Another Epic Colorado Ride: 2022

[redfjniner]

Another Epic Colorado Ride: 2022

This ride was kind of a reverse of a 2015 ride I did, only different. Here is a quick summary of daily rides. 

Day 1: Doug, my friend, road to French Glen, OR and stayed in the Hotel there and reported a fantastic ride and great place to stay and eat.  I had rode to Incline Village, NV a few days prior.

Day 2: Doug continued on to Ely, NV and reported a good ride. I met him in Ely as I was coming from Incline Village, NV. I rode across Hwy 50, the loneliest highway in the US, from Carson City to Ely. Hwy 50 is sometimes boring, and sometimes great fun as you pass over many mountain ranges and across flat valleys. The wind from the South at 20mph made for an interesting day.

Day 3:  We left Ely and rode to Green River UT on this day, across more of NV and UT, which had similar mountain and valley topography. Winds of 25mph steady and 50 mph gust. Many areas of blowing dust, which we passed through two such dust clouds that cut visibility to as little as 30 feet, which made it so Doug lost site of me when we were down to 20mph, while we both were praying that the fog line didn’t also vanish. It was great to ride through the Capitol Reef Nat. Park and admire God’s ever lasting beauty, amassing varying rock formations, colors and magnificent vistas. We stopped in Hanksville for an early dinner and posed with John Wayne for a picture.

Day 4: We left Green River headed for Colorado Nat. Monument. The road up to, through and down from the upper mesa is awesome. The scenery is Awesome. This would have been enough for any day ride on a motorcycle, but we continued on to CO Hwy. 141/145, taking us from Grand Jct to Cortez Co. 141 is less traveled because it has US 550 just to the east, although a magnificent scenic road, it has too much traffic,  while 141 has almost no traffic, which make for a great motorcycle road. Not only no traffic, fantastic canyon walls, lovely small farms and ranches, a river, remains of a flume, oh, did I say Awesome beauty? It started to rain 30 miles out of Cortez, stopped 20 miles out and we were pretty much dry when reaching Cortez.

Day 5: We had been watching the weather for days and knew that this day may have some scattered thunder showers. Little did we know that they would all occur while we were on the Million Dollar Highway through one of the most beautiful mountain ranges of the Rocky Mts. And not only rain but we couldn't even see the mountains just a few miles/or was it meters away as we rode it through clouds, thick clouds. It cleared up just North of Ouray. We stopped to shed our rain gear in Ridgeway under sunshine. That event was only 60 miles but took a couple hours, as it was very technical riding in extreme conditions. Afterwards, we kind of liked it because we felt we had climbed a mountain and concurred it. We continued on to the Black Canyon Nat. Park, which was OK but not as grand as the Grand Canyon. While there, we talked to a couple that recommended we ride down to the bottom and visit the Dam. We did, and o-boy, was that fun. No traffic to speak of and never a straight-a-way, turn after turn. If you weren't starting a turn, you were ending one and at least a 10-12 percent grade. It was also 20 degrees warmer down there. A much different feeling look up at the walls of the canyon then looking down into them. We had more fun roads that ended in Lake City. Our reservation somehow got cancelled and the lady at the lodge found us a cabin at the other end of town. It was better and saved us about $40. More beer to drink. Happy Face.

Day 6: So far we have visited six of Colorado’s best parks and highways, how could it get better? We altered the route by omitting going East and decided to backtrack over hwy 149 to Gunnison for breakfast and then head back west on Hwy 50 to Blue Mesa Dam. Hwy 92 is one of my all time favorite roads in the US. It is unbelievable that we broke it down into three sections to admire the view points, Pioneer Overlook, Morrow Pt. Overlook and the remaining twisties; only 30 miles total but all awesome. We did the North Bank View Pt. Of the Black Canyon and liked it better. It required you travel over 12 mile total of gravel, in and out. It was hard packed and easy. We got gas in Hotchkiss and headed north on hwy 133: Doug loved this road, as it was high speed sweepers.  Doug lead this sections and I tried to keep up. WHAT FUN. Great food that evening at a little old fashion hamburger joint, where you sit outside. Just like in the old days.

