Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route 2022 - July 14

I'm checked into the Cambria Hotel in Denver and pretty much settled in. While it's an "airport hotel", there's really nothing close to the Denver airport. The hotel is 20 minutes away in Aurora. There were a few delays due to weather, and we had to circle the Denver airport for 20 minutes or so for storms to clear before we could land, but overall the travel went well and the flights really are not that long.

 

 

It feels like Denver. I suppose it's the thinner dryer air at the altitude even after the rain storms. It's a big and fairly busy place. We're surrounded by big new buildings and a lot of chain restaurants.

Already this trip is different as it should be. It doesn't feel like the fun tours Ie've been doing most recently. I feel a weight of responsibility to perform for the clients who arrive tomorrow and not disappoint Scott for hiring me to help guide this trip.

 

 

Ash is picking me up at 7:00 a.m. to go to the shop and get my bike ready. It's actually Scott's bike, his personal KTM 890R, and it's set up for him. This could be interesting for me as Scott is 6'4 and I'm 5'10 and considerably smaller. I hope I can adapt to the modifications he has added to make it more comfortable for him.

I guess it's time to get some sleep though I know I'll be up plenty early to go with Ash. Things get real tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

We went to the shop in the morning to get my bike fitted out. I'm riding Scott Lee's (Owner, Colorado Motorcycle Adventures) personal KTM 890R which is completely tricked out with heavier suspension, valving, and all the bells and whistles. Ash (Lead guide & my brother-in-law)  threw on a new rear tire and we attempted to adjust some of the modifications Scott had made to the bike. Scott is nearly 6 ft 5 in, quite a bit larger than me at 5'10, and probably 100 lbs heavier.  We had hoped to remove things like the bar risers, adjust the foot pegs, etc, to make the bike fit me better but that wasn't something we were able to do. So I will just have to adapt and ride the bike as it is and adapt to the heavy springs. I don't think it will be such a big problem .

 

 

The riders started to trickle in this afternoon. Scott brought the rental bikes to the hotel, one rider is on his personal BMW GS 1100. We met for dinner down the street at a steakhouse and then returned to the hotel for the paperwork and pre-ride briefing. I am pleased to see there are just six riders, I was expecting a full 12, so that makes life a lot easier.

All is set, we meet at the bikes at 8:00 a.m. and leave at 8:30 in the morning. Looking forward to getting underway.

 

 

The first day is done, and it was a good one. There's quite a bit of highway to get out of Denver proper and then up into the beginning of the mountains. There's really no way around it, you just have to put in the miles. But as soon as we could, we turned off  the pavement to get on the first of many dirt roads to come.

 

 

The first of these roads was fairly simple, a good chance for everyone to get the feel of bikes most of us have never ridden before. There was some spotty rain throughout the day which made the trails quite nice to ride. It knocked down the dust and gave really nice traction. It didn't last long enough.

 

 

Back on the four lane for the climb up to 11,000 ft Berthoud Pass, a really nice scenic stop. We got the mandatory photo. From there we went down to pass through Winter Park and then out rode out towards Kremeling where we took our lunch.

 

 

Not long after we were back on a wonderful long dirt road, not too challenging but very scenic, that took us to just outside of Steamboat Springs. We're spending the night at the Rabbit Ears Motel, a bit dated, but really convenient to downtown and I am very happy after a great jerked duck meal at a nearby restaurant.

 

 

We have an early 7:00 a.m. start tomorrow as the hotel breakfast is sparse so we're going up the road for a better one instead. We're also going to do some shopping for lunch and eat out on the trail as there are few other options. Tomorrow should be another relatively easy day, a good time to get really comfortable with the bikes before the more technical challenges present.

 

 

 

 

Leaving Steamboat Springs this morning Ash treated us to breakfast at a place called Freshies as the hotel breakfast was a little bit lacking. Afterwards, we made our way to a Safeway market and bought sandwiches to bring along on the trail to eat later.

 

 

The first part of the ride out of Steamboat Springs happens fairly quickly, just just outside of town and runs out through some open meadow, then starts to follow the Yampa River. It's beautiful rolling country with some big fancy houses, lots of nice scenery, a very popular recreational area with bicyclists and swimmers in the river and the lakes along the way.

 

 

From there, the road follows a long valley with a small section of river which runs alongside it for quite a ways. It's a gentle unpaved ride, lots of aspen trees and wonderful smelling pines along the way. We passed an old stagecoach stop and then the largest water crossing of the trip which is really no big deal at this time of year, just a pretty big deep puddle. No one had any problems with that.

