Wednesday – Buena Vista, Colorado
OK rant over, back to normal now eh!
Well, I was a bit under the weather this morning and the first thing I did was look out the window, it was fine, and lucky for me so was my bike, way down there 5 stories away, I hate inns and hotels!
I had not unpacked it at all, so I went down for a bit of wash gear and my laptop, but there was no way could I connect to anything at that place. So, after some breakfast I got ready for a ride to Mt Evans which is fully paved all the way but this was a prelude to Pikes Peak which was dirt, I would do that tomorrow, maybe! First up though I went and chatted with Jim and Lesley, they were busy sorting out another bit of load to go to Florida, what was on the truck may just cover expenses.
That bike on the step deck is a friends which has broken down, so they are carting it for them, but there is all that space on the back to fill if possible. Just behind the cab is where they carry their Moto Guzzi, for when they can get to ride or go to rallies etc on their travels 🙂
I got sent this picture later by Lesley, it is a backhoe they picked up in Texas which nicely fitted into the space which makes the trip home worthwhile, safe travels you two, the next time we meet will not be for a long time. They will just be arriving for Daytona bike week as I head home next year, our paths may cross in the departure lounge 🙂 I enjoyed the meet and of course we will stay in touch.
So, I headed off quite late, gone 11am and still feeling crook, but you get that on big jobs! The freeway west to Idaho Springs and Cascade was pretty easy, not much traffic.
After that the road turned off and headed up some nice narrow winding roads towards the toll booth.
Once again my national pass got me in for free, there was also a small water point for the humming birds, quite cute really 🙂
The road up was great with some nice views, nice bends, at a slow pace of course and some mountain goats 🙂
Those horizontal lines on the hills show where the road is amongst the snow line.
I stopped at one of the rest stops; just to put some liners in, it was getting a tad chilly up here near the clouds. I chatted with the people in the next car who were having a snack, nice people, G’day there 🙂 There was still some distance to cover, vertically and horizontally!
On up and up and up, not much holding you on the road up here, so keep an eye on the edge! Of course the road below will stop your fall 🙂
Up top I met up with Lee, he works in the area and was just having a quick ride before work, G’day m8, rubber side down eh!
Read this sign, after walking from my bike to it, I was already dizzy, it must have been altitude, nothing to do with the beer 🙂
Seriously I was affected by the height and I had to be careful how quickly I moved, and also to make sure I breathed deep. But, there were more mountain goats and lots of them, cute little chappies 🙂
It is not often I have been at eye level with the clouds!
Beautiful views around here and now I can officially say I have been Rocky Mountain High 🙂 🙂 🙂
There are a lot of people up here and way down there is my bike, did I mention you have to walk to the summit, well I did it and it took some effort I can say!
But, I cheated on the way down and took some short cuts straight down over the rocks! There is also an observatory up here which you can see from the top and of course the old restaurant that burnt down.
Those are the rocks I clambered down, I ended up paying for that the next day.
This is Ken, I met him on the way up, he is very interested in selling up and riding, go for it m8, just do it!
Off down the hill and I ended up following some other bikers, no hurry 🙂
I stopped at one of the rest stops and saw this cute little critter, very fast though when he gets moving.
There are some old trees up here, these are spruces some are 1000 years old they reckon.
Then down the bottom through the pine trees past the lake fishers and onto the highway.
The freeway was a bit busier here, but eventually I got into Georgetown and headed to the info booth to find where the road is.
The road I am talking about was a small dirt road from here to Grant, dotted red/grey on the map which Lee the other Vstrom rider told me about, called Guanella Pass. It turns out they are doing major construction and the road is only open between certain hours, well lucky me they are open from 3-5pm, it is now 2.55pm 🙂 Up there is where I am going via some dirt switchbacks, I was feeling a lot better than this morning and filling up with water at the visitor centre meant I had no problems there.
The road turned out to be extremely bad, very badly corrugated, sometimes the road was just potholes with no road between, just pick the size hole you want to hit, this was very challenging, but fun 🙂
The dirt was just part of it, the views were real nice and there was one nice rest stop where I got a real good photo I reckon 🙂
It was nice of them to put some pavement at the top for a short while, only about 1 mile in 26!
But the dirt soon returned, but I was use to it by now and standing on the pegs is a must, following the babbling brooks was kinda nice too 🙂
After that I just rode the not so boring old road for an hour or so until I got to a place called Buena Vista, a very pretty place in a valley between some big mountains. I am sure I am in peak holiday season when the local Super 8 wants $120 for a room, stuff that. I found a cheaper one called the Mountain View Motel and the lady gave me a good price because I was a biker, very nice thank you 🙂
I was pretty shattered by this time, last night was catching up on me, so that was why I stayed here, no more beer! I went shopping and bought some more food stocks, had some dinner and generally relaxed, but tried to catch up on blog entries, getting behind is a nightmare, I may have to cut down on my bullshit and make the posts smaller 🙂 Tomorrow I planned on hitting Pikes Peak and I had been told to do this in the morning as in the arvo there are usually storms, so that was fine by me. The internet here was a bit dodgy, so it was hard to do an update online, so I left it until the morning.
Day 191miles and 307 km
Trip – 22,610 miles and 36,387 km
Cheers
TravellingStrom
TravellingStrom 