{"id":30117,"date":"2026-10-02T00:10:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T00:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"urn:bikertrash-source:past\/virtualride.html"},"modified":"2026-10-08T23:12:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T23:12:59","slug":"virtual-ride-archive-117","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/?p=30117","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published:<\/strong> 1999
Original publication:<\/strong> BikerTrash.com
Original byline:<\/strong> Larry Gore<\/p>

Archive review note: The listed year differs from a year in the recovered heading or opening. The original publication date remains unconfirmed.<\/em><\/p>

Sunday, July 13, 1997<\/h4>

The Ultimate Ride.<\/h3> After a great Saturday night at the King Biscuit enjoying the outstanding music of “Lovespoon Conspiracy” getting up to go on a long, hot ride just didn’t seem like a lot of fun.

But, after all, we had promised to meet Kim, Kyle, Mad Dog, Huggie, George, Fuzzy, Shirley and many of our friends for the ride. <\/p>

July, in Houston, riding a motorcycle in the sun is hot!<\/h4> Never mind the heat, this was about bikers helping bikers. In this case benefitting the family of M\/C officer Keith Fricke who was killed while on funeral escort and benefitting M\/C Officer Robert Blackmon who was injured by an uninsured motorist.

The benefit was sponsored by the staff at “The Ultimate Ride” on Highway 6, near Beechnut and the “Way Out West Saloon” located in the same strip center. <\/p>

Registration was well organized and went quickly, then a leisurely shopping opportunity in “The Ultimate Ride.” We had not been in this shop in years, so we were pleasantly surprised at the selection of apparel, accessories, used bikes and custom bikes available. <\/p>

Unfortunately for those who would benefit from this event, rumors had been spread the previous day that the event had been cancelled. This rumor even made it to a couple of radio stations. As a result the turnout was considerably less than normal for a ride in the Houston area. <\/p>

(Editorial Note: if you hear a rumor about something being cancelled, or a shop closing, etc. check it out before passing it along. In this case, the ability of this function to raise money for the benefit of these two families was critically reduced.)<\/i> <\/p>

The ride officially pulled out at 1:00 p.m. and headed up Hwy 6 to FM 1093, then through Fulshear, Brookshire, Monaville and Bellville to Chappell Hill. <\/p>

It was a brutally hot Texas day. By the time the first 10 miles were complete we were passing the County Line Market and Ice House, seemed like a good place to shop for a cold drink and get some shade for a few minutes <\/p>

Then west on FM 1093 another 10 miles to Fulshear. Bikers need to stop often for fuel – since planning ahead and gassing up prior to the ride doesn’t always occur to everyone. But then this was another opportunity to get some shade and maybe another “cold one”. <\/p>

Running North up 359 to Brookshire allowed another opportunity for some to gas up, and for most to continue their desparate battle against the hellaciously hot day. So far, we were stopping about every ten miles to get something cold, but as the afternoon heat intensified we knew, deep down, that the stops would have to be made with increasing frequency. <\/p>

Brookshire to Monaville was a much longer segment, about 15 miles, but the strong endured and made it to the Monaville Dance Hall\/Ice House. (They had to, there are no stores on this leg of the trip) <\/p>

Monaville (I think the name means “intersection of two roads in the boonies”) was just a speck in our rear-view mirrors as we headed out to make a dash for Bellville – and another “cold one”. <\/p>

Bellville is a great little touch of Texas small town, complete with a Court House square, antique shops and at least one great festival each year. <\/p>

. . . .Too damn hot to spend much time anywhere that didn’t have air conditioning.<\/h4> Make a run towards Chappell Hill and hope to find somewhere in between with air conditioning and “cold beverages”. The temperature has continued to climb, the sun is beating down with that pulsating effect that they always use in the movies just before the victim’s parched tongue swells, the lips and eyelids blister over and the buzzards start to circle.

We keep one eye on the road, one eye on the lookout for something cold to drink and one eye watching to see if the buzzards are circling yet. Sure, its not easy to keep three eyes working that hard, but in this heat you gotta do what you gotta do! <\/p>

The old Harley V-Twin is putting out enough heat to cook on, the sun has gotten brighter and the temperature is continuing to soar. The map tells us we are getting real close now to our destination of Chappell Hill. We can do it, we are tough, we are bad-ass bikers. <\/p>

Rolling into Chappell Hill there is a great sense of accomplishment – until someone mentions the truth. The truth that we were all trying to avoid. <\/p> . . . . IT WOULD BE JUST AS FAR BACK, AND HOTTER!<\/b>

To all the bikers who made the run under these conditions, we salute you. You have guts! <\/p>

The current expedition to Mars made some of us realize that people could achieve all of the benefits of a major expedition, without the discomfort of personally making the trip. <\/p>

Accordingly, in the real world, after making our donations to “the cause” our group turned left from “The Ultimate Ride” parking lot, drove 100 feet to the next driveway, made another left and entered the Air-Conditioned comfort of the Tequila-Lopez Mexican Restaurant. The bar, which is decorated with Harley parts and paraphanelia, quickly became our headquarters for coordinating the progress of our virtual ride. <\/p>

Using the ride map, a watch and lots of imagination we were able to track our progress as we made the 100+ mile run in such unbearable heat. There were a lot of cold beverages available, the air conditioning was operating efficiently and the “riders in the bar” frequently congratulated each other on the wisdom and good judgement of making the decision to ride the route symbolically.
<\/p>

<\/h4>

With no thought of personal comfort, Miriam braves the blistering heat and heads for Chappell Hill.<\/i><\/h4>

Rather than risk being referred to as “Woosies”, at great personal risk of heat exhaustion, exposure and falling down, the group gathered the courage to leave the AC comfort of Tequila-Lopez and ride (in this heat?) the 10 minutes it takes to get to the County Line Market and Ice House. <\/p>

Here, without air-conditioning, with only a lot of fans, and hundreds of pounds of ice to keep the beverages cold, the plucky group was able to continue with ride updates every 5 minutes. Due to the total lack of communication with the real riders, a lot of assumptions, deducement, fabrication and good ol’ Texas Bull Shit was required to give meaningful content to the “news flash updates.” <\/p>

After 4 hours, we calculated that we were about due to arrive at the County Line. When the time came for our arrival there was much cheering and welcoming as our imaginary halves reunited with our wiser halves and we were once again complete. <\/p>

The success of this ride has given our group of “Woosies” renewed confidence, and a broadened outlook. Next weekend, we are considering making a similar trip to Laredo. We know it will be hot, but with road maps, stop watches, air conditioning and a lot of iced beer we will be able to monitor our imaginary trip very effectively. <\/p>

Future plans may even include farther destinations, rides in rain storms and even in times of severe cold. If you plan it right there is no limit to where your imagination will take you. Imaginary pins from today’s ride are available. <\/p>

Archive notice: This article is preserved from the original BikerTrash.com archive. It reflects information available at the time of publication. Please verify dates, locations, prices, links, and other details before relying on them.<\/small><\/p>\n\n\n

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Originally published: 1999Original publication: BikerTrash.comOriginal byline: Larry Gore Archive review note: The listed year differs from a year in the recovered heading or opening. The original publication date remains unconfirmed. Sunday, July 13, 1997 The Ultimate Ride. After a great Saturday night at the King Biscuit enjoying the outstanding music of “Lovespoon Conspiracy” getting up … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[151],"tags":[514],"class_list":["post-30117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","tag-s036"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=30117"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900658,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30117\/revisions\/900658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=30117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=30117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=30117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}