brunt of my body weight.

The VFR is nothing but pure rolling fun. Even the stock seat, which everyone decries, seemed to work pretty well for me. The only trouble I had with the bike itself was in low speed maneuvers. I was caught off guard a couple of times, missed shifts, stalled it once and over revved it a number of times. In short I did every Newbie parking lot trick possible. I am sure I will get better as I get more seat time. I just hate not being smooth.

I got lost on 4 separate occasions. Two of those times took me ten miles out of my way. The other two were just embarrassing U-turns. I got lost a lot because I was traveling at 45 degrees to the main roads in order to both achieve a better and more efficient course and to ride the back roads as much as possible. The result of this was a longer ride, with a few interesting people met along the way. It gave me a chance to chat with a woman and her kids that lived at the other end of a wrong road. They set me back in the right direction for which I am grateful. I wanted to ask what they do for a living way out in the middle of nowhere but I didn’t want to pry. I also helped a guy install a battery in his big Kawasaki cruiser. He was much amazed when I told him I used to do this sort of thing for a living. I didn’t do much except show him how the electrical connectors come apart and which side to the battery to disconnect first.

The course was perfect in spite of my lack of direction. The roads were virtually empty except when approaching urban areas. I was riding in the eastern Piney Woods part of Texas and the roads twisted through the pines in a way the made the VFR come into its own.

There were two occasions where I almost hit a buzzard. Both times there were four or five of these birds picking at something beside the road. They startled at my approach and leaped into the air. They don’t gain a lot of height in that leap and they have to flap those big wings like crazy to gain any altitude. On both occasions two of the birds got air born and then strayed into my flight path. I had to duck under the furiously flapping bird to keep from knocking it out of the air with my helmet. It was kind of frightening. I didn’t know what I would have done with a giant buzzard in my lap at 70 mph.

 

Big Jim, Thanks for your post. My wife and I travelled to Jefferson this past July, and unfortunately, were a bit underwhelmed. We left shortly after arriving to look for something a bit more fun and ended up in Shreveport. I am new to the forum with a new to me 2007 VFR. Let me know if you plan a trip to the hill country, would love to go for a ride.

 

Ride the Hill Country? In Georgetown you can throw a rock and hit the Hill Country!

Yes, I would love to ride out your way. Might take me a while to get there however. I have never actually made it to Jefferson but I do like the roads around the Lake of the Pines. There are beautiful trees and the roads were loaded with high speed bends. It's just perfect for the VFR.

 

Hey Big Jim,

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about your first adventures on the VFR. Looks like the weather was pretty dreary down there so it would have taken quite a bit of excitement to overcome that. My hat is off to you for making the trip with a chilly forecast such as that. I don't see and icicles hanging off the stash though. LOL

Is that an FMF pipe you haver on the 5th gen? The picture isn't quite clear enough to see for sure.

 

It is a Two Brothers can. It came on the bike and I don't know much about it but is sounds fantastic.

 

Really! That's funny as it looked like the end of the can was squarish in the photo. TBR make great pipes, never had a brother I didn't like!
hehe :tongue: