Got up to some ugly cloud cover this morning in Fraser. Cooked up a great cup of Joe, got on the 'puter to check radar and was not impressed. My plan was to ride over Trail Ridge Road to come home - one last dose of some very high, twisty road. The early animated radar showed some big storms forming in my line of travel, moving in my direction of travel. Uggg...
I enjoyed the morning caffeine jolt, savoring it's aroma and taste overload, watching the humming birds do their dance for food, longing for one more awesome sunrise at 9,000' looking at the Indian Peaks. Enjoyed a few brief moments with a couple of brothers before putting it into high gear to get packed and headed for home after 2 weeks on the road. My bike fired up sweetly, I checked the radar one last time and decided to make the run through Rocky Mountain National Park. Wow, I am glad I did.
Although it was a Saturday and traffic was ugly, the ride was eventful. Cold up top, as expected, but the Elk were out in force. I saw two huge herds, one of bulls up top where I usually see 2 or 3, this time there were 30+. Then down the pass a couple of miles, there was another large feeding group right beside the road. Traffic came to a halt.
The clouds kept building and I got a few sprinkles, but nothing worth noting. As I entered Estes Park, it was time to shed a layer and head for home.
The "barn door smell" was evident all day and I was eager to get home to see my sons. I pulled into the garage and the youngest was immediately there to greet Dad. What an awesome homecoming. He and I headed to the front deck, me with a cold one in hand, and proceeded to catch up. It was a great ending to an awesome trip.
I will get the photo album up soon - there are literally hundreds to sort through. Thanks to all for safety prayers - they were handsomely answered.
... now where are the maps and calendar for 2010!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Creede - Fraser: 6 Passes
Yesterday we finished our stay at Wilderness Ranch and headed to a friend's home in Fraser. I road my bike, the other guys were in their cars. It was a sad start as this was the point of parting ways with my ride partner as he headed back to Texas.
He headed South,I headed North to cover 6 Colorado Passes on the way to Fraser.
Amazing for this time of the year, but it was quite cold at the top of each pass covered: Spring Creek, Slumgullion, Monarch, Freemont, Loveland, and Berthoud.
I will be staying in Fraser for the next couple of days - no riding. Plan to head back to the homestead on Saturday.
He headed South,I headed North to cover 6 Colorado Passes on the way to Fraser.
Amazing for this time of the year, but it was quite cold at the top of each pass covered: Spring Creek, Slumgullion, Monarch, Freemont, Loveland, and Berthoud.
I will be staying in Fraser for the next couple of days - no riding. Plan to head back to the homestead on Saturday.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday - Durango
Yesterday we got up and road the bikes from Grand Junction to Gateway for a hearty breakfast.
With our bellies full and an exhilarating morning ride to get there, we were ready for our day's ride to Durango. The ride through the Unaweep Canyon, with the Delores River running beside it is beautiful in the morning sun - all that red sandstone was unbelievable in the morning light.
The temps started climbing in this part of the state early in the day. When we rolled into Grand Junction the day before, it was over 100 degrees and a little hot on the bikes. But we continued onward this fine morning and took a break as we wondered through Telluride and the other little mountain towns at elevation.
We road over Lizard Head pass then down into Delores and Cortez for another Gatorade pause before eventually making it into Durango. Got checked in, settled in, then went to town for a nice meal at a local brew pub. Our "girls" got to enjoy the rest they deserved.
Today we finish this portion of the journey by riding to Lake City for lunch, then pointing the bikes back to Young Life's Wilderness Ranch for our annual Muddy Buddy gathering that will last for 3 days. Won't have any electronic access over there, so probably no more updates for a few days.
With our bellies full and an exhilarating morning ride to get there, we were ready for our day's ride to Durango. The ride through the Unaweep Canyon, with the Delores River running beside it is beautiful in the morning sun - all that red sandstone was unbelievable in the morning light.
The temps started climbing in this part of the state early in the day. When we rolled into Grand Junction the day before, it was over 100 degrees and a little hot on the bikes. But we continued onward this fine morning and took a break as we wondered through Telluride and the other little mountain towns at elevation.
