Steamboat!

[h2olawyer]

Well, I'm mostly packed & the bike is ready for the weekend trip to Steamboat for my 30th HS reunion this weekend.  Still need to load all the luggage & a lawn chair onto the bike.  I'll get a photo or two for posterity's sake.

I'm planning to leave around 9AM Friday, August 1.  My check-in time @ the condo is anytime after 4PM.  That gives me around 7 hours for the ride.  It's 160 miles the short way & takes about 3 hours.  However, I'll be going over Trail Ridge Road - which takes about 4 hours because of traffic - but the views are amazing.  Then a bit of wide sweeper cruising until I get to Gore Pass.   ;D  Those of you who attended the 25 year celebration last year should remember that road.  twisty & deserted - except for the truck who wanted his share of the road from Professor Rex's lane.   ::)  Total time should be close to 7 hours - including a stop in either Granby or Kremmling for lunch.

The return trip on Sunday may take me over the Snowy Range Road in Southern Wyoming.  Unless I'm feeling some ill effects from reunionizing on Saturday night.   :P  If that's the case, I'll take the "quick" 3 hour, 160 mile route.  Other than the long straights through North Park - through Walden, that's a pretty fun ride - as long as the wind isn't blowing.

I'm going to have my helmet cam running and have enough memory cards for around 7.5 hours of footage.  Not sure how long the two batteries for my Aiptek camera will last in this type of usage, though.  Since it's not running the camera portion, just recording - it shoould go for quite a while.  Definitely want to get Gore Pass & Oak Creek Canyon on video.  I already have much of Trail Ridge & all of Snowy Range Road recorded.

At the track day yesterday, I noticed my right fork seal was leaking pretty bad.   >:(  It always seeped a little bit since I put the seals in when I did the 83 brake swap& rebuilt the forks, but never dripped down the fork leg until yesterday.  Anyway, my pads on the right side were well lubed.   ::)  At least they weren't wearing out!   :D  Glad I still had the left side clean & working well.

Today, I got a pair of fork seals & some brake cleaner & went to work on the fork, pads & discs.  Everything cleaned up quite well.  Just did the right fork seal for now - to save time.  I did clean both sets of pads & both discs, though.  Will do the left fork next week after I return - just to make sure it won't leak anytime soon.  May replace the pads then as well.  However, on my test ride this evening, the bike stopped well - even in practice panic situations.

H₂O

[kwells]

yah...
I just left the top of the tubes in last time I did seals....saves time that way too...plus, would be easy to do just one that way.

[h2olawyer]

I did mine with the tube still on the bike.  Didn't take any time at all almost hardly.   ;D  Helps that I've done several before.   ;D

H₂O

[h2olawyer]

Well, I'm back home.  Safe, sound & in one piece.   :D   Best of all, the V ran fantastic the whole trip.  Friday, I got out of Ft. Collins a little before 10AM, after visiting my insurance agent.  Changed some coverages around & ended up with better overall protection for less than half of what I was paying before.   8)

Anyway, after leaving Ft. Collins, I headed South to Longmont to pick up my spare stator from Tanno.  I just wanted to be sure I had one along with the stator history on this bike the last several years.  Then on up US 36 to Estes Park, fueled up the bike & headed over Trail Ridge Road (through Rocky Mountain National Park) to Granby and on to Kremmling for another fuel stop.  The first part of the trip was HOT.  It was well into the 90s when I left Longmont.  The traffic up 36 was fairly heavy & few good passing zones.  After filling the bike in Estes Park, I headed for the less crowded Fall River entrance into the National Park.  No warning signs for the fresh (day old) chip & seal project.   >:(  ::)  Glad it was only 4 miles worth.  Still, it was riding on a gravel road for that time.  Couldn't avoid it, so I endeavored to persevere.

Then, a few miles up Trail Ridge, I ran into another long line of traffic.  I managed to pick them off several at a time in every passing zone (which are all short & far between) until I was third back from the slowpoke doing 25 (speed limit is 35) and refusing to pull over to let anyone pass.  At that point, the traffic coming the other way increased markedly & left no opportunity to get around.  It was still hot for the elevation - mid 80s @ 10,000 ft. & mid 70s above 12,000.  I was hoping to get some cool 60s up there, but no luck.

