Colorado ride

For about the last 13 or 14 years there is a group of us Okies that make an annual trek to Colorado for riding and romping. It started with 4 of us in tents, and over the years progressed to toy haulers, coaches and motor homes, and about 15 to 25 people. We have ridden just about every trail there is on the Western slope in the Pitkin/Taylor Park area, from Sargents to the South and North to Crested Butte. This year I wanted to ride something different. The usual gang made the trip and camped North of Tincup, but my son Kagen, my number 2 favorite riding buddy Jon Yarbourgh and myself decided we were going to camp south about 70 miles from them on the Eastern slope.

I have followed the adventures and exploits of Swapeti for some time, and I really enjoy the ride reports he posts from Colorado, Mexico and Australia. He also puts on a dandy "Street Enduro" in the OKC area that is a great ride. (something all dual sport riders will want to check out, going on right now. more on that later)

One of the guys he rides with is Bob Daniels from Salida. Bob used to live in OKC "back in the day" and raced enduros with a few guys from here. He is not only a really nice guy, but one heck of a rider and a wealth of information on the trails in Colorado. Swapeti put me on Bobs path.

We emailed back and forth dates and plans, and when the time came Bob called me and told me of some great places to camp, and suggested some preliminary loops to ride.


Between the three of us we took 6 bikes; Two KTM 200's, Two KTM LC4's, One KTM 450 XC-W and One V-Strom 650. All told we rode 12k mountain tops, lots of passes, black dirt single track, some jeep and ATV trails and side hill. It was freakin awesome!

Day One - 30 miles (only due to a badly broken bike)
Day Two - 85 miles
Day Three - 252 miles
Day Four - 65 miles

Favorite smell - The pines
Favorite sight - The stars at night
Favorite touch - A warm sleeping bag
Favorite sound - The stream next to our camp



More to come!

My original plan was to only take the dirtbikes. I didn't think we could take the LC4's because we had been in the middle of a waterpump rebuild on Kagens bike. We took it apart 3 times. First because I didn't get the seal installed right, second when we fixed the seal again and installed it correctly this time, and third when I left some circlips off the pump shaft. We finished it up the night before we left, and we still wasn't sure if it was put together right, but we loaded it up anyway. It was a good thing because I needed both bikes.
We pulled out on Thursday about 3pm.



We got to our first camp at about 1:30am and set up. We thought we would stay at O'Haver Lake, then look around for a primitive campsite in the daylight. This is a view of the lake from Marshall Pass Road.




We ended up finding a premo spot the next morning right next to a creek near an old townsite called Shirley. The creek was pivotal because we needed it to bathe in. You haven't lived until you clean up after a hard day of riding in snowmelt!





We geared up and headed out for our first ride. We went to the Rainbow Trailhead to start out. We had a bit of amusement when we pulled up to the trailhead and a treehugger came running over all swelled up telling us we couldn't take motorcycles on the trail. The trail is multi-use for mountainbikes, dirtbikes and hikers, and is clearly marked so. It is dirtbikers like Colorado Bob that open and maintain the trail every year. We did the neighborly thing and informed him of the error of his ways...sort of. He deflated and sulked back over to his camp.








Jon overshot a pretty tight switchback.




We got on the trailhead on the West side of the mountain range, where it hooks around at Salida. The first 12 miles of the trail was "totally orgasmic". I wish I had pictures of it, but I was to busy enjoying the ride. Once we crossed Hwy 285 the trail got a bit cobby and technical. On a long uphill climb I hit something that caused my chain to derail and smash my clutch slave. The bad part is when the chain wadded up, it also cracked my case. It sucks because I have a dandy slave guard laying on my workbench at home. duh...


We patched it up with JB weld as best we could to stem the flow of oil. There was no question I had to ride it out. Fortunately it was mostly downhill, and the bailout point was the Hwy. We made it back to camp. We cooked, we ate, we crashed. The end of day one, 30 miles.

Favorite smell - Two Stoke Smoke!
Favorite sight - That treehugger sulking back to his camp.
Favorite sound - Hearing the treehugger grumbling as he sulked off
Favorite feel   - The suspension on the rocks
Favorite taste - Dinner. Grilled sausage, grilled jalapeños and                   
                   cheese, fruit cocktail


Edited by Durtrider - 08 Aug 2010 at 10:11am

We rode to the top and came to a reeeeally steep hill climb. The picture doesn't do it justice.


Edited by Durtrider - 26 Jul 2010 at 9:51pm

Lunch on the mountain top.


This loop was really cool in that you could ride from peak to peak.





We looped back through the mountains to camp.

Looks like fun there Whitey , nice pics and report............. here's in colorado last week , rode solo and enjoyed the views as-well.

Edited by dallasdrz - 29 Jul 2010 at 8:13pm