The BMW Motorcycle Club of Colorado has sponsored this ride for 15 years. I'd heard about it but had never done one before. The State Director of the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association sent out an invitation to MSTA members to join him on the ride. I registered that night and invited other members of this Forum to join me. One did -- Ken Malone (RedBird on the Forum) with his "newish" FJR1300.
Ken and I met at a McDonalds just off I-25 yesterday morning at 6AM (well, we were both actually late, but we were late within about 30 seconds of each other!). I barely recognized Ken. I'm not used to seeing him on an FJR and he was wearing a brand-new Aerostitch Roadcrafter Lite in grey with Hi-Viz ballistics.
We rode on down to Foothills BMW (the ride's co-sponsor and the place where the owner told me way back in 1998 that I couldn't afford a BMW R1100RT after I asked him what it cost. He was right, but he told the same thing to a young man who came in a few minutes later who had a blank check in his pocket for his graduation present. The kid showed me the check, told me had every intention of buying an RT that day and he guessed it would be at the other BMW dealer. We both laughed and left. I honest can't say that I've missed owning an RT.) I will give Foothills kudos for their breakfast and for the swag they brought to the excellently catered BBQ dinner at the ride's finish.
The t-shirts and pins and route directions were handed out and we headed out. There were seven of us: Ken on his FJR, Doug on a CB1100XX Honda Blackbird, Dan on a beautiful red 2010 VFR1200, John on a shiny brand-new-looking BMW K1200GT, Mike on a bright yellow Can-Am Spyder, and Dog on an R1200GS. We rode west on I-70 past Idaho Springs and nearly to the exit for Loveland Pass when Doug pulled off at a turn-out to: 1) check to make sure where the exit for Loveland Pass was, and 2) to see how everyone was doing. After we stopped we realized there were only six of us. Ken and his FJR were missing! I told the rest of the guys to go on and I'd wait for Ken. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Ken got there. He'd had trouble getting rolling and we hadn't realized he wasn't in the group.
So off we went. The exit for Loveland Pass is just before the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel and winds up the side of the mountains before reaching the pass and the Continental Divide at 11,990'. We stopped for picture and, lo-and-behold, Ken wasn't with us again! But this time, he caught up pretty quickly and told us that Mike, on the Can-Am had engine problems. First was a low oil-quality warning, but it was only down a 1/2 qt. What was worse, was that the bike wasn't running well. Mike wanted to try to make it on to Loveland Pass and see how the bike was doing then, but Dog managed to convince him that he needed to head back to Denver and a Can-Am dealer. Minus Dog and Mike, we headed on down through the Loveland ski area, gassed up at Dillon, and headed for Fremont Pass (11,318 feet) and Leadville. We rode past the Climax molybdenum mine which had closed for several years but has been refurbished and modernized at great expense and is back in full production. We were passing bicycle all along the way, since there was an organized ride following CO-91 before turning northwest on US-24 toward Minturn. I was impressed by their tenacity and dedication.
Leadville had a detour that took us through an area east (uphill) of downtown, avoiding the street festival that had Main Street closed. Next we went up CO-82 past Twin Lakes on our way to the top of Independence Pass (12,095 feet). Steep grades and some tight switchbacks that got me vigorously passed by a BMW K1600GT and a couple of bikes that were with him. He'd pass me just as briskly going back down the hill and again as we started up Cottonwood Pass.
More pictures at the top of Independence before we headed down the hill and back to US-24, Buena Vista (pronounced "Buna Vista" by natives) and then it was up Cottonwood. This was a road I had driven years ago, but I'd never ridden it. That it made it my first new road of the day. Well, sorta' my first new road; I'll explain that later. It was a great road with mostly good pavement and not too much traffic, more superb switchbacks and a tremendous view from the top down both sides of the Continental Divide.
Back down in Bunie, we gassed up again, only this time it was both our bikes and our bodies that got refueled. We can recommend the Branding Iron as a great place to eat with superb service and a wonderful waitress who caught us before I rode off without my camera!
By this time, it was about 2PM and we knew that if we kept riding to pick up Monarch and Poncha Passes, we'd miss the dinner at the finish. Since we'd already passed up Vail Pass, we didn't mind heading Trout Creek Pass (9,346 Feet) and turning onto US-24 for Woodland Park, Deckers, and back to the finish.
