What roads do I need to unwind when I'm in Colorado next weekend?

[J-Dash]

I'm going to the rally in Paonia, Colorado the weekend after the 4th, and I would like to get advise on what roads are a "Must See" in the area....or on the way to and from Texas to Paonia. I am pissing myself I'm so excited to go!

Thanks guys!

[dragoon]

Originally Posted by jordan_g

I'm going to the rally in Paonia, Colorado the weekend after the 4th, and I would like to get advise on what roads are a "Must See" in the area....or on the way to and from Texas to Paonia. I am pissing myself I'm so excited to go!

Thanks guys!

550 from Durango to Silverton

[Bert]

Originally Posted by dragoon

550 from Durango to Silverton

Add the Silverton to Ouray leg - even better.

A classic loop would then be to continue on to Telluride then over the Lizard Head pass (~11,000 ft.) & follow the Dolores river through Rico to Cortez then finish back up in Durango. Fabulous.

[Rad]

Originally Posted by jordan_g

I'm going to the rally in Paonia,

Hey Jordon, do ya care that we move this outta Jo Momma before the flug twins get hold of it ?

It fits in the other Forums better

[J-Dash]

Originally Posted by Rad

Hey Jordon, do ya care that we move this outta Jo Momma before the flug twins get hold of it ?

It fits in the other Forums better

I don't mind at all. I couldn't figure out which forum to ask this in. I picked Jo Momma because it looked like the most general forum.

[dragoon]

Originally Posted by jordan_g

I picked Jo Momma because it looked like the most general forum.

No offense Jordan. Hang around awhile and you'll know what I'm laughing at. Have fun on your trip

[Rad]

Originally Posted by jordan_g

I don't mind at all. I couldn't figure out which forum to ask this in. I picked Jo Momma because it looked like the most general forum.

I understand, I've got 4,000+ posts and I'm still not sure where to put stuff sometimes. With yur specific thread title it should work well in da regional forums

[slowoldguy]

149 thru Lake City and Creede, one of the best ever. Just phenomenal. As to getting there see my response in "Southerner's to Ouray" thread (I think that was it). Don't miss Tres Piedras to Tierra Amarilla on your way up thru NM. For no cars and lots of corners Sapinero northwest along the Gunnison has a thrill or two, or seventy. 550 is a wonderful road and you'll do it and marvel at the world class beauty but folks ,too many cars ,too many policia , there are always loose rocks in the road , and there will be water across the road around some blind corners from one of the billion seeps and waterfalls. Guaranteed if they had any precip this year. Lots better roads for playing, but for sightseeing -awesome. Just be careful out there.

[Dysco]

92. Some people say that heading west is the safest way because you have an extra lane between you and the canyon but there are enough pullouts to stop and enjoy it both ways between cornering your ass off. Beware of Hardley pukes taking up more than one lane- happened to me twice.
Nice ride the whole way but kinda boring after you get out of the twisties. If you're on a mission, it's cool to do an out and back from the Sapinero end- Just turn around at the first sight of farmland. but if ya gotta get to GJ from 50 (or the other way around) that's the way to do it.

[GSrider2]

Take 149 from South Fork to Gunnison, GREAT veiws & lite traffic, watch for county cop at Lake City. Gunnison to Blue Mesa Dam on 50 west & 92 west to Hotchkiss, VERY twisty 7 great veiws. Have fun & be SAFE.

[slowoldguy]

You know , no one is mentioning 133 but if you take the pass (Kebler I think) from Crested Butte , that is a really nice set of twisties right there too. And there is that great old resort hotel in ????? I'm glad my wife never saw that place. LOL.Damn, it's all good. Oh, And as for taking 92 NW to SE , I gotta buddy who hyperventilates just remembering those cliffside twisties. Your right. Take it NW to SE .LOL. He just about sh#ts himself thinking about it. He will not go that direction again. White as a sheet. Something about those g-forces in a tight tight outside no shoulder no rail no hope corner that you know- if the tires don't hold they'll never find your body thousands of feet down that Canyon. Now for me , I duck walked my bike down the centerline of "Devil's Backbone" , wind gusts blowing to 60 and I was still insisting the big trucks move over and give my Triumph Sprint half of their lane,too. Literally. I ain't proud of it but I ain't joking either. I thought about pushing the bike over the side and walking the rest of the way. That is the GD scariest road I've ever been on .Thousands of feet death hell killer drop on both sides,absolutely zippo shoulder, nada damn thing but a little berm to get a wheel in the air as you stylishly plunge to your certain hideous death about 30 minutes later when you reach bottom. But through therapy and self-medication I've almost forgotten. 92 was a blast for me and the "Devil's Hellbone" didn't faze my friend . Go figure.

