Rocky Mountain High?

[Fontanaman]

Certainly John Denver was not speaking of the speed limits along Colorado Mountain Passes. In my less than humble opinion Colorado speed limits along mountain pass roads are a Rocky Mountain Low, real low as in more screwed up than Hogan's Goat which is likely insulting to both Hogan and his dam goat.

Hear me out~

My first trip by motorcycle to Colorado was in June 2006 when I attended a Horizon Unlimited Traveler Meeting near Leadville. While on this trip I found the speed limits on Colorado mountain pass roads are much lower than similar roads in the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Montana or the Province British Columbia Canada. The photo below is near Cottonwood Pass and the speed limit here is 25 mph. At the Pass I asked a local KLR rider what's the deal. He said it was the price of admission. :dribble: :dribble: :dribble:

I was raised in the State of Washington, a former avid skier, dirt bike rider, etc etc, I am very familiar with travelling in the mountains. If Cottonwood Pass was in any other state the speed limit in would be about 40mph - which is reasonable enough for me. Unfortunately the speed limit along the Cottonwood Pass was typical throughout the state.

Another example is long the Utah border where the speed limit went from 40mph to 50mph. The conditions and sight lines were the exact same, the only thing to change was crossing the imaginary line between states.

Now I am not Johnny Crotch Rocket racer but c'mon man this is ridiculous. What do you think?

And the point is you ask? Well I am with Damtour.com this year. Navajo Dam in Northern New Mexico a target and another is Boysen Dam in Wyoming and unfortunately Colorado sits between the two. I may head back to eastern Utah and enjoy a day of riding to avoid a Colorado Rocky Mountain Low. So I am wondering if my opinion is shared by others?

 

[Bounce]

To balance things out, OR sets their highway limits crazy-low.

Chalk it up to local discretion.

 

[Panman]

Travel Lolo Pass, same thing. Montana fun, Idaho not so much fun. It is what it is, sometimes the tickets are worth it.

 

[Fontanaman]

Travel Lolo Pass, same thing. Montana fun, Idaho not so much fun. It is what it is, sometimes the tickets are worth it.

+1 Once I skipped Lolo cause the speed limit is low low an well patrolled so instead I want on the Lolo Trail Motorway. :yahoo: Vstrom country not FJR country.

 

[old1959]

You need to go to west Texas where the speed limits are set at a higher level...

 

[SacramentoMike]

Checking in to agree with the OP. Last summer, leaving Arches NP and heading east, it was first south out of Arches/Moab on US 191, then cut east on Utah 46 which became CO 90 at the state line. What a fun road (it should have been). Runs through "the Town of Bedrock," among other highlights.

Here in Cali and everywhere else I've ever lived or ridden, you're on, say, a 60-mph road and you come to a tight turn, you'll see a speed "advisory" sign. Might say 30-35 mph. Yellow with black numbers. That's NOT a new speed limit. But when I came to one of the passes you're talking about, there was a regular black/white speed limit sign at least 20 mph below the previous limit. I figured I was coming into a little town or something. Must have gone 3 or 4 miles at that b.s. speed before it sunk in. And that was the first of many of those, ruining a lot of perfectly good twisty bits of road. I didn't push it, cuz I figured it would be a great place for a state cop to hide and nail some out-of-staters, but it didn't do much to endear Colorado to me. :angry2:

 

[SkooterG]

I absolutely love riding in Colorado.

Speed limits, no matter where they are, never had much of an effect on how fast I go.........

 

[puppychow]

Those damned evil speeders! The world would be so much a better place when the speed is revenued out of them!

 

[Bounce]

My guess is they got tired of pulling the battered vehicles and bodies back up to the road after then went over the side.

 

[wheatonFJR]

I discovered Colorado's low speed limits during NAFO 08.

I should have registered my complaint with Trooper Fenwick during our little side of the road conversation, but it slipped my mind.

 

[Bokerfork]

I believe the answer is really quite simple.

Unlike California,which posts a yellow speed "suggestion" for nearly every mountain turn, Colorado and a few other states take the safe speed for the tightest turn and post that as the speed "limit" for that section. I'm not sure if the LEO's look at it as a specific limit or not. I generally ignored it FWIW.

