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_RG_

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...looks like some s/t trails I rode 40 miles N. of Ouray, CO.

oops, n/mind...saw the flag....Taylor Park!
 
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Dao, you're probably right. We've been all over this place... Taylor among it. Started in Aspen on Sunday. Went through Taylor. Rode the Star trail, Carbon trail, Little Bear and of coarse - Flag Mt.. Then headed to Crested Butte. Monday from CB to Ouray... all through the dirt. While the rest went down Black Bear etc., we knocked around east of Ridgeway up by the Silver Jack reservoir. That was a motorcycle ride.

Scott checking out the view.

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Going up...

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Going down...

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These folks don't spell particularly well...

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Good stuff RG! I'm stuck looking at corn in Indianapolis. At least it's cool here.
Keep posting please.
 

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What is the technique you use in doing this type of turn going downhill and uphill with such a sharp turn?

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Uphill, I don't think the WR250R at altitude has enough torque to get around that. I had problems with that a few years ago, especially above 10,000 feet.

RB
 
Star Trail WOW! I rode the Star Trail in Taylor park on a XR650R in drizzling wet slop and it kicked my butt. Had fun AND it still kicked my butt. Much respect to you :hail:
 
What is the technique you use in doing this type of turn going downhill and uphill with such a sharp turn?

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Uphill, I don't think the WR250R at altitude has enough torque to get around that. I had problems with that a few years ago, especially above 10,000 feet.

RB

These are my pucker points... down-hill right hand switchbacks. OK, they're pretty much a pain for lots of folks but I'm a real whimp with these things. Especially when my arms are shot and the Gatoraid just ain't working anymore. Problem is, you need to be sliding the rear while steering with the front. That's the theory anyhow and it works great on leftys. In practice, it's darn near impossible to have any meaningful relationship with your rear brake in these spots and touching the front is guaranteed disaster. :nono: Blowing the turn and going over the edge can take an awful lot of fun out of your day. The locals say to bury the right peg into the point and gas it around.:loco: Yeah, well... our survival instincts somehow put that approach in the "are you nuts!?" category. Some of these are in the "just get off and bull-dog the front end around" group. If you've ever ridden the Alpine trail...

The WR is an amazing machine. At altitude even the bigger engines take some pampering when you whack the throttle and it just bogs for that maddening second. Up-hill switchbacks are usually a matter of steering the front tire up the high side of the switchback -so that the rear is actually tracking in the groove- and then throwing the front tire down in the track while gassing it. Sort of a semi-controlled wheelie and turn at the same time. It sounds harder than it really is. Somehow, there is almost always a bowling ball sized rock sitting in the groove just after the turn. Go figure...:-(
 
Sorry for the delay folks. We hit the backwoods after my last post and had no wifi or cell for the last week. We rode single track like never before and took a good many pix along the way. Hope it all comes through...

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Maybe next year I can join you on one of these little trips. That looks like pure heaven.
 
Just left up there, no bike riding for me, just exploring! Some of it looks great but the sheer dropoffs really bother this flatlander, seriously! That tight downhill would probably do me in. We made it over Cumberland Pass, that was more than enough for me! But like the cool weather. Great pictures!
 

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This is a two part deal.

First week of riding was in an organized annual event called the Colorado 500. I’d heard of it but really didn’t know much about it. People come from all over the US and other countries to take part in it – most of them many times over. The CO500 has been pretty successful for the past 40 years in helping promote a positive image of dirt riders to the public. I got invited and figured ‘why not give it a try.

I dragged the trailer all the way to Basalt Colorado. This is a lot further north than our usual stomping grounds. Blindly following the GPS took me over Independence pass before I knew what was happening. Write this part down: I will NEVER do that again. If you’ve been there then you understand completely.

Diesel was actually cheaper than reg gas all over...weird.

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Woke up to a strange noise outside the trailer...

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The CO500 starts at Wally Dallenbach’s place just outside Basalt. Wally started the CO500 along with a bunch of his fellow Indy race contemporaries. Arriving a day early, I’d planned to spend the night down the road at a small campground. As I approached there were already folks setting up at Wally’s so I just wheeled on in and joined the group. I knew absolutely no one and they dang sure didn’t know me. But we ride and that alone immediately made me part of it.

