Summer 2014: the Colorado High Country

The new year brings anticipation of the rides I want to take this year. Last night, my good friend Eddy came by and we started discussions. We've decided to spend a week in July at altitude in Colorado. The exact route has not been nailed down, but we will hightail it from the Permian Basin to Pueblo, CO the first day. That is about 530 miles according to Google Maps.

After that we will reduce the number of miles each day to around 200 to allow us to enjoy the rides, take photographs, and reduce the strain on our 60+ year old bodies. The second day I want to ride to the top of Pike's Peak. When Deb and I last visited Colorado Springs we attempted to go up, but rain at the base of the mountain was a couple feet of snow at the summit. We were turned away by Forest Rangers about half way up the hill. I sincerely hope the weather is good because I want to spend a lot of time in the high passes and summits available to motorcycles in the summer.

After Pike's Peak we will ride the Peak-to-Peak highway, Colorado 119 and 72, up to Estes Park.

 From Estes Park to Leadville for the next day's ride.

The fifth day will be a stunner. Leadville to Independence Pass, Carbondale, then south to Hotchkiss and finally down to the Black Rock of the Gunnison and finish the day in Gunnison.

The sixth day has us go over Cottonwood Pass to Buena Vista, then south on US-285 to Taos,  and end the day in Las Vegas, NM.

The seventh day we head for home.

Some housekeeping

I've been stuck in the house the last few days while workers shuttle through putting a new roof on and fixing the ceiling after we discovered water damage due to the old roof. But it was a chance to get my summer ride recorded on the blog.

One issue left over from the summer was the oil leak from the front forks. I picked up the leak while riding through road repairs in Yellowstone on the way up to Canada. I tried to get it repaired up there, but the Ducati dealership in Saskatoon didn't have the parts. On the way back I tried to get it repaired in Albuquerque, but they didn't have the right size fork seals either. And they suggested it wouldn't be covered under warrantee. Does it seem strange that this would happen to an adventure tourer with less than 3K miles on it?

Shortly after getting back, I was up for the 7,500 mile maintenance. I live in the black hole of Ducati dealerships. The Albuquerque, El Paso, Austin, and Fort Worth dealerships are all roughly 350 miles away from my home. I had planned on returning to Albuquerque since my aunt lived there and I could get free lodging overnight. But I didn't feel appreciated as a customer there. And my wife was going to Austin on business, so I could spend the night with her while Trigger was getting all his innerds checked. I also decided to upgrade the suspension CPU. Ohlins recently introduced a semi-active suspension upgrade similar to the Skyhook suspension introduced on the 2013 Multistrada. This is only $300 and is just a plug-and-play installation.

The ride into Austin was great. I got to ride RM-1431 from just west of Buchanan Lake, through Mable Falls, and ends at U.S. 183 in north Austin. It has some of the best twisties in Texas. I had called ahead to schedule my maintenance and it turned out to be one of my better ideas. The maintenance manager was able to determine the leaking fork seal was covered under warrantee, had the Ohlin's CPU in stock, and a technician ready to get on the bike right away. I didn't arrive until nearly 4 p.m., so I wasn't expecting to get Trigger back until the next day. So Amanda, the sales associate at Ducati Austin gave me a ride to the hotel where I was staying with my wife. Austin Ducati makes me feel their appreciation for my business. I don't know if it was because I bought my Multistrada from them, or if they are just more appreciative of my business, but now I won't take Trigger anywhere else for service.

The next day I was told the front tire was nearly unusable. I might be able to get home, but I'd need to ride carefully. So I went ahead and had a new Pirelli Scorpion Trail on the front. While this was going on I was getting bored so I asked Amanda if I could test ride a Hyperstrada while I was waiting. Bingo! Why of course I could. I'm a valued customer! I flogged that little beast around Austin for a couple hours. It is a miniature version of the Multistrada. It would handle dirt better because it is lighter, but it wouldn't be much good for distance touring. The seat is not going to provide adequate support for a 500 mile/day trip.

Well, I got Trigger back later. But it was already getting dark, so back to the hotel for the night. I found covered parking at the hotel in the corner where no cage driver could damage it except purposely. Locked down, I felt Trigger was safe for the night and my wife and I took in some fine dining and a movie. The next morning we both left Austin at first light. My wife flew Southwest back to Midland while I retraced my route coming into Austin, including RM-1431.

I haven't done much riding since then because the weather has been ugly. But I get out at least once a week so I don't have to winterize Trigger. It looks like this weekend may be nice. I've heard of a group of riders that congregate at a convenience store/gas station in Odessa on Sundays. This might be the time to get out of the house now that the repairs are finished.

Rock Chalk, y'all!

Albuquerque to Andrews: Lessons Learned

The weather continued to be dicey. With morning cool and breezy and thunderstorms picking up in the afternoon. The ride to Cline's Corner was quick. And then south, all the way to Artesia before heading back east toward Hobbs and then Andrews. I could see the storm clouds building in the southwest all day. And when I got to Eunice I pulled out my iPhone and pulled up the Hi-Def Radar app. It should two cells of thunderstorms moving from south to north across my path home. The first one was tracking a little further west than the second. The first would cross my path half way between Eunice and Andrews, while the second was bearing right down in Andrews. I caught the tail end of the first storm, and just made it into the garage before the second struck.

