Ham hanging with the bears

[The Bruce]

Not to mention a couple of days on the trail. It's all good; whatever your plan ends up being.

[mcrider]

Sam, LV is quit a ways east of the CDR. Hoop & I came through there on our way back south in Sept. '09. There were not many dirt choices. We left the car in Deming. There is some good dirt just north of I-10. I've attached our tracks & a spread sheet with point to point mileage, motels, gas etc.

Our ride report.

[DoctorXRR]

If your route is not fully decided yet, you might consider going up to Brown's Preserve and the awesome suspension bridge. A couple years ago we planned to ride up the CTD to CO, then back track down, but the wildfires killed this route, so we had to re-adjust a day before leaving. We started our ride from Gunnison, but sounds like you want to go up thru NM. Your ride sounds great, looking forward to hearing about it!

The evening before our departure we chose to ride in Colorado, but we knew not where. Thankfully BigDog had posted tracks on ADVrider for his
BigDog - The Bridge -Ride, we thank him! For his tracks were the basis for our ride and put us in CO, UT and WY. We threw in a few diversions of our own to spice things up even more.




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[greeneggs&ham]

Originally Posted by mcrider

Sam, LV is quit a ways east of the CDR. Hoop & I came through there on our way back south in Sept. '09. There were not many dirt choices. We left the car in Deming. There is some good dirt just north of I-10. I've attached our tracks & a spread sheet with point to point mileage, motels, gas etc.

Our ride report.

Thanks Chris. My wife and I remembered reading your report when you first posted it. And that's where I got the idea to store the truck! Thanks for sending the spreadsheets, they will be a great help.
I am not as concerned with the pavement out of Las Vegas since I would have had some pavement riding west out of Albuqueque to Grants. At least this will start a little cooler. I think I can have fun on those roads and hit the CDR north of Taos on 64. It was good to read your ride report again. Sam

[greeneggs&ham]

Originally Posted by DoctorXRR

If your route is not fully decided yet, you might consider going up to Brown's Preserve and the awesome suspension bridge. A couple years ago we planned to ride up the CTD to CO, then back track down, but the wildfires killed this route, so we had to re-adjust a day before leaving. We started our ride from Gunnison, but sounds like you want to go up thru NM. Your ride sounds great, looking forward to hearing about it!

The evening before our departure we chose to ride in Colorado, but we knew not where. Thankfully BigDog had posted tracks on ADVrider for his
BigDog - The Bridge -Ride, we thank him! For his tracks were the basis for our ride and put us in CO, UT and WY. We threw in a few diversions of our own to spice things up even more.

Thanks Doc! Thats a great track. Man, y'all spent some time seeing everything. I am not sure how much of Wyoming I will see, maybe just the southern part. But that's what is good about this type of ride, when you don't know where the road may lead, it gets interesting. I am going to return thru western Colo. heading south to Ouray and thru Durango. From there I will just make something up back to Las Vegas. Sam

[rjudge]

I've got a ton of Moab tracks. 331 to be exact. DLed from everywhere. I've been on about 10% of them so no guarantees. Let me know if you want them & I can email a .gdb or .gpx file to you.

Rick

[greeneggs&ham]

Originally Posted by rjudge

I've got a ton of Moab tracks. 331 to be exact. DLed from everywhere. I've been on about 10% of them so no guarantees. Let me know if you want them & I can email a .gdb or .gpx file to you.

Rick

Thanks for the offer Rick, but I think I am going to skip Moab this trip. Unless they have a freak snow storm. I am already tired of the heat here, so I am modifying my route to avoid the heat. I will try to make it sometime closer to their cooler months.
JT helped me load the tracks going north, and gave me a great GPS lesson to boot, thanks JT, so I will follow the CDR north then turn around somewhere in Wyoming and sightsee my way south.
My friend Rick, bought me a Liquid Image goggle camera to take on the trip. So if I can figure out how to do some video/pictures, I will post up some of the sights. Sam

[The Bruce]

You might consider this post for inspiration. http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=531665

For some reason the flash tags aren't working

[greeneggs&ham]

Thanks Bruce, that one had ecaped my search. It has lots of places that look like an interesting ride. I will have to reread and take notes, so I can visit some of these. Sam

[TwoSmokeDS]

You guys going to be riding very fast? and heavily ladened?

