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Riding; A Lifelong Adventure |
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Rollin' eZine Volume 1, Number 12 April 2001 =============
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STAR 2000: When A Plan Comes Together by Mike Miller My riding buddy, Mark Hanke and I started planning this trip about a year and a half ago. Mark stated that he would like to take a trip out west and visit Yellowstone, Rushmore and a bunch of other places. Fine with me, so we set out planning our trip. Well, by time we finished with the plans and logistics we needed about 3 weeks vacation, a set of tires each, oil change, lots of the green stuff and would have put about 7,000 miles on the bikes. Scratch that plan. OK, plan "B". Mark has always wanted to ride to the farthest point on the east coast. Sounds good to me, a little closer, less time and money, lets go. The trip is planned, back roads all the way to Gaspe, Quebec and home down the St Lawrence Seaway to Niagra Falls with a side trip to Cooperstown and down the gut of the Appalachians to good ol Melbourne, Fl.. 4000 miles sounds good and is in our range/time frame. The date is set for early August, promises have been made to the better half and vacation has been ok'd at work. It's a go. While plan "B" was looking good, three events appeared on the
horizon. First, the HSTA STAR
2000 Rally in Avon Colorado. Second, Mark’s son Josh would be starting
college at FSU (go Noles) And third, Boy Scout summer camp (Camp Frank D.
Merrill, 5th Army Rangers Mountaineering School). What’s going on here?
Can't anything be easy. I'm also already
committed to driving the Boy Scouts to Ranger Camp during that time.
Mark goaded me on, “Come on Mike, STAR 2000 the Colorado Rockies
and time in the saddle. If it makes you feel better I've got to take Josh
and get him settled at FSU. It will take about three days. You can ride
your bike to Ranger Camp and I'll meet you in Nashville when you are
finished with camp." Immediately my mind goes into it's best Jethro Bodine ciphering
and Eddie Haskell scheming modes and after a couple of minutes weighing
the facts between 500 miles a day for ten days and missing my wife’s
29th birthday, along with possible divorce or coming home from Ranger Camp
and spending time with her on her birthday a decision was made. I think I
had a little help from that Animal House devil, do it. Do it, you
chicken. Ranger Camp and Colorado here I come. After 28 years of
marriage, she’ll understand. Plan "C" is in
effect, the route is set, plans and logistics are finalized and I've
talked my Boy Scout buddy into driving his van so I can follow on the
ST1100. Everything looks good. My wife has even gotten over my being gone
on her birthday. At least I think so, I'm sure there will be dues to pay
later on.
The boys and adults went thru the
first week of actual Army Ranger mountaineering training, receiving the
best training possible and learned a lot about teamwork and discipline. It
was difficult, but they grew up a lot and had a great time. June 23rd, 2000 -
Friday finally comes, (thank God I didn't fall off a mountain). The
Rangers kick us out of camp at 1900hrs, immediately after graduation and
its off to route 52 and west toward Chattanooga. Route 52 cuts thru the
Chattahoochee Forest and has some excellent twisties, which provided a
great release, especially after being a boot and baby sitter for a week.
The scouts liked it also, watching me riding the twisties and having a
good time. I believe there are some future motorcyclists in that bunch. I arrive in Nashville around midnight and I'm really tired especially
after hiking down off the mountain that morning with full packs and 225
miles of riding. I find the hotel where Mark has been waiting. Finally a
real bed and air conditioning!! Mark pulls a fast one on me though and we
get a 4:00am wake up call. Oh well, he's ready to go and I guess I am too. June 24th, 2000 - We need to make it from
Nashville to Avon by Sunday at 4:00pm. Interstate is the choice except for
a detour through a section of Kentucky called "Land Between the
Lakes", also known as the "TRACE". A Dual Sport Rally is
scheduled here in September, and we wanted to see if it would be worth the
trip. On to St. Louis and
Interstate 70. I hate St. Louis! Every time I've been there, something
happens and this time was no exception - major traffic jam and rain…
lots of rain. With three miles of stopped traffic, it was time to hit the
shoulders and split the traffic. We made it through without any road rage,
dinged bikes or traffic tickets. I-70 is in sight and "go west young
man, go west" is on our minds. Salina, Ks. here we come! Fourteen
hours and 850 miles later, we pull in for a short nights sleep. June 25th, 2000 - Up and back in the saddle at 5:00am and on our way. Still in Kansas still boring In fact, we are so mesmerized by the boredom that we miss the Colorado state line sign. We make a final gas stop before we arrive in Avon. The Rockies are in sight and we are pumped. Sitting on the curb, slamming some Gatorade, I'm looking at my bike and suddenly my heart drops. My rear tire is on backwards! I'm pissed not only at my mechanic, but at myself for committing deadly sin #1 by not inspecting my bike when I picked it up from the shop. Two hundred miles to go, on back roads thru the foothills around Denver and then I-70 into Avon are still ahead of us. Man I've got a bad feeling now. We've come 2000 miles and now this. After