Home at last!

It's been an adventure. A lot of lessons learned on the ride:

          Don't go off the paved roads if it looks like rain.

          Keep some slack in your plans so you can ride around the weather.

          Keep everything strapped down tight in waterproof bags. The Ortlieb Dry Bags worked perfectly.

          Put the items most likely needed while on the road at the top of the stack. And the item most needed will always be your rain suit.

          The GPS is a lifesaver....literally! I would still be lost in Owl Creek Canyon if it hadn't been for the GPS. And it guided me to my motel in every strange city I stopped for the night.

          Book all your motel rooms in advance. Don't rely on Providence to provide you a motel room when you need it. You have to get off the road before the critters come around.

         Ibuprofen is the rider's best friend. Take two every four hours to keep all the aches and pains at bay. It is much more enjoyable when you don't feel your age any more than necessary. Whiskey and a hot tub are your next best friends at the end of the day. When booking your room, spend a couple more bucks to get a motel with a hot tub.

         Don't forget to pack your swimming trunks in a ziplock bag. In fact, pack everything in ziplock bags, then in the Ortlieb bags. It is easier to get items out if everything is in its own bag.

The most important lesson is never stop riding! If $2 of gasoline is as therapeutic as $200 of counseling, then two weeks on tour is liking finding the fountain of youth. When non-riders tell you your crazy for riding a motorcycle, tell them your sanity depends on riding a motorcycle.

Las Vegas and an unexpected stop in Albuquerque.

This was supposed to be the final day of my tour. I was getting a bit saddle sore. So I thought I'd stop at PJ's Motorcycles in Albuquerque to have the oil leak in the front forks that had been nagging me since Yellowstone looked at. The repairs manager was a nice enough guy, but did not think the leak was covered under warrantee. He said it was a "consumable" and I would have to pay for it. Fortunately, he didn't have the right fork seal to replace mine, but said I was safe to ride Trigger home and get the seal replaced at a later date. But he did point out my rear tire needed to be replaced. I thought it looked pretty good, until at closer inspection, there was some bare areas. I had planned on getting Pilot Road 3s put on for the next set of tires, but PJ's did not have any in stock. So I put another Pirelli Scorpion Trail on the rear.

By this time it was getting late, so I booked a room at the local Motel 6 just down the road. I  used Booking.com and got the room for $15! For only $15 I'd sleep in a locker. But it was a decent room, clean, and right next to a Waffle House. I felt like Tin Cup having breakfast there.

The positive side of this unscheduled stop was the opportunity to spend the afternoon with my Aunt Daisy. I had not seen her since my mother's funeral in January.

Colorado Springs to Las Vegas, NM

By morning the sky around Colorado Springs looked much more inviting.

After loading my gear on Trigger we headed south on I-25. It was not going to be an adventure today. Just 250 miles of four lane slab. The rains from the previous two days had driven the temperatures down, so riding was pleasant, albeit, boring. North of Las Vegas I pulled into a rest stop and found good examples of xeroscaping that might be useful at home.

After I left the rest stop I noticed storm clouds building to the west and my aversion to adverse weather was again building.

Fortunately I made it into Las Vegas before the storm crossed my path. And these storms stayed north of town so Trigger didn't get wet. I was a little peeved that the Holiday Inn Express would not let me park Trigger under the overhang in front of the hotel. This was the only motel on my trip that did not extend that courtesy. I'll remember that when I book reservations in the future. I did find excellent food and beverage in Las Vegas. Anyone going through the town should hit Dick's Pub and Restaurant, 705 Douglas Ave. The smothered burrito was to die for... and I probably will.

Abort, Abort, Abort...Fort Collins to Colorado Springs

The plan for this section of the ride home was to take the Peak-to-Peak highway south out of Estes Park. But the traffic started backing up on the ride out of Loveland to Estes Park. Then clouds started building up and I worried I get into heavy weather in the mountains. It was bad enough the previous day on the Interstate Highway. I did not want to deal with this kind of weather when I could end up going off the side of a mountain. So I turned around and headed back to Loveland and I-25, then south through Denver and finally my motel in Colorado Springs.

This shot from my motel winder of Pike's Peak shows the weather I rode through even to get to Colorado Springs.

This weather eventually turned into the huge floods Colorado suffered from in August 2013. Here is a picture of the damage to the road I was riding up to Estes Park before I decided to turn around.

Another catastrophe averted because I kept an eye on the sky. Next year I'll try this again. But my ride through Owl Creek on the way north served as a warning to me. Riding in the rain is another level of hazard. Don't take on more than once hazard at a time.

Belle Forsche, SD to Fort Collins, CO

This was a varied day. It started out beautiful. The Black Hills were bathed in sunshine. It was a perfect day to ride.

