A Solo Flatlander Rides to Colorado With An F800GS to Find Some Snow!

[child]

Here's where my contribution to this ride report comes in:



Thats me at work, not in colorado


Oliver/Ender started bugging me about another Colorado trip mid spring, I wanted to go of course, but projects at work have kept me working 7 days a week. So I kept telling him end of August, early September, just wait for me, end of August early September... but noooooo. He couldn't wait for me

I am very jealous; it was especially hard watching his spot map as he tackled some of the passes we hit last year. This work crap is for the birds.

[EnderTheX]

Originally Posted by child

This work crap is for the birds.

Not to worry! I still have over two weeks vacation I can take this year so we will have to do an extended trip... maybe this time with the smaller bikes!




Day 2 continued...

I knew I wasn't going to be in Colorado for another day but I needed to get more practice with the cameras. Once I got on some interesting dirt I set up a few shots with the secondary cam in addition to the helmet cam.

The forward mounting position worked very well, one of my favorite perspectives because it gives a good idea of how rough the trail can be. I believe in future iterations I moved it even farther forward on the crash bars.




Rear facing was also easy with the vario bars still attached. Just have to be careful the centerstand or kickstand don't get in the way when you pop them back up!








Another one I tried that day was the rider view cam. The RAM mount I used was easy to mount in this position but with all the other stuff on the handlebars there were no other options...

[sgifford]

Oliver,

This is very cool. I am also from the dfw area (Wylie) and I am planning a solo ride through NM to Colorado next month on my wee-strom. I will be following your report closely.

I'm not looking forward to the ride from Dallas to NM. I will probably hit the road at 4:00 am to avoid the heat!

Sent from my SGH-T959V using Tapatalk

[zzlejeune]

Subscribed!!

Our crew will be back up in the San Juans again in about a week, we'll be staying in Silverton this time. I noticed your GPS tracks didn't have you going down the Black Bear "steps" We have 2 new guys in our group, so they want to do Black Bear, and after last year's experience, I may meet them in Telluride via Ophir Pass...

Awesome camera mounts, can't wait to see the rest!

[EnderTheX]

Originally Posted by sgifford

This is very cool. I am also from the dfw area (Wylie) and I am planning a solo ride through NM to Colorado next month on my wee-strom. I will be following your report closely.

I'm not looking forward to the ride from Dallas to NM. I will probably hit the road at 4:00 am to avoid the heat!

That should be a fun trip with the wee, hard to escape the heat though since it was almost 110 in mid-afternoon!

Originally Posted by zzlejeune

Our crew will be back up in the San Juans again in about a week, we'll be staying in Silverton this time. I noticed your GPS tracks didn't have you going down the Black Bear "steps" We have 2 new guys in our group, so they want to do Black Bear, and after last year's experience, I may meet them in Telluride via Ophir Pass...

Awesome, Black Bear is quite a challenge especially if you are on a big bike! At the time I was in Colorado (end of June) this year they hadn't opened Black Bear, Imogene, Red Mountain, or several other passes yet...

If you want a more complete San Juan report check out the second link in my signature or follow this link: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=612677
That is Chris and my ride report from last year, we did the majority of the passes in the Silverton area. The Black Bear report starts around post 259 and Chris and I give a rating of all the passes in posts 332 (Chris) and 336-337 (me).

[Godzpwr]

Awesome report! I think my wife and I ran into you last August in Silverton. We had just arrived into town from Alabama, I was on my XR and my wife rode a litle KLX250 all that way. I decided after that trip that I needed a GS for a trip like that :) Trailering this year. Cant wait for the cooler climate!!!!!!!!!!

[jdfish2279]

Originally Posted by EnderTheX

Awesome, Black Bear is quite a challenge especially if you are on a big bike!

Yeah, we know. We are the group that went right before you guys last year. I had a hard time with my DR650. This year Im on a DRZ400E so it shouldnt be as bad.