mulling it over I decided there was only one option - press on. We take
Co86 south of Denver into Castle Rock, which turns out to be a scenic
drive and a great tune-up before we intersect with I-70 west of Denver and
start riding the Rockies. If you have never been on I-70 between Denver
and Glenwood Springs, it has to be one of the most exciting sections of
interstate in the country. Finally, we arrive in Avon around 3:00pm, check
into the Christie Lodge and immediately settle down to have a little chat
with our old pals Crown Royal and Bud Weiser. If you ever need
a place to stay while in the Avon area, please patronize the Christie
Lodge. It is a nice place, the people are very helpful and friendly, and
the owner is a fellow motorcyclist. The entire lodge was reserved
for STAR 2000 (600 sport touring riders registered) and they were totally
prepared for us. Complete underground parking for all bikes, wash racks,
Demo rides by BMW and Honda plus a full service center and accessories
provided by Fay Myers Honda of Denver. Thank you Fay Myers! First thing in
the morning for me will be a tire change. June 26th, 2000 – We have a 450 miles day planned for our first day of riding the Rockies. West on I-70, then north on #131 to Steamboat Springs. #131 starts out with a lot of twisties then flattens out thru a valley coming into Steamboat. Fun already and the day has just begun. After some HOT chili, it's northeast on #14 to Walden and Rabbit Ears Pass (9,426ft). The name comes from a rock formation with two fingers sticking straight up in the air. At Walden, we turned south on #125 thru "Willow Creek Pass"(9,621ft) to a town called Granby. Colorado roads #14 and #125 are both full of twisty off cambers and lots of forest.
Both take you thru the Arapahoe National Forest. What’s great about
going thru the passes is that you have to go up then back down so you get
to ride the twisties both ways and have to use different techniques.
The day had started out nice, slightly overcast and cool with the sun coming out around noon. But this would not last long. We picked up #40 in Granby and continued south to I-70, running into the rains. Thank God for the Tourmaster What a burn! #40 goes thru two passes and is a very technical road full of switchbacks both uphill and downhill. It also passes thru the Winter Park ski area. With the rain falling on us and the temperature dropping, we couldn't ride the way we would have liked but it was still a blast. As we approached “Berthoud Pass”(11,315ft) it became apparent that we needed to stop, take a secondary break and get some coffee. Fortunately a small ski area was still open. We grabbed some
coffee, let our hands warm up, and yakked a bit with the manager. He was
very glad to see us and have somebody to talk to. Not much activity going
on if there isn’t any snow. Back on the road, the rain is still falling
and it’s quite nippy. No wonder the thermometer reads 39 degrees. This
is the end of June and we still have75 miles to get back to the hotel and
thaw out. June 27th, 2000 - Today is a
scheduled lunch ride to a small town called Crawford in the southwest
corner of the state near the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National
Monument. Our ride starts heading west on I-70 toward Glenwood
Springs, passing thru the Glenwood Canyon. This 25-mile stretch of I-70 is
awesome.
I-70 through Glenwood Canyon The highway is like a snake, and the canyon is gorgeous. The highway is known as an industrial marvel and if you ever ride it you will see why. Upon reaching Glenwood Springs, we turn south on #133 and head toward McClure Pass (8,755ft) and the White River National Forest. Another great road, we rubbed the foot pegs a few times on this one. Had to pull over a couple of times because we were laughing so hard and having so much fun, it was unbelievable. Our lunch that day was courtesy of Pam and Joe Cocker (that’s right Joe the singer), and was held at their restaurant and ice cream bar called the Mad Dog, of course.
They put on a very
good barbecue spread and Joe did make a short appearance but no music. If
you’re ever in this area stop by and visit these great people and fellow
motorcyclists. After lunch with Joe we took #92 west for a few miles till
we reached #65. #65 starts out a little boring as it passes thru a flat
plains area, but as soon as we hit the Grand Mesa National Forest it
becomes another dynamite road full of more twisties and more gorgeous
vistas, one after another. We take #65 to Grand Junction then a quick
blast home to Avon on I-70 and The Glenwood Canyon. Another great day,
close to 450 miles again and we are happy. June
28th, 2000 - Our last day and a short ride of about 200
miles is planned. East on I-70 to #91 then south to Leadville passing thru
three canyons; Freemont (11,318), Tennessee (10,424ft) and Vail
(10,666ft).
Leadville is an old mining town from the gold rush days and a lot of the
old buildings are still there. Really not much to do except say that
you’ve been. It does have a lot of history and if you have the time you
will be entertained. It’s finally time to head back. We take #24 north
thru Minturn and on into Avon. #24 is a blast a little tighter and more
technical than most of the roads. Hard not to stop at the Saloon as we
pass thru Minturn but we have things to do and places to be. |
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