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Riding in Colorado - can't think of a catchy title, so there.
- Thread starter sparkyphotog
- Start date
Sparky, how are you getting to the Internet while on your trip? What camera are you using? Awesome photos.
Thanks
I just got back home yesterday afternoon. The ranch we are staying at has "high speed" internet with WiFi in the lodge, but it's satellite based and they were having some issues for a few days. So, we would drive down to Gunnison in the evenings and "borrow" the WiFi connection at one of the motels in town. It was really fast, and we would sit in the parking lot in the car with our laptops.
As far as cameras go, My wife and I both use a Pentax Optio W10. It is 6 megapixels, waterproof to depth of 6 feet, and very compact and tough. They don't make the W10 anymore, but I think the current version is the W30 and the resolution is 7 or 8 megapixels. Awesome camera, and it works great on my gooseneck camera mount.
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Boy, reading your report sure makes me want to head northwest. Thanks
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In case you are wondering, there are other diversions besides riding in Colorado...
Awesome 'bow!!
Excellent pics as usual!!! I'll be picking your and Mollie's brain tonight for my CO trip (leaving this weekend 
). Do you have GPS files of your rides?
I'm riding with 3 cruisers, so DS rides will be out of the question....still, I'm sure it's going to be awesome riding up NM and CO.
). Do you have GPS files of your rides?I'm riding with 3 cruisers, so DS rides will be out of the question....still, I'm sure it's going to be awesome riding up NM and CO.
Excellent pics as usual!!! I'll be picking your and Mollie's brain tonight for my CO trip (leaving this weekend
I'm riding with 3 cruisers, so DS rides will be out of the question....still, I'm sure it's going to be awesome riding up NM and CO.
Yes, we have some tracks - I plan to post them in the next day or two. Most of them will be dirt roads, though. I've been going up to Colorado in the summers for most of my life, so bring your map and I'll point out some good roads for you.
Here is a GPX file with the track from the ride with Tami and Duke. Apparently I did not have tracking turned on for the first few rides. 
BMWbabe
0
ahh but I did and thought about two other rides but ran out of time
BMWbabe
0
My Scary Day....
My day on Tuesday started out not so fun since Bryan was getting to go meet the fun people and I wasn't but by the end of the day when he came back to tell me that a) his trip was fantastic and b) the fun people were coming to the ranch to ride with me...I was excited.
They (Bonnie Abzug and Hayduke) met me in front of the main lodge about 11:30 and after a brief tour of our modest cabin, we set off. Tami led because, as she put it, "I might not go as fast and this way I don't get left behind"
Cows have their own sign saying they are on the road...lol
I had to stop soon after we started to get my battery replaced. I love taking pictures so let me show you what I got
We went to Tin Cup for lunch at Frenchies and saw, among other things, hummingbirds and a cute green cabin that people might want to buy, wink wink
I really didn't know how to ride on tight corners in dirt so the way up Cumberland Pass was scaring me. Good thing I had Tami in front, she provided a focal point and Duke behind me helped me feel they would at least know where my body was. Perhaps under the snow that looks much slippery than it really was...
My day on Tuesday started out not so fun since Bryan was getting to go meet the fun people and I wasn't but by the end of the day when he came back to tell me that a) his trip was fantastic and b) the fun people were coming to the ranch to ride with me...I was excited.
They (Bonnie Abzug and Hayduke) met me in front of the main lodge about 11:30 and after a brief tour of our modest cabin, we set off. Tami led because, as she put it, "I might not go as fast and this way I don't get left behind"
Cows have their own sign saying they are on the road...lol
I had to stop soon after we started to get my battery replaced. I love taking pictures so let me show you what I got
We went to Tin Cup for lunch at Frenchies and saw, among other things, hummingbirds and a cute green cabin that people might want to buy, wink wink
I really didn't know how to ride on tight corners in dirt so the way up Cumberland Pass was scaring me. Good thing I had Tami in front, she provided a focal point and Duke behind me helped me feel they would at least know where my body was. Perhaps under the snow that looks much slippery than it really was...
