Pagosa Springs, Ouray, Lake City,Black Canyon 8/10,11,12

[denverbusa]

Is anyone going to be down in that area this weekend? or want to go out there? We could set up a meeting point on Friday or Saturday. If you have ever wanted to go out for a longer ride now is the time. Weather SHOULD be ok but afternoon showers are possible as always here in Colorado. All are welcome to join in the fun and any areas you have wanted to ride in the SW part of the state are possible. I ride THE PACE so no worries about your speed as that pretty much means the speed limit but spirited in the corners, I am not an agressive rider so all are welcome.

I have to be in Creede at 10:00 am on Friday and will have the rest of the weekend to play. I need to visit the Mineral County Courts on Friday for a prior indescretion :cry: but then I get to go play in the area :hump:. If anyone is going down that way or wants to I should be free by 12:00. I can't make up my mind which way to go but Black Canyon is a definite priority some where in the weekend.

It is short notice but the stars aligned and I get to stay out and play on the bike all weekend. Since my birthday is on Monday and I have to work I am going to make the best of the weekend.

Meet in Gunnison Friday night or Saturday AM? It's only 3 hours and less than 200 miles. Hotchkiss is 228 miles and 4 hours, then I would get to ride Black Canyon a few times, SWEEET.

I am leaving tonight but my black berry will get e-mails mmusgrove@atsfocus.com or call my cell 303 563 9566 and leave a message so I can call back when I get off or get back in range.

See ya out there!

[Dub]

The 2nd annual Ducati in the Rockies is going on in Ouray this weekend. There was a group of about 30 some Ducs last year and probably as many or more will be gathering this year again. They all stay at the Hot Springs motel in Ouray, you won't be able to miss all the bikes in the parking lot.

Pretty cool bunch of people IMO!

I can't make it this year. My bike is sitting out in CA at the moment.

[LadyT]

You can ride on the back of my bike.... :lol: now that would be funny


The 2nd annual Ducati in the Rockies is going on in Ouray this weekend. There was a group of about 30 some Ducs last year and probably as many or more will be gathering this year again. They all stay at the Hot Springs motel in Ouray, you won't be able to miss all the bikes in the parking lot.

Pretty cool bunch of people IMO!

I can't make it this year. My bike is sitting out in CA at the moment.

[Dub]

You can ride on the back of my bike.... :lol: now that would be funny

I'll wear my favorite daisy dukes! :slappers:

[denverbusa]

The 2nd annual Ducati in the Rockies is going on in Ouray this weekend.

Well that moves Ouray up the priority list of places to go this weekend! Maybe the asshat that stole my Ducati will decide to show up with it?!?!?!?

[Dub]

Well that moves Ouray up the priority list of places to go this weekend! Maybe the asshat that stole my Ducati will decide to show up with it?!?!?!?

T-Byrd (doesn't post much here anymore) should be there on her yellow Monster900. She was the only yellow bike there last year.

And as far as the guy who stole your 916 showing up, I doubt it. It'll be mostly monsters, but all upstanding people. They are members of the Ducati Monster List.

[Bugkiller1]

I will be in steamboat on a GS12OO.

[mtnairlover]

If you're gonna do Black Canyon, then take hwy92, better known as the North Rim of the Black Canyon. That road is sweet! And full of twists, turns, hairpins, etc. woohoo. Just when you think you're almost finished with the leaning, more twists are thrown at ya, so be sure you're up for the ride and hold on and have fun. Oh, yeah, that's just me reminiscing about our ride at the end of June. Lots of roads to have fun on down in the SW part of our state and you've picked some good'ns.

[Bashed]

I do belive this is enroute from Creede to the Black Canyon.
Have fun as I did on tuesday when I went to Lake City for lunch.
Had to get out of town and have some fun with almost no traffic.
The sherriff is running a white pickup, but you might know that.
He was up top between the passes.
Later Bash

[denverbusa]

OK, SO here is what you all missed. No one wanted to go so I went on a Happy Birthday to me trip by myself. I wanted to put some miles on and get in the outer Canyons while the weather was good so I racked up 1180 miles over the next couple of days. Only about 30 miles of that was on the same road twice. This is a really long post but what the hell you could go to YouTube and waste 15 minutes too. I am talking about my route here but the object was getting to the various canyons within the route. Most every road was extremely clean but I am not going to talk about how fast I went around this corner or that. Just know that the object was to experience the roads we are so lucky to have here in Colorado, for more than just a morning ride down to Decker's or P2P. I never thought i would find a road I liked better than Black Canyon but those 12 miles to Bishops Castle are pretty close, and closer! Get out there yourself sometime it is what our bikes were meant for, well, that and the track.

