Cochetopa canyon & curencanti park

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With Video

Bill Put out a call for the Colorado area riders to head out on Fathers day - a family tradition for him to go out and ride with the guys on fathers day.
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:media: Fathers Day Knee Scraping Ride Video

7 minutes run time 37mb windows streaming media



The plan was to go ride the Black Canyon and come back, its in an Area Known as the Curecanti National Recreation Area. �It includes Blue Mesa Reservoir, and The Black Canyon.

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Full Sized Here � �Streets & Trips File



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7:30 am my driveway - Things don't look good! There are supposed to be Mountains there!

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OH ok its just socked into the foothills and thats it

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I was running early so I took a picture of Bear Creek Canyon west Colorado Springs

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Same spot looking North.

I showed up at the McDonalds in Woodland Park and low and Behold there was Gorden all ready to ride with us, COS_VFR. I have ridden with him twice now, he is the fellow that bought my buddy Craig's old 96 VFR. �Unfortunately as I was photographing his bike I noticed something unusual about his tire.

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Gordens bike notice the tire

Dude had cord showing on his Dunlop 220, I hate those tires, supposed to be Sport touring tires, they last maybe 4k and cup like crazy get some Pilot Roads Gorden! I hope he made it back to Colorado Springs without incident, no way that tire was going anywhere far.

Bill was sporting a new Valentine Radar Detector with a custom mount he made and a side mounted controller.

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Bills Custom Radar Detector Dash

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Controller mounted on the left side

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Bill removed the speaker and mounted it inside his helmet, and then added a wire and plug for the controller

We had breakfast at McDonald's and Gorden stayed with us and we talked bikes, Bill told us the story of his run to Oklahoma and Arkansas, he did the Pig Trail and loved it. I stepped outside and took a shot of Pikes Peak

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Pikes Peak from the McDonald's Parking Lot in Woodland Park

We took off and headed up to Divide, then turned off at the Florrisant Fossil Beds, rode up and down High Park Road. �I was a bit tight and the road really helped me loosen up. �Once we were on Hwy 50 I was feeling good. �We took the road to Texas Creek rather quick but not crazy. �We rode into Salida about 10am. �We decided to top up the tanks and try a road I have never ridden before - a real treat - to ride I road in Colorado I haven't been on. Highway 114, the plan was to ride up Poncha Pass on 285 near Salida we call it the Gun-barrel cause its strait and fast. �The sky was so clear we could see the 40 miles to the Sand Dunes. �Usually its so hazy there you cant see them. �114 starts at Saguache and heads toward Gunnison.

I have never been on that road because its 120 miles out of our way to go to Gunnison, My friend Jason told me it was a good road so what the hell. �I usually just go up Monarch Pass its a strait shot to Gunnison. �The road looked promising on the map. �Strait and boring for the most part, I thought it was 70 miles of slab until we finally found some twisties - North Pass.

I settled into a hanging off position and slung the VFR into the first twisty we had seen in 50 miles, Poncha pass, which is about ten minutes of good fast sweepers, we leaned it over there pretty good, but the gun barrel is a SOB for wind and straits. �

Half way up 114 we run into another motorcycle, its got a temp tag flopping in the wind, we are just keeping pace at 90mph and soon overtook this guy riding behind a cage minivan. �He decided that our pace was better and he fell in behind Bill. �

Back to North Pass I am leading to the top, maybe 3 good turns and we are at the top!! Damn where are these good twisties Jason told me about? �Just as I get to the top some dude driving a big ass RV pulls out right in front of us, we are hauling ass of course so I put my hand up in the air to let them know to slow the hell down. �I see an opening and pass the guy, while Bill gets stuck playing follow the slow guy. � He finally gets around him and there is a nice long sweep at the bottom Bill and I lean it over. �This is where the guy on his brand new R6 gets dropped. �He falls way behind. �THEN MORE SLAB. �I am just about to write this road off to slab when all of a sudden we discover Cochetopa Canyon freaking 7 miles from the end of the road!! �The best part is at the very end. �I see this tight turn and lean into it, its really tight so I am trail breaking all the way to the apex and let it go and gas it, Bill is right behind me and wow just one great turn after another, we do this for about 4 miles. �I pull to the side and stop, �the noob on the R6 is nowhere to be seen, I say to Bill "Lets do that shit again"!! heh that was great. �This time I follow behind Bill and I break out the video.

