Route:

• CO-119
• US-6
• I-70
• CO-13/CO-789
• CO-64
• US-40
• I-80
• I-84

Finally, the morning of departure arrived. With much reluctance, I rolled out of bed at 5:30am and got dressed. Then went out to the bike and started loading the luggage. It was damned cold at my 9000 foot elevation and some frost was coating everything. Excuse me? This is July! At the last minute, I decided to add another shirt under my leathers and to put on my heavy winter riding gloves. With everything in place, I gave my cats a scratch behind the ears, locked up the house and pushed the bike into the driveway.

With a turn of the key and a flick of the starter button, I was off. Or at least that was the plan. Unfortunately, the pressing of the starter button failed to bring about the expected whirring of the starter and boom of combustion. Instead, there was silence. It was at this point that I began to realize my weeks of work hadn't been as productive as I'd intended. In a near panic, I unstrapped the camping gear, removed the soft saddlebags, popped the seat and started fishing around in the wiring. With the slightest touch of the wiring near the bike's alarm system, the starter sprang to life and the bike began to roughly search for its cold idle. While the bike warmed up, I put all the gear back on the bike and mounted up. Finally, just a few minutes behind schedule, I left the driveway and turned south onto CO-119.

One of the few convienences of waking up early is the ability to enjoy the mountain roads when they are completely free of traffic. With the morning sun still hidden behind the 10,000 ft peaks to the east, there wasn't a car in sight. Instead, a little morning mist clung to the road and the last of the night's stars were visible over the Continental Divide to the southwest. As the bike started through the first set of switchbacks near the house, I immediately forgot the bikes starting problems, the late nights and even the frantic days at work. I'd hardly gone 200 yards and already I was grinning. At this altitude the GSXR didn't carbuerate cleanly at high rpms but the low end was perfect for accelerating out of one tight turn and onto the short straight sections of road before the next. The 10 miles to Blackhawk went quickly, as did the following 10 that lead to I-70.

Here, I was able to merge with the sparse traffic and pick up the pace a little more. The climb up to Idaho Springs, where I was to meet Gooz and Jim took less time than I'd anticipated so I pulled off the exit with time to spare. Since I wanted to mail some bills out before the trip, I headed on into town to find the Post Office. Since Idaho Springs only has two streets it didn't take long and I was quickly headed back to the rendezvous gas station. Unfortunately, an uphill turn caused the bike to stall and again, the starter button produced anything but the desired effect. Again, in a frantic rush, I removed everything and fiddled with the alarm wires until thing returned to normal and the bike started. With a flushed face, I repacked everything and continued up the street to the gas station where Gooz and Jim were already gasing up.

I was introduced to Jim as I gassed up and we quickly went over the morning's plans. Get on the slab and head over the Divide, then bail and start working our way northwest through the dry plateaus of north western Colorado and eastern Utah. Once out on the Interstate, Gooz took up the lead while I covered the tail. The bikes seemed to be pulling well and we had no problem passing slower traffic. As we neared the Eisenhower Tunnel, the altitude began to show as the GSXR started sputtering at high rpms and refusing to pull faster than 90 mph on the steep grades. The only other problem was a Harley rider that parked in the fast lane, then did a quick lane change without signaling just as I started to pass him on the right. Some mornings, it just seems like the world has different plans for you.

Despite the rising sun, the gradually increasing altitude kept things from getting warm. The trip though the tunnel was uneventful but things began to get chilly as we started the climb up to Vail Pass. By the time we crested the pass, I was thankful I'd put on that extra shirt. Ballon at Vail

Glenwood Springs

Gold Wing on trailer

Canyon?

Slow traffic

exit Rifle

backwoods boogie

pass CB400 (and 2 other bikes) with Canada tag

Break at ? lake

Dinosaur

Into Utah

Almost rearended at onramp

Echo Res break

slab-slab

break at Brigham City

fry stop at Artic Circle

slab-slab

sunset

Boise skin heads

Pizza

Pics to include above:

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