 

 

Leaving the river the road got a little rougher becoming  much more rolling and steeper in places with a few rocky climbs. It brought us to brought us to a large mesa above Radium, Colorado, one of my favorite scenic stops. The views from here are absolutely spectacular. It overlooks the Colorado River and it's surrounded by mountains on every horizon. We got some good pictures.

 

 

The road then descends down to the Colorado River, crosses it, and for the most of the rest of the afternoon we rode alongside the river. We made a brief lunch stop at one of the many campgrounds and rafting put-ins along the way to eat our sandwiches and get some cold drinks.

Continuing along the river, we made great time on a very smooth flat wide gravel road which brought us to Gypsum Road. Gypsum Road can be fairly benign, very dusty, impassable when wet, and absolutely a handful when extremely dry and filled with huge pits of gypsum dust. Today we were lucky. The road was in fantastic shape and we rolled on through to arrive fairly early in the afternoon at Eagle, so early the motel was not ready for us to come in. We had to kill some time in the parking lot until our rooms opened at 3:00 p.m. but plenty of cold beer helped.

 

 

Dinner tonight was at Moe's BBQ, a couple miles down the road. We piled in the van in shifts and ferried back and forth to enjoy the barbecue outside in the hot sun. The place was crowded, there weren't enough tables, but the food was pretty good.

 

 

Everyone's a little tired after today and tomorrow is a big day. We go from Eagle to Buena Vista and we cross two 12,000 ft passes on the way. This is going to be the first really rocky steep sections that we hit, and nerves are a little excited thinking about it. I'm hoping to get some great photos and that no one has any issues along the way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was the first day of true adventure riding. Leaving Eagle this morning, it wasn't long on the paved roads before we got off onto the dirt. While it started out easy it soon got a bit more technical and rough. It was the first these guys had been on some truly rocky stuff, and that was just the beginning.

 

 

The trail soon got steeper and rougher and we climbed up over a small pass then descended again, crossed a rec area with a couple decent water challenges to reach the paved road leading to the beginning of the climb up to the start of Hagerman Pass. Arriving at the rocky start of the pass road one of the bikes (KTM 690) had developed clutch problems.  We spent a few minutes arranging to have the company van waiting for us on the other side of the pass with the spare bike, a KTM 500.

 

 

The true adventure began as we started up the challenging Hagerman Pass road. Some carnage ensued on the steep and rocky terrain. There were numerous crashes, nobody injured, but a GS 1200 suffered fork damage so bad it will have to be retired. It was rideable enough to complete the day but no more, now we are short one bike.

 

 

Once over Hagerman Pass we turned towards Leadville for lunch. Hoping to avoid the crowds, we'd planned to eat at a large gas station just out of town, but it had no food today. We had to go into Leadville and it took quite some time to get lunch.

 

 

After lunch we set out for Weston Pass. It's a longer ride but not as technical as Hagerman Pass. There were a few issues including a flat tire which I had to fix. Afterwards we deviated through an ORV park which has some really nice dirt bike trails, a challenge for the already tired riders. We got into Buena Vista and found our rooms at the Surf Hotel later than expected.

 

 

Buena Vista was busy, as expected, and we walked into town to find dinner. It was also busy in town. We waited quite a while to get into a restaurant and then much longer to get our food.

 

 

Afterwards, while the clients went to their rooms, Ash, Ben (van driver), and I, loaded up the broken bikes, unpacking then repacking the van, to prepare for tomorrow. We've found a replacement bike at the only other off road motorcycle rental company in Colorado which serendipitously is in Buena Vista.

 

 

It was the first day of me having to really earn my keep as a guide. My duties included coaching, picking up bikes, chasing down lost riders, patching flats, and generally encouraging and helping these guys get through the challenges. The late night extra was a bonus.

We have an early day tomorrow, a long ride to Lake City.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a cool morning when we loaded up from the motel and headed into town to eat at a local diner. Afterwards, we went to the bike rental to get a replacement for the GS that was wrecked yesterday. With a fresh new KTM 890 we headed out for Cottonwood Pass.

 

 

The ride up the pavement to Cottonwood Pass was awesome. We stopped at the overlook at the top, took some pictures, and I got to be a local celeb with some kids who thought motorcycle riders were really cool and wanted their picture taken with me.

 

 

Coming down from the overlook, we veered off the pavement into the woods on a fairly technical forest road. It took us out to an easier dirt road. We followed a while, then diverted off onto a couple o more difficult roads.  Easy / hard was the pattern for much of the morning.

