Gunnison to Creede, CO (and back)

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.

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

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

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.