Another Day in the WInd

First thing every morning... ok the second thing... but that other first... well... we'll just keep that private :-P so the second First thing is Sunrise Coffee.

 Which is a slight problem... when you've left your cup a few hundred miles away... well, it tastes just as good and hot in the cool of the morning when you drink it out of a bowl so no complaints.

Then it was time to load camp back up and head on down that ribbon of asphalt.

Independence Pass was on the map for today. I'd not been on it in 15 years or so. Makes it damn near a first time experience... and a sweet ride it is. Lots of twisties, and decent pavement...

Buuuuut... you might want to keep a leash on the throttle... that dozen plus big horn sheep that were on the road when I leaned around one bend can mess up your whole day if you're really pushing it. :)

I'd have a pic of that... 'cept there wasn't a single place for a half mile to pull over and put a sidestand down.

No matter... there were a few spots available for other pics as I climbed to the top.

From down in the bottom of the valley... and then way up on the pass...

You come down the west side of the pass through equally gorgeous country... right up until you roll into Aspen...

Yeah... I've got this idea I might not be a welcome addition to the citizenry of that lil' burg... leastways if the look I got from one 40something "Lady" is any testimony. Bwahahahaha...

Now I never noticed just my presence to be an offensive thing before... buuuuuut... 

That long legged gal strutted across the crosswalk past my scooter, with a look on her face that purt near said it all, as I waited on a light. Dayum... if looks could kill I'd be one of them Ghost writers right now! :) ha ha ha... yup... you'd a thought when she glanced at that leathered up biker that she'd stepped in somethin' unpleasant.

Buuuuuut... just down the road is a place, Glenwood Springs, where they treat such as me a mite friendlier :) So I got my lunch there before I turned east and rode on to a camp on the other side of a certain pass...

*Ha! They named a pass after me!*

I've tried on occasion to get myself tied in by blood to this fella. I don't know that it'd be good to have his... let's say... careless reputation ;) buuuut... inheriting a small bit of his money would sure make drifting on a scooter a lot easier deal :)

Yes sir. I could stay in Snooty Hotels where the waiters in the restaurant hang them clean towels over their arms? and you sip wine with your lil' finger in the air... and get room service and massages with fancy perfumed oils and such... WhooYa... the life of a Royal Biker huh? ;-D 

Yeah... since THAT ain't happenin'... I set my tent on a nice roomy patch of grass with one other tent over in Kremmling... We had a ramada with a table to use and fine facilities with hot showers... all for $13 bucks. Which makes it 'bout half of a KOA to get a shower... wifi too... beer and breakfast burritos just down the road a mile... all the comforts. Red Mountain RV park in Kremmling Colorado. I'll be keeping that one on my list.

Got up in the morning and crossed over Rocky Mountain National Park to get back to the rig... and all the chores that stack up in just four days of splittin' off...

Grab Your Handles and Ride... (It beats those damned chores every time!)

A Pass Baggin', Figure Eight'n, Continental Divide Crossin' Wander Through Colorado

I left out of Fort Collins bound up the Poudre River Canyon for Walden and North Park.

Before I'd gotten even three miles I got stopped for quite some little while waiting for the boys with their trains to move their toys out of the way and clear the road...

... Thennnnn... as soon as I entered the canyon... six and a half miles of chip and seal road work. I was getting a lil' nervous how this ride was starting out!

Buuuut once I broke out past those obstacles it was open road!

I crossed over six good tall passes on the 750 some miles I rolled in the four days... starting at the west end of Poudre canyon with the often crossed Cameron Pass...

Rolled down the west side of the pass which brought me down into North Park and Walden...

 I do believe North Park might be one of the nicest bits of cow country in Colorado... even if the winters are brutal... and the summers... at maybe 46 growing days is damned short!

I was coming near to my planned camp for the night about the time the clouds were piling up fast.

I raced over Muddy Pass and a few seconds later... Rabbit ears trying to beat the threatening storm.

I wasted no time and had my camp set in under ten minutes. ;) The thunder was booming and the lightning flashing as I hustled to get a dry camp set... and then with only a light shower it passed on by.

Climbed back on the scooter to run on the last 19 miles into Steamboat to pick up the fixin's for supper... and a brew to wash it down.

Now... I'm no cook so I've come up with some quick and easy ways to have a decent meal at the end of day... cook or not.

