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Utalorado 2014 – The Over-Ambitious Loop (3 Wr250R’s vs. a KTM 500XCW)

Man that is awesome stuff.....you really put the adventure in the ride. Its such a challenge at the time, so difficult to move on. That feeling of dread that a situation could go haywire is very difficult to stave off. Have to keep calm and keep it together. I applaud your fantastic planning, which I am sure helped save the situation. Plus I am sure you were all prepared.


One of the best RRs Ive seen in a while, and looking forward to more!
 
Here is the Video Wrap for Day 2 :popcorn:



[ame="http://vimeo.com/105194699"]Utalorado Day 2 on Vimeo[/ame]





Jordan


 

Day 3: Rio Grande N.F. to San Juan N.F.


Around midnight I remember waking up to the sound of Richard hacking up a lung. It was one of those super deep, ragged coughs where you sorta expected to hear some vomiting going on with it :puke:. I asked him if he was dying, and he said he was feeling pretty queasy – that made me feel better… It’s best not to have to suffer alone :-P. I could hear Lawson snoring occasionally, so I knew he was still alive, and Terry… well he’s a stallion, and I figured he was being kept well by the aura of the mighty KTM. Well, that and the P90x that he claims to do…

Anyhow… I tossed endlessly, biting off maybe 30 minutes of the night at a time – one of the longest nights I can remember. By the time 5am rolled around, I had to get out of the tent. I was having a sort of Closter phobic/vertigo sensation thing going on, so I sat outside against a rock for an hour or so while taking some pictures and video, and trying to not puke while eating a breakfast bar.

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I had figured that everyone would be up pretty much at first light, and ready to get up and off the Mesa, but even though they were not sleeping well, they were still giving it the ol’ college try :sleep:.


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I also just kept thinking about how much further behind schedule we were getting. We had only made 90 miles yesterday, and I know it’s gonna take several hours to get off the Mesa – we need to be moving :-?.

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I go ahead and start tearing town my stuff and packing up. I got over to start my bike, and it’s got barely enough juice to cycle the fuel pump – no starty. Great, pretty much exactly what I wanted to do first thing – pop start the bike. So, with all the reserve energy that I had accrued overnight spent, I got the bike pop-started and kept it running on the second attempt. My concern now was if the battery would charge, so that I would be able to restart it when I stalled it half a million times trying to get up the final climb – I guess we’ll see.

So, by the time I got through struggling with that mess, the guys were up and milling around. And by about 10:15 we were finally ready to start the final climb – an agonizingly slow start (especially if you’d been up since 5am) :doh:.

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Of course, we sent Terry up first – if he or his bike can’t make it, then we might as well give up now. But in about 28 seconds he has reached the top. Richard follow up behind, needing on a push here or there. Lawson’s next. I remind him to just commit, and stay in it… He makes it a decent way up the first section before getting bounced off the trail, and with some lifting and pushing; we eventually get his bike to the top. I’m last, which sometimes isn’t a bad thing. You get to see which lines work, and whatnot, but for me on this trail at this elevation it was counterproductive.


My WR250r is completely stock engine wise. I have 14/50 gearing which helps a ton, but you can only do so much when your bike is starving for air and having trouble making any power. Richard and Lawson’s WR’s have the airbox mod, fuel programmer, and pipe. If I watch their bikes struggle to climb, then it just leaves me with a feeble attitude, and a damning sense on the outcome of my attempt :thumbd:.

The only thing that helps is momentum - a running start.

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And since it worked so well last time (it didn’t)… I thought I’d try it again :shrug:.

I get bounced off to the left of the trail…


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And ramp off a rock on my back onto the trail…

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Which ended like so many of you figured…

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Looking ahead at the trail, Terry points out a couple of crux spots.

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This guy is getting worn out "riding" with us!

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I continue up with Terry and Lawson staged at specific points where I might need a push.

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And it was right after I cleared the rock garden,

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And thought I was home free…

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When I officially reached the limit of what a stock WR250R is capable of (with 40 pounds of camping stuff).

It’s somewhere between 12,000’-12,500’ elevation on a trail with about a 30 degree slope.

At wide open throttle the little thumper was gradually slowing down as I continued to climb, until all forward motion was stopped, and a little backwards action started to happen.

Richard runs down to help stop the bike, as it’s starting to slip backwards with both breaks locked.

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And with plenty of help, and slipping of the clutch, I eventually make it to the top of the trail.

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We made it :clap::thumb::dude::chug::hail::photo::bigokay::party:.

It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t need to be. The views from up here more than made up for our ugly ascent.

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Jordan
 

Day 3 Continued….

The single track across the Mesa was incredible :photo:

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Pretty easy-peasy riding across here :rider::rider::rider::rider:,

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But I still managed to almost endo when I caught the front wheel in a hole through a water crossing :flip:.