I left on Thursday night at 8:30PM because I needed to be in Creede at 10:00 AM for a summons from the fourth of July trip when I got tagged by a couple of CSP on Wolf Creek Pass. I decided to sleep outside in Del Norte as I was tired and it was extremely late, so I found a National Forest access road South of town to camp on. Brightest stars I have seen in a long time. With no moon and the meteor showers it was a most excellent night.
Friday
Up at 7:00 with the sun and found I had slept right next to the cemetery! I drove up to Creede and took a tour up the gravel roads to the mining area, pretty interesting and something I wouldn't of seen unless I had a couple of hours to kill until 10:00. Wishing I had a motard when i was coming back down the hill and the busa is sliding sideways left then right trying to stop down that road, it is so hard not to grab that front brake but somethings you do learn with age. Four points and $153 later I am back on the road north to Slumgullion.
I got a little sleepy and I was in no hurry and since I was by myself, I sacked out for a quick nap under the shade of a tree, rest of the gods, fresh air and quiet except for the little brook coming out of Brown reservoir. I don't know if it was the little sprinkle or the fucking chip munk that woke me up but he was pretty pissed off too about my nap under his tree. Rode into Gunnison for a late lunch and gas. I hit Black canyon at 3:00 for a quick round trip before heading towards Ouray but I screamed bloody murder when I rounded the corner to find a freshly tarred and graveled Black Canyon. The sign said "center line does not exist for next 5 miles" so there is 24 good miles of road... why not? Unfortunately mile maker 6 had me wishing I turned around. Flat tire! A sharp rock punctured right in the groove of the tread. luckily I was squeezing the last out of the tires so I was planning on getting new shoes after this ride anyway. Rangers, CSP (sure now they pretend not to see me), ambulances, fire trucks and tow trucks go buy even with me waving at them. Turned out to be a Harley went wide and nearly had a head on with a car. 9:00 PM, Yes 6 fucking hours on the side of the road with nothing but ants, bees, a gardener snake and some chipmunks to keep me amused, a couple cowboys with a cattle trailer and 1 ratchet strap show up and are willing to make $30 bucks the easy way. My bike gets delivered to MC shop in Gunnison and the service manager shows up to drop off their dirt bikes and lets me slide my bike inside until 9:00AM when they open. An easy night at the hotel 2 blocks away with the bike safe and sound whew...
Saturday
The next morning I find out that there are no 190 rears to be had so the busa now has a 180 on her and we are off for Ouray. Now there is supposed to be a Duc Monster rally in Ouray but I only saw 2 in town or on the road near Ouray??? No biggie I am off for more ridding. That road south of Ouray makes my nuts tingle when you look down that canyon. Easy to do the speed limit there. Iron Mountain is absolutely gorgeous with the sun hitting it, all the colors are fantastic. Beautiful weather all the way so far and it is absolutely gorgeous going down into Silverton where I had great bowl of soup and a frosty cold beer from a local brewery, now I never drink when I am out riding but it tasted soooo good I couldn't resist. So I walked around town and tried a piece of the best Coconut Cream pie I ever ate at Mad Maggie's pies. I highly recommend it if you are in the area. Rain clouds passed and the roads dried up so it was time to hit the road again down into Durango, but too hot to stop even with the carnival in town or was it because the carnival was in town? Now East to Pagosa Springs where it had rained for about an hour before I got there (I chased the storm out of town. It is still warm and the sky is clear so I decide to camp out again. Not the warmest of nights so I walked to a local hang out listened to a great band, ate a good steak and had a couple too many things to keep me warm, I stumbled back to camp built a little fire and watched some more meteors had some save the world epiphanies that I forgot exactly what they were but if I ever remember all will be right in the world!?!?!?
Sunday
Cold and covered in Dew I built a fire warmed up and found the local coffee house to recover from my hangover. 10:00 and I am on the road again over Wolf Creek but this time I am not breaking the speed limit. I don't think that judge will be so friendly in Creede next time so I just enjoyed the sights this time. Figures not a cop to be seen. I did get my picture taken at the tunnel entry where they have a photo radar set up but no front plate, so kiss my ass. I knew it was there from last time so I stepped it up just for the camera. Kill Boy eat your heart out. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride down the hill as there was not much traffic after I saw the entering ??? County sign, at least I wasn't in mineral county anymore. I was still ready to ride So I checked out the map and found that I could get to Walsenburg via Alamosa and then head up to West Cliff then over to Pueblo for the MRA's. Now I wanted to get to the races before they were over but i saw this sign that said Bishop Castle 12 miles and had heard it was a good ride. That doesn't describe it. I can not believe what a great ride it was, AWSOME is the only word for a relatively local ride. that was so much fun I can't wait to do it again. Down the road to the blast furnace of Pueblo and PMI I got to watch a few races (thanks for the ICE cold water Pilot) and said a few hellos to those I knew. Bob don't think I look like a squid because I put my sandals on to walk around, no self respecting squid would have his helmet on his head in that temp. A wreck had a few other I wanted to say hello to a little preoccupied so maybe next time.