I was a bit jealous of the people hanging around for Bike Week, except the longer I was in Spear Fish Canyon, the more crowded the road became.

 I did not want to relive the parking lot experience from Yellowstone, so I motored through Spearfish Canyon and rejoined U.S. Hwy 85 heading west out of the park.

I stopped at Four Corners for gas and a convenience store sandwich. The Harley riders coming in from the south were starting to congregate there and that was attracting the local and state police. Oddly, they did not seem at all interested in the old white guy on the Ducati. The gendarmes seemed most interested in eye-balling the wannabe badasses. After talking to a few of them, it appeared most were middle class blue collar family guys out of Denver. They leathers still squeeked. And I had miles to go before I sleep. So back on the road south.

The ride from Four Corners to Lusk was much the same as the previous day's ride from Willingston to Belle Forsche, except I was meeting riders headed north rather than south. But the landscape was pretty flat and boring except for just north of Lusk. I was looking for gas but the town's one gas station was backed up nearly a mile with Harley riders with the same idea. I grabbed a sandwich and headed for Guernsey to the south as I had enough fuel to make it there. Apparently no one takes WY270 into the Black Hills because it was largely deserted. Three gas stations greeted me in Guernsey and prices were substantially lower than in Lusk.

I headed over to I-25 after leaving Guernsey for the final leg into Fort Collins. The sky started to darken ahead of me, and I pulled over to put on my Roadcrafter as it looked likely I was about to get wet.

I got a lot more than wet. I got hailed on. About 2 miles down the highway from where this picture was taken it started raining, then shortly after hail started coming down. I thought with the armor in my suit and the helmet, I could withstand it, but it was not going to happen. I pulled over to the side of the road, still on paving. Someone in a SUV pulled over behind me and turned on the SUVs 40-way flashers because there were still lots of vehicles, including 18-wheelers, flying by us. I tucked my head and wrapped my arms around my chest to maximize the protection from the shoulder armer and helmet. I still got several bruises on my arms from hailstones. The hail seemed to last forever, but once it let up, the rain and wind continued pretty hard. Since I was getting close to Laramie, I thought I try to make it to a truck stop and get out of the weather.

Once I got into the Pilot Truck Stop in Laramie I was able to strip off the Roadcrafter and get some hot coffee. I got to talking with a guy riding a BMW R1200 from the south. He said there were tornado warnings in the area. I expect I rode right through them when I was in the hailstorm.

The ride into Fort Collins was uneventful except when I arrived at the motel I found the parking lot completely flooded. I was able to find a little high ground in the back and parked Trigger for the night. After the hailstorm, I decided to order in pizza and warm up in the hot tub.

When you are having an adventure you complain about the conditions and worry about your safety and the condition of your motorcycle. It only takes a day or two for the anxiety to turn into pride of accomplishment. It makes a great story to tell your friends after you have successfully navigated your way through the situation.

Willingston, ND to Belle Forsche, SD

The sky was grey when I left Willingston. The oil field traffic reminds me of my home in the Permian Basin of west Texas. Fracking has opened up North Dakota and it is almost impossible to find a motel room in western North Dakota. The motel I stayed at was so new it showed up as a corn field on Google Earth. South of Willingston, US Hwy 85 skirts the eastern edge of the Little Missouri National Grassland and the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I stopped in a greasy spoon somewhere in this area. The staff were friendly and the food was passible. It seems to be the norm for road food. Unless you've gotten a recommendation for food, you won't likely find better on your own. I chose this one because there was a motorcycle already parked in front. I expected to talk about the road, but it was a young couple on their way to Sturgis for Bike Week. It dawned on me I was riding into Metric Motorcycle Hell! Fortunately, coming in from the north meant the bikers I ran into were coming from Canada. There isn't any mean in Canadian DNA. I actually got compliments on Trigger from a group of a dozen or so Harley riders at a gas station in Belfield, ND.

As I got closer to Belle Forsche the sun started peaking out and it warmed up enough to start shedding some layers. I had a room in the Motel 6 on the main drag through town. The were up to there ears in cruisers. At the front door was a bucket of rags, soap, and 5-gallon buckets to wash you bike. I took the opportunity to clean some bugs off Trigger and clean and lube the chain. A couple of cruiser riders came by and asked some questions about Trigger. Apparently Ducati is not a name widely known amongst the Bike Week enthusiasts. They were surprised that I was riding such a long trip. Many of them trailered their rides until they were about 100 miles from the Black Hills, then unload them and ride like they were real bikers the rest of the way. This is not the first time I've run across these wannabe bikers. But hey, to each his own, I guess. A steak house across from the motel provided a decent meal, and I was engaged by more Harley riders because I was wearing a Ducati t-shirt. I think Ducati needs to start paying me as Ambassador to Bike Week.

The long ride has me pretty worn out today. It is amazing how much energy gets drained by shivering. I should have layered up earlier in the day. I turned in early hoping to get an early start and beat the Harley's through Spearfish Canyon. I'll have some nice pictures there.