Atlanta to Colorado and back

[ngarider]

Now some folks called me crazy, others questioned my judgement -- but, I planned an end of winter ride to Colorado.

I've been through some of the state for ski/board trips, often stuffed into someones jeep or Suburban, drinking most of the way and barely aware of what the roads looked like. The very last trip I made to Breckenridge several years ago, I noticed the roads. Hmm. Could be fun.

So, I planned. I used a great many resources including a book about Colorado roads for motorcycling, the Interwebs, and a particular website that really got the ball rolling for me. Check it out here Robert really did a great job with his route and gave me a TON of good ideas. On my to-do list is to send a thank you.

With a destination in mind, I pitched the trip to my oldest riding buddy. He just took delivery of a new BMW K1200GT, and was dying to break it in. We have a go. I really didn't want to try this trip solo. We call him 'HiViz' -- and you'll see why.

I loaded up (and I mean LOADED), and took off for Dallas to meet up with aforementioned co-traveller. He rode out to lead me in to the Dallas area (I call Dallas home, but it was still nice to get the welcome Beemer -- kinda like a welcome wagon with stability control).

The bikes, before the trip. The GT is ready to go, mine is stripped after a quick ride. You'll see my loadout later.

DAY1 - Dallas to Colorado

The route:

The goal for the day was to make it to Colorado. So, to get there, you have to go straight. And long. And straight.

Since there's nothing to do (thank GOD for Zumo!!) in BFE, Texas -- we played around taking pictures. Here we are taking pictures sideways from cameras mounted on the bikes. Me....

HiViz:

Thanks to Mr. Valentine1, he clocked me with Instant-On Ka at the speed limit. The Valentine1 save tally for the trip was WELL over a dozen.

We passe by the Capulin Volcano. Hmm, might want to swing up there if time permits on the way back.

Day1 stop. Trinidad Motor Inn. It's barely inside Colorado, but hey, we got a greeting of twisties, deer and snow-capped peaks in the distance as soon as we hit the state line -- works for me. The odd parking was how we locked the bikes together at night.

DAY2 - Trinidad to Salida

Route:

The day started out very well, with some amazing vistas to whet our appetite.

So, let's start leaning this beast. If you've ridden with me, you know how much I hate leaning this bike. Here, you can see me avoiding the dust, dirt and gravel on the road. This would be a common theme for the entire trip.

Say, that's a nice mountain.

This is my first attempt in Colorado of trying to make the FJR a dual sport. In the first pic, I was swinging it around under power. That was fun. Then I caught something looser at the edge of the road and I almost dumped it. The second pic is what I look like in need of a change of LD Comfort pants. Then I decided to simply pose. The background is nice.

I just thought this was neat. The Valentine and a mountain in the distance.

Hey, so ... I guess it's gonna be cold. That's alot of snow. Seems like its still winter.

That's SO not cool... the damn bathroom is frozen shut! THere was 3 feet of snow in there! Oh well. Remember kids, don't eat the yellow snow.

The bikes on top of mount somethingorother:

Well, how am I supposed to remember the mountain with the sign like this?

Another shot of the approach to said mountain. Those snowplows in this state are good. Really good. Nice drivers, too.

Hey, lets take pictures....

A frozen over lake that looked really, really cool. I'm almost positive this was Blue Mesa Reservoir. We ran up 149, which I highly recommend.

 

[ngarider]

DAY3 - Salida to Eagle

This would be the last day of lots of pictures. So, the idea was originally to swing up Mt. Evans. Yeah, closed. So, as you can see from the route, I made the best of it. Turned out great.

First out was Pikes Peak. They had 13/19 miles open, and I had to run 'em.

First, a stop for snacks and pics. PP from afar:

So, let's ride this thing:

The Bigfoot sign.

More....

So, it was chilly, and the lat 8 miles of the ride up were not paved. GREAT fun, especially on a loaded down FJR and GT. I went up with a good deal more reckless abandon than my buddy, but we both made it. The winds were unreal at our stopping point, but, wow...

This was the stopping point. I found out later that actually only 4 miles were totally under snow, but this was the logical place to close.

After leaving there, we headed north. Eventually, we hit 134, which goes through Winter Park and Troublesome. Yeah. No pictures here, it was simply unreal. The whole time we saw maybe 6 cars, and it was COLD. And WINDY. At one point, we pulled off and tried to take pictures. No dice. My damn camera just wouldn't work -- and that was foreshadowing. My buddy also had a camera on his bike, but after taking video of the climb up Pikes Peak, it started getting weird. Ooops. On the way back, we pulled over to diagnose. 1/2 Canon's on the trip: DEAD. I dont know the model, but its a good one. He doesn't buy crap.

DAY4 - Eagle to -- uh oh.

The original plan for this day was:

and then 2 things happened. A final snap of winter started to blow through (with 5-10" of snow accompanying it) and a ton of wildfires happened. So, the run down to Gunnison on 92 was out, there was no way to make it, and get back to Grand Junction before the storm hit.

