Our trip to Gunnison - Part 3 "Sweeper Maddness"

[russell_bynum]

The story continues

 

(If you missed them you can see Part 1 and Part 2 )

 

The Plan was to go to Moab and check out Arches National Park. Note the use of the past tense word "WAS". On the conditions that we would leave late enough to be able to get fresh pastries at the bakery at the Chuckwagon (YUM), then ride through Capitol Reef, we decided to ride with Steve, Gleno, Kris, and Jim into Paonia to check out the Rally there. Ouch, twist our arm.

 

After superb pastries served by warm, friendly people, we saddled up and hit the road. I led the way through "the reef". I took it easy at first, then gradually increased speed. Remember me, old friend? Oh yeah...I remember this turn...more power WEEEEEEEE!!! Bending the bike down and into the turns, FULL POWER, stand it up, grab a gear hold the gas, roll off stab the brakes and downshift, weight over and DOWN into the next turn. They come just fast enough so that you really have a chance to see what's going on..but that's it. Into the tight right-hander (the one turn that's different from the rest)...down to the inside to avoid that line of schmutz along the outside...I have no idea what it is...it was there last time were're here. It looks slippery so I don't plan on testing it out.

 

Down one of the big straights wide open, tucked in, GPS just hits 117, then we come off, sit up, grab some brake, downshift twice, weight over, and DOWN into the next turn. WOOHOOOOO!! YEEEEHAAAAAAA! and any other word you can think of that says HOTDAMNTHATROADWASFUN!!

 

Hmmm...no lights behind us. Let's slow it back down to the limit for a few miles. Hmmm...still no lights.

 

Lets stop and switch to our mesh jackets. Just as were're getting off the bike...I hear a boxer. We all chat for a while, then Steve leads the way out. Up towards I-70. Gas somewhere near Moab...it looks like rain, so we switch back to our waterproof stuff. Kris is making us all laugh like crazy. We're having so much fun. We came off the freeway at Grand Junction and grabbed some food at the local Wendy's. Then Steve led us back to the freeway and over to some road, which I don't remember the name of and I don't have a map in front of me, so I'm not going to look it up Sweeper City. At least one mountain pass (or was it two?). BIG FAST sweepers. Bumpy too. The telelever/paralever is really doing the job here.

 

I remember two corners in particular. The first one was a right-hander. We came barreling around the previous corner and suddenly the entire valley came into view. It was so pretty, I almost forgot what we were doing. Hard on the brakes, shift, shift, shift, then down and into the turn. The next turn was a real blast. We dropped into this amazing sweeper...at the entrance, it looked like about a 75mph 180. We dropped in behind Steve and started feeding in the power. At 90, we were well past 180 degrees and the exit still wasn't visible (although it was apparent more or less where it was). AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHhehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe. Throttle's wide open, we're accelerating hard...and watching Steves RS pull away. Awesome.

 

After some fun getting a room in Paonia (I'll let Gleno tell the story), we headed over to the rally.

 

I'm not really sure what to say about the rally. On one hand, it was very cool to see all those Bikes in one place. Every aftermarket and custom accessory imaginable was there. On the other hand, there's only so much standin' around lookin' at bikes that you can do in a day...especially when you're surrounded by great roads. We hooked up with Hannabone (don't ask me to use the right cOMBinaTIoN of upper and lowercase letters on his handle), Paul, Brian and Meghan, D Tool, RickZ, Luky, and a bunch of other BBS members (I'm not omitting you because I don't like you...I'm omitting you because I've been asleep since then and I don't remember who all was there.)...great bunch of people. Dinner was at a little place in downtown Paonia. Most people liked what they got...my steak tasted like a Reebok. Desert of peach/bluberry cobler was pretty good, though.

Back to the motel for some lip-flappin. We met the infamous Angie and Shelley on their K1200RS's (Dolphin Blue and Graphite, right ladies?) and I think they talked Lisa into wanting a K1200RS. Eventually we headed back and drifted off to sleep.

 

One detail I forgot to mention...I did something silly to my back on the first day's ride. I have no idea what, but it messed me up enough that full days in the saddle just kept making it worse. I slept on the floor and made plans to ride the short trip from Paonia to Crawford with D Tool and RickZ, who were taking it easy because Rick's back was acting up as well.

 

I drifted off to sleep on the floor, almost giddy in anticipation for tomorrow...our arrival in Gunnison.

 

Jim Shoop and his Glacier Green

 

 

Familiar faces and bikes (and lots of unfamiliar ones) at the Top of the Rockies rally in Paonia

 

 

Left-to-right: Gleno, Kris, Jim Shoop, and Paul (Old Fart)

 

 

D Tool, Brian T, and Meghan

 

 

Hannabone

 

 

"The chicken strip on your tire is THIS wide."

 

 

 

 

I have no idea how many miles.

 

[90%angel]

What a fun day this was! Yes, I would love to still visit Arches Nat'l Park some day (by bike...have been there by car), but since it was going to be like a million degrees there that day, I think we made the right decision! Plus, we got to ride with some very cool dudes!

 

Gleno, thanks again buddy for giving me the earplugs on this ride. The wind from the storm we encountered would have done them in for sure.

 

It was great hanging out with everyone at the rally, then again at dinner. I am one of the ones that really enjoyed my dinner. I got traditional German "Wiener Schnitzel", and it was very good. THe brownie-chocolate-whipcream-icecream-sin kabob thingy I got for dessert was very tasty too.

 

Hanging out at the hotel in Paonia was really fun. I got to know Kris Besley a lot better. You are a very cool person, and I hope we get to hang out some more like that. I also got to talk with PhillyFlash about riding for a little while, as well as Angie and Shelly, who, as Russell mentioned, pretty much have me sold on a K12RS now!!

 

Great fun, great people, great day! Sort of a rally before the rally!

 

--Lisa

[brinkjm]

...(ToyTech anxiously awaits Part IV and subsequent chapters, hopefully with lots of pictures)...

 

 

 

[Bill Poche]

Russell, I'm enjoying reading your Ride Tale in instalments to spread the enjoyment rather than blow it all in one read, but will be sad when you post the last Gunnison chapter. Hopefully by then your tail will be in Torrey gathering even more pics and tales to tell.

 

Great text and photos as always.

[brinkjm]

What Bill said!color=orange>

 

BTT

[murrayg]

Throttlemeister: You're a hoon through and through. Sounds like you had a blast. Could you believe it could get better once you got to Gunnison?