Fort Collins: short & twisty motorcycle loop

With snow in the forecast for tomorrow and 60 degrees and sunny today, Mike and I took off for a short version (63 miles long) of the twisty loop west of Fort Collins. 38E to Stove Prairie (27) to Rist Canyon (52E) to Centennial Drive (23).



On Stove Prairie heading in to the mountains

The longer loop would have been 90 miles long and one would continue on Stove Prairie then head east on Poudre Canyon (14) then on to Centennial Drive (23).

To change it up one could ride the loops in the opposite direction, it’s like a completely different ride.

My 954 still needed to have the servo motor problem resolved. Many had suggested to check for loose battery connections first since that might have caused the error code for the Faulty EGCV and air intake valve servo motor . The battery connections seem fine. I was hoping that maybe it was an electric fluke and on this ride the light wouldn‘t come on, but it did. Mike will have to take apart the servo motor next, but that can wait for when it’s cold.



At the the top of Rist Canyon Road



A close up of where I came from



It's a steep climb to get up here



And behind me is where I'll be going down hill on Rist Canyon



This isn't even bad, there was more sand further down the twisties



A deer crossing the road in the middle of the day toward Bellvue on Rist Canyon

We had to get out for a short ride today a enjoy the above average temps we’ve been having. This might be our last bike ride for November since we’re traveling for Thanksgiving and won’t be back in Colorado until the beginning of December. And even if the weather continues to be nice in December we won’t be riding Rist Canyon until Spring. Apparently in the winter time they sand the high elevation section of this road which reaches 8,011 feet. Unfortunately the highest part is also the twistiest part and the steepest part. I did not enjoy riding down the twisty hair pin turns with all this loose sand on the road. And I don’t even have pictures of the sandiest section since I wasn’t going to take one of my hands off the handle bar to take a picture… that would have been scary.



A short stop on Centennial Drive



It was a bit windy up here



There was a fire in Fort Collins, you can see the smoke in the distance



Twisties on Centennial Drive



Even though I rode Centennial Drive Northbound yesterday, the views are much better going Southbound the way we rode it today

So I guess in the winter time before the snow flies the only twisty loop one can do is the long loop, even though parts of the Stove Prairie Road that were at above 7,000 feet also had sand on the road but at least the road there wasn’t all covered with sand and it’s wasn’t steep and really twisty.

And of course the best part of the ride, and one of the reasons why we moved here, is that when the weather is nice there are awesome roads near by.



The short twisty loop west of Fort Collins