Colorado 2014

Day 13, "Let It Roll"

" Down The Highway"

As usual I was up before the dawn,and it was a lovely dawn this day too.







After an easy pack up after a night in a Cabin (rather than a tent) we went across the highway to the TA truck stop for a typical truck-stop breakfast. Today would be a day of pounding pavement and as such an easy day, at least for two of us. The previous day's howling wind was down to a bare minimum for Wyoming and the temperature cool, making for a good day for a highway blast. Ultimately we were to end up in Cody for the night. We rolled north on 287 north to 135 and into Riverton.



From Riverton it was a fairly boring rip up Hwy 26 to Shoshoni where we turned up 789 past Boysen State Park and through a couple of tunnels into Wind River Canyon up to Thermopolis.







We had lunch and since we were doing really good for time, went to check out the hot springs and Bison herds.





After a quick tour around there we turned north on 120 up to Cody. Once again I looked for a place for the "Pie Hunter" to satisfy his unnatural cravings but to no avail. We headed west pout of town to the Buffalo Bill State Park campground just through the tunnels and past the dam, both which are worth a look if you are out that way. As we approached the campground, the skies opened, soaking us, as we rolled up to the park gate. The attendant must have felt sorry for us as he only charged the 3 of us the price for one. It didn't take long for the rain to stop and things to dry off so we could set up. The site had great views and was close to the lake / reservoir.











[video=youtube;-fAoxR0X27A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fAoxR0X27A&list=UURQ_SJd_yIHl-omeno392ew[/video]

We ran back to town for a nice steak dinner in a funky Saloon & Restaurant called Cassie's were we hoped to see someone attempt the 80 ounce steak that was on the menu. Paul especially, enjoyed the racket of his bike roaring through the tunnel under the mountain that separated Cody from Buffalo Bill Park to the west. I took video through both the Wind River Canyon and The Buffalo Bill tunnel, and eventually I'll post it up.
 
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Day 14, Chief Joseph, Beartooth and Wagon Trails

"It's a long and winding road"







We packed up on another sunny morning (I could get used to this) and headed east into Cody for breakfast at “Our Place” on the west edge of town. It was packed, and it was easy to see why. It was clean, the food was good, and service was fast. The Pie Hunter and Ian both had pie for breakfast, with their eggs of course, which gave the server a smile. Weird-ass Canadians she was thinking; dress like power-rangers and eat Pie for breakfast WTF. I wanted to be different so I just had Sausage patties with my Eggs and hash browns.

We fueled and rolled north on 120 out of Cody, and the road quickly became very scenic and it wasn’t long before we reached our first objective, Chief Joseph Byway (highway 296) that takes you northwest to join Beartooth highway (212).











This was a first for me and it did not disappoint; it started with big long sweepers and as it climbed nice 20 mph hairpins. The pavement was excellent and made for nice fast cruising. At the summit, and where the real fun begins we stopped to visit with the chipmunks and ground squirrels that are all very used to tourist and their hand-outs. I had a few chipmunks crawling on my legs while I tried to get a decent shot of them. Most were too quick for my camera. Some bike had drawn a burnout smiley on the sidewalk and had done a very neat job of it.
After taking in the views from the top, we headed through the handful of hairpins as the road quickly dives into the valley. I was being slowed down by of all things a Yamaha FJR 1300, and he in a moment of distraction nearly ran into a guard rail, making my heart jump. I really wanted to pass him and the bike ahead of him, but it would have been suicide on that stretch with no sight lines, not to mention the fact that it was illegal and might have scared the other two bikers into a mistake.











After the hairpins it again goes into big sweepers, surrounded by spectacular scenery, until it joins Beartooth Highway. The western section of Beartooth pass from wher it meets 296 was recently chip-sealed and had lots of loose material all over it so it was just as well that I was stuck behing a bunch of slow moving Harleys and Victories. Thankfully about the time the good road and twisties begins they pulled over for a break.
I tried not to rush the great bit (up and over the top), by stopping for many pictures along the way. I did pass a couple of slow moving trucks and otherwise had a nice run through the innumerable hairpins that make this one of the best paved roads in the US that I have had the pleasure of riding, three times now.







We stopped at the top, just before it crosses over into Montana to talk to a couple of fellow adventures, ignoring the Harley crowd. One fellow was riding a BMW 800 and seemed to have a German accent. The other was a petite Asian woman with a nice smile and riding a blue scooter with a cool decoration on the front fender. She had come from the east coast of the US and admitted to dragging the pegs on the (Vespa?) on Beartooth. After that short break, we carried on to the fantastic descent on the north side toward Red Lodge Montana. It is a series of hairpins that just goes on and on, combined with great quality pavement. Each time I have done Beartooth it has always been from south to north and I will have to do it the other direction for a change, since I seem to be better on uphill hairpins. Despite my fairly aggressive riding through both passes, I still had some of the new front tire’s molding hairs still attached and was a bit disappointed in myself. I’ll chock it up to an off-day.





