• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

TINCUP PASS VIDEO

_RG_

Forum Supporter
Joined
Oct 9, 2009
Messages
4,226
Reaction score
2,977
Location
Bryan-sort of-Texas
Put your helmet on, hit full screen and crank it... :dude:


[ame="http://youtu.be/nnw8xgKuBIE"]http://youtu.be/nnw8xgKuBIE[/ame]
 
RG you never dropped your KTM ridding with me last year, what happened?

Looks like a great reminder why I am taking the Husky this trip :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Will be riding Tincup, Napoleon Pass, Cumberland Pass, Alpine Tunnel, Hancock Pass, Tomichi Pass and Grizzly Lake on Friday the 18th!!! Thanks for sharing the video.
 
RG you never dropped your KTM ridding with me last year, what happened?

Looks like a great reminder why I am taking the Husky this trip :)

Mike, that video starts about a third of the way up. It took me that long to figure out the mountain was trying to do me in. :giveup:


Will be riding Tincup, Napoleon Pass, Cumberland Pass, Alpine Tunnel, Hancock Pass, Tomichi Pass and Grizzly Lake on Friday the 18th!!! Thanks for sharing the video.

That looks like a fine day of riding. Since schools back in maybe y'all can ride like the wind. Be safe.
 
Last edited:
I'm kind of winded just from watching it! :eek2:

There's a good reason why they call them the Rocky Mountains! :lol2:

You are a brave man to be riding that alone... I guess there are enough other folks up there that if something were to happen someone would be along to help you shortly?
 
Vintage ZZ Top song trivia (good taste in music BTW RG): "Heard it on the X" refers to the Mexico radio station where Wolfman Jack broadcast in the the 60's. The Mexican station across from Del Rio (and others) were not limited by the USA limit of 50,000 watts of power, so their signal could be heard a looong way aways. All the Mexico radio station call letters then started with the letter "X". Hence the lyrics sung by Billy Gibbons.

My dad was a life long radio guy starting as a sock hop DJ back in the late 50's. Anyway, a bit of Texas music trivia for those who are interested.
 
The Mexican station across from Del Rio (and others) were not limited by the USA limit of 50,000 watts of power, so their signal could be heard a looong way aways.

On a recent road trip passing through El Paso I was startled by the very explicit lyrics. Turns out the station was on the other side of the border and clearly censorship is not a priority. I had no idea the extent of the unfiltered words in many hit songs.
 
Back in the early 70s when I was in El Paso, we used to listen to XROK 80. Essentially, it was just a Top 40 station, but at night played more album-oriented rock than the local El Paso stations - more FM-like.

When I was a kid in San Antonio in the early 60s, I used to listen to a transistor radio late on summer nights and pick up a border station from Del Rio - or probably just across the border. They played a lot of bluesy stuff like Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, which is how I discovered that Chubby Checker didn't invent the Twist. And there was this gravelly voiced guy who simply called himself The Wolfman. Who knew?
 
We get this little electrical coop magazine each month that occasionally has a pretty cool story in it. Here's one about the old border radio days.

http://www.texascooppower.com/texas-stories/history/border-radio


I've heard that people all over the US could listen - but only at night. The radio waves would "skip" and carry from coast to coast... and beyond.

Another thread diversion, thanks to reading that article. In the late 70's, early 80's in Lubbock, I would go see Joe Ely (with Lloyd Maines on pedal steel and Jessie Taylor on lead guitar, at the local club Fat Dawgs. Long gone now, as it was in the path of a freeway that is now built.

Some of the best music ever. Cool to read that he too was influenced by the Mexican border stations.
 
Looking over the map and checking topo's...

The COBDR offers an alternate route known as "Alt Sec 3 Hard Pitkin to Lake City."

This involves leaving Pitkin - going over Hancock Pass and coming into St. Elmo from the south. St. Elmo is a really cool old mining town and worth spending some time checking out.

I visited with a local rider there who told me Hancock Pass was entirely ridable and much less punishing compared to Tincup. It may be a tad chunkier than the normal BDR routes but judge for yourself. You can see in the video that it has its moments but they are fairly brief. For those heading that way while work on Cottonwood Pass rd. continues, this is a good looking alternative.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Yenn2-UFc"]HANCOCK PASS VIDEO[/ame]
 
Last edited:
_RG_ - Is there an old railroad tunnel up there by any chance?

There's one called "Alpine Tunnel" that's about five miles southwest of St. Elmo. The old tracks intersect the Hard Pitkin leg. Might be fun to go have a look.

alpine.jpg


You guys need to ride some single track around there......its crazy!!

I believe a person can find pretty much whatever kinds of riding they prefer in that area. Taylor Park alone can keep a feller busy for some time.
 
Last edited:
Yes, the Alpine Tunnel is what I was thinking of. I was up there 20+ years ago. Not a bad road, 4WD not required, but still a bit hairy in an overly wide and none-too-surefooted Astro van.
 
Man, that video was exhausting to watch. Thanks for sharing.

A buddy and I did the dirt/rock up to Tincup about 2 years ago. Fully loaded with everything including camping gear. It was in the fog and if I'd seen the dropoff I'd have probably turned around. As it was, we could fly along blind and happy. By the time we got around to Lake City, we were so tired we rented Razors and did Engineer, Cinnamon, and the others in that area the next day. One of the greatest single days we had,...we could drift and bang the Razors into mountainsides without a care in the world. Felt like Rally drivers.
 
Man, that video was exhausting to watch. Thanks for sharing.



A buddy and I did the dirt/rock up to Tincup about 2 years ago. Fully loaded with everything including camping gear. It was in the fog and if I'd seen the dropoff I'd have probably turned around. As it was, we could fly along blind and happy. By the time we got around to Lake City, we were so tired we rented Razors and did Engineer, Cinnamon, and the others in that area the next day. One of the greatest single days we had,...we could drift and bang the Razors into mountainsides without a care in the world. Felt like Rally drivers.



My son-in-law and I did Tincup on our fully loaded R1150GS’s in 2016. Probably pushing 650# with all the gear. It can be done, but it is punishing. Son-in-law lost his skid plate on the way down, we met a Harley rider in a Wrangler helped us tie it to the exhaust with bailing wire!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Back
Top