The ride across the southern part of Middle Park on US-24 was amazing for how green the grass still was. We've had a lot of rain in parts of Colorado this summer. Ken and I got a break when we topped the hill at Lake George to find ourselves looking a CSP trooper in the eye. The speed limit was 35 and we were doing 55 when we saw him. But, as Ken says, maybe he was merciful because we were slowing down. We really weren't going that much faster than anyone else. East of there as we got into the curves near Wilkerson Pass (9,507 feet), we were five or six vehicles behind a pickup pulling a U-Haul trailer at 45. The driver evidently didn't know about the purpose of pull-out zones. We were able to get around after 3-4 miles, but the line behind us must have been at least a mile long by then.
Dog had caught up with us on Independence Pass but he turned right in Woodland Park while the rest of us turned north to Deckers. Past Deckers, were on Colorado-126. I had ridden this road before, but it was many years ago and before the devastating Hayman Fire of 2002. That fire was the largest in Colorado history at the time and had devastated a huge area, destroyed over 600 homes and killed several firefighters. Nature is beginning to show her powers of recovery and that was good to see. But for motorcyclists, one of the major upsides has to be that an incredible road has been built. Miles of great sweepers that were very comfortable at 65-70mph with very little traffic (except for the guy on the crotch rocket going the other direction who was doing tire-warming maneuvers using the entire width of the road -- right till he got to us, when he limited himself to using only one lane.
Before too long, we were on US-285, which is mostly either 3-lane or 4-lane all the way down the hill to C-470, the loop that goes from I-25 in the north, east to Denver International Airport and I-70, back to I-25 in the south, and on around to I-70 going west to the mountains. We took it to I-70 east and on to Prospect Park in Wheat Ridge for the finishing dinner and swag-fest.
It was a great day. Spectacular scenery and superb weather with excellent riding compadres.
I got home after riding a total of 506 miles. We'd done 381 miles on the 100K ride. It had been 15 hours and 36 minutes from door-to-door.
I calculate that our group had climbed passes whose total elevation equaled 66,382 feet. If we had added Vail, Monarch, and Poncha, we would have totaled 97,366 feet. But we would have missed great BBQ. Since none of us won any of the swag, we could have missed that part of the day, but missing dinner...
The pictures: 1) Cottonwood Pass looking toward the Atlantic Ocean; 2) Ken Malone and his new Roadcrafter in front of his new-ish FJR; 3) Ken leading me across Middle Park toward Woodland Park; 4) the top of Independence Pass; 5) us on top of Loveland Pass.
Ken and I met at a McDonalds just off I-25 yesterday morning at 6AM (well, we were both actually late, but we were late within about 30 seconds of each other!). I barely recognized Ken. I'm not used to seeing him on an FJR and he was wearing a brand-new Aerostitch Roadcrafter Lite in grey with Hi-Viz ballistics.
We rode on down to Foothills BMW (the ride's co-sponsor and the place where the owner told me way back in 1998 that I couldn't afford a BMW R1100RT after I asked him what it cost. He was right, but he told the same thing to a young man who came in a few minutes later who had a blank check in his pocket for his graduation present. The kid showed me the check, told me had every intention of buying an RT that day and he guessed it would be at the other BMW dealer. We both laughed and left. I honest can't say that I've missed owning an RT.) I will give Foothills kudos for their breakfast and for the swag they brought to the excellently catered BBQ dinner at the ride's finish.
The t-shirts and pins and route directions were handed out and we headed out. There were seven of us: Ken on his FJR, Doug on a CB1100XX Honda Blackbird, Dan on a beautiful red 2010 VFR1200, John on a shiny brand-new-looking BMW K1200GT, Mike on a bright yellow Can-Am Spyder, and Dog on an R1200GS. We rode west on I-70 past Idaho Springs and nearly to the exit for Loveland Pass when Doug pulled off at a turn-out to: 1) check to make sure where the exit for Loveland Pass was, and 2) to see how everyone was doing. After we stopped we realized there were only six of us. Ken and his FJR were missing! I told the rest of the guys to go on and I'd wait for Ken. Just as they were getting ready to leave, Ken got there. He'd had trouble getting rolling and we hadn't realized he wasn't in the group.