The video came out great and you can see for yourself what a great canyon that is. �I just wish the whole 70 miles was like that.


We turned around to ride the best part again and soon the R6 guy passed by, then a big semi, which had no business being on a road that tight drives by. �We turned around again and did the road again and at the end we see the R6 guy pulled over, he waves and there is a tight right hander there, we both just hit it and lean it all the way over. � Then all of a sudden there is a State Trooper on the road ahead, Bill pulls up and there is some kind of accident up there. �Apparently that trucker lost his load on a right hander and dumped live chickens on the road, �chickens running around and chicken shit everywhere.

The Trooper waves us toward the car - OH hell busted for tearing up that last turn, he waves Bill over to the car and he pulls up to the window. �Cop just says "go ahead be careful" �OH man we thought we were toast there!! �I am not sure if it was the same truck cause they already had medical, Hazmat and state patrol out there. �They were putting some kind of dusty substance on the chicken door to clean it up. �What a freaking mess, the semi was completely off on the other lane and part way down the embankment, Thank goodness nobody was there!!

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We filled up in Gunnison and headed toward the canyon $2.15 a gallon

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The turn to the Black Canyon

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Blue Mesa Reservoir on the right

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The road on the left is hwy 50 right is hwy 92 - 35 miles of twisty

Black Canyon series some are blurry as I am on the gas hard!!

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There is a strange problem with the bike, well not the bike, me. �The canyon dives into these gullies and goes down hill, then it has a very tight 180 degree hairpin then its uphill. �I always leave it in fourth going down, downshift to third right before the turn and then gas through it, I am usually at about 8k rpm here but then it lugs going up hill after the turn, so I have to shift down again at the end of the turn to accelerate out. �

If I shift down to 2nd before the turn then I am damn near red-line thru the turn. �It drives me crazy, there must be at least 7 of these gullies and they all do that. �I can not figure out how to do those turns without lugging it out of the turn?? I have learned to shift down just at the end of the turn pretty fast but sometimes I miss the shift and it gives me a false neutral. �I think I have it down now but man its a tricky series of turns.

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On the gas again shaking the camera

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up hill out of a tight turn gully

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This place is pretty cool, but it was recently tar patched with tar snakes. �I hate them, they make my bike slide sometimes. �On the way back I slipped three times, I was leading and pretty much flying down the canyon, Bill had decided to slow down about half way cause he slipped on some loose gravel, I saw some loose gravel but rode around it, the tar snakes finally made me cool it. �Too bad I was really having a good time!

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Most of the pictures are from the ride to and not back, I have video of both going to and coming back. �We had a nice lunch in Crawford, at the boardwalk, the teenage waitress was not very attentive but the food was good.

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Comming back I took lead and was really flying, we got stuck behind a few cages, look at that stupid dog what a crack up!

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This is close to the south end

The ride back into Gunnison is just slab except for a series of sweepers near the river, I just keep it at the same speed through there as in the straits, I was falling in behind a guy two up on a BMW who was slowing down in the turns so I passed on a broken yellow, Bill said I startled the guy cause he reacted and moved to the right.?? It was a legal pass in a passing lane, sure it was in a turn but it was a big long turn. �Just keep your line fella!

We saw some rain clouds and figured that we were going to get soaked on Monarch pass, turned around the foothills and saw the pass was looking clear, that was nice!!

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Monarch pass looked like it was going to be dry!

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Comming down Monarch I tried to get a shot of Mt Shavano, it was bathed in sunlight and looked spectacular, �too bad the trees obscure it. �I was so occupied with the picture Bill started picking off cages on the way down, I almost got dropped.