We weighed all the alternatives, the wildfires, the weather, and decided to haul ass for Durango. It would cut part of the trip, but, hey, winter in Colorado. WTF, right?

Now, I intended on taking pictures of this, but didn't. I have a good reason. So, we slabbed it over to Grand Junction and headed south (after a lunch at Rock 'N Roll diner, good food). We hit the million dollar highway and hoped for the best. By the way, the freeway from Eagle west is some of the best slab riding I've ever done. High speed sweepers? Yeah. Nice.

Now, let me say, I've been riding a long time. Not 50 years, but lets just say 75% of my life. Recently, I rode through a snowstorm in Tennessee the day before xmas '07 -- on a twisty road. I've had my fair share of track time at Texas World, and I consider myself a competent rider.

Probably the greatest challenge was this day, on 550 on April the 16th. Headed south, we started up the mountain in Ouray, You iterally run switchbacks up about 1500'.

All the way to Silverton, up Red Mountain, was just unreal. Ok, we started the acent in Ouray, and it started to snow. After about 2 miles of switchbacks and dodging a tractor trailer that was piloted by Stevie WOnder, it started snowing ALOT. The road was covered in gravel, and I mean COVERED. There were patches of ice. Oh, and all the while, running switchbacks. It was some of the worst road I've ever encountered, and in the snow. The temp was 19 at the start, and fell to 11 at Red Mtn. Oh, and if you have never been there -- it's on the side of a mountain that's anywhere from 9000' to 11,500' , with mostly sheer drops and no guardrails. I've never ridden anything like it.

We made it all the way south to Durango, and the run from Silverton up and down to Tacoma was actually really good. A welcome break, and an opportunity to scrub the sides of the tires.

So, to Durango to get a room and see what the storm and wildfires bring overnight.

And so, what about my camera? The Powershot A75 (or, the old busted joint as I call it) started having lense deployment and retraction problems. It was dead after the pics above. I managed to "fix" it that night. Turns out with just the right amount of liquid courage, you can fix mechanical devices very simply -- by banging and jamming. Worked great.

 

[jwilly]

Looks like fun!! Nice pics!

JW

 

[ngarider]

DAY5 - Durango to -- ahh, sonofabitch....

The weather guessers told us in the morning that the storms were mostly gone, and things were good. It was cold, but I can do cold (my new record for sustained cold riding is 18 degrees, 1.5 hours). I really wanted to salvage the ride from Day3, and hit 92 around Gunnison/Black Canyon. Only way to do that is head back up MDH (550). Let's do it.

And then it got shitty. And then I got sideways. I decided to push on a bit up this road and see how bad it was. See the curve? I earned my countersteering merit badge in a tenth of a second on that corner. I turned around, we took pictures, and back down we went. What a bummer... but... whatcha gonna do? Winter in Colorado.

And back down:

So, we headed for Durango and I did the safest thing I could think of: tried to plot a route to something decent on my Zumo with my buddy running point and warning me of things coming up. Having a good bike-to-bike is important. As a side note, I do often run down the road to ride my own ride. My buddy is more conservative. Being able to talk several miles apart is a godsend. Anyhow, I find a couple things on my contingency Favorites list and we decide on Mesa Verde.

It was neat, we didn't spend much time there, but... the road -- oh damn, the ROAD. I've ridden the Dragon. And Devils Elbow, and the Cherohala, and Satans Testicle, and all the other crap that's outside California. The road up to Mesa Verde was empty. It cost me $5 (I think, yeah, $10 for both of us).

This road KILLS all the other crap out there. The Dragon can kiss my ass, this road is AMAZING. It's in PERFECT condition, it's on the side of a mountain, and there are a good deal of tight, technical turns and high speed sweepers. The scenery (if you can even look) is spectacular. Best road I've ever ridden on. We had it mostly to ourselves. It was just PERFECT.

And I'll say this. I didn't have much on the peg feelers to begin the trip with. Now, both of the feelers are gone. I don't mean worn down, I mean gone. As in, I think I have to replace the pegs themselves. And I don't care if you think that's reckless, it was 200% worth it. I leaned that heavy pig for all it was worth, I swung my ass off the seat and she went down left and right, over and over, like a $1000 hooker. Oh man. How am I going to run 180 and 60 back home thinking of this run?

Why did these people live in caves on the side of a mountain? Clearly, because they were afraid to travel. If they had a Valentine1 -- they would have been nomads.

We hauled east as far as we could, and at Pagosa Springs, called it a day.

DAY6 - Pagosa Springs to Amarillo

Schedules press, return to normal life calls, and we decide to just make the return trip to Texas a 2 part story instead of the 600 mile, 9 hour ride from the first day. We did make it to Capulin Volcano:

And that was about all there was to see on this day. The ride out of Colorado was nice, 160 is a decent ride when you can pass. And pass we did. Oh, the passing.

After leaving Capulin, I remembered the thing that made west Texas really, really nice -- flat roads, sight lines for miles and lack of performance judges. I learned that with my bike laden down with gear (topcase about 20lbs, sidecases about 25lbs each, pillion bag about 20lbs and 1.5L of water plus my fat ass) it'll do 12^2. I also know what it'll do without all that stuff. Not much difference, but very cool to be able to repeat it. My buddy stayed back with the spatula. Luckily, no need.... it was desolate and fun was had.

