Monday, February 04, 2008

Ponder Pie Run

This day-ride report is a little late, but I have a few pictures to show and several gear comments that tie-in nicely:

The sun had not yet risen when I left my garage for the Ponder, TX Pie Run. At 277 miles each way, it was an ambitious ride for a late January day in Central Texas.

Route-wise, I spent the majority of the ride on I-45, switching over to US287 in Waxahatchie (love that name) to avoid going through the Dallas side of the DFW Metroplex. 

Some people who attended the pie run said that it was the worst fog they'd ever experienced. Having ridden in Tule fog in central California, I couldn't agree, but it was certainly thick.

It was also cold. The temp gauges I passed said it was in the 40s (F). My Widder vest got it's first workout of the year and the grip heaters were on high.

My first stop was around the 200 mile mark to get gas. I let my fingers defrost briefly in the gas station while I sipped some cappuccino. I probably should have been wearing the Tourmaster Coldfront Carbon gloves instead of my Racer Multi-Tops. The Racers were warm enough with the addition of grip heaters, but having to grip tightly was making my fingers cramp up uncomfortably. 

The Widder vest performed perfectly, but I still wish a little that I'd purchased something with sleeves. I've had this setup for around 5 years at this point and never regretted spending the money. Widder is going out of business at the end of this year (retirement). I need to snap up some $80 arm-chaps while they're still available.

I arrived at the Ranchman's Cafe, aka The Ponder Steakhouse, right on time at 11am. Lunch was a quarter pound "kid" cheeseburger followed by a slice of buttermilk pie.



The sun had come out by the time I was ready to point the R1200ST home. Dwayneinfo tried to tempt me into going to Motoliberty (fantastic Dallas moto-gear store), but I really wanted to be home (or at least close) by dark. 



I had my SPOT in tracking mode for the entire trip. Looking at the log, it appears to have missed a few reports while going through Dallas, but still performed adequately as far as I'm concerned.