Colorado Hwy 550 ride

[audiogooroo]

Ells, Dan Lund and myself left from Colorado Springs Friday morning. Up Hwy 24 across Wilkerson Pass though South Park (yes...THAT South Park) over Monarch Pass to Montrose where we met up with Wolfman and his friend Chris. From there it was the Million Dollar Hwy to Durango. Really got rained on during the most spectacular part of the ride, so no pics from that section. I tend to shoot pics when it's boring scenery, and when it's awesome I'm too caught up in the moment to take any. :-/
But here's what I have. It was a great time. I know Dan took some pics too so I'm sure he'll let us know when they're up.
http://s231.photobucket.com/albums/ee19/....e_to p_view_all

Chris and I rode home through cortez. Durango to Cortez was awesome too. Its the kinda of riding I like the best; freeway speed sweepers with great scenery. From Cortez we went to Moab and rode out to Dead Horse Point. I didn't take too many pics and the pics I took at dead horse point don't do the place justice. Its a nice ride on HWY 313 about 20 or 30 miles the road dead ends and you have endless views of Canyon Lands National Park 1,000 feeet below. The pics don't really show the depth, how the cliffs go down to flats that drop off into more cliffs, etc but here's what I took http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x...ng/550%20trip/

[waterman]

Looks like everyone had fun on those fantastic roads. Wish I could have gone. May be able to hit them in mid-August on the way to Cortez for a meeting.

[ells]

Dead Horse Point has got to be one of the most spectacular views there is that is so relatively unknown and a little off the beaten path. Almost as good as those up and down from Red Mt Pass, but Mother Nature and fate are saving those for next time. Dan and I hit some pretty good heat on the east side of the Divide, close to 100 but cool compared to Mesquite, I hear. Was enough to send me running for a cold one, or two, when I got home. The 800B showed up shortly there after, and much cleaner than my Nomad, what a mess. Washed it twice and am starting to polish and wax since I'm on a role.

Once again, it was a great ride and was real a real pleasure to get to meet Wolfman and his friend Chris, a couple fine lads. (Had met Dan and Audio before and they have pushed just a bit out of the "lad" category, but fine gentlemen none the less. Thanks for the pics Audio, I think Dan has some on the way, if not already here somewhere.

[dantama]

It was a super trip with great company. I went down to Colorado Springs and met Audio and Ells at 8:00am and headed to Montrose to meet Wolfman. I almost didn't make the trip because my bike was in the shop, but Ells very graciously loaned my his 800 Classic so that I could make the trip. It proved to be a very capable bike. We had a good lunch With Wolfman in Montrose and headed out together.

Just a ways out of town Audio pulled us over and we put rain gear on due to the looming black clouds just down the road. Then we headed out to the most scenic portion of the ride and got rained on pretty good. Even with the poor visibility, it was clear that it was an amazing road to ride. We pulled into a gas station at the top to wait out the rain. We thought we could head out in a bit of a clear break, and then it turned into clear blue skies in all directions. We decided that if we had chosen to have desert at the lunch stop, we would have missed the rain.

We had a nice dinner at a Texas BBQ, cleaned the bikes, and hit the sack.

The next morning we had a good breakfast, Audio choose it by smelling it as he rode by :) Then we split up and headed different directions. Ells and I went home together and saw some of the most spectacular scenery there is, followed by my introduction to the desolate/desert side of Colorado, and on to Denver.

It was a great ride, and I'd love to do it with this bunch anytime.

All the photos at full size are in this album if you want to go get pics of you.

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y237/dantama/Durango/

For those that are curious about what a great ride it was, here's just a random representative photo




And here's a slide show. I was going to put it in chronological order and label it, but Photobucket scrambled it and it was too hard to sort out, so it isn't in order.



http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y23...t=68434161.pbw


Y'all missed out by not being on this one :)

[pirate]

Thanks for sharing all the pics guys. Audio, you have one of the sharpest looking Nomads I have ever seen. I see it all the time in your signature pics on posts, but I don't think I've complimented you on it before. That green is just awesome. Looks like you all had a great trip.

Great pics as always dan!!

[ells]

Some good shots there Dan. Probably hard to convince folks who weren't there but just looking at the photos that the best scenery was missed in the clouds.

[audiogooroo]

Great shots Dan. I knew you were taking some good ones. It always amazes me how you can take pictures, drink from your water bottle, stand on your head, check your oil, inflate your tires, send a fax, wax your bike, grill burgers, check email and shave while riding a mountain pass! ;-)

[audiogooroo]

Originally Posted by prairie cruiser

Thanks for sharing all the pics guys. Audio, you have one of the sharpest looking Nomads I have ever seen. I see it all the time in your signature pics on posts, but I don't think I've complimented you on it before. That green is just awesome. Looks like you all had a great trip.

Thanks man. I personally think all Nomads look great, but I am kinda partial to my green machine. Of course I've had it awhile so I've got it just the way I like it.

[dantama]

Originally Posted by audiogooroo

Great shots Dan. I knew you were taking some good ones.

I never saw you take a picture except for at the stop at the top of the pass when we were stopped, never saw the on the fly ones you took. I did find it very difficult to take photos without a throttle lock to keep the bike moving while fiddling. How did you do 40,000 miles without a throttle lock Ells? :)

It is too bad that we couldn't take pictures of the rain section. I kept wanting to, but it would have been impossible to not get the lens wet. Guess we'll have to go back :)

[audiogooroo]

You'll notice that the only moving pictures I take are on the straight sections of road. :)

[ells]

Originally Posted by Dan Lund

How did you do 40,000 miles without a throttle lock Ells? :)

No problem, I don't try to do six things at time while riding. Plus most my rides on that bike tended to be shorter than what we did last weekend.

I just looked into what Wolfman had pointed out on the ride that my taillight seemed dimmer than the others. I had installed an LED cluster thinking it was brighter but when I opened up just now and two of the three back-facing LEDs were out. About $20 for that bulb a few months ago and now essentially worthless. Put the standard 1157 back in and will be my last experience with LED clusters.

Good move probably. Last night going to work I almost ran over a bike. His back end was actually lit up pretty good too. It was a 60 MPH zone and I might have been doing 65 tops but he was probably doing 50 MPH tops. I came up on him really fast and slammed on my brakes not realizing he was going so slow. Kinda made me wonder if I've almost been run over only having one light. (I do ride at the speed limit however)

[misunderstood]

Great pics guys. Looks like it was a great ride. Thanks for sharing.