Day 7: Yesterday was 3 great road, each different and fun in a different way, and the scenery changed for each of those sections. What can we do to improve this? I might as well go home, I’m totally satisfied with what we have already done. We alter the route some and head out on I-70 going East for 42 miles and exit on Hwy 131 North, then 134 to Kremmling. I don’t know what I’m going to do with Doug, these high speed sweepers have swept him off his feet. We have to pass on the Rocky Mtn. Nat. Park, because we don’t have reservations.  We looked at the map and found another road, hwy 125, which goes to the Continental Divide.  Another Dream road, high speed sweepers. Doug’s Gold Wing is purring. We get bank on US 40 and make our way south and end going over Berthoud Pass. This pass has two lanes going up hill and one down. It was grate as you could pass at speed. Dinner was serenaded by Clear Creek in Georgetown.

Day 8: We like Berthoud Pass so much we decided to do it again this morning. Up and down, turn around and up and down again. I could have gone back to the motel and felt like I hit pay dirt already, but no we had a plan. We had scheduled Guanalla Pass, which is directly South out of Georgetown. If you can find the road out of town. Luckily we had GPS and followed it, something you may never want to do, especially if it looks like someone’s driveway and this one did. We started up this unmarked road, no center line or fog lines, and admired the beauty and simplicity of the road, but had to stop at a natural rest area to water the plants. Ready to go and to our surprise a car came by and o-my- gosh, it was a Honda S2000, and we know a little bit about that car. So we chased the S2000 to the top of the Pass. The driver pulled over and we stopped by his side. He asked “is there a problem?” After explaining our enthusiasm with his car and how we felt at home chasing him up the hill, as one of us does the same with a red S2000. He became very talkative and friendly. Going down the other side of the pass, the ten miles of gravel has now been beautifully paved and Awesome, need I say more? Doug found another road off of Butler’s Map, that indicated rough surface, but due to Doug’s enthusiasm and belief that it has been improved, we take this county road 77 down to US24.  It turned out to be a gem, the speed limit is 40mph, which keeps cars from using it, as you can take the main roads and get to your destination in less time.  Co. road 77 is a winner and can be done in way less time than the main roads. We go on down to Cripple Creek, which is turning into a gambling town, with massive large gambling casinos. The road was great to and from and we had fun. On to Pikes Peak. We aren't going to do Pikes Peak again. But the road from there to Colorado Springs is a fun 4 laner.

Day 9: Can we beat any of the previous days? Maybe, maybe not. We head out of Colorado Springs on that same fun 4 laner, back to Woodland Park where we pick up hwy 67 to Deckers, Awesone. Then 126 to Silver Springs, beautiful, and US 285 to Conifer, busy, then 78 to Evergreen, to many homes and you really need to ride slower, then 74 to 103. 103 is the high point of the day, no traffic absolutely beautiful, both technical, twisty, sweepers and just plain out of this world, like we have at home in Oregon. Trees, mountains, lakes, something new around every bend. We arrive at the entrance to Mt. Evans, highest paved hwy in the US. But decide not to enter because they too want you to have a reservation, instead we jump on I-70 and head home, ending in Vernal UT for the night. We left I-70 at hwy 9 and headed to Kremmling, then US 40 to Steamboat Springs, Craig, Dinosaur and then Naples UT for the ride out of Colorado. It wasn’t all awesome, just the morning ride. I would ride to Colorado to just do 103 again and I have done it 3 time now. The Sure Stay by Best Western in Naples has rooms with small kitchens, nice if you need to warm something up or use a full size refrigerator.