[Dysco]

Originally Posted by slowoldguy

...92 was a blast for me and the "Devil's Hellbone" didn't faze my friend . Go figure.

Let me tell you why that story cracks me up: My buddy had about 3 months riding experience on a Kawi 440LTD and it died on him. He found a sweet deal on a new Triumph Thunderbird. So one night I bitched him over the mountains to GJ to pick up his bike. After 3 and a half hours of slaloming cones in Ike's tunnel and passing the water bottle and a Wolfman pocketfull of whoppers and Skittles back and forth, we get into town at 0400. We catch a nap on a friends floor and get up at 0800, grab a bite to eat, and hit the dealership when they open the doors. An hour later we hit the road to take the long way home.

Straight outta Grand Junction I decide to take 92 to 50 and from there hop onto 285 and get home in 6 hours or so. So we hit the road and dude's starting to get used to his new ride with thrice the power of his old busted twin. I'm on my 650GS and feelin' kinda froggy to do some real riding after toting his sorry ass over the mountains. So we hit the first real corner on 92 -a sharp right hander- and start climbing. Neither of us had been there before.

Not that I'm a particularly talented rider, but I can hold a line on just about any road and I tend to ride a bit faster than some. Particularly the pair of Goldwings ahead of us. The first one I came to saw me in his mirrors, hit the gas, and crossed the centerline a time or two before I backed WAY off and waited for a safe straight. The road straightened out for a little bit and I passed. The second wing was nearly scraping boards and was holding a pretty good pace and riding butter smooth. He ended up pulling over and let me by at an overlook. About this time I realized I was actually riding with someone else. A quick check of the mirror shows a waving doof on a Trumpet with a shit-eating grin.

So we continue on, admiring the views but taking a spirited pace, heading east. A few blind corners later, we see a pack of helmetless Harley riders heading the other way. I pretend like there's no time to wave before the next corner and they can't seem to unclench their grip on the ape hangers. Around the next left that skirts the canyon wall comes a full-dress life-saver... in my lane. No problem. I move to the right track and pass him as he's crossing the yellow back into his lane and set up for the turn. Another few corners roll by and the SAME THING happens.

Again I move to the right track but he comes back into his lane even slower than the guy before, nothing in his face registering any remorse: dude was marshmallow white and his eyes took up most of his forehead. I pull over at the next overlook and we figured out why those guys were scared- no rail, no gentle hill, just straight cliff leading to beautiful green water a few hundred feet below... well, I'm not sure how far down it was but you couldn't see your spit land in it, that's for sure.

So we carry on and stop another time or two because we're chilling after my riding partner told me that he didn't want his new bike to see over that edge. Since I'm an understanding guy, and his bike was still shiny, I led a bit slower but still showed him the best line through the canyon. We stopped at the A&W in Gunnison before heading off on what was supposed to be our final leg.

A few miles outside of Gunnison, I spot a HUGE black cloud. The kind of cloud that makes you wish you weren't in the mountains. So I decide to make a run for it and we pin our throttles up to the base of Monument Pass. About a mile before the big hill I knew we were in for it. Jorge (pronounced George, none of that hore-hay crap) didn't have ANY weather gear to his name. I had everything- extra pair of waterproof winter gloves, Kili jacket with liner, extra wool sweater, and a new pair of Joe Rocket Ballistic touring pants... all packed up in my tailbag (I'd packed it in my tankbag on the way over and stowed the gear in the tailbag for the nice summer toodle through the mountains home). The moment of truth- do I pull over, put on all my gear, and watch his no-gear-havin' ass drown? Or do I tough it out with him so I know when he's having a REALLY rough time... because I am too?

I decide to be a good friend and pull my cellphone out of my jeans pocket and throw it into the waterproof left hand pocket of my Wolfman tank bag... the one where I keep my riding snacks. We press on and the rain starts full bore. Having a little experience in bad weather, I slow down a little for my bro' and press on, knowing that the faster we get through it, the better we'll be.

