I had a sales meeting in Longmont, CO (right outside of Boulder). So I asked my Dad if he wanted to ride, of course he said YES! I am on my '08 Sprint ST, Dad on his '08 Tiger ABS.
We departed from the service station on Hwys 33/74 at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, June 22, 2009. We stopped for our first break in Woodward, OK. We ate lunch in Guymon, OK. From Boise City, OK, we rode to Clayton, NM and Raton, NM. At Raton, we picked up the dreaded interstate and rode North to Walsenburg, CO, where we spent the night in a newly renovated Best Western motel. At check-in the clerk reached under the counter and handed us some cleaning towels and a bottle of cleaning fluid to clean our bikes with! Next time out that way, we will definitely stay at that motel again!
We ate breakfast early the next morning (the motel had a cook that cooked "breakfast Burritos" VERY good (Did I say we will stay there again!). We got back on I-25 and rode North to Colorado City, where we departed the Interstate for some GOOD riding. We took Hwy 165 (one of the best mountain twisty roads I have been on) over the mountains to Hwy 96. Hwy 96 to Hwy 69--Hwy 69 to Hwy 50 and Hwy 50 to Salida, CO. Hwy 291 to Hwy 24 to Leadville, CO. Hwy 91 to I-70 and lunch in Dillon, CO. I-70 to the exit after the Idaho Springs exits and off the Interstate and onto the best high speed sweeper road, I have ridden (Note: We also picked up the rain from Dillon to near Idaho Springs). The road is the Central City Parkway (built with mostly Casino money). It is a new 4-lane road from I-70 winding up and over the mountain to the Casino town of Central City (we kinda ignored the posted speed limit signs). At Central City, we picked up Hwy 119 and rode to Boulder and Longmont, CO. Hwy 119 is a good twisty mountain road; however, we also picked up the rain again a couple of miles out of Central City.
I had meetings all day Wednesday. My Dad rode North a few miles and visited with a friend he used to work with. I had a change in work plans, and had to be in Sidney, Nebraska, for meetings at Cabela's on Thursday Morning. We left Longmont at 5:30 and rode North on I-25 to Cheyenne, WY--East on I-80 (newly resurfaced and very smoooth) to Sidney, NE, arriving a little after 8:00 p.m. Checked into a motel owned by Cabela's (Sidney is the "World Headquarters for Cabela's), and had a steak at a restaurant owned by Cabela's.
After lunch at Sidney, we retraced our route to Longmont, arriving around 3:30 p.m. We paid little attention to the 75 mph speed limit on I-80, as the trucks were running about 80 mph. We did see one Highway Patrol each way on the trip, and they paid us no attention. We spent the night in Longmont, CO; and on Friday, we retraced our route to I-70. Hwy 119 was a lot more fun in the dry weather. The Central City Parkway was fun, but not as much fun as going the other direction (up hill). We retraced our route to Salida, CO, riding through Leadville (temperature was 49 at Leadville, and the natives were walking around in shorts and T-shirts). At Salida, we picked up the rain, had lunch, and headed East on Hwy 50. Since it was raining, we did not ride the good roads over the mountains, but kept on Hwy 50 to Lamar, CO--Hwy 287 (newly resurfaced) South to Boise City. We left the rain at Lamar, CO and picked up the HEAT about 5 miles South of Springfield, CO. (It was like riding through a wall with the temperatures 15 degrees hotter on the other side. From Boise City, OK, we rode to Guymon, OK and spent the night. After breakfast the next morning we retraced our route to the service station on Hwys 33/74 (around noon) and went our own routes to Edmond and Stroud.
On the ride out, we got into the 100+ degree heat from Woodward to Clayton, NM. On the return ride we got into the 100+ degree heat from Woodward to our homes. I took salt tablets with me, and we drank lots of water to keep us sweating and cool. We both rode with mesh riding gear and summer boots that vent some to keep from toasting our toes. We used our rain gear some, and the high country was a little cool in just our vented riding gear, but we enjoyed it a lot more than the weather we left in Oklahoma.
Here is a picture of Dad's White '08 Tiger ABS and my Sprint ST in Leadville, CO almost 11,000 ft elevation.
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