NoCo long-ass ride Aug. 3

[daemon]

My first time thru Trail ridge I have to do that again during the week before snow fall.

your pass should still be good for some time.
mine's good till the 8th.

hit it this week

[daemon]

holy crap.
someone put away the VOODOO Doll please!!!
at the very least we had to deal with rain.

Cathy,

Thanks for the great ride. We had some interesting events on the way home. Warren, Sean, and I rode to Waldon, and then we cut across a 20 mile dirt road to hit 14. I had an antelope either try to charge me or was just playing, but either way, the thing was running at close to 60 miles and hour. Crazy stuff! UnSuk was yelling under her helmet. The antelope actually passed Warren, and it looked like it was going to hit me, but it turned away when it was about five feet away.

Then, Sean had a flat front tire. We had to ditch his bike. I think he is headed up with Chris to pick it up. Warren and Sean looked mighty strong together on the Fz1. I think UnSuk was jealous because they looked better than us!

Thanks again, Cathy!!!!!

[daemon]

good riding with you........you pusher you~~~

Yeah, what a great ride! Too bad the weather didn't totally cooperate but it was lots of fun nonetheless. And, um, too bad my battery didn't cooperate, either. Thanks to all that helped give me a push start! I owe you a coffee or beer or something. Hit me up at the next Motohaus or beer night...

Was is really only 290 miles? Me odo says more like 315 or so - must be off a bit.

-Mark

PS. Next time I'll try to bring a real bike... ;-)

[mtnairlover]

Wow...just wow. So, how to begin? How's this? So, me and the guys from the great white north head down to Lyons to the gas station to wait for people to show up. I had 4 bikes, plus mine. We get to the station and lo and behold...3 Springs riff-raff are sitting and waiting for us, eating their gas station breakfast. I'm thinking...sweet!

I had a little bit of an idea that the group might be a bit big and sure enough, my feelings didn't fail me...we started the day with 15 bikes total at the gas station...


We decided to take Trail Ridge in the morning for the No-Co ride, because we were just a tad concerned about rainy weather and Trail Ridge tends to do that in the afternoon...so we got it out of the way...


Stopping at the Forest Canyon Overlook for photo ops and just to take in the views. Several guys had never been up here before. I just love taking new people up this road...even though ya gotta go slow...


Daemon just has to pose for the camera...


When we got down from Trail Ridge, most everyone was pretty hungry, so we had an early lunch at the little Bar and Grille cafe I like to stop at. I think Eric must be comtemplating lunch...hmmm...


Springs riff-raff...nuf said (luv ya guys)


Warren, Sean and Patrick...I think UnSuk must've disappeared. Sean, ya camera hog you...lol


...second half of ride in next post...

[daemon]

so...
i might be first with pics!!!

the lyons group!!!


Mary's Lake stop!!!

Trail Ridge entrance stop!!!


malfunction...

[Humbucker]

All we saw were moose from the side of the road. I have never traded paint with an antelope. Sounds like you were close!

[mtnairlover]

The rain cometh. Stopped along hwy40 up to Muddy Pass and hwy14 turn-off. We decided to not take Gore Pass, because it was looking mighty scary in the sky over the pass...


Into the rain...


That's the weather we decided to miss over Gore Pass. The stuff we hit was nothing in comparison to how bad that looked...


Waiting out the rain at the hwy14 turn-off. That's the sky behind us and what we came through...


....looking West to Rabbit Ears Pass and the sun was shining brightly over that mountain pass...


Riding to Walden, I had a couple people following and one in front. The sky seemed just a little more welcoming where we were going, but...



....we still had those mountains to get over in order to get home...


...last of report in next post...

[daemon]

YEAH!!!
the rain was forboding!!!

[mtnairlover]

After a 30-minute stop in Walden to wait out the rain, fuel our bikes and our bellies, we were off again on the last leg of the journey.


Right after Cameron Pass, there's a pull-off to the right of the road. We took one last camera break and then we were (almost) off...


Um...oh wait...yeah, this is the "end" of the report...



Many thanks to all who joined me today...BigE, Nerves, Daemon, Humbucker, Skortch, Drago52, the 2 guys on the Ducatis, Bashed, GSXRScott, Matt, repsol_a095, Warren, ShinySideUp and Freda and UnSuk.

Like I said before...you guys rock!

[Bashed]

Thanks for letting the SOCO Riff-Raff hang out with the cool kids in the club. Good riding with the NOCO people on thier turf. We only hit a bit of rain @ the top of Gore Pass and then it was smoth sailing over Tennesee and Hoosier Passes for us.Got home right @ 6PM logging just over 500 miles for the day. Till next time.....

