I left my son and daughter-in-law's house yesterday morning about 10AM and rode home to Greeley. Gunnison is 60 miles east of Montrose and lets you ride up and over two passes, Cerro Summit and Blue Mesa Summit. Just east of Blue Mesa Summit was the first of too many one-lane roads (with pilot cars) to count. I'd guess at least 8-9 stretches until the east end of Blue Mesa Reservoir (which, BTW, is full for the first time I can remember since seeing it the first time in the summer of '84. There are parking lot signs that are completely underwater!)
In Gunnison, I needed gas and all the gas stations along US-50 in town had long, long lines of cars and bikes and RVs waiting to buy. I found a Phillips 66 station on my GPS that was located about a mile north on the main street. When I got there, it had been torn down. I went to a station across the street and it was out of gas -- turned out there were several stations in Gunnison that were out of gas. But there was a supermarket gas station that had some.
While I was waiting there, I saw eight BMW test mule cars covered with the dazzle B&W camouflage. Three were SUVs, a couple were obviously 3-series cars, one was huge and had a grille that was clearly not a BMW grille. It was rectangular and had vertical bars.
From Gunnison I rode over Monarch Pass. The first 40 or so miles before the pass go up the Gunnison River valley and it's full of grass being grown to feed cattle and horses. When the ride up the Pass starts, there also starts a passing lane which made it easy to not get held up by trucks or slow drivers. Very nice climb with mostly 45-50mph curves with an occasional 30-35mph curve.
Then it was up US-24 past where I hit the deer last summer to where 24 turns east just south of Buena Vista and a slightly tighter 2-land climb to the top of Trout Creek Pass. Then north through Fairplay and over Red Hill Pass as you go across South Park. At the north end of South Park, just past Jefferson, you turn right and gain about 1,000' climbing Kenosha Pass. From there it's about 25 miles of down hill to Bailey. 5 miles west of Bailey, I met a very long line of cars and trucks unable to pass a big trailer being pulled slowly up the hill. When I could see what was on the trailer, I realized it was a steam locomotive. Not a huge one, but apparently a very heavy one. I'm guessing that everything behind that guy didn't get passed until they were south of Jefferson.
I thought I was doing pretty good when I got to the end of US-285 and turned north on 470 at about 3:45 -- until traffic started slowing down. The 28 miles until it eased up took me over an hour. I ride in the left lane and always leave a big gap between me and the car in front of me. I want the lane-changers to have a place to go. One woman couldn't stand the fact that I wasn't closing that gap and after five or so miles, during which we were passing the cars in the two lanes to our right, she dove into a gap and moved over across two lanes to the far right lane and managed to get back to the left lane in front of me. Then she did the same thing two or three other times. 25 miles north of Denver, she was jammed in the far left lane when I went passed her in the right lane. I never saw her again.
I was home at 5PM after 324 miles and 1,813 for the whole trip. My leg feels much stronger and I am much more confident about riding than I was in early July.
One of the magazines waiting for me when I got home was Cycle World. One of the staff members wrote a column suggesting that there are two kinds of balance. One is when you're standing, walking, or whatever balancing yourself. The other is when you're on something else balancing it. He argues that riding a motorcycle at any speed above about 20mph is like sitting on a chair. Anybody can do it. But then he said that he didn't have balance type two -- being on something and balancing it. He's been riding for a long time and still can't do slow-speed maneuvers. He'd taken one of police motorcycle training events and failed; he'd failed the slow-speed parking lot stuff at several other classes. I know just how feels. As much more confident as I feel about riding, I still tense up when I'm starting and stopping and when I've got to turn immediately after or immediately before slow-speed start or stop.
It was nice to learn I'm not alone.
In Gunnison, I needed gas and all the gas stations along US-50 in town had long, long lines of cars and bikes and RVs waiting to buy. I found a Phillips 66 station on my GPS that was located about a mile north on the main street. When I got there, it had been torn down. I went to a station across the street and it was out of gas -- turned out there were several stations in Gunnison that were out of gas. But there was a supermarket gas station that had some.
While I was waiting there, I saw eight BMW test mule cars covered with the dazzle B&W camouflage. Three were SUVs, a couple were obviously 3-series cars, one was huge and had a grille that was clearly not a BMW grille. It was rectangular and had vertical bars.
From Gunnison I rode over Monarch Pass. The first 40 or so miles before the pass go up the Gunnison River valley and it's full of grass being grown to feed cattle and horses. When the ride up the Pass starts, there also starts a passing lane which made it easy to not get held up by trucks or slow drivers. Very nice climb with mostly 45-50mph curves with an occasional 30-35mph curve.
Then it was up US-24 past where I hit the deer last summer to where 24 turns east just south of Buena Vista and a slightly tighter 2-land climb to the top of Trout Creek Pass. Then north through Fairplay and over Red Hill Pass as you go across South Park. At the north end of South Park, just past Jefferson, you turn right and gain about 1,000' climbing Kenosha Pass. From there it's about 25 miles of down hill to Bailey. 5 miles west of Bailey, I met a very long line of cars and trucks unable to pass a big trailer being pulled slowly up the hill. When I could see what was on the trailer, I realized it was a steam locomotive. Not a huge one, but apparently a very heavy one. I'm guessing that everything behind that guy didn't get passed until they were south of Jefferson.
I thought I was doing pretty good when I got to the end of US-285 and turned north on 470 at about 3:45 -- until traffic started slowing down. The 28 miles until it eased up took me over an hour. I ride in the left lane and always leave a big gap between me and the car in front of me. I want the lane-changers to have a place to go. One woman couldn't stand the fact that I wasn't closing that gap and after five or so miles, during which we were passing the cars in the two lanes to our right, she dove into a gap and moved over across two lanes to the far right lane and managed to get back to the left lane in front of me. Then she did the same thing two or three other times. 25 miles north of Denver, she was jammed in the far left lane when I went passed her in the right lane. I never saw her again.
I was home at 5PM after 324 miles and 1,813 for the whole trip. My leg feels much stronger and I am much more confident about riding than I was in early July.
One of the magazines waiting for me when I got home was Cycle World. One of the staff members wrote a column suggesting that there are two kinds of balance. One is when you're standing, walking, or whatever balancing yourself. The other is when you're on something else balancing it. He argues that riding a motorcycle at any speed above about 20mph is like sitting on a chair. Anybody can do it. But then he said that he didn't have balance type two -- being on something and balancing it. He's been riding for a long time and still can't do slow-speed maneuvers. He'd taken one of police motorcycle training events and failed; he'd failed the slow-speed parking lot stuff at several other classes. I know just how feels. As much more confident as I feel about riding, I still tense up when I'm starting and stopping and when I've got to turn immediately after or immediately before slow-speed start or stop.
It was nice to learn I'm not alone.