We road over Lizard Head pass then down into Delores and Cortez for another Gatorade pause before eventually making it into Durango. Got checked in, settled in, then went to town for a nice meal at a local brew pub. Our "girls" got to enjoy the rest they deserved.
Today we finish this portion of the journey by riding to Lake City for lunch, then pointing the bikes back to Young Life's Wilderness Ranch for our annual Muddy Buddy gathering that will last for 3 days. Won't have any electronic access over there, so probably no more updates for a few days.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Uncompahgre Plateau
After a fine evening of much needed sleep, us guys got up ready to ride some dirt this morning. Had a lousy breakfast, gassed up, got some healthy snacks and hit the highway out of Ridgeway, over the Dollar Divide, down to FR 60.X and the fun began.
I have ridden this route three times on mountain bikes with my Scout Troop, so this would be a new way to experience the route.
The road is ever changing from high meadows to aspen forests to pine forests. The scenery is ever changing as well - providing a number of nuggets along the way.
The road surface varied a lot. At one point early on, we encountered a stretch that had been freshly coated with Mag Cloride, a dust preventative. This was like riding on ice - it was very slick and snotty. Not fun stretch. It was fun to get to the Scout's first lunch stop in 30 minutes, something that took 4 hours on our bicycles.
There are a lot of new and old ranches along the first part of the route that are neat to look at.
As we road long and got to the eastern edge of the plateau, we could see smoke rising from a huge brush fire that has been burning for a few days near Montrose. As we watched it, we could tell it flared on them a couple of times by the sudden color change in the smoke plume.
The last 30 miles of the dirt road had recently been coated with a new layer of road base. This material is very loose, hard to ride through. I cannot image trying to ride mountain bike through that mess - and it was a struggle on our motos, for sure. But by God's grace, we made it through that stuff and made the steep decent down to the Unaweep Canyon, leading to our home for the night. We road 90 miles across the dirt in about 4 hours of saddle time, a feat that takes over 2 days to ride on a mountain bike.
Our plans were to go to the Gateway Canyons resort, a place I have stayed in before. But just before retiring for the evening, we called for a reservation. Surprise! The place has been "discovered" and the quoted price for an evening, a single room with 2 beds, came in at $600!!! So we decided to deadhead to Grand Junction and call it a day.
Tomorrow, we stay on the tarmac and hit Durango via Telluride and Cortez.
Thanks for reading...
I have ridden this route three times on mountain bikes with my Scout Troop, so this would be a new way to experience the route.
The road is ever changing from high meadows to aspen forests to pine forests. The scenery is ever changing as well - providing a number of nuggets along the way.
The road surface varied a lot. At one point early on, we encountered a stretch that had been freshly coated with Mag Cloride, a dust preventative. This was like riding on ice - it was very slick and snotty. Not fun stretch. It was fun to get to the Scout's first lunch stop in 30 minutes, something that took 4 hours on our bicycles.
There are a lot of new and old ranches along the first part of the route that are neat to look at.
As we road long and got to the eastern edge of the plateau, we could see smoke rising from a huge brush fire that has been burning for a few days near Montrose. As we watched it, we could tell it flared on them a couple of times by the sudden color change in the smoke plume.
The last 30 miles of the dirt road had recently been coated with a new layer of road base. This material is very loose, hard to ride through. I cannot image trying to ride mountain bike through that mess - and it was a struggle on our motos, for sure. But by God's grace, we made it through that stuff and made the steep decent down to the Unaweep Canyon, leading to our home for the night. We road 90 miles across the dirt in about 4 hours of saddle time, a feat that takes over 2 days to ride on a mountain bike.
Our plans were to go to the Gateway Canyons resort, a place I have stayed in before. But just before retiring for the evening, we called for a reservation. Surprise! The place has been "discovered" and the quoted price for an evening, a single room with 2 beds, came in at $600!!! So we decided to deadhead to Grand Junction and call it a day.
