A Little Tour in My Back Yard

[Colorado CJ]

Well, here goes my first ride report! I thought I'd start taking some pictures on my weekend rides and post them in this thread every weekend.

I live in Northern Colorado, so I have GREAT riding near year round just out my back door (don't want to make anyone jealous ).

Right now I am limiting my rides to 100-200 miles as I don't have a very good bike for longer rides. My current ride is an '80 Suzuki GS550L which I got on trade from a guy for two .22s. It was a little rough when I received it, but after alot of work, some new tires and a carb rebuild, it runs great and is a very good little bike for these mountain roads. I am planning on obtaining a V-Strom 1000 in the future (hopefully soon as my 6'4" frame is a little squished on my GS550).

Well, without further adieu, here's the report for August 17, 2008.

The plan for today was to head up to Estes Park (home to Rocky Mountain National Park) then head south on 7 and go through some old mining towns down on 72, then go down Left Hand Canyon, hit 36 and head home. This is a short ~110 mile trip, but with a tank that only runs 120 miles on a fill up (VERY small tank on the "L" models) thats just about right. This route is also mostly tight canyon roads with A LOT of curves, so that 110 miles takes about 2.5 hours of riding.

After eating a great cream chicken lunch (with mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh slaw made with cabbage from the garden and fresh corn on the cob, also from the garden) that my mom cooked, I headed out at about 2:30 p.m. The skies looked decent, so I filled up and was off. Headed up 34 though Big Thomson Canyon and hung a right at Drake (the back way to Estes). After 4 extremely tight "s" turns (roughly a 10% grade and tight), I broke through to Estes valley.

Looks like the clouds came in. Oh well, it will still be fun, but won't get the best pictures of the 14er's.

 

[Colorado CJ]

Heading down 7 out of Estes

 

[Colorado CJ]

What should have been a great picture of Longs Peak, about this time the rain started. It got pretty cold pretty quick (you can see the snow on the mountain already in August!). In went the liner in my TourMaster Transition 2 Jacket (worked great), kept me warm and dry.

 

[Colorado CJ]

Turned onto 72 and came up to Ward, an old mining town (you can see the old tailings piles (the orange dirt) through the trees. Its alot of fun to go through these old mines, there are thousands of them spread throughout these Colorado mountains.

Down Town Ward

Watch out for cattle! There are alot of areas designated "Open Range" out here. You have to be pretty vigilant, because cattle can be right in the middle of the road just around the bend! I've had a few close calls on other "open range" roads.

 

[Colorado CJ]

The sun is starting to come out!

Some nice ess turns (this little GS is really fun!)

Back out on 36 (7) heading north towards Lyons

 

[Colorado CJ]

Making my way back home

Back in the driveway ~110 miles later with only about $7.00 worth of gas burned!

Well that's it for my first installment of "Riding in My Back Yard". I'll try to make a post of my weekend rides from now on. There are countless miles of roads around here with very few cars on them, so I won't be running out any time soon.

I CAN'T WAIT to get the V-Strom though, I'll be able to explore on many more roads (tons of dirt/gravel here) with the larger bike and larger tank. I'll keep the little GS around for my friends/family to ride so they can tag along on the weekend trips.

Hope you liked it (how'd I do? ) Sorry that the pictures didn't turn out too good, you can't really predict what mother nature has in store for you.

 

[Colorado CJ]

Sorry for all the posts. Is there any way to add more than 4 pictures per post ?

 

[mriddle]

Nice pictures ..

Some folks post links to a web based photo site like photobucket ..

 

[Colorado CJ]

Thanks, that is what I did (photobucket), but when I hit submit, a message came up stating that only 4 images per post are allowed.

 

[OhioEric]

Nice!

Looks just like Ohio, except for ,

well....the scenery...^o

 

[Craiger]

Colorado CJ, you're one lucky dude! I've been in those parts on vacation and can't WAIT to get back out there someday.

Colorado, motorcycles and Jeeps. Does it get any better?

 

[ronh]

Great photos, am looking forward to seeing next week's ride! :dancing:

 

[gbw]

Wow, now I want to go to CO! I've spent a lot of time there on business but never much fun. You have a GREAT backyard. Glad you are making the most of it!

 

[emjay]

I've been out there about a dozen times. I LOVE RMNP! A few years ago I borrowed a bike from a friend and we did this loop from the YMCA:

It took all day, but was one of the best rides of my life.

 

[Guest]

i used to live in estes, actually, i worked at the ymca there....hm....nice photos, makes me miss colorado.....the wife and i are planning a move in the next year, ft. collins area is one of the spots on our list....this thread might help the decision making process!!!

very jealous.

 

[Colorado CJ]

Thanks guys, I REALLY like living in Northern Colorado. I'm sure there are other nice areas, but for me, this area has to be one of the best.

I'll be sure to post more (hopefully better) pics of this weekend's ride. I just need to find an easier way of taking the pics. It is pretty fun to be taking pics with your left hand and steering with your right hand through tight ess turns

I'll get better at it!

 

[Roadrash]

Wow,
Looks like a great way to spend a day, the best $7:00 you could spend.

 

[terrylee2u]

Very nice... sure looks like a nice ride

Hey roadrash.. nice looking ride you have there...

 

[Sandy]

Great riding territory you have there. I did the RMNP loop many years ago, truly a magnificant ride. The photos and maps make me want to go back. Thanks for sharing.

 

[skreemer]

what camera and mount set up are you using?