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“Organized ride”: Meals are provided. High end motels are provided. Trucks carry your luggage from town to town. Toyota donated trucks and trailers furnished with skilled pit crews, tools and moto supplies for your use every morning and evening. Wally provides a bunch of pressure washers (and a cold beer) at the end of each day. A team of physicians follow the event in a huge motorhome (mobile clinic). Trucks and recovery trailers are stationed at accessible spots along each day’s routes. Local CO500 vets lead groups over routes varying from happy gravel jeep trails to gnarly stuff requiring considerable commitment and questionable sanity to ride. You choose your group. By lunch the first day - folks quickly begin migrating to a group they can live with. Rule is – do whatever you like but be at the next motel by 6 PM or they send out the SAR folks. Simple enough.

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My sponsor was a 17 year vet who rides an orange 300 like it was attached since birth. Somewhere during the Star trail our group quickly went from 20 riders down to five or six. (There were over 250 riders this year)

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They expect this and had another local vet ready to lead the rest up Flag Mt. and some other more accessible trails around Taylor park. Meanwhile for the remnant… it’s was on! Challenging? Friends, we did stuff that I didn’t think a motorcycle could do.

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The macro route goes from Snowmass Village toward Aspen and into Taylor park. (Everyone goes through Taylor Pass). Then down to the ski lodge at Crested Butte. Next day goes from there down to Ouray. Two nights in Ouray. Next day back to CB. Next day back to Snowmass. Each day’s micro routes are up to the group and the masochist leading it. For us it was dirt, rocks and single track and showing up at the next motel around 5:59 PM. My gosh hot showers never felt so good. Advil is our friend.

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Scott and the guy who chased his dust.

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To be continued...
 
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Star Trail WOW! I rode the Star Trail in Taylor park on a XR650R in drizzling wet slop and it kicked my butt. Had fun AND it still kicked my butt. Much respect to you :hail:

Our leader told us we had really good trail conditions. There were wet spots but few and far between. Those rocks and roots don't do wet very well at all for me. It gets ugly real fast. Star trail when wet would send me to the "more accessible" trails in short order. :giveup:
 
Heading up there the week of Sept. 21st. Doing the same thing. Riding single track to a different stopping point each night. We should easily clock 500 miles.

Looks like you guys had perfect conditions.
 
We pretty much did have the weather on our side. Afternoon mountain showers are already starting to happen and the day we rode Pole creek was wet and slippery to the point of being a bit treacherous. We never really saw a proper downpour but the cold air coming out of those clouds with a little rain made for some cold situations. The locals we visited with said it could happen any day now (winter). My last camp was in the Spanish Peaks area at around 10,500'. It was not fun. Cold, wet and always out of breath. But it still beat the heck outa being at work. ;-)
 
A person could've spent a good bit of time checking out all the new motorcycles in the CO500 group. It looked to me like several of them were loaded off a showroom floor on the way up here. There were also some very well maintained classics to admire. All required their daily dose of TLC at the pit wagons each morning and every evening.

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Pretty much any potion, lotion, chain lube or oil that was needed could be found there along with most needed tools. It was clear the pit crews had done this a time or two before.

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Some of you may recognize a couple of tools used by the CO500 pit crews. Both the ONB tire machine and tilting lift became immediately popular with folks. A lot of tires were changed out and flats fixed (including my own front) during the week. I watched as guys would actually wait to use the ONB tilting lift rather than the other ones available. They said it was easier to use and felt more stable. :clap:

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This was pretty doggone flattering to say it mildly. The greatest endorsement was when the guy running the pit wagons purchased both the tire machine and lift after the event. :thumb: That alone, plus getting to swap ideas with the men who invented the Revloc auto clutch (now marketed as the Rekluse) and Wolfman bags, pretty much made my trip. But enough of this! Let’s go ride motorcycles.

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It ain't much of a track but it's best to stay in the middle of it.