Day 10-11-12: Doug took off early 5:30-6:00 am on day 10 and rode home, reducing the 3 days to 1. He did it in one day, traveling 930 miles. He did this by crossing over UT into WY, back into UT then through ID and OR on I-84. I chose to grab a few GT chkpts at Arco, Ironside, Mitchell and Rhododendron. You can image the route I took which also included Mountain Home, Vale, John Day, Fossil, Maupin, Sandy and Home. Doug weaved his way through freeway traffic and had a good time doing it. Ya for Doug. Now if that were Mick Klinman, he would have ridden around the block until he got 1000 miles. My ride was more exciting, not that I would want you all to have this kind of excitement. First Garmin suggested a shortcut in Garden City UT. The traffic was thick and it was hot, and the road was paved, so I bit, only to find the it turned to hard packed gravel. No problem, I continued, then it turned to 2-track. It’s not much further, so I gave it a go.  Don’t do this, it is a bad idea. Needless to say I was laughing at that stupid decision after I fell over. Jim Geddes says: “Stand up on the pegs and gas it”, Meylan says, “You need adventure tires like mine and you could have blasted up that!”, Bill says, “A nice off road landing, the bike actually looks like it has been softly laid down on it side intentionally.” Wayne Horner says, “maybe Garmin wants you to be an adventure rider”.  These are my friends responding to a Facebook post.

That happened on Day 10 going to Blackfoot ID. A Side by Side came upon me and a strong individual named Kenny, offered to help and proceeded to pick the bike up and turned it around so I could ride out. That made my day and I ended up following Google Maps the rest of the day.

Day 11: Blackfoot ID to John Day, OR. Felt good to be back in my country. Mainly US 26 all the way. Picked up Arco and Ironside.

Day 12: John Day to Home. Not to be out done by only having one Crash, I happened upon a fellow animal on Bakeoven Rd. Only this animal was a deer, and she jumped out in front of me allowing me to hit it’s hind quarter as I was finishing a corner. That was number 4 deer for me. This one managed to live and move on, although the motorcycle drew blood.  While getting gas in Maupin, the store guy offered wire ties to gather the dangling pieces of plastic together so I could go home with a tight package. Worked great.  Got home around 2:30 pm. The deer event added 2 hours to my ride.

All in all, this ride was exceptional, with great roads, great experiences, great friend to share it with and arriving home in one piece, uninjured. No broken legs.  Lesson to be learned here: “It is all good”.  The bike can be repaired and you make your adventure what it is, so make it a good one and you will be happy no matter what happens.  If anyone is interested, I can send you maps or gpx files. (Note the gpx files may not be exactly as what we did as we changed it up a little, but if you read here what we changed, you can make the changes too). Here is a Kurviger Map: https://kurv.gr/mfWs3

[Kevin R]

Wow! Great trip; I'm a little jelly. I need to get back to CO and spend more time there.  :-)

[betoney]

@redfjniner - Thanks for the great trip report.  I am hopefully going to make it back to Colorado next summer.  I was reading your report and had Google Maps open in a second browser window following along, taking mental notes.  👍

A lot of the areas you visited are also on my proposed route including Black Canyon, Gunnison, Continental Divide, Mount Evans and Berthoud Pass.  Looking back after the fact, is there any part you would do differently or any section you would leave out?

You mentioned needing a reservation to access Mount Evans, is that just to get to the summit or the entire road up there?  Where would you make a reservation?

[redfjniner]

I believe that both Pikes Peak and Mt. Evans are run by the Forestry Department, not the National Parks.  Only certain parks and locations require reservations.  Check each out as some don't.  Black Canyon was no issue.  Co. Nat. Park wasn't either.  

I wouldn't leave anything out.  My favorites are CO Hwy 141, 131, 103, 92, 133, 125, Berthoud Pass, Monarch Pass, Guanalla Pass, County Road 17 and don't want to leave out the road thru Co. Nat. Monument.  Better take your trip soon, the traffic is getting bad and good roads are not being fun anymore, such as US 550.

Did you look at the Kurviger Map?

[2and3cylinders]

I'm happy you survived and enjoyed.

Was the bodywork damage from the dirt dump or deer strike?

Would Givi case guards and SW Motorway skid plate minimized the damage?

More reasons, related info detail would be helpful.

Great trip summary is worth a reread!

[Brian]

Nice write up. I linked it to my planning spreadsheet for my next ride that will include the San Juan Skyway loop out of Durango. Will see if your trip has any side trips I might want to try.

Wish I was brave enough ride the whole time, but that long, sucky journey from Houston to the pretty west is way too little fun. 

[betoney]

11 hours ago, redfjniner said:

Did you look at the Kurviger Map?