I am still not ready to go home by the freeway so out to Canyon City and North on 9 to Hartsel. I hit a cloud burst and lightning everywhere for about 10 miles then it cleared up to a beautiful ride with rainbows galore. Still warm so I dried out quickly cleared the top of a hill at about 90 and saw a CSP coming my way, SHIT... grab the brakes start jambing down the gears get ready to whine like a little girl. Must have been on his way home he just eyeballed me and kept on going. He must have been one of the guys in Black Canyon on Friday that couldn't see me. OK, Happy Birthday to me!!!! I just kept on going too. Stopped in Fairplay for a quick gas station slice of pizza and try to beat the sun down but I got to talking with another rider and left too late. Saw the clouds building up to the NE so I bundled up and hit the road. It rained hard, not just heavy but HARD all the way from Jefferson to Bailey. I am talking cats and dogs here people. The Busa has pretty good wind protection but because of the tank bag I couldn't tuck too far in but I stayed pretty dry. The cars must have thought I was nuts but I found a car going the right speed a stayed in their tire track (mostly) and that also let me relax about deer. I got home about 10:30 and was sound asleep, soundly, by 10:34.
Technically my birthday was Monday so I slept in and milked work when I did get there.

Over all I wouldn't change a thing except the flat tire but the guys who gave me and the Busa a lift back to town raise horses and by coincidence I am looking to buy a horse or two in the next year so maybe it was a good thing as he has raised horses for other Westernaire kids. That is called making lemonade!

[T-byrd]

Sounds like you had a great ride...sorry you missed all the monsters...except mine...it was sitting in the parking lot with a rear sprocket missing everyother tooth and the ones that were left were nubs :shocked:...we were all out enjoying Red Mtn pass straight through to Durango and over to Dolores over Lizard Head Pass (god I love that stretch!)...back around to Ouray...great weekend, sorry you couldn't join us for a drink...

Tanya

[riverock]

great ride report....

where is the campsite so close to Pogosa?

[denverbusa]

great ride report....

where is the campsite so close to Pagosa?

If you are going west on the main road coming from Wolf creek pass, just as you are getting into town there is a bridge where the river goes from the north side of the road to the south side of the road. On the S.E. corner there of the river and the main road, there is a little open field and the motel rents you the right to set up tents or pop-ups only. It was only $17 bucks for the night and about 200 yards from the little Mexican restaurant that has an outdoor seating area. I don't recall the name but it is on the south side of the street. I recommend the stuffed green chile appetizer, it is a meal in itself.:hump:

[lovinCO]

If it's the Mexican place with all the money stapled to the ceiling, it's called "Buen Tiempo". We rode out to Ouray for the 4th of July and ate there a couple times. Yum, second that recommendation. :siesta: Their margaritas are ok too. :)

[riverock]

sounds great!


thx