In retrospect, the music did warn me...

[betoney]

8 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

There's this winding road up the mountains on north side of Lewiston, here:

Google Maps

---

Idaho

 Those 15mph switchbacks are not easy to do at 30mph.  Silly fun road to ride, though, scraped all kinds of hard parts getting up here:

 

I have been out there many time, awesome riding.  There is a lot of similar type riding in Washington, Idaho and Oregon, not all of it is as tight or as steep, but lots of elevation changes with roads cut into the rolling hill side. 😎👍

[2WHLOZK]

You guys are making me homesick for my beloved Colo Rockies with all your Alps and switchbacks talk!  😀

 

[betoney]

44 minutes ago, 2WHLOZK said:

You guys are making me homesick for my beloved Colo Rockies with all your Alps and switchbacks talk!  😀

 

I finally made it out to Colorado last year for the first time, ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!  Beautiful scenery, good road quality and endless twisty mountain roads rising well over 11,000 ft in elevation.

I will definitely be planning another roadtrip in the future to discover more of the state.

[Wintersdark]

13 hours ago, nhchris said:

We are short on switch backs here in NH, although there are a few.

They do demand special technique and god help you if you are in the wrong gear on the entry going up..

Good practice for that trip to the Alps. 

Yup, need to be in a low gear, because your apex is at max lean and at low speed and incline, so you need to throttle out pretty hard to stand the bike up again.  Can't counterbalance in unless you're going real tame.   I love them, though, it's one of those things that's not really hard to do at all, but makes you feel like an absolute badass when you get it.  

[betoney]

59 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

I love them, though, it's one of those things that's not really hard to do at all, but makes you feel like an absolute badass when you get it.  

I love them both uphill and downhill👍   Downhill is when you really appreciate high quality, properly set-up suspension.

[2WHLOZK]

16 hours ago, betoney said:

I finally made it out to Colorado last year for the first time, ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!  Beautiful scenery, good road quality and endless twisty mountain roads rising well over 11,000 ft in elevation.

I will definitely be planning another roadtrip in the future to discover more of the state.

Hot day "down" in Denver?....no prob, just head "up"!  Took this pic near the top of Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park in August.  Temp in Boulder that day was 95+F.  At the top it was in the low 30'sF.  Break out the winter gear for a few miles.  The '99 oilhead was mine, put 75K miles on it without a single issue.

[Wintersdark]

17 hours ago, betoney said:

I finally made it out to Colorado last year for the first time, ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!  Beautiful scenery, good road quality and endless twisty mountain roads rising well over 11,000 ft in elevation.

I will definitely be planning another roadtrip in the future to discover more of the state.

I'm so stoked for Colorado.  That was supposed to be my solo trip this year, but 2020 happened.  Next year, though - next year!  

[betoney]

47 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

I'm so stoked for Colorado.  That was supposed to be my solo trip this year, but 2020 happened.  Next year, though - next year!  

Plan the route efficiently and try not to be tempted to want to 'see it all' in one trip.  Since I have limited vacation days available, I was originally overwhelmed with trying to pack in as much as possible.  I finally ended up cutting a lot of 'must see' from this trip, focusing on exploring one region, covering less miles each day and rescheduling the other parts for future return trips.

[2WHLOZK]

1 hour ago, betoney said:

Plan the route efficiently and try not to be tempted to want to 'see it all' in one trip.  Since I have limited vacation days available, I was originally overwhelmed with trying to pack in as much as possible.  I finally ended up cutting a lot of 'must see' from this trip, focusing on exploring one region, covering less miles each day and rescheduling the other parts for future return trips.

I agree that's the best way to ride Colo.  The mountains are spectacular, but they're vast with lots of roads criss-crossing the area.  Virtually impossible to properly absorb the whole state on vaca.  Even as a 14 year resident I never made it to the SW corner of the state..Durango, Telluride, etc.  Didn't miss it, though.  Way more than enough grandeur closer to home (Gilpin Couny and Denver).  Such privilege!...miss it.  Enjoy your CO trips!  Cheers.

Edited August 8, 2020 by 2WHLOZK
spelling correction

[betoney]

43 minutes ago, 2WHLOZK said:

Even as a 14 year resident I never made it to the SW corner of the state..Durango, Telluride, etc

That was the area we rode, Grand Junction, Cortez, Telluride, Durango, Silverton, Ouray.  I look forward to venturing further East next time, Gunnison, Continental Divide, Pikes Peak etc.