200 miles in the Colorado Foothills

[h2olawyer]

Went for a ride today with a large group - at least 20 bikes.  Mostly cruiser types & predominately H-Ds.  There were some Viragos, Shadows & various V-Stars as well.  I rode mostly within a small group of sport tourers - GTS1000, BMW K1200GT & my V.  The ride started on the west side of Fort Collins.  Went west to Estes Park, then south to Nederland.  The group kind of disbanded there.

However, in Nederland,  the GTS, a Shadow & I picked up another rider.  It was good to see Profgessor Rex again.  From Nederland, we went south for a few miles & had lunch at the Sundance Cafe.  Great burgers.  Good conversation & tons of Colorado sunshine.  A couple on a Road star joined us for lunch & then headed off for Vail & their (month early) Octoberfest.

After lunch, we headed back north to Estes Park again.  Prof Rex turned back down the Peak to Peak highway & headed home to Boulder.  The GTS, Shadow & I headed down through the small town of Glen Haven to Drake & on into Loveland.  You really should see the two sets of esses - posted @ 15MPH speed limit with suggested speed signs of 5.  The bottom one is nearly a full lock for my V to get around.  They drop lots of elevation there as well.  To make matters more tricky, you need to watch out for sand in the road through the entire section.

The V ran great all day.   ;D  Just  a few hiccups when it got down into the hotter weather - typical behavior for it.  Still getting used to the new steering head bearings, though.  I know I've said it before, but I can't believe the difference they made on my V.  Riding with Rex, all I could hear were his MACs - those are much louder than my stock pipes!  His V seemed to be running well today, too.  He claims his stator is dead or dying but there didn't seem to be any electrical problems with it before he headed back home.  Hope he got there OK.

The ride, people & scenery made for a very fun but tiring day.  Temps were at least 10 degrees (F) above normal for this time of year - low 80s in the hills & 90+ after we got back out onto the plains.  It was a little windy, too.  Not bad but the occasional surprise gust pushed me around a bit.  The aspen trees are just beginning to turn gold.  A week or two & they should be spectacular!

Taped the first leg from Ft. Collins to Estes Park on my helmet cam.  Watched a little of it @ lunch.  Looks like it came out pretty good.  Total distance covered was just under 200 miles.

H2O

[ProfessorRex]

Great ride today!  Beautiful weather!

Unfortunately I didn't make it home!  Shortly after leaving yall the V started getting weird  on me.  It died in between Nederland and Ward.  No big deal, I hung out for a while trying to fix it, then I hitched my way to Nederland and thankfully there's a bus that runs from Nederland to Boulder.  I'm going to retrieve the Vision tomorrow.  The weather was fantastic so the little bit of trouble just added a bit of extra adventure.

-Rex

[h2olawyer]

Rex -

Sorry to hear of your mis-adventure.  Glad you're safe & at home.

You should think about joining the AMA & enrolling in mo-tow.  $25/year for the bike (plus annual AMA dues) & they will come get you & your bike & take you up to 35 miles for no charge.  They will also bring gas to you if you run out.  I just signed up - sounded like cheap insurance to me - especially with a 23 year old bike!

Fun riding with you & hope to do it again soon.

H2O

[h2olawyer]

Finally have some photos of a couple rides from the summer.


Professor Rex & h2olawyer relax in the sun.? First COROV ride.
Estes Park - September, 2005


My Vision & my good friend William Portouw with his 1994 Yamaha GTS1000.
Lyons, CO - August, 2005


A rare sight indeed - a 1993 (red) GTS1000, a 1994 (blue) GTS1000 & a 1982 Yamaha Vision in the same photo!? Estes Park, CO - August, 2005

[Superfly]

The Vision may be old and tempermental... but when it is cleaned up, it is a great looking bike!

H20... No Mac?

[h2olawyer]

Heck no on the MAC.  The stock exhaust is in nearly perfect shape.  Besides, being a little different, I actually like the sound & it performs just great for my needs.  Also, I think the bikes with MACs look like they're missing something on the left side.  If I ever need a new one, it'll be either a Predator or custom made.

Tough keeping up with those GTSs in the foothills.  Do OK getting into corners but they really pull away from me from the apex through the exit!  No substitute for CCs.  ::)

H2O

[Ron_McCoy]

Hey COROV guys.  Greetings from the CROV. Now that you have a group, we need to do a combined ride.  We need to have a COROV
contingent at our spring rally in Solvang, Ca.

Ron (founding member, CROV)

[h2olawyer]

Hoping I'll be able to make the Solvang ride.  Fall is usually a better time for me to get away but with enough lead time, I should be able to do Spring.  This COROV ride was fairly spur of the moment but still lots of fun.  I was on a large group ride & had invited Professor Rex.  He had some rough running issues while coming to Ft. Collins from Boulder.  The group ride left the meeting area & Rex hadn't yet arrived.

Well, the group ride disbanded in Nederland & just as everyone was going their separate ways, Prof. Rex showed up.  He joined William on his GTS, a couple on a V-Star & me.  We grabbed some lunch & rode from Nederland back North to Estes Park.  Shortly after the photo above of Rex & me was taken, Rex headed back toward Boulder & William, the V-Star & I headed down the backroad from Estes Park to Drake through Glen Haven & on into Loveland.  Still haven't heard if Rex ever got his bike home after the battery died.  He made lots of miles on a known bad stator that day!

H2O

[ProfessorRex]

I did finaly make it home... BARELY!  I'm back in Colorado and I'm going to put the V in storage mode for the winter soon, get it running right next season, and hopefuly titled.  I might make another fully charged battery run again soon, but I doubt it.

-Rex

[VisionMeister]

see my post to the Ontario riders re: 25 year anniversary ride in someplace central to the continent.
Maybe timed with with the Pikes Peak National RR could be a possibility.