Pushing Our Luck Tour 2017.09

A direct and colorful rider friend said to me, “Ride the Rockies in September? Cross 16 passes over 9,000 feet, 5 over 10,000 feet!? Are you nuts!” We are pushing our luck weather-wise in late September 2017. Mountain riding has its own special brand of risks: Deer; Logging trucks; Short sight lines; Even shorter passing lanes; and Distracted motor homes to name a few. Mountain riding in late September adds: Snow; Ice; Rain; and freezing temperatures to mix … sauce for the goose. And on this trip, we are renting bikes from Eagle Rider, a first for me.

We stop at Wind River Pass to admire the view. Returning to the bikes, a family stands admiring and photographing them; mother, father and attractive probably-18-year-old daughter. I smile at them and lie, “we’re from BMW and there’s a fee to photograph the bikes.” “What’s the fee,” they ask? I say, “I need a picture of your daughter sitting on my RT.” Without a moment’s hesitation, she climbs up on the seat, agile and confident, I snap an iPhone photo, and she hops off with equal agility. They are from Cuba. We chat briefly in Spanish and go our separate ways. I’ll never wash that seat again!
Clean Cozy Rooms – Westerner has no pets, no Wi-Fi, no AC, no smoking, no cooking, no cleaning fish or game in the rooms (this is Granby Mister.) Although we have a reservation, they have no recollection of it and it’s hunting season. Rooms are scarce. My fearful wallet is surprised when we get their last room for $48. A clean cozy bargain.

On the advice of a friend and former riding buddy, we ride through the Rocky Mountain National Monument, a spectacular road with dramatic deep canyon scenery. Well worth the diversion.
Half way along our route I lead us around a fast curve and encounter caution signs: Loose Gravel; Pavement Ends; and Motorcycles Use Extreme Caution! The only time I’ve gone down on a motorcycle was when I was tossed 20 feet from the high-side of my Ducati ST3 in a layby covered in soft pea gravel. Bluntly, I like clean pavement under my tires. I have a white knuckle fear of gravel; irrational but nothing some rider training wouldn’t fix. I slow and transition from beautiful, safe pavement to hard packed gravel. Not a graceful transition, but I settle in and we ride the mile or so of construction detour uneventfully. Later in the day I say to Mike, “I think I handled that pretty well, don’t you?” He replied, “From behind you, it looked effortless to me.” Maybe I should lighten up on myself a little.

NOAA weather calls for clear skies and overnight lows of 23 degrees on the million-dollar-highway. We delay our start lingering over breakfast until 10:00 when the thin sun is warming our route just enough to continue. We ride uphill over Coal Bank Pass, Molas Pass, and Red Mountain Pass (11,018 feet.) The Aspens are brilliant, the skies cerulean, with frozen snow on the shoulders and trees dusted white.

The temperature is 34 degrees. The road down to Ouray is somewhat challenging but well within our and our bikes comfort zone.