|
|
|
The San Juan Mountains Tour A SaddleSore 1000 October 6th and 7th, 2001
This is not only the story of my 2nd SaddleSore (and 3rd IBA ride) but also it was a pre-ride for the initial Colorado 1000. Luckily no one local reads my WebPages or they would have figured out what the route was going to be for the event. So, while it was also a great ride, it also turned out to be a fantastic rally route. Stay tuned for the 2003 route. Since I've been laid off, I have a ton of time
to spare (no money, but lots of time) and I need
to verify a route for a rally I'm putting on next
year in June. I planned the ride for this Saturday October 6th, but of course, on Thursday a big nasty
cold front comes through. But Friday I'm checking the weather and it
claims it's going to be a nice day on Saturday and that the mountains are going to be nicer than the Front
Range. So, after the weather clears up a bit on Friday, and a promise of a
nice day throughout the state on Saturday, I decide to go for it.
Of course, it got below freezing in Denver Friday night, so I got a late
start, 7am. Terry meets me at the
usual gas station (it’s close and it gives good receipts, what more do you
need?) and signs me out. I jump onto my trusty BMW
R1100RT Barco-Lounger and away I go. And it was still cold as hell!
But, it must have been a eastern cold front, because as I started
climbing into the foothills up highway 285, it starts warming up.
Umm, I think to myself, this is wrong. In fact, at the top of Kenosha Pass (10,000 feet), it was probably
20 degrees warmer than in Denver, despite being a good 4,000 feet higher.
Oh yeah, I got WOTD here. Right
before the top of the pass, where the road opens up and expands to 65mph, some
guy decided to flip his car. I
have no idea how he did it, but there it was, including about 3 sheriff’s, a
state trooper and a fire truck. Woohoo,
police presence shouldn’t be a problem for the next little stretch. Not
that I would ever exceed the speed limit. J Go down the hill and across South Park on 285 and then down Trout Creek Pass into Buena Vista. You gotta love riding early on a fall morning, there is very little traffic and so many wonderful foliage colors. As I got into Buena Vista, I got behind a pickup truck that obviously had hunters in it. What was my clue you ask? I'm just guessing but the dead deer in the back of the truck seemed to be a dead giveaway. My hero’s. I get gas at a pay at the pump Amoco in Buena Vista, snag a water and off I go. Still going down 285 (south is down, north is up, just a function of map reading, not necessarily geography, although in this case, we are going downhill following the river), through the busy section next to the Arkansas river before Poncha Springs, and then I zoom up Poncha Springs pass and into the San Luis Valley. Go by a sign that reads “Bonanza” just before Villa Grove. I wonder if that is where they filmed the TV show? I doubt it, but it occupies my thoughts for a while. Zip into Saguache (pronounced saw watch) and get gas.
Not because I need it, but because I have to document this corner.
This turns out to be a real pain on this ride, I have to stop long before
I need to, to document the corners. Every
stop is at least 10 minutes and it just kills your average time.
I grab a receipt at the Sinclair in Saguache and realize the time says 1:30pm.
$hit. It’s like 10am and
that's not close enough to just write off.
Dammit. Go inside to get this straightened out.
Turns out this isn’t a convenience store, it’s a grocery store and
there is a huge line behind the one checker.
Great. Wait, wait wait,
finally they open another checkout and I ask, “look, I need something with
time/date/place on it” and she says the machine will do that, so I buy a candy
bar, and it’s right and away I go (I always feel like the Lone Ranger getting
on his stallion). Up
hwy 114 over North Pass. Such a fun
road, and no one is ever on it, it goes from nowhere to nowhere, the perfect
type of motorcycle road. Zoom
on down into Gunnison and again I need to get gas to document the corner despite
not really needing it yet. I grab gas in Gunnison and go down US 50 a ways to the Lake
City bridge and hwy 149. Now, all
the time I’ve lived in Colorado and I’ve never actually been on this road.
It starts out with these high speed sweepers and keeps rising up into the
mountains and then, all
of a sudden, BAM it falls down a big hill into a very picturesque canyon and
then you come into
Lake City. I always thought Lake
City was way up in the hills, turns out it’s way down in this isolated box
canyon. Maybe I should have ridden this
road before. I also read somewhere that
Lake City is the only town in the county and not only is it the most sparsely
populated county in Colorado, but actually in the US too.
Wow, pretty rugged country, I bet they get a ton of snow.