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This picture doesn't come close to the actual view of this valley...

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The track can be a little bit elusive at times. Not really a problem...:trust:

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They call this the devil's punch bowl. These pictures aren't even comparable to the actual view and scale. A young fellow coming down had his bike flip out from under him on the wet rocks. You know how this can happen so darn fast that you land with both feet still on the pegs. Nothing but rock to hit and he did. Got his bell rung and didn't know what had happened or were he was. Without his helmet, he wouldn't have had to worry about it at all.

Later, after we'd moved on down the trail, an older fellow was standing on the edge taking a picture. He fell. That was one of the extractions. He's not in good shape.

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You can begin to get some appreciation of the size here at the bottom. If you look real close you can see me and the motorcycle near the bottom of those falls.

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We did see some rain and hail. Some mud behaved admirably. Other stuff didn't treat me well at all.

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This is the remains of some kind of car or truck that went over the edge here. It was mashed up enough that I really couldn't tell. Looked like the side of the road just caved off with it. :eek2:

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Great report RG! I'm glad you had others use your inventions :clap: and appreciate them.
I hope you have GPS tracks saved up . I did take a short swim by that last picture while 4wheeling out there 20 years ago. Glad it's still there.

Keep posting your adventures please. 90F in my garage right now. I'm soooooo done with the heat!
 
Thanks Vinny. Some of the locals said that stretch from CB down to Marble is the most photographed part of Colorado. I can surely see how that could be. Just incredible scenery. I've seen that old mine by the river in some commercial pictures. Except for those rocky steps going down the punch bowl,

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it's really a mild rocky road that big bikes could handle. We met a bunch of little kids walking up toward the mine from from school buses down below. Must be a regular field trip setting.

I provided those tools to the event with the only requests being they use the crud out of them supporting 250 riders the entire week and show me where the weak points might be. After a fellow dropped his rim lock nut into the tool tube on the tire machine, (and spent 15 frustrated minutes searching for it) they suggested we put some holes in the bottom of the tool tube so people could see stuff they absent mindedly drop down there. :rofl: Sounds like a good idea. Other than that, the equipment stood the test without flaw.
 
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Riding from Crested Butte to Gunnison to Ouray took us through some very different country.

After leaving Gunnison we took off into the desert through the Powder Horn area and ended up back on pavement just east of Lake City near the Cannibal Plateau trailhead. It included some fun trail cut through the woods that flowed so smooth it was fun to romp on it. The hills and trees reminded me of Cloudcroft. Then several miles of dusty dirt roads toward LC.

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We’d been riding behind a rain cloud and appreciated the break on dust as we approached LC. Our choices on getting across the mountains to Ouray: The Cinnamon/Animas route :yawn:, over Engineer Pass :sun: or up the Alpine Trail into Ridgway :nono:. Engineer Pass is just beautiful to behold but the road up is usually choked with dust and avoided. With the rain… no dust! :thumb: Engineer it was. Besides, I dang sure didn’t feel up to tangling with the Alpine Trail that late in the day. :giveup:

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We came down Engineer onto pavement just south of Ouray. An easy day but my tail bone was about ready for one by then. :moon:

Tomorrow, we take off from the group and get into some stuff east of Ridgway that looked especially yummy on the topo. Turned out to be about the closest thing to the perfect motorcycle ride that I've found. Stay tuned... :rider:
 
Our leader told us we had really good trail conditions. There were wet spots but few and far between. Those rocks and roots don't do wet very well at all for me. It gets ugly real fast. Star trail when wet would send me to the "more accessible" trails in short order. :giveup:

I followed your advise and took the Lilly Pond trail while Izz and Oildfield Trash went after the Star Trail in wet conditions. They told me it was not that much fun at all. We hit the Green Creek trail off Salida after an nice night of thunderstorms. It was a challenge needless to say.
 
We attempted Star trail a couple of years ago (Sam and myself) just after a storm in July while riding the 690 for Sam and his wifes 530 for me. Not a good idea. It looked like a short cut after Flag Mountain.....it really wasnt.
 

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