One great ride, Many great roads.

Listers, I'm back from Colorado and the Thin-Air TT rally. I found it to be one of the best run and most relaxing endurance rallies that I've participated in. It was a 1+1 format where the rally is ridden in two separate stages (riding 14 hours on Saturday and 11.5 hours on Sunday) with no night riding as opposed to the usual 24 or 26 hour format where you ride continuously for 24(26) hours.

I'd like to share with you my ride tale surrounding this past weekend's event. It's kind'a long, so if you aren't interested you'd best hit delete now ..... Still with me? Great! Lets get started.

Pre-Rally Friday, July 26, 2002:

I meet up with two RT riders (an R1100 and an R100 air) at 8am and head out. We have a relatively uneventful (but boring) ride up the super-slab, I-25 to Denver. Maintain a relaxed ~75 mph~ the entire way. Due to the R100RT's gas range we stop in Raton and Colorado Springs for gas. After a bite in Co. Springs, we just mosey on in, skirting Denver rush hour traffic by taking US85 and CO470 to the Days Inn Denver West off of I-70 at exit-262. Upon arrival and checking in with the rally masters, Bill Gillespie and fellow lister Brian Boberick, and having tech inspection and odometer check done by Bob Norton, the other participants and I proceed to pop open brews and kick tires until the rider meeting at 8pm where we are given Saturday's and Sunday's base routes along with a quick rules briefing. A quick Q/A session follows (One rider question about "authorized sniveling" comes to mind...(;-) Then it's back to the various hotel rooms to unfurl paper maps, fire up the computers and GPS units. With pens, pencils and markers in hand we stare with crazed facial expressions that only an endurance rallyist can understand. Thus you sit up until the wee hours pouring over the "possible" bonus opportunities that "might" be presented. What the heck am I still doing up? Got to get some sleep cuz 4am comes awfully early.

Day-1 Saturday, July 27, 2002:

Up at 4am, the alarm hits the wall. Shiet, Shower and Shave quick because the bonus lists are available at 4:30. I show up at the rally hall a bit late and look for my packet among the remaining five or six. Hmmmm.... I know it's early and I'm tired, but I can't seen to find packet #34. Brian says he has an idea who might have taken it my mistake. If not, I'll get a new number, Rider #43. This number seems to stick in my head and causes mild grief throughout the weekend. I take a Full hour to pour over the boni-ops and finally saddle up and log out at 6:08am MDT.

First bonus location for me is the Coors Brewery in Golden. Hey, This seems like a fitting bonus for 6am, the bonus description recommends NOT to sample any of the product.... Ahhh Alright.... if you insist... but riding in the ally and through the tunnel at the back of the plant had enough beer fumes (can beer Have fumes?) .. enough beer fumes to get one buzzed without drinking a drop. Time to Clear one's Head, eh? On to Rocky Flats for some obscure company name and then into the mountains via CO72. There is Nothing quite like riding Colorado Rocky Mountain High at ~6:30~7~am. Cool, Crisp air. Clean smooth roads. Up/Down, bank Right/Left, one after another on into Pinecliff and Nederland then on into Raymond. Next bonus, Hu? What the heck is an "Excavator" ... What ever it is, its has a radiator cause I've gotta get the name off of it. It's an old diesel powered shovel .. (I guess "excavator" must be the "PC" term for it like "Refuse Engineer" and such) .. BUDA it is, then up CO7 into Estes Park for a date with Steven King and the inspiration for "The Shining" the old Stanley Hotel. Get those points collected then I blast out CO34 to Ft. Collins and the location "where the heck is Bellvue and Lori State Park." I looked, it's on the map, it's on the bonus sheet. I guess it's one of those places that you (or at least I) just can't get there from here. Blow it! On to Laramie, WY.