Then the hail starts. Marble sized hail. I-wanna-go-crawl-into-mom-and-dad's-bed kinda lightning, too. The temp drops 20 degrees and we're already soaked through by the second corner. I look back and he's waving wildly for me to pull over. We scoot off onto an open pullout, a comfortable distance from the road and the trees. We wait. The hail's still coming down like crazy. We hang out with some other riders who parked next to the trees... AFTER we waved them into the open area.

After 10 minutes of hail and wicked thunder, I convince Jorge to get back in the saddle since we're only gonna get wetter either way. We crawl up the pass and get stopped in a huge line of cars at a construction zone. A rock rolls into my foot and I look at the bank to see hundreds of small rocks rolling into the ditch and onto the road. I give Jorge his first lane splitting lesson while we put a little space and a line of SUVs between us and the rocks since little rocks hold in the big rocks and if the little rocks were falling, it wasn't long before the big ones followed. The geniuses at the construction site were holding traffic up in both directions due to the weather. They finally let us through after 15 minutes even though the storm hadn't let up.

On the other side we pull over and Jorge is shivering. Skinny guys have no insulation. I get him into a dry shirt, my sweater, and my winter gloves. Then I explained that he was gonna have to stop with the hypothermic BS until we got to a better place because the middle of nowhere is a crummy area to leave your new wheels. He agreed and toughed it out to Johnson Village where we gassed up and hung out at the Coyote Cantina for an hour or so (GREAT sopapillas) while we dried off. This is where I remembered that the left pocket of my tank bag isn't waterproof because it's my snack pocket and I'm always throwing it in the washer after trips. My cellphone had become a large, electronic skittle. Communications were down.

We left the safety of the Coyote and headed East on the loneliest stretch of 285. We stopped often while Jorge smoked and warmed himself up. I wised up and put my raingear over wet pants. I knew how bad he was doing at this point and it sucked- I was sick of having the gear in the bag and feeling like a tourist. It rained for the next 4 hours. That's how long it took us to get back home. As we dropped out of the foothills the clouds parted and we rolled into town amid the evening traffic. I dropped him off at his house and headed, soaking wet, to a dinner I was an hour late for.

Since then, neither one of us has mentioned riding together. Apparently he thinks I'm nuts and is probably still bitter that I dragged him the last 100 miles in the rain and I'm still hoping he learns a few more lessons like that one before we go out again. Did I have fun? Sure! It's a good ride for the most part and anything that leaves you with a good story is a good time. Alone, this trip would have taken me almost half the time, but I have some pretty serious experience riding in bad weather and my brain handles bad conditions and discomfort better than some. Joe/Jane Schmoe Adventure would probably fare better than a relative newbie like Jorge but only if he/she was prepared for it.

So to make this topical: There's your (long-ass) warning. Bring all the gear you have- balaclava, too. If you're coming to the Rockies, be prepared for riding from 90 degree heat into a blizzard on the same day trip. Bring extra gloves. Wear good raingear. Bring a little food. Have some flares handy 'cause shit happens. Be prepared to make your own crazy stories like this one. And do EVERY road because it's good to be here and you don't want to miss a thing.

-Dysco

[FatChance]

I live here where all these great roads are that people are mentioning. But the one 'MUST do' road is 141 from Naturita to Whitewater (20 miles south of Grand Junction). You'll want to turn around and do it again. Do this one first. For me, it is as close to a religious experience as you'll find. BTW. they have a great burger at the bar and grill in Naturita.

[mlaotn]

I used to live in Paonia up to 1st grade. All my sisters and brother were born there. I haven't been there in 25+ years. If somebody going to Paonia wouldn't mind, I would appreaciate having a picture of the old homestead. The address is 1111 3rd St. It is the house next to the church. Thanks in advance.

[J-Dash]

Originally Posted by mlaotn

I used to live in Paonia up to 1st grade. All my sisters and brother were born there. I haven't been there in 25+ years. If somebody going to Paonia wouldn't mind, I would appreaciate having a picture of the old homestead. The address is 1111 3rd St. It is the house next to the church. Thanks in advance.

I'm taking a camera so I'll do my best to make it by there.