The best and easiest to have some tasty and good food I've found is this; I stop at the last town, if there is one! (Walden ain't got a grocery any more, hence the run into Steamboat from my camp east of town) ... anyway...

I stop and pick up a "Healthy Choice" Cafe Steamer!

Yeah they're made for the microwave or a regular oven... buuuuut...

I just open 'em up, and peel that celophane stuff off. Scrape the sauce out of the bowl into my pan... often it's still froze even if it's been in a saddlebag for a couple hours!...

... and then dump in the rest of the goodies... and heat it up on my stove. one pan... they provide the bowl so fewer dishes to do! ... or I often just eat it right out of my pan...

When you've been on the road, especially if conditions are tough, either cold or real hot, windy, rainy... anything that saps your strength and energy...

... it's critical that you take care of yourself. Decent food, not gas station coffee and three muskateers bars is a gotta have.

This makes it quick and easy for a non-cook to eat well.

and simple as hell for the guy on a bike with limited places to carry hardware. Eat supper and doing the dishes is largely... throwing them away! :)

It also deals with the problem of riding through BIG bear country up north. You pick up your food just before you eat it... and it's that much less to deal with for safety... Bear Bags hung in trees and such...

Anyhoo, after supper, while you savor that fancy brew you just kick back and contemplate the nice country you rode through and into.

*Dumont lake east of Steamboat*

Yeah... and laugh at the looks on everyone's faces when you walked out of the grocery store in a frog strangler downpour there in Steamboat... climbed on your scooter... and rode off into the storm! :)

... To have your supper in the sunshine that came along after that second storm passed!

Got up to a soft and quiet sunrise...

... and then dawdled around and visited with some folks in the camp... while I waited for last nights rain and the HEAVY morning dew to dry off enough to pack up camp.

It's kinda nice to not be in a rush to get somewhere.

My plan for the day was to head south on U.S. 40 past Kremmling turn onto Hwy 9, cross Hoosier Pass and on to Fairplay.

I'd choose my direction once I'd got there... and when I did... that lil' voice inside my head said; Swing around and turn back north on U.S. 24 To Buena Vista...

City Market in Buena Vista supplied my second nights Cafe steamer and another fine brew... That I enjoyed at the Diamond Point Campground near Twin Lakes... Just below the eastern approach to Independence Pass...

You can't see it in these... but there was a pretty constant breeze across that like... that kept the skeeters blown away... and made for a pleasant camp... just soaking up Far Country.

It was fairly cool... and that rectangular $29 walmart Coleman Bag I recently got because I can't stand the confines of a high dollar North Face mummy bag any more did an awesome job of keeping me toasty along with plenty of room to wiggle around. ;)

Shortly after the sun set... I crawled into my bag and zoned out for the night... though I left the door open so I could see the moonlight on the lake when I'd wake during the night. :)

In the morning I headed west again on Hwy 82, to climb Independence Pass... but that's another post.

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

A Weird Conclusion to The Fork Rebuild... and Some SWEET Time in The Wind

Sooo... I'm at a tee total loss. The bike is back together and I've not got a sliver of a part of a small bit of the shadow of an idea how.

The curbside of the forks was together days ago. The road side refused to go. I broke down and ordered the pro tool which required waiting a week for it to arrive. When it did it was the wrong "drive" so I had to hunt up an adapter for it...

Then I went to assemble the fork tube... and the PRO tool wouldn't hold! ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!

I had help to hold the holder and no matter what I/we did... nada... it wouldn't go together. Frustrated and angry I called it quits at dark. Went over and sat under the shredded awning and sipped a beer... stewing in my own juice.

Shortly after dawn I walked back over to give it one last solo try... and failed again. That damned tube just kept turning. No Joy.

So there I am... bike sitting on a jack. One tube that isn't and won't go together and stumped and frustrated and fresh out of any ideas....

Absent mindedly I picked up a wrench... and just went to turn that bolt again, and turn the damper rod, while trying to come up with another "idea"... and with NO HOLDER in the tube... the damper rod wouldn't turn? Locked up solid... WTF???!

I picked up the torque wrench and put it on... and CLICK! with NO DAMPER ROD HOLDER IN PLACE...not one damn thing to hold it... and it didn't/wouldn't turn...

So now, I'm kinda freaked; Did I screw something up and have the forks all jammed up?

No... it works like it's supposed to, both sides... Weirdness... checking the other tube it wouldn't turn either???... IDK. I've no freaking idea what or why or when or how...

