central colorado

[lawnchairboy]

Once again, I had the pleasure of visiting with Larry and Louise in Colorado. Some pics here, more to follow.

 

 

First things first. The KTM 990 ADV is the best hunk of steel on two wheels on this planet. What a pleasure. I gots to get me one of these. Just SOLID on everything from loose to rocky to asphalt. It was probably better that when the new tires/wheels got swapped onto it for this last week that we neglected to put the speed sensors on, my speedo read "0" the whole time! HOLY COW THAT BIKE IS FUN.

 

thanks Whip.

 

 

On the Doylesville cutoff road to from 50 south to Lake City, CO

 

 

 

Lots of orange downtown:

 

 

 

 

Kebler Pass north of Crested Butte, They had just sprayed some dust control stuff on the road, it was slicker than snot. The 1290 and the 990 and the GSA all stayed upright.

 

 

 

 

 

Some video, all Doylesville cut-off road down to Los Pinos Pass/Lake City:

 

 

 

I hear they are having a few thousand folks in town soon:

 

 

FR788 I think, from the top of Slumgullion Pass out of Lake City headed back up towards CO-50:

 

 

 

Headed back to Los Pinos, a 1290 sighted in the wild:

 

 

Bill (road scholar) once again showed me some new territory, the Rainbow trail, a single track stretch above Salida that keeps your full attention while you are on it. I'll post more pics when I get them. I'm interested to see the Rainbow Trail vids. Thanks to Steve (rightspin) for being the GoPro download guru. Great to see Eddd/Chris/Bill/Steve/Sylvia/ and L&L and Ringo the wonder pup. See some of you real soon!

 

Thanks to all, another GREAT TRIP

[ArmyGuy]

That looks like it'd be a hoot. Thanks for posting and helping with my bike withdrawl while it's being shipped across the Atlantic.

[TEWKS]

How's the relationship with your GS after spending a little time on the 990? I'd probably have some bad thoughts after that!

 

Nice, thanks for the peek!

 

 

Pat

[MikeRC]

Looks like fun.

 

Mike Cassidy

[Whip]

Always a pleasure to have friends stay with us.

 

That 990 has made me regret the 1290 purchase

 

Where are the rest of the pix?

[TNT]

That looks like a fun trip. 😀

[lawnchairboy]

right spin is sending them on a disc... we both forgot.

 

 

[KTM Doug]

Good stuff I was just there during the concert. "F Street" was packed. Stopped and visited with Louise, but the "Whipster" was no where to be found.

 

Glad you got to ride with Bill since it looks like Larry only took you on super highways. I have not had the chance to ride with Bill yet but hope to some day before I get much older and give up the dirt again for good.

[lawnchairboy]

Bill is an unmatched dirt guide for that area, once he's up....

[Huzband]

Bill is an unmatched dirt guide for that area, once he's up....

 

[roadscholar]

Darn I missed this, left in a hurry this morning for a ride, had a few passes to conquer. What'd you slackers do all day?

 

 

Met up in Leadville and headed north for Red Cliff then rode up Shrine Pass.

 

 

 

 

It's called Shrine Pass because you can see the Mt. of The Holy Cross way off in the distance from the top, I think. We saw it, barely thru the trees, no pic tho'. Hard to tell here but Dave loves the new (to him) 1190R, it replaced his Super Enduro.

 

 

Looking down on Vail Pass (I-70)

 

 

Had to traverse a bit of it to get to our next pass.

 

 

Boreas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[roadscholar]

 

 

 

 

other side..

 

[lawnchairboy]

Touché

[KTM Doug]

Bill, it looks like you missed a couple spots like "Mosquito Pass" and the "Holy Cross City Jeep Trail" I have pics if you need some.

[roadscholar]

Doug, we wanted to keep it mellow, 1st offroad for Dave on the 1190, but yeah some pics of those would be nice!

[roadscholar]

South Park

 

 

Right about here the 1190 lost it's patience, snicked into hyperdrive and became a speck on the horizon..

