Co, Nm, Az, Ut Ride - April 07
TWO NEW VIDEOS
My good friends Tim and Gary planned to spend a few days in the Ozarks and then head West to ride NM, AZ, and UT.
Weather could be a factor out West, so our plan was to meet in Taos, NM, and then plan the rest from there.
video preview
:media:Devils Highway video - highway 191 Arizona, 20 min 65 mb mvw format, dmb and Nirvana do the sound.
:media:Highway 152 New Mexico - the best road in USA in my opionion a wonderful surprize.
Miguel (VFRD CEO) and I have been riding together for years around Colorado, so I sent him a typical two sentence email
inviting him to ride along. Hey Miguel, lets ride for a few days down south. Meet at the World Arena in Colorado Springs (10am Sunday),
spend the night in Taos and figure out the rest after that.
Miguel emails back that he will be there. Thats it, we are all set. I love simple plans!
Rather than slab from the "Springs" to New Mexico we decided to take mostly backroads. So on to the pics......
Leaving Woodland Park Sunday morning, Pikes Peak in the background.
Breakfast in Colorado Springs. You would never guess by the quality of the sign, but the food and service are always good.
Popular with bikers as well.
I arrived early at the World Arena to meet up with Miguel and had time to watch the SCCA folks racing around their little road course.
Miguel shows up right on time and we take the backroads to Westcliff, CO. The San De Christo mountain range is snow capped and spectacular.
These buffalo almost caused a crash. Miguel was leading in the left side of the lane with me in trail.
I saw his hand go up and thought he was telling me to look the buffalo, so I did.
I looked strait again and see Miguel hard on the brakes and moving quickly to the right.
Not enough time to stop behind him, or go left around him. I decided to let up on the
brakes and try and squeeze between him the guardrail. He saw my head light at last second
and moved a little left. We missed each other by a few inches.
He actually signaled that he was going to stop and take a picture of the buffalo...oops......
We wrote it off as being rusty after a long winter and agreed that if we did crash this trip it
would not be into each other.
Lunch in La Veta, CO.
Private parking right outside our rooms in Taos.
There are some big ass trees in Taos! Hung my hat in there for comparison.
Gary (left) and Tim at breakfast. Gary came in from Texas, Tim from Ohio.
Miguel suggested lunch in the "Plaza", downtown Santa Fe. Great choice and really neat town.
From Santa Fe we take back roads down to Al-bu-kurky. This is on top of Sandia peak, which overlooks the town.
It was cold until we got to the top, at which point the radio transmissions from all these towers seemed to
have a warming sort of microwave effect on the body. It also raised my battery voltage by two volts
when we passed the towers. Not to mention setting off my radar detector, resetting my mileage, and shorting
out my electric vest. No wonder people think weird alien stuff happens in New Mexico.
Forum CEO...attention on the deck!
Albukurky down there in the haze.
Hotel in Silver City, NM. Amazing how much crap goes on the bike.
In Arizona now, heading for "Devils Highway".
Devils Highway, 83 miles of curves. Give this road the utmost respect we agreed at the half way point. You name it, it was there.
Elevation changes, tight unpredictable curves, very little signage, random gravel, steep cliffs with no guardrails, and plenty of things
to hit if you screwed up. Either the valley a 1000 feet below, the trees, or rocks. Not to mention you are
literally out in the middle of nowhere. Miguel will be posting some good video of 152 in NM and Devils Highway (191).
Lots of slab in AZ after Devils Highway. We were heading north to Mexican Hat in UT.
The door lock to my room at the Mexican Hat Lodge.
Guess the crib might be handy if you brougt little ones along.
No bar of soap or shampoo in the room, but they did have a nice Gojo soap dispenser mounted inside the shower stall.
Here are our steaks, on a grill that swings above the fire as they are cooked.
Don't think the Mormons are pleased with this beer label. It does seem popular with the locals though.
Get up, ride 500 miles, find a hotel, eat dinner, and party. The daily routine never got old.
More rocks in Utah.
Heading home. This was a bike shop in Gunnison, CO. Tim's tire was wearing down faster than expected
and he was not going to make it back to Ohio. Ended up getting a tire a tire in Colorado Springs
before heading home.
The total trip was 1800 miles in four days. Great time and great company.
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