Spine Ride. 6-26/6-29 anybody up for driving down there to ride?!

[One-ops]

I'm off and been itching to go.

[Drano]

:up: It's good that you're planning on doing this over 4 days and driving down. Since you're driving, you may miss out on some great rides over Monarch Pass, and the Million Dollar Highway (I didn't get to ride the Million in 2013 due to time constraints). Otherwise, that is a reasonable amount of time for a trip like this as you can get there driving at a moderate rate, stop and take pics, and have a buffer in case of break-downs and emergencies. Fair warning, in May, 2013 the area around the spine was pretty warm, so plan on it being hot.

[One-ops]

Anyone camp in alpine? Looks nice.

[Clovis]

I've been to the spine 3 times - 2008, 2012, 2013 -- never camped, always stayed in a motel. The Sportsmans Lodge in Alpine is right across from the only gas station and resturant in town - owner is a cool dude, has a lot of dirt bikes and dual sports.

But, if you're open to suggestion - I would skip the Spine and go to the Black Hills instead.

The spine is definately a cool ride and all but I can tell you as someone who's done the spine 3 times and Black Hills twice - Black Hills overall is 10x better than the spine AND about 300 miles closer than Alpine.

Your timing is perfect. While we were there, they were re-paving a lot of the roads. Construction will be completed on 6-27.

We only got to ride the newly paved section of 16A for about 7 miles; the rest was grated which was still a lot of fun if you're on a supermoto :) Those 7 miles however were amazing. They have these crazy cork screw bridges on 16A!

If you want to party on the weekend (Friday/Saturday night) stay in Deadwood - very active downtown with a trolley system to and from the hotels for $1 per ride.

If you want to be more of a purist, stay in Spearfish about 13 miles away - hotels are a little cheaper and you can start every and end every day with Spearfish Canyon - God's Canyon!

Keystone is centrally located in the park. Check out the roads on a map and let me know how it was :)

I'm already planning an August 2015 return trip if possible; if not there will definitely be a full week long 2016 trip - we're renting a house.

Trust me on this - You will enjoy the Black Hills WAY more than you would the Spine, especially at the end of June! It will be 115 degrees in Arizona.. screw that man! Go to the hills!

Some of the best roads - something for everybody - sweepers to technical. I'm not sure what kind of bike you have but a sportbike will be a lot of fun but a supermoto type of bike gets you the best of both worlds on the hills - or the spine. My Multistrada and Jeff's Hypermotard proved to be ideally suited for the hills.

[Drano]

Stay on topic, please. This is a thread about the Devil's Spine, not the place for a ride report on the Black Hills. If he's interested in that trip some time in the future he'll know who to contact. Carry on.

[One-ops]

The sportsman is booked up. Looking for a koa now.

[Clovis]

There's additional lodging north of Alpine in Springerville, AZ.

[One-ops]

Springerville have grocery store? Not seeing one in Alpine.

[Clovis]

Google says there's a Safeway.



203 S. Mountain Ave
Springerville, AZ
(928) 333-4165

[One-ops]

Possibly a trip this year!!
Such a good time even the rain run was a blast.

[Aaron]

Chalk me in as a possible. I'd love to go, but the job situation is a bit uneasy, and I can't use any vacation time.

Driving or riding down?
What dates are you thinking?

[One-ops]

We'd drive and what cha think about early july or aug. if it were to happen. If not I really wanna to like some 3-day ride trips do hit some routes to the western slope and back.

[Aaron]

I don't have any plans for the rest of the year, so I can pretty much be free anytime. July-August works for me, but it'd probably be pretty hot then.

I'd totally be up for the 3 day trips, those are my idea of a good time. I've got a friend who'd go too.

[Matrix]

I might be down for part of this. You got a full route in mind?

[Clovis]

I'm down if I have a bike by then ;)

I have a 2 bike trailer w/ 2 bitbull restraint systems and a truck. Towing to the destination is the way to do it.

[Aaron]

Count me out for the time being...

[One-ops]

Gotta work on schedule around racing here in ok and vacation. tbc

[texlurch]

https://goo.gl/maps/FF4yR3BpujP2 modify a tad if you have never been over to the 4-Corners monument.. photo op.

4-5 days.....