e x c e s s i v e l o c i t y

Snowboarding - Season 1 (Part 2)

2010-05-23T21:55:00.002-05:00

April 24, 2010 – Loveland Basin

Copper Mountain and Winter Park were closed now. I decided I head out by myself to Loveland Basin since it was still open for a few more weeks. By now I kind of got used to riding the chair lifts, I wasn’t enjoying it and the first ride of the day was always kind of scary, but not as bad as when I started. The iPod really helps, listing to music doesn’t let me hear the noises of the chair lift and keeps my mind occupied. But here at Loveland Basin it was back to the small and slow chair lifts and those are the scariest ones. My favorite run requires for my chair lift to pass above another chair lift, it’s really high and goes so slow and once it reaches the top it’s always windy at the top and that makes it pretty scary.

Lots of fresh snow to play in

Up high above the tree line, there was so much space to practice and not get in anyone’s way. I was really enjoying the higher sections of the green runs, but not the lower sections which were crowded, packed down and icy.

I love snowboarding Loveland Basin above the tree line

So much open space

May 1, 2010 – Loveland Basin

Another day alone on the slopes! I guess I just can’t stop. When I arrived at Loveland Basin this morning I was greeted with fresh snow. The snow was still falling and I was experiencing my first powder day. At some point it was really coming down hard and I could barely see where I was going, ran in to a few snow banks and on one run I completely come down the wrong trail because I couldn’t see the way. Today were the coldest temperatures I have experienced so far while snowboarding. I was bundled up and comfortable while snowboarding, but the ride on the chair lift was pretty cold. At some point people must have headed home because I was all alone on the chair lift and had the slopes all to myself. But in the afternoon the snow stopped falling and the sun came out and I finally linked some curves in the fresh snow. I can’t even tell you how it felt, it was beyond awesome! Kind of like when you’re going through a set of sweet curves on your motorcycle and the bike just falls in to each curve effortlessly, and you lean left then right, then left again, the speed is just perfect and you are in total control of the machine and as the bike leans you realize you no longer feel like you are sitting on your motorcycle, you feel like you are a part of the motorcycle – the bike and I become one entity. So it’s just like that but it’s on a snowboard, on a mountain with snow below. I totally understand why so many people that ride motorcycles also ride snowboards. The feeling is almost the same. Not only was I finally linking turns, but I snowboarded with no real break for lunch from morning until the lifts closed and I wasn’t even that tired!

Powder day

It was hard to see at times with all the snow falling

Blue sky and sunshine

My fresh tracks

I love fresh powder

May 22, 2010 – Loveland Valley

My mom was in Colorado visiting me, so the last two weekends I was busy. I had no intention of snowboarding anymore since Loveland Basin had closed and the only ski area that was still open was Arapahoe Basin, which I heard didn’t have a lot of easy runs and I wasn’t ready for hard stuff yet. But since CJ hadn’t seen my progress we decided to do one last day on the snowboards at A-basin. Unfortunately when we got to A-basin it was so windy, that we decided not to waste our chair lift tickets on an not so ideal day, and come back tomorrow.

I carry a dog leash in my pocket to drag my snowboard, carrying it too much work

CJ shows me how it's done - a perfect carve

As we headed up to the highway we decided to stop at Loveland Valley which was closed now and do some snowboarding by hiking up the hills. Well, it’s a lot of work this hiking and snowboarding especially at this high elevation. The snow was very hard here, but I did manage to show CJ what I have learned the last few weeks. After about 2 hours we were popped and ready to head back to Denver and enjoy the 70 degree temperatures.

Getting better, too bad the season is almost over

May 23, 2010 – Arapahoe Basin

CJ and I headed to A-basin and we were so glad we didn’t attempt to snowboard yesterday with all the wind. Today was great weather, and only slightly breezy. It was warm and the snow was melting, there were big puddles in places. The melting snow also made getting off the chair lift problematic, since the snow would melt and my snowboard would catch on the wood and I’d roll down the hill head over heels like a newbie. At least I wasn’t the only one doing this, others seemed to have the same problem.

Last day on the lopes, it was a very warm day today

As for A-basin, I had a hard time on some of the easier runs, I’m just not good enough yet and there were just too many people here. I had a couple of good runs in the warm sun, but next weekend I’m riding my motorcycle, so today is the last day on the snowboard until November when the snow returns to the mountains.

Snowboarding - Season 1 (Part 1)

2010-05-23T12:45:00.003-05:00

Yes, it’s the end of May here in Colorado and today was my last day on the slopes. Arapahoe Basin is still open for awhile but my first snowboarding season is officially over. Next weekend is Memorial Day Weekend and I’m heading on a three day motorcycle ride. I have not been riding my motorcycles very much this Spring, although not all of it can be blamed on snowboarding. We’ve had a very snowy Winter and Spring here this year, in the mountains and in the city. I do have to admit that I’m not ready to put the snowboard away just yet. Just as the season is coming to an end I finally feel like I’m getting the hang of this thing.

But let’s back up a little bit here. Since I moved to Colorado I thought that one of these days I should try snowboarding - one of these days, like in the future. After I moved to the Denver area I started to think about it some more, since I was so close to the ski areas – one of these days became like maybe next season. But when CJ told me he had some lift tickets that he still needed to use up this season and asked me if I wanted to tag along with him, my mind was pretty much made up. So in early March of this year I got this idea to start snowboarding. It was actually great timing since it was the end of the season and all the snowboarding gear was on sale. Pretty much everything I bought was half price or less, which all cost me about the same as renting the gear 5 times. After all, snowboarding wasn’t something I just wanted to try a few times, it was something I wanted to do – season and after season – so I wanted my own gear.

March 7, 2010 - Guanella Pass

With my new gear I packed up my car in search of snow. It was a very warm the last few days and all the snow kind of melted. I just wanted to find a small bunny hill to get used to the snowboard since I’ve never been on one before and have only been on downhill skis once or twice long, long time ago. Not knowing where to find snow I headed toward Guanella Pass, where I rode my XT225 last month. I did find some snow and spent a few hours practicing. I didn’t want to look like a complete fool at the slopes tomorrow.

March 8, 2010 – Eldora

Today CJ and I headed over to the local ski hill where I rode a chair lift for the first time in my life. I’m deathly afraid of chair lifts, something about the heights and them just dangling from the cable, blowing in the wind. I really dislike this part of snowboarding, but since it’s the only way to get to the top of the slopes, there is really nothing I can do about it. After 4 hours of snowboarding and falling down a lot, and I mean – a lot - I have to say that I don’t remember being this sore or this exhausted in a long time. I’m very surprised how much effort it takes to snowboard and I guess I’m using muscles I have never used before . And lastly, snowboarding is not easy.

Wrist guards, knee pads and elbow pads - geared up to fall

And fall I did - a lot!

March 13, 2010 - Steamboat Springs

CJ was headed up to Steamboat Springs for a whole weekend of snowboarding and I was heading up there myself, although I wasn’t planning on snowboarding with CJ who has been snowboarding for over 20 years. I was going to be doing my own thing.

On Saturday I took a beginner snowboarding class and was planning to do some snowboarding afterwards, but I was just too exhausted after the class ended. The class was good, and I did learn a few things. I think the most valuable thing I learned was how to get on the snowboard. Even though I have been reading a snowboarding book and have been watching snowboarding video’s, the class taught me some neat little tricks that I just didn’t know before today.

March 14, 2010 - Howelsen Hill (Steamboat Springs)

Today CJ and I parted ways, he was heading up to ride the slopes of Steamboat and I headed over to Howelsen Hill to practice on the bunny hill. Unfortunately they had to shut down the ski lifts in Steamboat because of high winds, so CJ ended up coming over to Howelsen Hill to give me some pointers and then ended up heading home and I hung around for a bit longer to practice. The instructor yesterday told me to adjust my bindings differently and I had a hard time adjusting to the new setting. It’s as if I was starting over, which was very frustrating. Plus the bunny hill at Howelsen Hill was pretty steep, so it was harder for me to get to the bottom without falling a lot. Toward the end of the afternoon I finally got a handle on it. I was beat by the time I left, but felt I had made good progress this weekend.

Getting better but still falling a lot

March 28, 2010 – Mary Jane / Winter Park

CJ and I headed over to Mary Jane where I discovered the Galloping Goose, a bunny hill. The chair lift was still pretty scary to me, especially after CJ left to ride some of the harder trails and I was left to ride the chair lift all by myself. But after a few runs I finally managed to get off the chair lift without falling and make it to the bottom of the hill without falling as well.

Snowboarding the big hills

After lunch CJ and I decided to ride some green trails and head from the Mary Jane side to the Winter Park side. The chair lift ride up wasn’t as bad this time. It was one of those fast ones that can carry like 5 or 6 people. Even though they are taller, I like traveling fast, so I can get there quicker and they kind of slow down so getting off the chair lift is easier too. The trails were only a few miles long but were jammed pack with people and I was already tired from snowboarding all morning. Half way down my knees were literally giving out on me and I ended up walking the rest of the slope down. This snowboarding is really a lot of work.

CJ makes it look so easy

April 4, 2010 – Winter Park

CJ and I spent Easter Sunday in Winter Park snowboarding. I started out on the Discovery slope, which is the bunny hill, and was practicing my turning all morning. I’m doing really well with the heel side, but not good at all with the toe side. I do really great with the falling leaf on the heel side too, but can’t do the toe side at all. CJ was carving some blue runs in the morning and in the afternoon the both of us headed to do some green runs. I did a lot better today but I was still very exhausted at the end of the day and my legs were just giving out on me on my last run.

It started out snowy and windy, but turned in to a great day on the slopes

CJ carving

April 11, 2010 – Winter Park

I headed to Winter Park by myself today, CJ likes to snowboard but not every weekend and since I’m still learning, the more often I do it, the better I‘m getting. More practicing to turn, toe and heel side. At times I’m now linking up to 2 turns, but that’s all. Today was one of the first days where I snowboarded most of the day and I left not totally exhausted. Finally some real progress since I want to be able to snowboard all day! I also really like Winter Park, there are some nice and sort of empty green runs that are great for a newbie.

April 17 - 18, 2010 – Copper Mountain

This weekend was closing weekend for many ski resorts, so we headed to Copper Mountain for the whole weekend. Jen, her husband Jim, CJ and I (the 4 motorcycle riders) left for Copper after work on Friday, and got motel rooms in Frisco so that Saturday morning we were at the slopes and ready to go. Snow conditions weren’t ideal for me Saturday morning, the snow was really packed and slippery and I was having a hard time, but by the afternoon it was all better.

Snow falling at Copper Mountain

Jen

Yes, Jen and I have the same orange REI jacket

Sunday was amazing though, in the afternoon I found myself some nice green trails and I was practicing my stuff. By the end of the day I was doing great, well – better than ever - so far. I had planned on this weekend to be my last weekend snowboarding, but now that I had made some real progress I wasn’t sure I could stop.

Jen took some pictures of me getting ready to head down the slope

Snow clouds moving in

CJ and ahead of him is Jen in the green jacket

Rocky Mountain National Park in Spring

2010-05-15T21:16:00.005-05:00

This Spring my mom came out to Colorado for the first time to visit me. So of course I took her to Rocky Mountain National Park, with a stop in Nederland and Estes Park. Trail Ridge Road was still closed through RMNP, and there was still so much snow here since we’ve had such a snowy winter and spring. But the scenery was amazing and since I live in Lakewood now and don’t get up to RMNP as much as I used to, I really enjoyed it. Here are some pictures from the drive up to RMNP.

Trail Ridge Road

Lots of snow up here on Trail Ridge Road

More snow clouds moving in

It was very windy on Trail Ridge Road

An inquisitive bird

An inquisitive bird leaves

At Bear Lake

My mom got my this alpaca wool hat in Estes Park - I love it!

There is a lake behind me somewhere under all this snow

Mom and I at Bear Lake

Rams at Rocky Mountain National Park

Pussy Willows - they reminds me of Poland

Lily Lake

Lily Lake was as smooth as glass today

Mom and I at Lily Lake

At the visitor center with moose

A real cowboy in Estes Park? I guess all this shopping got him tired

Snowshoeing Michigan Ditch Trail at Cameron Pass

2010-02-27T20:58:00.003-06:00

I drove up to Fort Collins to hang out with my friends tonight. I wanted to take full advantage of being up north so CJ and I decided to do some snowshoeing during the day. The Michigan Ditch Trail was one I haven’t been on yet and it’s one of the most popular trails in the Cameron Pass area.

This trail crosses in to Colorado State Park land, so there is a day use fee

Having fun with huge icicles

The Michigan Ditch Trail is wide and level, perfect for cross country skiing

Even though the trail starts at 10,280 feet and climbs to 11,480 feet in elevation, it’s a pretty easy trail since the climb is so gradual that the trail feels almost level. Even though we were snowshoeing today, pretty much everyone we saw on this trail was cross-country skiing and I can see how that would be more fun with the trail being wide and level.

Some deep snow in places

Amazing scenery, Colorado is beautiful - especially in winter

We parked across the road from the trail on highway 14 and started to snowshoe, there was plenty of snow here and in some places it was pretty deep. The trail starts in the Routt National Forest but shortly crosses into Colorado State Forest State Park, so you need to pay a day fee unless you have a state park pass, which I do.

Stopping for lunch

Best enjoyed outside, yes it is!

I had to check out all the cabins

Some of the cabins were not very much intact

We stopped at the cabins, which were unoccupied, to have lunch. We didn’t snowshoe very far today. Michigan Lakes are 6 miles from the trailhead, which would make it a 12 miles round trip. I’d like to do that on my cross-county skis next time, that’s a bit too far to go on snowshoes.

With the sun setting, it was time to get back to the car

Beginning Elevation: 10,280 feet

Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

Elevation Gain: 1,200 feet

Ending Elevation: 11,480 feet

Length: 6 miles to Michigan Lakes

The Elephant Ride - Guanella Pass or bust

2010-02-14T20:47:00.004-06:00

At 7AM it was only 7 degrees. After a quick breakfast of muffins and Red Bull we walked two or was it three buildings over from the motel to the staging area for the “Elephant Ride”. So by now you’re must be wondering what this “Elephant Ride” is? The rumor is, this ride started about 30 years ago when a group of BMW riders challenged a group of Harley riders to ride over the Guanella Pass (11,669 feet in elevation) in February and meet in Georgetown. The rumor also continues that the BMW riders made it over the pass but the Harley’s didn’t. So since then, on the second weekend of every February the challenge to get up and over Guanella Pass and to Georgetown continues. I also read that the Guanella Pass road used to get plowed in the winter time, but it no longer is at the higher elevations. So in the last few years the challenge is who can make it the furthest up the road, or to the pass itself.

Snow covered bikes

It had snowed over night and it was snowing right now. I brushed the snow off my bike, and tried to start it but it wouldn't start. Shortly after the battery was completely dead. With some help in about 15-20 minutes the bike was running again, by then most of the riders have already left. It wasn‘t a big deal since I was planning on riding by myself anyway.

Elephant Ride staging area

Riders getting ready to take off

Getting the XT started

A jump start was necessary

My XT and CJ's KDX ready to go

CJ taking off on the Guanella Pass road

At the beginning of the Guanella Pass road, I brought my avalanche shovel with in case and my snowshoes.. I figured at some point when the snow got too deep I could ditch the bike and snowshoe up to the pass

As I headed up Guanella Pass road I saw a bunch of Ural’s and other bikes pull in to the staging area across the street. I guess people were still rolling in, and some didn't start the ride til later in the day. So why was I out here this early in the morning? I had as many layers on underneath my jacket, as could possibly fit. But with no accessory plug for my Gerbing headed liner and no heated grips, this would be a very cold ride. The coldest ride I’ve ever been on! I had on my warm and waterproof rain gloves, but in less then ¼ mile I had to pull over and take them off and put on my regular motorcycle gloves with only the thin silk glove liners underneath. That made my hands so much colder, but I had to do it. I just couldn't feel the throttle and couldn’t accelerate gently enough with the bulky gloves on and a few times my back tire slid out on me and I figured that I needed to feel the throttle more.