BMWbabe
0
We finally made it to the top and I was a complete wreck
....all teary and thankful and rubber legs. I'm from Texas, we don't have sheer drop offs next to ledges and I'm new to riding dirt. I obviously don't know what I'm doing here. I took a minute to catch my breath and snap some photos of the view.
I sure wasn't appreciating it right then since I wasn't in my happy place..hahaha.
Hayduke and Bonnie were looking around and giving me a moment to compose myself and Bonnie tried to make me feel better by telling me she's been scared before too. (Right! I've seen her grinning ear to ear after the babyhead rock incident..nice try though) I got some valuable tips from Hayduke and a demo about the right way to go over curves on dirt and he lowered my air pressure just to help me out some more.
We took a few moments to enjoy the sights and Hayduke felt like a trek up to another dirt track so I manned the camera. Up he goes and down again..he makes it look so easy and I kept thinking how handy it would be to be fearless. I guess I'm not man enough to ride with the big dawgs...hahaha.
He even got so loose that he picked up snow....yes..snow!
Making our way down was a breeze. My mantra was "elbows out, counter-balance, keep your head level, let the bike do what it wants..(just short of pitching off the edge of the cliff into a mangled heap of metal blood and bone, I assume), keep level and relax. Worked like a charm too.
I was feeling like the champ on the way down with my own David/Goliath moment and we rode into Pitkin. There was a very interesting man there who lives just up on one of the paths that lead out into Cumberland pass. We had seen him scoot out in front of us with a pillion (his wife) on the back. All I could think when I saw him was.."man, am I glad I we're only on the main road here, this is spooky enough"
We decided to take Wuanita (and I'm not sure if its a pass or what it is beyond a very bumpy dirt road that winds over some steepish elevation) before we went our separate ways. There was a sign posted that said the road was not maintained. No kidding! It had big sharp rocks poking up in all the wrong places and every picture I took was too blurry and bumpy to see. I only got a few pictures and its totally misleading since they look relatively even and easy.
Hayduke mentioned something about Black Sage but I had dinner plans with the fam back at the ranch. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it) After hugs goodbye, the dynamic duo went on their way. They were on to bigger and bolder adventure and I was gonna test my new skills by myself the rest of the way home. BOY..do I ROCK now..hahaha
I had such a great time though!!!! I do feel like I learned a lot and I didn't die so that's always good too. Hayduke and Bonnie are the BESTEST. Thank you Thank you Thank you.
....all teary and thankful and rubber legs. I'm from Texas, we don't have sheer drop offs next to ledges and I'm new to riding dirt. I obviously don't know what I'm doing here. I took a minute to catch my breath and snap some photos of the view.
I sure wasn't appreciating it right then since I wasn't in my happy place..hahaha.
Hayduke and Bonnie were looking around and giving me a moment to compose myself and Bonnie tried to make me feel better by telling me she's been scared before too. (Right! I've seen her grinning ear to ear after the babyhead rock incident..nice try though) I got some valuable tips from Hayduke and a demo about the right way to go over curves on dirt and he lowered my air pressure just to help me out some more.
We took a few moments to enjoy the sights and Hayduke felt like a trek up to another dirt track so I manned the camera. Up he goes and down again..he makes it look so easy and I kept thinking how handy it would be to be fearless. I guess I'm not man enough to ride with the big dawgs...hahaha.
He even got so loose that he picked up snow....yes..snow!
Making our way down was a breeze. My mantra was "elbows out, counter-balance, keep your head level, let the bike do what it wants..(just short of pitching off the edge of the cliff into a mangled heap of metal blood and bone, I assume), keep level and relax. Worked like a charm too.