Go up Slugmillion Pass and then Spring Creek Pass and then down into the
town of Creede.
Lots of houses being built in this valley, probably vacation homes, but
it is pretty country and probably still affordable. Then down into South
Fork and I get my first radar detector hit right as I come into town.
But I never speed in town, ever, so he just goes on by.
I go grab gas at the big corner Giant and get a pay at the pump.
No time on the receipt. Errrgggggghhhhhh!!!!!!
Go inside to straighten this one out (and mind you, I’m a good ½ hour
behind the pace I want to be keeping, lots of 2 lane, lots of little towns and
lots of extra gas stops) She prints
a duplicate off her little machine, still no time. Dammit! Finally
she says, if I buy something in the store it will have a time on it so, I buy a water, and
that receipt has date time place on it. What
a pain this trip is turning out to be. Already
I’ve had more troubles with receipts than on my other two IBA rides combined and I’m
not even halfway done. Get onto hwy 160 and go over Wolf Creek Pass with zero
traffic, very nice. They are doing
lots of work on this pass, and I expect them to still be doing work next summer
and it will be noted for the rally. At
one point we are down to one lane and there is a hay truck doing 10mph.
Yes, 10. I can’t do 10mph,
even in first gear at idle it goes faster than that.
Luckily, about that time, the car in front of me ducks around the
construction barrels and passes this guy and I think, “hey, that’s a great
idea, why didn't I think of that?” and off we go.
(followed by about 6 more cars). Get
into Pagosa Springs and go right on through.
This used to be a such a nice town, now it’s just a giant tourist
yuppie mess. Goes on forever and
ever along the highway. Why can’t they build
north/south instead of just along the highway?
Ugh. Get into the town of Durango and stop at every single
light since they all turn red just as you approach them.
It looks like they have them perfectly fixed to trap everyone.
Grab gas on a quickie, don’t even take the helmet off because it’s
looking real nasty up in the San Juan Mountains ahead and I gotta go. I am way behind. I
originally wanted to make Grand Junction before dark, and it’s looking like I
won’t even make Moab. Big
misjudgment on my part. Up US 550 towards Silverton, Ouray and Ridgway (spelled correctly, no "e"). Again, another road I’ve never been on and I don’t really know why, it's just never worked out. Wild and beautiful country, just amazing. And given the pass to Silverton I have GOT to ride the narrow gauge railway between Durango and Silverton at some point. Oh, and, of course, it’s raining . I think every time I have been in the San Juan's it is raining. The scenic drive book says that Silverton gets 300 inches of snow a year!! Wow! As you leave Silverton, you then you go up some goat trail known as Red Mountain Pass. This is not a pass, it is a footpath with pavement. 15mph marked corners (and they aren't kidding) and a 25mph speed limit and just amazing scenery. As you fall into the Ouray valley the colors and ruggedness of it all is amazing. Yes, I have to come back here. Jam down into Ridgway and grab gas (for the corner, and I need it) and realize that I have two problems. One, it took me 1 hour 45 minutes to go about 75 miles and I’m now seriously behind. My average is something like 55mph and I usually try to stay around 63 to 65mph and two, the gas receipt's time is an hour off. SOAB! another one? It’s one hour behind. It says it’s 4pm when it’s really about 5pm. Dammit, I go inside to get some health food (a pineapple turnover, see it's fruit, that makes it healthy :-) ) and get a correct receipt. I look at the receipt and it says 15:57. Great. And off I go, knowing from the looks of things that it’s going to rain no matter which way I go. Yes, and after about 20 miles through the rain up hwy 62, I realize that 15:57 is 3:57 (i.e. 4pm not 5pm) $hit. Well, too late now and I’m going up the Dallas Divide in some serious rain. Does this slow me down? Well, no, but it is a wee chilly to say the least. Turn right onto hwy 145 towards Naturita and down into the San Miguel River valley which is very nice and then up Norwood Hill. What a crazy shelf road, it just hangs on the north side of the cliff and goes straight up. Must have been pretty exciting in a wagon and horses. I’m now way behind, it’s going to be dark soon and I am just flat screwed. My original plan was that I would be on the interstate before dark fell (or as it fell where it would be much safer), but now it’s not looking like I’m even going to make Moab before dark. Double damn, so as I get into the farmland I start trying to make some time back up and I slowly gain back some time. Go through Naturita and up onto hwy 90 through the Paradox valley. Now, this is a weird valley. The valley runs east-west, but the river runs north and south. Well, it’s a flat, boring, straight, isolated road and I made up more time here. I decide that I can get over the La Sal Mountains before dark, I can do it, I can do it. You know, this probably happens to Terry Mc all the time but it doesn't happen very often to me. But flying across Paradox Valley, I’m doing ummm, ST nominal speeds (on my RT) and well, these cars are just zipping along and they think they are being so fast by going 75 or so and well, ummm, you just flat sail them. :=) But right after Paradox Valley, it starts climbing up the
La Sal mountains and goes into some serious twisties. This is where Jim Young died in the Thin Air TT so I’m being extra
careful. It’s also starting to
get dark, so I’m trying to balance speed to keep the light, with safety and
smarts to get where I'm going in one piece.