 

 

Eventually the DR caught back up

 

 

 

 

At the top Dave said two things worth quoting, "this is big bike nirvana" and "of the three passes Weston was the best 'un" : )

I'd done them before and Dave the first two but all in the other direction, so everything looked new again. The main thing was tho, we were able to meet up in Colorado and have a fantastic day of riding..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kenny Haynes]

I should have come back...

[roadscholar]

Well darnit I wish you had've. Went for a ride today, you've seen most of it (ho-hum), it was 70 miles and took 7 hours, although did stop for a chili-dog and banana at the Telluride Shell station : )

 

 

 

This one's for Keith (have some other jeep shenanigans from phone pics later)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Kenny Haynes]

looks like Imogene or Ophir.

[lawnchairboy]

Both I think

[roadscholar]

Yep, only one shot on Imogene, was mostly using the phone. On Ophir the phone died so had to resort to camera. Today was mostly above tree-line which is one of the cool things about Colorado, especially for a flatlander. Headed south out of town

 

 

and right on past the first road that goes to Animas Forks, it is steep and increasingly rocky, as most of the trails have become year after year with increasing traffic. Started up from Ironton Park on Corkscrew Gulch which is much more fun.

 

 

 

Why it's called Corkscrew, they're hard to see with the bushes but there are probably 10 or 12 switchbacks between here and the bottom.

 

 

For those with a good memory I did almost this same ride two years ago and reported on it. If it's good enough to ride again, and it is, you all can suffer thru it too : )

 

 

Top of Corkscrew Pass (not high enough to warrant a sign)

 

 

 

Headed toward Hurricane

 

 

bailout road to Silverton for those getting squeamish : ) And maybe not a bad idea, the last climb is quite a bit more rocky and nasty than just last year.

 

 

 

There were two guys from Texas in a Jeep, we took each other's pictures : )

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Marty Hill]

Take my hat off to you. Great pics.

[KTM Doug]

Good stuff Bill. Wish the skies looked that good when I was just there.

[roadscholar]

Thanks guys. Doug the last time I was here I hunkered down for two days waiting for the rain to stop, so yes very fortunate this go round. Starting down the other side of Hurricane is Como Lake below.

 

 

Looking toward the next pass, California.

 

 

Up the hill

 

 

While I was there 3 guys from Arizona rode up on GS's and we took each other's pictures. You can walk up the hill and get the full 13,000' effect, I had enough exercise getting here : )

 

 

Two were on wetheads and one on a camhead. I said something like, man you guys are either brave or dumb for riding those piggies up here, they laughed and then showed me their scarred up cylinder heads, the first guy was on his 3rd set of crash bars. I loved it, seriously putting the G back in GS : ) All the pics were with the phone, so they'll come later.

 

They headed off from where I came

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[KTM Doug]

Bill. When I went there last month I had second thoughts about going up Engineer from the bottom since I did it last year in a rented Jeep. Well, up we went. The only trouble we had was my neighbor had a worn, and not a great dirt tire, with too much air in it. Several dirt naps later and him airing down some, he was ok. My DR had 14/44 gearing with a new MT21 on front and a new TKC80 on the rear. Absolutely no problem as long as you attacked some of the rocky steps and picked good lines. I thought my camera was on but I goofed. but we do have his pics going up with some dirt nap coverage. The first three to four miles are the worst and a couple loose switch backs further up. Not sure I would do it again unless I had a really strong young guy to pick up the bike if I screwed up. The DR is HEAVY!

 

Oh, great pics by the way. Everything looks so familiar

 

Now you need to do Schofield from the Marble side. Lot's of rocks getting to Crystal Mill and then a mile later, up ya go

[roadscholar]

Absolutely no problem as long as you attacked some of the rocky steps and picked good lines. The first three to four miles are the worst and a couple loose switch backs further up. Not sure I would do it again unless I had a really strong young guy to pick up the bike if I screwed up. The DR is HEAVY!

 

Now you need to do Schofield from the Marble side. Lot's of rocks getting to Crystal Mill..

 

I've done it a few times and twice on bikes, KLR and WR, it was much nicer going down on the WR. Going up Corkscrew, Hurricane, and Calif. passes to Animas Forks is more fun and way more scenic IMO.

 

Schofield will have to wait, out of time, besides I don't like rocks : )