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HispanicSlammer

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  1. HispanicSlammer
    Juniper Pass
    I took a day off from work and also from my bicycle training to take out the Veefalo one last time before the weather turns ugly, supposed to snow the rest of the week and possibly start sticking to the ground along the Colorado Front Range. I took a leisurely pace up hwy 105 toward Morrison and got reacquainted with the bike since its been over a month since I took any sort of twisties on it at all, hwy 105 is a scenic ride along the front range between Denver and Colorado Springs, its mostly easy fast sweepers and lite traffic so its a favorite road of mine when going north. Then I have to negotiate a bit of traffic near Highlands ranch and up hwy 470 into the mountains. I decided to take the Morrison Exit and try either Lookout Mountain or head up Golden Gate Canyon - this time it was Lookout Mountain, I was sort of making it up on the fly as I went along. Lookout Mountain is my old bicycling haunt from my days while I was working at Coors, its a killer ride and all uphill - I don't think I could do it today If I had to, not quite there yet! I saw a whole bunch of riders doing it though and wished I was in shape enough to be there doing it as well. 30 more lbs and I will be able to do it! On this day I would do it on the Veefalo instead.
     
     
     
     
    I took a video from the gateway to the top at the Lookout Mountain State Park, getting past riders, the guy in the green jacket actually pretty much astounded me with how far he had gotten in the short time it took me to set up my camera, some 3 miles at least and up to the gateway from the turn off at hwy 6! Amazing I thought. I took the first two turns slow then got more comfortable as I went up further, till I was doing well, I made some gearing mistakes and took the tight 15mph marked hairpins in the wrong gear so I lugged it a bit on one or two. Still enjoyed it though and then got off at the top and hiked over a rock outcropping for an overview of the road for the pictures below.
     
     

    Lookout Mountain - Golden Colorado

    Zoomed in

    Lookout Mountain Park top of the mountain
    From there I headed up interstate 70 to Idaho Springs for a beer at the Tommy-knockers brewery, I was the only customer in the joint - slow day for them so they treated me like a king! I got a nice tour of the place sort of impromptu, they made me a nice Pastrami sandwich on rye and with the brown ale it was fantastic. I must say the beer is much better there than in the bottles - its always good at the brewery. I am glad I stopped

    Tommy-knockers Brewpub Idaho Springs

    Idaho Springs Colorado

    Mashtuns and fermenters

    Rows of fermenters
    I finished my lunch and since the road to Mount Evans is right there I headed up Squaw pass hoping to get in some nice pictures I wasn't expecting what I found, ICE IN ALL THE SHADY PARTS

    Icy patches on Squaw Pass definitely taking it easy on that road
    There were some section where the ice covered the whole road for 300 yards or so I had to roll through it with my legs out to help keep the bike from sliding and falling over, I took it real slow. A Ford pickup was right behind me so I pulled over to let him pass but the guy was going slower then even I was so I pressed on - in places where I could see I just cut over to the oncoming lane and out of the ice where the sun was shining on the road more, but some places there was not alternative so I just had to go slow, good thing it wasn't slick but rather they tossed some gravel over the worst parts so I had some traction!
    I did stop for pictures in all the best spots

    Echo Lake at Mount Evans showing off my new plate

    Elephant Butte Park and Denver

    Close up

    Veefalo on Squaw Pass

    Juniper Pass

    Juniper Pass

    Mount Evans
    My route A is home B is Tommy-knockers

     
    lookoutmtn_hd.mp4
  2. HispanicSlammer
    OMG I am in deep now everytime I take somthing off I find somthing else wrong
    I keep delving into this bike deeper and deeper and finding all sorts of problems, I know my rear brake has been dragging so I decided to get some new parts and rebuild it. It was a mess, the rubber seals were hard as rocks, and the bellows covering the slider pins were torn and the pins were covered in caked on brake dust not sliding at all.

    rear brake rebuild replaced the seals, pads, bleeders, cleaned up and polished the pistons

    One rebuilt rear brake caliper high temp grease on the sliders, new bolts, new pads, new bleeders, new seals.
    I just about got that done and decided to check the swing arm and it was slightly loose when moving side to side and indication that the bearing are shot. So I took it off too, found about 4 inches of caked on oily dirt on the top and side of the swing arm it was just a mess. When I took the axle out I noticed it was in awful shape partially rusted and I think it was the issue since it looked worn where the spacers fit. I run my fingers across the needle bearings and if felt like it was full of grime, the other bearing on the other side seemed fit though. I ordered new bearings, new axle and new spacers cause I am not sure where that play was comming from, along with new dust seals. I have no idea how I am going to get the needle bearings out? Or press in new ones? I dont have the right tools for that.

    Swing arm removed she had a little play in the pivot axle!
    Some good news I got my wheels and hub back from the powder coater and they look great!

    Powdercoated hub it was looking rather dull so I had it done too

    Wheels just back from the powder coater Spectrum Powder Works here in Colorado Springs - loving how they look
    I got bored with getting greasy so I cleaned up and took a nap, I dont have the parts in yet to start putting it back together and I still have to get that darned broken header stud out! I ordered new studs and a carbide drill bit since my bits dont seem to be able to get the job done, I really dont want to take the head off and take it to a machine shop to get that stud out - hopefully that drill bit will do the job! I had to keep my parts orgainized so I put the little washers, seals, bolts, nuts, connectors and what nots into little baggies seperated by what they came off of. I did manage to get the stator back in and put the new stator cover on with a gasket - should not leak I treated it with a thin coat of yamabond 5 and let it dry like it says to do on the tube. Lots of work left to do its takeing nearly all my free time off work, but I enjoy it!

    filling in sratches and holes with poly flex slowly getting the PITA job done of repairing plastics
    RECAP OF WORK DONE AND WORK LEFT TO DO
    fork rebuild - new seals new oil done inspect head bearings - done bought new wheels - stripped and powdercoated - installed new bearings and dust seals done replaced stator cover - reinstalled inspected and tested stator new gaskets repaired oil leak done removed old accessory wires - rework heated seat with a new heat troller, reroute wires in a common conduit. find a better spot for the pc-usb rework the autovox unit installed two powerlets center post for the garmin zumo, and rear kit for my heated vest - wired up a side plug adaptor Yet to do
    repair broken header studs install new header gaskets replace bearings in the ecentric and swing arm pivot axles degrease that unit replace the crappy plastic chain gaurd and hugger reupolster my seat with new leather or leather like matierial replace worn foam in the seat finish repairs to the plastics complete paint stripping on the tank sand and prime the plastics and paint replace the fuel filter since I have the pump removed PAINT THE BIKE GET IT BACK TOGETHER CORRECTLY
  3. HispanicSlammer
    All dressed up and no bike to ride
    Yea you can say I went all crazy, as if Paris Hilton were to suddenly become a serious motorcycle sport tour rider! Scratch that I wont have no usless mexican rat dog yapping away with its head sticking out of the top box, I said serious sport tour rider! Yea I got my overtime sorted and worked some extra hours, and a generous tax refund resulted in some new gear for this year. I retired the old stich, sold it actually to a fellow rider I know from work, he needed gear - I had it - it fit him - cash was exchanged!

    All New Gear Transit suit, Sidi Boots, Held Gloves, Nolan Helmet
    So what does a serious sport touring rider want? I want a fricken leather suit! The textile stuff is nice, but man is it dorky! I want that mad max leather suit that just says "yea I live out here get out of the way"! Ok I have to back up a bit I still opted for a bit of dork - the Aerostich transit suit. It has the dorky visi strip on the back and legs, but its not drap olive and with goofy colors. Its black, traditional leathers black. My old roadcrafter was looking rather orange in the shoulders from taking a pounding from the sun, and a few bumps on the dirt bike, a backwards flip over on the piggy going up a steep ravine I ended up in the scrub weeds on my back and upside down with my leg stuck under the bike. Scared the crap out of my riding buddy cause it looked like the bike fell on me but good boots and the stich well... they are expensive for a reason, they work!
    I wanted the same functionality of the stich, I could live with a little less with regaurds to a two piece instead of a one piece but still I wanted it to be WATERPROOF. If anything experience says "your gonna get stuck in a fricken downpour" I know this! I have ridden in at least 12 of them, 200 miles of a 500 mile ride to the Black Canyon - downpour. Riding BR's brothers bike to Nashville from Robbinsville - downpour. Riding 1-40 in Oklahoma City - downpour. Yea I get rained on alot. This Transit suit is water resistant leather and its got a gore tex liner - its waterproof! All sorts of breaktroughs in leather technology this suit is micro perferated to release water vapor from the body and to cool off, impregnated with a reflective black die that reflects 15% more heat in the hot sun than standard leather (look at the top pic of me in the suit - it is reflecting the light of the flash). Big ass standard rear vent keeps you cool! No underarm zipper though, like the Roadcrafter? Oh well. Its got a front zipper too I suppose !
    Boots I have been using goretex waterproof touring boots for years now, I always wear out the shifter support leather, they pad it with foam and it tears through? Alpinestars waterproof touring boots. After reading about BR and Veefer800canuke breaking legs with boots perhaps I should get some real sport boots! I need waterproof cause - you know. Hey SIDI mades a waterproof sport boot! YEA got those
    Waterproof gloves, got some already - technic gloves but man are they stiff and the liner is too thick I have no feel and no flexlity. The answer Held warm and dry gloves - geez but the price! More overtime!
    top it off with a Nolan flipup (bought last year actually last season) and I am ready for a 2 week adventure out to the south for the Texasmac and beyond, hopfully the ozarks ride too.

    Vertigo Mega (wide sizes) Gore-Tex Boots

    Aerostich Transit suit

    Held Warmn'dry

    Held Warmn'dry

    New Nolan N103
    Oh and a stich silk scarf to keep my neck warm and unharmed by new leather. So how much did Paris spend? $2700 over the last 2 years on gear, recouped $500 for the stich, selling more gear too on ebay. OWCH. Addin a couple of coolmax shirts, patagonia wickable, wickable underwear, wool socks, and a Gerbing heated liner (also last year).
  4. HispanicSlammer
    Ohlins reinstalled, powdercoated pieces installed worked overnight to reassemble the bike
    I spent most the night and last night istalling new bearing on the swingarm and beginning the reinstall of all the parts. I installed the swingarm last night and rebuilt Ohlins shock, put the subframe into position and put in the plastic undertray. I had to make some repairs to the undertray since it had alot of holes drilled in it over the years for various parts. I filled them all in and smoothed it out with my pastic welder. Keep the dirt and rain out.

    My wheels still need shoes! 83° Aluminum Racing Angled Valve Stem Ariete from Kurvygirl.com

    Different Angle
    I installed new LED lights in the dash - all from superbriteled.com there is a thread on it in the forum by veefer800canuke I opted for white for a brighter dash and to save on wattage over bulbs.

    LED Dash Lighting I had to get the correct polarity but they all work by turning a few around.

    knobs and switches Left Lamp turn off switch, HI LO Double Burn switch, Heated Seat, Heated Grips

    Powdercoated swingarm Passenger Hanger and footpegs, powelet panel

    Reoganized accessory wireing moved all the boxes forward and some by the fuse box, moved the accessory fuse box on top of the battery lid, to make more underseat space for tools
    I rewired the whole accessory area, rerouting the wires to the front of the bike better and added a powerlet on the front and side for my Zumo GPS and the side for my heated vest. Rerouted the autocom wires and moved the autocom forward. Changed the battery leads with less leads and changed the switching power from the plate light to a soldier job from the headlight relay wires, less wires to deal with 3inchs vs 2 feet of switching wire. I wired in LED indicator on the dash for my heated grips its blue on the top right, the top left is the voltmeter from signal dynamics, its red in the dash shot above. I added a heattroller for the heated seat I built, I could never quite it right before using resisters either too hot or not hot enough, now it can dial it in just right. I heated seat is great when I get out of work at 7am and there is frost all over the seat, it clears it off in moments and is comfy in minutes.
    So far I have done tons of work
    New Chain New Sprockets New Fork Oil New Fork Seals Rebuilt the Ohlins Shock Powdercoated swingarm, footpegs, rearsets, hub, and passenger hangers Installed new bearings, rubber dampers, and seals in the eccentric hub rewired the accessories added 2 new powerlets repaired plastic damage from a couple of getoffs that resulted in deep scratches, 8 years of roadblast. sanded and sanded and sanded getting ready to paint Primed all the body pieces Sanded off scratches on the Staintune polished and cleaned Repaired a broken header stud replaced and put in new seals on the rear cylinders and headers New Wheels powdercoated installed trick valve stems New bearings on the wheels, swingarm, rearhubs, along with new dustseals New bolts and nuts all over - cleaned up most though Rebuilt the rear brake caliper new seals and polished the pistons, new bolts Bled the rear caliper Bought new graphics for a VFRD inspired paint job - even made my own font to use for the project availible in the site comments forum
  5. HispanicSlammer
    Tank with graphics and white stripe
    So I put the color on today, sanded the color smooth, then applied graphics and shot the clear coat. 2 coats of clear is what the instuctions called for. I had a ton of color left over, so I put it back into the can. It not catalyzed so it should keep for touch ups and whatnot. Well whatnot for sure as in redo! I am going to redo the left fairing and the front fender.
    I was in the shed almost done with the clear coat when all of a sudden a huge gust of wind lifted the left panel off the hook I had hung it on and down she went, still wet and all with clear coat and it scratched up and picked up every bit of dirt and weed known to man! I was quietly screaming in my mask some of the most foul language ever spoken on the face of the earth. Its amazing how well the mask can..well "mask" your screams. I was hot, then I just resigned to the fact that I would probably go broke if I had to do this for a living cause wow its a lot of work!

    paint 002.jpg

    paint 003.jpg

    paint 005.jpg
    I had my spray gun set up at 20psi - twice what the thing said to do to get better atomization but still I ended up with orange peel all over the clear coat. I tried adjusting the gun for less clear and more air but still it came out all orange peel. So now I get to wet sand some and polish with rubbing compound - more work! I sort of anticipated I would get orange peel cause I am a complete novice to this so well there you have it. My paint project had some setbacks and a redo - oh well its all part of being a motorcyclist enthusiast, spent more then I should have on tools, paint, and well next time I will probably just find a pro and have it done. I got paint everywhere in the shed, on the floor. I ran out of mixing cans so I used a plastic cup only to find out the reducer ate right through it and spilled white paint all over the floor of the shed, another episode of foul language in the mask. Lucky I was already done with that color. It dont look so bad for a first timer, I have seen much worse. The tape I masked off the stripes with was automotive paint tape but it came up in places and the line is not perfect. The tank lines are a little off but not too bad, heh eyeball job I suppose I need glasses!
  6. HispanicSlammer
    Garden Of The Gods Pikes Peak
    So I am mostly done, since it seems that this paint job is a never ending time of fixing drips, scratches, redoing messups and well there are plenty of mess ups to fix yet. However the bike is back together and running after a bout with not starting and replacing parts. So I figure I put about 120 man hours into it this winter here is the final accounting
    Replaced fork oil Replaced fork seals Replaced wheels Powdercoated wheels Powdercoated rear swing arm Replaced swing arm axle Replaced all swing arm bearing bushings dust covers Replaced chain sprockets Replaced stator cover, the gasket, fixed oil leak Rewired accessories moved all forward to make more underseat space Fixed busted plastic plastic welded cracks and dedumbo the front signals Replaced exentric hub bearings Replaced wheel bearings dust covers Rebuilt rear brake caliper new bolts, seals, bleeder bibs Painted mirrors Painted frame part of it Painted plastics Took tank to the bare metal and repainted Replaced tank gaskets, vent hoses, fuel hoses, fuel filter Rebuilt Ohlins shock Powdercoated rearsets Powdercoated pegs Powdercoated passenger hangers and pegs Rewired signals Replaced dash lights with LEDs Replaced fuel hoses cleaned and rebuilt thottle bodies and fuel rail new seals on injectors Replaced exahust studs, replaced copper exhaust crush seals, new seals in the down pipes, drilling out broken studs was a bitch thank goodness for carbide drill bits taps! Sanded and refinished stainless Staintune exaust muffler Installed new rear cargo mount from Kanadian Ken the beefy version Cleaned fuel system with seafoam treatment Cleaned fuel injectors Rebuilt seat latch mechanism new spring Replaced ingition key system, helmet, and tank locks thanks Baileyrock for providing the parts New tires New red anodized wheel 85 degree vavle stems from Kurvy Girl New st1300 tank pad (yet to install) New vfrd graphics on the plastics New bolts on the brake calipers Powdercoated chain drive hub New rubber drive chain dampers New copper and steel spacers bushings all over Replaced head cover gaskets Valve check and shim swaps, sanded shims where I had to too for tight vavles Replaced coolant hoses that cracked Drilled and tapped leaky water pump drain hole Replaced coolant Painted mirrors Installed SAE Mount for battery charger Installed steering column powerlet and rear powerlet
  7. HispanicSlammer
    Well I dont know if they are Dutch or not but they are from Pennsylvania for sure, I was minding my own business (making the forum not work as I tried to install my gallery post tool) when I get a pm from CCVFR. From what I have learned most of the orginal settlers of Pennsylvania were actually of German Decent than Dutch and that the phrase "Pennsylvania Dutch" is a misnomer of Duetch meaning German not Dutch.
    Anybody who knows me knows I can not refuse an offer like that to be Colorado's motorcycle ambassador and so I gave him my cell number and invited them to come ride with me
    Google maps
    we met at Denny's near my house if only because it is easy to get to - however I forgot its actually located on an access road called Harrison road and not on Circle drive like I told Curt he figured it out and they were there waiting for me

    The Pennsylvania Crew Tammy Curt Kevin rode in from Pennsylvania for a vacation not expecting me to usurp their riding time

    Still in City Limits - Helen Hunt Falls up a narrow steep twisty road for 5 miles

    Breakfast at the Pantry Restaurant in Green Mountain Falls - sorry Tammy I could have warned you

    Kevin and Bacon - not the movie star Actually I think he was wondering if the 6 foot tall 300lb Mastiff or Saint Bernard sitting at the table just down the way - well if he was going to eat us

    Goldfield CO great view of the south face of Pikes Peak

    My Piggy and a nice RWB Thats Kevin's RWB 25th Anniversary edition VTEC

    Curt and Tammy rode on this horse ST1300 with peg lowering blocks from BLS - I did not know he made lowing blocks for such heavy bikes?