[greeneggs&ham]

Well Ki, that is kind of a question of perception. My 200 weighs about 210, so anytime I am on the 690 hauling 300+ under me I feel heavy. The power is so nice though. But I am thinking with necessities and tent, I should be in the 50 to 75 lbs of additional; I have not done my final pack yet so I will know more at that time. I have spent alot of time and money buying the lightest camping gear and I will take only what I know I need. I will buy what else might come up in a town as it is needed. I learned that from TroyfromTexas. Note to self: remember the bear spray.
As for riding fast, I want to see the sights, so even though I have the CDR going north on the GPS, I will get off and explore anytime the mood hits me. The idea is to come home and KNOW I only missed the minimum amout of scenery. I am going to ride a relaxed pace and take lots of pictures. Other than the first day leaving early in the morning, I am not going to try to maintain a mileage average per day. Take it slow, see everything I can, and talk to everyone I come across. I still have not set how many days I may be out. For me, thats big!
So far one other person is interested and he is still checking out some other rides. We are approaching the end of the Colo. riding season, so everyone who has been setting aside time is now firming up their plans.
Sam

[TwoSmokeDS]

I guess my little XR don't have enough power and range for this sort of thing.

[greeneggs&ham]

You might read this thread from Trailace. He and his son rode the WHOLE CDR and his son was on a 230 I think.

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthre...&highlight=CDR

I will be going up from northern N.M. to Colo. to Wyoming. How far into Wyoming, I don't know, it just depends on how I feel at the time. Or how anyone with me feels at the time. But I think 6 to 7 days of riding will do me just fine. If you read that thread from Trailace, I think his son had subframe problems at the end of the ride.
Your answer will depend on you. Do you want to ride that far, can your bike carry what you need. I will be camping at least 2 nights out of 3. I will try to camp near a town, my cooking is not that good. So that would allow you to stay in a motel, if you didn't want to camp. There will be some highway at times, I don't think any 4 lane highways though, just mostly dirt roads and passes.
But you have to answer that yourself, if you think you want to be on the bike that much, and if you think your bike can handle it. I think you will need 200 miles of fuel at one spot. Can you carry an extra gallon on the back?
Sam

[BAH]

Hey greeneggs&ham when are you planning on leaving? Ive been trying to put a ride together but I'm not sure if the guys I was planning on going with are going to make it. Just curious.

[greeneggs&ham]

Great question, and todays answer is somewhere around August 20th. I would like to be back before the 31st. So it may be the 20th or 21st, but I am not counting out leaving somewhere between the 27th thru the 2nd of Sept., either. My thought on that is not wanting to be up there with all the labor day crowds. That may not be a problem, but I've never been before so I am just trying to anticipate any problems. P.M. me if you are interested. Sam

[BAH]

Just looked at your dates again.. No way I can make the end of this month.. I thought you said end of Sept.. Im trying to get a ride together myself but Im not free till then.. Hope you have a great time..Anything changes keep me posted..

[greeneggs&ham]

Well it's time. I will be leaving in the morning. The last couple of days have been quite stressful. I had checked the valves a couple of weeks ago. Everything looked OK. Loaded the bike with all my gear and rode over to Billy's on Thursday for lunch with the gang. Talk about looking like a pack mule. But everything did great. Woke up Friday morning and was going to change oil and filters, brake fluid, install new tires, grease the wheel bearings, just a bunch of little things, then I was ready to go Monday Aug. 19th. While changing the filter on the right side, I noticed a coolant stain on the side cover. Then a coolant drip hanging off the right side of the radiator. Checking further there was another tube split, right below were I had JB Welded the one up in Ark. So off the radiator came. Ouch, called TJ's, "Brian how fast can you get one?" "Why don't you have it fixed?" "You know someone that will do it?" He did, just down the street, drove down the N. Lamar on Friday afternoon, and Monday morning they called and it's fixed. Plus they removed the JBWelb and fixed the original tube crack. So I put it on this morning, and everything is good.
Mrs. C made me go get a Spot, just to keep track of me. Then she signed me up for the Emergency Evac thing.
I am going to remain positive and just think about the great landscapes I will be seeing. As I have said before I have never ridden in Colo. and have only spent two days there in a car.
Thanks to everyone for their help in getting this trip going. Great advice, routes and interest. I have a point and shoot Fugi, and the Liquid Image google camera, so I think I will have lots of pictures. Maybe one or two good ones.
I will take notes and write a report when I get back.
Sam

[Gravel Guy]

Godspeed Hotrod!!

[Mudclod]

Have fun and lot's of pictures!

[Vinny]

You are going to end up moving there......CO has too much to just "visit" .
Have fun and be safe . Call anytime you are in need of local knowledge.