So I continued slowly. Pretty soon I pulled over for a picture and I was passed by the Ural’s. Then I pulled over for another picture and I was passed by some more bikes. I kept stopping a lot and trying to warm my hands. The fact is, my hands are usually cold anyway, and I use my heated grips on my street bikes all year long. I sure wished I had some on the XT.

After riding about two miles I stopped. My hands were now numb from the cold. It was still snowing and I figured I’d better turn around now while I still had some feeling in them. Funny, I’ve never ridden on snow before this and I thought that would be the most difficult part of the ride. But for me the most difficult part was keeping my hands warm.

I took my time riding the two miles back, stopping a few times to warm my hands next to the motor. In the last half mile of my ride the snow stopped falling and the sun started to come out. It was still cold, but no longer in the single digits. I guess two things would have helped today, #1 - heated grips, #2 - starting the ride in the afternoon when the temps were at their warmest.

I hung out in the staging area watching people still roll in and start the ride while some were already coming back form the ride. From what I heard, possibly three people made it to the top of Guanella Pass today.

CJ pulling in to the staging area back from the ride, he didn't make it to the pass but got pretty close thanks to the chains on his tires

The "after ride" celebration

The Ural's coming back from the ride

A Rokon being towed by a BMW

The Pre-Elephant Ride Shenanigans

2010-02-13T20:16:00.004-06:00

So it’s the middle of February. I haven’t ridden any bikes since November, mostly because until just a few weeks ago, the bikes were still in Loveland and I was already living in Lakewood. But besides that, I've been busy working and we've been getting snow since October and there just wasn’t too many opportunities to ride. Today was actually a nice day with no snow and as I made my way over to the garage, the temperature was in the mid to upper 50’s and the sun was shining.

The KDX and XT getting a ride to Grant

In the early afternoon CJ arrived in Lakewood to pick me and my bike up. I was a bit concerned that it wouldn’t start but the XT started with no effort what‘s so ever even though it’s been sitting for a few months and wasn’t plugged in to a trickle charger.

Starting to snow a few miles out of Grant

After strapping down the XT next to the KDX and loading some of my stuff in to the back of the pickup truck, we were on our way toward highway 285 and Grant, Colorado. The weather was nice and sunny but as we got closer to Grant and higher elevation, the snow started to fall.

Grant wasn’t that high up in the mountains either, it sits at only 8,606 feet. A lot of the people that were doing the ride tomorrow were camping tonight, but with temperatures dropping in to the low single digits CJ and I opted out for the Grant Motel. It was going to be plenty cold riding tomorrow, we wanted to be sleep in a warm bed, instead of a cold tent tonight.

Winter wonderland behind the Grant motel

The Grant motel on highway 285

This doesn't look like motorcycle riding weather

After checking in the motel and unpacking, we went to unload the bikes

See that sign for Guanella Pass? That's where we are heading on our bikes tomorrow

The staging area for tomorrow's Elephant Ride

Some hard core guys setting up their tents

The KDX and XT unloaded

CJ testing the traction with tire chains

A three-wheeler

The temperature dropping quickly as night approaches

Some weird pictures in front of the fire pit

Green Mountain - Lakewood, CO

2010-01-23T20:13:00.003-06:00

I have spent the end of December and most of January working, packing, moving and unpacking. Now that I was done packing, moving and unpacking, it was time to start exploring this area that I’m now living in.

Views of Denver from Green Mountain

Since I live at the base of Green Mountain, I figured I’d check it out first. There are tons of trails that cross this mountain. I started at the trailhead that starts off Alameda Parkway and hiked east for great views of downtown Denver and the surrounding area. Green Mountain is located on the William Frederick Hayden Park which has over 2,400 acres of open space.

A storm rolling in from the southwest

The Green Mountain summit sits at 6,800 feet in elevation

Big Mountains to the west

Green Mountain is very popular with the mountain bikers

I live and work down there now

Another move, Lakewood here I come!

2009-12-31T20:08:00.003-06:00

So I’m moving again, and this time I’m moving west of the Denver area. Since I quit that job in Loveland at the end of August, I’ve been trying to make a living by free-Lansing, consulting and walking dogs. After sending out hundreds of resumes and only having a hand full of interviews, one of my interviews came through and I got hired. This all happened very fast. The interview was on a Friday, they called me the following Monday and I accepted the position, and started working the following day -Tuesday - December 15th. So far the job looks promising. I’m back doing marketing communications and working for a manufacturing company, this time in the telecom industry.

So after two weeks of commuting from Loveland to Lakewood 140 miles a day – which can take roughly anywhere from 3 to 4 hours in rush hour traffic, I found an apartment in Lakewood and on December 28th I signed a lease. I brought a few things with me that day that allowed me to spend my first few nights at the apartment - sleeping on the floor wasn't all that great, but not having to drive 140 miles a day was. This weekend I'm planning on moving my furniture to Lakewood.

As of right now I have two places to live since I am still paying for my place in Loveland until end of January. I will be spending the next few weekends in Loveland packing and moving my things, but Monday through Friday I will be sleeping and working in Lakewood. By the way, my new commute to work is less than one mile. I’m so glad that I don't have to drive far to get to work anymore. We've had lots of snow the last two weeks, which made commuting from Loveland to Lakewood even tougher. Last week we had a blizzard roll in and I had to spend the night in a motel in Lakewood. Most mornings I was already on the road before 5:30AM to make it to work by 8. So it was nice to be able to sleep in, the last few days and driving 5 minutes to work.

I will miss Northern Colorado, and my new friends but I’m glad I finally found work in my field and I'm so glad that my new job is not in Denver but in Lakewood, the far west side of Lakewood. It's really great to live within walking distance of Green Mountain and a skip and a hop away from Golden. This is a really nice area, I think I will like living here.

My new neighborhood, that's Green Mountain up ahead

Crosier Mountain - Drake, CO

2009-11-29T20:05:00.003-06:00

It was great to get out on a hike two days ago. So great, that I decided to hike today as well. It’s funny how I decide on which hike I will do. Sometimes I look at topo maps, sometimes I surf the web, sometimes I just get out and drive around until I spot a trail worth investigating, this is what I did today.

I headed toward Estes Park via Devil’s Gulch Road and I saw the Crosier Mountain Trail and decided to check it out. The distance from the trailhead to the summit was 3.75 miles, which would have made the total for the hike 7.5 miles. The Crosier Mountain Trail begins at 7,044 feet in elevation and steadily climbs to Crosier Mountain at 9,204 feet. As I started to hike the trail I already knew that there was a possibility of me not getting to the summit today. I started hiking a bit too late in the day and at the slow pace I was going, I would be getting back to the car in the dark.

I ended up turning around after 3 miles. Even though I didn't make it to the summit, it was still a great hike. Hopefully I will get up to the summit one of these days.

The Crosier Mountain trail starts in an open area

Looks like there was a fire here

I think that's Crosier Mountain up ahead

Neat rock formations

The trail gets steep

Lory State Park - Arthur's Rock

2009-11-27T19:49:00.005-06:00

Yesterday a bunch of us “adventure riders” had a Thanksgiving dinner together. There was so much food that after dinner some of us had to walk some of it off. The 20 minute walk wasn’t nearly enough for the amount of food that we ate. So today CJ and I decided to do a nice hike.

I have not been to Lory State Park in Fort Collins yet and since I had a state park pass, seemed like the place to go. The weather was great too, sunny and in the 60's.

Snow and ice on the lower trail

The last part of the trail, the final climb to the summit, is the most difficult out of the whole hike

CJ scrambling some rocks to the summit

The summit of Arthur's Rock with Fort Collins behind me

Heading back down from the summit

TH: Arthur's Rock
Difficulty: Easy/Moderate with some scrambling to the summit
Length: 1.7 miles one way
Elevation Gain: 1,100 feet

Benson Sculpture Park, Loveland, CO

2009-11-14T18:54:00.005-06:00

We had more snow. I decided to take a walk through Benson Sculpture Park a few blocks away from where I live. It’s my favorite place in Loveland.

Carter Lake, Nederland & Left Hand Canyon

2009-11-08T19:39:00.001-06:00

I haven’t been on a motorcycle in a month. And I haven’t been on the 954RR even longer than that. The plan for today was to ride a road I haven't been on yet, Left Hand Canyon Road, a great motorcycle road west of Boulder.

CJ took this one on 18E at the Pinewood Reservoir

The weather was nice at 9AM when CJ and I met for the ride. From my place in Loveland we headed southwest toward Carter Lake. There was a road out here too that I haven’t been on yet called Pole Hill Rd, or 18E. This road climbs a small mountain, the road is very twisty but short. The pavement ends at the Pinewood Reservoir, so we turned around there and took 18E back east and then turned south on 31 which goes past Carter Lake. We turned on a few side roads around Carter Lake looking for good photo opportunities before continuing toward Longmont via some pretty straight and boring country roads.

18E aka Pole Hill Rd - very nice

Above pictures are from 18E and 31 near Carter Lake

954RR and SV taking a break at Carter Lake

Once we got to highway 66 we rode west through Lyons and turned southwest on highway 7, this road has some amazing sweepers. From 7 we turned south on to highway 72, which is part of the Peak-to-Peak scenic highway system. By the time we got to Nederland it was time for lunch. We decided to eat at the Whistler’s Café on highway 119.

Parked in front of Whistler’s Café in Nederland

Whistler’s Café on highway 119 in Nederland

Having breakfast for lunch

After lunch we took 119 east in to Boulder, then rode north on highway 36 and took a left on to Left Hand Canyon. Left Hand Canyon Road was a fantastic road with many awesome curves and great pavement. We enjoyed this road so much, that when we got to Ward, we turned around and rode Left Hand Canyon back down. Then we headed back north through Longmont again, but this time we took 287 to Loveland.

CJ on Left Hand canyon Road near Ward

Left Hand Canyon Road

Some snow on the shoulder on Left Hand Canyon Road

Left Hand Canyon Road

Today was a great day for a ride, although it was pretty chilly at higher elevations. And now that I’ve been on Left Hand Canyon, it has been added to my top 10 front range motorcycle roads.

18E and 31 near Carter Lake in Loveland

From Lyons to Nederland via highway 7 and 72

Nederland to Boulder via highway 119

Left Hand Canyon Road

My entire route was 171 miles

RMNP - Lake Haiyaha

2009-11-07T20:12:00.001-06:00

So this morning I decided to do another hike. I opened up my Rocky Mountain National Park TOPO map to refresh my memory on which hikes I wanted to do but haven’t done yet. Last year when I did the hike to Dream and Emerald Lake, I remembered passing by the sign to Lake Haiyaha, thinking I could hit that trail on the way back but it was getting late and I decided to save it for another time.

Sings on the trail, last time I went right, today I'm going left

Lake Haiyaha was a good hike for today. Just a little over 4 miles long round trip and 745 feet of elevation change. I was still a bit weak from my N1H1 flu, but wanted a more challenging hike, compared to last weekend. The trail was snow covered and slippery in places and I ended up falling a few times. Some sections of this trail are steep and are very close to the edge, so I had to be extra careful. There were many people on the trail to Dream and Emerald Lakes, but once I turned off toward Lake Haiyaha and started to climb the trail, I didn’t see anyone else.

Looking towards Dream Lake

On the trail to Lake Haiyaha

A steep section of the trail to Lake Haiyaha

Looking down at the lakes from the trail

The trail was very easy to follow until I reached the boulders. There was no sign or cairns to follow. I started to cross the boulder field hoping the lake was in the clearing on the other side. There might have been an easier way to get there, but with the snow on the ground and no footsteps in the snow, I didn’t know where the official trail was. Finally, I made it to the lake. The sun was already on the other side of the mountains so I took some pictures, enjoyed the silence for a few minutes and headed back. I fell a few more times before arriving at the car. The trail was even more slippery now. Sections of snow that had melted earlier were starting to freeze now.

Boulders on the way to Lake Haiyaha

Lake Haiyaha

Bear Lake Trailhead Elevation: 9,475 feet

Lake Haiyaha Elevation: 10,220 feet

Bear Lake TH to Lake Haiyaha: 2.1 miles (one way)

RMNP - Storm Pass and Lily Ridge Trail

2009-11-01T20:03:00.003-06:00

It’s already November and today was the first day that I was able to leave the house for an extended amount of time in weeks. For the last 3 weeks I’ve been mostly bed-ridden with the N1H1 flu bug. In all my life, I have never been this sick and for such a long period of time. Unlike the regular flu, the swine flu is particularly nasty and long.

Unfortunately, I was still pretty weak today so I didn’t know how far I would be able to hike, but I was excited to be able to get out in to the mountains. We’ve had more snow and I wanted to see the mountains snow covered, that’s the way I like them the best.

Storm Pass Trailhead at Lily Lake off highway 7 in Estes Park

I decided to drive up to Estes Park and hike the Lily Ridge Trail, next to Lily Lake off of highway 7. It's part of the Rocky Mountain National Park but there is no entry fee. But that's not why I came here, I have a national parks pass that is still good until June 2010. I picked this place because if I really felt too weak to climb the ridge at Lily Lake I could just hike around the lake itself or just sit at one of the picnic tables. Lily Lake was easier to get to than the RMNP, and way less crowded.

When I got to the trailhead I remembered that the Storm Pass trail started at the Lily Lake also and l had wanted to hike that one for a while. This was a much longer hike than the Lily Ridge and I knew I wouldn’t make it to the pass itself and back, but I just wanted to see a bit of the trail.

Lots of snow on the Storm Pass Trail

I knew there would be a bit of snow up here and I brought my gaiters with me, but I didn’t bring my snowshoes and I should have. The snow was pretty deep and hiking it was an extra workout I didn't need today. I didn’t make it very far on the Storm Pass trail. For one, no one had hiked it since it had snowed and at times where the trail ran through an open area or dense trees, I just couldn't stay on the trail. There were trail markings, but far apart.

A few times I hiked out of the way in really deep snow to find the trail again. By the time I made it to the bridge where the trail started to climb I was thinking if hiking this trail was a good idea today. I was afraid that I would get a few miles out and then get really tired and not be able to make the hike back to the car. After lying in bed for three weeks, this hike might be been too much. I hiked about a quarter a mile past the bridge and turned around.

Pretty scenery along Storm Pass Trail

When I made it back to the trailhead I really wasn't ready to go home yet, so I decided to hike the Lily Ridge trail. Thes snow wasn’t very deep on this trail and I was able to follow foot steps in the snow the whole time. I really enjoyed both of the hikes, and by the time I made it to my car I was pretty exhausted. I probably hiked 4-5 miles total today.

Storm Pass Trail

Neat bridge on Storm Pass Trail

Lily Ridge Trail

Climbing Lily Ridge Trail

Lily Lake below Lily Ridge Trail

Lily Lake

A self-photo on top of the Lily Ridge Trail

Pretty cool view from the Lily Ridge Trail

My First Year in Colorado

2009-10-07T08:36:00.002-05:00

On October 1st I celebrated my first year in Colorado. Even though I love it here and never ever want to leave, it’s been a tough year. I moved to Colorado after getting laid off work in Illinois. I moved to Northern Colorado without a job and it’s been very tough finding work here, especially in this bad economy.

