Ride Reports > Dual Sport Ride Reports
Adventure Touring on a Concours?
HawkGTRider:
I have great memories of places I've chanced upon. Three Sisters sounds like one of those places.
NinjaBob:
Our 397 mile (mine Tony's was a bit shorter) from Colorado City to Glenwood Springs proved pretty exciting. The route included a scenic dirt section that Tony wanted to ride. The forecast was for frequent rains showers and I was glad I had an alternate paved route loaded in my Zumo. We headed northwest through San Isabel National Forest on CO 165 then west on CO 96 and nortwest again on 69 to Cotopaxi where we stopped for a break at the Cotopaxi Store. From there we continued northwest on US 50 to Salida then US 285 north to Buena Vista. This is an awesome route I have ridden selveral time on my way MSTA STAR in Avon, CO, continuing north on US24 to I-70 just east of Avon. We stopped at on overlook near Cottonwood Pass for some pictures. I climbed a steep, rock strewn path to get this one.
This time at Buena Vista we went west on County Road 306, again through San Isabel National Forest. We climbed Cottonwood Pass, elevation 12,126 feet. The temperature dropped into the 50s. We were now in Gunnison National Forest following the Taylor River on County Road 742. At Almont we turned north on CO 135.
Note: I labeled the first photo erroneously as US50. My memory is lousy so I was using my my Zumo tracks to try to identify photo location, trying to estimate tracklog timing. Well, that is was not accurate. The photos were taken with my smart phone, which also has a GPS. I discovered that the phone stamps the photos with Latitude and Longitude coordinates. I plugged these into Google maps and Google located the photos on the map.
NinjaBob:
At Crested Butte we went west on county Road 12 and soon came to a an uphill dirt road. It looked damp and I spotted a few muddy spots. I told Tony I did not want to ride it. Tony went ahead and I switch my Zumo to my alternate paved route. However it turned out we were not actually at the location we were supposed to be so my route was not working and Zumo said I was off route and wanted to recalculate. I backtracked on 135 to US 50 but when I got to CO 92 Zumo failed to make the turn and continued on UD 50 toward Montrose and Delta instead of Hotchkiss This would have taken me 80 miles out of my way. Luckily for me I soon came to a major road blockage due to construction. After no movement in either direction a couple of car drivers got out and went up to talk to the flagman. They returned to their vehicles, pulled out of like and left. Seeing that I decided to do the same. I hit Zumo's "DETOUR" button! I had never tried this before and was not expecting it to work but it did! It put me back on the correct route across the Gunnison River onto 92. 92 proved to be one of the best roads on the trip! At Hotchkiss I turned northeast on CO 133 follwing the North Fork Gunnison and Crystal Rivers, beautiful scenery.
By the time I reached Carbondale and CO 82, the final leg to Glenwood Springs, the rain had started and at times it was comming down pretty hard. I reached Glenwood Springs at rush hour and was stuck in stop and go traffic. I finally reached the Hanging Lake Inn about 5:30, tired and damp but intact. Tony and I donned our rain gear and walked to a nearby Taco truck. We enjoyed some delicious Tacos at a picnic table under a tent. The Hanging Lake Inn had comfy front porch with a great view. All and all another great day despite the rain.
NinjaBob:
The next day's 295 mile ride began with a scoot east on I-70 to Eagle for a breakfast stop at the Eagle Diner where I had a scrumption breafast scramble. Then a little more on I-70 to Wolcott and CO131 a nice sweeper road I recall riding during a couple of STAR event at Avon, CO. At Tonopas we to 134 east and then US 40 north. We continued north on sv eral Colorado highways to the Wyoming border and Medicin Bow National Forest. We enjoyed some beautiful mountain scenery and stopped for some photos of the Snowy Range, west of Centennial.
We spent the night in Laramie with a nice meal at an Applebees.
NinjaBob:
Thursday, August 18 would be a fun and rewarding day for adventure touring. We rode south and crossed back into Colorado and soon were on unpaved Larimer County 103. We soon came up on about a dozen horses standing in the middle of the road and as we approached they didn't budge! They were pretty close to blocking the road with just about a bike and a half width to get by. I stopped to see if they would give me more room. Instead one came right up to me and started sniffing my attractive and sporty CopperDawg windshield. Not only was this horse fearless, he had good taste. After sniffing a bit he raised his head and just stared at me. I reached over and rubbed his ears a bit. THis is apparently what he wanted all along and after getting a nice rub he backed off a bit and I went on my way.
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