I only know... the forks weren't together... and then they WERE... and I didn't do a damned thing... but... I'll take it! I hurried and got the oil in and leveled, the wheel and fender and brakes on... got her back together... and then gingerly rode a hundred miles... testing to see all was "Right"...

The brakes work. The forks work. No leaks. No Squeaks. No heat... just... doing what it's supposed to do...

Then yesterday I climbed on and went on a nice wide circle.

Ran up Hwy 287 through Laramie. Rolled out Hwy 130 through Centennial and climbed up into the Snowies...

You're just over 10,000 feet up in Snowy Range pass on top... Far Country that soothes the soul of a grumpy old puss gut like me!

Coming down off the west side of the Snowies I caught Hwy 230 just a little below Saratoga and turned south for Walden in the North Park country of Colorado.

Grab some fuel there and came back east on Hwy 14 over Cameron Pass, another 10,000+ footer... and down the Poudre Canyon back to Fort Collins.

That's a nice run down the canyon... until you get to the lower end...and then all the cagers who can't go around a 35 mile an hour bend at 25 without hitting their brakes kinda mess with the day... :)

Buuuut... bottom line... a few hundred miles on my unknown-how-I-did-it repair... and all is good. Awesome!

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

Finally! She's Back Toghether and On The Road.

Got the Raider mostly put back together last Thursday... Took some bit of gymnastics since senility seems to be advancing at an alarming rate.

I drilled things out to give better relief for the wire that feeds the license plate late this time. That's what failed on the last one. The wire got pinched until it failed.

So then...

I hooked up all the wiring for the new signal/running lights from "Back Off" and the replacement illuminated license plate bracket from "Radiantz"... and had signal and break lights, but no running lights in either the factory tail light OR the new signal lights... and no illumination light on the plate...

So... tracing wires, rechecking connections, checking fuses... check check check and nothing. After several hours of frustration, and after having called Yamaha to see if there was a hidden fuse somewhere... I'm standing there scratching my head and wondering WTF!!!

While I'm scratching... my eyes come to rest on a small black box RIGHT BESIDE the main fuse box under the seat. A small black box I MUST have seen three dozen times in the past few hours...

Any idea what is in that lil' box? grrrrrrr... yup... THE tail light fuse that was causing all my gyrations... Hell, I'd taken half of the the back of that bike apart hunting for what was causing my troubles and there it sat... right there hidden in plain sight... just plain pathetic...

So... the bags are repaired, repainted and reinstalled.

The new lights are on and working.

The shift lever is repaired and straight.

The pipes are refinished and reinstalled.



The damaged wheel finish is polished up and they're looking good...

Sonja the Raider is back on the road.

I much like the new light and license plate layout better than before. It's a lot cleaner.

My only gripe is that when they're on, those signal/running lights aren't quite as bright in the daylight as I'd like them to be...

...soooo... I plan to add a second set right above the existing ones... just double 'em up. I think that'll work just fine.

So Friday I took a quick ride over to the carwash to clean off a few weeks of dust and stuff that had collected from sitting on the jack in the garage for so long.


... And of course... washing any sort of a vehicle makes it rain right?

This was no exception... just as soon as I pulled out of the carwash with a shiny squared up scooter... it started raining...

Well... if I'm gonna waste a wash might as well at least make it worth my while so instead of just goin' on home I turned west for Poudre Canyon.

The farther I rode west the darker the skies got... and the more frequent the rain squalls... The river up there was running bank full.

Fact is now today, it's really starting to flood roads and such again down here on the flat lands. Everyone is kinda nervous considering what happened last September... and repairs from all that aren't even close to being done yet...

With the skies looking ever more ominous to the west I chose to just turn 'round and head back through the lighter rain goin' east ;)

I don't mind the rain... hell I sort of enjoy it. I'm not what you might call a fair weather biker... but to be honest... I was starting to feel kinda puny...

So I turned back.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny but by mid day I was feeling kinda blah again. Thought maybe a ride up Big Thompson Canyon would lift my spirits some...

... That river, the next big canyon south, is running fairly full too, but not as heavy it seems as the Poudre.

Buuuuut... by the time I ran the Canyon and got home... I was feeling like I'd run a marathon with a 300 pound whore on my back... yup... that "puny" feeling was some sort of a flu coming on...

... which has been whuppin' my butt since Saturday afternoon... and continues today...

So I guess... for the next few days it's lay about waiting for this crud to run its course...