This past summer I finally found a job, but unfortunately the job didn’t work out as I had hoped. After a very short time of being employed I ended up leaving. If there was any way that I could have endured it to stay longer, I would have.

Fall colors in Loveland, CO - first week of October

There were only two good things about this job I had. It was only 2.5 miles away from where I lived and I got off work at 3:30PM, leaving me lots of time after work to do other things.

So financially my first year in Colorado has been very bad, but I still made the best of it by hiking and riding my motorcycles whenever possible. When times are tough, it's good to have an escape, something you really enjoy. Something that lets you forget about all the bad stuff.

October 7th - first snow of (fall) 2009

But what is all this white stuff on the ground? I think the riding season might be coming to an end. This is an El Niño year which brings lots of moisture, they are predicting lots of snow this winter in the southwest. It is only the beginning of October and we already have snow on the ground.

Fall colors and snow, what an odd combination

A stop in Estes Park

2009-10-05T19:05:00.002-05:00

I took off in the early morning and headed toward Boulder. It was a beautiful day and I decided to cut my ride short and take in a short hike in Estes Park at the Twin Owls / Gem Lake trail head. I was not in any hurry today and on the way back home I stopped to take some pictures of the Stanley Hotel, where the movie The Shinning was filmed. It's an impressive building.

Devils Gulch Road, Estes Park

Devils Gulch Road, looking toward Gem Lake Trailhead

Parking lot, Gem Lake Trailhead, Estes Park

Amazing rock formations, Gem Lake Trailhead

Looking toward Rocky Mountain National Park

The Stanley Hotel

Highway 34

Today's route 133 miles, roads taken: I-70, Hwy 36, Devils Gulch Rd, Hwy 34

Steamboat Springs: Fall Colors Part II

2009-10-04T19:23:00.006-05:00

Before heading out to Steamboat Springs, I read on the internet that Winona’s had the best breakfast in town. I read many great reviews on line and I also read that the place would be packed - and it was. There was a line of people outside waiting to get in, Winona‘s didn’t have a lot of tables. We put our name on the list and waited, half an hour later we were seated. I ordered the crab cake eggs Benedict, the best I’ve ever had. It was so worth the wait. After breakfast we hit the road.

Downtown Steamboat Springs on a rainy morning

The middle store front with the black car in front of it is Winona's

Waiting for a table at Winona's

Best Crab Cake Eggs Benedict I have ever had

Huge cookies and muffins at Winona's

Fall colors in Steamboat

Fall colors off of highway 131

We left Steamboat on Highway 131, which we took to 134 over Gore Pass. Great roads but there was lots of sand in the corners on 134 already - which means they must have been getting snow here already - and it was pretty cold at the top of the pass. Too cold to stop for pictures.

Highway 131

Highway 134

Highway 40

The next road was highway 40 through Winter Park. South of Empire we jumped on I-70 heading east for a little bit until we took the exit for Golden and Highway 6. Then back on the interstate. The weather was cool today, cloudy with rain in the morning. In the afternoon the wind started to pick up, and it looked like a storm was coming our way. If I was going to head home to Loveland, that would be an additional hour or more on the road, so I headed to Strasburg instead, and decided to take the long way home tomorrow.

Highways 131 and 134 over Gore Pass

Highway 134 and 40

Today's route: Highways 131, 134, 40, I-70, 6, I-70

Winona's giant cookies - oatmeal raisin was very yummy

Steamboat Springs: Fall Colors Part I

2009-10-03T23:28:00.003-05:00

I wanted to do a fall colors weekend ride this year. Unfortunately being new to Colorado I wasn’t sure when the colors were supposed to peak on some of the roads I wanted to ride. I was hoping I didn’t miss the peak of the fall colors while I was in Chicago last weekend.

Highway 103

I rode down to Dalton's yesterday so we could start out from Strasburg early this morning and head west to ride highway 103. I just discovered that road last month and since Dalton hasn't been on it yet, we were going to ride 103 before heading to 131 and Steamboat.

The lake that sits along highway 103 was partly frozen

I love the scenery here

The bikes parked on the side of the road, near the lake

Ducks walking on the ice

Fall was definitely in the air this morning. The temperature was a brisk 20 degrees. I flipped on my heated grips, cranked the Gerbing heated liner to hi and we took off. Just a few miles from Dalton’s house we pulled over for gas and Dalton was already feeling cold. Since this was his first season on the VFR and touring, he hasn't acquired heated grips or heated liner yet. He also didn’t have a balaclava, or glove liners. Even his feet were cold.

A stop along highway 6 just southeast of 131

Fixing helmet hair

Highway 6

We stopped to warm up two times before we hit highway 103 and once we started climbing in elevation, it really got cold. Of course the only time I felt cold was when I got off the bike to take pictures. From 103 we took I-70 west to 131 north. 131 is one of my favorite roads that I discovered early this year, but the last time I rode it, it was under construction. I found out that it was finally finished now so of course I couldn’t wait to ride it again. By the time we hit the sweet curves of highway 131 it was getting a lot warmer. By the time I stopped to get my last layer off it must have been close to 65 degrees.

Steamboat Springs

Dinner at the Tap House

Best fish tacos I've ever had

As much as we wanted to camp this weekend, the night temperatures were looking pretty chilly and Dalton had a free motel room to use. So why not. We pulled in to Steamboat Springs, found the Comfort Inn, unpacked the bikes, changed our clothes and went back outside to catch the free shuttle in to town. We didn’t have a proper lunch today, just had an energy bar on the side of the road, so we were ready for dinner. We went to eat at the Tap House. I ordered the fish tacos and they were the best fish tacos I’ve ever had. After riding 264 miles, a big dinner and a couple of beers, it was time for bed.

Todays route 264 miles: highways I-70, 74, 103, I-70, 6, 131 and 40

954RR gets new tires and oil

2009-09-19T21:29:00.002-05:00

This was going to be another weekend dedicated to motorcycle maintenance. This time the 954RR was going to get some attention. My new set of tires has been waiting for me at Dalton’s house for a few weeks now, I just haven‘t had much time to get out there and get them mounted. Next week I was flying to Chicago for a visit, so this weekend I wanted to get this done.

Sportbikes look so nice up on the stands

Oil change

The old Pirelli Diablo Strada tires with 11, 760 miles

Taking off the wheels

Dalton removing the old tire off the rim

A piece of metal hanger holding the brake caliper

Grime under my nails, and proof that I did work on my bike

Unlike working on the ST3, the 954RR was easy and quick. The most time consuming thing was scrubbing the wheels, frame and the under tail. The bike was filthy. Dalton took the old Pirelli Diablo Strada tires off my rims and mounted my new Pirelli Diablo Strada tires. I truly love these tires. This is my second set of Stradas on the 954RR, and the reason I had Stradas mounted on my ST3 last month. Coincidently, I have Pirelli tires on my XT225 as well. Lets just say, I like Pirelli tires.

Heading back home as it starts to rain

Showing off my brand new front and back tire

43,281 miles on the odometer today, lets hope these new tires get me to 53,000 miles

The Pirelli Diablo Strada tires that were coming off the 954RR today had 11, 760 miles on them. And up until the last few hundred miles, they felt as grippy as new tires.

Totally soaked from rain

The 95 mile ride up to Strasburg was sunny and pleasant temps in the mid 60‘s. The 95 miles back home was totally nasty. Rain and 40 degrees. I didn’t see that coming at all, so I didn’t bring my Gerbing heated liner, or the even the quilted liner for my jacket, or rain gear. All I had was a t-shirt and a thin fleece and I froze on my way back and arrived with my gear totally soaked through. Up until this ride, I’ve never been this cold on a motorcycle ride. Of course, since I don’t tour on the954RR anymore, the Gerbing and my rain gear were tucked away in the hard luggage of my ST3. By the way, new tire and rain, not a good combination.

Barr Lake State Park, Brighton, CO

2009-09-13T21:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I was celebrating it downtown Denver. Since I wasn’t riding my motorcycle this weekend, I decided to bring my mountain bike hoping to check out Barr Lake State Park, which according to the website, has some easy trails. I keep saying I’m going to bike more, but for whatever reason it just doesn’t happen often enough.

Barr Lake

The 8.8 miles around the lake consisted of dirt, gravel and single track

The town of Brighton in the distance

So today Dalton and I went riding our bicycles. The 8.8 trail was perfect for someone that doesn’t ride very often. And the trail was pretty much empty. Unfortunately Dalton got a tire puncture early on. I rode the entire trail without any issues, but when I unloaded my bike from the car and rolled it in to the garage I noticed that the front and back tires were both totally flat, both tires had one goat heads stuck in the tire.

Strasburg to Loveland, CO

2009-09-09T22:00:00.002-05:00

The ride was technically over. Instead of riding directly home, I jumped on I-70 and headed west. I took the exit for Golden and rode highway 6 through the lovely twisties. I pulled over at the Starbucks in Idaho Springs to had some coffee and a Luna bar and looked over the map. I already knew what road I wanted to ride next. I’ve been wanting to ride highway 103 for a while and today was a good day to do it.

Breakfast - Idaho Springs

After I finished my coffee, I geared up, rode through town and found highway 103. I’ve read some ride reports on this road and it was as good as people made it out to be. Plus, on this Wednesday morning, there was hardly any traffic here. I liked 103 so much that I arrived at highway 74, I turned around and rode 103 back to Idaho Springs.

Highway 103

Fall colors on highway 103

Rain in the distance on highway 103

Amazing views on highway 103

Highway 103

The rain found me on highway 103

Pristine pavement on highway 103

From Idaho Springs I jumped back on to I-70 and headed east for a bit, took the exit for Golden and and then took 119 north to Nederland, and in Nederland I stayed on 119 in to Boulder. I’ve done the first section of 119 a few times already, but I have never been on the section of 119 from Nederland to Boulder before.

A lake near Nederland and highway 119

Highway 119

There was a lot of construction along 119 today. So many sections of the road had only one lane open in both directions, so there was a lot of waiting involved.

Highway 119

Once in Boulder, it was stop and go traffic through town. It was already after 3PM so I decided to head directly to Loveland from here on highway 119 and in Longmont I took 287 to Loveland.

After 6 days on the bike, some great roads and amazing scenery, the highlight of this trip was the Colorado National Monument. An amazing place with an amazing road. I also enjoyed camping at Mueller State Park and Ridgway State Park, those I will have to re-visit for sure.

Today's route 218 miles: Highways I-70, 58, 6, 103, I-70, 119 and 287

Royal Gorge

2009-09-08T23:50:00.002-05:00

The Royal Gorge is a major tourist attraction located west of Canon City, Colorado with a $23 hefty entry fee. The main attraction here is the Royal Gorge Bridge, America's highest suspension bridge.

The entrance of the Royal Gorge

The Royal Gorge Bridge is a quarter-mile long

Along the length of bridge there are flags from every state

Looking down from the bridge, it's a 1,500 feet to the canyon floor

A view from the bridge

Riding the world's steepest incline railway

Almost at the bottom of the canyon

(Left) world's steepest incline railway, (right) view from the bridge

Gunnison to Strasburg, CO

2009-09-08T07:48:00.002-05:00

It was a cold and crisp morning. Exactly the kind of a morning I pack my down jacket for. We packed up camp and our bikes and headed in to town to have breakfast. The Firebrand Deli in Gunnison was our choice this morning. This was my third time through Gunnison this year on a motorcycle, and this was the third restaurant I was having breakfast at, and all I can say, they are all good.

A cold morning at the Tall Texan Campground in Gunnison

Packing up camp

After breakfast we headed east on highway 50. The next stop was the Royal Gorge, a huge tourist attraction. The road to the Royal Gorge was nice and twisty but there was a bit of traffic on it. Just as we pulled up to the Royal Gorge parking lot, it had started to rain, but it didn‘t seem like it was going to last very long. More on the Royal Gorge in the next post.

Breakfast at the Firebrand Deli in Gunnison

We ended up spending more time at the Royal Gorge then we had planned on. It was getting late and unfortunately now we would have to deal with rush hour traffic through Colorado Springs. On top of the heavy traffic we ran in to a bad storm.

Highway 50

By the time we arrived in the south suburbs of Denver we only had about 45 minutes of daylight left, so I decided to head to Strasburg and crash at Dalton’s instead of riding to Loveland in the dark.

Rain on highway 83 near Colorado Springs

Today's route 275 miles" Highways 50, 115, 83, C-470 and I-70

Colorado National Monument - Rim Rock Drive

2009-09-07T23:58:00.003-05:00

There is one paved road that runs through the Colorado National Monument. It begins south of Grand Junction - just 4 miles from the town center. This city street crosses the Colorado River, passes the entrance gate and becomes steep and twisting as it rounds many 15 mph corners and travels through one tunnel, and past red cliffs.

North side of the Colorado National Park

South side of the Colorado National Park

North side of the Colorado National Park

This road is called the Rim Rock Drive. It follows the edge of the plateau for many miles before winding down equally steeply through two more tunnels before re-crossing the Colorado into Fruita.

Rim Rock Drive - south side of the Colorado National Park

Many 15-20MPH curves here

The 23-mile Rim Rock Drive offers nineteen scenic overlooks as it explores the geologic history on the northern edge of the Uncompahgre Plateau.

Dalton having fun on the Rom Rock Drive

Colorado National Monument - Rim Rock Drive

Fruita to Gunnison, CO

2009-09-07T21:20:00.003-05:00

The point of this multi-day ride was to finally ride through Colorado National Monument. I have never been there before and heard the road and views were amazing. I actually was hopping to ride through Colorado National Monument yesterday since it was on the way to Fruita. We had the time to do it too, but yesterday it was just so hot in the afternoon. By the time we finished up with highway 141 and rolled in to Grand Junction, we were boiling and all we could think of was to grab some cold beer and spend a few hours relaxing at the camp site before it got dark. Especially since the last two days we arrived at the camp sites just before dark and had to hurry to set up our tents.

So this morning we decided to backtrack and ride through Colorado National Monument before riding out to Gunnison. Since today was Labor Day I expected the traffic to heavy and slow through the park, and it was.

The campsite at sunrise at Colorado River S.P. at Fruita

Colorado National Monument kind of reminds of Mesa Verde National Park. The steep road takes you up to the top of a mesa and then you ride awesome twisty pavement before heading back down. Colorado National Monument didn’t disappoint in any way, my only wish would have been to close the road to all vehicles and let me have a ride through it by myself. OK, I can dream, can’t I?

A stop at Colorado National Monument

Up high at the Colorado National Monument - more pictures in the next post

You know what people say, when there is slow traffic in front of you, that just gives you an opportunity to see more since you can’t ride fast. Sure, but when the road is as delicious as the road through Colorado National Monument, and the pavement as smooth as butter, its hard to poke along behind slow traffic. I’m really glad I got to ride through the park even though we didn’t have much time to stop and see stuff. I can’t wait to come here again, but on a week day, and hopefully have the place all the myself.

Highway 65

A scenic stop on highway 65

After exiting through the south entrance of the Colorado National Monument, we crossed Grand Junction, got on I-70 heading east and exited for highway 65. My favorite section of highway 65 is the first section when you just get off I-70. It reminds of highway 141, red rocks and awesome sweepers. Unfortunately the road was packed full of cars today and when it did open up for a bit, there was the police looking for speeders.

Highway 92

A scenic stop on highway 92

The heat of the day disappeared as we climbed high on highway 65. I was just on this road with my friend Sandy in June, but Dalton has never been on this road, so we pulled over at the same place where I pulled over before, where you can see the lake in the distance. The lake was pretty much dry now.