 

[beemerdons]

To balance things out, OR sets their highway limits crazy-low.

Chalk it up to local discretion.

Or perhaps due to the fact ShinyPartsUp and FJRay live there!

What drove me nuts (nuttier!) is the Blue Ridge Parkway with the maximum at 45 miles per hour, with some locations (in congested areas such as Mabry Mill) at 25 miles per hour. Even worse was Skyline Drive at 35 mph for its entire length, to paraphrase Sammy Hagar - I can't ride 35!

 

[Fontanaman]

Checking in to agree with the OP. Last summer, leaving Arches NP and heading east, it was first south out of Arches/Moab on US 191, then cut east on Utah 46 which became CO 90 at the state line. What a fun road (it should have been). Runs through "the Town of Bedrock," among other highlights.

Here in Cali and everywhere else I've ever lived or ridden, you're on, say, a 60-mph road and you come to a tight turn, you'll see a speed "advisory" sign. Might say 30-35 mph. Yellow with black numbers. That's NOT a new speed limit. But when I came to one of the passes you're talking about, there was a regular black/white speed limit sign at least 20 mph below the previous limit. I figured I was coming into a little town or something. Must have gone 3 or 4 miles at that b.s. speed before it sunk in. And that was the first of many of those, ruining a lot of perfectly good twisty bits of road. I didn't push it, cuz I figured it would be a great place for a state cop to hide and nail some out-of-staters, but it didn't do much to endear Colorado to me. :angry2:

+1000 SacramentoMike you hit the nail on the head with this post. This was my EXACTLY experience in 2005. I think when I get to Klamath Falls Oregon to pick off the Keno Dam I will head toward Eureka and enjoy California Hwy 36 to get my twisty road fix before the flat lands of Nevada other Damtour targets in the flatlands. Besides I want to get a photo of Feej in front of the twisty hwy sign for 140 some miles - I think that sign is near Red Bluff.

I have a theory on the low speed limits of Colorado based a skiing experience at Copper Mountain. This theory will not likely win me any friends to the east and southwest of Colorado so for now I will shut up.

 

[Spud]

It seems to be the trend...there's a fantastic road northeast of Boise that is a motorcycle favorite and they dropped a whole section to 45mph. I got zapped by a motocop on a Connie 14 going 67 last year--but managed to "fix" the ticket

For the opposite experience, go to the Beartooth Pass. A very narrow, very winding road. Heading east, you cross into Montana, and are greeted by a posted speed limit of 70 MPH!!! It's my favorite posted speed limit sign in the entire country!

(not my pic...--one I found w/google)

 

[Geezer]

I've ridden the Rockies in Colorado three or four times and never even noticed the speed limits. I always use a radar detector.

When I saw the title of this thread I thought it was going to be about the effect of the thin air at altitude.

 

[Geezer]

My favorite speed limit sign, used in Montana between 1995 and 1999:

 

[gixxerjasen]

Colorado sits in the unique area where lots of flatlanders have access to it and want to go there. Those flatlanders (me included) aren't used to riding in the mountains but we go there like crazy. Dig enough flatlanders out of the canyons and the speed limits are going to go down. At least that's my theory.

 

[radiummadman]

To balance things out, OR sets their highway limits crazy-low.

Chalk it up to local discretion.

Or perhaps due to the fact ShinyPartsUp and FJRay live there!

What drove me nuts (nuttier!) is the Blue Ridge Parkway with the maximum at 45 miles per hour, with some locations (in congested areas such as Mabry Mill) at 25 miles per hour. Even worse was Skyline Drive at 35 mph for its entire length, to paraphrase Sammy Hagar - I can't ride 35!

Don't care what WhereIsMyRodZilla says, you hit a homerun with that video of the Red Rocket. Loved the song for ever, never saw the video. Thanks

for making my day "and all that jive".

 

[airboss]

My favorite speed limit sign, used in Montana between 1995 and 1999:

Those where the days.

Actually found myself slowing down to pass!