This was a great day for riding, windy but good, Bill just had to say something to jinx the weather "boy its nice today, wind is calm too" when we were gassing up in Salida, ten minutes later on Poncha pass the wind kicked up and stayed up. :shake: � Thanks Bill that was a great ride don't be such a stranger up there in Woodland Park, It was a pleasure.

:bow:
We had a tropical downpour this morning and Fathers Day visitors this afternoon so didn't get ride, today. Thanks for sharing yours. Looks like you had a good time!

Best video of the whole year!...and no, I am not biased just because of my staring role.... :wheel:

Excellent ride and write-up Miguel. I was home around 7:30 and logged 525 miles.

The cop incident sort of freaked me out. He should have been out of his car if he was directing traffic. Instead, he waves to us �come here boys� from inside his car. I was expecting a good ass chewing or worse. He had to see us cranked over through the whole corner and visually exceeding the 35 limit. Maybe he had his head down in some paper work and didn�t look up until after I hammered the brakes, stood the bike up, and looked as innocent as possible? Anyway, it was a good outcome.

I really toned it down through the actual Black Canyon run. I was slipping on the tar snakes and random gravel patches. Perhaps the totally blind corners and 2000 foot drop offs right next to the road (no guard rails!) had something to do with it. In retrospect, I think the scenery can screw up your concentration. It is breathtaking.

The HD group really pissed me off on the way back. They were either totally ignoring their mirrors or purposely blocking me. Only one rider in the group moved over to let me by. The others seemed to freak out when I appeared; it was like they could not believe someone would actually pass THEM.

I saw a whole group of cows in the open range area after we split off. I took it real slow the whole way and looked for cows and deer. The area west of Cripple Creek had a recent downpour and the road was wet in areas. No rain for me the whole day! The weather was perfect, with unusually light winds. Did you run into any cells on the way home?

Sorry Gordon had to bail out. I am just glad we saw the cords before getting too far out. It could have been dangerous. Next time Gordon!

I decided at the last minute to try and make this ride. �So I met HS and RedDog at the McDonalds. �We begin to talk and HS takes a look at my back tire and you can see the steel belt showing. �I thin line about 10 inches long. �So I decide that I am not going to put 400+ miles on this tire. �We get some breakfast and I head home while HS and RedDog head for Black Canyon. �After I get home I take a closer look and guess what, I find a nail in the tire also. �I spent the rest of the day searching for tire info on the forum trying to decide if I am going to stick with these D220s. �Miguel, does Apex have decent prices on tires, or should I be looking somewhere else.

Oh yea I forgot about that HD parade, I caught them right before the two tight switchbacks.  Moving about 30 in the 35mph turns?  Man they were riding slow. I passed about 4 of them in one clip, and no they were not moving over.  I got lucky and saw a clear line to get around the rest so I took it.

Seemed like that whole last section of hwy 50 every passing zone was full of oncoming cars and slow moving vehicles in front of us, the only place to pass was the clear sections of double line road.  Sometimes I wonder if the guys who paint those double yellow lines fall asleep and just leave the double yellow paint sprayer on all the time.  That strait section near Gunnison for example why is that double yellow??  

After we took seperate routes home I tried to go up Skyline Drive in Canyon City but they had the gate closed?  First day of summer, maybe the rain damaged some of the road up there?

Yea that has got to be the best vid I have shot yet.

