VFR Discussion Group -> Pourdre Canyon

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A general call went out on VFRd and ST.N to take a ride up the Poudre Canyon Sat 5/8. �Eight of us answered the call, (another group also went a bit later but we did not meet)

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Streets & Trips File

Colorado - Larry BMW F650
MileHighBandit - Ray CBRXX
VFR800A Brandon - Brandon Silver VTEC
Blues' - Armando Red VTEC
Archangel - Chad CBRXX
Quicknick - Nick Silver VTEC
Freddy - Kieth Red VTEC (nice Lasers)
HispanicSlammer - ME 98 VFR

I took off from Colorado Spring for the 60 mile ride to the leg one of the ride. �We had a series of meetings cause we were all spread out all over the front range. �I left about 7am traffic was lite. �I haven't been on hw 83 in some time so I took a side trip north on 83. �The sky was clear and the temperature was about 50F degrees, I had a bit of a chill when I took this shot of Pikes Peak looking southwest

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I met Larry, Chad, and Ray at Gunther Toody's for a small breakfast and get to know ya talk. �I have been riding with Larry for a couple of years now so we caught up with each other. �Both Ray and Chad ride XX so they took to each other like fish in water.

I ended up leading for the second leg to the BMW/DUC dealership in Loveland, that was the meeting place for the rest of the crew. �I needed gas so we stopped in Erie for gas, Chad mentioned that the interstate was getting boring so with a bit of time we thought of some back roads for the rest of the 20 miles. �My map was lying to me cause it said that HWY 7 was a strait shot up to Crossroads Road (yea redundant) so we took that and ended up turning right into some kind of rest area, not a through street so we ended up back on the interstate. �Well we burned up the extra time on that fiasco but made it to the dealership.

There was Freddy with his laser show (new exhaust)
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Freddy left Larry right BMW/DUC open house

Freddy said he was only going about half way with us cause he had to get home early, he ended up going a bit more than half way. �It was good riding with him again. �I have ridden with him once before and also he came to introduce himself on another ill fated ride to RMNP once too. �I have only met 2 of the guys before Larry and Freddy, the rest were all new to me.

The place was packed full of bikes parked on the driveway so we had to park off to the side in the dirt.

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Ray in his gear "Cleanup Charlie" he calls himself cause he likes to take up the rear, but on this ride that was not the case

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There was a very clean 93 sitting in the lot, I don't know who's it was

Open house the Loveland dealer was having an open house with door prizes, demo rides, and vendor tents set up in the lot. �Lots of folks were there.

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Brandon left in blue, Armando white, Larry in the stich, and Nick in yellow - doing what we do - talk bikes

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Freddy was showing us his new Laser, its quiet and you can touch them when its running, l-r Armando, Chad, Larry, and Nick.

The Canyon

We took off to the canyon a bit late, man it must have been 80 degrees by the time we made it there. We gassed up at Ted's Place and met a loner girl on a Duc Monster, we offered to let her ride with us but she said she was waiting for her party to come along any time now. �We decided with 8 guys we should split up into two groups of four, fast and not so fast. �Actually I lead the fast group and well I was just sort of taking it at 7/10ths not really too fast.

Brandon and I went into the station to pay for our gas and get a drink, he hands the clerk a $20 and the guy holds the thing up to the light and looks at it for about 10 seconds? �Then he puts it on the counter and wipes a marker over it. �I lean over to Brandon and say "You counterfeiter". �He says to me "I just printed it this mourning, its good"!!! �That clerk was a dork!!

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Lower Poudre was chock full of cages and slow moving bikes, I passed these guys as soon as it was clear.

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Being up front I shot a few pics of the scenery, this is the STRAIT part

Coming out of the lower canyon you end up in a walled off section that is sheer rock on both sides, practically strait up, sort of technical and it really requires you to be fully aware of your riding. �I leaned it into a blind right hander and all of a sudden there were 2 SUV's parked on shoulder and four pedestrians walking across the road. �I stood it up and pulled up a stop. �It was not the "Best" place to park to sight see the river, I was surprised that they just kept on walking in front of me?? Armando said the place was full of idiots on the weekends, good thing I wasn't committed to full lean.

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There were lots of Kayak's out too the rapids were roaring.
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Cache La Poudre river on the left

The run is twisty at the bottom and then a bit strait then twisty again as you approach Cameron Pass, the section in the middle opens up into a wide valley full of Aspen trees, its pretty.

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Near Kinknick

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The valley widens a bit here and you can see some nice marshes and Aspen groves

I was leading and kept the speed to about 80mph for the most part, quick but not too fast, just comfortable enough to get nice and leaned over in some of the turns. �We were about 5 minutes ahead of the other group, �Freddy decided it was time to turn back so I waved. �We kept on going till we started up Cameron Pass. I saw a turn off and thought we should regroup again. �

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The road actually gets better the farther you go up the canyon, by now we were onto some nice pavement. �The lower part has a lot of bumps and some tar snakes all over it, but on Cameron pass the road is sweet. �We compensated with a much faster pace. �I took my video in this section.