We had breakfast today, but we didn’t stop for lunch. We got on highway 92 and continued south on one of the twistiest roads in Colorado. There was hardly any traffic here. In the afternoon we turned east on highway 50 then north on highway 135 and pulled in to the Tall Texan campground in Gunnison where we had a reservation. Dalton and I stayed here over the 4th of July and I must say I really like this campground.

The Tall Texan campground in Gunnison

We arrived at the campground, set up our tents, and took off in the direction of Gunnison to eat dinner at The Trough. We were starved. By the time we got back to the campground it was dark. The temps were definitely on the cool side tonight.

Dinner at The Trough in Gunnison

Today's route - 206 miles: Colorado National Monument, highway 65, 92 and 50

Ridgway S.P. to Colorado River S.P. at Fruita

2009-09-06T19:39:00.005-05:00

I love camping while on a motorcycle trip, and I wouldn’t trade it for a motel room, but when camping you do end up spending more time doing medial tasks, so you have to plan ahead for that. Like this morning my walk to the showers, well, it was a long one. The building was way across the river and up a hill. I stopped a few times to take pictures on the way and by the time I got there I realized 30 minutes had passed. By the time I took the shower and came back to the campsite, ate something there was no time to do a hike. Things took especially longer here at the Ridgway State park since we needed to grab a wheel barrel and get all our stuff across the river and to the parking lot where our bikes were parked.

Campsite 294 at Ridgway State Park had an awesome view

Ridgway State Park

Ridgway State Park - the showers were in that building across the river

Ridgway State Park - our camp site

Dalton getting stuff back to the bike using the wheel barrel, at least going back it was all downhill

Once the bikes were packed up we took off heading south on 550 then west on 62, then west on 145 and finally north on 141 - my favorite motorcycle road. There really isn’t much on 141, so the first chance to grab lunch was in Gateway at the Gateway Resort. The resort has a grocery store with hot food, which I have ate before, but since today was Dalton’s birthday I though he should have a nicer lunch then fast food from a grocery store, so we ate at the Paradox Café. The outside seating was great and so was the food. We probably were there way longer then needed enjoying the great weather and even had some dessert.

Highway 141 - my favorite motorcycle road

The view from the Paradox Cafe at the Gateway Resort on highway 141

Lunch at Paradox Cafe, I had a shrimp Po'boy, and it was yummy

Birthday dessert at the Paradox Cafe

On the way to the bikes across the parking lot I ran in to another rider from Ohio that was riding highway 141 because he read about it on my blog a few months ago. How cool is that! By the way, there were tons of motorcyclist at the Gateway Resort and on highway 141. It‘s so awesome to ride a road where there are more motorcycles than cars.

Highway 141

More highway 141

A stop on highway 141

Many red rocks near Grand Junction on highway 141

After a great ride today we arrived in Fruita and found the James M. Robb – Colorado River State Park. This park was very crowded , and the campsites were pretty close together without much vegetations to separate the campsites. After staying a night at Mueller State Park and a night at Ridgway State Park, didn’t seem very special.

James M. Robb – Colorado River State Park at Fruita, another wheel barrel transport to the camp site

Our campsite at James M. Robb – Colorado River State Park at Fruita

The tent sites here also required us to use a wheel barrel to transport our stuff, although we didn’t have to cross a river like at Ridgway and it wasn’t uphill or very far of a walk.

Sunset at James M. Robb – Colorado River State Park at Fruita

Today was a hot day and it didn’t get any cooler at the park. Even after the sun went down, the temperatures continued to be warm.

Today's route 182 miles; roads 550, 62, 145, 141 to 50

Mueller State Park to Ridgway State Park

2009-09-05T20:41:00.004-05:00

Just as before while camping at high elevation, I had a hard time sleeping since Mueller State park is located at 9,500 feet. When morning came I felt sick. The wine I had last night didn’t help matters since alcohol makes altitude sickness even worse. Packing up was a slow and agonizing process. We finally ended up leaving Mueller State Park at around 11AM.

Highway 24

Highway 24 is mostly straight with a few sections of curves, which was perfect for the way I was feeling today. By the time we pulled into Johnson Village, south of Buena Vista, we were ready for lunch. We stopped in at the Gunsmoke Café to eat.

Gunsmoke Cafe in Johnson Village

Lunch at the Gunsmoke Cafe, beef tacos and a hamburger

My tacos weren't all that great, the burger looked pretty good though

After lunch we continued south on 285, then west on highway 50 and finally south on 550 to Ridgway State Park. After 235 miles and not feeling too good, I was ready to get off the bike. We arrived at the State Park just an hour before sunset and had to ride around to find the loop where our tent site reservation was at. The tent sites where down a road and near the river. We had to park the bikes in the main parking lot then use a wheel barrel to take our stuff to our campsite. From the bridge, it was all uphill to the campsite.

Loading up the wheel barrel with all our stuff at Ridgway State Park

Dalton pulling the wheel barrel to the campsite

We stopped at the grocery store to grab some stuff to eat at the campsite

A small campsite fire

By the time we got our tents up, it was already dark. Too bad I was sick today and we ended up leaving late. There was a hiking trail that traveled right by our campsite and had we been able to get here early, I could have done a short hike. This park had a lot to offer.

Our 235 mile route: Highways 24, 285, 50 and 550

Loveland to Mueller State Park

2009-09-04T10:36:00.002-05:00

I finished packing this morning and swung by Dalton’s work. He was getting off early. From there we headed south on 285. Traffic was heavy, but once we turned south on 126 it was pretty much smooth sailing for most of the trip to the park. We rode 126 to 67, both of these road are very fun motorcycle roads. A few hours later we arrived at Mueller State Park. We had a reservation for a camping site and once we checked in the ranger told us that he would be right up to deliver a bear box for us since we were on motorcycles.

Taking a break in a parking lot near highway 126

A neat looking bug crossing the parking lot

Highways 126 and 67

I set up my tent and took a short walk to check out Mueller State Park. The rain clouds were rolling in so there would be no sun set tonight, but from the bathroom and showers building I was able to see Pikes Peak and other nearby mountains. After the walk it was time to break out some dinner. We just got done eating when the first cracks of thunder sounded overhead. Mueller State Park sits at 9,500 feet in elevation, so the clouds were hanging low just above our camp site and the lightening was frequent and very loud. Then the rain started, so we had to go and hide inside the tents.

The twisty road through Mueller State Park

The road through Mueller State Park

That's the bear box the ranger brought over for us to the left of the VFR

Our campsite at Mueller State Park

Dinner is served

A couple of hours later the rain stopped, the clouds moved off and the moon came out. There was a chill in the air, but the air was so fresh. Unfortunately it was to go to bed.

My 150 mile route from Loveland to Mueller State Park

285 to 126 to 67 to 24 to 67

Old Rabbit Ears Pass to Walden to Loveland

2009-08-30T11:08:00.003-05:00

Ouch my aching head! After living in Colorado for almost a year I still experience altitude sickness, although it’s not so bad anymore and I only get it when I’m spending the night over 9,000 feet in elevation like I did last night. I didn’t really get much sleep last night, when I try to sleep at high elevation I just tend to lay there and I'm unable to fall asleep. When I got up this morning I was feeling sick to my stomach but within an hour or twoI felt a lot better.

Camping in the woods at Routt National Forest

Breakfast is served

Packing up the bike and getting ready to leave, I grabbed this photo from CJ's camera

Posing at the Old Rabbit Ears Pass monument

The ST3 and the Old Rabbit Ears Pass monument

CJ riding out of the woods on his SV650

I'd say his bike is packed to gills, wouldn't you?

Everyone was up by the time I crawled out of my tent. There was one pancake left from breakfast and it had my name written all over it. By the time I ate breakfast and started packing, I was feeling much better. There was no rush to leave, the plan was to get home the same way I rode out there yesterday, which took only 3 hours. But since it was Sunday today and we were heading back to Fort Collins it was going to take a bit longer since there was definitely going to be lots traffic heading in that direction.

FR-315 and rain clouds

The ST3 on FR-315

That strange looking mountain peak on the right that looks like two bunny ears is you guessed it... Rabbit Ears

Some motorcyclist turning on to highway 14 from 40 at Muddy Pass

CJ and I were the last ones to leave. First we took some pictures with the Old Rabbit Ears monument, then we headed east stopping in Walden, where CJ lived for many years, for lunch.

By the time we rolled in to Walden, the dark clouds were right on top of us and decided to give us a brief shower. We pulled in to the parking lot of Moose Creek Cafe, grabbed a table outside and had some lunch. The rain had already stopped and we had a roof over our head anyway incase it started up again.

Well, I blew past the new Rabbit Ears Pass sign, the curves are so nice heading back down on 40, I did manage to stop at the Muddy Pass sign though

Parked at the Moose Creek Cafe in Walden, with rain clouds in the distance

Lots of bikes here today

Me and moose

By the time we finished eating the rain had moved off way to the east and we ended up riding on wet pavement but not in the rain. On Sundays the traffic gets bad near Fort Collins, the last 15 miles we were creeping and crawling following a long line of vehicles below speed limit. We turned off on to the twisty Stove Prairie Road and to my surprise there was no traffic on this road at all.

Lunch at the Moose Creek Cafe in Walden, the burrito was really good

CJ and I parted ways at the junction of Stove Prairie Road and 56. He took Stove Prairie in to Fort Collins and I took 56 down to Loveland. Another great weekend riding and camping in Colorado.

A stop on highway 14

CJ took this one with his camera, I don't know what I'm doing, maybe I'm saying "look the rain clouds are going away"

The ST3 and SV with some spectacular scenery on highway 14

One more, same spot different angle

Just a few miles from home on 56 at Stove Prairie Road

A ride out to the Old Rabbit Ears Pass

2009-08-29T10:08:00.006-05:00

This weekend a bunch of people were planning on camping in the Routt National Forest at the old Rabbit Ears Pass just east of Steamboat Springs. Some of them were going there to ride trails and dirt roads, some were going to fish, some were doing both.

I wanted to take the XT225 on another overnight camping ride and this would have been the perfect place to do it but this week was just a bit crazy and I just had so much to do since I was heading out on another multi-day ride starting next weekend and I was still finalizing the route and where to camp. Taking the XT225 was just out of the question at this point. It would take too much effort to try and pack the XT for an overnight ride. I had already declined my invitation but then at 10PM last night CJ e-mailed me to let me know that he wasn’t able to get his XR400 finished in time to ride out there and was going to take his SV650 instead. I wanted to ride the XT because I wanted to ride the many dirt roads in the area, but riding the ST3 out there and camping would be fun too.

Todays 149 mile route to the old Rabbit Ears Pass located in the Routt National Forest; highways 14 and 40, and FR-315

I decided to head out there this weekend but I still couldn’t leave early in the morning to ride out there with CJ. Now that I decided to ride the ST3 I was also a bit concerned that the forest road to the campsite might not be paved. I asked CJ to text me when he got there and let me know if the forest road road was paved. At noon I got a text message stating the road was paved but people were not camping at the Dumont Lake campground. Instead the group had set up camp just east of there. This is what I love about Colorado, in most of the forests you can pitch a tent anywhere and camp for free. I was really glad to know that the road was paved since I really dislike riding gravel on my heavy ST3, especially since I don't flat foot the bike.

My paper maps show the road as FR-315 or CR-315, but some on-line mapping software show it as 199, Old Rabbit Ears Pass is located on that road just east of Dumont Lake (N 40°23'59" W 106°37'05")

I had brand new tires on the ST3 so I was excited to be able to try them out this weekend and heading up toward Steamboat Springs meant I was going to ride the curvy highway 14 AKA Poudre Canyon. I packed up the ST3 and got going around 2:30PM, a little later then I wanted to but I just had so much to do a the house. The ride there was 149 miles and Microsoft Streets and Trips informed me me that it would be 3 hours and 13 minutes. Even with a stop for gas in Fort Collins and a stop for bathroom near Cameron Pass I still made it out there in 2 hours and 45 minutes. I didn't stop for any pictures on the way since I wanted to get there quick.

Parked for the night across the road from Old Rabbit Ears pass

Some people rode their bikes and some brought their cars

This is the Rabbit Ears Pass memorial up close, you can see in the distance in the above pictures

Dinner: chili and beer

Eating dinner and chit chatting, once it got dark this is where we ended up spending the evening, sitting in front of a camp fire

Camping right off FR-315 in the Routt National Forest

The ride out there was great. The brand spanking new Pirelli Diablo Stradas dove in to each corner so effortlessly. There was hardly any traffic on highway 14 heading west this late in the afternoon and if that wasn‘t already a treat, part of highway 14 had brand new pavement. West of Walden I turned east on to highway 40. I rode past Muddy Pass and Rabbit Ears Pass, and found forest road 315, also CR-315 on some maps, and a few minutes later I found the group camping on the side of the road just across from the old Rabbit Ears Pass memorial at 9,680 feet in elevation. I showed up just in time for dinner and before I could even get my gear off, I was handed a beer and some chili.

Looking at the camp site from the road

This is my tent, I left my bike near the road for an easy exit tomorrow

CJ rode his bike on to the grass and parked it next to his tent

After dinner everyone went fishing at the nearby Dumont Lake. I needed to set up my tent before it got dark, but after that was done I joined everyone at the lake although I was the only one not fishing. We stayed at the lake until sunset, then walked back to our camping spot and spent the rest of the evening sitting around the camp fire. The night was chilly, but I was pretty comfy inside my 15 degree sleeping bag although I didn't sleep very well, most likely due to the high elevation.

FR-315 is a narrow paved road, looking west at 315 from the Old Rabbit Ears Pass

The dirt road to Dumont Lake

Dumont Lake

It looks like CJ caught something

A few of the others brought cars so they could bring their kayaks and canoes

Review: Continental Road Attack

2009-08-24T23:29:00.003-05:00

The Continental Road Attacks were good tires and performed well until the end. My only complaint is that they just didn’t last long enough.

This second rear tire only gave me 6,500 miles. The first rear tire I took off at approximately 7,000 miles last summer because I was getting ready to do a long ride and didn’t think the old rear tire would make the trip.

First Continental Road Attack rear tire had something stuck in the rubber when I took the wheel of to get the new tire mounted

The second Continental Road Attack rear tire had a nail stuck in the rubber, although it went in sideways and didn't cause any air to leak since it punctured the rubber only - two tires near the end of their life and two punctures - kind of weird

I went with a second Road Attack rear because I still had the first Continental Road Attack front tire on the bike and wanted matching sets. I get a new front tire for every two rear tires.

First Continental Road Attack rear at about 7,000 miles (left), second Continental Road Attack rear at 6,500 miles (right)

The Continental Road attack front tire had 13,500 miles when I took it off and it had some weird uneven wear. The last 1,500 miles I started to feel the clip-ons jerking just a tad in the corners. This uneven wear still wasn’t as big of a deal as that bulge that developed on my Avon Azaro front or the two Bridgestone fronts that cupped.

The front Continental Road attack with 13,500 miles

I’m going with a set of Pirelli Diablo Strada for the front and rear on the ST3 now. I love the set I have on the 954RR, the tires have held up very well. They have close to 12,000 miles now.

ST3: New tires - Part 2

2009-08-23T21:56:00.003-05:00

When I left my bike in Dalton’s garage last Sunday and needed to take his car to get back home because the caliper bolt was stripped (see previous post) and I didn‘t have a spare, we decided that I’d come back during the week with a new caliper bolt. We would only need a few hours to install the rear wheel on the ST3. Then I could ride the ST3 home and Dalton could have his car back.

So I made it back to Dalton’s with a new bolt for the rear caliper earlier this week. I picked up the rear caliper bolt at the Ducati dealer and paid $5 for it - yikes! I was going to get some spares but not at this price. By the time I left work and made it to Dalton’s we only had about three hours to get everything done before I had to head back home.

