Sam Rayburn Dam - By mchance

The last 2/3rd of this route is pretty good, with nice scenery and good hills and curves, and the views from the dam are very nice. The first 1/3rd, after FM 92 ends and CR 3725 begins, would be a really nice, somewhat technically challenging ride, with tight turns and elevation changes, if the pavement were anywhere close to decent. However,.... WARNING: CR 3725 is, technically, paved. Technically. And you can see just about the entire length on Google Streetview, where it doesn't look that bad, just like a well worn chip and seal paved road. In reality, as of October 2024, it's probably the worst paved surface I've ridden on (I've ridden on better dirt/gravel roads). It's as if they took a very worn and slightly rutted dirt road, took an asphalt mix that was mostly tar with a bit of aggregate, heated it to the consistency of thick fudge, and just poured it over the top of the dirt and let it cool and harden. Every rut, dip, and pothole in the underlying dirt road is still there. There were sections that I had to slow down to 15 MPH or less. Hopefully, the county will repave this road someday, and I can revise this review. because it has a lot of potential to be a good motorcycling road.