dm_gsxr
Sun Jul 3rd, 2011, 08:40 PM
Rita and I headed down to Salida yesterday morning as a precursor ride to see if she could make it to Jasper up in Canada in a couple of weeks. She has one of the new Honda 250R's and has enjoyed riding it to work.
So we headed out 119 and cut over to 93 south. Did the little cut through to 40 from 6 and down to Morrison for the initial fillup. Then 285 on down to Salida.
The weather was nice and cool until we reached Buena Vista and the rest of the ride was fricking hot.
We stopped once in Fairplay for a quick pee break and then continued on.
About the only problem were the folks who wouldn't pass. There was on BMW guy (car) who zipped up one of the two lane passing areas and got between Rita and me (Rita rides in front typically) but then didn't try to pass again. So after I gave him a couple of opportunities, I passed him and got behind Rita again. As we got down to South Park, he zipped by on the long straight and we didn't see him again.
I was calculating gas mileage and she was getting about 98mpg where I was getting 53mpg on the 'busa.
We did 137 miles getting to Salida and Rita was hating life. She hadn't been on a bike for any distance rides in a while so needed to get used to it again.
Anyway, Salida was interesting. The Arkansas was overflowing its banks and running fast. A couple of kids were playing in the flooded walkway under the bridge so we were waiting for Darwin to take a hand. When we were on the bridge itself, we watched some damn fool throwing a stick out into the rushing water for his dog to fetch. The dog almost didn't make it back at one point. After that one he and his kid (in a bathing suit no less) walked back to where mom was sitting and they chatted. Hopefully the kid and dog are ok.
We left this morning and came back through Woodland Park and Decker/Pine. There were quite a lot of bikes out. All kinds. I was chuckling at a couple of cruiser riders while we were at Deckers. The one guy was telling the other one that he should have his Harley bored and get a new head and pistons. Then get it mapped out so everything performed correctly. Of course during the winter when he's not riding. "You could start your pass, hit the gas and be gone." Now the performance part is accurate of course. I'm interested in getting my 'busa mapped out and ready for the next level of speed. The chuckling was at the "not riding during the winter" part since I ride all year. My problem is always when to take the bike down so I can work on something when I ride all year :) Performance was a bit chuckling as well of course. If you wanted a faster bike, you probably should have gotten a fast bike vs trying to make a stump puller fast.
Anyway, we left Deckers and headed on up to 285. We had a cruiser rider behind us on the way up and while Rita's Honda was trying its heart out to get up the hill, the Harley guy would fall behind in the curves and catch up in the straights. I tried to get him to go around on a couple of the passing areas but I don't think he could get it fast enough to go around. He eventually passed us on 285 heading down the mountain.
I did pass Rita on the last bit towards Morrison in order to have a little fun in the curves. I do have to say that the Pirelli Angels are the worst tires I've used so far. The transition from sport touring to the softer sport tire rubber is pretty abrupt and in a couple of spots, can be a little scary. These things will be replaced before we go on our trip.
Anyway, Rita found she wasn't going to be able to take the bike up to Jasper. At the moment, she's capable of about 200 mile days on average which will take us three weeks or so to get up to Jasper and back. I suggested she take the Prius instead. The gas mileage isn't quite as good as the Honda but it'll be more comfortable. Then she can park it in Calgary or in the south part of Banff, perhaps at a campground. Then I can run her up the Ice Fields Parkway to Jasper and Mount Robeson then back down for the ride home.
No pictures though. Rita pretty much refused to stop other than a couple of bathroom breaks.
Carl
So we headed out 119 and cut over to 93 south. Did the little cut through to 40 from 6 and down to Morrison for the initial fillup. Then 285 on down to Salida.
The weather was nice and cool until we reached Buena Vista and the rest of the ride was fricking hot.
We stopped once in Fairplay for a quick pee break and then continued on.
About the only problem were the folks who wouldn't pass. There was on BMW guy (car) who zipped up one of the two lane passing areas and got between Rita and me (Rita rides in front typically) but then didn't try to pass again. So after I gave him a couple of opportunities, I passed him and got behind Rita again. As we got down to South Park, he zipped by on the long straight and we didn't see him again.
I was calculating gas mileage and she was getting about 98mpg where I was getting 53mpg on the 'busa.
We did 137 miles getting to Salida and Rita was hating life. She hadn't been on a bike for any distance rides in a while so needed to get used to it again.
Anyway, Salida was interesting. The Arkansas was overflowing its banks and running fast. A couple of kids were playing in the flooded walkway under the bridge so we were waiting for Darwin to take a hand. When we were on the bridge itself, we watched some damn fool throwing a stick out into the rushing water for his dog to fetch. The dog almost didn't make it back at one point. After that one he and his kid (in a bathing suit no less) walked back to where mom was sitting and they chatted. Hopefully the kid and dog are ok.
We left this morning and came back through Woodland Park and Decker/Pine. There were quite a lot of bikes out. All kinds. I was chuckling at a couple of cruiser riders while we were at Deckers. The one guy was telling the other one that he should have his Harley bored and get a new head and pistons. Then get it mapped out so everything performed correctly. Of course during the winter when he's not riding. "You could start your pass, hit the gas and be gone." Now the performance part is accurate of course. I'm interested in getting my 'busa mapped out and ready for the next level of speed. The chuckling was at the "not riding during the winter" part since I ride all year. My problem is always when to take the bike down so I can work on something when I ride all year :) Performance was a bit chuckling as well of course. If you wanted a faster bike, you probably should have gotten a fast bike vs trying to make a stump puller fast.
Anyway, we left Deckers and headed on up to 285. We had a cruiser rider behind us on the way up and while Rita's Honda was trying its heart out to get up the hill, the Harley guy would fall behind in the curves and catch up in the straights. I tried to get him to go around on a couple of the passing areas but I don't think he could get it fast enough to go around. He eventually passed us on 285 heading down the mountain.
I did pass Rita on the last bit towards Morrison in order to have a little fun in the curves. I do have to say that the Pirelli Angels are the worst tires I've used so far. The transition from sport touring to the softer sport tire rubber is pretty abrupt and in a couple of spots, can be a little scary. These things will be replaced before we go on our trip.
Anyway, Rita found she wasn't going to be able to take the bike up to Jasper. At the moment, she's capable of about 200 mile days on average which will take us three weeks or so to get up to Jasper and back. I suggested she take the Prius instead. The gas mileage isn't quite as good as the Honda but it'll be more comfortable. Then she can park it in Calgary or in the south part of Banff, perhaps at a campground. Then I can run her up the Ice Fields Parkway to Jasper and Mount Robeson then back down for the ride home.
No pictures though. Rita pretty much refused to stop other than a couple of bathroom breaks.
Carl