Thanks for the heads-up on the conditions. Should make for an interesting time this year.

[Fast1]

excellent videos

[EnderTheX]

Originally Posted by Godzpwr

Awesome report! I think my wife and I ran into you last August in Silverton. We had just arrived into town from Alabama, I was on my XR and my wife rode a litle KLX250 all that way.

Small world! Yeah... when Chris and I take the 250s out there we may use the truck. Even though it's physically possible to ride the small bikes that far it takes up some vacation time!

Originally Posted by jdfish2279

Yeah, we know. We are the group that went right before you guys last year. I had a hard time with my DR650. This year Im on a DRZ400E so it shouldnt be as bad.

Thanks for the heads-up on the conditions. Should make for an interesting time this year.

Good luck out there! I think everything may be open by now but I would check with the local ranger station just in case... it was a late year for the snow. I hope I get the chance to attack Black Bear with my WR250R later this year and finally conquer it properly!






So last night I was playing around with picture-in-picture video and I started on a really cool vid. Luckily it is easy to do so I will have another video for yall tonight!


Here are the rest of the day 2 pictures:


I arrived at the Heron Reservoir and found a mostly deserted campground and a camp site on the lake. This was a cool spot but there was a fire ban in effect so no burning stuff tonight





Setting up camp... I love my tent, compact and very robust! I did a time-lapse sequence of me throwing it up so I will have to see if I can get it into video too!





Dinner was tasty! I carried these tuna packets and MREs to eat along the way, a low profile and energy dense solution. The tabasco is an absolute necessity!





The lake was very calm and I had plenty of time to sit in silence and contemplate life in general. A couple flocks of geese were paddling around the lake very slowly, the temperature was perfect, no campers around... the perfect end to a long day!

[jdfish2279]

Excellent pictures. I hoping to make good use out of the new DSLR I bought and try and get some good photos this year. We had several point and shoot cameras and one DSLR last year and did fairly well. Im curious to see how well they turn out this year!

[GISMAN]

Great video's and pictures!

I am the guy from the group from LA and TX riding the 1200GS's and 1 Ducati Multistrada (we were fixing his tire) who had just come over cinnamon from the west and chatted with you.

Question.....would you have felt comfortable doing Engineer's on a bigger bike such as the 1200GS? Personally, between Ophir and Cinnamon. I think I had enough of 500+ lbs of bike vs. trail.
Thanks for indirectly helping us document our trip and keep the updates coming.

GISMan

[Bob]

Nice!

[EnderTheX]

Originally Posted by GISMAN

I am the guy from the group from LA and TX riding the 1200GS's and 1 Ducati Multistrada (we were fixing his tire) who had just come over cinnamon from the west and chatted with you.

Question.....would you have felt comfortable doing Engineer's on a bigger bike such as the 1200GS? Personally, between Ophir and Cinnamon. I think I had enough of 500+ lbs of bike vs. trail.
Thanks for indirectly helping us document our trip and keep the updates coming.

Cool! Glad you found the ride report! I was impressed that the Multistrada made it over the pass... Looked like you guys knew what you were doing and I was anxious to stay in front of a large jeep crowd so our conversation was short but I got it on video! A quick video below sums it up... (most of the rest of the conversation was too garbled, the GoPro isn't that great at low audio with the waterproof cover).

To answer your question... yes! I think a 1200GS can do Engineer Pass with a reasonably experienced rider. The very first moment in my highlights video was the hairiest part of Engineer Pass (it sure surprised me though!). I would recommend going with smaller bikes to have more fun but the big bikes are an experience you will never forget!!

[EnderTheX]

OK... finally got the PiP video done from last night. This is day two when I was experimenting with the cameras. You can view it in 720 and it has audio... a bit of music at the end over the wind noise too!

[Red Leader]

Great report Oliver, and spectacular video, looking forward to the WR250 trip, hope you document that one.