www.CVOHARLEY.com

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1] 2 3 4  All

Author Topic: 4 days in heaven  (Read 6220 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
4 days in heaven
« on: July 25, 2011, 12:33:25 PM »
Had to take a business trip to Denver in June so decided to go out a bit early and ride southwestern Colorado with a buddy. Paul is my best friend from college and the owner of a small fleet of Hondas. This is one side of the garage. The other side has two CBX's and an '80s 750.

We saddled up two of the Valkyrie's and plotted a course south and west of Morrison, CO. Had 3 nights and 4 days available and no fixed address. Wanted to be sure to hit 3 sites, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the Million Dollar Highway, and Telluride. Had no reservations and didn't even know where we would spend our first night as we were thinking of heading down the freeway and over to Durango or west and south to Gunnison.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2011, 12:56:03 PM by Buy early »
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2011, 12:42:08 PM »
Spent Friday afternoon test riding the new BMW 1600 GTL and the Triumph Rocket III. That's the subject of another thread but what a way to spend a few hours!
« Last Edit: July 25, 2011, 12:53:23 PM by Buy early »
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2011, 12:53:08 PM »
Saturday morning started with breakfast and a reunion with Scott, a work buddy from my days in San Diego. We hadn't seen each other in over 10 years so it was cool to get reacquainted.  Strangely enough, he was taking delivery of a BMW 1600 GTL the following week. He joined us on his 1200 LT and we headed out 285 to Pine Junction and turned south. Scott even yielded his ride to me for about 50 miles of twisties just north of Woodland Park. Photo taken along Rte 126. You can see the haze from the fires that had been burning in Arizona during June.
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2011, 01:02:40 PM »
Headed west out of Woodland Park on Highway 24 and, lo and behold...

didn't see Cartman or Kyle but had a quick meeting with Towelie and we were on our way.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2011, 01:08:57 PM by Buy early »
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2011, 01:08:33 PM »
Scott headed back to Denver when we reconnected with 285 and Paul and I headed on towards Gunnison. Had our only  interaction with rain just outside of Poncha Springs. A 15 minute shower that was just enough to get us damp and cool us down. Got in to Gunnision around 5 and found an open room at the Western Motel. Nice, clean digs with local ownership and a parking lot full of other bikes including another Valkyrie!
« Last Edit: July 25, 2011, 05:34:35 PM by Buy early »
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2011, 01:12:35 PM »
The Motel owner, a retired Chicago Law Enforcement Officer, told us it was worth the ride up to Crested Butte so we got back on the bikes and headed 30 miles up Highway 135. We got our first major stunning surprise at the end of that road.
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2011, 01:14:20 PM »
At the end of the paved section of 135 in Mt. Crested Butte, you could turn around 360 degrees and be greeted with stunning views no matter where you looked.
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2011, 01:16:33 PM »
The Ride the Rockies bicycle race was in Crested Butte that weekend so we saw hordes of man-powered two wheelers and a football field full of tents.
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2011, 01:18:33 PM »
The ride back to Gunnison was just as beautiful as the ride up. You would really have to ride every road in Colorado both directions to get the full impact of all the possible views available!
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2011, 01:21:57 PM »
After a nice dinner in Gunnision, we headed back to the Motel to talk bikes with the 3 other groups of travelers. One of the guys had a very nice '07 SERK and two others were riding BMW adventure bikes off into the trails and back country of Colorado for a full month.

Sunday morning dawned beautiful and we headed west on Highway 50. Nice reservoirs and mountain scenery was everywhere.
« Last Edit: September 10, 2011, 10:48:46 PM by Buy early »
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #10 on: July 25, 2011, 01:23:40 PM »
A friend of mine had recommended we take the North Rim Road along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison and that turned out to be one of the best pieces of advice I have followed in a while.
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #11 on: July 25, 2011, 01:25:08 PM »
Highway 92 is flat out fantastic! Every turn reveals majestic views and spectacular vistas.
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #12 on: July 25, 2011, 01:26:39 PM »
There was precious little traffic. Mostly other bikes. We stopped several times for photos and were overwhelmed with the silence of the place.
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #13 on: July 25, 2011, 01:28:10 PM »
It was still mid morning and the photo opps were everywhere. Saw a young elk along the side of the road, many soaring birds, great clouds and, always the background of snow-capped mountains.
« Last Edit: July 25, 2011, 03:27:29 PM by Buy early »
Logged

Buy early

  • 5k CVO Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 8679
  • My future if I were Benjamin Button

    • CVO1: 2001 FXDWG2 Switchblade - The Beast
    • CVO2: 2004 FXSTDSE2 Deuce - Beauty
Re: 4 days in heaven
« Reply #14 on: July 25, 2011, 01:32:15 PM »
Tough to overstate the beauty of this place! We could have easily spent several hours just enjoying the scenery.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3 4  All
« previous next »
 

Page created in 0.237 seconds with 26 queries.