Great video, damn sorry I missed that ride. I decided to do a northern route instead and I can't believe the weather you guys had compared to me! I left Fort Collins at about 830 and headed up and around Horsetooth reservoir through Masonville to join up with the Big Thompson canyon. It's about 20 miles of sweet pavement with no tar snakes. As I was heading through Masonville the sky was looking angry and sure enough as I got closer to Rocky Mountain National Park I hit the rain. Pulled over and got my rain gear on and said screw the rain, I'm ridin' (I had the gear on all day). I took the road through Glen Haven this time because it has very little traffic. You can't fly through it because it's windy, but it sure is nice. Beautiful creek on the side of the road and did I mention no cages? I went into the park at the Fall river entrance and headed toward Trail Ridge road. Not too busy surprisingly and I made good time up to the top flying by cages. I was almost at 12,000 feet when the snow began to fall. My air temp guage had dropped to 39 by that time and luckily it wasn't sticking. Besides the cold hands it was way cool. As I started descending the west side of the divide the snow turned to hail (which kind of stings the knuckles) and then finally all rain by the time I got down to 9,000 feet or so. It was a cold rain I might add. Anyway, cruised to Granby and then on to Hot Sulphur Springs because I just wanted to check it out and decided that it wasn't worth stopping there. I turned back on 40 and then north on 125 towards Walden. I have to say that the first 40 miles or so North are absolutely great. I was cruisning at a steady 80-90 through those nice sweepers and really enjoying the ride up to Willow creek pass until it started hailing and raining again. I had to slow her down for the last 10 miles up and over the pass before it cleared out a little. I got to Walden a little after 1 and hit the River Rock cafe where you guys had lunch last month. Decent burger and $1.50 bud drafts (I just had one). I got back on the bike after talking to some guy riding a BMW GS1150 who told me he had come up through the Poudre canyon that morning and it rained on him too. Spring time in the Rockies. Ya gotta love it. Anyway, good thing I stopped in Walden when I did because I got to Cameron Pass, which is at 10,300,and at first I thought that there was fresh snow on the ground. As I slowed to get a better look I realized that it was 4 inches of hail that had just fallen! Damn Gina! Glad I missed that. The road steadily got drier as I dropped in elevation and the top of the canyon is so sweet. Fast turns, good road, few cages and the VFR is such a fun bike to ride quickly. I was exeriencing nirvana for sure. A good thing can't last forever though and when I got down to the last 15 miles it started raining and the usual rafting/kayaking crowd was backing up the canyon. Oh well, I passed cages when I could, but overall the last 10 miles were slow. Got home and grabbed a cold one from the garage fridge and wiped down the beast. I couldn't think of a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. What a great bike!

That Poudre is great, I ususally ride it on a weeday and its so clear on the weekdays.  Just out of state RV's mostly. Bill hasnt been on that road and wants to go.   I am thinking a Monday, Craig can do Mondays too.  Play hooky or trade a shift guys clear a Monday for the Poudre soon.

Let me know. I'm leaving for Cali a week from tomorrow, but my schedule is pretty flexible most days.

Good job, again.

:bow:

What's up with brakes+right foot down @ 3:37?

That is how we signal to riders behind that there is gravel or some other obstacle. There was a thick patch of gravel covering the centerline and I was just warning Miguel.

We also do it for fun and actually drag our foot through the gravel, which sprays the guy behind if he is too close... :goof:

Yea usually we point at road hazards with the boot, �so that the rider behind you can slow down or avoid it. � Its just courtesy really some of the riders in the back of the pack will often watch the rider ahead and miss the stuff in the road, this gets them looking where they should be. �

I put my hand up like on the track to warn riders behind me too that I am slowing down, brake lights work but it helps to hand signal. �If your riding with a fast leader in some tight turns he will often trail brake or lightly squeeze the brakes which lights up the brake light. �He may not really slow down that much and so after a few miles of seeing a brake light but not very much speed scrubbed off, it can come as a suprise when they actually do slow down a lot. �If you spot a deer or somthing ahead gets the riders to be aware.

We also signal when its safe to pass too, when passing a line of cages, the leader might be far enough ahead to signal the all clear and wave you on up.

Okay.  Seemed odd so I thought I'd ask.  You'll have to excuse me...I don't get out much.

This is a great video and it looks like a wonderful place to ride. Thanks for explaining the "foot down" section, I had no idea what was going on �:idea: but I get it now.