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Following Chad, taking video, he just decided to wave me past

TOP

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Top of Cameron Pass snow capped mountains up here

Nick peeled off at the top and headed back down, first time riding with him, he actually took the lead up Cameron Pass and kept a good fun pace. �I warned everybody about this nasty turn near the bottom part and Ray took it wide. �The rest of us took it slow and made it thought it. �I have been taken by surprise twice by that turn, not this time!!

We headed down the pass and into the Valley, flies, prairie dogs and scrub down there. �Larry was talking about a restaurant that served great green Chile in Walden. �When we pulled into the lot the place was closed and the owner was getting into her truck. �She told us to go to a new place just a block down the road. �Walden is sort of a hole but this place she sent us was down right swanky. �It was a very nice place, outfitted like a hunting lodge.

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Armando giving his review so far

We all ordered Burgers, Ray ordered a whole side of beef! ONE pound burger!!! whew, but he ate it Atkins style so it wasn't a big deal! �When she put that thing on the table I was thinking "NO way he is finishing that"!! �When we had all settled up we noticed the same Girl on the Monster from Ted's Place pulling up with her wayward party, she came in and chatted with us. �Come to find out it was her Brother that was the late one!! Brothers - aren't they a PITA! �Just ask my sisters.

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Brandon trying to hide his face behind his water glass

We headed out back on the road again, 10 miles to Rand, more scrub and sage. �I see this huge golden eagle on the side of the road. Passed by it and it didn't even budge, just turned his head as if watching the Saint Paddy's day parade. �I pointed at it laughing at how unfazed it was. �Eagles are fearless!!

Then we found the twisties again just past the town of Rand, and these were fast sweepers, 11 miles of them too. �There is a busted up Jeep Wagoneer sitting next to the road with a dummy sitting in the drivers side, it is painted like a police vehicle. �On the side it says "Rand Police". I slowed down when I saw it, I wonder how many speeders get reeled in by that little rouse.

I kept pace up front and actually got about 2 turns ahead of Larry who was in second place, I was having a ball on that road. �I was able to scrub off some of that virgin rubber (new tires). �I slowed down to let the group catch up on a strait section, then got out way ahead again when the twisties resumed. �I am usually the guy in the back going slower than the rest. �I was in the zone! �These guys were a pleasure to ride with, no macho crap, we all rode the way we liked, actually nobody wanted to lead, so by default I ended up in front.

I stopped at the bottom near Grandby and we all got collected again. �Ray was stoked, he said that the section from Rand was worth the entire ride!! �Better than Poudre I would say for sheer riding pleasure!

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West

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East

We stayed together all the way too I-70, up Berthod pass but that place was a total mess with gravel everywhere. �I took it granny style and just tired to keep it safe as possible. �Unfortunately I-70 was busy and going pretty fast, we all got split up. �I stayed with Larry, and Brandon. �At the Morrison Exit we waived good-by to Brandon. �I saw Chad go by but he didn't turn off. �I guess that was it for the ride. Nice one guys it was a pleasure.

:media: �Video 5 mb Window media
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Nice writeup Slammer,

�I decided to take a run up the Poudre today. Great ride! I have never been on this road before so nice and easy was the rule for the day. Those damn tar snakes were giving me fits! I think I met up with that 93 VFR at the Conoco before the run up the canyon. Belongs to a guy by the name of Mike. I pointed him towards the board so maybe he will chime in sometime. I ran into a little rain and only went halfway up the canyon. I will save the rest for another day. All in all it made for about 230 miles for me...

John

great write up miguel, thanks for the pics and video .. it really was a pleasure to finally meet and put a face on the guys from both boards... lets do it again soon :wheel:


hey how about that snow at the top of berthoud pass, we saw it all yesterday, sun ,wind, snow and a day of great riding
i stopped at the barker reservoir on the way home off the peak to peak highway... gorgeous views

Great write up Miguel,

I had a great time riding with all these guys, what a pleasure for my first group ride. Cant wait for the next one.....unfortunatly next weekend the VTEC will be naked for about a week for a little new paint.

Thanx to all the guys on the ride.   :D

Terrific write-up Miguel.  I've missed these picture posts during the winter months.

It was great riding with the guys and I gotta say, that was the most fun I've had riding in a year.  We tore up some of that canyon. I felt sorry for the guys on sport bikes with the stock suspension, because the road was pretty bumpy and full of tar snales. That F650GS really shines on bad pavement. Toward the top of Cimarron Pass, when the snow appeared and the temp went down I was concerned that the tires wouldn't grip as well, but no problems to report.  