    OK now thats a proper picture Shes a trooper and hes got a VTEC back home

    I would never do this! Bungee swing out over the Royal Gorge

    Royal Gorge Bridge as seen from the east trail overlook

    Taking a nice break at the Royal Gorge
    I rode them all over tarnation finding every bumpy road I could find and twisty within a 100 miles of Pikes Peak which is basically the route I took them - in a big circle around Pikes Peak. I can only ride about 100 miles on my piggy before it becomes a torture device anyway so it was a good ride 9am to about 4pm with lots of stops and breaks along the way. We saw the biggest moth I have ever seen in the general store at the turn off to High Park Road, did the "don't hit the cows roller coaster road ride" on High Park Road, then over to the tourist trap known as the Royal Gorge but I know all the free places to look at it!
    Then I took them up Ridge Road in Canyon City and showed them the Dinosaur foot prints in the shale and of course stopped at the overlook - but I neglected to take pictures! Good day and good riding - great company.
  8. HispanicSlammer
    Me and the Veefalo ready for the Million Dollar Highway
    So My Buddy Scott from work, better known as LDSRIDER here on the forum, says he is taking vacation to go visit family in Arizona. He really really wanted to ride his C14 down there instead of the usual minivan thing. So he tried is best to convice the wife that its safe to ride alone - but shes not buying it and so he enlists me to ride with him, if just for part of the way. So I agree! I ride a part of the way to Utah and Back. Mexican Hat is our destination. So we get new tires on the Connie - Angel ST Pirrellies that he read about on the COG forum. The COG guys are saying it the best ST tire since well who knows they are always saying that. I read a review about an all day Lemans race where they averaged 130mph for 24hrs on these things! wow thats some serious tire life and good grip too boot? First thing I notice is BOY the Connie has some heafty wheels! We spooned off the Pilot Road 2's and wow the Angels are heavy too. Serious sidewalls! OK heis all set to ride and so am I. I spend the night farkling up my com system and Radar detector since its 4th of July weekend and I am sure the State Pat Trolls are out in force!

    LDSRIDER on his Connie 14 this is his first time on the Million Dollar Highway
    LDS says hes never been on the Million Dollar Highway so guess what thats where I took him. It was a Ho hum ride over to Montrose, it was hot and there where lots of bugs, a good breakfast in Texas Creek settled my stomach and Monarch Pass was good this time around. Finally no more delays! Seems theres always somthing going on on Monarch pass! The pavement was good on the way down but tar snakes on the way up heading west.
    The scenery started to get really awsome right around Ridgeway and the canyons closed in around us. I notice my riding buddy is slowing down a bit, soaking it in or maybe just a bit freaked at the situation, no gaurd rails, tight road and 500 feet strait down? The Million Dollar Highway is no place to play around unless your an idiot, so I take it easy.

    Ouray Colorado
    This trip I am out on a hunt for a new logo picture for the website, trying to recapture the magic of the famous vtec on Molas pass pic, I can never quite top that one. However I tried.

    Molas Pass You old timer members might recognize that shot
    I am gassing up every 150 miles even if I dont need it, the ride past Silverton gets a bit more bumpy so I wait more for Scott. It is a bit busier too so there is no point in carving up too much cause you end up just waiting behind another set of cars and RV's. Durango is our next gas stop and Scott calls to make sure they havent given away our rooms, 170 more miles to go. I switched bikes to see what the C14 was all about, its rather quiet too with that 4 foot bazooka on the side. The big I-4 is revy especially at take off, I feel like I am over reving it to let out the clutch. I am surprised the riding postion feels upright just like my Piggy back home - a dirt bike like riding position its easy to get used too. The seats more plush then the viffer, however the gauges are more - well just more stuff going on there. I could not concentrate on it, so I ignored it. She rolls under you when turning like riding a barrel. I felt like that once before riding an ST1100 5 years ago on a test ride. I think its rather raked out too cause it soaks up bumps like its raked out. Lots of power but surprisingly I felt the VFR was more powerful! I got used to it really quick its an easy bike to ride!

    Trying to recreate a new version of the old logo same place different bike
    Then we switched again and were soon in Cortez and Scott figured out why I did not want to stay overnight there, small and touristy, mostly fast food and bland! No charactor for a SW four corners town. We press on into indian land - I take a short cut over to Aneth and its bumpy as hell! I am slowing down where I cant see the next turn cause the road was very bumpy with a frost heave like depressions on the bottom of each hill, gravel in turns too. I end up following a woman indian driver who knows the road very well. Shes flying for the conditions 70mph in some places and gassing it in and out of the turns. I decided to follow close since she knew every turn and bump, I watched for her brakes light and sure enough a hidden bump was there, or a gravel strewn blind turn, she knew it well. I got a bit concerned when she tried to drop me though by crossing into the oncomming lane in places so I backed off not wanting to force an accident - I was just having fun not racing, I did not want to pass I wanted to follow cause well she knew the road!

    Utah Desert Indian Country near Aneth

    Comming up on Bluff Utah

    The Mexican Hat
    In Mexican Hat Scott and I had a nice steak dinner on the swinging grill and enjoyed the evening in the Utah desert, Scott said he was going to take off early around 5am and so I said farewell, and I slept in. The beds there at the Mexican Hat lodge are very comfy. I always sleep well. Especially after a couple of Wasatch Brewery Polygamy Porters - only availible in UTAH.
    The ride back I took a route to Telluride, its a rolling sweeper road all the way past Rico and so its fast, I averaged 70-80mph mostly and I watched row upon row of car and RV heading home the other way, It was like this for miles all going the other way - me I had my lane almost to myself, passing easily the stragglers in 6th gear since the vfr has so much torque to pass in 6th gear. I dont have to shift down anymore to do that!
    I was getting hungary after a gas stop in Cortez - there was a Dennys right next to the gas station that looked like an old 50's Diner, it was all decked out in stainless steel, but the place was packed with a 15 mintue waiting line so I pressed on. I rode on over to Dolores 15 miles away to see what they had there. Lunch was a treat in I ate at the Ponderosa inn, a small wood paneled homey place with ceramic plates covering the wall as decorations - reminded me of Grandma and her plates hanging on the walls. The Hostes looked like she was in her 70's - here hair was colored flaming red and she wore a peach colored sport suit, and her penciled in eyebrows sort of followed around to the side of her head, I though it looked kind of wierd. I dont think she liked motorcyclist comming in her place but she was a good hostess, she put her initial reaction aside and decided to treat me like all her customers after I sat down and took off all my stuff. The whole mad max leather thing might be a bit scary for a woman of her age? I dont know? At first I was the only one there but when I left I the place was packed, a bunch of bikers stopped in, then a whole family of locals, and then more locals soon it was packed! I guess that shiny beautiful VFR parked outside drew in a few people? Ha I dont know I would like to think so! The Burger was great and the Onion rings were scrump-dilly-umptious.
    The ride was pretty uneventful from there on, the roads near Telluride are in poor condition so I did not ride too fast, passing a couple of ST bikes pulling trailers, they were old bikes I had to pass them twice since I had so many bugs on my visor I just had to stop and clean them. My ass was killing me too, the Stock seat is good for about 300 miles then its a bit hard after that. I might scoop out a bit of foam and make it more bucket like as a future modification, the vynyl is just stapled on and glued in. Hit it with a sander and shape it better maybe soon?
    I did not stop since there was so much traffic north of Telluride I did not want to have to keep passing the same people over and over again. Dallas Divide was spectacular - blue skies and fast sweepers going down to Ridgway CO. It was a nice ride. Monarch pass was sweet too, I love riding up the west side its really really fun if you have clear road. Its 2 lanes so you can pass slower vehicles but they sometimes think they own both lanes so you have to watch out in the corners! I was passing cars like flies. I almost made it clear the way to the top with open road but half way down I caught the steam train. Cars lined up as far as you could see behind semis and Rv's I was in for a slow one down. So I did not want to continue on like that into Salida so I stopped off for some Mexican food in Poncha Springs, cant remember the name "the sunflower" but in spanish I think? Good food and cheap.
    It was getting late and the sun was waning and I remember that the Arkansas river canyon gets critters in the evenings crossing the road so I slowed down, I remember my buddy Craig 7 years ago waxing a young deer at this very time of day and going down on the pavement next to the river. Jumped out from the bushes right into him.
    It was a good couple days ride.
     
    Google Maps
     
     

    Valley Of the Gods

    OH OH .. that would make a nice logo!

    Now we got it! Logo pic for sure - stich in a few more pan shots and ..

    I had to take the new bike up Skyline Drive Canon City

    all stiched up
  9. HispanicSlammer
    Two guys from work Motorcycle enthusiast
    My old boss Nate had just been recently reassigned to my shift again after working days for a year, and we got together to go for a little dual sport ride. Half forest service roads and half pavement. Nate invited another one of the guys a supervisor from day shift and the three of us headed out up Rampart Range Road for some teeth chattering washboard dirt road riding. Mostly easy to moderate riding, some sections definitly unimproved but nothing we couldnt handle. I have been on some much more challenging trail than this but it was a bit hairy in spots.
    Heading up Rampart Range is like jumping stait into cold water - right away its a climb and washboard rained out tight curves (by sportbike standards anyway) - not so much for a dirt bike, its an easy road lots of cars. We decided to keep Monolo between us since he said his bike had cut out on him on the way to the Starbucks where we met. Whatever it was must have shook out on Rampart range cause he never had an issue again. Nate said that he was very impressed riding behind the big beemer cause it seems like its just riding along a paved road, while his DR350 was sliding and bucking in the washboard turns.
    Me too the piggy was bouncing around since I had the suspension set up for street riding mostly but not so bad. I am not a fast dirt bike rider by any means, not at all. You can say I am really slow, but I usually dont get stuck, just plug along at my own pace. I was not riding so fast keeping Monolo in my mirror but I could barely make out Nates headlight so I focused on Monolos bike.
    I was gassing it hard on the wash board parts to smooth out the 4 inch ruts and ride over the top of them when a deer popped out right in front of me and thought better of it and backed back into the bushes, I just about pissed myself on that one! I put a larger front brake disc on this thing a year ago cause the brake was weak and now its pretty good but not THAT good! Then a few more turns and some kids on a red neon were power sliding into a turn on the way down right into me so I headed for the very edge of the road and they missed me by a few feet. Nate said they were completely sideways when they went by him like rally racers or somthing. Woodland park kids out on the road. I was using alot of the road up till then but decided I was getting close too close to town to be doing that anymore.
    Then up in Woodland Park we topped up the DR cause his tank is small and headed for Painted rocks, another easy but steeper road. This one has some challenges mostly long sand bars in the bowls of the road, deep ones that you just have to keep it steady on, the Piggy is built for that stuff but I am not! I hate how the front end goes loose in the deep sand! I climbed a steep hill and looked in my mirror and no Monolo? Oh shoot I hope sombody did not go down in that sand back there, nope Monolos licence plate came off! Nate broke out a zip tie and all was good! Then a bit more pavement at Westcreek to Deckers and we went right by a couple of cops who where sitting there with radar pointing at us. I was going 50 indicated on a 45 mph road, we all went by and no cops followed us. Man lots of police presence on CO 67 from Westcreek and past Deckers at the foot of Horse Power Hill. I counted 3! Lots of cops for a backroad to not very much - I must admit the road has gotten busier with more traffic this year then I have seen before. In any case I know where they are patrolling now.
     
     
    Google Map
     
     
     
     
    We stopped at Deckers and had a break the DR seat was staring to wear on Nate, I then told them that the easy parts were over and now it was gonna get into more moderate roads, unimproved passes and a few water crossings, you know the brochure GS picture type water crossings. Off we went and I got lost once and missed the turn for Stony Creek Pass, so we ended up by Cheeseman lake which is completely closed off now, no access at all? OK so we turned of and this was the longest section of the day all the way to Wellington lake it was unimproved and narrow, deep ruts but still a road. I was suprised Monolo handled it in stride and the big bike was doing very well. I am impressed too! good bike! Still easy by trail bike standards but now its a jeep road, a car could do it but very slow! I mean we passed a camper with a 4x4 camping on the side, if he can make it - all dirt no rocks. Then I knew I was on the right road when the first water crossing came up, a puddle really about a foot deep. We all went through it well - then about 10 minutes later the second one and this time Monolo hit a rock in the creek and he must have shifted his bike into neutral cause it stalled on the way out of the creek. He started it back up and off we went, I think the guys were liking this part the best! Challenging but not too crazy! Fun mostly, and then the road got easy again and went on into some very nice scenery the Aspens are already yellowing up in the mountains, a few weeks and they will be bare! Luch at the cut throat was good but they have a problem with flies that I found disgusting. I dont like flies in resturants especially that many! Food was great though as usual. Then we decided to just take pavement all the way back cause the ride was going on longer than expected, and I got to supermoto some tight curves on the way from Pine Junction to Pine! fun stuff at 70 mph! All and all a good ride!

    Nate and Monolo Monolo has never done a dual sport ride before

    Thats me in front of Pikes Peak I look like a dork

    Our rides GS1250 XR650 DR350
  10. HispanicSlammer
    The S Curves On The Green Horn Highway Bishops Castle Run
    I tried to get a ride together to do this run as a group ride, slipping clutches, and bad planning on my part forced it to become a solo run. I hopped on the Veefalo and headed south. I have always loved the Greenhorn Hwy and its fast sweepers and the big S turn shown in the teaser above, its a staple ride for me and about a 4 hour run if I want to do it there and back. I kept seeing this ST1300 all day long. I stopped in Flornece to gas up and as I was pulling out there he was on a red ST1300. I waved and headed for Bishops Castle, then after taking a rest at the castle I set up my camera for the videobelow and sure enough the ST pulled in as I was leaving.
    http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/biships2010.mp4
    I ended up heading into Westcliff and the long way around to Walsenburg. From there a short hop over to La Veta and again I set up my camera and low and behold who showed up behind me - that ST again. He stayed pretty close behind me all the way up Cucharas Pass and rode that ST like a pro! Good rider whoever he was! He waved as he went by at the top of the pass. Me I was just gonna turn around and get some lunch at the Dog Bar in Cuchara, CO; but not before running the pass a few more times.
    http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/cucharas.mp4

    Showing off the Leo Vince

    Veefalo

    Veefalo at the intersection of Cordova Pass and Cucharas Pass

    Teddys Peak At the turn off for Cordova Pass

    Sangre De Christo Range

    Crestone Needle Veefalo in the Foreground

    MOOO MOOO Silver Park Colorado
    all in all about 350 miles total - I spent about 2 hours at the dog bar talking with the locals and having a good time.
    Google Map
  11. HispanicSlammer
    Latest Veefalo mod
    I have been wanting to get a "vfrd" plate for my vfr for years, but the old girl she was fine with the orginal plate, the Veefalo on the other hand was a group effort and it would be a very nice touch to get a plate that says "vfrd" on it since that is where it came from

    new plate
    I havent ridden the bike for over a month, just to work since it needs new tires. I got maybe one good long ride left in her rear tire. I have a new set in the shed ready to go for Texasmac 2011! Mostly been riding my Cannondale roadbike these days trying to lose wieght. After riding around for 4 days with a bunch of in shape and healthy Canadians I found out when I got home my over exuberant diet had costed me - wieghing in at over 245 lbs the most ever! Since then I am down to 225lbs but I think that was from my tooth! Just kidding, that was my Halloween costume I went as a Jack-o-lantern.