I looked for Jim’s
marker, but didn’t see it. I
could have missed it or it might be gone, I dunno.
Climb up the hills, cross into Utah and the road magically changes to Utah 46.
Zip down to the connection with 191 and go north towards Moab.
Pass the hole in the wall house and wonder yet again if that’s where
they got the ideas for cubes at work and then find a gas station deep in Moab. The sun totally sets just as I pull in for gas in Moab. Whew, not too bad. Get some gas, something to eat and drink, clean the bugs off, etc, actually take a 10 minute break after getting gas and doing the log. Now here, I decide I’m going to try something new. Someone on LDRiders list mentioned that the plastic headlight protectors kill the light output. So, I decided that I’m going to take mine off (it’s held on by Velcro, easy to do) and put it away and see if that helps. I had problems on my BBG in July and my first SaddleSore with not being able to see with just my low beam. Well, great balls of fire. HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!! I can see, I can see. Moab is a traffic disaster. Every light is red, despite there being no traffic. Finally get through Moab and putter up 191. I went up 191, because I actually
haven’t ever been up the road. I
don’t think I missed much despite it being dark.
I could have taken 128 up the river through the dead town of Cisco (footnote.
I found out later that Cisco is an old Uranium boom town. In the '50's it
had a couple thousand people. Now it's just a ghost town with about 6
buildings.), but
not after dark and that route up 128 would be shorter which I didn't want.
According to the mapquest guess, it's going to be just barely over 1000 miles as
is.
So, it turns out that there actually is a gas station in Crescent Junction at the corner of
I-70 and 191. I don’t need gas
(it’s only 30 odd miles from here to Moab) but I do need a receipt to prove I
was here. Go inside, grab a candy bar and get a receipt.
No time. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!, can I get a
real receipt please? Ugh, the
receipt trip from hell. Ask the
lady to write the time on the receipt and sign it.
She does, and I decide that’s good enough.
I hope IBA does too (they do as it turns out). Get onto I-70 and homeward bound I go. It’s actually a bit of twilight, but nice. Enough traffic that with low beam I can still see at around 75 and I can see lightning off to the south as I go towards Grand Junction. I’m now on the home run and I want to do some long pulls and try and gain some time back that I have been losing all day on all the stops, all the bad receipts and small and slow roads. It’s about 300 miles from here to home and I can’t quite do that on the gas I have, so I’ll have to make one stop to do it. When the traffic dies down, I put on the PIAA’s and make good time into Grand Junction. I decide not to stop here, but keep pulling and go for Glenwood Springs. I know Glenwood has good stations, but I hate getting on and off there, it’s such a pain. 1071 miles in 17 hours, 25 minutes. A tough run to be sure, I got back to a 61mph average, but still tough. I was ready to go down and have Terry sign me out, but I figured Stacey (his wife) would kill me for waking them up at 1 in the morning, so I figure I’ll call him in the morning. A sign of how far I’ve come as a LD rider, by the way. On my first SS 3 years ago, I was totally beat after the 1000 miles and no way could I ride to get a signature and that was after an all freeway ride. After this one, no big deal, just didn’t want to wake people up. Still had an easy 200 plus miles left in me. Easy. Grabbed some shuteye, woke up around 7, called Terry (and woke the lazy bum up. J) and said get over here and sign me out.) He did. And I’m done. Great trip, this is going to be a really great route for the rally. This is the route I took. You'll have to fill in the roads on your own, Some pretty small roads. Street Atlas says 1055 miles, 24 and a 1/2 hours driving time. I say 1071 in 17 and a 1/2.
Note: Verified by IBA, the certificate came December 11th. Another Saddlesore 1000 in the bag. Officially it is 1067 miles.
|