While trying to get the rear wheel back on I grabbed the GIVI top rack and it moved. Then I noticed that the GIVI top rack wasn’t bolted down in two places. Two bolts were missing, one on each side. You can’t see the bolts with the side cases on, so who knows how long they were missing. Couldn’t have been too long though, the top case would have been too heavy to stay up on the rack without those bolts so they fell out very recently. Probably at the end or after the 4th of July trip.

A GIVI top rack bolt is missing, the same bolt is gone from the other side

Getting the rear wheel back on and adjusting the chain took way longer then it should have. We still needed to figure out how to secure the GIVI top case rack using some zip ties and I still had to put the plastics back on the ST3, which is very time consuming and a pain. And before riding 95 miles back home I wanted to do a test ride to make sure the rear tire and everything was good to go.

We worked as fast as we could but it just wasn’t going to happen and you can’t rush these things. I would have to leave my bike here until the weekend after all. Dalton made some measurements for the GIVI rack bolts that were missing. I would not be going to the Ducati dealer for those and paying too much.

So this weekend I was back to finish the ST3. I had with me two 8mm x 25mm bolts that I picked up at a hardware store for $0.87 each. Dalton was going to install a new front tire on my ST3 but first I wanted to get those two bolts back in to the GIVI top case rack. After examining the situation, I couldn’t believe it, but I was going to have to take the whole plastic off the tail section and unbolt the Nonfango rack that holds the side cases in order to get those two GIVI rack bolts in.

Picked up some bolts at a hardware store for the GIVI top case rack; they fit

In order to get those two GIVI top case rack bolts in I had to take apart the whole tail section of the bike

After two hours the GIVI top case rack bolts were in and I could finally concentrate on taking off the front wheel. Dalton mounted and balanced the front wheel and we got the wheel back on to the bike. I was finally done! It took two weekends but the ST3 had new tires, new coolant and two new GIVI rack bolts and was ready to come home. The new Pirelli Diablo Strada tires felt awesome. New tires always feel great but I really love the Stradas. With exactly 33,333 miles on the odometer I headed home. I’m hoping to get 10,000 miles out of these tires.

It's a very happy moment when the plastics are all back on the bike

Check out these really cool and high-tech brake caliper holders

While I was messing around with the bolts and plastics on the ST3, the VFR got a new rear tire mounted

Work in progress: VFR missing the rear wheel, ST3 missing the front wheel

Dalton taking off my old front Continental Road Attack

Mounting my new front Pirelli Diablo Strada

Heading back home on fresh and shiny new tires

The odometer turns 33,333 miles

Because the Pirelli Diablo Strada tires are very pointy, the ST3 is slightly taller and leans more on the kickstand. Pointy tires turn in quicker

ST3: Changing the coolant and new tires

2009-08-16T13:14:00.002-05:00

This weekend was going to be a maintenance weekend for my ST3. I had ordered a new set of Pirelli Diablo Strada Tires for the ST3 and had them shipped to Dalton’s house. Dalton ended up purchasing a No-Mar tire changer since he wanted to mount and balance his own tires and between the two of us right now, we already had 6 old tires to take off and 6 new tires to mount.

I’ve been so happy with the way the Pirelli Diablo Stradas have lasted on the 954RR. I have 11,650 miles on them now and up until the last few hundred miles, they have performed like new tires. Those will have to be changed out next since I purchased a second set of Stradas for the 954RR as well. After hearing me talk about these great tires Dalton ended up purchasing a set a Stradas for his VFR also. He didn‘t take my word for it though, he read many great reviews on-line about a the Stradas, apparently I’m not the only one that likes them so much.

If you remember my last maintenance post, I was already riding on cords the last time I rode out to Dalton’s. Since I had to ride another 100 miles this weekend I was a bit worried if the rear would even make it. I ended up pulling over a couple of times on my way to Dalton’s house to check the rear tire but when I got there it didn’t look any worst then when I had left my house.

Even though I had two whole days to do only 2 things on the bike - changing the coolant and get the new tires mounted - I’m not very fast when it comes to working on the bikes. And the ST3 isn’t exactly the easiest bike to work on, plus the thing was dirty and I wanted to clean all the parts as I was working on them.

Take fairing off and unscrew the filler cap of the expansion tank (the cap is not shown in this picture, it's hiding underneath the fairings)

Loosen the clamp on the expansion tank radiator hose, disconnect the hose from the radiator and allow the expansion tank to drain

Place a container under the engine, place the motorcycle on its, side stand and unscrew the drain plug located on the water pump cover, allowing the coolant to drain off completely

Closer view of the drain plug

Draining the coolant

Replace the drain plug along with a new sealing washer, fill the circuit with recommended coolant

Allow several minutes for the coolant to fill all internal ducts and then start the engine, bring the coolant to operating temperature (217.4 °F) and allow the cooling fan to start at least once

By the time Saturday evening rolled around, all I had done was changed out the coolant. I changed the coolant out by myself and it was pretty straight forward. I followed the instructions in the ST3 service manual. With the tires I was going to need Dalton's help.

The rear tire is off the bike

Sunday morning I got working on taking off the rear wheel. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the rear caliper bolt off. I struggled with it for a bit, then Dalton tried to get it off and couldn’t either. He put some Kano Kroil on the bolt and it magically just came off although it was totally stripped. I didn’t have any extra caliper bolts with me and since today was Sunday, the dealerships were all closed. That meant I wasn’t going to be able to ride the ST3 home tonight.

Dalton removing my very worn Continental Road Attack with a No-Mar tire changer

Lets check those chicken strips - I can't believe I worn the tire in closer to the edge on the right then the left... I usually lean more to the left and prefer left curves

Dalton mounting my new Pirelli Diablo Strada

Dalton purchased the No-Mar model that sits on the hitch instead of being mounted to the floor, really neat concept especially for people that do track days (left), the No-Mar tire balancer (middle), sticking on some test weights to see how many are needed to balance this tire (right)

We got the rear tire off the ST3, then Dalton took the old tire off the rim and mounted the new tire using the No-Mar tire changer. By the way, the No-Mar tire changer is a great machine. This was the first time Dalton used this machine, the "how to" video on the No-Mar website helped a lot. The process wasn't too complicated and the machine is well built and simple to use although it does require some muscle.

The balancing actually took a while. It just seemed like there was either too much weight or not enough. Finally we got it as close as we could. Since I couldn’t ride the bike back home, we decided to call it a night after the new tire was balanced. We would install the rear wheel on the bike next time, it was getting late. Dalton had to lend me his car so I could get home.

I've been riding for 10 years & 132,768 miles

2009-07-31T20:32:00.004-05:00

I guess a little celebration is in order. This month marks 10 years of
motorcycling for me. OK, actually it’s more than that. I started riding in
May of 1992 when I purchased my first motorcycle, but since I only rode
the Suzuki GN125 one season and then didn’t ride until July of 1999 until I purchased the Suzuki GS500, I have always been counting my motorcycling years starting with 1999.

The number 132,768 represents the total number of miles I’ve put on my 7 motorcycles I’ve owned since July 1999. Below is guesstamate of how the miles were spread out over the 10 years and my riding highlights and lowlights.

1999 - 2,400 miles

Purchased new 1989 Suzuki GS500
After 7 years of not riding, I re-learned how to ride a motorcycle

2000 - 2,600 miles

Sold the Suzuki
Purchased new 2000 Honda CBR 600F4

2001 - 10,000 miles

Discovered sport-touring
Towed the F4 to Pennsylvania for a sport bike motorcycle meet
First multi-day motorcycle trip - 4 day tour of Kentucky
An overnight ride to Minnesotta

2002 - 17,000 miles

Sold the Honda F4
Purchased new 2002 Honda CBR 600F4i
Did 5 tracks days with the F4i that season
Had my first motorcycle (and so far the only) accident on a motorcycle - I only suffered some bruises and the bike some cosmetic damage - a car didn't see me and pulled in to my lane forcing me to the curb where my bike fell over at 5MPH on the sidewalk when the front wheel hit the curb
Multi-day ride on the F4i to Missouri for a sport bike motorcycle meet
Towed the F4i to Pennsylvania for a sport bike motorcycle meet
Multi-day ride on the F4i to Tennessee
Towed the bike to Tennessee/North Carolina to ride Deal’s Gap
Organized a two day overnight ride to Minnesota called the “Flat 4 tour” which introduced riders to sport-touring. I continued to organize and lead this ride twice a year for the next 7 years until I moved to Colorado in 2008 and handed off the ride to another sport-touring enthusiast

2003 - 8,000 miles

Started a new job and had very little vacation that year
A multi-day ride on the F4i: Northern Wisconsin and Northern Minnesota
A multi-day ride on the F4i: Wisconsin, Minnesota and Upper Peninsula Michigan
Purchased new 2002 Honda CBR 954RR
I now owned two bikes the F4i and the 954RR
Towed the 954RR to ride Texas Hill Country over Christmas break

2004 - 17,000 miles

Multi-day ride on the F4i: Tennessee and North Carolina - Deals Gap and Blue Ride Parkway
Multi-day ride on the F4i: Indiana and Kentucky
Multi-day ride on the 954RR: Colorado and Utah
Towed the 954RR to Mississippi: Tour of Louisiana over Thanksgiving
Towed the 954RR to Texas: Tour of Texas Hill Country and SW Texas over Christmas break

2005 - 30,000 miles

Multi-day ride on the 954RR: Tour of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York
Multi-day ride on the 954RR: Tour of West Virginia
Towed the 954RR to Arizona: Tour of Arizona, Southern California and Nevada
Unofficial Iron Butt ride on the 954RR: North Dakota (1,021 miles in 21 hours)
Sold the F4i
Purchased new 2005 Ducati ST3
I was still a two bike owner: 954RR and ST3
A two day overnight ride to Pennsylvania
Femmoto: Rode Buell motorcycles at the Las Vegas Speedway at a womans moto event
Rode a borrowed bike for a few days in Southern California over Christmas break
This was my biggest millage year - 30,000 miles

2006 - 10,000 miles

Purchased used 2000 Ducati 900SS
Purchased new 2006 Yamaha XT225
I now owned 4 motorcycles (954RR, ST3, 900SS and XT225)
Two day overnight ride to Pennsylvania
Multi-day ride on the ST3: Tour of Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado
The above ride was my first multi-day moto-camping tour
Rode a borrowed bike in Alaska for a few days
Towed the XT225 to ride dirt in Southwest Texas and camp over Christmas break
The above way my first off road ride

2007 - 13,000 miles

Towed the XT225 to ride dirt in Louisiana and camp
Towed the XT225 to ride dirt in Mississippi and camp
Towed the XT225 to Kentucky and did a multi-day adventure tour (dirt and pavement) through Kentucky, Virginia and Tennessee
Towed the XT225 to Upper Peninsula Michigan to ride dirt and camp
Multi-day ride on the ST3: Tour of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio with camping
Rode the whole Blue Ridge Parkway on the above trip
Multi-day ride on the ST3: Arkansas
Sold the Ducati 900SS (I was down to three bikes: 954RR, ST3 and XT225)
Towed the XT225 to Iowa to ride dirt and camp
Towed the XT225 to ride dirt and camp in Louisiana, Alabama and Florida over Christmas break (unfortunately the bike stayed on the trailer in Florida, there was just too much rain to ride)

2008 - 15,000 miles

Towed the XT225 to Southern Illinois to ride dirt and camp
Rode the ST3 to Southern Illinois and camped
Multi-day ride on the ST3: Tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania
Multi-day ride on the ST3: Tour of Missouri and Arkansas with camping
Got laid off from work - spent 50 days riding the 954RR: Tour of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming (wanted to ride the ST3 but there was something wrong with it)
The above ride is so far my longest ride
I finally got published! Two articles in the (Honda Sport Touring Association) STAReveiw Magazine
Moved to Fort Collins, Colorado in October

2009 - 7,700 miles ...and counting

First overnight camping ride on the XT225: Northern Colorado
Multi-day ride on the ST3: 7 days through Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona with camping
Multi-day ride on the ST3: 13 days through Colorado and Utah with camping
Multi-day ride on the ST3: 3 days through Colorado with camping

September 2001 - The bike (2000 Honda CBR 600F4) and the ride (Kentucky) that started my sport-touring addiction

Lily Mountain Summit 9,786'

2009-07-26T20:56:00.002-05:00

It’s the middle of summer but between motorcycle riding and maintenance, there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to get a good hike in. With the tires on the ST3 all warn out, the tires on the 954RR pretty much gone too and having just done a dirt ride, today was definitely a good day to go hiking.

The beginning of the Lily Mountain Trail

Looking down at highway 7 (left), near the summit a sign for the trail (right)

The trail, this is still close to the trailhead

Since I haven’t hiked much lately I wanted to do an easy hike. I especially like hiking to the top of mountains, because of all the amazing views at the top. Lily Mountain Trail was a short trail that climbed to the top of a small mountain by Colorado standards - it was perfect!

I think that is the Fish Creek Road down there

Some cool dirt road with many switch backs

Getting closer to the summit now

A neat rock formation

According to the internet the trail is just 1.7 miles from the trailhead to the summit of Lily Mountain. According to the sign at the trailhead, it is 2 miles. The Lily Mountain trailhead is located along highway 7 just south of Estes Park. The trailhead doesn’t have a parking lot, parking is allowed on the side of the road.

The trail got rocky at times (left), the scramble to the summit (right)

On top of Lily Mountain

This rock is pretty much most of the summit

Great scenery from the top of Lily Mountain

The beginning of the trail travels up and down. The last mile is a steady climb and to reach the summit requires a bit of scrambling over some large rocks. I haven’t been to the top of too many summits, but this one so far was the smallest summit - area wise.

I hung out on top for a bit, just taking in the scenery and enjoying the sunshine. It was a beautiful afternoon, with no clouds, no threat of lightening. The hike down was a lot quicker than the hike up.

The trailhead for Lily Mountain is just north of Lily Lake Trailhead

Lily Mountain Trail

Difficulty: easy/intermediate

Total miles: 4

Summit elevation: 9,786 feet

Trailhead elevation: 8,780 feet

Net elevation gain: 1,006 feet

Crown Point Road, Colorado

2009-07-25T21:55:00.003-05:00

Crown Point Road is located in the Roosevelt National Forest west of Fort Collins. It travels west from Pingree Park Road and dead ends at the Zimmerman trailhead. Just a bit west of Crown Point is Cameron Pass and to the south is Rocky Mountain National Park. The Mummy Range is clearly visible form parts of the road. Crown Point Road is a wide dirt road, it steadily climbs in elevation reaching approximately 10,500 feet at the end.

The beginning of Crown Point Road at Pingree Park Road (CR-63E)

Lots of curves on Crown Point Road

Beautiful mountain scenery

Most of Crown Point Road is dirt, with some gravel sections

Zimmerman Trailhead is located at the end of Crown Point Road

The hiking trail

Elevation 10,616 feet

The complete ride report from Crown Point Road and the other roads I rode that day is here.

Monument Gulch Road, Colorado

2009-07-25T11:57:00.003-05:00

Monument Gulch Road is a four mile long 4x4 dirt road located west of Fort Collins. It connects Buckhorn Road with Pingree Park Road.

Monument Gulch Road is 4 miles long

The sign for Monument Gulch Road at Buckhorn Road

The beginning of Monument Gulch Road at Buckhorn Road

If you’re heading northwest to Pingree Park Road from Buckhorn Road you can use Monument Gulch Road as a short cut. From Buckhorn Road, Monument Gulch first climbs for a bit but after that it descends all the way to Pingree Park Road.