    Jack-O-lantern
    Lots going on for the bike next year, a fork upgrade hopfully and new tires, then its just ride ride ride and with me in shape and hopfully down to my goal of 195lbs by May I will be riding it much better too.
  12. HispanicSlammer

    Oregon Days

    By HispanicSlammer,

    Shaniko Oregon Maddog and his y2k 800
    Maddog and I spent a day riding across eastern Oregon on the way to the pacific north west meet, he rides a nice yellow 2000 vfr800 in a well used stich. He told me tales of how he spent an entire summer on that bike touring the usa, living in a tent and enjoying the vagabond motorcyclist life. He can definitly ride it well and seems to be able to accelerate at a pace I cant. Here is some video footage I took out of the Town of Fossil on the way to Antelope, up and over Prindle Pass on the Shaniko-Fossil highway .
     
     

     
     
     
     
    fossil_hd.mp4
  13. HispanicSlammer
    https://contour.com/stories/bishops-castle-run-to-wetmore
     

    I have not been to the Greenhorn highway all summer, the road to Bishops castle - its always fun railing the turns on that fast sweeper road, then the tighter stuff down to Wetmore. I met up with reddog in Woodland Park and we checked out the sky and thought well maybe we can go around Pikes Peak to a turn off at Twin Rocks and avoid the angry looking clouds sitting over Pikes Peak. We got lucky and missed most of the rain. Heading south on High Park road we saw a rare site, motorcycles holding up cars! We figured it was a new rider and sure enough it was a woman on a metric crusier and her husband not far behind riding 15 below the speed limit - of course in a section with no sight lines for at least a mile, we had to pass 3 cars and 2 bikes.

    Reddog was saying over the blue tooth sena communicators they should pull off - but honestly I am sure she was so white knucked kung fu grip on the handle bars she probably had no idea there were cars behind her! I did not mind too much cause I know the road well and knew we were going to be into a passing zone soon enough.

    Then over the back road to Cripple Creek we were soon on hwy 50 - Reddog was astonished at how bad they messed up that road with tar snakes, the hill down to the Arkansas River was so full of tar snakes it was like riding over a slip and slide water park as wide as the road. It was awful - sections we did over the years at a 100 plus are now very dangerous and not advisable to ride much over the speed limit if even that.
     
     
     
     
     

    Lunch was a bacon cheese burger with weird maple syrup flavored bacon? It sort of ruined the burger which was very tasty but the maple syrup was just too much. Hit the spot though after we both peeled that stuff off. Then back on the road to Westcliff where we finally got some rain, just enough to clean the bugs off the visor. They dont call them the wet mountains for nothin!

    Then soon we were pushing the speed up a bit and turned off on the Green Horn hwy at McKenzi Junction and then I rolled on the throttle and let her rip all the way to Bishops Castle - thats a very fun fast ride for 15 min or so of good stuff. There is more good twisties if you keep going but the best stuff is on the way to the Castle. Bigalow Divide its called is the best part.
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    Map of the video ride


    Full Size


    We rode into Flornece and the heat on the temp gauge showed 100f, only in Colorado can you go from 65 to 100 in a matter of 12 mintues! We looked back at the wet mountains it was just covered with rain clouds, we hit it at the perfect time!
     
     
  14. HispanicSlammer
    NEW VIDEO BELOW - updated chapter 4
    I had a forced vacation from work for two weeks so why not take a trip, the roads west are full of sand and snow so I decided to head east where Spring has already taken hold. The original plan was to leave early Thursday March 29th and make it as far east as possible but Rapidsnipe convinced me to stop over in OKC to spend the night and ride to the Ozarks together. So as usual I woke up at 4am all messed up turned on the weather channel to see that a tornado hit Holly Colorado and ripped the place apart, looked on my map and sure enough I was scheduled to ride through there about 10am, then a local report from Denver showed the TV weather man standing in about 4 inches of snow along I-25 so I panicked and rushed to the window to find somewhat clear skies and no sign of snow. Denver is only 65 miles north of here so its close enough but there is a natural weather break at about monument where the weather seems to change for some reason. I could be blasting snow here and Denver will be sunny and warm or vise versa, I imagine those folks in Monument Colorado and east of there get the worst from both sides of the divide. It just seems to funnel between Mount Evans and Pikes Peak right into that place!
    In any case when I finally left at 7am the sun was shining but it was cold as a witches tit! I had my farkles on full blare and not so comfy as 30 degrees seeps in every nook and cranny of my Aerostich it can! My hands where warm on the bottom from the grip heaters but my finger tips were frosty. It wasn't till I made it to Lamar that it started to warm up to about 55 degrees, then I could relax a little and take my hands off the grips to stretch. I cant stand the cold too much, I would rather be roasting that freezing any day! Riding in that kind of cold just makes you stiff and miserable, but I knew that the Ozarks were waiting. I was approaching the Kansas boarder and finally came within about 5 minutes of Holly Colorado and did not see any sign of massive devastation?
    The weather channel said that there were reports that the tornado that hit Holly was a mile wide! I did see a water tank toppled over but no debris lying around? what gives - then I could see that they had a traffic jam up ahead in town, the closer I got to the center of the little town the worse it got, a house would be missing roof tiles and there was a lot of mud in the street, then closer you would see broken windows and more debris till ground zero, right at the RV park. Why do tornado's zero in on trailer parks?? It was totally destroyed, trees ripped from the ground, aluminum siding wrapped around bushes, no trailers to speak of that I could even recognize and wood and what looked like a home but only the foundation left. There was a tree ripped in half with one half of it upside down hanging upside down across the street and 500 yards away on the power lines above. HALF THE TREE! wow then as soon as I was in Kansas it was all back to normal again!

    I was getting hungry so I stopped in Garden City (not so aptly named) who's main industry seems to be feel lots and a huge Tyson plant on the west side. I saw what looked like an authentic Mexican food joint, so I stopped. Everybody was speaking Spanish in the place so I figured hey must be good right! NOPE! It was awful! At least my server was nice to look at, a sort of J-Lo look alike complete with big back-end like hers! I was pleased to find that it was now 75 degrees outside! So I shed my jacket, vest and glove liners for something less bulky!
    I could see a big storm off to the north but my route just had me skirting the edge of it the whole time. Lots of slab lots of wet roads but no rain.

    Typical Kansas Your average small town this is Minneola KS

    Big Wind you know how they call Montana Big Sky well KS is...
    BIG WIND

    The closer I got to Oklahoma the less boring the roads got, they were becoming rolling hilly tree lined roads with all these great pink trees that just seemed to dot the land scape, along hwy 160 in southern KS there is some interesting red clay landscapes that were rather pretty. I was surprised at how nice it was, but then over the hill the smell of yet another feed lot would just ruin it! Finally in OK I just cruised into OKC fresh and ready for bed, I would get off the main roads and take a little detour off into some sleepy little place such as Calumet OK just west of OKC nice place that is!

    Thursday
    I soon had Rapidsnipe and his wife knocking on my door at the motel to take me to what would be one of the best steaks I have ever eaten in my life, hes a young guy and they are a very young couple very cute together, and shes got him on a very short leash! UMM maybe you shouldn't show her the video Chase! There I met Gary Swanson and his family he would be joining me and Chase the next day into Arkansas.
    THE VIDEO!
    I took great pleasure in building this video its rather long at 21 minutes and it has highlights of the best the Ozarks have to offer, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri all are part of the mountain range that extends across the region and makes for some great riding. I could not beleive that these guys were not out there every weekend riding these great roads!!

    The Ozarks a video oddessy - 6 guys 500 miles of some of the best twisty roads Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri have to offer. Highlights of hwy 62 out of Eureka Springs, Push Mountain, Talimera Skyway, and the heart of the Ozarks Hwy 16. Music from the Breath Sunshine cd, Tori Amos, John mayer, New Order, and Paul Desmond.

    Day two Oklahoma
    Chase and Gary met me at my motel and then we went across the street for breakfast all suited up for the worst. It seemed that my very presence created a high pressure zone in Oklahoma that was pushing the wet weather off and to the northeast. It was overcast be we did not see much rain at all, stopping in some half closed town for gas I once again shed myself of my over gloves and jacket - unzipped the vents on the stitch cause well it was getting downright hot. Following Rapidsnipe (Chase) I could see that he was using the route I had programmed in my Garmin but for some reason I had no clue what direction I was going, east, south, west for all I knew I was so disoriented that I couldn't get my bearings. I again was awake at 4am, a byproduct of working nights and sometimes I just lose all track of time. I pride myself on having a great sense of direction, and can read maps rather well. However when you lose track of time you cant tell direction, since morning seems like evening and vise versa. The first time I was in Tennessee riding to the Texasmac with Kevin in his Jeep I could have swore we were heading west cause it seemed like the sun was going down, I mean I was awake and for all intents and purposes I head into work after I wake up - WEST. I get all confused now. So there I was just happy to follow along, and check my gps once in a while to see if we were going to go pioneer for a bit and go local? Nope right on course.
    Rapidsnipe suggested we make a detour to go ride OK hwy 2, said it was a good road, so we headed northeast on hwy 270 to Limestone, that seemed to me like a rather boring road till we made it to the hwy 2 turn off and headed south. I could see the squiggly lines on my gps and was happy to see the first twisties in 700 miles! The road did not disappoint as Rapidsnipe was soon rolling on the throttle and leaning it over into a very sweet and long sustained sweeper, I could tell he wasn't just some squid like he described himself to be, no he can ride! I was twisting the throttle for all she got just to keep up he wasn't gonna lose me! The after that a series of tighter turns and some blind right handers had us bunched up behind some slow moving campers out for the weekend. We passed them all one by one and I soon realized it is just like Colorado slow movers don't let faster vehicles by here either! I guess that only happens in TN, CA, Montana, and northern Texas? great turn after great turn would pass by slowly till we could see enough daylight to get by them one by one. Chase stopped at the turnoff to hwy1 to let Gary catch up to us and soon the horde was again in front of us, since it took a while to get my gloves back on. He was right it was a good road but too much traffic. We decided to wait some more and just let the Mongol horde get far enough ahead that we could have the road to ourselves. It wasn't long before we were at the entrance to Talemera State Park, they have a nice visitors center there where you can de-water yourself in peace. I set up the camera and let Chase take the lead. I think it made him a bit nervous to be on camera, I usually don't tell people I have then on camera so that they just ride their normal ride, but it was obvious I was going to film the Skyway, it was beautiful. He rode rather well if I can say so.
    The Talimena Skyway ( hwy 1 east/west) is split into two sides 3/4 of it is in Oklahoma and the last bit is in Arkansas, with it being intersected in half by hwy 259 (north south). It is an exciting road with nice fast sweepers throughout and stunning scenery approximately 2000 feet in elevation and a 1000 feet above the valley below. I has some breathtaking scenes that rival the Cherehola Skyway - not as long but certainly just as beautiful and fun if not more scenery. You can see more below from the road than the Cherehola, but then again the trees were not leafed out as of yet. I was enjoying it, particularly one section that had us heading down a steep hill where you could see the road on the other side ramping up the next hill.

    Talimera State Park Oklahoma/Arkansas boarder hwy 1

    The Talimera Skyway Talimera Talimina who knows what it is?

    Somewhere on the Talemira
    Chase took us off the road and over to the Three Sticks Memorial on hwy 259 on the opposite valley you could see the Talimera from there rather well it has some great turns up the mountain.

    Gary stopped at the three sticks memorial
    I could see that Chase was a bit ruffled from me riding behind him with the camera on, so I asked him if he wanted me to lead, which I happily did, making them both go back to that spot on the Talimera so I could get that picture above. There were some nice tight ones just before the turn off at 259 that I wanted to do again, I must say that is one of the highlights of my trip the Talemera is a wonderful ride. I am a bit more experienced rider so I was soon a bit of a ways ahead of the two of them when an interesting rhythm section came up 4 successive tight esses that I could see though to the end, I did not slow down - my mistake cause I had to trail brake through the first one and that had me off my pace and I was crossed up a bit into the next three trail breaking it the whole way till on the last turn I was barely going 10mph - it seemed to me like I was going to fall over! I did not cross the line at all or otherwise blow any of the turns but my aggressive braking has scrubbed off so much speed it caught me off guard when I had no power in 5th gear to round the last corner, lugging it hard till I could fumbling with the shifter to get some power to the ground and not fall over. It must have looked pretty stupid from behind. The guys were about a half minute behind me so they did not see any of it! Heh me lugging the last turn must have looked awful.
    Like I said they looked easy but were much tighter than I had anticipated oops!! Who knows why they put them there - obviously did not need them as you could see all of them, it is just enough to make you slow down to half speed. There were some nice down hill turns on the back side to Mena where we had some lunch at Wendy's.
    I said "we must be in Hill Billy country",
    Gary said "whys that"
    "cause the women are wearing overalls" pointing at the woman behind him
    The further we got into the Ozarks the more Redneck things got, teeth didn't look so strait, shirts were optional, as was women with shoes, hair no longer seemed to be combed and strange sightings occurred regularly. Wild turkeys running out into the road, and turtles run over, of course the ubiquitous skunks are everywhere. It was the airport phone booth converted into a mailbox that had me laughing out loud though - most definitely redneckish! What was it it about this place that says wear overalls with no shoes, and have a straw hanging from your teeth? I don't know but I was relaxed by it, seems to me do as the locals do! We rode some back roads and took a merry long way around to Hotsprings where Dutch was waiting for us. His gixxer buddy pussed out - his loss too bad he didn't meet us in Oklahoma to ride the Talemina with us!
    Now here is the strange part neither Chase nor Hondalover drinks beer - so I started in with the teasing. Telling then that they must be Zima drinking pinky flipping guys who don't drink beer! HeH! Then Dutch, and Gary, Chev started in on them too!

    Dinner In Hotsprings Left to Right - Rapidsnipe, Hondalover, Chev, Dutchintercepter, HS, GSwanson.

    Thursday

    day three Arkansas
    we woke up to a steady drizzle of rain and so it took us a bit longer to get situated, everybody was donning rainsuits and I was digging out my overgloves that are supposed to keep my elkskin ropers dry. They worked out ok but for some reason as usual my farkles started to fail. My gps kept saying aquiring satalites and not zoning in on the route, which is strange it didnt work untill we made it all the way to Ola where we stopped to fill up and respite from the rain. I asked Rapidsnipe to take the lead since his was working, but I think any of us could have it was rather simple to stay on hwy 7! There was a really nice section of highway 7 right before that near Hollis, lots of nice banked curves and a few decreasing radius off camber turns thrown in for good measure. It was a bit tricky because of the rain - we wanted to go faster but the painted lanes seems much narrower than normal and some of us blew a few turns, slipping on the yellow paint. It eased up in Ola and so RapidSnipe and Gswanson peeled off to head back to OKC when we made it to Russleville. Two riders down 4 left, we headed up hwy7 ever climbing into the Ozarks on those fast sweepers passing the slow traffic as we could, it was pretty much double yellow the whole way? I really think those yellow lines are painted for RV's with no concept that Motorcycles can pass safely and quickly in shorter stretches? I wish the law could see it that way too? I mean it was solid double yellow for the entire stretch from Dover to the hwy 16 turnoff! Crazy!

    Somewhere on hwy 7 my camera could not focus on the hills in the background
    In any case we did what we did.
    The rain stopped enough for me to film part of hwy 16 to Witts Springs where it started to come down hard. I fell in behind Chev for most of it but he was struggling with the bike in the tight turns so I passed him and caught up with the other two, Chev and Hondalover had communicator on so I knew that if Chev fell too far back he could radio us to stop. It was at lunch later that I felt his front tire and the massive cupping he had on that old bias ply on his vfr1000, 16 inch wheels with heavy cupped bias plies and 3 guys on sport radials makes for a tough day for Chev, I could feel the tire fall off on the sides about 15 degrees sharper than the middle too, it must have felt like riding in a dingy boat in a hurricane trying to keep us with the rest of us?? I know a bad tire will ruin any ride, he was riding much faster than I would on those things!! I think they were the OEM TIRES?? Dunlop bias plys would have had me worried right off the bat! Then he was into the tread indicators too! JEBUS! OH man hes got more balls than..............
    We stopped in Tilly for a picture stop.

