Triumphrat

HiDesert · 09-18-2007

My 675-riding friend and I left right after (ahem) work on Thursday, heading up to Chama (pretty scenery, but the only interesting curves are a little stretch around Abiquiu Reservoir), stopping for some gas in Pagosa Springs, and then it was just a few miles to the first serious stretch of the trip; Wolf Creek Pass. Here's the approach:

That's me; like the new LED tail lights? Mr. 675 said they are nice and bright. I got them right off the rack in Auto Zone.

Our ride over the pass was marred only by the capsized tractor trailer bleeding diesel on the second hairpin. I got a little rear wheel squiggle out of that, but nothing serious. All the work on Wolf Creek Pass is finally finished, and it's now a great road with plenty of room (multi-lane almost the whole way) and a great tunnel for exhaust note appreciation. South Fork is just on the other side of the pass, and there's a fantastic restaurant there owned by a man from Switzerland. A chance to use some of the German I improved (marginally) living in Vienna. The clerk at the hotel had a CBR600, and was gaga over the Daytonas and itching to come with us.

Friday morning we got up, had breakfast with a few vanloads of French bicyclists, and headed off up Rt 149. This takes you through the pretty little mining town of Creede (good mining museum in an actual mine), then past the headwaters of the Rio Grande:

Then it's over the Continental Divide - Spring Creek Pass (10898') and Slumgullion Pass (11530'). Slumgullion; now that's a name. There's a beautiful overlook just pass Slumgullion, right above Lake City:

We headed up 149 to Blue Mesa Reservoir, where it ends at Route 50. Taking that west gives you the chance to do this:

HiDesert · 09-18-2007

Route 92 is at the west end of the reservoir, and it takes you along the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnisson. One of the great roads of the trip. We followed a Goldwing and an FJR1300 for the first few miles:

After soaking in the motorcycling bliss that is the north rim, we headed on up through Crawford and Hotchkiss to Delta. We got some lunch there, meeting a guy on an Aprilia Tuono as we left the gas station/Wendys. From Delta, we headed back down the road a few miles to pick up route 65 north over Grand Mesa. There was some construction and a few delays on the route, but it was a really good road with fantastic views as we made the initial climb up the side of the mesa. We'd never done this road before, and it was really good. The best was at the north end where it approaches I70:

Once we got on I70, it was a dash across the Utah border to route 128, which takes you down to Moab along the Colorado river. Mr. 675 had driven this before, but neither of us had ridden it. It's a Gorgeous Road. A little too crowded for really spirited riding, but still fantastic:

HiDesert · 09-18-2007

Once we got to Moab, we unloaded the bikes, cleaned up a bit, and it was off to the Brewery for some Black Raven Stout. Mmmmm. The food is good, and it's all inexpensive too. Great Place:

We got up the next morning and again shared the breakfast area with a busload of French tourists. They broke the camel's back in my attempts to convince Mr. 675 that we needed to make a 60-mile detour to Dead Horse Point. That's one of the most spectacular places I've ever seen. Here I am riding across the neck of the point:

The choke point there is about 30 yards wide; what the picture doesn't show you is that the drop on either side is several hundred feet. This is one of my favorite pictures of the 720 we took over the course of the four days:

From Dead Horse Point it was back up 128 to I70, which we took back to Colorado:

We had lunch in Fruita, and then headed through Grand Junction (where we made a quick stop for me to get another memory card for my camera; the half gig card capacity was making me nervous at the photo/video rates we were maintaining).

HiDesert · 09-19-2007

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.

HiDesert · 09-19-2007

We rode the length of 141 (one of the best roads I've ever ridden, hands down - except for when taking pictures), and then headed east on 145 and 62. We parted ways with our new friend at a gas station in Ridgeway. When I grow up, I want to be just like him.

From Ridgeway, it was a simple 10-mile run down to Ouray. Here's what the view looks like for most of that stretch:

We settled into our hotel in Ouray, and put Misty and Candy to bed for the night:

We, of course, had several hours of Ouraypreciation before bed. You can get a really good Margarita in Ouray, especially if you make it very clear to the nice bartender that you want a classic, simple Margarita; none of this fancy extra ingredients cr@p, just the basics done right!

We woke up to a chilly, slightly moist feeling morning. You can tell a lot about this trip from that fact that this is the first time I've felt it necessary to mention weather at all. Here we are disentangling ourselves from the usual Triumph discussions before heading off to the mountains:

decobike · 09-19-2007

Sounds like a great trip. I'm somewhat familiar with the Fruita and Moab areas. I misspent my youth mountain biking in those areas.

