OK-Here's the street rider's take
Jen and I packed up the truck, loaded the bikes, and trailered up to my folks place in east Colorado. They hadn't seen the grandkids for about 1.5 years, so they had BIG plans for the kids while we were away on the ride. It's normally about 17 hours to drive, but with the bikes in tow we stayed at 65mph the entire time. We left out on 14 July at 6PM for a straight through drive. It was my first time trailering the bikes and it literally wore me out stressing over every bump in the road and wiggle in the bikes. 18 hours later we pulled into Wiggins, CO and went to sleep (the kids went with their grandparents for a while).
Sunday:
This day was our first day and the day we were to meet up with the rest of the group in Canon City. Jen and I discovered that eastern Colorado is
BORING! You go straight for 70 miles, then turn 90 degrees, then straight again. Our route took us down Hwy 52 to 79 to I-70 down to Limon, then over on 24 to Colorado Springs, then down 115 to 50 into Canon City. Once on 115, the scenery improved and so too did the road. After creating a 12" flat spot on the rear tires of our bikes, we were finally starting to use the sides of the tires! We arrived at about 2PM and Beth (and Sarah) were already there. We did about 220 miles from Wiggins. At a stop on Colorado Springs, we discovered that the quart of 15w50 oil I was carrying in my tank bag had leaked a bit onto my cover, so we spent a chunk of the afternoon washing it in the laundry. That evening we had the pleasure of dinner with Klaus and Diane, though sadly, due to an earlier mishap with a tire Klaus' BMW was in the trailer awaiting repairs to happen the next day (Klaus and Diane did not make the rest of the trip). The rest of the group meandered in later that evening and mentioned about some fantastic pizza place within walking distance of the hotel. We never found it and I still wonder if it truly exists... :scratch
Monday:
With Klaus and Diane out, that left Will (dower) and Lauren along with Jen and I to represent the street riders. Since Will was on a BMW 650GS, I only have to assume he was slumming it with us on the street
The route took us up onto Skyline Drive just outside of Canon City, then over to the Royal Gorge, a stop in Salida for lunch then on to Montrose. Skyline Drive was a neat little road, and I mean
little! Little more than a walking path. The ladies' eyes were
when we got to the top and the sides of the road dropped off in both directions!
Here's a view from the top of Skyline Drive:
A view of the road:
A view of Canon City from the top:
A pic of Jen and I enjoying the fool out of this trip:
Made it to the Royal Gorge:
Will and Lauren:
Jen and I:
View from the bridge down into the gorge. Notice the train?
Jen, Will and Lauren decided to the swing over the gorge on the wire swing. I watched them demonstrate this device and quickly decided to be the designated picture taker
Here's Jen on it:
The ride to Montrose was fantastic. 50 is a great road with wonderful fast, sweeping curves. With the exception of construction in Cimmaron, we made good time on 50.
We arrived at the hotel and promptly cranked the A/C to the coldest setting.
As a note: I don't care for Chinese food, but my wife asked that we eat at this Chinese buffet place in the parking lot of the Best Western. Here's proof that I did actually meet my Chinese food quota for the year:
Tuesday:
This day saw just Jen and I on the street. Lauren decided to ride with Beth and Sarah in a rented Jeep as they followed the DS'ers over some passes. Since this trip was our way of celebrating 10 wonderful years of marriage together, going solo was just as enjoyable. The route called for a ride down through Silverton on 550 ending in Durango, then over 160 toward Cortez, with a pause at Grand Mesa NP , then back up to Montrose on an alternate road. Things did not go as planned. 550 turned out to be one of my favorite roads on the trip. LOTS of 30mph turns and "S" curves one right after the other. There were also lots of switchbacks at 10, 15 and 20 mph. This road was VERY technical and challenging. It took Jen and I about 4 hours to make it from Montrose to Durango with a brief stop in Silverton.
Typical sight on 550:
Silverton:
Just outside of Durango, Jen flagged me down and pulled up beside me pointing at her tach. The bike ran fine, but she wasn't comfortable riding the remainder of the distance without the tach, so I decided to find a Suzuki dealer in Durango and see about getting it replaced. The first shop we stopped at said they couldn't get to it but suggested trying the new Suzuki dealer up the road a bit. After dodging through more road construction, we found Fun Center Suzuki and pulled in. Their driveway was almost entirely composed of large rocks that gave the suspension fits on every bike (due to the road construction). There was even one guy that dropped his cruiser as he tried to pull out. Let me tell you, this place was big! I thought, "Surely, if anyone would have what we need, they would." I spoke to the service rep who promptly told me that they could not work on the bike that day in a very matter of fact-you're not geting anything from me-tone. They were holding a Kawi Voyager rally as part of their grand opening and anything they needed apparently was more important. Frustrated, hot, and hungry we decided to head back on 550 to Montrose to hit the local dealer there. The ride back up 550 was, uh, much shorter than the ride down. Jen can really carve up the canyon on that GS500! We pulled into the local Honda/Suzuki dealer in Montrose where they requested that we stop by at 9AM (it was close to closing) and they'd be happy to give the bike a look.
