I’ve led rides on this route every June for the last 4yrs, and have had as many as 30 riders join me in Sedalia. The season is coming to an end and I wanted to get back down there one more time, but tweaked the route to eliminate the 30-40 miles on Rampart to end the ride. So we started at the Mt Herman trailhead outside of CO Springs.
Scenic, but slippery, twisty ride on Mt Herman road to Rampart to Hotel Gulch to 67 to Rainbow Falls for a quick break and obligatory selfie.
I was joined in the ride by (from left to right) @MotoJason @noahnomad @Terminous @STownsend @Mark @anichols @SBurrell
This was basically an admin portage to the main route, which is a big loop through Westcreek.
With the exception of the small bits of 770 we did, as well as some of the other trails later in the day, the county / NFS has taken a grader to much of the route. As a result, I wouldn’t say that the route qualifies as “Intermediate” at this time, other than, again, 770 and a small bit of the later stuff. Bummer. Let’s hope for a wet winter and heavy spring rains to burn in some washouts and other fun stuff.
After a fun day of riding we circled back to Rainbow Falls, up Hotel Gulch and back to the trucks via Mt Herman Rd. Temps on the ride back dipped in to the low to mid-30s. I’m pretty sure my hands had never been so cold. It sucked.
Huge shoutout to @STownsend and @SBurrell for joining us on the ride on their GS130,000s. Big fookin’ bikes. Steph was coming off of her WIN of the GS Trophy Challenge a couple of weeks ago in Germany. She and I did the WYBDR together about 3yrs ago as well. We had fun yesterday dicing it up a fun and bermy hill climb late in the day.
@SBurrell has a very cool story: she and her partner nearly quit the sport after a disastrous day of instruction at the hands of Eric Melvin, the founder of the Colorado Adventure Riders FB page. Yep, I’m calling him out because he’s a shit instructor and a well-documented fucking creep.
I met Sherri when she and her partner, Lezlie, took @MotoiKandi all-ladies class at IMI with my wife, Kandi (so much Kandi in my life…). I took her, Lezlie, and my Kandi on several rides that summer, taught a navigation and group riding class for the CO GS Girls, and led a beginner ride for them the following summer.
Since then she, Stephanie, Lezlie and their friend Chris have founded The FARM, a world class moto training facility in Parker.
Back to the ride report: I followed Sherri through the twisty cat-litter section of 770. This section requires excellent low speed balance skills while navigating through some very loose pea gravel. She did great, a remarkable improvement from when I rode with her often 3yrs ago.
+++++++
So, super fun ride in a great big bike route that’s a good bit tamer than I wanted, but still a fun day.
Post pics and videos (@STownsend) if you got 'em, I only took my one contractually obligated photo, per SOP.
At 5’8/9”, I’m fairly well smitten with the bike, but I’d need to cut those bars down to a reasonable width.
