iTaos! - Oct 15/16 - LFM - Updated route and time.

[Clovis]

Updated route!

http://mapq.st/oCkB5c



Old route:

http://mapq.st/qO3Ct3

The plan is now to ride through Taos and continue on to Bloomfield, NM. This lets us ride 550 to Montrose (Durango, Silverton, Million Dollar Highway) as well as do the Black Canyon.

Total mileage is just over 1000.


Date October 15 and 16.

Departure Colorado Springs. Meeting spot:

Circle K / Shell gas station at South Academy and Hwy 115 in the Safeway shopping center.

KSU at 7:00AM -- We should arrive in Taos around 6PM

Weather

The weather is looking great. Temps from 60 to 75 degrees are expected everywhere we're going, but as always dress in layers. Those temps are the highs of the day.

Distance

1000 miles.

Estimated cost $140-$160.

Hotels in Bloomfield are around $60 a night. Split that in half.
$60 for meals (4x @ $15 each)
$77 for fuel (1000 miles / 45mph @ $3.50/gal)

Should be a blast. If you're interested in going, please reply here and/or PM me. In the mean time, here are some pictures to wet your appetite

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Looks interesting! Makes me wish I had a KTM 990 Adventure! Hmmmmm, Durango, or Taos, what to do.....

[Clovis]

It's all pavement btw, no need for an Adv bike.

[Cornfed]

Im interested. Ill check back to see how the plans progress.

[mdub]

same here my man....could take u up on it..

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

It's all pavement btw, no need for an Adv bike.

Well, the second pic shows a dirt road, so......

[Clovis]

I'll say that's more of a dirt path

[salsashark]

better hope it warms back up...



Wolf Creek Pass - Updated: October 6th, 2011 at 2:40 PM

http://www.cotrip.org/roadConditions.htm

[Clovis]

Uh oh.

Forecast still says Sunny and low 60s for Pagosa Springs but that's 10 days out.

[Sean]

I know that down by Durango is going to get hit, didn't know it was already over this way. I've done Wolf Creek Pass when it was all ice....no fun.

[Clovis]

Last time we did Wolfe Creek Pass (3 weeks ago) it was the mountain's one last fuck you. After being rained on all day, we got rained/ice/sleeted on going over Wolf Creek. I've never been so cold in my life.

[kawasakirob]

Thats a sweet route. Cimmaron Canyon, Eagles Nest that whole area. Let me know what you think of all those weird houses outside of Taos. Is it a Nudist Commune or something? Wish I could go with. Love the roads near Lake City. They got a sweet Diner there. Tick Tock Diner. Pretty good and cheap. Have fun

[Clovis]

Weather is still looking good! This is the extended forecast so I'll keep checking.

[grim]

This state has a the capability to bitch slap your weather.

[Clovis]

Duh, that's why I'm leaving the state

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Check yer PM.

[Clovis]

The weather is looking great. Temps of 60 to 75 degrees and Sunny everywhere we're going.

Confirmed:
Clovis
Cycle Monkey

Probable: Mdub

If you're interested, let me know.

We're looking at modifying the route to this:

http://mapq.st/oCkB5c



This would mean riding through Taos and onto to Bloomfield for the night. On day 2 we'll hit 550 to Durango, take the million dollar highway to Montrose, head east to the Black Canyon up to Carbondale and Indie pass.

[Nooch]

Still shooting for Sat/Sun? No weekday partials?

[Clovis]

Yeah, Saturday/Sunday is the plan.

I could do Sunday/Monday personally, but I'm not sure about CM and Mdub.

[Corporate MacGyver]

I may be in..

To clarify... we are going to reach to Bloomfield NM on Saturday night... In the original post you said we would arrive in Taos at 6pm... Did you mean Bloomfield? Taos back to Denver via the route in a one day ride would be like 725 miles... I'm a good long dx rider on a sport bike.. but not sure I can do 700+ miles in one day...

The 7am departure from COS is good though... I get to leave my house at 5:45 to make that jump.... Burrrrrr...

Will let you know...

Bob

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

Yeah, Saturday/Sunday is the plan.

I could do Sunday/Monday personally, but I'm not sure about CM and Mdub.

Can't take time off work. I'd feel WAY better havin a motel room reserved for Sat, I just don't have the $$ on my card until Friday or I would. It would suck to get there and not have a place to stay, or be forced to stay at some big$$ place. Motels.com has great deals.

[Clovis]

We'll do one of two routes. The original plan was to ride to Taos and stay there on Saturday and head to Pagosa Springs, Lake City and Gunnison on day 2.

The revised plan has us leaving Colorado sprigs earlier and staying in Bloomfield for the night. Day 2 would be riding to Durango on 550 to Montrose before cutting east on 50 to Black Canyon. Two days of 500 miles basically.

I'm waiting to see what the others think of that idea but my thought is we can decide when we hit Taos. We may get hung up along the way and get delayed.

[CYCLE_MONKEY]

We'll do one of two routes. The original plan was to ride to Taos and stay there on Saturday and head to Pagosa Springs, Lake City and Gunnison on day 2.

The revised plan has us leaving Colorado sprigs earlier and staying in Bloomfield for the night. Day 2 would be riding to Durango on 550 to Montrose before cutting east on 50 to Black Canyon. Two days of 500 miles basically.

I'm waiting to see what the others think of that idea but my thought is we can decide when we hit Taos. We may get hung up along the way and get delayed.

The update looks cool . The thing we need to be aware of is the shortness of the days now. So, doing 500+ mile days in summer isn't a big deal, but we'll just have to be careful not to get stuck in the mtn's much after sundown. So, we might want to think about going thru Florissant and Woodland Park and drone it up I-25 instead of the more fun route of going thru Bailey and Conifer if it looks like dark (and cold) is falling too quickly. Especially since you're in the springs, right?

I got a couple people I'll ask about the ride, so maybe we can get 4 peeps.

[Corporate MacGyver]

I look to be able to GO for the trip... I like the idea on NOT having hard lodging reservations... it gives a lot of flexibility to the ride...
As Clovis indicated... there is an option to ride Taos->Pagosa Springs->Lake City->Gunnison->COS... Much shorter over all trip... but should still be beautiful...
The way it lays out now... we have to be on a mission to get this one done it two days... The Million$ Hwy is great.. and is the Blue/Black/McClure Pass combination... Hard to pass any of those up...
Independence is a possible elimination... Get to Carbondale.. and make the call... Riding Glenwood ->Frisco to CO 9 isn't a bad I-70 ride... Depends on traffic... I was on Independence two weeks ago... and the traffic was horrific on the west side.. but quick going on the east side...