Wednesday:
We took the day off. Jen and I had ridden about 700 miles by this point on some of the toughest roads and our bodies were not up to the challenge. Since we were taking the bike in that morning, we decided to just hang around town and let the bodies rest a bit. The dealer confirmed a broken tach cable, so I ordered a new one overnight. We pigged out at Pig Out BBQ in downtown Montrose, did some bowling, took a couple of naps, and visited the Russell Stover's outlet store.
Thursday:
No pics on this day since we forgot to check the camera's batteries during all our napping the previous day. We stopped at the dealer at 9AM again and they popped the new cable on the bike. Steve decided to join Jen, Lauren and I for the days events. The route called for a run through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP first, then ride over 50 to 149 down to Lake City then onto Creede and back. Since we got started an hour late, we cut Creede out of the ride. The NP was fabulous with beautiful views. Fear not fellow readers-Lauren's camera was working that day and she's got all the pics! After taking the scenic ride through the park, we turned on an alternate road that takes you down to the dam at the bottom. 16% grade for several miles with TIGHT switchbacks! Fun stuff! Uphill was easier than down...
After leaving the NP, we headed over to 149. 149 is another fabulous road cutting through canyons and riding alongside a river all the way to Lake City. We stopped for lunch at Poker Alice's-Highly Recommended!
Coming back from Lake City up 149 we had our only mishap-if you could call it that...Those of you that have been to Colorado know that the speed limits are a bit troublesome. They seem to like to set limits on wide open roads to low levels, like 50mph. Well, it would seem that as I was leading the group back up 149, a County Sheriff in a marked 4WD Ford Truck (that's why I didn't notive him-non standard patrol vehicle) clocked me doing 70 in a 50 though a curve. He promptly turned around and I saw him in my mirrors coming up fast behind me. I quickly pulled over and as I was removing my gear watched the 2 ladies speed on by us both. Steve stopped and the cop told him to go fetch the ladies since he was pulling us all over. While we were waiting, I got to endure the typical "death on the highway-you're going WAY too fast-7 fatalities this year on that curve" lecture. After about 15 minutes, and nobody had returned (I told him one of the ladies has a hard time with U turns, so that's probably why they're taking so long), he told me he was giving me a verbal warning and to pass that warning along to the others.
I took off (he went in the opposite direction) and never saw the group! I remember thinking-"Man-talk about leaving a guy hanging!" Jen and Lauren pulled up behind me just outside of Montrose and I later heard they're version of the story: The 2 ladies pulled over about a mile up the road when Steve came up and said the cop wanted them to turn around, but he (Steve) didn't think they should. Jen quickly reasoned that it would be better if we only got one ticket instead of 2 for our family, so the three of them took off. Can you hear the "Bad Boys" song at this point?
Oh well...
Friday:
This was our last day of riding. The route called for a run up 50 to 92 which goes on the north side of the Black Canyon, then 133 to 82 to Aspen, then 24 back down to Colorado Springs. Since we were heading back to Wiggins on our own, we broke off from Will and Lauren in Carbondale. Hwy 92 was a very scenic ride with many of the same features as 550-lots of curves and no guardrails to block the dropoff's. We made one stop on 92 for a break and found the chipmunks to be eager to be fed.
Here's the view:
133 takes you through lots of coal mining towns with grand views, cool temps, and terrific curves. After splitting up in Carbondale, we stopped in Glennwood Springs for lunch at the 19th Street Diner. I highly recommend this place if you're in the area. Neat little diner. Jen and I then hopped on I-70 heading east. I-70 west of Denver is actually a fun ride. Several tunnels (weird to ride through on a bike) and beautiful views. I noticed my temp on the VFR was 217-219 for a LONG time, and I began to think that maybe my thermostat had gotten stuck, but it turns out we were gradually and constantly increasing in altitude as were approached the Vail Pass. After the pass, the temps returned to normal. We got in to Wiggins that afternoon after 390 miles that day-the most in a single day for us. I-76 out of Denver eastbound turned into the Autobahn and it was here that I wished Jen had been on something a little more powerful. We could've done 100 easy and still been passed by the cars.
I know this has been a long report, so to summarize: We had a great time! The bikes did well and the only limiting factor to our trip was our body's ability to ride long distances. This was definitely a turning point in our riding skills and now the roads here in Texas don't seem anywhere near a tough as before.
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I have most of the pics on the computer. Some were lost when a disc was damaged by dirt and I could only recover some of the pics from that disc. Between the recovery, getting the bike back in shape, and getting ready for the upcoming NC trip, I don't know when I will get them uploaded. A trip report may be some time in the works...
The right wrist is hurting pretty good and I may head off to get it Xrayed just for good measure. The left knee is just rashed from friction where the armor rubbed. The helmet took a face plant on the visor but surprisingly my neck is fine. The left shoulder is hurting pretty good and I have no lifting strength at all, but I do have full range of motion without any pain.
Sure enough, a quick inspection revealed that the head cover had been ground through. Fortunately I had some Waterweld with me and it worked great to patch the hole. Bill and John came up a few minutes after Will and we just sat around a bit until I was sure everything was good to go on me and the bike. The ride back to the hotel by my self was a long one... But it was the right thing to do.
Worth a shot anyway.