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And just to add insult to injury, I ran myself over while pushing the bike out of the creek, and fell flat on my face again (I will stick that part in the Video Wrap for Day 3 – it’s a pretty good laugh) -- I think it speaks to how worn out I was.


So we took it easy while we soaked up the view.

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Terry is pumped (for now) to be tearing across the Mesa.

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I felt like we were riding across the Mongolian Steppe :shrug:.

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What else can I say? The pictures tell it better:

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And before very long at all (3 miles or so) we were at the end of the Mesa. Terry was in lead, and told us over the intercom that he had lost the trail – said it just disappeared at the edge of the Mesa :confused:.

When I catch up to him, I break the news that the trails goes straight down this boulder field, “Can’t you see it? It’s right there.”

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Terry, in a bit of disbelief, searched around the perimeter edge of the Mesa to ensure we didn’t get off track or miss the trail - I guess he hadn't forgot about my navigational error the day before. It seems we had found Terry’s kryptonite. Terry will climb up the loosest, steepest, most sketch trail, but when it comes to going down loose, big rocky stuff – he’s not so stoked anymore.

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But I knew for certain we were in the right spot – I had seen pictures while I was doing my homework. And, I for one would rather be going down something like this… Remember – momentum! And it’s easy to achieve while running downhill :lol2:.

So, we scout the trail down a bit, and find the line we want to take. Richard heads down first, then Terry, Lawson, and I bring up the rear.

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It’s pretty gnarly, but we all make it down to the first flat section in one piece...

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Get collected, and continue the slow rock crawl out of the scree field.

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Slow and methodically… Trying not to create more work for ourselves by having to pick up dropped bikes (too many times)

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And about an hour after we first dropped off the Mesa, we were out of the scree field, and back down to an elevation where some trees (and we) could breath,

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Oh, wait... Me too, Me too... I wanna be in the pic -- the photographer never gets photographed...

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We press on after a break on some pretty sweet single track.

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We got hailed on for a quick second…

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While we continued to work our way off the mountain.

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Less than a mile or so til we junction back with the Hwy.

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We meet an older fellow on the trail. And he approves (or does he?)…

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Almost there…

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Success. We made it, and we are alive – could you ask for more :giveup:?

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Finishing up Day 3 in a bit...



Jordan
 


Since we were so far behind schedule, and low on energy, we opt to run up the Hwy to Lake City for a proper meal, fuel, and sundries. If we stay on the intended track, we are not due to hit a town for the rest of the day.

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We hit some rain on the way to Lake City, so we stop to throw on the jackets.

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There’s a bit of a game we play here: Wait as long as you can before you actually stop and put on your jacket. Sometimes it’s a bit counterproductive because you can end up soaked before you put your jacket on, but sometimes you end up looking like the genius because although the conditions looked threatening, you managed to skirt the weather. We also later introduced a potential penalty: If the group stops because someone wants to switch out gear (whether cold, wet, hot, scared it may rain, etc…) that person has to live with their decision and ride at least one hour before the group is allowed to stop again. So basically it could really suck if you were cold, the group stops so you can put your jacket on, then 5 minutes later we are on some gnarly trail and you are sweating your socks off – gotta live with it for 55 more minutes! We are as mean as any biker group you’ve ever heard of.


In an attempt to save time and consolidate stops, we decided to just eat at the gas station in town that also serves BBQ – against the better judgment and input of Yelp :doh:.

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It was a flawed decision in that it took twice as long as it would of if we had hunted and cleaned the meat ourselves, and the BBQ, according to Terry, was the worst he had ever had (it was a pretty pathetic looking hot-link). I’m not complaining though… It was hot food, and I was hungry – just in a hurry too :shrug:.

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After hitting the little local “market” we burned back outta town – heading up to Cinnamon Pass., where we junction back up with our original planned route.

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We are running the TAT (Trans-America Trail) route through here, which follows several mountain passes. Being that it was Saturday, I was sort of worried about getting stuck behind an ATV convention or Jeep Jamboree…

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But it really wasn’t bad… The afternoon Monsoons do a good job of clearing off the mountain.


Getting closer to Cinnamon…

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I don’t think it matters how many times you’ve been to Colorado, or heck, even ridden over these same passes-- it is still just awesome.

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The riding is cake, so you just get to soak in the scenery :rider::rider::rider::rider:.

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And ponder what a tiny spec you are in the grand scheme of things :zen:.

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Enjoying the view at the top of Cinnamon Pass, but not for too long – we gotta keep rolling.

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Look who's got a second wind? (we'll see if we can't knock it out of him)

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We drop down off of Cinnamon...

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And pass right through the old mining town of Animas Forks without stopping.

I don’t want y’all to think that I am just a schedule freak… But we have so much riding planned – Remember “Over Ambitious Loop”? All the time we lose, is essentially cool riding that we will miss, and I want to ride it all!

We head up California Gulch,

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Looking back the way we came.

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And where we are headed...

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Brokeback Mountain DS Style?