    Hwy 16 wet wet wet

    The sky was getting ready to open up on us
    We continued on with me in the lead while it rained we team-worked lead duty. I lead pretty much the rest of the day from then on, my gps was working again. Hwy 341 Push Mountain was the next great road, not that those in between were bad, but that road is a monster, lots of tight turns and long straits that suck you in faster than you want too. I sort of took off a bit alone as my tires were just sweet in the rain, I was getting some great feedback and took it almost as fast as if it were dry. Never slipped once I felt confident the whole time. The clouds finally parted in Mountain home where we stopped at the first restaurant we saw, dripping wet and very hungry it was almost 3pm when we made it there. We waited an awful long time for our meal so plans to continue to Missouri were shelved in favor of a more direct route to Eureka Springs, we found some interesting back roads, and managed to salvage the rest of the day on some decent roads. We pretty much headed west from Mountain home till Harmon then did some back roads to a strange road 281 near the Missouri boarder, it as mighty twisty in places and long 270 turns that seemed to never end, and a up and down a steep hill I was glad to have found it, very interesting riding there. Turns out it was a typical Missouri road as they all seem to be like that in the Ozarks up and down roller coaster hills that dive off one way or another into a thick forest area it engages you completely! This is where the skill level seems to shake out on those iffy roads, your either comfy or your not! I liked it but rode it cautiously. Then the gas gage was showing near empty with only 156 miles on the clock? So we stopped in Ridgedale and Dutch and Chev came out of the bathroom looking absolutely disgusted. I decided to just hold it right then and there. then it was over hwy 86 and west again to Eureka Springs over the bridge at Table Rock Lake we soon encountered a car that had driven off the road and down the embankment about 20 feet below the road. I guess whoever it was was hurt cause there was an ambulance. There was a bar/nightclub on the hill above us - my guess is a drunk came down the driveway and went across the road and down the other side!
    We took MO hwy 86 all the way to 23 and headed east to Eureka Springs it was starting to get dark already and when we made it to the Traveler's Inn there were a hundred or so dual sport bikes there. It must be the motel of choice for motorcyclist, the owners were sure friendly to us. The place was a model of convenience - a Pizza Hut on the right, a Liquor Store to the left, and across the street a breakfast buffet! What more could you ask for?

    Saturday

    day 4 Missouri
    We had a nice breakfast in Eureka Springs then rolled down the hill to the train depot.

    Train Depot in Eureka Springs This place reminds me of Manitou Springs where I live

    Spanning the generations

    Ideal setting indeed Eureka Springs is a pretty town

    Underway
    ATTACH
    I have attached the entire route I took from Colorado to the Ozarks in back, and put place markers on all the best roads. MS Streets and Trips

    VFRS parade the town

    lots of bikes in Eureka Springs hundreds of them
    We started out Sunday with a quick jaunt up hwy 62, as seen in the video, lots of traffic though and small towns in between makes it a ride you should be cautious on. It was soon after crossing the boarder that the road got interesting, Hwy 112. Southern Missouri in general is full of great roads that all share one thing in common, they seem to be like a wild roller coaster ride. You can't help but get sucked into taking the turns just a bit faster then you should. Cresting a hill and then diving off in one direction or another, I always roll off near the top of hills cause well who knows whats there or which way it goes. In Colorado there is often gravel from a driveway at the top of hills so I am conditioned to slow down before cresting a hill. Its the quick acceleration of rolling down then back up thats so much fun, however Missouri seems to mix in a few sweepers in between and then a few tight ones - just enough to make the road that much more unpredictable. Its the unpredictable nature of this kind of road that can put you in a ditch though so be prepared for whatever.
    I had my GPS set to take the "Shortest route" I have found that it often takes me to great roads I would not have known about, but sometimes it leads me to a dead end or a dirt road. Such was the case with the Roaring River State Park , the GPS showed a clear route back to hwy 76 from there but it was not the case - we ended up stopped at the fish hatchery which well was pretty interesting, not planned but interesting. There were hundreds of people at the park all fishing, it seemed like it wasn't even sport but there they were none the less.

    Roaring River State Park MO one wrong turn on hwy 112 had us stopped at a fish hatchery
    Once on Hwy 72 we headed east, its sort of a road that skirts the tops of hills sides and dives up and down past cow pastures its very pastoral and in itself a very pretty road, we were starting to see a number of other bikes as it was the weekend and at one section two Ducatis were railing a corner and came right into my lane a bit. I cant comment on the speed but if you cant stay in your lane your out of control! I saw them coming and took the turn a bit wide cause you could tell they were hauling ass. Then we rolled in behind a couple out for the day on a nice Black Goldwing, looked like they were having a lot of fun, they even stayed with us a bit after we passed them, we all got caught behind a fairly fast moving Toyota truck and when I saw an opening I took it, then the road opened up into 4 lanes as we went under an overpass and the rest of the guys got by. I guess me passing the Toyota took the wind out of his sails cause he slowed down right after I did. I wonder if he was pushing it at 9/10ths or something? Heh I sure wasn't!
    76 to 160 is very interesting in these parts but its a main road so there is some traffic - not much cause its rather rural out there but more than side roads. their is a curious 180 degree loop that slings back around and up a mountain side at Walnut shade that you can really rail on if that was what you like to do, but I could see that as one hell of a speed trap for motorcyclist, there are houses on both ends so you have to slow down before and after.
    Then I turned off on Road H, its all chip sealed with the familiar white chip rock that they tend to use around there, it can glare in direct sunlight but it is very grippy so I upped the pace a bit. lots of fast sweeper all the way up to the Mark Twain National Forest, looks like some good off road around there too as we passed a number of trailers hauling dirt bikes and ATVs must be off road heaven back in there! I loved it, canopy trees covered the area in places then you would see glimpses of rock ledges overlooking valleys below. Its very pretty there, and the roads are challenging. Looping back south on 125 all the way to Garrison Chev and Hondalover peeled off to go home. We stopped for a good bit and counted the sport bikes that went by.
    I was dumbfounded that neither Chev or Hondalover had been there before? Its only a half days ride for them to get there? I suspect they will both be returning very soon! It was actually my second trip into the Mark Twain and it was different the second time, I recognized some things but most things no didn't, I think I was off the main path for a while the first time. Hwy 76 intersects the road and you dog leg off a bit for what I consider the best part, its gets tighter on the southern side of 76 and its banked so you can go really fast and just have a total blast, Me and Dutch were just flying in that section waving at the bikes coming the other way. It wasn't too long before we were on the Ferry to head back to Arkansas.
    Since we could not do the entire route we planned the day before we decided to do the Missouri part back wards and track back to Russelville in the opposite direction. The ferry ride was very cool, more bikes on the ferry then cars, and it is FREE!

    Peel Ferry bikes outnumbered cars trying to cross Bull Shoals Lake
    Hwy 125 intersects hwy 14 where we turned east and that is when Dutch decided to wick it up a bit on those great sweepers, for a good half an hour we were just blasting it with out a single car! It was great, I was just really enjoying the faster road - from the tighter turns on 125. The Ozarks has it all.
    Lunch in Mountain Home was a banquet, we stopped at the Exxon station and the clerk recommended "the Steak house" in the middle of town - still on hwy 62 When we got there the place was empty, seemed abandoned but after we went in it filled up. Glad we did! It looks like it might be a chain - I have never heard of it but it was a good stop.
    "The Steak House"
    859 Highway 62 E
    Mountain Home, AR 72653
    Tel: (870) 425-8515
    Lunch menu is more like dinner - I asked for bread and they brought me a freshly baked loaf of bread! Salad, fix 'ns its was a huge meal for a great price.
    I ate so much that I was tired afterward, I was loafing a bit so Dutch took off to go find some chain lube by himself I told him I would catch up to him back at the Exxon. Then we were off to go ride Push Mountain Again. I took the lead and the GPS routed us through some strange back road that ran for 5 or 6 miles then turned to hard packed dirt, I just shrugged and kept going looked like we landed into some private redneck compound off to the right but it ended right at the foot of Push Mountain! I stopped to take a picture of the 'White River"

    White River at the base of Push Mountain hwy 341
    I started filming and was soon finding myself falling behind cause Dutch was in his element on Push Mountain, I found the pace to be pretty fast, but I could manage. Lots of long straits then afterward a hard left or right and a series of tight turns. I had to brake more than I like too, but I wanted to keep up, he was starting to walk away from me. The road is relentless and at the end I could tell I was not up to much more of it, I would have rolled off cause at that point I was pretty much beat from the 300miles of twisties we already did. I took the lead again and slowed the pace down a bit - seemed like I couldn't concentrate well I retraced the route we did before and stopped in Tilly to stretch a bit, Dutch got on his cell and checked in with his wife to tell her he was staying another night. I asked Dutch if he wanted to do the rest cause well I wasn't up to the task so he took over lead duties and we short cut back down hwy 27 to Dover and for an overnight in Russelville. It was one particular up hill road that caught me a bit off guard a bit, it was a very tight Esse Turn into a decreasing radius that had me almost blowing the turn. I took it way too fast and it scared me a bit, Dutch said some guy he was riding with had ran off the road on that very same turn its a sucker turn that is much tighter than the others so you are not ready for it. I managed to get through it fine but I really had to push the bike over hard to make it. That is when I decided it was time to find a place to sleep for the night.

    Lake Dardanelle Russleville AR right out side our rooms at the Days Inn on I-40
    hwy 27 was rather challenging by itself as well some tight hairpins on the way down, and cruisers in the way had us making quick passes, it was still challenging. The sun was setting and it was cooling off, a perfect ending to a great days ride.

    Sunday
    I have attached the entire trip from Colorado to the Ozarks and back in an MS streets and trips file, its marked with all the best roads
    Missouri into Kansas

    Dutch and I took off early retracing our path up hwy 27 from Dover to Tilly to ride that sweet section of hwy 16 together, I was feeling better this time and was ready to roll. 27 didn't seem as challenging going up but it was fun, then we had some fun on the sweeper at Ben Hur. Before we left Russleville we stopped at the Wafflehouse on I-40 for breakfast and I just couldn't help but notice that manager was a ringer for former President Clinton, same nose, same face, same accent, even the same mannerisms it was uncanny, but not so fat! Then we had a talk with a guy riding a Kawi zx14 - hes like me tours the whole country on the thing, with his wife on the back too!
    Dutch started having knee pain, and kept stretching his legs out. Not used to relentless twisties 2 or 3 days of riding can stress your knees pretty good. I was feeling pretty good and so we parted ways at the hwy 7 intersection, he said he took some back roads home so he managed to have some more fun. Me I continued up 123 to Mount Judea, this is my personal Favorite as its chock full of some nice turns - without anybody else riding with me I just took it easy or so I thought the pace was easy on the straits then for some reason I was leaned over all the frickin way in the turns?? odd heh
    I passed a couple out for a joy ride in one of those Mercedes roadsters, and just had a blast the rest of the way before the road gets super tight. Its right at Mt Judea that it becomes a very tight switchback decent into the town. Not much there a school, a few shops and one awesome café road stand, thats not much to look at either but the Bacon Cheeseburger is fantastic! A God fearing town the entire area is named after places and characters in the Bible. I stopped for a few pictures on top of Mount Judea

    Mount Judea I forgot how fun and challenging hwy 123 is in AR

    Hasty off in the Distance from the top of hwy 123
    I started heading west with the intent of just finding as many side roads as possible on the way, just playing it by ear and yes I found some great roads, I kept taking a stair step pattern in a north west route. The ride from Mt Judea took me to Hasty where its seems to be very rural very poor in terms of the condition of the houses around the place, it sort of was depressing to look at with such beauty around in the natural scenery. A dilapidated trailer with an ad hock roof built over and around it? Hasty seems to be the correct term. I managed to make my way to Jasper to fill up and again head west. I was riding in the hilly section - not so many mountains but more hills now. From Jasper I went west on hwy 74 and then North a bit on 27 again then I got on a main road 412 which I found to be boring so I headed north again on hwy 23 up to the next turn off on 127. I was pretty much all alone on both those roads.

    The only strait road in Low Gap

    A sign near Low Gap very true
    On Highway 127 (Rock Road) is a great convenience store/gas station with soft serve Ice Cream, the ladies were cleaning the machine so they were selling Ice Cream for half price, I couldn't resist, it was a nice store for such a lonely place! I gassed up and headed out again. The Hwy sort of snakes around up to Beaver Lake where the turns are very fun then you cross a bridge over the lake and completely avoid the bigger towns on the western edge of the Ozarks. There are large towns all along the north western edge of the Ozarks that make the ride a real bore. I managed to avoid most of it. Skirting the edge of Rogers up to Pea Ridge, its a strait road on the map and it has a lot of traffic but its very scenic none the less (hwy 94) then I crossed over into Missouri

    I Stayed away from the main roads here and headed west again on a fun road hwy from Jane to Noel, its a fun road, there is a spider web of great roads up near Pea Ridge you can have a blast on right on the boarder! Then the Ozarks were done! I had some Lunch in Noel where there is another cool convenience store with a nice overlook that views the river.

    Stopped in Noel Missouri great road hwy 90

    Elk River The gas station there has a restaurant in back that has bay windows that overlook the river.
    It wasn't long before I was in Kansas again and the wind was beating me relentlessly all they way to Wichita, nothing much to report about that!

    Monday
    the ride home

    Kansas sucks windy all the way from Whitchita, so much so I was leaned over going in a strait line, then the small town mentanlity there of - we dont need to provide bathrooms from passers by - I did fill up my bike. I came out of the bathroom to listen to the clerks and owners complaining about that. I guess it was me they where talking about, I guess they have never seen a motorcyclist before? I decided not to buy anything else and move on.

    Colorado hwy 94 87 miles away from Pikes Peak I could make out a faint outline of the mountain, I felt like Zebulon Pike himself when he first saw it

    Zoomed in you can see the outline of Pikes Peak vaguely I did catch up to that pickup later too! This was the first glimpse that I was almost home, yet it took me another hour to get to the city limits of Colorado Springs

    One whipped Pirrelli Diablo rear tire cords showing after 2600 miles, it was a great tire in the rain and never once slipped.

    Tuesday
  15. HispanicSlammer
    Every year I take at least two long out of state trips - usually associated with vfrd in some fashion or another, this last year 2011 was no exception. August is usually the time sombody organizes a PNW rally, usually in Canada or in Oregon - Superfunk, Choco, or Didit being the characters most involved with that in the last 3 years. I try to come when I can, time and money are the only thing holding me back, and usually those things are not so bad. I am thankful to have a decent job with lots of Personal Time (PTO) as they call it - I usually dont take time off for other things at all so it accrues rather generously for me for the most part, and I love my motorcycle adventures across the USA and Canada - perhaps in the future that will expand to other places as well, I have still a lot of the USA to explore, and Northern California was on that list for this trip.

    I decided in this blog entry to just write about the "getting there" part and include the video above of the Old Spiral Highway to show you all why I wanted to go! The roads in the Pacific North West are simply superb - and along the way too. The company I keep is second to none - most of this is true about VFRD members I have met, but this group is special to me since we have one hell of a good time together.
     
     
     
    http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/osh11.mp4
     

    I did all my usual getting ready to ride stuff, oil change, new tires, check over the bike, do any scheduled maintenance, and pack - then unpack and remove any crap I don't really need and then do it again, (because most of the time you don't need half the stuff you bring). I remember meeting a guy on an Aprillia a few years back, stock seat, full leathers, did not even bring a back pack, just stuffed some underwear under his seat and brought his phone - he borrowed my charger even - NOW THAT IS SPARTEN sport touring. I have not yet come to that - no I bring at least 3 changes of clothes, cameras, mini lap top, phone, extra gas - (veefalo she has such a small tank), walking shoes, and shaving kit - OH AND TOOLS. So well I have not made that jump just yet! However I have come along way! He was riding from Oregon to Laguna Seca with lots of places to get stuff along the way, me I usually have to travel across some great expanse to get to where I am going with hundreds of miles between gas stations.

    Well anyway back to the story - I called my buddy Jack, a guy I met in the winter who rides a Connie 1998 vintage and hes a real character, perhaps not the fastest guy around but fun to hang out with for sure, and long in the tooth and gray as hair can get. I like him. He tells me meet up in Cripple Creek so we can take advantage of the $2 casino breakfast - Cripple Creek Colorado is about an hour away from my house in the mountains behind Pikes Peak and its a gambling town.
     