Tomorrow, we stay on the tarmac and hit Durango via Telluride and Cortez.
Thanks for reading...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
West Elk Loop
We left Carbondale around 9AM to start the Colorado West Elk Loop, a designated scenic loop in the central western part of the state. The sky was crystal blue, the temperature was perfect for riding. We headed up to the top of McClure Pass and down the back side into Paonia State Park. Inside that area, we turned onto a dirt road that would eventually drop us into Crested Butte.
This dirt ride was absolutely incredible! The wild flowers were in full show along the whole route. We stopped many times for photos and to just enjoy the beauty. The road was in great condition and a good surface to ride, especially for a couple of guys breaking in new skills of big dual sport bikes off road. Again, we could not have asked for better weather! It took us a couple of hours to cover the dirt road down into Crested Butte and we only wished there had been more. The road over crosses Kebler Pass just before dropping into town.
Once in CB, we turned the bikes for Gunnison for lunch - we were very hungry. Stopped in Gunnison for a quick lunch, then headed for the North Rim of the Black Canyon. This scar in the Earth is so deep, so stunning, words cannot begin to describe the views. I had heard this was a twisty road and we were not disappointed. For dozens of miles, lots of sharp twisty road - a motorcyclist's dream!
This road eventually drops out to Delta and the temperature started climbing significantly and we had been on our bikes for several hours. We stopped in Delta for gas and a big Gatorade, hiding in the shade from the 95 degree temp. Got our batteries recharged and blasted the final hour to Ridgeway. Just finished some nice home made pizza on the deck of a funky local joint, watched the sun set and are now ready for some sleep - and too tired to deal with blog photos (sorry...).
Tomorrow, our plan is to motor across the Uncompahgre Plateau to ride to Gateway. I have ridden that route 3 times on mountain bikes over the course of 2 1/2 days. This ought to be fun to cover the same ground in 5 or so hours! I promise photos from a couple of days worth of riding tomorrow. G'night!
This dirt ride was absolutely incredible! The wild flowers were in full show along the whole route. We stopped many times for photos and to just enjoy the beauty. The road was in great condition and a good surface to ride, especially for a couple of guys breaking in new skills of big dual sport bikes off road. Again, we could not have asked for better weather! It took us a couple of hours to cover the dirt road down into Crested Butte and we only wished there had been more. The road over crosses Kebler Pass just before dropping into town.
Once in CB, we turned the bikes for Gunnison for lunch - we were very hungry. Stopped in Gunnison for a quick lunch, then headed for the North Rim of the Black Canyon. This scar in the Earth is so deep, so stunning, words cannot begin to describe the views. I had heard this was a twisty road and we were not disappointed. For dozens of miles, lots of sharp twisty road - a motorcyclist's dream!
This road eventually drops out to Delta and the temperature started climbing significantly and we had been on our bikes for several hours. We stopped in Delta for gas and a big Gatorade, hiding in the shade from the 95 degree temp. Got our batteries recharged and blasted the final hour to Ridgeway. Just finished some nice home made pizza on the deck of a funky local joint, watched the sun set and are now ready for some sleep - and too tired to deal with blog photos (sorry...).
Tomorrow, our plan is to motor across the Uncompahgre Plateau to ride to Gateway. I have ridden that route 3 times on mountain bikes over the course of 2 1/2 days. This ought to be fun to cover the same ground in 5 or so hours! I promise photos from a couple of days worth of riding tomorrow. G'night!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Flat Tops Trail
What an awesome day! We woke up to a Colorado blue bird day this morning, gassed up and headed south out of Steamboat toward the Flat Tops Trail for some dirty riding.
We had a little tarmac to cover to get to Phippsburg for the start of the dirt. A short construction stop gave me a chance to get my bike to bike radio back in order so us guys could chat in flight. Got that problem solved as well as a little complimentary dirt, thanks to CDOT. Down the road we rolled, looking forward to the upcoming adventure. It finally arrived!
