14 days - Western TAT for 5

[Catastrophic Failure]

Mike S. has arrived in Denver with the goods... Mike R. Paul V. and myself will be on the 6 AM out of Seattle. Schedule is set for rolling shortly after noon. The adrenal glands are kicking in and have forced an early exit from work today Feeling the 640's vibes already!!

[redog1]

[lionsroaar]

Hmm, looks like I'll be following another RR from the road as well... Be safe guys and Redog1 and I will be on your six shortly...

[outfront]

Hello all,

Im here in Denver ready to go.
The truck ran great!

Paul, Mark, and Mike R. I'll see ya in the morning

Mike S.

[tele-steve]

Drink lots of water... that is my only advise.

[Bob]

nice 03

[Catastrophic Failure]

Flew into Denver from Seattle. Thanks for the early ride the airport Marcus!We are leaving sea level, where Mt Rainier is the highest point at 14,410. Then we will be riding at 7 - 10,000 all day long. Thanks for the water reminders!



Finally prepped bikes, grabbed fuel and a quick lunch and headed for the CDT at Como.

25 miles in Paul V. lost his clutch - dead zero. A small addition of Mineral Oil to top off the resevoir and he was back in the saddle.



We got some solid riding in from Como to Salida with great conditions. Very fast riding with great veiws. Hit 10,000 feet a couple times, but spent most of the time riding in 4th and 5th covering alot of ground.


The weather started to turn on us late in the day, and it is raining this evening.

Tomorrow morning 5 hours of CDT towards Del Norte. Then slab to Trinidad.

[Buell78753]

Most excellent to see all of you from Seattle on the TAT! I was raised in Seattle, but now living in Austin Texas. Nice shot of Mt. Rainer, have not seen that in a while. You will love the TAT!
Plus, that bottle of mineral oil is also a laxative, keep it handy!

[terrier]

I kind of thought that might happen. Brake fluid rarely disappears unless theres a leak somewhere. The dig dong that serviced it at Hinshaws was out to lunch. It's a good thing you brought a BIG bottle. MS called it....
Great pictures and R/R. Looking forward to following along. You might get to test some rain gear out tomorrow. Getty-up!!

[Catastrophic Failure]

Rolled out of Salida and headed directly over Marshall Pass. I found 16 PSI front and 18 PSI Rear felt like velvet climbing to the summit. Soil conditions were moist from last nights rain, and allowed us to run 3rd and 4th the entire climb!



The wind was noticeable and we ran fast and cool the rest of the morning.


8000' - 10,000' was cool and refreshing


I used heated grips off until about 10 AM.

Very light traffic on all Trails even though it was a sunny Sunday

We took turns leading, and the dust layed low for most of the day.

Ran some sand going into Del Norte, and saw a new air strip being built just South of the sand/jeep trail. CDT is going to have to run a small reroute soon.

Ran into a couple of ADV'rs who are running the CDT North to South. They were on day 11 after leaving from Los Angeles and were a kick to talk too.

Kinda made us feel old, so we slabbed to Trinidad and saw two good size Black Bears, with big old square heads.



320 Miles today


Chilling in Trinidad, checking our maps and our big day tomorrow.

[Catastrophic Failure]

We woke up in Trinidad to high winds and a grey sky. We rolled through some great Colorado backroads with great views


The way the pioneers covered this land...




It stayed very windy for the entire morning, and the riding was fast paced


Road 634 was damp, fast and the reason we ride!

And ride...


Rd. 634 tops out at 10,700'

Lunch in Westcliffe and then a great climb out of Cotopaxi.

Everyone rode smooth and fast on the packed dirt.


We blazed up to a higher peak to get over 11,000'


The hill was steep and full of boulders.

But the view was worth it...


Rolled down and into Salida.

Tomorrow onto Lake City, with a couple of planned side routes.

[Catastrophic Failure]

We left Salida and headed directly for Tin Cup Pass. 6 miles of up with only the last 1/4 mile very technical.

Rolling up to the summit.



A few quad riders were at the summit of Tin Cup, with one rollover right in front of us. Everyone survived with limited injuries.



Summit Tin Cup





Next was Hancock Pass, which was a bit more technical.



KTM's shined here, but there was some banging going on!



Summit Hancock Pass



Going down was steep but very rewarding.



You then start immediately back up Tomichi Pass.



This is a narrow climb, a bit wider than quad track. Sportsmobiles not advised on this tight track.



If you feel like running a little faster, this is a solid track to run on.


The veiw back to Hancock Pass is a vivid remider of where you just came from.


Going down from Tomichi Pass is loose and slick.


Lunch at Sargents then continued West towards Los Pinos Pass. This was fast and fun at 10,000 feet.


We spotted some Big Horn Sheep.





Then another summit, Slumgullion Pass at 11,530'


Finally a fifth gear run into Lake City. The Matterhorn Motel is a great place to crash. A few electrical repairs on bikes, air filter service, and a true Man versus Food dinner... More high routes tomorrow!

[LittleWan]

Lookin' good you guys!
Hey, was Hancock open or did you do the ol' rotten-board-behind-the-tree work around ?

Nice pics of the big horn sheep

[Catastrophic Failure]

Engineer Pass takes off immediately out of town from Lake City. Its an easy climb up to 12,800 with 360 degree views from the summit.



Check out this high end cabin on the way up.





Nice trail with few suprises. Unlike Tomichi and Hancock yesterday.



Someone scrambled up to 13,000 plus just for kicks.



KTM's at the top of Engineer Pass



The high altitude crew...

We took a quick run up Cinnomon Pass.





Not too steep or rough



Great views again!

Onto California Pass.


Clean trail, with no step ups

Lots of impressive overlooks





Lots of traffic on California Pass, and I smoked my breaks on the way down. Had to take a 10 minute cool down to get some brakes back!



Right on to Ophir Pass



Spectacular colors and a clean trail.



The sky in Colorado at this elevation is more blue than any where I've been



Lunch in Telluride, with lots of comments on the bikes, everyone wants to be a ADV Rider





Onto Willow Divide, and it must have just poured here because there were 2 foot deep mudders around every corner up on top. Big bikes will wallow around in the mud here, but the lighter KTM's played in it...




Then fast wide open marble roads into Dove Creek.




Goodbye Colorado, hello Utah



More of the same to Monticello, we must have played around too much today, because we got in at dark.


8 PM sunset here. Moab tomorrow

[terrier]

Looks like the altitude has done you in. Is that YMCA or UTAH