     
     
     

     

    So Jack and I sit down and bullshit over ham and eggs and an orange juice from a can (hey it was $2!) and then we take off toward hwy 50 to go ride the Black Canyon. Its an easy day, nice and sunny and a bit hot actually, Jack is riding close enough and I am not pushing it so we are having a good time, up and over Monarch Pass - its a good thing we were going slow cause a rare state patrol officer was on the pass in full patrol mode. My radar went off just as I had slowed down to get behind a car, I was ready to pass at the first opportunity so I got lucky. I did not say I was riding like a saint, I just said I was not riding as fast as I normally do, I had a bit of fun going up and down the pass. The thought of Jack behind me rolling along kept me from really burning it up and perhaps getting a ticket, I am not used to seeing State Patrol on the pass, usually they are in the plains down below and close to Gunnison.
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    We stopped in Gunnison for a sample of brew at the Gunnison Brewery (eww not so good) and a bite to eat and took off cause it was so so to not so good! Cant say I enjoyed that meal but Jack kept me entertained as usual with his stories. Hes got a lot of them and they are pretty good ones, the dude knows motorcycles thats for sure. Then we hit the Black Canyon and had an awful time there too cause well they just chip sealed the damn thing and left all this loose chip all over the place and so it was more like a dirt bike ride then a sport ride. Oh well we decided to forgo the Grand Mesa when we got to the stop at the half way point and just turn around and make up some time, the road was not much fun in that condition and to keep on going at that pace would have had us in Grand Junction at 9pm. The first 3 miles of the Canyon were good but after that NO.
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    So we just slabbed it from the Black Canyon on over to Grand Junction, we found a cheap motel and Jack talked the guy into $25 bucks apiece, and it was worth about that HEH. Oh who cares I slept good, and we went and got a great steak at wwpeppers, it was incredible - my boss told me about that place and it was worth the $$!

    Cheap room = good meal money!
     
     
     
     

     

    Then we walked over to the local brewery and had some excellent beers and talked up the sassy bartender, she was a hoot. Jack was in his element, funny as usual.
     
     
     
     
     

     

    In the Morning we took off early, I split with Jack and headed to Utah, I decided to make a morning trip into the Colorado National Monument right there on the west side of Grand Junction
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    I thought I had gotten there early enough not to pay but they got me on the other side! Then speeding over the Interstate to get off and do Douglas Pass at incredible speed, I was having fun, but boy there was a lot of cars on it? One every minute it seemed but no cops! Most going the other way, so I did not have to pass too many cars. Into Utah I grabbed some lunch in Vernal and enjoyed the stuff on the walls, some really nice guns on display. Then I took off over the Flaming Gorge and had some fun riding up and down that, its really pretty the sand stone rocks and the cool blue water.
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    I shot over the pass and around that road all mired in RV's and Harleys. Shot past so fast those RV's with that big 12k cc engine pounding out the miles one by one - passing was just a matter of rolling on the throttle in 6th gear even up hill it was more then enough torque to get around those RV beasts, but the HD took a shift down to do that. It is mostly slab from then on, until I got to the Sawatch mountains, I was rolling into Mountain View Wyoming, just in the Utah notch there coming in and out of Utah, you got to go through Wyoming a bit - anyway the Radar was blasting so I slowed it down to a crawl and sure enough the local sherrif deputy was sitting in a ditch were you cant see him and hitting everything - he pulled out and followed me till I pulled in for gas and and just wanted to see the bike. Turns out he owns a 2006 vfr and wanted to see the new one, never heard of vfrd though? Jeez the word is not spreading! I dont think he is an internet type of guy anyway.

    So I pushed on over I-80 into Utah again and turned off Evaston to go ride the Sawatch. I took no pictures from here on to Ogden UT cause I was pushing for time and really really enjoyed coming down why 39 it is a fun road in the mountains east of Salt Lake, mostly nice sweepers and good chip seal. I like chip seal when its done right - its grippy as all get out when done right.

    Ogden is not my favorite place, big bad uncle sams bankers work there and its sort of just a strip mall with no so great resturants, well I haven't found any yet to put it more accurately, I found a decent motel and camped out for the night. I was on my way to Boise, and to spend a day with my Uncle Lonnie there, but on the way I would stop in Albion Idaho to my favorite resturant in Idaho - the Sage Brush Inn
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    It was a slow day so the owner came over and sat with me for a half an hour and shot the breeze very nice guy and he told me about this place called the city of rocks about 10 miles south of Albion I should go an visit, it is a rock climbers dream, world class climbers come from all over the world to scale the rocks there he said so I went and took a look!
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     

    It was mostly hard packed dirt road - that is untill I climbed out of the park and into the valley below then it was chipped rock spread out over hard packed dirt road and slippery and slidy for 20 miles. I had a death grip on the bars cause it would slide out way too easy - but after 10 miles I relaxed and got used to the loose feeling a bit but damn dont let off the gas or use the brakes cause then you were tank slapping your way though 2 inches of loose rocks! I was glad to be back on the interstate after that and just cruised up to Boise and there my I met my uncle at his door, he let me in and we spent a good day catching up on things. The next part I will continue later, the ride to meet my Canadian riding buddies!
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
  16. HispanicSlammer
    Every year for the last 9 years Reddog and I have done a run across the state of Colorado for an all day 500 plus mile ride. Usually its a ride to the Black Canyon and Back and its always right around fathers day - he gets a kitchen pass every year to go. This year was no exception, I invited a few other riders but life got in the way and it was just Bill and I again this time. We had to make a decision since half of the state of Colorado is currently engulfed in smoke from wildfires we had to figure out how we were going to do this.




    This year we had to avoid the smoke from the Springer fire that was burning on the backside of 11 Mile Canyon so we just headed up hwy 24 and avoided the closed roads and all the smoke we could then looped over to Pagosa Springs and did the loop clockwise. I recently bought a set of blue tooth Sena communicators and well Bill wasn't too interested at first but warmed up to it after a 100 miles in and decided to give them a try. I bought a set so we clamped the thing on when we got to Gunnison and boom we were talking and riding and they performed very well, I had mine on the whole ride 11 hours and it worked great! I listened to music, spoke to Bill and pointed out road hazards when I lead and he the same, wow its so much easier to figure out whats going on when you can just push a button and start talking about what is going on!

    I dont think we ran into a cop anywhere we usually expect them, and the ones we did see were marked well ahead by our two radar detectors, I could actually hear his detector go off since he has a speaker in his helmet so I could watch my flashing indicator and hear his. I have yet to figure out how to get the sound of my TPX radar to work with the Sena? Maybe somebody reading this has already solved that problem and can pass along the secret? His radar kept giving false laser signals every time the sun was behind us, we figured it was probably the sun reflecting in his rear view mirror and the way he had it mounted on his tank? Bill was getting annoyed with it not sure if he figured it out yet? Sena sells a bluetooth adaptor for inputs signals but its a bit pricy, I might have to go that route for the radar but I think I will wait a bit first.
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    As you can see from the pictures Bill was riding his 09 FZ1 and not his VTEC, he said he needs new clutch plates for the vfr before he can ride it, it was sort of an enigmatic ride on the FZ1 this time riding roads he is not as used too so he couldn't get his body position right for some of the tight sweepers we were riding, the wider bars and more upright position was giving him fits and he was inadvertently making steering inputs on the bars and making some turns unstable due to being in an uncomfortable position he said, we usually take the Canyon about 10 mph faster in some of the turns - well I charged a few corners too hot myself but all in all we always take it easy in the straits around 70-80mph and just dont slow down for the turns so its challenging but not a brake fest, just a pace type of ride - this road hwy 92 will bite you in the ass if you dont show a little respect, its a long way down to the bottom!
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    Bills FZ1 gets about the same gas range as the veefalo so we both tried to fill up at the bottom of Monarch Pass - but the gas pump was filling up so slow I barely got a gallon after 10 min, we gave up on it and decided to ride over to Gunnison and fill up there and get something to drink. There was a group of HD riders from Texas filling up also that we had passed and they pulled in after we had settled in a bit and I went over and talked to them, headed to the 4corners area they were in for a treat riding the Million Dollar highway -none of them had ever been on it before so I am sure they were about to be very pleased with their day!

    It wasnt much longer we finally turned off onto hwy 92 and were on the Blue Mesa the Gunnison river below flowing into the Black Canyon, I love this road and was hoping that the chip seal they did last summer held up over the winter, it had indeed and was grippy and very good, a few spots I already knew about where the road had buckled from frost heave was still there and with the communicators I was able to point it out to Bill before we got there, so yea the Sena was great for that too. We had a safe but fun pace up the Canyon. I took video from the Damn up to about 3/4 of the way of the road to Hermit Point, cutting out the strait and boring parts.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    Then it was a hot and fast ride to Paonia for some lunch and then we headed up McClure pass past the Paonia Lake area for some more video, this time we attached it to Bills bike but it shook like a leaf on a tree and the video card came out about 5 min into it and we missed the fast parts. There are some sweepers right after the lake that the veefalo just eats up, 60, 70, 90mph the bike just keeps creeping up in speed and eating up those tasty sweepers - many of my friends consider it thier favorite part of the ride, I sure as hell love that part all the way to the top of McClure pass on hwy 133. Too bad when it ends there is a mob of traffic and slab all they way from Carbondale to Aspen.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    Lunch was pretty good in Paonia, just a mom and pop joint and a burger very tasty and great service, seems the only resturant in town and everybody including the town chief of police was there, it was funny a kid in a souped up ricer car was reving up his engine outside and the Chief got up out of his booth and went out and yelled at him BY NAME. Small town no doubt! The dude must have been 6 foot 8 and probably pushing 300lbs - Big dude I wouldnt test him!

    Riding over to Aspen was tourture, it was hot and the traffic was thick, in town it was the worst, but we did see a few Aspen hotties on sidewalk, the scenery is great in Aspen in every aspect. Then we rode up Independence pass and got held up by a soldier in a Subaru who absolutely refused to use any number of the pulloffs as he drove just barely above the speed limit, the pass is very narrow and tight and lots of traffic coming down the other way so we just waited till the first opportunity, I was trying not to be disrespectful of the cagers all day but this guy was just not budging - first time we saw dotted line the RPMs maxed out and we were gone. Then was stopped at the top for a few shots and then back down we got in front of a VW golf what was not doing so bad following us, he would catch up on the super tight 10mph hairpins that drop off the side of the mountain and then we would be gone till the next one and finally he gave up chasing us down the mountain. It was actually very fun ride down this time, the bumps were smoother and they repaved some of the worst parts, the chip seal was in good shape on the Aspen side it was actually a fun ride over the pass. I cant complain other than the slab into Aspen it was a great ride all day long! We stopped one last time in Buena Vista for gas and I talked to a couple from Arizona riding together him on a KTM 990 and her on a Monster 650 they both seemed to be good riders. Must be nice to have a wife who can not only ride but keep up with you in the twisties! Super fun time - for those of you coming to the Summer Summit in August I can say that the Black Canyon is back up to standards!
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
  17. HispanicSlammer

     

    Last summers August adventure had already started, (see previous blog post) I had made my way to my uncles house in Boise after spending a restless night in Ogden UT, a place I am not so impressed with - being that it is the home of the IRS, or at least that is the place where I sent my tax returns? I was surprised at how pedestrian the place was - not nearly as nice as SLC just south of there, but not ugly by any means - its just the opposite of Colorado the mountains are on the east side! I am used to them facing the other way, but mountains none the less, I dont quite feel grounded without mountains within sight. After a ho hum meal at the restaurant next door, I decided to forgo any evening entertainment and just hit the sack and get up early and get to my uncles place in Boise, shoot I already wrote about that part - Albion Idaho - I should note the restaurant I like in Albion is called the Sagebrush Grill, I got it wrong about 20 times on my last blog post.

    In any case I made to my Uncle Lonnies place and we spent a day together catching up with the goings on in the Mayo clan, him? ~ not so great just another one of the many many folks in the "land of the laid off" currently looking for work, hes an IT professional who formerly worked for the state of Idaho as a contractor, that's the worst part about contractors - the contracts run out. So we went over to his favorite bar and shot the breeze for several hours and I met most of buddies. It was nice hanging out with Lonnie, I have never really spent that much time with him before other then Christmas and Thanksgiving surrounded by everybody else in the family.

    So the next day I had one more solo trip up to Coeur d'Alene. Thats a name I cannot spell to save my life. I always have to google it first! Coeur d'Alene, Coeur d"Alene - freaking frenchy names get me every time! Just like the Cache La Poudre in Colorado, just means lots of snow! They can make a turd sound good, or Grand Tetons - you can guess what that means! French place names always seem to resolve to something usual. Oh but NOT Coeur d'Alene, that was a name given to the local indian tribes by French fur traders and it means simply Heart of an Awl. Hey for once a name that has some thing a bit more interesting, it means "heart of an awl"? They found the locals to be shrewd traders apparently, but the indians they called themselves by the name the Schitsu'umsh which brings us back to stupid names again, it means (The people who are found here) aww jeez! I might as well be called "fat dude on a bike"!

    So I found every twisty road that lies between Boise and Coeur d'Alene on the map and took it, I headed a bit backwards at first going up to Idaho City on hwy 21 a great twisty road that finds the tightest twisties just south of Lowman Idaho. The road is a bit bumpy and in need of repaving on spots, lots of repairs but I took it fast, catching and overtaking several bikes along the way RV's and what not, I was having a good time on that road - then I turned west at Lowman and headed along a river bank, winding along with even more cars and RV's - it was the weekend and it seems all of Boise turns out to go to the mountains - that road was too short and soon I was on hwy 55 heading north to McCall, a good road if it where not for all the traffic! Thats the main road north in Idaho so there really is no getting off it, just plug away - I found it useless to pass the cars since there was so much traffic up ahead I was just wasting energy, it was more then I could see, once out of the mountains and onto the high plains the highway department slapped up 30 mph signs all over the place for 40 miles as they chip sealed the road - of course not on the weekend so NO CONSTRUCTION CREWS OUT but the cops were - handing out tickets for speeding over 30! I just sat behind a car that had gotten fed up and took off, I hung back far enough to save myself if the cops should see and well a rabbit is a rabbit is a rabbit, let the coyotes get the first one out of the gate! It was like this all the way from the point I turned off to McCall, all 64 miles of crawling along at 30 miles per hour, I was going insane! Finally in McCall I pulled off for gas. At gas stations the Veefalo seems to be a draw with its beautiful lines or some say ugly lines!

    I had to talk to every idiot who had never seen a bike before in their whole lives! Already irritated by the 2 hour ride up there - the obvious questions and idiotic warnings from total strangers about how "dangerous motorcycles are" - proved to be more than I could take. I retreated into my helmet and pretended I could not hear what they were saying to me. Hand gestures to my ear - just get back into your car woman and leave me the hell alone! Yea yea OK I will ride safe yea OK thanks - as I sat there waiting in line behind the next guy for a free pump, trying not to notice she just stuck a cell phone up to her ear as she drove off.

    Some people don't understand that unsolicited advice to a motorcyclist is not welcome! Especially if your going to get in your car and drive off with a cell phone to your ear! I hit the Detour button on my GPS since McCall was a total parking lot at Noon on a summer Saturday, I found an offshoot road to the west and was so glad to be free of that nonsense! I was a bit exuberant when I found some twisty roads just west of town and got on the gas and started to dip the bike into the corner, just in time to hear my Radar detector go off and a sherrif flashed me with his lights as I went past at some twice the posted speed limit! OPPS I saw him begin to turn around but I rounded the next tight turn and got on it hard! HEH the sight of open road ahead sort of shot down my hopes of getting away but to my surprise NO SHERRIF was behind me now? I guess he gave up and did not want to do any paperwork, its one thing to hit it in tight twisties and another to try to get away on a strange road that is strait as far as I can see! I thought I was toast! Well that was good for a thrill and it certainly took the foul mood right out of me, a scare can do that for ya! I was happy to be alive and enjoying the open road again!

    I pushed on up to Coure d'Alene at a better pace, I found a great road called Greer road, after Koosia pass I was really finding some nice roads now, Greer road Cavendish road all northern Idaho roads seem to be pretty good.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     

    All in all it was a great day of riding minus that McCall Nonsense, I had a good day soloing, but I was ready to ride with friends, I made it to Coure d'Arlene in one peice and thats where I met Radar, Fay, Craig, and Didit. We were about to go on another great adventure in the summer of 2011.


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    Stay tuned next up - the Spiral Highway, stators, Rattle snake grade, Enterprise - ALL OF OREGON.
     