What started out as a decent dirt road surface quickly turned ugly. Our tax dollars at work, the Forest Service had coated the next 40 miles in a fresh layer of real deep gravel. This stuff was loose and deep, providing lots of fun challenges. But on we road, learning new skills by the minute. Eventually we made the top at Dunckley Pass.
We rolled down from there, many, many miles through some incredible scenery to the White River basin. The wild flowers were stunning all the way down.
The views of the Flat Tops up high were very nice. We stopped many times for photos and those will eventually be in my photo album, linked from here. But no time now.
We are having a blast rolling along.
We eventually made our way down to Meeker, CO for lunch - nice, local burger joint. Then a quick run to Rifle, which turned out to be a nice ride - rolling curving road all the way down. Then over to Glenwood Springs as far as we could take US 6. On to I70 for a short run to our exit to head to Carbondale - our home for the night. Tomorrow we plan to head over some passes and a bit more dirt and maybe make something around Ridgeway. Stay tuned. And, thanks for reading!
We had a little tarmac to cover to get to Phippsburg for the start of the dirt. A short construction stop gave me a chance to get my bike to bike radio back in order so us guys could chat in flight. Got that problem solved as well as a little complimentary dirt, thanks to CDOT. Down the road we rolled, looking forward to the upcoming adventure. It finally arrived!
What started out as a decent dirt road surface quickly turned ugly. Our tax dollars at work, the Forest Service had coated the next 40 miles in a fresh layer of real deep gravel. This stuff was loose and deep, providing lots of fun challenges. But on we road, learning new skills by the minute. Eventually we made the top at Dunckley Pass.
We rolled down from there, many, many miles through some incredible scenery to the White River basin. The wild flowers were stunning all the way down.
The views of the Flat Tops up high were very nice. We stopped many times for photos and those will eventually be in my photo album, linked from here. But no time now.
We are having a blast rolling along.
We eventually made our way down to Meeker, CO for lunch - nice, local burger joint. Then a quick run to Rifle, which turned out to be a nice ride - rolling curving road all the way down. Then over to Glenwood Springs as far as we could take US 6. On to I70 for a short run to our exit to head to Carbondale - our home for the night. Tomorrow we plan to head over some passes and a bit more dirt and maybe make something around Ridgeway. Stay tuned. And, thanks for reading!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Whaddaya doin in Steamboat Springs?
... that wasn't in the master plan. Nope, it wasn't, but here we sit tonight, bellies full of good food, about to hit poolside for a 'gar and some single malt.
As reported yesterday, we ran to Laramie to get a professional tire fix performed on my buds bike. We rolled in to "TNT Cycles" of Laramie for a patch job.
The guys that run this place are totally awesome! If you ever need any level of service, these are the guys!
Anyway, they look over the bike / tire situation and tell us the bike must have a new tire. Just one little problem: they do not have one in stock of the correct size and it is still too early in the day for the other shop in town to open. So we think about a couple of options, think and think, wait for the other shop to open, and no luck. So what to do? I come up with the idea to ride to a BMW shop in Ft. Collins to get a tire and bring it back. I called the shop down there, yes they have what is needed, and I head off for a 140 mile round trip to snag a new tire. Got back to Laramie about 12:30, new tire in hand.
After a breakfast of "plain scooters" (do any of you know what those are???), I was famished for some food. The TNT got the bike running in quick order and we were ready to go - after lunch. Got some good mex in our bellies and finally hit the road at 2PM. We went to Walden, CO, changed our whole route and drove to Steamboat Springs for the revised route.
It was a beautiful, but windy, ride. We are safely here, ready for another adventure tomorrow.
As reported yesterday, we ran to Laramie to get a professional tire fix performed on my buds bike. We rolled in to "TNT Cycles" of Laramie for a patch job.
The guys that run this place are totally awesome! If you ever need any level of service, these are the guys!
Anyway, they look over the bike / tire situation and tell us the bike must have a new tire. Just one little problem: they do not have one in stock of the correct size and it is still too early in the day for the other shop in town to open. So we think about a couple of options, think and think, wait for the other shop to open, and no luck. So what to do? I come up with the idea to ride to a BMW shop in Ft. Collins to get a tire and bring it back. I called the shop down there, yes they have what is needed, and I head off for a 140 mile round trip to snag a new tire. Got back to Laramie about 12:30, new tire in hand.