The XT225 is a good bike for this road

Monument Gulch gets a bit bumpy at times

There are some smooth and level sections on Monument Gulch Road as well

Lots of Aspen trees here

Riding out of the forest in to a clearing on Monument Gulch

A fork in the road - lots of other forest roads here

Heading down all the way to Pingree Park Road on Monument Gulch

Some neat looking rocks formations

A large hole in the road

More Monument Gulch Road

The complete ride report from Monument Gulch Road and the other roads I rode that day is here.

Monument Gulch, Crown Point & Pennock Pass

2009-07-25T09:01:00.004-05:00

The XT225 hasn’t had a workout in a while, so CJ and I decided to head out and ride some dirt roads today. The goal was to ride all of Crown Point Road, since two months ago I didn’t get to ride all of it because it was raining, which made it pretty cold at higher elevations.

This was going to be an interesting ride since CJ doesn’t get to ride much on the dirt roads, he’s more of a single track rider - the more technical the better. Where I prefer non-technical dirt roads.

Today seemed like a nice day, it was a bit overcast but the temps were very pleasant in the low 70’s. Unfortunately as headed in to the mountains we encountered darker clouds, drizzle and much cooler temps. We rode the curvy but paved Stove Prairie Road. Then turned off on Buckhorn Road - the first dirt road of the day. From Buckhorn we took Monument Gulch Road. I have never been on this road before, but I’ve read ride reports about it and it was on my list of roads to ride.

Chasing CJ on Buckhorn Road

This is Buckhorn Road (44H) at Monument Gulch Road

Buckhorn Road made be very twisty, but it’s a wide dirt and gravel road with only one section that is a little rocky and bumpy. Cars have no problem driving on Buckhorn and I have taken my Acura RSX-S on it before. Monument Gulch on the other hand is more of a 4X4 road. From Buckhorn Road, Monument Gulch Road climbs for a bit, but then it’s downhill all the way to Pingree Park Road.

Just a few minutes of riding Monument Gulch and I was already getting myself in to the trouble. Riding the up hill section, rode over a huge wet rock, not sure what happened next but I almost ended up dumping the bike. After I got that over and done with early on, the rest of the ride on Monument Gulch went without any more incidents, although the road required my full concentration since there were lots of sections with rocks, tree roots, puddles and large holes. Monument Gulch Road is only 4 miles long but at the pace I was riding it, it took me about 40 minutes to get through it. At one point CJ turned around and rode pretty much half of it back to make sure I was still back there.

CJ on Monument Gulch Road

This was after I "almost" dropped my bike

CJ had a lot of time to kill waiting for me, so he took a bunch of cool pictures of me riding

I just love that "S" curve sign, this is on Pingree Park Road

Monument Gulch Road dropped us off on Pingree Park Road, which is another wide dirt and gravel road where regular cars can drive on with no problem. We took Pingree Park Road north for a bit before turning on to Crown Point Road. Then we rode Crown Point all the way to end. This road is 18 miles long and at the end there is a parking lot and a trailhead.

Taking a break on Crown Point Road

There are many forest roads to ride here, I wonder where 139A goes?

Way up high on Crown Point Road with mountains in the background

Crown Point Road

Some great scenery on Crown Point Road

I really like Crown Point Road, it’s possibly one of my favorite dirt roads out here. What I really like about it is that there isn’t a lot of traffic on this road and the views are just amazing. When you ride Crown Point Road you really feel like you’ve gone to some remote area. Pingree Park Road and Buckhorn Road have quite a bit of traffic on them and the views are not nearly as spectacular as on Crown Point Road. But I have to emphasize that Crown Point Road is just a dirt road, regular cars can travel on it, most people that ride dirt would probably find it boring.

At the end of Crown Point Road we run in to another dual-sport rider

We decided to take a break at the end of Crown Point Road. There was also another rider there on a KLR. We talked to him for a bit before he headed for a hike. It was 3:30PM already so after eating an energy bar we started to head back.

When we got to Pingree Park Road I told CJ that I didn’t really want to ride Monument Gulch Road back, I wanted to take an easier route back. It was getting late, the sky was getting dark and at my slow pace Monument Gulch Road would take forever. Not to mention I was getting a bit tired.

Buckhorn Road, coming down from Pennock Pass - I couldn't get a good picture to capture the switchbacks, but you can see the road continuing below

I wanted to take Buckhorn Road instead. I have never been to the end of Buckhorn Road where Pennock Pass is located. CJ had no issues with which road to ride, he was concerned about how much gas he had left. He had already used the extra gas he brought. Monument Gulch Road was a short cut to Buckhorn Road. From Pingree Park Road to Buckhorn was just 4 miles via Monument Gulch Road, but if we took Buckhorn back from Pingree Park Road, that would be 9.5 miles.

Monument Gulch Road as a short cut vs Pingree Park Road (CR-63E) to Buckhorn Road (CR-44H)

There was another option of course. For CJ to ride Monument Gulch back and for me to take Buckhorn back. We could meet up where the two roads junction. After thinking about it some more, we really didn’t think an extra 5.5 miles would make that much of a difference. Monument Gulch might have been shorter but it was mostly uphill. We decided on Buckhorn and to conserve gas we coasted down from Pennock Pass with the engines turned off. Not sure how many miles we saved doing that. The road eventually leveled off and we had to start the engines back up. I think we night have saved 2 miles worth of gas.

The KDX out of gas

On Buckhorn Road we again ran in to the rider on the KLR who ended up riding with us for a bit. By the time the three of us hit Stove Prairie Road the drizzle was quickly turning in to steady rain. CJ was trying to conserve gas so I rode up ahead and at one point I had to pull over and wait for the other bikes since I didn’t see them anymore. But a few minutes later there they were. The second time I pulled over for the same reason, but there was only one bike. It was the guy on the KLR. He pulled over to tell me CJ ran out of gas, then kept going. I turned around and headed back to where CJ’s bike ran out of gas. Taking a short cut to save the 5.5 miles wouldn’t have helped, we were at least 12-14 miles to the nearest gas station. I still had gas in my tank but unfortunately CJ’s bike is a two stroke and he needed an oil and gas mixture. He made a few phone calls and found someone that was at home and willing to bring him some premixed oil and gas.

Ben comes to the rescue, and not only brings CJ some premixed oil and gas for his two stroke but also brings gas to top off my bike

About half an hour later Ben showed up. Not only did he bring CJ some oil and gas but he brought another can of gasoline and topped off my tank to make sure I had enough to get back into town. That was really cool of him. The uncool part was, that we had to finish the ride in the rain.

My 148 mile route: Stove Prairie, Buckhorn, Monument Gulch, Pingree Park and Crown Point Roads

Nail in the tire, bleeding the brakes, oil change

2009-07-19T08:56:00.007-05:00

Now that the ST3 was done with trips for a while, it was time for some maintenance. CJ came over a few days ago with a torque wrench - my torque wrench for some reason didn’t survive the move from IL to CO and is now broken and in many pieces. I have not replaced it yet. He was also helping me adjust the chain on the Duc, which is a major pain. The ST3’s chain started making major noise when I was riding back from Gunnison over 4th of July weekend. My guess was that when it was originally installed it just wasn’t tight enough to begin with. In all the miles I’ve owned the ST3, and this being the third chain on this bike. I've never had to adjust a chain on the ST3.

When CJ and I were done with the chain, I went ahead and lubed it. As we were rotating the rear tire CJ noticed something silver on my rear tire. I’m pretty good at checking my tires when I'm riding. Even when I park the bike I will take a look at the exposed sections of the front and back tire looking for anything strange. I never noticed this. Thinking about though, it might have happened on the last trip, probably on the last day coming home when we were riding the shoulder, there is always lots of debris on the shoulders. I haven’t checked my tires since then.

A rusty nail in my rear tire

Usually a nail in the tire is a very bad thing. After such discovery a plug or a new tire is required right away. I was so lucky. The nail went in sideways and only the outer rubber was damaged. I already had over 6,200 miles on this rear tire and I figured since the puncture didn’t really damage anything I could still putt around on it a bit until it got replaced.

First a nail, then 95 miles later the cords are showing

I was planning to replace the tires on this bike soon anyway, the Continental Road Attacks weren’t lasting as long as I had hoped. I must admit though, I was very hard on my tires - especially this past Colorado and Utah trip. Chasing Sandy and Dalton around required lots of high performance riding since they both ride faster than me, especially in the twisties.

Since putting on the new brake pads, the brakes never really did improve very much. The brake lever was still squishy. So this weekend I rode over to Dalton’s so we could bleed the brakes. The ST3 also needed an oil change. When I pulled in to Dalton’s garage I was shocked to see the cords showing in my rear tire. In the last 95 miles, somewhere between my garage and Dalton’s garage, the Continental Road Attacks were done.

After Dalton and I bled the brakes on the ST3, there was a bit of improvement and the brake lever wasn’t as squashy anymore. It never did get as firm as the brake lever on my 954RR. Maybe I should stop comparing the ST3 to the 954RR - the two bikes are different. With the cords showing on my rear tire I made it back home, riding nice and easy. I checked the rear tire when I got home and it didn't show any further deterioration. It looked the same as it did at Dalton’s and we live 95 miles away from each other. I guess it’s time to get shopping for some new tires.

Gunnison to Loveland, CO - Holiday Traffic Hell

2009-07-05T10:29:00.002-05:00

The three day holiday weekend was over and we were heading back home today. We wanted to get going as early as possible so we skipped going out to breakfast and ate some of the energy bars and bananas we had with us. We packed up the tents and headed east out of Gunnison on highway 50 but just a few miles out of town we pulled over to ponder the unexpected situation. There was a portable electronic message sign on the side of highway 50 informing us that there was an accident up ahead and highway 50 was closed. That wasn’t great news considering we only left a few minutes ago and were already experiencing a major delay. Unfortunately here in the mountains of Colorado, when a road closes you have to go way out of the way since there aren’t that many paved roads through the mountains.

We looked at the Colorado map I had inside my tank bag to see our options. We didn’t have much choice, we could hang out here in Gunnison and wait for highway 50 to re-open or we could take highway 114 which would take us out of the way but eventually get us to highway 285 where we wanted to be.

We didn’t want to sit around and waste any time so we started the bikes up and headed southeast on highway 114. There wasn’t too much traffic on highway 114 so we were making pretty good time. Since I rode a bit of highway 114 with Sandy last month I was curious what the rest of the road looked like and now I was going to get to see all of it so that wasn’t all bad. I ended up really enjoyed highway 114. Good pavement, good scenery. There was a good mix of curves on this road, the northern section of the highway has the tighter stuff, then near the North Cochetopa Pass there were some pretty nice sweepers. The south portion of the road is kind of straight but has some interesting scenery.

The tighter curves on highway 114 are near Gunnison

Dalton having fun on highway 114

Highway 114 south of North Cochetopa Pass

Since we were riding through Buena Vista today we wanted to grab some lunch at the famous hamburger stand in the town, K's Old Fashioned Burgers. Every time I pass by it there is always a huge line of people in front of it. Unfortunately, since we didn’t take highway 50 and took highway 114 instead, by the time we rolled in to Buena Vista it was already way past lunch time and we were starving. We parked the bikes on a side street and walked up to K's and took our place in the huge line. As we stood in the long line we kind of debated if this was something that we should even be doing today. We were already behind schedule. But we were already here and already in line so we continued thinking these burgers better be worth it.

When you place your order at the window they give you a celebrity name, that’s the name they call out so you can pick up your food when it’s ready. We got “Wayne Gretzky”. After some waiting around finally they called “Wayne’s” name and we grabbed our food. There was no where to eat near the burger joint so we walked over to the park next door where there were empty picnic tables. Just as we sat down and took the first few bites it started raining.

Waiting in the long line at K's in Buena Vista

Our K's cheeseburgers getting rained on

There were restrooms near by in the park so we quickly grabbed the food and went to stand behind the building where we would be protected from the rain. The rain didn’t last very long and after about 8-10 minutes we returned to the wet picnic table to finish our lunch. And the food? It was OK and I’d definitely eat there again but I don’t think the burgers were spectacular. They were just normal average burgers. Now, the raspberry milk shake I ordered, was the best milk shake I have ever had.

It was getting late now and we still had many miles to cover. Originally the plan was to take highway 285 back but as we rode in to Buena Vista we saw a huge line of cars waiting to turn left on to 285. Since we rode 285 last weekend and it was jammed pack full of traffic and it wasn’t even a holiday weekend, I thought that today highway 285 would have been even more busy and since there are not a lot of places to pass, we would end up creeping and crawling in that mess for hours.

Looking at the map, if we took highway 24 north to 91 and jumped on I-70 that should get us back to Denver quicker. I figured the interstate would have more traffic on it than highway 285 but at least it had two sometimes three lanes. The interstate just seemed like a logical choice.

After lunch we took off heading north from Buena Vista. Highways 24 and 91 had some traffic but not too bad, and before we knew it we were on I-70 heading east. At first the traffic on I-70 wasn’t that bad, we were going under speed limit but we were moving. There was lots of cars on the road and it was drizzling on and off, the traffic seemed to be moving slower and slower and after a while the interstate was a parking lot. Being from Chicago I have seen bad traffic but until today I have never seen anything this bad. Since I’ve only been living in Colorado since last fall, I just didn’t know a lot about the traffic problems on I-70. I knew the traffic got really bad during the ski season but this was summer.

Inching forward for a few miles got painful, my clutch is very hard to pull in and my hand can only take so much until it starts to hurt really bad. The ST3 was also running super hot, the fan was going continuously trying to cool the engine. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore so I cut across to the right lane and got on to the shoulder. I had no choice but to ride the shoulder. My clutch hand needed a break and the bike needed to get moving. It wasn’t long before a third bike joined us and then fourth riding the shoulder. Problem was the shoulder wasn’t a continuous shoulder. At times it was wide and at times it was just two feet across with debris and stuff. At times there was no shoulder at all and we’d have to filter back in to traffic. The whole time we were heading up hill which made it even more unpleasant. Finally I realized what the problem was and why there was such a huge traffic jam. Ahead in the distance was the Eisenhower Tunnel. At first I just thought it was a bottle neck, 3 lanes on the interstate and 2 lanes in the tunnel. I’d find out later that they actually close the tunnel off so that the cars in the tunnel can clear it before allowing any more cars in to the tunnel. That creates a huge delays.

Super heavy and slow traffic on I-70 west of the Eisenhower Tunnel - we decided to ride the shoulder for a while

There was no exits and no shoulder now so we just crept toward the Eisenhower Tunnel with all the other vehicles. After what seemed like forever it was finally our turn to get into the tunnel. Traffic was slow in the tunnel too but at least we were moving. Then I looked in my mirror and realized that Dalton’s VFR was slowing way down behind me. At first my mind couldn’t comprehend what was happening but after another 30 seconds I realized his headlights were off and he was pulling over. PULLING OVER? There is no shoulder in the Eisenhower Tunnel so there is no where to pull over. There is however about a foot of pavement in between the white line and the tunnel wall.

I exited the tunnel on the east side and pulled over. I waited and waited and kept looking at the tunnel but I didn’t see the VFR, I just saw lots of vehicles coming out. Obviously something was very wrong. Finally, minutes later, I saw the VFR coming out of the tunnel under it‘s own power. Dalton pulled over behind me, he looked really shook up. I walked up to him to ask what was wrong and Dalton said that his bike died in the tunnel. The only thing we could figure out is that the battery just couldn’t handle the fan going continuously for such a long period of time, especially since we weren’t moving very fast and stopping a lot with the engines running.

