TEXASMAC, what is that??? A little history
It all started when Bruce Williams(AKA TexasMac) posted up a question on VFRD in the Fall of 2003 asking "Can you ride the Dragon in Dec.?" Myself and several others offered to meet Bruce for the first time and ride with him on some of the great roads there including the Famous Dragon he had heard some much about down in Dallas, TX.
The plan was to meet at the Robbinsville Microtel on the morning of the 26th. I trailered over and was standing in the parking lot when Bruce rolled in from Atlanta, he was semi froze as it was it the 20's most of his ride. I got him off the bike to thaw while we waited for Gary to arrive. Gary arrived a little later and the three of us took off heading to Deals Gap after taking a pic or two in front of the motel.
Here we were at the Over Look Friday afternoon just after finishing a run on the famous Dragon that Bruce wanted to ride! Gary standing on left and Bruce seated.
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A shot of the three of us Friday morning before we started the day(left Bruce, Me, Gary).
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Bruce, Gary and I enjoyed a nice 150-200 mile day, Gary split off and Bruce and I headed back to the Microtel where we split a room. We shared lies and a few brews that evening and talked about our next days ride. If I remember correctly Ray drove in that evening and the three of us meet up out front the next morning.
Here is a shot I took from Dec. 27th, 2003. Bruce Williams(TexasMac) on the left in front of his loved 03 Silver VFR and Ray(Hotrodder) on the right in front of the Microtel of Robbinsville. A little more than one hour later Bruce would no longer be with us!
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The following April a small group of VFRD members gathered to honor and pay respects to a fallen member(VFRD's first Loss) with a gathering and also placed a cross at the scene of the loss on NC28 just South of Fontana Village, NC.
Here is that group of VFRD members who started the event and placed the Cross.
Here is a shot from last years 10th Anniversary 2013 TexasMac
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Now Welcome to the official 2015 TexasMac Memorial Ride thread.
The event will run May 28th thru May 31st, 2015.
This is the 12th Annual T-Mac.
Event HQ/Motel
This year we will Return to the MICROTEL Inn in Franklin, NC. It is the event HQ and starting point.
Please see Event Registration below and sign-up also when you book a room.
I have all the Motel's 60 rooms reserved for VFRD and these rooms will be held for us only until April 15th when all non-reserved rooms will be released for anyone else to rent.
Ask for the VFRD/Kevin Bailey reserved rooms.
Our rates for this event are $59/night for all rooms. Please contact the Microtel in Franklin at 888-403-1700 and reserve your room(s) with a credit card in order to hold them for our event. I would love to have the entire place just for the T-Mac, but doubt we will have that many attenders to do so. They will honor these room rates for the entire week so be sure to ask for the discount if your coming in early or staying later!
Beer is allowed at the Motel and there is a medium size indoor meeting room that we can hang out as a group, but think it's limited to 50 people.
http://www.microteli...rch&002=2190258
Event Registration
Again this year we are using Eventbrite On-line registration for this years T-Mac. Again a DINNER Ticket and a event T-shirt is included, but extra dinner or tee's can be purchased at the bottom of the second page "Additional Items"
Here's the link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/12th-annual-texasmac-memorial-ride-2015-vfrdiscussion-tickets-15643795012
Please add your VFRD member name to your Paypal payment note Thx.
NEW!!! The registration fee that includes an event T-shirt and Sat. Nights Awards Dinner and helps to cover other incidental cost of maps, chairs, tent, plates, cups and such for the event.
It will ask for you shirt size, preferred Ride Group, days you plan to attend and emergency contact and info so we know what medication you might need and have someone to contact in case of any problem. On that note it's also advisable to carry emergency contact info on you for the same reason, I like the helmet info packets best myself.
Also with Ride group selection being private you might be less likely to let ego choose your group and I suggest you drop down one level to start with, then move up or down as needed through out the event.
Group Dinner- is included this year where we will have everyone together Saturday night for a group event, it will be a catered meal at the motel like last years or possibly at the resturant just below the motel.
This is also a chance to hand out awards or door prizes with everyone in attendance.
Group rides
I will only have ride groups organized with Lead/Sweep teams for the Novice & slower Int. ride groups this year and just let all Int. & Advanced riders organize their own groups.
We will have group rides/routes planned for Friday & Saturday that will include both long and short versions so riders can decide just how far they what to ride. Thursday & Sunday will not have any official ride or route planned, just days to acclimate to the area and do whatever you like.
As mentioned we will have long (aprox 250 mile) and short routes (aprox 150 mile) each day and each group will have a Lead/Sweep team to guide/control/maintain a SAFE group ride .
We'll have at least 3 ride group categories, Novice/Relaxed(newer riders), Intermediate and Advanced ride groups. The idea here is Not to let Ego choose your ride group. We want everyone to have a fun and safe time while participating in this event and controlling how groups are run is the biggest factor in a successful and safe event.
This is not a Competition or Race and our Lead riders will lead for the entire group, not a "your on your own" attitude.
Safety and fun will be the focus of all group rides, the idea is for everyone to make it home safely and share what a great time they had at the T-Mac. Not who's the fastest rider. Please keep the ego's at home.