 

 

We next climbed Cumberland Pass, a little over 12,000 ft in elevation. It was a fairly easy ride up and down which brought us into Pitkin for lunch. Pitkin is a small, isolated town in the middle of the mountains, home to many four-wheel vehicles of all sorts.

 

 

Much of the rest of the afternoon was spent crossing wide open country and rangeland on smooth fast gravel roads. We made one short diversion onto a very technical piece which produced a few minor problems, but afterwards, the rest of the day was on fairly easy, fast territory.

 

 

Ultimately we descended the paved road into Lake City and found our motel, The Texan. It's a series of somewhat dated cabins, but it will do for the night. Lake City was overrun with a festival and there were construction delays getting in and out of town. Tonight we dined on pizza brought to our cabins by our van driver Ben. We spent the rest of the night on the porch pondering the big challenge ahead, drinking until bedtime.

 

 

Tomorrow the Alpine Loop looms, the highest and most technical part of the route. The riders are deciding who is going to do it. It sounds like all of them are up for it, and will decide later who will go on to the even more technical Ophir Pass for the descent into Telluride. It was a good day with high expectations of what tomorrow holds.

 

 

 

 

 

With the town still overrun with tourists our van driver Ben and lead guide Ash went into town to fetch coffee and survey the situation. Worried the only bakery would run out of food they brought back breakfast sandwiches for everyone and we ate at the cabins. Still, with the big day looming, the group went into town for more coffee to be energized for the challenge ahead. 

 

 

The trek across the Alpine Loop was quite a saga. I earned my guide pay in spades. I don't know how many bikes I picked up, rode through the sections the riders had failed on, repaired, and coached and encouraged these guys to keep going in the difficult conditions.

 

 

The first climb was to Cinnamon Pass. There was quite a bit of ATV traffic on the trails which made progress slower. Following a long gradual climb, the trail begins a series of steep, sharp, rocky switchbacks, then climbs more steeply to the top of the pass. We didn't linger long atop the pass to stay ahead of the 4 wheeled traffic we had passed on the way up

 

 

The descent from Cinnamon Pass starts as a long gradual slope then gets steeper and rockier the lower you go culminating with more rocky switchbacks. It ultimately brings you to the ghost town of Animus Forks.

 

 

After a quick visit to the abandoned mining structures in Animus Forks, we continued on our way and started the next climb to California Pass. The crux of this climb is a sharp, steep, rocky switchback near the top that also proved problematic though we ultimately all reached the summit. The road is quite torn up through here, deeply rutted from the traffic, with the best line to ride typically right on the edge of the slopes which drop 1000 feet or more into the valleys below.

 

 

 

The descent from California Pass has some particularly rocky, loose, and very steep sections that gave a few riders fits. It's a delicate balance of maintaining enough speed to roll over the rocks while not going so fast you feel out of control. Stopping is almost impossible, the bike just slides down the hill on the loose scree. It's both exhilarating and terrifying.

 

 

By the time we reached the far side of the loop, there were a couple of riders who just were not up to doing the final descent down Corkscrew Pass. We split the group and Ash took part of them on the hard section while I took the remainder on the bailout route down to Silverton. Even then, on the way back through the Million Dollar Highway I ended up fixing yet another flat tire.

 

 

My group arrived quite late to lunch in Ouray, had to wait for seating, and we were unable to continue as a single group to Telluride. I opted to take the exhausted riders I had on the paved route rather than hit anymore dirt though I'm told we messed a spectacular ride. Other than a little rain it was an uneventful commute.

 

 

 

Arriving in Telluride we were quite pleased to find the Camel's Garden Hotel luxurious. It was a welcome relief. We were right next to one of the ski lifts and for dinner we took the gondola up and over the mountain to a very nice restaurant for an excellent meal.

 

 

The day ended well.

 

Leaving Telluride this morning it wasn't long until we got on a fairly nice graded gravel road. It wound up into the forest and was very pleasant, peaceful riding. This led to another forest road which was a little more than I expected. It was not extreme like we've been used to, but still a bit rocky and bumpier.

 

 

This pattern continued throughout much of the morning. We'd be on an easy road, nice gravel smooth, then we'd veer off onto a little technical side trail through the woods to enjoy some excitement. Some of these were very tight and twisty with muddy spots, sand, ruts, and all kinds of nice challenges.

 

 

Ultimately, we reached Cortez and then Dolores and were finally done with our BDR ride. We found a Mexican restaurant for lunch and celebrated with a delicious meal.

 

 

Afterwards we veered north onto US 550, the Million Dollar Highway, and had a really nice ride north to Ouray where we are now checked in at the Twin Peaks Hotel on the river.