When the VFR dies Dalton was pretty much stuck sitting on the bike up against the wall while semi’s drove by him mere inches away. A very dangerous and frightening situation. The vehicles finally cleared the tunnel and the VFR started again and Dalton was able to ride out of the tunnel.

I was getting this feeling that today was just a bad day to be out riding a motorcycle. The worst part was the traffic jam continued past the tunnel and it probably continued all the way to Denver. We couldn’t sit in that traffic again. So we crept in the heavy traffic some more until we reached the next exit, which was for highway 6.

On highway 6 west of Loveland Pass - no traffic here but unfortunately we're heading the wromg way

There were no roads here to go east, all we could do was to go west - where we came from. We rode highway 6 over Loveland Pass then pulled over again near Dillon. Again our choices were slim looking at the map. I could head north via highway 40 and take highway 34 through Rocky Mountain National Park or take 9 north and eventually end up on highway 14 which would take me to Fort Collins. None of those routes were going to help Dalton get home. The next exit off I-70 for a road that headed east way miles away from here and in this traffic it would take hours.

Highway 6 heading west finally loops around and we got back on to I-70 headed west. This is west of the Eisenhower Tunnel, since highway 6 bypasses the tunnel. The highway heading west was pretty much empty. A few miles further we took the exit for highway 9. We rode through Breckenridge and continued south. I have only been on highway 9 north of I-70, I have never been on highway 9 south of the interstate. I had no idea how twisty the road was and it kind of took me by surprise. The road climbed through tight and steep switchbacks with hair pin curves marked at 10-15MPH. Finally we reached Hoosier Pass at 11,542 feet in elevation and started our descent on the other side of the mountain.

By the time we got on highway 9 the battery in my camera, the one that’s mounted on my bike, was completely dead. I didn’t want to stop to change it since we didn’t have any time to waste, therefore there are no pictures from highway 9. We also didn’t stop at Hoosier Pass for pictures.

We rolled in to the town of Fairplay, gassed up quickly and continued east on highway 285. Had we only turned on highway 285 after leaving Buena Vista after lunch, we could have avoided the whole I-70 and Eisenhower Tunnel fiasco. Live and learn. It was getting late now, the sun was hovering low over the horizon and we still had ways to go. At least the traffic was moving although there were lots of cars on this road as well.

More heavy traffic on highway 285 east of Bailey

I was starting to think our ordeal was over and it would be smooth sailing from now on. Then we got past the town of Bailey and again the road became a parking lot. I knew that there was construction on this road. The traffic has been bad through here all year but nothing this bad. We inched along, again heading uphill, but it was just too much. After about 15-20 minutes I saw Dalton make a u-turn in my mirrors and head back down in to Bailey. I couldn’t do what he did because I don’t flat foot my bike, so I can’t turn it around as easily on an up hill. My turn around process was a bit time consuming. First I had to get from the left lane to the right lane. Then I saw a side street which I pulled in to turn around. The trick now to get the cars that were heading east to allow me to cut through so I could head west again. Finally they did and I ride the few miles back down and pulled in to a gas station that Dalton was sitting at. The sun was setting now and we still had a ways to go. This had officially become a ride from hell. By now we had rode so many miles out of the way, and had been delayed so much. It was no longer fun to be on the bike.

Waiting for the traffic jam to clear on 285 and watching the sun set in Bailey from a gas station

After about 45 minutes of watching the traffic we decided to head east on 285 again, hoping the cars would be gone by now. This time it was smooth sailing. We got through 285, got on 470, then I-70. Dalton continued east on I-70 and I continued on I-76 which took me to I-25. It was dark already but the traffic was going speed limit so that made me happy. By the time I got to Longmont I started to see a lot of lightening in the distance to the northwest. The closer I got to home the more lightening there was. I was heading right in to a storm and that was the last thing I wanted to deal with tonight.

Since I moved last week and I no longer lived in Fort Collins. That saved me about 7 miles. When I took the exit for highway 34 west and headed toward Loveland the lightening was almost continuous. I just kept repeating in my helmet “please let me get home before the rain”.

Since I just moved, I have never come this way before and I ended up passing the street I needed to turn right on to get home. I pulled in to the grocery store on the corner to cut through the parking lot to make it back to the street I had missed. I had three more streets, then two more, then one, the thunder and lightening was on top of me now. Ah, my driveway. I made it to my driveway. Usually that is not a reason to celebrate, but today it seemed like a major feat.

Todays 430 mile route - we rode over 100 miles out of the way - highways 50, 114, 285, 24, 91, I-70, 6, I-70, 9, 285, 470, I-70, I-76 and I-25

I parked the bike in the driveway, took the helmet off so I could go inside and open the front door and then open the garage door. By the time I did that and got on to the bike to ride it in to the garage, the rain started. As the garage door closed I heard more thunder and then the sky opened up with a torrential downpour. The downpour continued even as I laid my head on to the pillow to go to sleep. After 430 miles and more than 14 hours on the bike (including stops) the ride from hell was finally over.

4th of July in Creede, Colorado

2009-07-04T22:50:00.003-05:00

The town of Creede is named after Nicholas Creede who in the late 1880’s discovered silver in the Rio Grande Valley near present day Creede. As the mining operations began the town exploded in population. At one time 10,000 people lived in the area.

Parked at the north end of town

Down town Creede

We headed north of down town to check things out

Willow Creek

Mining in the Creede continued for a long time, the last mine in Creede finally closed in 1985. Today the big industry in Creede is tourism. The seven block downtown area is lined with historic buildings and sits against a backdrop of volcanic cliffs that rise to almost 1,000 feet. It is quite the sight when you ride though town and finally get a glimpse of the rocks behind the buildings.

A memorial in Creede

There is a fire station inside this cave

Inside the fire station

4th of July is one of the businesses days of the year in Creede. The population of town grown from 300 to over 10,000 according to the internet. There is a 4th of July parade that starts at 10am. Also the Mining Championships happen that weekend, called the Day's of ‘92 - as in 1892. The competition includes spike driving, tomahawk throwing, hand and machine mucking and single jack drilling. There are also fireworks, although we didn’t stick around for that.

Remnants of the old mining days

Willow Creek runs through down town Creede

I don't think that door goes anywhere

Hwy 149: Silver Thread Scenic Byway

2009-07-04T15:59:00.003-05:00

Highway 149 starts just west of Gunnison and links the towns of Creede, Lake City, and South Fork. The name for the byway comes from the old days when silver ore was mined here. Highway 149 runs through the Rio Grande and Gunnison National Forests in the San Juan Mountains. At one of the scenic overlooks you can see the headwaters of the third longest river in the US, the Rio Grande River.

Highway 149 sweepers

Highway 149 near Slumgullion Pass at 11,530 feet in elevation

Highway 149 climbs to 11,530 feet in elevation over Slumgullion Pass. The road north of the pass is much steeper than the south. There is lots of scenery here but not a lot of traffic. When I first rode highway 149 in 2004, the pavement wasn’t as beat up as it is now. This road is definitely in need of some new pavement. Some sections of this road were not very fun to ride since there were so many potholes to navigate through and so much bumpy broken pavement.

The north and south sections of highway 149 had some nice pavement still, although south west of Gunnison and north of Creede, the curves are mostly sweepers. The tight and steep curves are near the pass and that’s where the pavement is the worst. It’s still a great road and I had lots of fun riding the Silver Thread Scenic Byway.

The VFR with the headwaters of the Rio Grande River in the distance

The Duc and the headwaters of the Rio Grande

Zoomed in on the headwaters of the Rio Grande River

Scenery along highway 149

Neat looking rock formations

The two pictures above were taken just northwest of Creede

On this ride we only got as far as Creede, highway 149 continues south until it reaches highway 160 near South Fork

Gunnison to Creede, CO (and back)

2009-07-04T09:55:00.002-05:00

It was a beautiful but cool morning. Since we were going to camp at the Tall Texan Campground tonight we didn’t have to pack up the tents. We took our sweet time in the morning and got ready for our day ride. But before hitting the twisties we stopped downtown Gunnison for breakfast on highway 135 at The Bean. I enjoyed breakfast at The Bean, it's one of those hip and trendy places where there are many healthy and funky food items on the menu. Plus any place that serves breakfast and lets me order a cappuccino or a latte instead of regular coffee gets a thumbs up from me.

Parking the bikes in downtown Gunnison across the street from The Bean

A crepe and cappuccino for me, a breakfast burrito for Dalton

After breakfast we turned on to highway 50 and headed west. Then we turned south on highway 149. I haven’t been on highway 149 since my 2004 Colorado and Utah trip. I’ve only been on that road once before today but after riding pretty much every good road in Colorado on my 2004 trip, highway 149 turned out to be one of my top 5 favorite Colorado roads.

Highway 149

A stop on highway 149

The headwaters of the Rio Grande River in the distance on highway 149

The clouds were moving in and we got rained on just 30 minutes from Creede. The rain didn’t last very long. We rolled in to town and decided to find a parking spot so we could explore the town on foot. Traffic through Creede was stop and go and it took us a bit of time before we made it past the downtown area, where we found a spot to park the two bikes.

We didn’t know this while we were in Creede but 4th of July is a big day in Creede. According to the internet the population of Creede jumps from 300 to over 10,000 people. There are many activates in town, like a 4th of July parade which we just must have missed before we pulled in to town. Also the Days of ‘92, the Colorado State Mining Championships, happens over the 4th of July. We caught a bit of the spike driving competition while walking though town.

Parked and ready to explore the town of Creede

Remnants of the mining days

I have actually never seen the town of Creede since if you are riding highway 149 the road turns before you reach the actual down town area. Creede is a neat old mining town. Not very touristy, but touristy enough to keep one occupied for a few hours or a day.

We took a short walk through town and decided to grab some lunch at the Best Little Doghouse in Creede. The food was good but the portions were just too big. My hamburger was gigantic. We couldn’t possibly finish these portions and we had to leave some room for ice cream, there was a neat little place down the street.

Outside grilling at the Best Little Doghouse in Creede

Lunch at the Best Little Doghouse in Creede; a cheeseburger for me and a chili burger for Dalton

After lunch we really started to explore this town. We ended up spending many hours in Creede , we could have spent more. It’s a neat little town with lots of history, things to see and do, but it was time to head back to Gunnison. We got back on highway 149, stopping a few times for pictures, and a few hours later we were back in Gunnison.

Highway 50

I just love the sweepers of highway 50

Back at the Tall Texan Campground in Gunnison, notice the stuff flying around in the air by the building on the right, lots of cottonwood trees at this campground

Dinner: wine, salami, cheese and crakers

This funky looking green fly was sitting on Dalton's shirt - look at those big black eyes

On the way back to the campsite we stopped in at the super market in town and grab some salami, cheese and crackers since I ended up bringing a bottle of wine from home. When we got back to the Tall Texan Campsite it was pretty much empty. There were a lot of holiday activities and fireworks going on in town and that’s where everyone must have been. Once the sun started setting we started a fire and cracked open the wine. Ah, the joys of moto-camping! When it got dark, the fireworks started in Gunnison. We could see the the fireworks from our campsite which was totally cool. About thirty minutes after the fireworks ended the cars started to roll in to the campsite. The night was chilly and I actually had to put on my down jacket which I always bring with me when camping since it packs very small, weighs nothing and is very warm.

Our 216 miles route for today: highways 135, 50 and 149

Loveland to Gunnison via Rocky Mountain N.P.

2009-07-03T09:24:00.002-05:00

This three day trip was a kind of a continuation of the big ride Dalton and I took last week. We kind of cut the route short after experiencing lots of rain in Utah. We were running out of time and knew that we weren’t able to ride whole original route. We made some adjustments in the route and ended up cutting out the Colorado National Monument even though we rode right by it, it would have cost us some 3-4 hours which we didn’t have. We also ended up cutting out highway 149 which we were supposed to ride on our last day.

So pretty much even before our big ride ended we had already started to think about the next few rides. The ride out to the Colorado National Monument, we might do over Labor Day Weekend and the ride out to highway 149, we are doing this weekend.

Since I didn’t have very much time to plan an elaborate ride for this weekend with only having been back in town for 4 days from my big trip, starting a new job, moving and working on the ST3 prior to this trip, the route was simple. Even though I was just there a couple of weeks ago, we chose Gunnison as our destination for a few reasons. First, we knew we could find camping around Gunnison. Second, highway 149 was just south of Gunnison. Third, one of Dalton’s favorite restaurants is in Gunnison and we could eat there if we could find a place to camp near Gunnison.

The plan was to find a campground near Gunnison and camp there Saturday and Sunday and ride highway 149 as a day ride on Saturday. Dalton found a private campsite for us to stay at just north of Gunnison. Neither of us had been there before but it sounded really nice and had all the amenities we were looking for.

So Friday morning we rolled out of Loveland and headed west on highway 34. The plan was to ride through Rocky Mountain National Park which I wanted to do with Sandy but since Scott had his chain issue on our trip we couldn’t leave early enough and the traffic at the park gets bad, so it takes a while to get through it.

As we headed on highway 34 up to Estes Park, the traffic was already getting bad. Then the rain started and I had to pull over in Estes Park to get my rain gear on. At this point I was a bit concerned since rain in Estes could easily mean that it was snowing on Trail Ridge Road at Rocky Mountain National Park. Trail Ridge Road get up to 12,183 feet in elevation. We decided to continue.

Trail Ridge Road at Rocky Mountain National Park

Views from Trail Ridge Road

We only stopped one time in the park for some pictures

Same spot different views

Dalton took this picture with his camera

We knew it was a holiday weekend and we expected the traffic to be bad through the park. And it was. The road through Rocky Mountain N.P. is a great motorcycle road with many twists and turns but when you have an endless caravan of slow cars in front of you, all you can do is enjoy the scenery and that is what we did.

Trail Ridge Road

Trail Ridge Road is usually paved all the way through the park, there was some construction going on

More Trail Ridge Road

Trail Ridge Road - pavement ends

It rained off and on at the park, not too bad. We had made it to the west side of the park with not too much delay and then all the sudden we came to a complete stop. We turned the bikes off and waited and waited. Every 7-10 minutes or so the cars would creep forward a bit but the process was slow. Half an hour later we had finally moved up enough to see what this delay was all about. There was road construction in the park and there was a traffic light placed to direct traffic on a portion of road that only had one lane open for both directions. Since the light took forever to turn green, vehicles would turn off their engines and when the light turned green only 3-4 vehicles would manages to get through before the light turned red again.

Major construction delay on Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park

We finally got past the traffic light and were glad that the construction delay was over with. Then we noticed more orange signs along the road and then I caught a glimpse of the most dreaded construction sign - the “pavement ends” sign. How bad could it be though, this was a national park. And why didn’t the ranger at the park’s gate tell us about the construction, we were on motorcycles for Pete‘s sakes. The pavement ended and a dirt road continued for about 15 or more miles. The first few miles were not too bad but as we caught up to slow vehicles which we couldn’t pass, the ride became not so pleasant. On dirt or gravel I like to keep moving, I don’t like to ride slow or stop. The road also started to deteriorate with many ruts and pot holes to navigate through. I don’t have any pictures of the really bad sections because I had to keep both hands on the handle bars and not be messing with the camera while I ride. Meanwhile it was also drizzling off and on.

Dalton on highway 40

The twisty highway 40 south of Winter Park

In real life it's much steeper than this

More highway 40

I-70 west of the Eisenhower Tunnel at 11,158 feet in elevation

The pavement started back up at the west gate to the park. We turned on highway 40 and headed toward the interstate. Highway 40 just south of Winter Park gets really twisty. I’m talking about 15 MPH curves. It’s a fun road when you can get it all to yourself.