SOCO

[mtnairlover]

I'm glad you guys didn't get hit with the downpour that seemed to be hitting that area when we passed by. Did y'all take a look to the left when you crossed the bridge along Tennessee Pass?

[bodhizafa]

Thanks for letting the SOCO Riff-Raff hang out with the cool kids in the club. Good riding with the NOCO people on thier turf. We only hit a bit of rain @ the top of Gore Pass and then it was smoth sailing over Tennesee and Hoosier Passes for us.Got home right @ 6PM logging just over 500 miles for the day. Till next time.....
SOCO

Wow 500 miles! Ironman. Wish I could have made this ride.

[Sean]

What a day!!!!!!!!
Like everybody said, the day started off great. 7 was fun, Trail ridge was beautiful and lunch was nice. Great riding and great meeting everybody! Cathy's rides always rock!

Then...as Patrick/Unsuk, Warren and I break off from the group and head down this dirt rd, about half way through I go over a cattle grate and I think I feel the rim hit. This makes me wonder. Then for the next 15 minutes or so I basically do everything I can to counter steer (cause regular steering won't work) while doing 40-60 mph down the dirt rd with a front flat tire. Good times.

So we get to the main rd and park the bike at this campground and I ride bitch with Warren for the next hour and a half back to fort collins...in the rain...on take-offs...with the slowest people in the world in front of us. By the time we get to foco Chris is on his way from arvada with scott's truck to drive me an hour and a half to go pick up my bike. We spend the next 4 hours driving to, damn near canada, to get my bike back.

Shortly after we get back to foco, scott and dave are at dave's house, changing the tire and putting on an old take off. By now it's 10:30 at night and none of these guys are even the slightest bit reluctant to offer anything they can to help me as much as possible. So I get the new takeoff and enjoy that ever so beautiful ride from foco to boulder. But I must say that a huge wave of relief came over me as I got into town. Earlier that day I had no idea who, what, when, were, I was gonna get the bike back.

Patrcik/Unsuk- thanks for helping!!! I know you guys were willing to help in anyway you could.

Warren- thanks for letting me be your bitch on the back of the bike. I really appreciate all of your help! Hopefully that's the last time we get that close, for that long

Chris- your the shit! There's not a whole lot of people that would be willing to drop everything, drive an hour to pick me up, drive another hour and a half to load up my bike, then drive back, and then drive me around foco. And on top of that, you had to talk to me! Thanks bud!

Dave- Thanks for opening up your house to me at 10:30pm and without even thinking twice, giving me an old take off and even doing all of the work. I'm truly thankful!

Scott- Thanks for the truck, helping get the new/old tire on there and basically all of the stuff that was able to help me get home tonight. I owe ya big time!

As I've said before, it's just one more reason why I am really proud to be a part of this group. It may be a huge, bickering, opinionated dysfunctional family, but that's just the way I like it! Without a second passing these guys gave up there time, cars, garages and everything else, to help me out. Hopefully I can help repay the favors to you guys and help someone else if they ever need it.

Thanks!

[daemon]

Sean...
indeed it sounds like you had a tiring and eventful day.
i always knew you were a bitch,but.....

truly it is amazing how we all behave here,but are willing to drop our meager dailies for a friend in need.

i'll say "thank you" to all of them as well for helping you when it was needed.

props to all involved

[Bashed]

I'm glad you guys didn't get hit with the downpour that seemed to be hitting that area when we passed by. Did y'all take a look to the left when you crossed the bridge along Tennessee Pass?

Of course Kathy, just for you!

Peace Bash

[BigE]

Good ride and great to meet everyone! Hope to get out and ride more with y'all.

[mtnairlover]

I'm glad you made it out for a ride with us, Eric. Hope to see ya on more rides before the weather gets too brutal.

[drago52]

Hey guys, great ride yesterday. I hit some serious rain on I-70 after Berthoud Pass, so I guess there was no avoiding it. That was some fun riding on the way to Estes. I'm looking forward to the next one.

-Ryan
red VFR800

[gsxrscott]

I'm glad you guys didn't get hit with the downpour that seemed to be hitting that area when we passed by. Did y'all take a look to the left when you crossed the bridge along Tennessee Pass?

There is a little town back in there huh?! Thank you all for letting us tag along on your little ride. It's always an experience ridin' with the northies!

[mtnairlover]

Yeah...that's the way I'd describe it, "an experience"...lol.

One of these days, when I get down there through Tennessee Pass again, I'm gonna stop and take some pix. Of course, the weather always has other ideas.