So, we had fun passing and running exactly the speed limit and no more (we made 100 miles in 50 minutes. Got math?). That GT seems to perform just like the FJR. Nice, NICE bike. We did swap bikes a couple of times, and I got a good feel for how that bike behaves. Me likey.

And then we returned to Dallas uneventfully. I eventually made my way back to Atlanta, and back to the grind. What a ride...

4707 miles in a mostly forward direction

2 miles worth of sliding sideways on gravel or black ice

9 days

7 states

2 wheelies

2 planned lunch stops that had burned to the ground

For those who simply can't get enough information, my gear:

- Cycleport UltraII Kevlar Mesh jacket & pants

- Sidi On Road boots

- FirstGear/W&S heated jacket liner and heated gloves

- Rev'It summer gloves

- Shoei X11

- LDComfort lowers, several different uppers

- Sidi summer socks and RevIt and Fox winter socks

The bike stuff:

- Zumo 550

- SPOT

- Autocom SuperPro AVI

- Kenwood pro radio (GMRS)

- Valentine1

- Dual Heat Troller

- TireWatch

- MC Cruise cruise control (my best friend)

- HID lighting

- Hyperlites

- Givi V46

- PackSafe tailbag (strapped as pillion bag)

- Motorvation sliders with Leo Drolets highway peg adapters

- CamelBak Unbottle (lifesaver)

And all kinds of other goodies and stuff, but I think I hit the highlights. And that was the trip.

 

[Malve]

Great report.

I looove Ride Reports... they're my favorite posts.

 

[dcarver]

Very good read! Most ride reports here are not 'ADV Worthy' but this one is! :clapping:

 

[fjrchik]

Thanks for all the pics and a very informative report. I'm going to be going up almost the same route you did from DFW this summer for NAFO.

Did you see the sand dunes?

 

[wheatonFJR]

Great report! :clapping:

I have a "heights" thing that I deal with...I will eventually do the million dollar highway...however I don't think I will ever do it under those conditions. Ever. :dribble:

 

[rogdeb]

That looked like a lot of fun. Great report & pics, thanks.

 

[shokdimn]

Good show! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Old Michael]

What an adventure! Guts and glory! Great pics and story! :clapping:

(NOT trying to rhyme.)

 

[ngarider]

Thanks.

And fjrchik: we didn't go right up to sand dunes NP -- but you can see it fairly well from the road. I've seen sand dunes before, and since the destination was Capulin volcano that day, we skipped. Seems like a fun place to camp in the spring or fall, though.

 

[James Burleigh]

Wow! What a trip! Congratulations on getting out there and going places and seeing stuff. I've never done a ride like that, but this is inspiration to go!

Jb

 

[trimmantom]

So Dominick, Was your ass puckered a little bit on the million dollar highway?

I came down that road a couple years ago with gasman from pagoosa springs in a rain storm.

My as was really puckered looking at those 2-k drop offs. You shoulda swung over to utah, you woulda really enjoyed that.

It's a different world from colorado. Very nice ride report and pics, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[rainbowrider]

Great report - great pictures. Since you're familiar with Durango - Silverton - Ouray, we rode our bikes up to Coal Bank Pass the weekend before last. There was 8 feet of snow at the Pass and the restroom up there was BURIED! The million dollar highway from Silverton to Ouray was closed. There had been something like 36 inches of snow and high winds over a couple of days which was causing avalanches at Red Mountain Pass (highway billboard signs warned, "RED MTN _ASS CLOSED"). It may be July (or later) before anyone can get back into the backcountry of the San Juan mountains (Engineers, Cinammon, etc). Glad you had a great adventure.

 

[ngarider]

Tom: yeah, puckered. A little. Ok, alot... but it was easy to focus on riding the bike, and trusting the tires. I have nothing but good things to say about my PR2's (second set).

JB: dude, you of all people should suck it up and get out there. I'll stand ready to read the ride report, which should easily trump mine. Planning a ride like this took me 6 months, and I loved planning it almost as much as riding it. Though the weather threw some of the planning into the toilet, I'd still do this trip again. I saw a few bikes, even a couple FJR's between Atlanta and CO (including a BIG group in Alabama -- surprised nothing about that ride on here) -- but we mostly had roads to ourselves. Especially that Mesa Verde road.... :dribble:

Rainbow: we came over Red Mtn Pass last Wednesday, and the conditions were as I described. However, the next day after the storm blew through (and dumped 6-10" of snow), it was closed. We actually saw the sign in Silverton northbound that said "Commercial Vehicles: Chains Required" -- and thought that might be indicative. It was worth a shot, and that's what an adventure is all about anyhow. Had I been on something lighter, I might have tried Red Mtn Pass even snowed.

Both days, Coal Bank Pass was awesome... basically clear sailing and a hell of a good ride. You're very lucky to live so close to such amazing riding. Take advantage of it!

Thanks again.