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Well, the real story to the Brokeback pic is that Lawson high sided coming in a little hot around a corner after Cinnamon Pass. We were merely trying to help Lawson straighten out his handlebars by holding the front tire still, and things just got a little outta hand :lol2:.

Back on down the road... We knock out Hurricane Pass and Corkscrew Gulch...

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Before we have to run down a small bit of pavement and link up with the road to Ophir Pass.

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We make the pass,

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And were headed down the mountain, we ran into these folks, who seemed to be in slightly over their heads, 2up on a “new to them” Big GS with street tires (80/20 tires are street tires).

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Last year on our Utah Ride, we helped a boat that was stuck out in the desert, and this year we helped a boat that was stuck on Ophir Pass.

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Those GS’s are a lot bigger in person! The work to fun ratio was pretty high for that dude :giveup:.

Anyhow, we pulled ahead a bit, and parked to bikes,

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And then helped him get through the section that brought them down. We say goodbye, while having done our good deed for the day – and hopefully building up some good karma for the days ahead ;-).

Heading back on down Ophir Pass, we hit another big rocky section. One that was worse than what had taken Mr. GS down. We decided it might be prudent to send Terry back up to them and tell them that they may want to consider bailing and heading back out the way they came.

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When he got back up to them, Terry said that Mr. GS was dead set on continuing on – a man after our own hearts… And with equally poor judgment :trust:.

Days later, Terry was still wondering if Mr. GS ever got off of Ophir :lol2:.

On the way out of Ophir, Terry requests a photo for his scrapbook.

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Ophir is the last of the big mountain passes, and we work our way out of the Uncompahgre National Forest…

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And in to the San Juan N.F. on some big, fast gravel.

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We really made some good time on the second half of the day. We are by no means “caught up”, but it definitely felt good to be moving at a decent pace.

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We end the day camping off of one of the Jeep Roads in the “Fun, Fun, Fun” section (as Sam has labeled it) of the TAT.

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At about 9,000’ elevation, we setup camp, and everybody feels great.

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Maybe we are finally acclimating?

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We all crash pretty quickly after a while of regaling stories around the fire of how crazy the last day and a half had been.

We need an early start tomorrow, as we head into Utah, and take the secret back door entrance to Geyser Pass in the La Sal’s.



Jordan
 
wow. Great Ride!
Great Ride Report!
Great Pics!
Thanks!!
 
:tab Don't you just love those times where you start to wonder of you've bitten off more than you can chew and whether or not you might not make it...? Rsquared and I have decided that times like that are retro fun. That is, they suck in the moment, but later after the delirium and pain has subsided and you realize you are going to live, there is something inside us that convinces us it really was fun. So we do it again... :doh: It seems to be a recurring event on our trips, hehe.

:tab Great shots. It really makes me want to get back out there. I did a lot of those same passes on a KLR 650. I've yet to get back out there with my KTM 530 EXC, which I know would be much much more fun ;-)
 
Awesome so far, m'thinks Colorado is my next frontier... if I can bring myself to finally take the DS instead of the MTB...

:tab Don't you just love those times where you start to wonder of you've bitten off more than you can chew and whether or not you might not make it...? Rsquared and I have decided that times like that are retro fun. That is, they suck in the moment, but later after the delirium and pain has subsided and you realize you are going to live, there is something inside us that convinces us it really was fun. So we do it again... :doh: It seems to be a recurring event on our trips, hehe.

:tab Great shots. It really makes me want to get back out there. I did a lot of those same passes on a KLR 650. I've yet to get back out there with my KTM 530 EXC, which I know would be much much more fun ;-)
:shame: No reading others' ride reports until you do your own :deal:
 
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Awesome so far, m'thinks Colorado is my next frontier... if I can bring myself to finally take the DS instead of the MTB...


:shame: No reading others' ride reports until you do your own :deal:

Four more weeks of studying, then the test Oct 24th, and I will finally have the much needed free time to work on it. Scoping out someone else's report only takes a few minutes during short and also much needed study breaks :-P I have hours of photo editing to do and probably as much or more for the prose. Although, this one may be the abridged version ;-)
 
Patiently waiting for more. I like your trail choices. We were up there in the same time frame.
 
Followed a banner pic to find this RR.

Great read and pix. Too bad it remains unfinished. No criticism from this quarter, I have my share of unfinished reports 🤭
 
Followed a banner pic to find this RR.

Great read and pix. Too bad it remains unfinished. No criticism from this quarter, I have my share of unfinished reports 🤭

And now you made me go down the rabbit hole. Got to the pic of the guy making faces at the motel accommodations and remembered I already read this report. Too late, had to read it all again, been a while. Plus there was a XCW 500, can't get too much of that! Then realized/remembered that I downloaded some Jglow tracks for my Utah journey this summer, I think from ADV Rider? I remember going down one of the tracks south of Green River and saying, whoever this Jglow guy is....he's legit!! Good stuff, need more!!
 
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