     
  18. HispanicSlammer

     

    I really look forward to my summer trips, saving up and planning for the winter to get on the bike and roll across roads I have never been on or rarely get the chance to see. This past summer I took a trip to Northern California by way of Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada some 4000 miles on my vfr1200. This is the continuation of the trip left over from my last blog entry.

    I had met with Radar, Didit, Fay, and Craig and we were starting out the day in Redmond Oregon, with our destination for the day to be a sleepy little place called Shady Cove where the rest of our party (Axle7, Tammy, and Jeff) was going to meet up with us. We headed west with a little bit of slab to Sisters Or, it was a very scenic bit of slab and out in the country a bit but very pretty. Didit lead us to this funky road called the McKenzi highway into a volcanic lava field that cut right into it ending with a very tight down hill section that was fun if a bit cautious since it had gravel strewn into all the right hand tight turns. Seems Oregon has its share of Yahoos to that cant keep their tires on the pavement and toss a bunch of dirt and gravel up into the road!


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    Didit was still having issues with his stator so he was riding without his headlight plugged in so we decided to stay off the main roads and go down some serious back roads to avoid getting stopped by the police. The Mckenzi highway was a bit narrow and the trees came right up to where the pavement stopped so I took it a bit cautiously till I could get a feel for the road, I turned on my camera a bit for some video.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     

    So we had a great time rolling down the McKenzi Highway and we originally was going to head over to Eugene and then roll back to Crater Lake but instead we turned off at Rainbow and headed down this incredible road called Aufderheide Dr that skirted the edge of Cougar Reservoir - a fun road with deep long extended turns in and out of the hills that had me scraping pegs - Radar led the way and kept up a challenging pace - then it headed up the mountain side and into some shady tree lined back roads that just kept going on and on and on. I was having a blast, we saw some kind of wildcat cross the road on a rare strait section and then we stopped at the end to check out a neat little covered bridge in the village of Westfir Oregon. Then we rode another 5 miles to Oakridge and stopped for breakfast at some tiny little cafe called Mannings Cafe and had a very good breakfast. 2 hour already into our ride it was shaping up for a great day of riding - I got the tip to ride that Cougar lake road from http://www.oregonmotorcyclist.com/ - a great resource for the motorcyclist planning a trip into one of the best motorcycling states in the country.

    So after that we had a hundred more miles or so of strait slab till we could enter Crater Lake National Park
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     

    Crater Lake was a hoot, goofing off quite a bit we played around the park for a good hour or so then headed down the road to Shady Cove to meet the rest of us! Not much of a narrative this time but the photos speak for themselves
     
     
     
     
     
     
  20. HispanicSlammer
    This is my first real ride on the XR650r this season, having only ridden it to and from work a few times and once to the movies it has been languishing in the bike shed all winter. I had recently outfitted it with a Turbo City Sequoia Rack and some Tourmaster bags it was ready for some touring. I saw an opportunity to also attach a plate for my mini givi top bag and so I installed a plate last October. I had been having fits with it for the 3 years I have had her, always out of tune, broken subframe, melted plastics, and sub standard tires IMHO. The bike would just start racing at stop lights or when ever I stopped cause I could never get the darned OEM carb dialed in correctly. I switched out needles and slow jets and main jets till I turned blue from playing with the carb so much I finally broke down and bought a Pumper carb from Endelbrock. Good old American made carb made all the difference. It was a snap dialing it in, no jets to replace just a main needle what actually has a real dial you turn to tune it - you just dial it in. It was easy as pie, just a few runs to check for smoothness - a few times pulling the spark plug to look at it for fuel condition and I was set - it runs perfect now! I don't count my self as an expert carb tuner but I dont think a pro could have done better on this one.
    So once more this summer I planned to spend my forced vacation days on a bike, 3 days to the western slope of Colorado down to Silverton and back via mostly dirt roads. I would say I spent probably 65% of the time on backroads and the rest on pavement. I have documented the paved parts many times over so the pictures are of the back roads in this report. I took off late in the day and headed strait into the mountains on Old Stage road a 30 mile dirt road that climbs its way west from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek. I don't think I saw more than 3 cars on that road - but I did see an unlicensed motorbike - he passed me in a turn when I wasnt expecting it and startled me. He had is green forest service tags but no licence plate - surely a no no that could get him in trouble. I did not even know he was there but being an experienced rider startled did not equal out of control. I just kept my line, slow as it was and watched him power up the hill on past me on his 400. I found him stopped at the top and I just kept going. There are a few trails up there that allow unlicenced motorbikes and atv's but this road is not one of them. This is the sort of thing that puts our rights in jepordy and citizens action commities rail against us then government has to clamp down. Come on people ride where you are supposed to or get your bike set up street legal like I did. Getting passed on that wide open easy paved road proved to be a bad omen for the rest of the trip there was more to come. I know I am not the fastest dirt rider, nor do I care but jeeze would it kill you to try the strait? I dont go that fast in the straits either?

    Ute Trail Part of the Trans American Trail on the way to Salida

    Colligiate Peaks at a place called School Section Spring on the Ute trail - land for sale

    Mt Ouray from across the valley Poncha Springs/Salida

    Mt Ouray and Chipeta Mountain Named after the great Ute indian cheif and his wife

    Sangre DeCristo Range starts here South ute trail winds down the mountain
    It did not take long to get out of the cripple creek area and onto the Ute trail to Salida, it was near 2pm and it was the hottest part of the day, however being at 8k feet it wasn't all that hot up there. I was pretty much alone the whole 40 miles or so of the Ute Trail only seeing one pickup on the way up the pass from Salida - it was expected being so close to town.
    I found a restaurant at the base of Ute Trail and had a good burger there, cant remember the name of the place it was attached to a motel. It was rather sparse for decorations, but the food was good. I had wondered if the girl who served me, if she was the only one there cause I saw nobody else, she must have cooked the meal too? She was nice and so I tipped her good. I could afford to spend money on food since I was camping for free. It was getting to be around 4pm by the time I was finished eating and I was soon on my way to Marshall Pass after gassing up in Poncha Springs. I bought a few powerbars (nasty things they taste awful no more ever again) for breakfast in the morning.

    Sheep Mt and Antora Peak as seen from Marshall Pass

    Windy Peak from Marshall Pass

    Camp site just off Marshall Pass

    I went exploring a deer trail

    Aspen Groves 10k feet elevation
    I found a little road that turned off Marshall Pass and ended about a quarter of a mile into a campsite just off the main road, it looked good to me so I unpacked the camping gear and set up my Kermit camp chair and relaxed in the evening reading and walking around a bit on some narrow deer trail to see the sites. I couldn't see much because the Aspen trees were so thick - I read a little bit then passed out in my sleeping bag. The mosquitoes were not an issue since I brought some OFF but the Bee's mane the Bee's all these damn Bee's buzzing around the tent all night long. I finally put in my earplugs and went back to sleep. They did clue me in on seeing the milky way in all its glory. Nothing like seeing the stars in the high mountains, they are incredible how many and how much brighter they are up there in the night.

    Mt Ouray from the other side the sign says Ouray Creek

    County Rd-14PP Looking North

    County Rd-14PP Approaching Cotchetopa Canyon

    County Rd-KK14 heading into Cathedral
    After Waking up I headed down Marshall Pass into Sargents a strange little village with a gas station at the base of Monarch Pass on Hwy 50 its built right ontop of a flood plane full of marshes - mostly log homes with that old rustic look to it like cabins but not quite all strewn together with dirt streets. I gassed up after 80 miles and only used maybe 2 gallons probably less much less. I was impressed my gas mileage increased with the new carb too. I have a Clark 4.3 gallon tank on it, and usually I only get 150 miles tops per tank I could tell I could top that easy. I worked out the milage on the old carb to 38-42 mpg on a good day, I was getting around 51 mpg on this trip and no issues, starts on the first kick too.
    I spend some time riding the high plains along Cotchetopa Canyon, or rather above it and along side. I like the canyon but it scares me a bit on the vfr since it was the site of an awful crash on a ride I was leading. It is not a road you can take it easy on it demands all your attention and respect. I was soon heading toward Slumgullion pass on some more back roads and into Lake City

    This was a surprize A Harley on a bumpy dirt road
    Harley guy stopped to ask me where he was, I couldn't hear him over his bike cause he was very soft spoken and so I just warned him the road was about to get a bit more technical - and he took off down the road. I had stopped for pictures already and left my keys on the dirt and had to turn back around and go find them, only to run into this guy. Sure enough at the first sign of difficulty the Harley rider had stopped and I rolled on by. I took another hour to get to Lake City for lunch at a place called Southern Vittles - a Texan replant owned the place and he served up Dr Pepper from the fountain from Dublin TX - a real treat cause I am a Dr Pepper drinker since I was a Kid. Pure cane sugar and the original recipe - too bad his fried chicken did not live up to its southern fried claim. I have been to the south and this wasnt nearly as good as what I had in Tennessee. A bit under seasoned and lacking in salt the breading was hard too. Oh well it was decent though and it cured my hunger I left the greasy french fries on the plate. I put on the Stich and headed up Engineer pass for the difficult part of my trip.

    Start of Engineer Pass the easy part

    Historic landmark at Henson CO

    The cabin had a bit of a draft

    my steed

    This is how rivers are made in Colorado

    The pass begins to narrow a bit still easy at this point

    A look back
    I missed a turn and headed into the wrong direction and the road just ended there, so I had to double back and turn up a steep rocky section and found myself teeth chattering along on a jeep only road, it had a sign that said 4 x 4 recommended past this point and with good reason. This is what my guide book called "moderate" I was behind a few jeeps now and motored on past at twice their speed since the XR was digging in nicely if not teeth chattering its way up the steep embankment. I just kept up the momentum and she powered up just fine. The only serious difficultly was stopping for Jeeps on the way down, they were numerous and it seemed always ended up in the way at the Switchbacks. I had to find a place to get off so they could pass cause the road was steep and narrow at this point. It was more challenging but nothing I could not handle.

    Engineer Pass as soon as I reached the tree line the road got steeper bumpy rocky and much more challenging

    Snapped a picture while waiting for a caravan of jeeps to come down the pass - too narrow to pass safely I had to pull aside

    typical switch back this one was easy - no rocks but steep

    The top of Engineer Pass this was the easy part

    OHH Boy its raining over on this side actually I had a small rain at the bottom of the pass - this is looking north west

    This is directly west of Engineer Pass Telluride is one the other side of that range

    A information marker at the top Engineer Pass

    I made my way across the tops of the mountains
    California Pass turned out to be more of a challenge, the rocks were more numerous there where hoards of ATV's now, each of them with a child on the back it seemed and moving faster then the jeeps but slower then me. It seems I was the fastest guy on the mountain at the moment which I found hard to believe after all I am used to getting passed on the XR. California pass seemed easy compared to Hurricane Pass because this mountain was covered in snow and it was all melting on the road which looked more like a raging creek bed than a road. It unnerved me to be on the rocks as a steady stream of water spewed out of the melting snow at 12,000 feet up. One jeep caught me off gaurd on a paticularly tough switch back, it was all wet with runoff and it was steeper than the others with an 8 inch step - he was in the way so I had to back into the snow drift and darned if my motor stalled. He rolled on by and waved thankfully but I was a bit miffed about the stall and may have been a bit short with the guy. Kickstarting a bike in a tight switchback at a 25% incline at 12.5 k up is not easy. I managed but I was completely out of breath when I made it the half mile to the top.

    California Pass this was tougher than Engineer - melting snow made the road a creek bed in places

    California Pass a bit steeper more rocks and lots of snow melt

    Oh ok down there then there were trails going all over the place

    From where I just came going down Engineer and up California pass proved to be much more challenging

    Xr650 weighed down with camping gear and tools

    California Pass even more challenging now more rocks

    California Pass

    California Pass

    Poughkeepsie Gulch the trail was blocked by a huge snow drift at the top - a completely smashed up car sat there as a warning to all who enter

    Finally at the top this road winded around quite a bit and lots of jeeps made for some interesting encounters
    I looked down to see there was yet another pass and by now I was getting winded because of the lack of air and the increasing difficulty of the road, Hurricane pass turned out to be the most difficult for me, since I was a bit sore in the shoulder from sleeping on the hard ground the night before in an odd way. I was crawling up it now and going down was worse, California Gulch looked easy from above but it was rocky and wet too. I just plowed through it from the top. Going down was hard for me being loaded down there were places where the snow jutted out and cut the trail in half and the edge had a drop off that spelled disaster. I just kept my eyes on the road and tried not to look over, it was a bit scary in places. OK allot scary in places.

    Hurricane Pass much more difficult either that or I was getting tired

    Even the sign was in bad shape

    The view however was worth the trouble

    looking back up at Hurricane pass I had to stop cause my rear brake overheated too much load

    The start of Corkscrew Pass I decided to head to Silverton instead - 3 more mountains to pass - I could see it comming down Hurricane and it looked challenging
    Hurricane Pass was the worse off all but it was short, the ride down was really bumpy and I overheated my rear brake - nothing on the petal I just slammed to the bottom with no stopping power I had to pull off and let it cool off till I got rear brake again. Some guy on a CRX stopped and asked me if I was ok I just waved and he rolled on by me at 3 times my speed - I was back to being a slow ass again. I was not going to try Corkscrew at this point I was pooped after being on the bike for 9 hours. My butt was starting to really hurt too, the widening of the seat and the Sheepskin cover helps but not after 9 hours! I just rolled into Gladstone on the big wide dirt road that seemed like a super highway at this point and soon I was getting blasted by all sorts of pickup trucks and jeeps now. I am no dirt track racer so I don't care if you pass me, I even pull off to make it easy. It was raining hard now and Silverton had nothing I wanted in it, so I headed up the Million dollar highway into Ouray where it was still raining - beautiful as ever Ouray has got to be the most scenic place in Colorado. Now I was getting tired so I decided to find a camping stop somewhere up on Owl Creek Pass cause the rain was every where around me except east of Ridgway where the pass is. I stopped and gassed up - got a sandwitch and some drinks and headed for the mountains again.

    Heading up Owl Creek Pass East of Ridgeway

    Chimney Rock this was my choice for a good place to camp

    Alpine meadow after the rain

    The blooming bush

    This was the view from my camp chair

    Weeping flowers

    more wild flowers
    Camping up there was wonderful not as many bee's or mosquito's as Marshall and it was very scenic, the stars were even brighter up there. I was surprised to see a whole slew of bikes roll on by at twilight, a few GS beemers, a KTM, and a V-stom leading the way in the dark. They stopped and talked to me a little while - but did not want to crowd the camp site, it was wide open as far as I was concerned but I think one of the beemer guys was more interested in a motel. So they left and gave me a beer as a parting gift for pointing them in the right direction. Its great to make friends on the road - even on the back roads.

    I woke up and saw an Elk across the meadow

    Leaving camp Chimney rock in the morning

    This rock is just like the rock in Alberta The rockies are the rockies after all

    The summit of Owl Creek Pass 7am

    Views from the road

    Turret ridge

    Views from the road

    Turret Ridge

    Rock formation at High Mesa

    Looking back to Owl Creek pass at the cross roads

    One last look at Turret ridge

    Cimmaron Ridge at Silver Jack

    Silver Jack Reservoir

    Wild blooms on the side of the road
    It was here off Cimmaron Road I had an encounter with a Ford pickup 4 x 4 - a big one. I was on the road where they had sprayed down Magnesium Chloride and it was still wet and slippery, this asshole passed me in a turn and brushed me in the elbow then gassed it and sprayed me all over with that stuff. This sent me into a rage and for a short moment I was a dirttrack racer - overtaking him and I made sure to spray the hell out of that nice white paint with that Magnesium Crap they had on the road, and I rolled on the power into the rest of the turns and left him in the mud. I had a few moments where I was out of control and a bit scared he might run me down. I did it anyway and well it was childish and stupid but I was pumped after that and could have ridden another 600 miles that day. I turned off on hwy 50 and ran smack into a bicycle tour with what seemed like a 1000 riders. They stretched all the way from Cimmarron Road - to Gunnison and even turned with me up to Almont 45 miles long a least. Big bike tour I guess. I got gas in Gunnison even though I did not need it and headed for Cottonwood pass. Oh boy the tourists were all over the area here, Lake Taylor was full of tourist and fishermen in the creek by the damn.

