We headed south out of Grand Junction, and got on Rt 141. Wow. What a road. We knew our map recon had served us well when we'd been on it for about half an hour and seen five times as many motorcycles as cars. We were sailing along through fantastic scenery:
when we were passed by a distinctive-looking bike. A few minutes later, this is what I saw behind me:
The guy fell in behind us for several miles, and then passed us and headed off into the distance. We kept up (sort of - we weren't really pushing it as we were both 100% new to the road) until we saw him pull off at a gas station. So, feeling social, we stopped as well to say hi and gas up. The bike was a KTM 690 dual sport, and the riding was a really, really nice guy 40 years our senior. Significantly senior in riding skills, too, we would learn. We talked, he gave us a card with his web site and email address on it (
http://verlenelson.com), and then offered to further change his route for the day by continuing on in our direction, leading us with his knowledge of the road. We eagerly agreed, and off we went. Here we are at the station where we met:
Wow. Could this guy ride. Misty has about 3x the horsepower of his KTM, but it quickly became apparent that he was staying in sight purely because he'd agreed to. Obviously the 675 and I had him on the straights, but there weren't a lot of those... Just amazing. He'd told us he used to have a Sprint (around a year 2000 if I remember correctly), but he likes the flexibility of dual sports, and the ability to surprise squids that they offer. I'd read about what a well-ridden dual sport can do, but he showed us first hand. Did I say 'wow'? Here is part of his demonstration. Once he picked up the pace, there was no chance of taking pictures.