The road hog (a California SUV) finally pulled off at the Alpine Visitor's Center & I had clear road ahead of me for several miles.  I caught another slow train, but at least this was headed downhill & the bike ran considerably cooler.  Plus, they were going at or slightly over the speed limit except in the tighter twists.

I pulled off the road at the Visitor's Center at the West entrance / exit from the park to drink some water, eat a couple clementines and just generally stretch, walk around a bit & snap a couple pix of the loaded bike.  After about 15 minutes, I geared back up and continued on down the road.  Past Grand Lake, Lake Granby and on to the junction with US 40.  Turned Westerly & headed for Kremmling.  Lots of wide open road & fast sweepers with very little traffic.   ;D

Over the next 10 miles or so, I was gradually catching up to another intrepid biker.  When I got close enough, I could tell it was a newer BMW GS adventure tourer, similarly loaded to my V - soft bags, soft trunk & tank bag.  We clipped along at well over the posted limit.   :-X  Luckily, we were coming out of Byers Canyon, after a sharpish curve with a long uphill & right where the speed limit climbs from 45 to 65 - just after cresting the hill, we were going about 70 and we saw the State Trooper.  Glad we were well within their normal "margin of error".   ;D  Continued on at that speed and within another 2 miles, there was a second trooper!  In the 30 plus years I've driven that road, I've never seen two in that stretch.  Almost always one, but never two.

We reached Kremmling a few minutes later and I pulled off for another fuel stop - ninety-some miles from Estes Park, but 60 more to Steamboat & the next filling station.  I got my wallet out, grabbed mt debit card & slid it through the pump.  After entering my PIN, the message came back "card expired".   :P  D'Oh!  Used the credit card and thought about the minor fix I was in.  I had $10 in cash on hand but plenty in my checking account.  The only problem was I now had only my expired debit card & no checkbook with me.  Time to change plans.  I wanted to ride Gore Pass, but knew that would take a little over two hours to get to Steamboat that direction.  It was just after 2PM at this point & I knew I had to get to the Wells Fargo in Steamboat before they closed so I could get some cash for the weekend.

Kremmling to Steamboat on US 40 is close to 55 miles.  I was at the bank in 45 minutes.   ;D  I was pushing the pace a little, but not that hard.  If there had been any law enforcement, I would have likely been stopped, though.  Got my cash & told the teller the story of the expired card - the new one (now in my wallet) was at that moment sitting on the table right next to my recliner.   :-[

Reunion parties on Friday & Saturday nights were awesome.  Saw lots of folks I hadn't seen in over 30 years.  Some had changed very little, others were entirely unrecognizable.  Enough of that boring (to y'all) part of the trip.

Saturday, the party didn't start until 4PM, so I had a day to kill.  Got on the bike and took a ride around town to see what all had changed.  All the schools I attended have been either torn down or heavily remodeled.  Lots of the houses my friends lived in had suffered the same fate.  However, the neighborhood streets felt & looked mostly familiar.

After touring town, I headed North out of Steamboat toward Hahn's Peak.  A fun, mildly twisty road with good pavement - at least I hoped it was still good.  About a mile down that road is where the dealer I bought the V from was located.  The building isn't even there anymore.  :'(  The bike, however was running & sounding as good as I ever remember.  Guess it knew it was "home" again.   ;D

Knowing I had a limited amount of time, I only went about 15 miles or so up the road and turned around in a little town called Clark.  It's really just a general store / gas  station / post office.  Came back South toward Steamboat and instead of heading directly back into town, I took a ride out where several of my friends had ranches.  Things have changed there as well.  Lots of new barns & fancy gates.  However, lots fewer cattle.

Another 10 miles & I turned back for town, this time to stop refuel both me & the V.  The V got a tank of mid-grade Sinclair gas & I got some beef tacos & rice at a long time Steamboat restaurant called "The Cantina".  The menu has changed, but the food is still good.

Back to the condo to shower & prep for the Saturday party.  It was at a ranch South of Steamboat.  Lots of barley-pop - as in 15 kegs.   ;D  Huge commercial grilling setup & live music.  Great time was had by all.  I got back to the condo about 2AM.  Worried how I'd feel for the ride home today.  Downed a bunch of water & took a couple of aspirin, just to help the morning come along a little more smoothly.