Picking up boni at Ted's Place and Virginia Dale along the way, and yet more points gathered in Laramie, it's west on WY130 and into some of "THEE Best" roads around. Wide, clean sweepers, and Clear mountain vistas. Looks like an 80mph+ road to me... Oh, I love the BT020s, BTW.... Medicine Bow Natl Pk. is a place to be seen. Maybe next time I'll have more time. Gotta get to the Mandatory Checkpoint in Encampment, all the while stopping for points gathering duty. Oh, I just GOT to buy something is Saratoga, WY on the way (55 points?). Maybe a bag of peanuts ... yeah, that it. They taste good too... Now on to the checkpoint (no sweat) then more bonus hunting. Stop for a continental divide photo-op for the Thin-Air progressive bonus group and on to Slater, Colorado along Wyoming HWY70. According to the rally master, WY70 dips down into Colorado for a brief 1.05 miles but the US government and their Global Positioning Satellite network measures the distance on my reset GPSIII+ at more like 1.03 miles. Oh Well, 33 points down the tubes...(:-\ No sniveling, remember? Next up, Baggs and CO13 into Craig for yet another good road and more boni opportunity. Swing a left at Craig and on to US40 to Steamboat Springs. Bad Road, too much traffic compared to all the prior stretches. A bit of throttle work and the traffic is history, until the next bunch.

Steamboat Springs, What can I say about Steamboat Springs. It smells a lot like sulfur, has black pools of the stuff that remain a constant 75 deg. and has a museum with a statue of "Hazie" out front. That's it. That is as long as I was there, but the traffic seems to have cleared, and that's Goodness. While at Rabbit Ears Pass I talk briefly with a German family on holiday . Seems they are quite interested in this sport of endurance riding/rallying. The family's young girl who reminds me a lot of my own 11 y/o daughter holds up my number card under the Pass sign while I snap the Polaroid. I snap two and give here one as a souvenir. Muddy Pass is next as is Kremmling, Parshall and Granby, with a brief jaunt up CO125 for a Willow Creek Pass photo and then some info on a barn looking "old house" which is really a store for the C-lazy-U Dude Ranch. Can't hang around and look at all the dude ranchers gawking at me in my "Space Suit," gotta get going.

Up comes Fraser then Winter Park where I gather info on the Moffat Tunnel. It's here I get a real bad string of hits on the V1, seems they don't like speeders in Winter Park... shish, Go Figure. Just go sllooowwww..... UP, the mountain pass to Berthoud. I'm just cooking along following a silver Porch Boxster that's playing rabbit for me when what do I see out of my peripheral vision? A Big ol' Ford F250 PowerStroke blasting by me on the inside lane blowing diesel fumes out every which way. I gag as I let the guy go by only to get boxed in by him on the next curve. I continue to eat his smoke for another couple of turns when he decides that his pick'um-up really isn't the right tool for this job and backs it off. Another turn in the road and I catch up to a Basalt K1200LT with something about morons painted on the trunk....(;-) Meet up with Rick Rohlf and his lovely co-pilot/wife Lisa at Berthoud pass summit. Seems they are having an issue with their Polaroid camera. It isn't working. I snap a shot of my number-card at the Pass sign and give my camera over to Rick to do the same. We then head down the far side into Empire when I hear Honking. Slow down to let Rick and Lisa get beside me and they are waving and pointing at my trunk, which I had forgotten to latch. I guess it's bouncing around a bit and the last thing I need is to loose the stuff that's in there. Quick-Stop to re-latch and I'm back on road. I catch back up to them just before getting on I-70 to thank them. I mention I'm heading out to Eisenhower tunnel to get one last Divide photo and invite them along if they need the photo, they accept. We make it to the east side of the tunnel, pull the camera out to take two Polaroid's. We bid adieu and they head back to the hotel and the end-point. I decide to gather one last bonus in Idaho Springs and head back myself. I arrive with minutes to spare before the penalty period starts.

Saturday's ride is history. Once I compile my bonus material and turn it in Now, several hours after visiting the Coors Brewery, it's time to pop a cold one. A shower to clean up, some tire kicking, some more brewskies and some burgers and dogs complements of our TATT hosts and the day is over. It was a great ride with some great bonus ops to be had. A great time for all but one. One of the buddies that I had met in Santa Fe to ride up with had gone down late in the day. He's quite OK but for a tweaked shoulder and a trashed bike. I wish those things didn't happen, but they do. 'nuf said.