    Cimmaron State Wildlife Area Cimmaron Road

    Taylor Reservoir

    Taylor Reservoir

    The 3 apostles and Ice Mountain

    Cottonwood Pass looking on the east side of the continental divide

    Cottonwood pass the east side is paved - the west side is hardpacked dirt

    Some fun for a vfr here

    One last look at the western slope

    Across the valley American Flag Mountain stands out in the center

    Cottonwood Pass west side
    I pulled into a gas station in Buena Vista that had a diner in it and had some lunch the waitress was right at eye level when I sat down and I did not take notice till I went to pay that she stood barely 4 feet tall. She was very pretty but boy was she short. She was making fun of me cause I kept asking for odd stuff, I made her work for her tip - and I did tip her well. I think she was surprised how well cause after all it was a truck stop but I was a bit demanding service was good and the food was good.
    Then I found a back way on the map to get to the ute trail again and so I took that way, it was only a mile up the road from the gas station and oops I had forgot to fill up, 80 miles already on the odo, I thought about it and figured out I had plenty to make it to Cannon city anyway.

    Badger Creek off the Ute Trail wildflowers grown on the high plains Agate Mountain to the left
    It started to rain on me at the end of ute trail and I had though of tracing my path back to Cripple creek but the rain looked worse there so I headed down the mountain to Cannon City and boy it was hot there, 95 degrees out hot, I was melting in my stich so I found the nearest Baskin Robbins and had an ice cream in the air condtioning. Then the rain rolled into that place and cooled it off too. Wow the last part home was pavement and uneventful but I could barely sit up cause my butt hurt so much, 500 miles on a dirt bike can be painful
    Day one

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    Day two

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    Day three

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    I am also attaching my gps tracks and a google earth path file so you can view it in 3d if you like.
    d Lakecity_tracks.gpx
    Lakecity_path.kmz
  21. HispanicSlammer
    Ice Racing Rainbow Falls Park Colorado
    Harry's Roamers Motorcycle Club is the oldest motorcycle club in Colorado established in 1929 they are known for putting on an ice racing series. This years event at Rainbow Falls Park brought hundreds of folks out to the mountain lake one of the four Ice racing events they organize each winter. It was really a hoot to come out on this cold Sunday morning and watch all the different bikes go around the oval shaped track, spectators were outnumberd by participants 2:1 - now thats what I call a real sport!

    http://harrysro.poww...hrmc/index.html
    I remember comeing out to this lake as a child to ice skate with my grand parents but this is the first time I have attended the ice races and boy this seems like alot more fun! My buddy Craig and I piled into his four wheel Toyota and headed up Ute pass for Woodland Park, Rainbow falls is just about 15 minutes north of there on Hwy 67 I embedded a map if your wondering where exactly! We had just come off the night shift, restless, looking for somthing to do. He saw a line in somthing he read about ice racing here in Colorado so we looked it up and sure enough - IT WAS ON. We were not sure what to expect, 2 feet of snow or what so we dressed up like Eskimo's and headed out, there was hardly any snow up there by Rainbow lake we where thinking it might be a bust but sure enough the road headed slightly down hill into a lake depression and we saw all the cars, the lake was frozen solid! The Track was layed out and there were bikes and trailers littered everywhere. 8 bucks to get in seemed like a cheap date for a half days fun and we gladly paid the entry fee. We walked out on the ice and studied the curious fenders and inspected the oddly studded tires and wondered just how go you get those things in there - these where the screw in from the outside type!
    Once the raceing started we noticed not many racers where spinning out its seemed like flat track racing with similar sliding and slipping as if on loose dirt - just colder!

    KTM

    KTM

    Homemade Fenders

    Some more homemade than others

    riders meeting

    DONT..KICK..THE..CONES
    I was getting tickled at the organizer who was holding the pre race quote "bitch session" as Craig called it, he said the times he raced there is a similar type session at all of them! HEH pay to play I gotta say! It was over soon enough and everybody knew they were serious about safety and the CONES!

    ATV Tires studded for maximum grip

    Lay out the green carpet

    Speedway bikes

    speedway bike rotated engine forward for better handling, CG moved forward

    Got Milk

    speedway bike

    one more
    I was facinated by the speedway bikes, stripped down to almost bicycle like frames, small aircooled engines, no brakes just pure sideways fun having motorcycles - they harken back to the days of board track race bikes, and to me look like living history.

    On your mark, get set!

    The name of the game? get the hole shot!

    battleing for position

    Way out front

    ice pits

    2 strokes

    Classics

    Even raced UTILITY ATV'S I think if they could put studded wheels on a washing machine they would race it.

    classics race
    http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/uploads/videos/491/1236584620_icerace.wmv.flv
    THE MAP

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  22. HispanicSlammer
    Its been a long while since I rode with bill (Reddog) here in Colorado, usually its an email with two words lets ride and then we are off on some 3 day adventure across New Mexico and Arizona. Ok maybe not that casual but it did happen like that once! We have been riding together for going on 12 years now and wow I can believe all those small kids of his have already graduated high school and moved away? WTF happened to the time? Things move fast if your not paying attention, but one thing has been constant - riding season - we dont always ride together a lot but we always ride right around the beginning of the season and then one big ride for fathersday, I usually drag him on some 12 hour monstrosity to the Black Canyon and its an all day thing. This year we opened up with a ride to the top of Mount Evans a 14,000 foot peak with a paved road to the top of it and matter of fact its the highest paved road in the USA, at least it is billed that way - however Pikes Peak just finished paving that road to the top and it may now be the holder of that title so I dont know it depends. The Mt Evans road stops a bit short to the very top with a walking trail going all the way up another 200 feet up. At that elevation its a lung burner!

    Anyway Reddog says he might meet me on the "blue one" huh? Blue one he says? What happened to the 02 vtec - so I show up and hes got a liter bike fz1 with brand new pilot road 3 tires mounted on it and a paper plate indicating its just been bought recently. I am wondering where is the vfr? Dont worry he says he still has it and is not going to get rid of it either! GOOD NEWS hes got multi bike syndrome now! Just like me, except his dirt bikes and now two street bikes out number mine quite a bit!

    So off we go and up the road on hwy 67 we take it easy as long as we are in Teller county since he says he was busted a week before by a cop hiding by the painted rocks area and so we take it easy. I am not very fast on this road since its usually full of tar snakes and loose chip seal and the new pavement always has gravel in the corners cause pickup trucks with dually wheels cant seem to keep off the shoulder and always kick up gravel just as you are about to accellerate out of the apex of a good turn! Bam your sliding all over an riding off into a ditch (yup it happened to me 7 year ago on the old girl) SO now I wait till I can see out of the turn first before hitting it too hard up there, ALWAYS ALWAYS has gravel after the apex?
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    We roll past the stuff I hate and up Horsepower hill and he nails it, and so do and that little thing just walks away from me for a bit till I reel it in, wow it accelerates hard! Turns pretty good, so at the top we trade bikes and I take it down the bowl and down the strait into the town of Pine then up the mountain to Pine Junction into those great tight turns there, and 3 turns in it was like I had been riding it all summer and was hitting the turns hard as I do my own bike! Even faster since this thing is 150lbs lighter then the veefalo! Bill is disappearing in the mirrors like I did when I was behind him? Very easy bike to ride, somewhat small faring but adequate strait up and down seating position like a dirt bike, matter of fact I felt like I was on a short dirt bike! I kept looking to shift after already being in 6th gear though and it was a bit buzzy up top in the 10k rpm range but that is where most of the power was, not much torque down low, well relative to the vfr1200 anyway? So it must be the weight of the bike that lets it just accelerate so good on power roll ons? Or he was just kicking the gears down and then slamming the throttle open, while I was rolling on in 4th? I dont know? I like it, fun bike! Here are some pictures and a couple of videos from the ride
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
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  23. HispanicSlammer
    Continuing on in this blog entry with more of the story of last summers California PNW adventure! Its not often you meet people you just click with - and certainly this is rare with individuals but even more rare with a group. This close knit group of Canadians are just the best (well most vfrd people are the best) but something special cannot be denied! I just love riding motorcycles with these folks, I trust them and its always a blast - even when everything goes wrong! This time is no exception!

    I finally made it to the sharp pointy place the french called Coeur d'Arlene. There is a sleepy little motel there called the Flamingo we seem to patronize as a group every time we pass through. My second time there they actually had a room for me this time. Complete with a fat cat that likes to jump up on your bed before it is touched by human hands to claim it as his! I am a cat person anyway so it does not bother me. Some cats act like dogs this is one of them!

    So I was the first to get there, then Radar showed up with Fay on the back - then Didit rolled in with Craig in tow and we almost had a complete set of Canadians at that point - just missing Axle, Tammy and Jeff our Vancouver contingent, we would meet up with them in Oregon in two days!

    My original plan was to ride with these guys for 3 days then head up to Canada for the meet going on up in Nelson that weekend, it was really ambitious for sure with 500 plus mile days in the middle to make it there and home! I dont know what I am thinking some times I bite off more then I can chew but things sometimes dont work out as planned and you just roll with the punches. I had a night planned at the McMinnimins hotel in Portland along the way too I was looking forward to another sample of that raspberry ale I liked so much when the PNW meet was in Troutdale the year before! OH well - when you plan too far ahead, something always gets fouled up! I sort of like the aspect about motorcycling of not knowing what to expect, sometimes I pull up lemons and sometimes I pull out sweet surprises from the hat.

    We soon got on with this vacation get together by walking over to a restaurant a few blocks away and had a wonderful dinner as Didit smoozed his way into the heart and minds of the servers and wrangled up a nice patio table out front, we came a bit late it seemed and just about everybody in Idaho was in Couer d'Arlene to get dinner the same time we where. He charmed his way into getting us a great spot. We had a great dinner and we needed it since we were in for a long day of twisties from Idaho to Enterprise OR, to go ride the Old Spiral Highway and Then do Rattle Snake Grade, it was not too far but it turned out to be a strange adventure none the less.


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    Our first leg of the day was the ride around Couer d'Arlene Lake - a 20 mile twisty road that runs along the lake side. All I can say is its a great way to start a motorcycle ride. I set up my video camera under my headlight, I tied the tether cord to the attachment on the camera (good thing I took this precaution). Then rode about 100 feet as it fell off the mount and then dangled there for the entire length of the lake route. Damn luck! It was a fun ride though and we took it at a good clip! Didit and Radar switched up the lead and I followed for the most part because video is better with a subject in front to focus on, of course the subject turned out to be a shot of the front wheel as the camera dangled by a cord for 20 minutes! Jeez it would happen that way. Then we rolled down a pass behind a chemical hauler semi truck hell bent on not letting any of us pass. We waited patiently for what seemed like hours for a safe and legal spot to pass which turned out to be the end of the good stuff! Jeez 30mph in lonely twisties with a semi blocking us for 15 minutes was hell!

    So it was still early and time for a bit of breakfast in Saint Maries Idaho, it wasnt bad at all - the company was better, lots of laughs.. Me just realizing my camera was dangling by a thread! So all the passing they did to get around me to get in the shot was all for nothin!


    We had a bit of very nice country side to go through to get to the next major highway, still out in the sticks we had one pass coming out of Saint Maries that is really good with lots of sweepers. Usually it has too much traffic, I say usually since I have done it once before so I don't really know what I am talking about, so I expected much traffic on it and it WAS there just as I thought it would be! However its two lanes going uphill so I passed a ton of cages and trucks to get to open road and everybody followed suit.

    Being that we were about 100 miles into the ride I should have filled up in Saint Maries! My bike only has a 4.8 gallon tank and I hate worrying about gas, but I did not do that - so I slowed it down a bit except one really good part on hwy 6 about 5 miles north of a blink town called Harvard Idaho, its a railer of about 2 miles, just hard right then hard left then hard right, very predictable but the turns are very very deep so you can sustain leaned over position for a long time the hard over to do it on the other side for a while, back and forth they just keep coming! Great little stretch of road going up the hillside, and lots of trees around you, a they have concrete rails up on both sides so it feels like your in tree tunnel just leaned over as fast as you can turn the bike back and forth. Jeez that is a fun road, and just a bit scary going down hill cause you can get into to it way too fast and then you have to brake so you have to brake carefully and not upset the suspension.

    So we stopped for gas and then the fun started, Didit's bike would not start! Aww Jeez, I think we push started it and to the gas station down the road cause Didit needed a phone, or he needed a place where his phone worked in case he needed a tow. He filled up down the road and tried to start it again and nothin! The station had jumper cables so we jumped the bike started and then we unplugged his headlights and let it idle for about 20 minutes to charge the battery, they also had a multi meter they let us use - or maybe one of us had one? In any case the bike was charging without the headlights plugged in so Didit just left them unplugged, we would head to a dealership down the road!

    First we found a motorsports shop in Moscow, but they pointed us to a Honda dealer over in Washington just across the state line 11 miles away in Pullman WA. It was there we found his RR connector was all burned up.
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    The dealer loaned us some wire, soldier, and a heat gun to try to fix it, which we did, but it did not solve the problem. So we said lets keep on going, the bike was running fine with no headlights so we pushed on after a short lunch at a bar next to the dealership. Next up we hit the Old Spiral Highway and had some fun going down it!
     
     
     
     
    http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/osh11.mp4
     

    Didits bike was just barely limping along and it was clear we had not fixed it with the connector so he decided to call around for parts and ended up getting our very own Tightwad from vfrd to send him a new stator and RR overnight to the hotel we had booked in Eureka CA. I had planned to ride with them all to Eureka then head north - but it seems plans and rides never seem to work out exactly as expected. We had one more section to do that day and then spend the night in Enterprise Oregon one more good spot of riding on Rattle snake grade then we would roll into Enterprise for the night.

    I spent most of the time looking in the mirror for a blue bike since we had no idea if the thing was going to make it, but it did! 2 days with a burned up stator phase, and no headlights. I think we tried to plug the lights back in and thats what killed the battery? So we left them unplugged till we could get the parts from Texas. Tightwad was a lifesaver!
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    We decided next time if there is a next time we stay in Enterprise we will check out the motel in town instead of the Best Western, the quality is there but not for the price?

    So off we went after spending a frustrating 20 minutes waiting for a clerk to let us pump gas, Oregon has a stupid law about pumping your own gas, YOU CANT. Most the time they just let you anyway but they need to see if your doing it right first? 50 states in this country and each one is different! It is the law in Oregon that gas must be pumped by an attendant and there is no self serve! It freaked me out the first time I was there to see some dude stop me as I tried to pump my own gas, he noticed my Colorado plate so he did not go off on me - I am not used to being approached from behind and tapped on the shoulder pumping gas, I almost sprayed gas all over the guy cause he started the hell out of me. Thankfully I was expecting it this time around.

    We headed out of town behind a circus it seemed, an entire trainload of rv's and cars lined up for a mile it seemed and we passed them one at a time along the long straits out of town. Didit and I swapped mp3 cards so we could listen to something new, his wife prepared a whole playlist of songs I had never heard before. It was interesting, mostly club dance or workout songs, lots of fast music that made me want to ride at 100mph all day long! I had to slow myself down on several occasions. Today we were headed for Redmond Oregon.


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    We just had to stop first in Elgin, I had to pee so bad I could not stand it, and every RV we passed flew by us as we hung out at the gas station there, oh well! We decided to make it a long stop and just relax and let them all get way way ahead! Which was a good thing since we did not see most of them again after that. So we sat down and talked and took pics in this tiny little place
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    I just plugged in Didits route into my gps without shaping the points any or looking at the route, he had originally had us headed down the interstate in La Grange but I did not see that and my map sent me right into town for a 15 minute stop and turn around and go back waste of time. He was not happy about that, but oh well - when we all use different gps units they don't always translate the same. So we got back on and then turned off to some podunk place called Ukiah Oregon, a dumpy little stop in the middle of nowhere - and we had to pump gas from an old style pump and pay cash to the kid in the wheel chair with no legs and only one working hand? That was a bit akward cause I did not know if he wanted help or if he was sort of one of those militant handicapped types that get all offended if you try to help? I just said f'it and let him do his thing an walked into the dumpy little store. From there on out the roads are really good, we took back road after backroad, and I was really feeling good with the bike and letting it get deeper and deeper into the turns as we went along. It was a good 2 hours more of riding before we stopped for lunch in Service Creek. It seems if you are a motorcylist riding along the John Day rider it is imperative to stop in Service Creek for lunch, the food is good and its a very relaxing place to be, if not a bit hot. I had no idea but the middle of Oregon is mostly high desert, and it gets very hot in the summer!
     
     
     
     
     

     

    We still had about 100 or so miles to go and I needed gas - I was on fumes actually not far from Service Creek I was worried about running out but we pushed on all the way to Prineville and I still had half a gallon left in there and was not in any trouble, but I did stop and fill up the tank along the way with my spare gas can I had stored in the side bag, turns out I did not need it at all! Oh well better safe then sorry.