This morning, I was up & about before 8AM.  Felt a little slow, but otherwise in much better shape than I anticipated.  Check out time was 10AM, so I got everything packed, loaded and cinched down.  I was a little late vacating the premises, but they said I could have stayed there for a few hours if I'd wanted to.

Anyway, about 10:30, I was back on the road again.  US 40 up Rabbit Ears Pass, toward Kremmling - retracing the last part of Friday's route.  On the East side of Rabbit Ears Pass, CO 14 takes off to the N / NE, through Walden, over Cameron Pass, down Poudre Canyon and on into Ft. Collins.  It is 60 miles from Steamboat to Walden.  I was there in 50 minutes.  Stopped for fuel - at about the same time everyone in North Park decided they needed fuel, too.  Waited about ten minutes for a pump to open up & put 1.4 gallons in the bike.  It's 100 miles from this point to the next gas station & I'd already put close to 70 miles on it since I'd filled in Steamboat on Saturday.

With all the commotion at the gas station, I just got back on the bike and headed back out on CO 14 toward Cameron Pass.  About 25 miles on down the road from Walden, there is a "Moose Visitor Center".  I pulled into the parking lot and got off the bike for a bit of a stretch, some water & took a couple more pix of the V.  Also used some of my water to wet down a paper towel & clean all the bug guts off my visor & helmet.  There were some nice, big, juicy ones out this morning.  The grasshoppers were the worst.  Not as bad as Lapchik the mad Hungarian in "The Gumball Rally", but not far off.   ::)

Back on the road again and traffic at that point was very light for a Sunday.  Wasted no time getting on down the road.  Wondered when I'd see any LEOs, but after the two I'd seen on Friday, there were none to be seen the rest of the trip.  Quickly up & over Cameron Pass & headed down Poudre Canyon.  I knew there would be lots of traffic & that point & that turned out to be true.  Not really even worth trying to get around cars there as you'll just run into another bunch a few minutes down the road.  Anyway, there is a back road from Poudre Canyon into Ft. Collins.  Of the 10 cars in front of me at that point, only two took the road.   ;D  It's much tighter & twistier than the Poudre Canyon road and always less travalled.

From there, it's about 40 minutes to my front door.  The riding is some of the twistiest in the area and is very popular with bikers of all types.  I made one last stop at a wide spot in the road called Stove Prairie, got off the bike, stretched & drank some more water.  While I was there, about a dozen other bikers showed up and stopped.  It's a very popular spot to take a break, but this was by far the busiest I've ever seen it.  Almost all the bikes there were Harleys.   ::)

We all talked a few minutes, and I decided I wanted to get home.  Got geared back up & was waiting for a few more bikes coming down the road to pass by so I could pull out.  They headed for the Rist Canyon Road - the same route I was headed for.  I pulled out and fell in behind them - for a few hundred yards, anyway.  When they hit the first corner, at a slow speed & felt the need to hit the brakes in the middle of the turn, I decided I really didn't want to be behind them.  Blew past, gave them a wave and was on my way again.    After two more turns, I never saw them in my mirrors again.  I thought I was slow!  ::)  (much less so these days  :D )

Pulled into the driveway a little before 2PM.  About 3.5 hours on the bike with all the stops.  I'll take that time.  I drive it in the truck non-stop in three hours flat, and that's mostly obeying the speed limits.  The bike was much more fun than the truck on those roads.   ;D

I did notice, that on high speed sweepers, the bike wants to oscillate a bit.  Never experienced that before I put the Road Riders on.  I think it has something to do with the rounder profile of them, making them much more sensitive to steering inputs.  It was probably me changing pressure lightly on the bars as I was cornering, as the more I concentrated on it, the more I cold eliminate it.  Still felt well planted, but just not as steady as the SuperVenoms did at similar speeds on those same corners.

Well, if you got this far, give yourself a good pat on the back.  Hope you enjoyed the story.  On the two long ride days, I saw lots of elk, bighorn sheep, deer, chipmunks and even one moose.   ;D  Thank God I live in such a great place to ride.   ;)

H₂O

[Tiger]

 :) Good to know that you had a great weekend at the reunion and a trouble free ride, there and back.

