by cRAsH August 23, 2001 After a zippy run down a dusty road, another paved road, another dusty dirt road, I was getting impatient. Where was the hard shit? It was at that point I heard the fated "TING!" and looked down at my front wheel. In my haste I had obviously forgotten to torque the caliper bolts on my brakes, and the caliper was just flopping in the breeze. Shit. The group was gone, I had NO idea where they were going, NO idea where I was, and was crippled. I looked up and down the road for the bolts, but no joy. Finally I decided to take a bolt out of the other side and limp to the next town to see if I could locate a coupla bolts. As I was pulling into town, JL showed up. He was pretty torqued until I explained that there was nothing I could do - I wasn't going to try to chase them down with my caliper hanging off. After we both calmed down, we found a parts store, bought some bolts that worked, and headed off to where he had left the group. They said they would wait. They didn't. I can't blame them, it took a long time - but JL had ASKED before he went back to look for me WHERE they were going, and the leader said he would wait. So, now we REALLY have no idea where they are, we just know the lunch destination and the final destination, so we sat down with the map and GPS and figured out our own route.
Just like back home. Just the 2 of us, looking for loops. That trail got so bad we actually had
to turn around - but not until we gave it a good try.
We found ourselves in Leadville for a late lunch, and by now have given up any
idea of riding with the group when the leader and 3 other bikes buzz by. The
only real route worth trying from here was the famous Mosquito Pass. JL and the airhead with the leak (Wendell )were flying down this crap - I had to slow down or I was going to crash. Still had no problem staying in front of Wolfie. As we got to the bottom, about 4 miles from the pavement, JL hits a rock in the middle of the road (really, it was literally the last one he could have hit) that gashes his sidewall. Damn. Looks like he's finished. After sending Wolfgang off to the motel to get Greg with the trailer, JL decides to ride it flat. We get to the road, and he's doing fine. So, he just heads down the highway at about 50 mph with a flat front tire. Big Dog stuff. Back at the motel, everybody pitches in with their tire fixing ideas, and we finally decide to patch the tire, put in an 18" tube, and cross our fingers. Wolfgang takes over the operation.
JL: "Make sure you don't pinch the tube..." After the first attempt pinched the tube... JL took it back down, patched the BRAND NEW TUBE, put it all back together, and pumped it up. It held. Halleluia! In the meantime, I had downloaded the days photos to the laptop, and held a little slide show. You shoulda seen those guys eyes when they saw where WE were that day. We were branded true Big Dogs right then. That evening, we met Jim - a really cool dude and good rider who wanted to go with us. We looked at the maps, and decided on a great loop he had plotted out. The next morning, before he even had a cup of fine-motel-coffee, JL was out installing his wheel. This man will NOT be denied...
Jim invited Mad Dog Mike to ride with us - and our little group was set. Out on
the road, we showed the boys what the oilheads were capable of - knobbies and
all. They were properly impressed. Once we got to the dirt, they were back in
their element. We still had it all over them when climbing the smooth dirt roads -
no substitute for power, and with the added traction.... C-YA! Mixed in,
sometimes almost without warning, the road would turn into a rutted rocky
madness. Mike was darn fast on the rough stuff - so he and JL generally stayed in front swapping leads, while Jim and I brought up the rear. Unless it opened up into a flat-trackable road... then I had to take the lead. I love that shit. Dusted the poor boys more than once. What fun. As we approached the rough part of Schofeild, we took some creek crossing pictures, JL managed to dump after a crossing so those guys got a picture of the mighty GS laying tits up. They got a hoot out of it - threatened to blackmail JL with it.
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At one point JL rode his
bike down into the woods trying to turn around, and it got pretty scary.
I had
to catch him AND the bike on one tumble, or they might not have stopped for a
while. I had a little boo-boo on that part of the ride too - it was a nice,
smooth but sort of sandy road that found me wicking it up more and more - flat-
tracking the turns and generally being a hooligan. Then, I came into an
unnanounced switchback a little hot, tried to slide 'er in there, but lost the
front end and went down. No damage to the bike, the Wunderlich bars are great! My
gear worked fine, I'm back up in a jiffy.
We had been
warned not to try it on our bikes - so we had to. These guys were heading that
way as well, so we all took off and promptly took the wrong road. One guy got a
flat, so he and another guy peeled off, and we're down to the original leader
and another guy who has a massive oil leak and isn't sure he'll make it over the
pass. Great. The ride up the west side was tough - real tough. Not huge rocks,
but enough of them and a long enough stretch that I had to pass Wolfgang on a
severe grind because I couldn't go as slow as he was. Really rough switchbacks
that almost had to be flat-tracked at speed or you'd dump. Each time I made
another one I was relieved, but scared the next would be worse and I'd be stuck.
Not to be - we cleared the top and made it over the highest "road" in the
country. After the 
The group was very close in talent, and we all enjoyed the "spirited"
pace. We took the pass to Tin Cup, a really cool little town, and then to
Crested Butte. Then, Jim decides we should do Schofield Pass - he's convinced we
can make it. Shoot - who are we to argue? The first bit is a hoot - more of the
fast tracks with sometimes fairly severe rocky climbs mixed in. We were
revelling in the extra traction those knobbies provided - I was able to avoid a
LOT of rocky areas by