WARNING! Very little Triumph content in this post. I thought I'd post this anyway since it might be of interest to some, and the Colorado scenic pics might get some of you to explore that beautiful state on your Triumphs.
This past week I attended the
2008 NAGTSR. Having just bought a 1993 Yamaha GTS1000 a month ago, I thought the trip to Colorado would be a good opportunity to check out the mods on other peoples bikes to get an idea on how to make my bike more useable for touring. I started off last Sunday with a plan to ride the Devil's Highway in eastern Arizona and spend the night in Gallup or Grant's, NM on I-40 the first day. I left at around 5:30 am to avoid the heat since it was 110 in Tucson the day before my trip. After buzzing down I-10 and thro9ugh Safford, I found myself climbing the hill above the mine in Morenci, and the fun began.
Here's a shot of the mine in the distance, one of the largest man made holes in the world.
About 60 miles further up 191(used to be numbered Route 666), there's Blue Vista at 9,000 feet that sits on a ridge where you can see for hundreds of miles both east and west.
After spending the night in Gallup, NM, I met up with FCTush(Mike) in Montrose, Co and he escorted me into Gunnison and the motel I stayed at. Mike rode his America, so there's the Triumph content for this post, but I should've taken a pic.
At Rally HQ there were already quite a few bikes there on Monday.
We spent most evenings kicking tires and drinking beer in the parking lot. One guy even brought a 5 gallon tank of homemade brew that Dinqua would've been proud of. The next day I took a ride down to Crede for lunch and joined up with a couple of guys from Phoenix along the way.
Mural next door to the place we had lunch at in Crede.
I went back to the motel while they continued on the 300+ mile loop they were taking. On the way back I stopped at an overlook of the San Juan Mountains with rain threatening.
When I got back to the motel, James Parker, who invented the front end for the GTS1000, had shown up and was unloading a couple of bikes for us to check out.
Here's a modified GSX-R1000 that was featured in the January issue of Motorcyclist magazine. Parker is the guy standing in the middle with the light blue shirt on.
He was cool about answering any questions, and even let anybody there give it a short test ride around the motel parking lot. I still can't believe he let us goobers ride his $150,000 prototype. Here's a couple of shots of the front end on the Gixxer.
The next day I rode up to Carbondale on hwy 92 and 133, both great roads.
On the way back, I took a dirt road shortcut over to Crested Butte. I think my next bike is going to have some dirt road capabilities. Maybe a BMW GS800 in 4 or 5 years or a 675 Tiger Cub is they make it at least a bit dirt friendly.
On the way back to Gunnison from Crested Butte, I stopped to check out a fish hatchery, but it was empty. I did get the "bike parked in front of a bridge shot".
On Thursday I left for home, and decided to ride the Million Dollar Highway through Ouray and Silverton, even though it's more of a tourist bottleneck than a great road to ride. It did have some great scenery though.
I got home on Friday after roasting the last 3 hours in 100+ degree heat, but it was worth it. Colorado has some great roads and it's worth making the trek. Maybe one of these days we can get FCTush, wrwallpi, or some of the other Colorado contingent to host a Triumph rally up there. I know I'd be in.