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

Moving Camp to One Made for Sweet Road Bike Riding!

Camping too many miles up a 4x4 road you talk yourself out of riding too much.

But, I only had to move in the vicinity of 30 miles to find a camp at Dumont Lake on top of Rabbit Ears Pass from which there's a nice selection of rides a guy can make.

*Dumont Lake Campground

Not to mention, camping my rig at 9500 feet or so in the middle of the summer has its own benefits too. Like, I run the furnace for an hour or so in the morning to take the chill off when I get up at sunrise; rather
than having to run a generator all day to power the air conditioner so I don't cook! :)

I made a small circle today of only 115 miles or so. It makes for a pretty nice run. I dropped east off of the pass from our camp along U.S. 40. It's 30 miles or so from here to Kremmling.

*The Ears of Rabbit Ears Pass on the Skyline*

The run south down off the the continental divide is a nice roll through mostly open country with enough far views and sweeping bends to keep a guy smiling.

Kremmling made a good place to fill the top half of the fuel tank before I backtracked a touch over six miles to catch hwy 134 running west. The road climbs up out of the valley to cross Gore Pass... sorry, no relation...

The Gore it was named for was an Irish Count that came on a hunting trip to Colorado in the late 1800's. Got the Gore Range named after him and a few other pieces of geography... but his fame ain't made me a nickle! :)

Far as I'm aware... I got no royalty blood... or at least the nobleman didn't admit to playin' around with a commoner woman down in the ville! :)

The climb gets up into Aspen and fir pretty quick... and will bless you with some genuine rectal puckers if you ain't payin' attention.

The highway department has tarred quite a few cracks in the pavement in that section of road... 'tween the junction with U.S. 40 and hwy 131 at Toponas.

Now I'm sure you know that if those bits of tar are running across the pavement it's not so bad... but when they run along with it, and you'll find that juuuuust a few of those tarred cracks run parralel to your direction of travel... they can make things get a lil' interesting.

...When you come scrapin' the pegs around a twistie here and there, gawkin' off at the scenery and 'thout payin' close enough attention to the road; so you're not adjusting your position in the lane to miss the tar... and you catch one of those long bits of sun warmed tar... Whooooeee!

Butt Pucker Maximum! :)

Wakes a daydreamer right up! And he starts makin' the proper adjustments so his "anatomy" can relax. :) All he's gotta do now is have one of his ridin' buddies give the seat a good hard yank at the next coffee break... it'll usually pull back out with a tug or two! :)

Other than that it's a sweet ride up over the top of  9527' Gore pass.

It's a popular route. Might could be there's as many bikes on it in the summer as cages.

When I turned north onto hwy 131 at Toponas the road opens up a bit through a long open valley. For those rare few who find such things pleasurable... and pay close attention... you can split the wind a lil' through there! ;)

*Heading north toward Yampa*

I pulled into the Kum and Go in Yampa to take a short break and enjoy a sit in the sun with a cup of coffee. Had a conversation with a couple of van loads of Boy Scouts and their Leaders. They were rolling out of Piedmont, Missouri and headed for a back packing trip over in the Flat Tops.

Had to start the scooter up for the boys. What can I say, it's the easiest way to answer a young fella when he asks; "Is it loud?" ;) The fact that the kids were all droolin' over my Raider didn't hurt my ego none.

Got back on the bike and continued on north toward Oak Creek. There's a nice section of twisties there for a couple miles as you leave town...

*A Ribbon of Asphalt in front of me and behind*

I managed to get caught behind a van for part of it. When you time it right it's a fun ride just sweeping from one leaner and pretty much back over into the next for a little while. Kind of like a lot of roads... A good road followed by short sections of GREAT road! :)

Made the turn back on to U.S. 40 at Steamboat Springs to climb back up to Rabbit Ears. That was another good section with traffic that was light enough and stayed out of the way so I could come pretty near to scrapin' a peg here and there... right up until I ran up on the Colorado State Trooper hidin' in the trees around a bend. :)

Like... I'm SURE he didn't hear those pipes of mine rumbling as I decelerated to stay behind the car I was juuuuuust 'bout to roll past. LOL!

... and too soon I was rolling up on our camp, back at Dumont Lake...

Nice view of the Rabbit Ears as I rolled back up the access road.

I've got the best life now. I may be poor and living hand to mouth, but I get to do that living all over the west. I get to ride through some of the most gorgeous country there is... and knowing...that THIS... is MY life!

HooYa!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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