Time for a good night sleep 'cuz tomorrow's another day and another ride, and 4am comes awfully early.

End of part 1.

You're back, eh? Boy! you must have liked the fist round of drivel...(:-)

So Lets get started. I ended Saturday with the hopes of getting enough sleep to feel refreshed come 0400 hours Sunday morning. Let me tell you something about ear plugs, They aren't just for riding anymore. Just make sure you put them in BEFORE you go to sleep, not after you've been woken up at 0130 by someone trying to start an unmuffled chainsaw in the bed next to yours....

Day-2 Sunday, July 28, 2002:

Up at 4am out of bed by 4:30. Retrieve the Sunday bonus sheet by 4:45. Inhale a tall cup of Conoco Quick-Stop coffee. Quickly read through the bonus locations and mentally engrain the day's mandatory checkpoint in Florence, CO. Gotta be there between 9:30 and noon. Saddle up, check out at 6:10am and I'm on my way, south this time. First easy bonus (and some morning exercise in the form of stair climbing) is at Red Rocks Amphitheater just a couple of miles down I-70 off of exit 259 then some tourist joint named "Tiny Town" where a caboose number was required.

Once acquired, it's off to "Aspirin" Park, CO. So named because of the headache I now have trying to get to the "Coney Island" in order to obtain the price of a 12" Dog. It was a great ride to Aspen Park. More great weather and roads with little traffic, but once in town things start to go south. I guess the major in-town road construction along with the lama and two goats being chased by a Sheriff (full lights blazing) should have given me a clue that this wouldn't be your typical quick bonus stop. I'm too busy gawking at the cop run herd on the "Wild Three" when I first pass the big Hotdog shaped building. Before I know it, I'm out of town with nowhere to turn around. I finally find a cut-out to a roadside business and am headed back into Aspen Park and the $3.45 footlong chilidog. With my 32 points safely tucked away, I head for Pine, CO for an additional 25 and yet another fine example of paved road that must have been designed specifically with motorcycles in mind. Then comes Bucksnort.

While I like dirt biking and all, a "favorite off the beaten path" place called the "Bucksnort Saloon" that is arrived at via a "very twisty gravel road" isn't worth the 59 points that I would gain. So off I go to Deckers and the "Flies & Lies" tackle store followed CO67, Woodland Park and more LEOs with radar running full-on. Have I ever mentioned I REALLY like my Valentine 1?...(:-) Gathering what points there are along the way, I shoot on out US24 to Hartsel where You Too can have a full 1/4lb hamburger for only .89 cents. Good deal, that. Then it's whack down CO9 to Canyon City with an ever so brief side trip to Guffey to verify what time dinner will be ready. Hmmm.. I wonder if Bill was getting kind of hungry when he was designating these boni.... They all have to do with food...(;-)

Canyon City; Learn all about gas chambers, the death penalty and just how many oar cars a small steam engine can pull at the old Colorado Territorial Prison, then it's time for a gas stop/"relief break" at the local Loaf-n-Jug and a cordial conversation with the local constabulary. Seems he has been seeing all these determined looking motorcyclists running all over the place doing all sorts of strange things like riding in circles around the still active correctional facility and running around in the local greave yard in 90+ degree weather wearing full riding gear, helmets and gloves. After explaining to him that we aren't weird or anything, uhuuu ... I tell him we're just on a kind of "poker run" which he understands since he owns a Harley. Although I'd like to stay and chat, I have to go now and run around in +90 degree heat in full riding gear in the local grave yard looking for some obscure marker (which I never could find, BTW). A short trip down CO115, a detour into the booming metropolis of Rockvale and it's into Florence, CO for a 10:50 check-in at today's mandatory checkpoint. I quickly munch a chicken burger and down about a gallon of iced tea while poring over the remaining bonus opportunities.

Picking up what boni I can along the remaining route, I arrive in Colorado City and the Cuerno Verde or "Green Horn" rest area. I grab that all important date that is worth a cool 29 points. But its anything but "cool" in this location. The LT's onboard thermometer is just edging 100 degrees. Time for the cool-tie and the ritual dousing of the t-shirt with water before hopping on northbound I-25 for a windy run into Pueblo. Although I can garner a 175 point bonus by running down to Trinidad and back I decide the mile vs. point ratio is just to great and blow it off. For all intents and purposes, I could have gone for it for the time I wasted looking for the Liberty Point scenic overlook in Pueblo, CO.