Its always good to get away but great to be back home, eh ;D :D :D :D :D :D... ;)

                     8).......TIGER....... 8)

[h2olawyer]

Great fun for three days.  I'm still waiting for this stator to fry - it's been over 2,000 miles!  However, I don't go very far without a spare now.  I expect it  to die any day, now.  Hope it won't, but the history of recent fried stators in that bike keeps me expecting the worst while hoping for the best.  Haven't wanted to say anything, but figured that a small mention without declaring victory over the gremlin might not get him mad again.   ;D

Also, on the ride home, as I turned off Poudre Canyon highway, I saw some nasty black clouds ahead of me.  I ended up following the rain most of the way down Rist Canyon.  Very wet roads & some standing water in a few corners.  Made for an interesting ride.  Never got more than a drop or two on my visor and the storm was moving fast enough that most of the wet road riding was under sunny skies.  As I got to Horsetooth Reservoir, travelling South, the wet roads ended.  The storm just skirted the very North end of Ft. Collins.  We really need the rain this Summer in town.  One good rain storm since April just isn't good.  To top it off, that rainstorm had a lightning strike kill two people on the Colorado State campus, about a mile from my house.

H₂O

[motoracer8]

H2o, I realy like Steamboat, I went there for 12 years for the AHRMA vintage events, along with the race bikes I always brought a road bike so I could ride around the area. A great place to ride. The last AHRMA event was in 98. I've been back twice, it's not quite the same.

  Ken G.

[h2olawyer]

Steamboat has really changed.  This year, there are three large cranes doing even more construction at the base of the ski area.  There are two large residential developments being built to the West of town.  Permanent population is now nearly 7,000.  When I graduated from high school, there were about 5,000 year round residents.  The traffic between the ski area and town is atrocious.  Even Lincoln Avenue (main street) through town is pretty much packed with traffic.  You get off the main road & travelling through the neighborhood streets, and things haven't changed that much.  Lots of the houses have been remodeled & expanded but there's no traffic to speak of and things rew nice & quiet.

They tore down the elementary school I attended & are in the finishing phase of building the new one in the footprint of the old one.  The Jr. High band room was demolished a few years ago.  They built a new Jr. high about 20 years ago outside of town.  The old band room was remodeled after that and became a small theater for community plays.  I was surprised to see it was gone when I was up there a couple weeks ago.

The town has lost much of its friendly charm and is headed the way of Vail & Aspen.  I was very fortunate to live there from the 60s through the 80s.  They stopped the vintage motorcycle races about the same time they stopped the vintage auto races.  The newcomers felt motorsports wasn't the image they felt was right for Steamboat.  Guess that's the attitude the newly rich, liberal Land Rover set brings with them.  They sure know how to destroy paradise.  I've seen it happen to several formerly nice town in Colorado.

H₂O 

[inanecathode]

AFAIK they still do ice races in georgetown  ;) ;D

[h2olawyer]

Here's a photo of my loaded V in North Park at the Moose Visitor Center, Gould, CO.  About 20 miles from Walden & 80 miles from Ft. Collins.  This was taken on the Sunday trip home from Steamboat.  I didn't take many photos on that trip (as usual).



H₂O

[don_vanecek]

Nice story Rob! I'm glad to say that I could picture in my mind some of the roads you talked about (gee, thanks to your organizing skills I got to ride in the mountains of Colorado last year!)

Boy, you sure carried alot more stuff on your three day trip then I carried with me on my MN trip, good job packing.

And I think you have noticed as I and many of us have noticed, the more you run these bikes the better they seem to run!

[h2olawyer]

Actually, it looks like more stuff than is really there.  The tail stack was my computer and the tail bag had my cordura riding jacket, stator & associated tools.  Side bags had clothes & shoes.  Tank bag had water, electronics (cameras, GPS, cell phone), clementine oranges, rain suit and all the little stuff like spare ear plugs, gas cap key, wallet, etc.

Here's a photo taken at the Visitor's Center parking lot on the West side of Rocky Mountain National Park.  On the way to Steamboat, I had my lawn chair strapped on.  It was given to a friend to haul back to Fort Collins.  That thing was difficult to figure out how to strap on solidly.



H₂O