HiDesert · 09-19-2007

The first few sets of twisties were dry as we headed south into the mountains, but that didn't last long. 550 is one of our standard, deeply beloved stretches, but it was wet for about 90% of the miles and miles and miles of twisties. That made for some slow going. Not as slow as the time we had to do it in the falling (and deeply accumulating) snow, but pretty slow. But going slow makes it easier to get pictures, even if the road is wet:

Here's part of some of the best twisties. All wet. I stopped and filmed the 675 negotiating this, and ended up filming about a good dozen riders taking this curve. I don't think anybody broke 30 mph.

The first pass as you leave Ouray to the south is Red Mountain Pass (11018'). Wet. Wet wet wet. Not raining though, which was nice. Rain would have kept me from getting this picture, which I'd wanted to for years:

HiDesert · 09-19-2007

This is another spot I've wanted a good picture of for years:

We're still between Ouray and Silverton at this point. We got through Silverton, over Molas Pass (10910') and Coal Bank Pass (10640') without incident, but certainly not quickly. We were rooting for the sun to do it's job on the road, but no dice until we got out of the mountains. By which time I, Mr. let's not put anything on over my mesh jacket because how cold can it really get, had teeth chattering hard enough that I expected it to activate the VOX on the radios. We stopped at the bottom of the mountain to warm up. This shows what we missed by not waiting another hour to leave Ouray:

Here's one of my tank closeup shots; I haven't put any of the others in yet, so...

We headed on to Durango, where we turned east to Pagosa Springs. We got lunch at a really good malt shop in Pagosa Springs:

HiDesert · 09-19-2007

From Pagosa Springs, we can put the bikes on autopilot, we've done that stretch so many times. It is rather pretty, though:

The dog in the back of this truck was obsessed with us; his head swiveled around as we passed him.

Here are some of the last twisties of the trip:

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. The only disappointment was the moisture and overall road quality of 550 through the passes between Ouray and Durango. It needs a good repaving.

The trip total was 1200 miles in over 4 days. We got home around the time we left, so it was really 3 days of riding time. We both could have gotten right back on on Monday morning and kept right on riding. The 955 is definitely more comfortable than the 675 for these kinds of trips (especially with bar risers), and it has much better range. The 675's light came on around 160. The earliest I've ever seen the light on the 955 is around 185 or so.

The Chatterbox FRS radios worked well - they really add a lot to a trip like this. Mine was on an elastic strap I made for the purpose. It worked well, and didn't require bolting anything to my helmet. The Shoei helmet doesn't give quite enough room for the speakers, though. I didn't take the helmet off unless I had to. I'm not as thrilled with this helmet as the conventional wisdom about Shoei led me to expect. The cheaper helmets I've had over the years (HJC, AGV, and Bioeffe - or however the heck you spell that) have been just as good in terms of build quality and venting.

The 675 was fitted with Cortech top bag and saddlebags. All soft luggage. They worked well, and were actually a little much for a trip like this. I took only the top bag from my set of Tour Master soft luggage, and it was enough. I'd have to do laundry every 4th day or so, but that wouldn't be a problem. And the 955 has enough room for a good selection of tools under the seat. I've told lots of people that this is the best bike I've ever owned, and I'm even more convinced of that after this trip. My top bag was secured to the passenger seat with 1" nylon straps that I made for the purpose. I didn't want to use the built in bungee cords because they'd rub the bodywork. The strap system I made up prevented any contact between the bag and anything but the upholstered seat. I should have balanced the weight on the outer pockets a bit better, but BFD.

The 675 was running Michelin 2CT tires, with nothing but the highest praise reported throughout the trip. Despite the runaround Michelin has given him with the recall. I had a new Pilot Sport on the front, and a Pilot Road on the rear. They were okay, but I'll probably try something different when it's time to replace this set. Maybe a pair of 2CTs, or some Battleaxe 020s.

As I said, it was a great trip. We took a total of about 720 pictures, about 150 of which are in my photobucket site; http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...tember%202007/

It was awful just getting down to 150 or so, much less choosing the subset to put in this thread. I'd love to know which you all think I shouldn't have left out!

Keep the rubber side down, anyone who's still reading!

Catenaccio · 09-21-2007

Hide,

Great pics. How do you ride and shoot! I'd be plastering myself all over the road trying to do what you do. A camera mount maybe or natural talent with a keen sense of balance and an artistic eye?