I leave I-25 at exit 99 and head out on US50 looking for the right combination of markers that will point me to this, ahem... Point. Did I mention how hot it was? It's funny what heat and a lack of sleep can do to a person. About 15 or 20 minuets later I stop to ask directions to the place. The fine lady in the EZ-Mart looks at me, shakes her head and gently informs me that I need to be in "WEST" Pueblo. RIGHT! I exited and headed EAST on 50. WRONG! I backtrack through the city heat and 20 mph road construction. Get Back on I-25 north only to blitz right past the exit 101 that I need for westbound US50. PHACK!!! Good thing exit 102 just happened to be there otherwise I'd be ... well "hosed." Back on track at last, ~1 hour~ later. All this, just to find out that Explosives and Firearms are Prohibited in Liberty Point. (55 points).

It's great to be moving again, away from the Super-slab traffic and heat. US50 to Penrose, hang a right CO115 (hey!, wasn't I just on CO115 about 3 hours ago? Time sure does fly doesn't it?) Up 115 to a campground/museum where they have a great collection of tropical bugs. Some folk collect the strangest things, Gotta go now and collect more bonus points in Colorado Springs. B_a_c_k __ T_o __ I-25.

Someone please explain to me what the reason is behind rush hour traffic on a Sunday afternoon? These folks should really be home watching the Sunday races or something...(:-) I really have to get that benefactors name from the Pro Rodeo HOF and Polaroid image of the BIG plain at the AF Academy, but I'm running VERY short of time by now. I make the decision to just head back to the farm picking up a few easy bonus points as I go. Again I miss my I-25 exit for CO105 and the Lake Palmer bonus. Heck with it, I'll get off in Larkspur and cut across on some un-named little country road. That road happened to go right by something called "Renaissance Festival" that is comprised of some kind of castle looking deal. I don't know what it is, but about 2000 others must, cuz this place was packed. Bunches and bunches of Car and Bikes parked all over the joint. I'd like to take a look but time is short and I got to be hunting points, remember?

Back on CO105 north, finally. I grab a t-shirt and 25 more points at Sedalia Roadhouse Cycles and have a brief conversation with the proprietor about the pros and cons between Mikuni and Quicksilver carburetors. Nice guy. Great little shop. Oh My! I'm Late, I'm Late, No Time to Wait! and I'm off. except for a short 1 mile side trip to try and pick up a train ticket, I blast back as fast, and as safely, as I can up CO470.

I arrive back at the Days Inn Denver West for check-in at 4:52pm, less that 10 minutes until the penalty period. I compile my day's points and turn them in, take a good hot shower, and dawn clean t-shirt (just recently purchased in Sedalia) cool shorts and sandals. I pop a COOL beer, spark up a good Cuban and for me, the rally is over. Now comes the waiting for the numbers to be crunched and the scores to be tallied.

Great banquet, the top 10 riders were announced. Rick and Lisa won two-up category yet again. Congratulations you two, you done Good. I can't really remember who else placed where, but I do know that I still got that darn number 43 stuck in my head. I seem to have won a door prize but I have to remember that I'm #34, not #43 in order to claim it. Finally, Bill and Brian convince me of my true rider number and I walk away with a set of tools. COOL...

Thanks to Bill, Brian, Bob, Frank and all others who put on a great rally.

Post Rally - The Journey Home - Monday, July 29, 2002:

Hey, I get to sleep in today. Isn't that great? Up and out by 9am, me and a buddy decide to forgo any interstate droning. We start the ride with some tire candy on Loveland Pass and then down into Leadville for a top off (both us and the bikes). Much after that is just sitting and riding. We rode nonstop from Leadville, CO down US285 to Santa Fe, NM. One tank of gas, 314 miles. Man! do I love this bike

Thanks for listening,
cheers,
Joe Nassif
Santa Fe, NM

(Originally posted on the LDRider list 07/30/02)