But the best part was when Miguel led us from Rand to Granby.  The last time I went through there is was pouring rain, but this time we just took it at double the limit and railed away. Miguel is faster and smoother than me (he was one handing 35 mph curves at 70), and I couldn't quite keep up with him.  But I rung that poor 650s neck and didn't embarrass myself too bad.

Charging up Floyd Hill was a blast too.  Miguel, you should have heard that D&D as you ripped past me - wicked!

Thanks again for another great ride.  Let's do it again sometime.  Larry

Thanks for the post, Slammer.  We don't have any mountains where I live.  Beach we have, but everything is flat.  Those views are incredible.  Please keep 'em coming.
:beer:

always pictures by miguel, but never pictures of miguel.  i think our infamous leader may be on the fbi's most wanted list and doesnt want his face on film!

767fixer,

Here is a rare picture of Miguel (who looks pretty happy for some reason) and an even rarer picture of Bobolo at the Walden Yacht Club. �Larry

Thanks for the pics Miguel and thanks for leading most of the way up the canyon. I thought for sure you were gonna grease one of those gapers on that blind right hander. Always best to let the more experienced guys to lead through the dangerous sections. Good work. I thoroughly enjoyed riding with you guys and meeting a bunch of the very cool Colorado riders. I'm sorry I couldn't do the full loop. Some other time I hope. After I left you guys and headed down I was relieved to find that there was almost no traffic going down and I was really flying (well for me that is) and the bike ran flawlessly. It's great to get out of town every once in a while to be reminded of why we love these bikes so much. One other thing I wanted to mention to the guys having stumbling problems with there Vtech's (including me) is that I think I know how to solve the problem. Before I left to meet everyone at the Duc/BMW dealer I reinstalled my O2 eliminators which I had taken out before bringing it to the dealer. The bike ran perfectly to the meeting spot. We hung around the dealer for about 30 mins and when we took off toward the canyon I suddenly had those f*&%^#g stumbling problems again. I remembered someone saying that the ECU gets confused now and then and it should be rebooted? So, at the next light I turned the ignition off and then back on and bingo the bike was perfect for the entire ride. I know it sounds crazy, but since Sat. if I have some stumblies I turn it off and on and the computer seems to "correct" itself and the problem is gone. I know its a PITA when you think that this shouldn't happen to a 10K bike and that Honda knows about it, but I'm thinking this is the solution for now. I do hope Honda recalls the chip or whatever the heck it is. Once again, a pleasure riding with you guys. See you soon.


Nick[In an insane society it's always the sane man who appears insane.]

Quote (Colorado @ May 10 2004)

767fixer, Here is a rare picture of Miguel (who looks pretty happy for some reason) and an even rarer picture of Bobolo at the Walden Yacht Club. �Larry

no wonder he was happy!   read the girls shirt.........

Quote (767fixer @ May 10 2004)

no wonder he was happy! � read the girls shirt.........

Sadly the girl is an add-on, but cute for it none the less...

Great post, and pictures to match. �Makes me kind of jealous - especially when the commute in to work was a mixture of fog and then rain. �

I haven't had the chance of a ride out like that for a few years now - 2 children under 6 tend to suck up all my weekends. �My last trip away was 5 days in Europe, but with an NTV 650 not VFR back then. �

Ahh memories.

sunnaava b%^&   it is an add on

The other guys Photos

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Larry, Brandon, Chad, Me, Ray

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regrouped

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Me, Larry, Nick, Ray (spoofing), Chad, Brandon

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Armandos bike on the Peak To Peak, last leg home to Fort Collins

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Freddy filling up at the station Ted's Place

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Chad's XX near Ken Carl Ranch on the way to Gunther Toody's

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Miguel,
That was a GREAT ride!!! It was really a pleasure to meet and ride with y'all. Maybe once I get accustomed to the XX I'll stay a bit closer to the front! :laugh: This ride was most enjoyable and my FJR buddy wants to join us next time...
Thanks again for a kewl Saturday ride!!!

Ray, welcome to VFRd  your invited to come along any of the VFRd rides, this sunday its Creede at the request of Craig!  Perhaps we can get at least five of us on this one!  I usually organize a big ride every two weeks come prime riding season, long tours of over 300 miles for the most part.

Dang, kinda wishing I wasnt taken the pieces off my bike on Saturday to have them painted.............Maybe I can still ride it "Naked" with some tie raps and ducktape holding on the lights and seat.

Actually, I told a couple of guys on the Poudre ride I was just gonna paint it the OEM silver.........................I might have a suprise for ya........... :D

Thanks Miguel... But I'm Mr. Mom this weekend and I promised my daughter that I'd take her out for a ride... I'm not sure that she's up for that long of a ride, but maybe we could do part of it...

Ray, two weekends its Maroon Creek Road.