After a breakfast of "plain scooters" (do any of you know what those are???), I was famished for some food. The TNT got the bike running in quick order and we were ready to go - after lunch. Got some good mex in our bellies and finally hit the road at 2PM. We went to Walden, CO, changed our whole route and drove to Steamboat Springs for the revised route.
It was a beautiful, but windy, ride. We are safely here, ready for another adventure tomorrow.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Day 1, Trip 2 - Not Quite where we thought we would be
We launched my second adventure of the summer this morning to beautiful, Colorado sunshine. My ride buddy arrived from Texas Saturday afternoon and we had a great couple of days being lazy and getting ready to go on this trip around "Smallsville" Colorado, over dirt roads, through the back country.
We got out of town this morning by riding through the east slope farm country. Went up around Carter Lake outside of Loveland. Dropped down, headed north through Masonville, Colorado to the Poudre River Valley. This is a great motorcycle ride, full of scenery and our beloved twisties. The river was running high and beautiful.
We rode up the canyon to the Laramie River Canyon, turned onto the dirt road pointed to Wyoming, and headed north. Absolutely stunning views - we were having trouble keeping the bikes on the road due to all of the look at this, look at that. At the bottom of the canyon, just after we started up, we road along Chambers Lake, a high alpine lake.
Shortly after passing the lake, enjoying some nice backwoods dirt, "uhh, Houston, we have a problem...". My ride partner had a flat and we were a long way from civilization.
Well, thank goodness, he is running tubeless tires, so after much grunting, cursing, and praying, he had it to the point of being rideable and we continued heading north to the next town - Jelm, Wyoming. This road heading north eventually gets into rolling plains, ranch country. And we saw some incredibly large spreads, including the largest barn this kid has ever encountered. The ride was nice, but we took it slow because of the injured tire.
While getting gas and ice cream in Jelm, the decision was made to head to the nearest town that would have a motorcycle shop for a professional repair. Instead of heading back south to our original destination of Walden, CO, we turned the opposite direction and headed to Laramie, WY. But today is Monday, the day all motorcycle shops are closed. We encountered stiff, nasty winds heading into Laramie and a bit of rain, but made it safely. We will take the bike in for repairs tomorrow and adjust our remaining route based upon our departure time from here.
We got out of town this morning by riding through the east slope farm country. Went up around Carter Lake outside of Loveland. Dropped down, headed north through Masonville, Colorado to the Poudre River Valley. This is a great motorcycle ride, full of scenery and our beloved twisties. The river was running high and beautiful.
We rode up the canyon to the Laramie River Canyon, turned onto the dirt road pointed to Wyoming, and headed north. Absolutely stunning views - we were having trouble keeping the bikes on the road due to all of the look at this, look at that. At the bottom of the canyon, just after we started up, we road along Chambers Lake, a high alpine lake.
Shortly after passing the lake, enjoying some nice backwoods dirt, "uhh, Houston, we have a problem...". My ride partner had a flat and we were a long way from civilization.
Well, thank goodness, he is running tubeless tires, so after much grunting, cursing, and praying, he had it to the point of being rideable and we continued heading north to the next town - Jelm, Wyoming. This road heading north eventually gets into rolling plains, ranch country. And we saw some incredibly large spreads, including the largest barn this kid has ever encountered. The ride was nice, but we took it slow because of the injured tire.
While getting gas and ice cream in Jelm, the decision was made to head to the nearest town that would have a motorcycle shop for a professional repair. Instead of heading back south to our original destination of Walden, CO, we turned the opposite direction and headed to Laramie, WY. But today is Monday, the day all motorcycle shops are closed. We encountered stiff, nasty winds heading into Laramie and a bit of rain, but made it safely. We will take the bike in for repairs tomorrow and adjust our remaining route based upon our departure time from here.
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