    It was just another 30 minutes to Redmond - and there we fought over who (Didit, Craig, and I) about whos turn it was to sleep on the couch, (ME). I had the room all to myself in Couer d'Arlene so I got the couch this time.
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    We walked over to a great little restaurant down the road and had a great time - my steak was good Madalinas Grill is the name of the place it was just up the road from the Hotel. Another Best Western but this time much better value! Then Didit and I took in a movie from across the street, shoot I cant even remember what movie it was? There was a very nice Moto Guzzi sitting across from the theater.
     
     
     
     
     

     

    So far the trip was turning out to be pretty good, as long as we left Didits bike headlights unplugged!
     
     
     
  24. HispanicSlammer


    I began with a strip down of the basic plastic removal around 3am in the morning, I work nights anyway and well it is a quiet time for me with no interruptions from nosy family members! That took no time at all I am getting pretty good at removing the plastic.
































    Yes you have to remove all that just to get to the front spark plugs, lucky they use high mileage iridium spark plugs with a 30k lifetime so you are going to have to inspect the valves before hand before you have to replace them - I did that and they all looked fine. I had all of my exhaust valves just out of spec those are the rocker roller set, and one of the bucket under shim intakes was loose but still in spec. Just as I figured the roller rocker design would be more apt to be out of spec then the bucket under shims would be, just like the CRX dirt bikes! Its a simple elegant design, less rolling mass with only one cam shaft and the cam chain does not need a huge bend in it for a powerful cam chain tensioner this design uses a spring loaded bow tensioner instead of a massive punch design like the vtecs use.










    There are two marks on the timing cover I suppose its easier then the 4 I had on the old girl, you watch the cam shaft on the rear set for direction ques as you turn it to make sure the engine is in top dead center for the cylinder your inspecting all marked out in the manual but the manual has very small pictures for the cam shaft positions so its hard to read. I managed it though. They have 3 measurements for the Valve Clearance

    Exhaust Valves have a roller rocker design with a roller on one end and a screw driver and lock nut on the other with a square head for the driver. They were all out of spec all of them!

    The manual has two sets of measurements for the exhaust side

    Valve side with the lock nut 0.03 + or - 0,02 mm or (0.012 + or - 0.001 inches)
    Roller side 0.21 + or - 0.02 mm or (0.008 + or - 0.001 inches) my gap strips were in listed in both but came stepped up in inch sizes so I use the inch listings

    Intake side is the shim under bucket design

    0.16 + or - 0.003 or (0.006 + or - 0.001 inches) on one was loose at .007 but still in tolerance and most likely to go tight as it wears.















    Source: VFR1200F Valve Inspection
  25. HispanicSlammer
    http://www.vfrdiscussion.com/forum/videos/491/pigchasingpirates.mp4
     

    I was itching for another out of state ride, the NY ride was going on around the same time up in the Catskills but boy I just could not swing that much time off it takes 4 days just to get there reasonably and no way I am gonna ride interstate the whole way out there! I decided I wanted to ride the Ozarks again. So I contacted a bunch of vfrd people who live relatively close to the Ozarks and a few who live close to me and low and behold found out that a bunch of Texans lead by Dutchintercepter where already going. Turns out they were all from around the Tyler Texas area and have known each other for years. I have known and ridden with Dutch for a few years myself so I asked if I could tag along. "Sure" he said and soon I was on my way to Arkansas.

    It was a bit of a gamble since I would work the night before leaving, I asked my boss if I could leave at 4am so I could get in a nap and he agreed it was OK, so I would be somewhat awake. I found out from an email list that one of my favorite musicians was playing in Lawrence KS so I bought tickets and headed for Lawrence Thursday morning, I skipped my nap and headed strait for KS in the pre dawn moonlight. I was excited I would get the chance to see Pat Metheny play again - I have seen him once before in Denver 15 years ago and was delighted. I was going to head into Oklahoma and pick up gswanson and then head to the Ozarks but the Pat Mentheny gig was too tempting. Lawrence KS is the home of KU the Jayhawks and its not too far from Topeka KS where Lee2002 lives and he asked me more then once to come and stay with him. I thought a good deal about it but did not think it was fair to show up at 3 in the afternoon and then go strait to bed for 3 hours! So I headed to a motel in Lawrence and did exactly that. The trip out to Lawrence was rather windy and well crazy. I was blowing gusts of 50 mph in Colorado as the sun came up, and cold about 40 degrees on the plains near Kit Carson Colorado I was freaking cold I ended up stopping to put on a layer of clothes under my transit suit and thicker gloves.

    Colorado was the worst part since the road was 2 lanes and bumpy, bumpy and windy is a sucky combination and will it plays havoc with your gas mileage! 130 miles and my tank gage was flashing already! Good thing there was a solitary gas pump in Kit Carson, I filled it up and was rather amazed at the amount of traffic there was at 4 and 5 am in the morning on the way of of Colorado springs, lines of cars rolling into the Shriver air base and into Colorado Springs it was crazy, folks live out in the sticks and a whole bunch of them, commuting every day from out there must be a real chore!

    I made my way strait east to Oakley KS for another fill up since well the wind was still blowing 30mph but more steady and not so gusty and the smooth interstate made for a much nicer ride to be honest, the wind wasn't so bad anymore and I could cruise and listen to music for the rest of the day. Only my ear buds stopped working! Jeez, I pulled them out and stuck in foam ear plugs and boy everything got quiet and serene - even the 30 mph wind was quiet and I just cruised down the interstate with 50 miles more per tank then I got in Colorado! All damn day long the wind was relentless! I stopped again in Hays for a burger at a steak burger place called Freddie's good stuff! I like that place, not so much Hays but the burger made for a nice meal. Then I put my head down and settled in for the rest of the ride, the further east I went the less windy it got, so much so that each town would get a little less brown and a little more green, more trees popped up and the moisture in air became noticeable, still windy mind you it did not go away but it wasn't killing me anymore!

    I could see signs up for places like Abilene KS - good place to live and have a career? What? OK good for you Abilene, I suppose it goes along with the Abortion is a sin signs on hwy 50 - Kansas is a conflicted state, strait up bible thumping fire and brimstone side by side with heartland hospitality? I guess the further west and windier it gets the crazier it is! By the time I made Topeka I waved at Lee thinking "well hello sorry I will see you come next summer summit", I really wanted him to come along on the trip but hes only go so much time off and family matters pressed the weekend out. So I rolled into Lawrence on some back road to avoid the toll on I-70 and had to stop for a crazy accident , a car had gone off the road and over an embankment cops everywhere! I finally rolled into the hotel and got my key then laid down and set the alarm for 6pm and dosed off for a nap, up for 24 hours is not good! But I think I could have rode another 300 miles if there were some twisties to keep me awake!

    I woke up and headed for the Theater and was surprised to see Lee standing on the corner waving at me to park his bike next to his! Wow I did and walked up to him in disbelief I was not expecting to see him there? He chastised me for not staying at his place and I explained myself and well it worked out - turns out Lawrence has a first rate brewpub its right next door to the Liberty Hall theater where Pat was playing so we stopped in and got a brew and talked for a bit, Lee just sort of had a little did not even have a drink really handed me his beer after I finished mine, he had to go to work at 11pm so he was just being nice. I was glad he stopped over, way way out of his way to come meet me. Lawrence is a nice place, and there was a very large group of folks at the show, it was amazing, I said goodbye to Lee and walked in sat down and 2 seconds later Pat came out and started playing a whole list of my favorites and a few new ones, just a duet and a scaled down version of his Orchestron, a one man band computerized synthesizer that he did some amazing music with. Just him his guitar and a bass player, and the Orchestron. He is a very gifted musician. He even played my favorite tune of his.

    Great show and afterward I walked next door and sampled another beer from the Free State Brewery again, and listened to the local conversation about meth labs from a biker dude out on the patio, bantering back and forth with a lady about the state of the justice system and drug policy in the USA. In any case I had enough and went back and finished off the night with a big mac and fell asleep with the tv on back at the hotel.

    Up early in the morning surprised to see the parking lot mostly empty - boy these Kansas people get up early in the morning! I took off south and looked for back roads into Missouri apparently another vfrd member from Kansas saw the veefalo as she headed out of Lawrence while he was on his way to work at KU, Huskysooner saw me leaving and pm'ed me asking if that was really me! YUP! I met him a few years ago at Lees Kansas meet in Topeka.

    I stopped in Baldwin City KS for breakfast knowing I was gonna be alright speeding when I left cause just about every cop in the county was having coffee in the restaurant in the next room over from mine, I had some eggs and listened to the locals joke - some guy comes in he says "hello darling" to the lady at the table next to mine and she says "well if you call me darling what do you call your wife"? He says back "old bag"! Then he says "maybe thats why I have been married four times"?

    Like I said all the cops were still drinking coffee so I made my escape from Kansas in a big hurry doing some good time on the back roads trying for Harrissonville MO - but somehow I got ahead of myself and had already turned off just blindly following the gps route I made the night before and passed right through it without even knowing it! I was gonna look for a new set of ear buds since my singing to myself was getting tiresome! That area of Missouri is a bit flat, but allot of trees and the further east you go the more the roads get like roller coasters, not many turns just a lot of undulating up and down and some of it quite dramatic you can catch some air if you are going fast! And I was - and I did! Thrills come cheap on a motorcycle! I just kept on going and going and going then I turned on a familiar road I have been one 3 times before or so I thought I did? I ended up taking a frontage road and not the main road and had to double back, strange place called Tightwad MO! Lakes around there are nice, and further up the road I missed the turn, and ended up going through Warsaw a couple of times cause I missed the right turn on hwy 65. Then I turned off that road again onto hwy 7 another road I know from before - this one still is a roller coaster but it has some turns in it. Unfortunately the locals like to think they can race you when you get behind them and proceed to make their vehicles go faster then they are capable of safely driving! Dude in a beat up Chevy pickup tried to hold me off as long as he could and the oncoming traffic is the only reason I waited patiently behind him as he drover over the double yellow a number of times and then onto the dirt shoulder in the right turns, what an idiot. I saw a dotted line and clear lane and was past him so fast he had no idea - then he disappeared in the mirrors just as fast!

    I stopped in Lebanon MO at the walmart and was back in business with tunes when I picked up some JVC mushroom buds, the fit just right and isolate the sound just as good as the foam earplugs I was using, best of all my rendition of "landslide" by Fleetwood Mac in my head was finally over - why do I torture myself with the same tune over and over again, who knew you can make that song last 3 hours if you sing it half assed half remembered lyrics and made up lyrics to fill in the parts I did not remember! Thank goodness for walmart!

    Well I have had just about enough of the up and down roller coaster shit of Missouri and well almost 1 mile into Arkansas the road started to turn RIGHT AND THEN LEFT - oh yea I forgot what that was! TURNS THESE ARE TURNS and good ones too! I turned off at hwy 178 to follow along Bull Shoals Damn and ran smack into a nightmare of traffic? I don't know why all the businesses were closed and 80% of the buildings were shuttered? It was depressing but I did get to see the Bull Shoals Damn! I am sorry for the bad pics the camera was set to low resolution quite by accident.
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     

    The road got interesting after I got past the lake, and the traffic thinned down, I got behind a caddy of all things that was keeping a very good pace in the turns, I got around him soon enough and he stayed with me a bit until the turns got tighter and tighter then I was gone, and there was Yellville up ahead - I pulled into the Carlton Motel and saw a bunch of bikes from Dutch's Tyler Texas group and talked with the guys, then about an hour later Gswanson pulled in with 2lthr (Gary and Steve) and then Dutch himself pulled in on a KLR? I see he tells me hes parting out the black viffer cause he cant deal with all the electrical issues and wont sell it outright cause he does not want to pass that mess on to somebody else? Rumor has it hes gonna pick up Gswansons old Betty? Gary got a RWB vtec last year but still has his 5th gen in the garage. Its already black!

    Then here comes flavadave and his girl on the back 2up, we walked over to the bbq joint down the road and had some grub. Dutch joined us, it was good, the food in Yellville is OK but not great, but the BBQ was the right price (CHEAP).

    The next day the Texas crew took off onto destinations their own and I had prepared a route for the viffer group, down the fast sweepers on MO 14 and over to Push Mountain for an early morning romp - we actually ended up behind one of the Texas guys Dutch's buddy on his Bandit, he lead us up to Push mountain and said he was just going to run it a few times and go back. I was rocking it pretty good on the veefalo when all of a sudden a fast moving red blur went by and I could swear it was another vfr1200! sure enough it was but he did not stop. Everybody thought I had turned around and was coming back since I was leading and got ahead just 2 of use alone for a while me and Steve.
     
     
     
     

     

    Then we headed over to North Fork and took in the sights at the North Fork Damn
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     

    Then we settled in to some great roads all day long for 350 or so miles of Ozark bliss! I call it the Ozark lullaby since some of the roads just sweep back in forth like a waltz, and you just get a great rhythm going, then we came up on hwy 16 and then the fun started it was more challenging and technical, I did not remember it being so much fun I love that road, one of my favorites and I think I like it best of all of them personally, Pulled in for a stop at Pelsor and then we hit hwy 123 as seen in the video above, those pirates would not get out of the way! I had to pass the whole group on a long bowl between two hills with a mile long passing lane at full speed, full speed cause the lead pirate tried to speed up his HD to hold me off? I guess 110 hp and 170hp v4 is a big mismatch! He got small in the mirrors too! The only thing in them anymore after the next few turns was 3 vfrs behind me they all made it safe around the pirates!

    Douche bags on Harley's think they own the road? Why not just let the faster bikes pass and be done with it? Jeez? Back to the motel and more food at the café down the road it wasn't bad - it was a buffet! Then beer and sleep! Most of the Texas crew was already back so it was an all night party and BS session! Good folks these Tyler riders, most of them are on two wheeled Texans a bigger site then vfrd and they all know each other!
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     
     

     

    The next day I found out that the pirates were a small percentage of the Harley's in Arkansas that weekend - Blues Bikes and BBQ was in Fayetteville for the weekend rally some 10000 cruisers in the Western Ozarks - good thing they limit themselves to 200 miles or less cause we were far enough east to avoid them for the most part except that group on hwy 123, its a famous road and is featured on most sites and motorcycle maps as a destination, the 10mph hairpins on Mount Judea are the attraction. I personally like the sweepers better especially when there are no Pirates on them!

    Too bad we had to go west past that bunch of vagabonds! I decided to head into Oklahoma with Gary and Steve the next morning and stay in OKC with Gary - hes always such a good host. We took 100 across, and I made a route full of back roads and side trips off the main drags and for the most part we missed the horde! But it added an hour or two to our ride some 500 miles back to OKC! I lead from Yellville into Oklahoma and then Gary took over from there, and took me past Tinkiller Lake and cool side track with hills and turns in Oklahoma I was not expecting, good to know! Then 200 miles of strait boring road into Edmond, then Steve cut out for home and Gary and I made our way to his house and I got a great home cooked meal of beef stroganoff - Garys wife Cathy is a great cook, and a dog lover, they have so many dogs I cant remember how many there are, she liked the tee shirt I was wearing of my local brewpub cause it has a picture of a Lab on front! Laughing Lab the beer is called and so I told her when I got home I would get her one and send it in the mail!

    Gary had to work in the morning and always commutes on the bike when the weather allows so we were up before sunrise and I was off on the road myself back to Colorado, and sure enough the further west I got the more the wind started blowing soon it was like Kansas all over again! I headed across the Pan handle and that bumpy mess - budump..badump..budump..bang (a big pot hole) badump.. for about 2 hours strait! I was relieved to be back across the boarder and into Colorado but the very south eastern tip of it, meaning another 2 hours to go at least. I found a road that skirts along the Comanche National Grasslands into into the Northern tip of Pinion Canyon and enjoyed a western change of scenery after 6 hours of plains plains and more plains, but then I was back onto the plains when I came out of it.

    I stopped in Rocky Ford for a cold drink and was sitting in the shade by the side of the gas station, on a milk crate when an old Hispanic man came up and walked past, then a few minutes later he came out of the store and stopped to talk to me.

    He says "did you see that couple arguing at the gas pump"?
    Me "No sir"?
    He says " the woman was yelling at him.. its your baby I know it is yours"!
    Then he says "the guy was yelling back.. its not mine.. no its not"!
    Then he hits me again "the woman yelled and said I know for a fact its yours...the other 3 I am not so sure about"?

    He completely blind sided me with a joke and so I must have laughed for an hour strait! Old fart sucked me in, and got me! What a way to end an out of state ride.... come back home to jokes!
     
     
     
     

     
     
     
     

     
     
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