Great weekend! Please post your ride reports and pics to this thread. I’ll fill in this post with my report of the weekend and a few pics.
Thanks for joining me!
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Killer trip. Awesome company. Thanks to all that made it and a big thanks to Rich for setting it up.
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Had a great time on the WY BDR-X this weekend. Good riding, good food, and good people. Splitting the cattle on the way home sure was fun. Thanks everyone for a great time and thanks @Rich_Strauss for setting it up.
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@Rich_Strauss looks like you broke the headlight mount? I did that once! Used my net to “secure” it for the ride home from Red Feathers
Yeah. I noticed on Saturday that the lower right frame tab, where the mount bolts to the frame, was broken. I realize now that it has likely been broken for a while. Then I hit a large hole/ rock on the Bridger Peak expert section, bottomed out the forks and felt / heard a break. After the application of some safety wire it was more secure than it was at the start of the ride. Ordering parts and a real brace now.
Another stupid KTM design fails…
Good riding with you all. Everything was awesome except for the 50 mph WIND, Fookin brutal. Sunday’s route across Bridger Peak was the highlight. Couple KTM snafus, Emmanuel’s exhaust fell off…again, Rich’s headlight assembly partially snapped..safety wire for the win!
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Thanks for the photos and stories!
Friday: I was joined by @MoJoe @Jason_Pennington @Emmanuel_chaves @ChrisMunro @Kurdz2408 @D.Smith for the ride up to Baggs, meeting in Hygiene. The original plan was to ride up to Encampment via pavement then take WYBDR Sect 1 west to Baggs, with the Bridger Peak expert section as an alternate hard option. The area got a good bit of rain that week so we flexed the plan and decided to do our planned Sunday route on Friday instead, getting to Baggs with enough time to scout out conditions on the X route, to confirm it was a go for Saturday.
So Friday we rode up to Baggs via Masonville, Rustic, Walden and Steamboat, picking up COBDR Sect 8 after lunch in Steamboat. Very easy, scenic ride ($$$$$$ ranches!) to the border, then the connector route to Baggs. We arrive in Baggs by about 4p, dropped our gear and rode about 80 miles into the X route and back. Dry as a bone = a go for Saturday. I had about 390 miles on the dial for the day, a big day.
We were joined in the campground by @Mark who had trucked up, riding most of Sect 1, including Bridger Peak.
Saturday: the full crew did the X route, clockwise. We organically split into an A-group of me, @Jason_Pennington @Kurdz2408 and @D.Smith and a B-group of @MoJoe @ChrisMunro @Emmanuel_chaves and @Mark
Route Overview:
- About 40 miles of kinda admin on the front end of the route, as 20 miles of pavement to the start and then at least 20-25 miles of wide open road.
- Then the route got more fun with sand, sometimes deep, some short rocky climbs, etc. I’d say the fun stuff was from about 8-11p on loop.
- After that it opens up and runs along the rim of a plateau overlooking the red desert below to the north. Fun two track with some great views of the desert below.
- Then it drops down off the plateau for a straight shot on dirt roads back to pavement. I may have seen 95mph in there somewhere…
We were finished with the loop by about 2-3p, so we decided to freelance a route to Boyer Ranch to check it out. I let DMD2 quickly plan a route to the ranch for us and it worked perfectly, though I had to ignore some goat trail stuff it wanted us to take. The route to the ranch is part of the Continental Divide Trail, as well as Sect 1, and there were many cyclists out there doing the route in absolutely brutal head / crosswinds. We came up on a lady walking her fully loaded bike, so I stopped to see if she was alright, needed anything, etc. She said she was only 1400 miles in to her ride…
Wind was the constant for the weekend, especially on Saturday. The head / crosswinds were just brutal. So. Much. Wind.
Sunday: some of the group needed to get back so we split up. Joe, Jason and I took a pavement / easy dirt shortcut to Boyer Ranch, picking up Sect 1 there as we had ridden Sect 1 to Boyer on our add-on for Saturday. Epically scenic day, perfect bike big, scenic riding through high desert, forests, and some perfect pavement. Bridger Peak was just challenging enough to keep it fun and the views at the top were well worth the ride. @Arrivo did this section in 2022 but ascended into fog and couldn’t see anything at the top. I grateful that I was able to make it back.
Such a scenic ride that I just booked a cabin at Boyer Ranch for Kandi and me this weekend, and I’ll bring her up there via a combination of the dirt roads we took.
After finishing in Encampment we jumped on the pavement for the burn back to Longmont…into more wind. It thankfully died as we rode towards Cameron Pass and into the Poude River.
816 total miles for me, over the three days.
What Worked:
- DMD2 navigation software. I used the web based Route Planner to plan the route and the navigation app on my tablet is top notch. Very easy to see and follow the route, the map detail has just what you need, and I was able to very quickly have it plan a route for us from the end of the X route to Boyer Ranch. I continue to be impressed with the platform. Android based, free, check it out.
- Radios: gonna keep saying it…a game changer. And the sound quality of the RT vs the Baofeng is very apparent when you have a mix of radios on the group.
- Nomad Moto luggage: I picked up their 80L system during a Black Friday sale. The system is a base to which you attached 2x 20L rolltop panniers. To this you can secure a 40L duffel. Everything is very durable, simple to mount, with clips to easily secure the duffel to the base. The bags are just big enough to hold everything you need but not so big that you can bring stupid shit, and very easy to access the contents of the panniers or duffel. I used the system for 4 days of the NMBDR and for this weekend ride. Simple, durable, functional, and a good price.
A great weekend and a preview of the kind of rides we can create for ourselves as the club gains momentum!
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Yep.
Hey Joe - Nice riding with you. Bridger peak was probably my favorite section too. Did you have any trouble getting around that downed tree?
Nope, all trees cut or moved. Some of them looked very recent
More:
The Cowboy Inn – excellent service, good food served quickly. The owner (I forget her name) is always there, very friendly and knowledgeable of the area. The bar and cafe are the town social center where everyone knows each other.
Friendly locals – a little uncomfortably so, in a good way, if you’re a city vs a country mouse 
. They’re genuinely happy to see you and want to know about where you’re from, your ride, etc. Very cool.
Aside from the fookin’ wind, it’s very convenient to have this kind of riding so close to us. A great 2 day weekend would be ride up to Centennial from BoCO, do all of Section 1 east to west, stay at Boyer Ranch. Then pick up the COBDR connector, do Sect 8 south to Steamboat and take Buffalo Pass and RMNP east.
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@Mark No problems up to Bridger Peak, the downed tree you were talking about had been cut.
Great news. I hate riding around and tearing up the trailside scenery.