So off we went. The exit for Loveland Pass is just before the Eisenhower-Johnson Tunnel and winds up the side of the mountains before reaching the pass and the Continental Divide at 11,990'. We stopped for picture and, lo-and-behold, Ken wasn't with us again! But this time, he caught up pretty quickly and told us that Mike, on the Can-Am had engine problems. First was a low oil-quality warning, but it was only down a 1/2 qt. What was worse, was that the bike wasn't running well. Mike wanted to try to make it on to Loveland Pass and see how the bike was doing then, but Dog managed to convince him that he needed to head back to Denver and a Can-Am dealer. Minus Dog and Mike, we headed on down through the Loveland ski area, gassed up at Dillon, and headed for Fremont Pass (11,318 feet) and Leadville. We rode past the Climax molybdenum mine which had closed for several years but has been refurbished and modernized at great expense and is back in full production. We were passing bicycle all along the way, since there was an organized ride following CO-91 before turning northwest on US-24 toward Minturn. I was impressed by their tenacity and dedication.
Leadville had a detour that took us through an area east (uphill) of downtown, avoiding the street festival that had Main Street closed. Next we went up CO-82 past Twin Lakes on our way to the top of Independence Pass (12,095 feet). Steep grades and some tight switchbacks that got me vigorously passed by a BMW K1600GT and a couple of bikes that were with him. He'd pass me just as briskly going back down the hill and again as we started up Cottonwood Pass.
More pictures at the top of Independence before we headed down the hill and back to US-24, Buena Vista (pronounced "Buna Vista" by natives) and then it was up Cottonwood. This was a road I had driven years ago, but I'd never ridden it. That it made it my first new road of the day. Well, sorta' my first new road; I'll explain that later. It was a great road with mostly good pavement and not too much traffic, more superb switchbacks and a tremendous view from the top down both sides of the Continental Divide.
Back down in Bunie, we gassed up again, only this time it was both our bikes and our bodies that got refueled. We can recommend the Branding Iron as a great place to eat with superb service and a wonderful waitress who caught us before I rode off without my camera!
By this time, it was about 2PM and we knew that if we kept riding to pick up Monarch and Poncha Passes, we'd miss the dinner at the finish. Since we'd already passed up Vail Pass, we didn't mind heading Trout Creek Pass (9,346 Feet) and turning onto US-24 for Woodland Park, Deckers, and back to the finish.
The ride across the southern part of Middle Park on US-24 was amazing for how green the grass still was. We've had a lot of rain in parts of Colorado this summer. Ken and I got a break when we topped the hill at Lake George to find ourselves looking a CSP trooper in the eye. The speed limit was 35 and we were doing 55 when we saw him. But, as Ken says, maybe he was merciful because we were slowing down. We really weren't going that much faster than anyone else. East of there as we got into the curves near Wilkerson Pass (9,507 feet), we were five or six vehicles behind a pickup pulling a U-Haul trailer at 45. The driver evidently didn't know about the purpose of pull-out zones. We were able to get around after 3-4 miles, but the line behind us must have been at least a mile long by then.
Dog had caught up with us on Independence Pass but he turned right in Woodland Park while the rest of us turned north to Deckers. Past Deckers, were on Colorado-126. I had ridden this road before, but it was many years ago and before the devastating Hayman Fire of 2002. That fire was the largest in Colorado history at the time and had devastated a huge area, destroyed over 600 homes and killed several firefighters. Nature is beginning to show her powers of recovery and that was good to see. But for motorcyclists, one of the major upsides has to be that an incredible road has been built. Miles of great sweepers that were very comfortable at 65-70mph with very little traffic (except for the guy on the crotch rocket going the other direction who was doing tire-warming maneuvers using the entire width of the road -- right till he got to us, when he limited himself to using only one lane.
Before too long, we were on US-285, which is mostly either 3-lane or 4-lane all the way down the hill to C-470, the loop that goes from I-25 in the north, east to Denver International Airport and I-70, back to I-25 in the south, and on around to I-70 going west to the mountains. We took it to I-70 east and on to Prospect Park in Wheat Ridge for the finishing dinner and swag-fest.
It was a great day. Spectacular scenery and superb weather with excellent riding compadres.
I got home after riding a total of 506 miles. We'd done 381 miles on the 100K ride. It had been 15 hours and 36 minutes from door-to-door.
I calculate that our group had climbed passes whose total elevation equaled 66,382 feet. If we had added Vail, Monarch, and Poncha, we would have totaled 97,366 feet. But we would have missed great BBQ. Since none of us won any of the swag, we could have missed that part of the day, but missing dinner...
The pictures: 1) Cottonwood Pass looking toward the Atlantic Ocean; 2) Ken Malone and his new Roadcrafter in front of his new-ish FJR; 3) Ken leading me across Middle Park toward Woodland Park; 4) the top of Independence Pass; 5) us on top of Loveland Pass.
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