Monarch Pass on Highway 50 at 11, 312 feet in elevation

From 40 we jumped on I-70 and headed west. We stopped for gas and a quick lunch at Subway. After lunch we continued west on I-70 until we reached the exit for highway 91 south. Before the town of Leadville highway 91 ends. We continued south on highway 24 and then stayed on highway 285 and turned west on highway 50. Its seems like I’ve been this way so many times already. We actually made some good time and before we knew it we were rolling through the town of Gunnison. In the center of town we turned north on highway 135 and rode a few miles to the Tall Texan RV Park and Campground located on CR11. CR11 is paved but none of the roads through the Tall Texan campground are but they are hard packed dirt, not gravel. Even though the Tall Texan is mostly an RV park. There are a few tent sites located on the other side of the campground, away from the RV's. We were pleasantly surprised. This was a very nice campground.

Tall Texan Campground just north of Gunnison

Dinner at the Trough in Gunnison - I had fish Dalton had steak - fantastic food

We quickly set up our tents and unpacked. Then we rode back out to Gunnison to a restaurant called the Trough, which is on highway 50 just west of Gunnison. The food was great. By the time we made it back to the campground it was dark and we were beat.

Our 320 mile route today: Highways 34, 40, I-70, 91, 24, 285, 50 and 135

New brake pads for the ST3

2009-07-02T21:38:00.002-05:00

I needed to get some new brake pads installed on the ST3 before I could do any more long rides. I went by the local Ducati dealer to inquire about new brake pads and I was floored by the price. I ended up getting EBC brand brake pads for the ST3 and saved hundreds of dollars. Yes, I said HUNDREDS of dollars. I was told by the Ducati dealer that the EBC brake pads would not last as long as the ones they wanted to sell me.

OK. I’m sure the Ducati brake pads are better but the way I see it, the EBC brake pads should last me at least 10,000 miles, probably more the way I ride. But even if they only lasted 5,000 miles, getting six sets of the EBC brake pads, that is still way cheaper than the one set of Ducati brake pads which are supposed to last 30,000 miles. Now, usually I do some research and shop around. But since 4 days ago I just got back from a 13 day ride and tomorrow I was heading back out on another multi-day ride, I purchased what I could easy get since I didn't even have time to get anything from the internet.

Dalton and I had a three day ride planed over 4th of July and we were leaving tomorrow morning. I needed to put these new brake pads on so he rode over to my house after work to help me install the new brake pads.

Unfortunately this week was a bit crazy. I didn’t have any time to wash the bike before heading back out with it tomorrow on yet another ride. It was pretty dirty after 13 days on the road and it would have to stay dirty for a few more days.

So why the emergency brake pad install on the ST3? Back in Illinois when I had my bike in for valve service I was told by the dealer to start thinking about new brake pads for the front - like, the bike needed new pads already. I honestly don’t think they had even checked the pads themselves, they probably looked the maintenance scheduled and were hoping that I’d agree to have them install new brake pads. The ST3 was at 26,000 miles back then and the brake pads were fine.

Taking the brake caliper off

There is still some life left in these old brake pads

The brakes on the ST3, even when the bike was brand new, were never as good as the brakes on my 954RR. The Honda stops on a dime and the the brake lever is firm. The Ducati’s brake lever was always kind of squishy.

Old stock brake pads (top) new EBC brake pads (bottom)

In the last thousand miles my brakes started to make a noise, a metallic sort of squeaking noise. The brake lever felt even more squishy then before. The brake fluid was fine. After I returned from the last ride I was pretty sure it was time for new pads but when I got the calipers off and we took the old brake pads out, the front pads were still OK. Since we had the old brake pads off I just decided to install the new pads. Not sure why the brakes on the ST3 were making noise, maybe the brake pads had some debris on them.

Inserting the new brake pads

Inserting the clip

Inserting the retaining pins

Inserting the cotter pins

1 - clip

2 - cotter pin

3 - brake pads

4 - retaining pins

After the new EBC brake pads were installed I took the bike for a short ride to make sure everything was working correctly. It was too early to tell if the new pads make any difference since you have to allow the new pads to bed in completely before any hard braking can be done. The brake lever still felt squishy but it might firm up after a while. If things didn’t improve in the next few hundred miles I was planning on bleeding the brakes.

The move, the job, and another ride

2009-06-30T16:34:00.004-05:00

Before I left on this 13 day motorcycle trip I was very busy, and it had nothing to do with motorcycling. The lease on the house in Fort Collins I was living in was ending and I had to be out of there by July 4th. I had to be out because the owners were coming back and they live in this house at times and rent it out when they go to Mexico, where they have another house.

I was lucky enough to find a place to live in Loveland, just 7 miles away from the old house. I even managed to bring a carload of stuff to the new place the day my friend Sandy was riding from Illinois to Colorado so we could start our motorcycle trip.

While all of this was happening I also accepted a job in Loveland which would start July 1. So all of this activity made the last week of June the most exhausting week that I can remember. Monday I spent packing and moving stuff to Loveland. Tuesday I had to go in to the office for training, it ended up being a full 8 hours. And on Wednesday I started working.

Meanwhile, after work and until wee hours of the night I was packing and moving stuff from the Fort Collins house to Loveland. I was glad when I drove up to Fort Collins after work on Thursday to pick up the last of my things, not only because I was finally done but also because the owners of the Fort Collins house were already back - days early.

But the craziness doesn’t end there. That weekend was a holiday weekend and I had Friday off. Dalton and I had planned to do a three day ride that weekend but I wanted to put new brake pads on the ST3 before I did any more riding. So on Thursday afternoon I drove from the Fort Collins to Loveland for the last time with the rest of my belongings. Dalton was already in my driveway when I got there, so with no time to waste we got working on the ST3 so we could leave on our ride Friday morning.

Colorado and Utah Trip Summery

2009-06-29T13:42:00.002-05:00

This was a great trip. Not only did I get to ride some of my favorite roads in this area but I had some great company as well. I spent a total of 13 days on the road. The first 5 days and 1,036 miles I spent riding with Sandy. I haven’t seen Sandy since I moved to Colorado so it was fun showing her some of the great Colorado roads and just hanging out and catching up. This was only our second multi-day ride together. We did a 10 day ride in 2006 but only rode through Colorado one day, so this ride was almost a continuation of the first ride. We had lots of fun.

Sandy and I in Crested Butte, CO

Sandy took this picture of me goofing off on highway 65

Getting some serious photography

A ruin on highway 65

On day 5 of my ride with Sandy, Dalton rode out and joined us in Steamboat Springs. The following day Sandy rode back to Denver to visit with her aunt and Dalton and I began our 8 day and 1,950 mile ride.

Dalton riding through the Sunset campground at Bryce Canyon National Park

I only did one day ride with Dalton before heading out on this trip. We went over the ride plan in detail to make sure we both understood what to expect on this trip. I think that is very important especially if two people haven’t done a multi-day ride together. We discussed how many miles we should ride each day and what time we wanted to be getting to the campsite. We talked about other activities we might want to do on this trip, like hiking and eating out. The trip turned out great. We had a lot of fun riding and camping together. This was Dalton’s first long multi-day moto-camping trip and I think he’s hooked now so we’re already planning the next moto-camping ride for the 4th of July.

The ST3 and VFR on highway 24 in Utah

Dalton took this one of me taking pictures at Molas Pass on highway 550

A stop on highway 12

Trip Details:

13 days on the road

2 states visited (CO and UT)

2,986 miles traveled (1,036 miles with Sandy and 1,950 miles with Dalton)

7 nights - camped
5 nights - stayed in motels

My 13 day and 2,986 mile route

Highway 95 in Utah

My favorite road of the trip:
Highway 95 (Blanding to Hanksville, UT)

Twistiest road of the trip:
Highway 82 (Twin Lakes to just west of Aspen, CO)

Most boring road of the trip:
Highway 491 (Cortez, CO to Monticello, UT)

Most scenic camp site of the trip:
Crawford State Park - Crawford, CO

Best camping facilities of the trip:
Thousand Lakes Campground and RV Park - Torrey, UT

Hiking Bryce Canyon National Park

National Parks and Monuments:
Natural Bridges National Monument
Bryce Canyon National Park
Capitol Reef National Park

CO Mountain Passes:
Fremont Pass 11,318 feet - highway 91
Monarch Pass 11,312 feet - highway 50
North Cochetopa Pass 10,149 feet - highway 114
McClure Pass 8,755 feet - highway 133
Rabbit Ears Pass 9,426 feet - highway 40
Muddy Pass 8,772 feet - highway 40
Gore Pass 9,527 feet - highway 134
Tennessee Pass 10,424 feet - highway 24
Independence Pass 12,095 feet - highway 82
Red Mountain Pass 11,018 feet - highway 550
Molas Pass 10,910 feet - highway 550
Coal Bank Pass 10,640 feet - highway 550
Lizard Head Pass 10,222 feet - highway 145
Yellowjacket Pass 7,783 feet - highway 160
Wolf Creek Pass 10,850 feet - highway 160
Poncha Pass 9,010 feet - highway 285
Trout Creek Pass 9,346 feet - highway 285
Red Hill Pass 9,993 feet - highway 285
Kenosha Pass 10,001 feet - highway 285

Pagosa Springs to Fort Collins, CO

2009-06-28T19:52:00.002-05:00

Today was the last day of this trip. Today Dalton and I we were heading home. It was my 13th day on the road. For Dalton it was the 9th. I was sad to see this trip come to an end, I was having too much fun.

After a good breakfast at Victoria’s Parlor we left Pagosa Springs. The weather was perfect as we rode east on highway 160. I haven’t been on this road since they finished the construction at Wolf Creek Pass. Going up to the pass was awesome, lots of curves and a passing lane. So of course we just passed everyone on our way up. Heading back down from the pass was a different story. There was no passing lane heading down from the pass so we got stuck behind a long slow line of cars.

Highway 160

Near Wolf Creek Pass at 10,857 feet in elevation

Heading down from the pass on highway 160

We stopped in Buena Vista for some refreshments but we couldn’t linger very long. The dark clouds were approaching fast from the west and as we started to gear up we heard thunder not too far away. As we sped off toward the east on highway 285 there were many dark clouds visible in that direction. Rain was imminent.

Taking a break on Highway 285 at Poncha Pass 9,010 feet in elevation

Dalton coming down from Poncha Pass on Highway 285

Dark clouds on highway 285

Rain on Highway 285

While it was still dry we tried to make some good time which was hard to do since today was a Sunday, there was a bit of traffic heading in to Denver as people were returning from their weekend in the mountains. 285 is a nice road but there are hardly any passing lanes on it. Makes it tough to pass slower vehicles, especially when there are 40 of them ahead of you, with little space left in between each vehicle. No room to squeeze in to even if you manage to make a pass.

After a few passes we called it quits and settled in to the long caravan of vehicles. Soon after the rain started. It rained hard at times, at times it was just a drizzle, but the rain continued pretty much until we reached Denver. Dalton continued west on I-70 from there and I headed up I-25 to Fort Collins. After 13 days on the road I pulled in to my driveway with an extra 2,986 miles on the ST3.

My 330 mile route today: Highways 160, 112, 285, 470, I-70, I-76 and I-25

Dinner & Breakfast in Pagosa Springs, CO

2009-06-28T10:28:00.002-05:00

We grabbed a motel room at the Spa Motel on Hot Springs Boulevard in Pagosa Springs yesterday. From this location it was an easy walk to many restaurants in town but we ended up eating dinner at Tequila’s which overlooks the San Juan River. This was the same place I ate lunch at in 2005 when I was riding through town. I remember the food being good and views from their outdoor seating area nice. It was very busy at Tequila’s last night but we were lucky to get the last table outside. The food was just as I remembered - good!

Spa Motel

Tequila's Restaurant

Dinner at Tequila's

San Juan River

This place has built up since my last visit in 2005

This little guy wasn't scared of humans

Checking the temperature of the hot spring near the San Juan River

A hot springs outside Tequila's Restaurant

This morning as we were checking out of the Spa Motel we asked for recommendations on a good breakfast restaurant. We were told to check out Victoria’s Parlor just a couple blocks from the motel on highway 160. When we finished packing we rode out there. Victoria’s Parlor is a restaurant and antique store. We grabbed a table outside to enjoy the nice morning. The menu was extensive and the food ended up being very good.

Breakfast at Victoria's Parlor

Breakfast burrito for Dalton - avocado quiche for me

Green River, UT to Pagosa Springs, CO

2009-06-27T07:01:00.003-05:00

By 8AM we were in the parking lot packing up the bikes. I prefer to camp but the one benefit I enjoy of staying in a motel is the ability to leave early in the morning since there is no camping equipment to pack up. There were only two more days of riding in this trip, today and tomorrow. Because of all the rain yesterday we had some miles to make up today.

We jumped on the interstate and arrived in Grand Junction, CO still in time to grab some breakfast before heading for highway 141. On the way to highway 141 we passed the Colorado National Monument which we were supposed to ride through today, we decided to skip it and save it for another trip when we had more time.

Dalton on highway 141 near Grand Junction

Chasing a bunch of Ferrari's on Highway 141 near the Gateway Resort

Highway 141

A couple of stops on Highway 141 - this picture and the ones below it

The Dolores River

Dalton took this picture and the one below it on Highway 141 near Grand Junction

Last week I got to ride 141, my favorite Colorado road, from south to north. And today I rode it from North to South. The scenery is different in each direction. Traffic was very light on 141 and before we knew it we were turning off on 145. I haven’t been on 145 since 2005. I’ve only ridden it that one time and it was in the rain so it was nice to finally ride it in some good weather.

From 145 we turned east on highway 160. Originally we were supposed to camp tonight at the Navajo State Park but I was so busy trying to make up some miles, I flew right by the road that went to the park. When we stopped to get gas I realized this, we weren’t that far past it but we decided that we should keep going, it was still early in the day. The more miles we were going to ride today, the less miles we would have to ride tomorrow.

A stop on Highway 145 looking towards Telluride

Dalton took this picture at Lizard Head Pass on Highway 145

Lizard Head Pass at 10,222 feet in elevation

Highway 145, that tiny spec in the distance is Dalton

Highway 145

After 425 miles we arrived in Pagosa Springs, CO. We pulled over at the visitor center to ask if there was any campgrounds near by but the visitor center was already closed. There was a motel and RV park across the street from the visitor center so I asked in there about camping. There were no tents allowed at this RV park but I did get a phone number for a campground just outside of town. No one answered the phone at the campground and after so many miles of twisty roads we certainly didn’t feel like riding out there to see if there was a tent site open.

Highway 145

I’ve ridden through Pagosa Springs in 2005 and had lunch in town but have never stayed in town. Since this was a pretty neat tourist town we decided to get a room in town and have a nice dinner. Tonight was the last night of our trip. Staying in a motel room would allow us to leave early in the morning tomorrow. The motel rooms were pricey in town, especially the ones with hot springs but that’s the price you pay when you want to be in the middle of it all.

Our 425 mile route for today: Highways I-70, 340, 50, 141, 145, 184 and 160

Capital Reef National Park

2009-06-26T23:07:00.004-05:00

Over the last few years I've passed by this park each and every time while riding highway 24. This was my first visit to Capital Reef National Park. Unfortunately it was a quick visit since it was raining today. I hope to ride through here the next time I’m in the area.

Dalton took this picture and the one below it, the rain hasn't started yet at this point

Amazing views - you can't see this stuff from highway 24

The curvy road through the park, below is the same spot but zoomed in

Colorful canyons, ridges, buttes, and monoliths

The pavement ends at Capital Gorge

We ended up hiding from a thunder storm at these covered picnic shelters

The sun came out for a brief few minutes between rain clouds

Capital Reef Road