- Routes will be posted sometime next spring and will include GPS and hard maps of each days ride.
- Lead/Sweep teams will be picked from volunteers I choose that have the attitude I'm looking for which is Group oriented not self and you do not need to be a star rider, super fast or live in the area to be a good team member. I'll start a different thread for that over the next few weeks and will get into more detail then.
- Group size - I hope to have enough quality Lead/sweep teams to keep group sizes small as smaller groups sizes make everything easier and safer. Preferably 6-8 riders per.
Basic Ride Groups:
Novice: Beginner/newer riders & riders who never go over the posted limits, have little to no twisty experience and are in no hurry to get anywhere. Group stops often for pics/rest/talk.
Intermediate:(Int/slow) Experienced riders, but little twisty experience. Confident in skills except newer to Heavy Mtn Twisties. PACE is Speed limit +/- 5-10 mph. Fun, Safe & consistent PACE. Shorter Loops(150/200 mile) because heavy twisty routes cause fatigue to set in MUCH Faster than normal. Time for extra miles if desired.
Advanced:(Int/fast) Experienced TWISTY/Mtn riders and or track day experience, confident with non-stop twisties and the endurance to handle them on longer routes(usually 300+ miles) Ride PACE avg. of 10-20 mph over.
Note on group selection:
This area is unmatched in twisties both in volume, duration and technical level compared to 90% of the rest of the country and if you don't ride in similar terrine in that other 10% of the country YOU WILL NOT BE READY FOR WHAT YOU'LL ENCOUNTER HERE !
These twisties there are endless providing little chance to rest and fatigue sets in very quickly. Fatigue multiplies the chance of crashing by 10 fold especially in this area where the turn you just screwed up is only half as hard as the one your now entering from the wrong side of the road. Even the slightest mistake is compounded by the extremely technical nature of these roads that provide little to No room for error!
Please do not take group selection lightly, your life may depend on it! I can not express that fact enough!
We place a lot of importance and responsibility in the roll of our Lead/Sweep Teams and our desire for them to focus on GROUP safety as it's a very important aspect of this events success. But No matter how dedicated out Teams are, we can not control the choices each attendee makes and the effect these have on the entire Event. :unsure:
Each rider coming to this event also plays a hug roll in it's success buy choosing a proper and safe ride group for them. If you are an Intermediate rider in most of the country you will be a Relaxed level rider in this part of the country, please don't let ego pick your ride group! This is the single biggest and most important decision you will make when attending the T-Mac, it will play the biggest role in the fun and safety of everyone involved.
Please do your part and focus on the Fun factor along with Not loosing sight of the fact that this is a Memorial Ride for the first VFRD member to loose his life!
Thanks
Pre-Ride Meetings
We try to have pre-ride meetings each morning before the days ride at breakfast(TBA). The days ride is covered along with maps handed out to anyone that doesn't already have one, the group is then broken down into ride groups with Lead/Sweep teams for each. If there is a planned group lunch stop it will also be discussed.
Ride Rules
Please read rules at this link.
http://www.vfrdiscus...rules-texasmac/
We also ride the PACE, read link:
http://www.vfrdiscus...787#entry385787
Ride area
This area has some of the best roads this country has to offer with great pavement, beautiful scenery and tons of twisties. But all of these great twisties can also be a hazard for riders who don't get to ride great twisties often and even for skilled riders who loose focus. It's a great area, but can also be hazardous.
Be careful and don't ride over your head.
Please add your VFRD member name to your Paypal payment note, thanks.
Event History
For some members who have no idea what the TexasMac ride is here are some details, Texasmac was a member here who was from *you guessed it* Texas who met Baileyrock and some others for a ride into the Tennesse/North Carolina Smoky mountains to ride the famous Deals Gap. He passed away in a bizarre accident when his bike went off the road and ended up on top of him. He was the first member at VFRD to pass away - it was a shock to many of us, and to those who where with him they decided to honor him with an annual ride to the same spot of the accident, where there is a cross placed in his name. Baileyrock has taken it upon himself to organize this event for the last nine years and each year it gets bigger and better, always with safety in mind so that what happened to Texasmac doesn't happen to another member.
BTW the picture at the top of this thread is the actual Cross Raising for TexasMac Event of April, 2004 which is what the T-Mac anniversary is based on. Bruce Williams aka TexasMac was Lost Dec. 27th, 2003 riding with Baileyrock(Kevin) and Hot Rodder(Ray).
Note:
I was told that some newer riders have some worries about not being a good enough rider to attend this event and I want to dispel that fear. We will have at least one(more if needed) beginner/new rider group with a qualified (for this group) Leader who will maintain a Scenic/Relaxed pace that the entire group can easily maintain. These groups will also run shorter routes so that's there's no pressure to keep up with the entire event and also to prevent fatigue from setting in.
Every group will have both a Lead rider and a Sweeper who tags along behind their group to make sure no one gets lost or left behind and will be there (first to scene) if there's a problem.
Please PM me with any concerns or needs.
On the other side of that, there will also be some faster Paced groups for experienced riders and everything in between. We'll most likely have Scenic/Relaxed/ Int. groups.
Thanks!
No refunds after April 15th.
BR
Enjoy
BR
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