I was feeling like the champ on the way down with my own David/Goliath moment and we rode into Pitkin. There was a very interesting man there who lives just up on one of the paths that lead out into Cumberland pass. We had seen him scoot out in front of us with a pillion (his wife) on the back. All I could think when I saw him was.."man, am I glad I we're only on the main road here, this is spooky enough"
We decided to take Wuanita (and I'm not sure if its a pass or what it is beyond a very bumpy dirt road that winds over some steepish elevation) before we went our separate ways. There was a sign posted that said the road was not maintained. No kidding! It had big sharp rocks poking up in all the wrong places and every picture I took was too blurry and bumpy to see. I only got a few pictures and its totally misleading since they look relatively even and easy.
Hayduke mentioned something about Black Sage but I had dinner plans with the fam back at the ranch. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it) After hugs goodbye, the dynamic duo went on their way. They were on to bigger and bolder adventure and I was gonna test my new skills by myself the rest of the way home. BOY..do I ROCK now..hahaha
I had such a great time though!!!! I do feel like I learned a lot and I didn't die so that's always good too. Hayduke and Bonnie are the BESTEST. Thank you Thank you Thank you.
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Great ride report. Talk about trial by fire. How did you operate the camera while riding? With your teeth? Heck, on some of those cliffhanger roads I would not even stopped to take one standing still, much less moving. Seriously, the blurry ones really convey the roughness of the road. 
BMWbabe
0
My hubby clamped on a camera stand to the handlebar of the bike. All I have to do is screw the camera on and then click with one finger. The only trouble is, I have no idea what the picture is like since the sun shines on the viewscreen and it all just looks grey to me. Also, I don't want to look at the viewscreen when I've got the road to navigate. That's about the end of my technical skill, clicking a button.
It was a great trip... thank you for your comments
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Well done! 
Good thing you didn't go on east of Tincup Pass down to St. Elmo. That's the rough part of that road. 
I took my wife over that road in a 3/4 ton 4x4 Dodge Diesel and she didn't feel safe in that! Thanks for taking and sharing the pictures.
Good thing you didn't go on east of Tincup Pass down to St. Elmo. That's the rough part of that road. I took my wife over that road in a 3/4 ton 4x4 Dodge Diesel and she didn't feel safe in that! Thanks for taking and sharing the pictures.
My hubby clamped on a camera stand to the handlebar of the bike. All I have to do is screw the camera on and then click with one finger. The only trouble is, I have no idea what the picture is like since the sun shines on the viewscreen and it all just looks grey to me. Also, I don't want to look at the viewscreen when I've got the road to navigate. That's about the end of my technical skill, clicking a button.
It was a great trip... thank you for your comments
could we see a close-up pic of the camers setup?
could we see a close-up pic of the camers setup?
Here's about the best shot of mine on the yellow GS that I have at the moment. The gooseneck camera mount is from Markertek. I put a different mount on my wife's bike that I picked up at the local camera shop - don't have a photo of it. Still not sure which one I like better. I will probably switch to a RAM mount at some point due to it's better stability. I would like to shoot video also, but these mounts vibrate way too much for that. In decent light, I get high enough shutter speeds that it's not too much of an issue for stills.
Nice report, Mollie! I'm so proud of you for taking on the challenge! I know you had very little dirt experience before this, but I can tell you really learned a lot and are a lot more confortable on dirt now. Go you!
Our final ride in Colorado
After our rides with Duke and Tami, we spent the rest of the week doing family vacation stuff, including a ride of different sort...
One incident happened on the horses. My daughter's horse spooked, and bolted straight up a steep hill and she fell off.
Nothing was really hurt except for some bruises on her bum. She such a trooper, and after she calmed down she got right back on and finished the ride. This little inicident, however, was to be an omen.
The last day, Mollie and I had some time in the afternoon, so we went for a ride over to Crested Butte, up Kebler Pass, and down the Ohio Creek road. I don't have any photos from this ride, but Mollie does and hopefully she'll post them later. On the way to CB, there was this little jeep trail that went up into the Almont Triangle wildlife management area. I had always wanted to explore up there, so I decided to ride up to the tree line while Mollie waited by the main road. It is about a quarter mile up to the trees, and it didn't look bad, but I couldn't see the whole trail because it went over a little ridge, and turned. I could see the first half, and the very top, but that was it.