Yes, lots of great ideas! 👍🏻

[redfjniner]

Most of the body work damage was from the deer strike.  Headlight assembly and stay, front fender, left flasher and cowling on left side.  Dump added up numbers with a gouged right fork inner tube and marring on outer tube, right flasher and saddlebag scrapes.  This is why you need to carry comprehensive insurance, less deductible, and you get to fix it right vs living with scrapes and misaligned cowling.  Here are some more pictures:

[redfjniner]

I have ridden from Vanc. Wa to Austin twice now for the MotoGP and have found this route thru Texas interesting and having fun roads too.  https://kurv.gr/uKFyH

[2and3cylinders]

Holy Moly you really got lucky in a way

 Yeah I carry comp with a relatively low to  Deductible

 You must really stiff fork Springs are compression damping because I go through 3/4 or more of the travel the way I have mine tuned and setup, which is the way it should be really

 As I previously asked would case guards have protected the body work

 Is great trip though I'm sure

[maximo]

This is fantastic! I just found out that my summer vacation plans got canceled, and I'm looking for something to fill it in. I was already thinking of going east to drop in on some family in Utah, I may just borrow your GPS file and retrace your steps! 

[redfjniner]

maximo:  Use the Kurviger map to make a gpx file or modify the route with a new start stop points, then make a gpx file.

[redfjniner]

A little follow up on cost to repair and settlement with Insurance co.:

I did a rough estimated that I could repair with $2682 for parts including Rt saddle bag.

My dealer prepared an estimate for the insurance co. and came up with: $4716 parts, $1300 labor including estimate prep., $512 taxes,  $15 shop expense:  Total $6543.  They had a few items not damaged in the deer strike, but were already there like the gas tank, front wheel around $1100.  I told the insurance come to deduct those.

The Insurance Co. saw it as a total loss, no questions asked and didn't even respond to my notice to them that the wheel and gas tank already had the paint chipped off.  They gave the bike a total value of $6937 including taxes, and offered me this less the $250 comprehensive deductible.  OR if I wanted to keep the bike $4509.  In my discussion with them, I told them I had just replaced the engine and because the odometer showed 114K, she thru in another $250 for the engine making the cash settlement of $6793 or $4759.  They gave the bike a salvage value of $2200.

I took the $4759 and kept the bike.  I have ordered replacement parts from Gresham Sports Plaza in Oregon.  Total for replacement parts is $1746.  The right side saddle bag is no longer available from Yamaha in the 2008 FJR1300 Dark Graphic color, this color was only used that year for the electric shift model.  I will have to hunt and look on Ebay for ever to find one or get another color and paint it.  I will end up with around $3000 to find the saddle bag($220-300), get custom color paint to paint them ($85), and do some over due maintenance like grease the swing arm bearing, shock lever arm bearings, head bearings, valve check, fork rebuild and shock rebuild.  Bike was due for these services.  Dealer cost would be around $2000.

You may be wondering why I didn't just take the $7000 and go shopping for a low mileage FJ 09?  First I have cruise control with the buttons in the left handle bar hub and it works fantastically, and second I have invested in Traxxion Dynamics front shocks and Ohlin rear shock, and all that would set me back another $3000 with a new used FJ09, only McCruise (AUS) doesn't provide for the FJ09 anymore, so I can't get CC for the FJ09.  And my current recently replaced engine now only has 11K on it. That's hard to beat.

Just thought you all might like to know how one of these deals goes.  I'm doing stuff to the FJR for a number of rides  I had already planned and will pretty much be removing the head bearings, forks and swing arm etc., myself in my spare time.

 

[2and3cylinders]

OK!

Woo, a lot to absorb. 

I get your rational 

I might have considered taking the $6793.  Is the bike still in your pocession or otherwise so you could have stripped it for AM parts as long as you then replaced things with OE like the shock, fork guts, and taken the McCruise, etc?  Then get a used later year Tracer that has the fully adjustable forks, CC and QS?

Or just get a T9GT or whatever?

I know it would have been hard to give up Old Red but sometimes you've got to just let go and expend what time and energy you have left on living and trying something new even though it costs you a few more shekels.