 

 

It's been an excellent trip. Minor damage to a few bikes, to be expected, except for the GS with the bent fork which is unusual. Best of all, no injuries. Tomorrow we start the long ride back to Denver, all on pavement, taking turns rotating out on the little 500 so no one has to endure the vibration and the hard tiny seat for the entire trip.

 

 

 

 

We started early today on the ride back to Denver from Ouray. It's more than 300 miles. The first hitch in the travels was in Ouray when the breakfast spot we had chosen did not open on time. Rather than wait, we hit the road to make the best use of the time. We found breakfast in Montrose at a Starvin Marvin restaurant.

 

 

From there we headed east through Gunnison and the beautiful Black Canyon area. The plan was to take turns riding the small 500 cc bike as it is very uncomfortable on the highway. It can reach the speeds needed but it vibrates a lot and the seat is hard as a rock. I took the lion's share of the riding on the little bike as I kind of like it. The ride was interrupted by construction delays, detours, and a bit of rain.

 

 

Lunch was a quick stop at a Subway, then we hit the traffic coming into Denver. I don't think a lot of these guys have ridden in city traffic and it was a chore to herd the group together, but we made it back to the Cambria Hotel in Denver. At that point Ash, our lead guide, deserted us and I was in left charge for the remainder of the trip.I helped get all the bikes unloaded and ready for pickup, then Ben and I helped Scott load them for transport back to the shop to be prepped to go back out on the road in the morning.

 

 

I took the group out to dinner at an Outback Steakhouse across the street where the riders were set on getting me drunk, and they did a pretty good job of it. In the morning I was still sorting through little end-of-trip problems but got most everything resolved by the time I left for the airport.

 

 

 

 

The Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route is one of the more difficult BDR's but is also stunningly beautiful. The challenges are the rocky terrain, steep slopes, altitude, and variable weather.

 

 

Guides work much harder than you think. One of the illusions is to keep the clients from seeing (and trying to get involved with) all the behind the scenes maintenance, planning, and strategies that go into a successful ride. We were up and at the bikes at least an hour before the clients, earlier and sometimes late into the night if maintenance was needed, adjusting chains, tire pressures, topping off fluids, fixing minor issues both reported and found on inspection. Riding sweep is a chess game when the going gets tough - I was constantly looking for where I could stop my bike if and when a client went down. That sometimes means riding beyond them, then walking back to resolve the situation. Sometimes there was no place to make an easy stop and I just had to lay my bike down in the nasty stuff, help the client get going again, then get my bike up alone and out of the rough. Sometimes they get the bike in places they can't get out of, then you have to ride it out for them. It's a lot of work.

 

 

I brought all the right tools and supplies and used them all (except the spare tire tubes). Thankfully we only had one bike with tubed tires and it did not experience a flat, though I plugged several tubeless tires which is much faster and easier to do. Sadly, some tools were confiscated on my return flight by TSA even though they had passed through security coming out. Next trip I need to figure out how to carry them in my checked luggage without going over weight and paying extra. Tools must be 7 inches or less in carry on luggage, next time I'll put the bigger stuff in my checked bag.

 

 

Having a support van and a good driver makes a huge difference. It means you don't have to carry all your possessions on the bike so you can ride lighter and faster. It also allowed us to bring a spare bike, ample tools and supplies, ice chests stocked with fluids and beer. Our driver Ben would have us all checked into the hotels when we came in and our luggage waiting for us in our rooms.

 

 

My phone mount failed before I was out of Denver on a bike with much stiffer suspension. I caught it hanging by the charging cord so I didn't lose it, but it was close. I plan to replace the finger grip mount with a Quad Lock Mount with vibration dampening and charging built in. This build of the Miles-by-Motorcycle travel app worked flawlessly on my Android phone this trip, a nice success. The next build is coming soon adding more features and improving the user experience.

 

 

Finally, travel right now is fraught with problems. Everyone is traveling and taking the vacations they missed during the height of the pandemic. Towns, hotels, and airports are overrun with other tourists. Make advanced reservations, be flexible and adaptable as not all businesses survived Covid, and pad your flights with extra time. It took me more than 24 hours to get home from Denver. Bad weather delayed our landing in Atlanta causing a diversion to Birmingham, then an overnight stay in Atlanta when I missed all my connecting flights. Accept this is the current reality and roll with it. 

 

 

Having done many trips with Colorado Motorcycle Adventures I highly recommend their services. It's one of few places that rents quality bikes you can use off road. I've already scheduled my next trip with them, you should look into it.