Feeling perhaps a little over-confident after riding with Duke and Tami, I took off up the hill. As I got over the ridge, I saw that the trail got really steep for about 100 yards and that section was littered with loose rocks varying in size from golfball to softball size. I thought about stopping, but didn't and kept going. I got up OK to the tree line, but when I started back down, things went pear-shaped, and halfway through the steep, rocky section, the front end washed out and I went down. I was going slow, but it was a pretty hard hit, and I landed on my left hip - right on a big rock! Ouch! Mind you I was wearing full riding gear, but the rock missed my hip protector and my back protector and gave me a real shot.
I rested for a while, then picked up the bike and walked it down the last part of the steep section before getting on and riding to the bottom. Damage assessment: smashed cylinder head guard (getter than a smashed head!), clutch lever assembly rotated, but service able, left turn signal knocked loose but unbroken, and one really sore hip and back.
We continued on and finished our ride. The scenery was beautiful, but I was not in a great mood and wasn't feeling too well. Not a great way to finish riding in Colorado, but overall it was a fantastic trip!
After our rides with Duke and Tami, we spent the rest of the week doing family vacation stuff, including a ride of different sort...
One incident happened on the horses. My daughter's horse spooked, and bolted straight up a steep hill and she fell off.
Nothing was really hurt except for some bruises on her bum. She such a trooper, and after she calmed down she got right back on and finished the ride. This little inicident, however, was to be an omen.The last day, Mollie and I had some time in the afternoon, so we went for a ride over to Crested Butte, up Kebler Pass, and down the Ohio Creek road. I don't have any photos from this ride, but Mollie does and hopefully she'll post them later. On the way to CB, there was this little jeep trail that went up into the Almont Triangle wildlife management area. I had always wanted to explore up there, so I decided to ride up to the tree line while Mollie waited by the main road. It is about a quarter mile up to the trees, and it didn't look bad, but I couldn't see the whole trail because it went over a little ridge, and turned. I could see the first half, and the very top, but that was it.
Feeling perhaps a little over-confident after riding with Duke and Tami, I took off up the hill. As I got over the ridge, I saw that the trail got really steep for about 100 yards and that section was littered with loose rocks varying in size from golfball to softball size. I thought about stopping, but didn't and kept going. I got up OK to the tree line, but when I started back down, things went pear-shaped, and halfway through the steep, rocky section, the front end washed out and I went down. I was going slow, but it was a pretty hard hit, and I landed on my left hip - right on a big rock!
Ouch! Mind you I was wearing full riding gear, but the rock missed my hip protector and my back protector and gave me a real shot. I rested for a while, then picked up the bike and walked it down the last part of the steep section before getting on and riding to the bottom. Damage assessment: smashed cylinder head guard (getter than a smashed head!), clutch lever assembly rotated, but service able, left turn signal knocked loose but unbroken, and one really sore hip and back.
We continued on and finished our ride. The scenery was beautiful, but I was not in a great mood and wasn't feeling too well. Not a great way to finish riding in Colorado, but overall it was a fantastic trip!
Update on the Flying Top Box
Just wanted to post an update on the flying top box. Turns out that there was a service bulletin on this very issue, so BMW is replacing the box and the mounting hardware at no charge!
Just wanted to post an update on the flying top box. Turns out that there was a service bulletin on this very issue, so BMW is replacing the box and the mounting hardware at no charge!
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BMWbabe
0
I was supposed to put these in and completely forgot...oops
It's a good thing you don't shoot weddings!!! They'd be divorced and still no wedding pics
Gilk51
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only 9 months late! Way to resurrect an ancient thread! It's a good thing you don't shoot weddings!!! They'd be divorced and still no wedding pics