We turned off on secondary highway 78 north out of Red Lodge to Absarokee, where our “dirt program for the day” began. I had wanted to cut off the corner between Big Timber and Columbus, saving Ian and his DRZ 400 a lot of Interstate 90. It was an interesting but typical gravel country road at first but as is the case so many times, turned into a wagon trail by the end. I was sure that my friends were thinking I had gotten them lost, and had it been raining this road would have been impossible, since it was deep loose dirt in many sections.



We popped up onto the old Hwy 10 that parallels I-90 heading west to Big timber, and stayed on it as long as possible to save Ian the grief of the ultra-high speed traffic of the big highway. We stopped for lunch in Big Timber and once again enjoyed the fine cuisine of the “Country Skillet” truck stop. After that we headed north on Montana 89 to White Sulfur Springs and further past my planned campsite (as it was closed) on to King Hill Pass Campground. It had recently rained and I mean rained.



The campsite was strewn with debris washed out of the forest and the road was rutted and muddy. It didn’t look promising and we were up in the remnants of the clouds. As luck would have it, the sky cleared somewhat and we didn’t suffer any more rain. We cooked at camp and I enjoyed an enormous can of beer that I picked up at the last stop. We all knew it would be a cool night at this high elevation, and was why I had not planned for this spot in the first place. With a bit of flammable liquid and an old rag Paul managed to get the wet fire-wood to burn and we had a nice smoky fire for the next few hours. Once again we had covered a wide variety of roads and terrain this last full day in the US.
 
Beartooth Pass Pictures

I've traveled all this way for something,I take it in but don't look down 'Cause I'm on top of the world."













 
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Day Fifteen, “The race to the finish”

“Take Me home, Country roads, to the place I belong”

After a cold night (it was warm in my sleeping bag) the tent was wet with condensation. This time it didn’t matter as the next time it would be set up was when I was home and it was put up to dry. We had breakfast at camp as we packed up to do the final, long push to home. I was perhaps the only one not bothered by the long mileage (over 650) for the day. My bike was as comfortable off road as on and had the legs to run interstate speeds all day, comfortably, but it was the only one. We all expected wind on the way home, as was the “norm” for Montana, and southern Alberta.



After a cool early run up Hwy 89 through Lewis & Clark National Forest, we turned off onto my “dirt program for the day”. It turned west onto Logging Creek road which skirts around the south side of Crown Butte before hooking up with Evans Riceville road and Eden road into the south end of Great Falls. The road was a real treat and was far more interesting than the map would suggest with narrow, rough switchbacks down into a beautiful valley. We dropped out of the clouds at the top as we descended into the remote valley at the northern end of the National forest.



When we finally hit pavement I said to the guys; “This concludes the gravel program for this trip” knowing we had nothing but pavement now between us and home. We made a brief stop for coffee and snack in Great Falls and carried on zig-zagging north along Highway 89 to Browning where we had a quick lunch in the parking lot of the gas station.
I took the guys across Starr School road to cut off a few miles of Hwy 89 before hooking back up with it and racing past Glacier National Park’s east side to the border crossing at Caraway, south of Cardston. It was, as always an easy experience crossing back into Canada, and as much as I enjoy travelling, it felt good to be Home. With one more stop at Fort McLeod we steamed up highway 2 back to Calgary where we all stopped to have one last coffee before heading to our respective homes.



It was a successful and fun trip and I enjoyed the company and the challenges that it presented.
Now I just have to process the hours of video that I shot during the trip. I hope you all enjoyed the ride along. Stay tuned for the input from Ian, Paul, and all the videos.
 
Dustin said:
What an adventure. Very inspirational, especially for someone like me who has zero dirt experience. Thank you for sharing this with us
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Thanks Dustin. I always go for "inspirational" in my ride reports. At least you get to see Beartooth and Chief Joseph highways, and the videos are coming.
 
I'd like to apologize on behalf of Colorado for the 5hitty weather you had to endure while here! But it did make for some fantastic pictures. ;)
This has definetly been a very wet spring/summer for us......you should come back in the fall :)

Your ride reports are always so well written and entertaining to read. Awesome job!!



p.s. If you guys had made it to Colorado Springs, I would have baked you a pie myself!
 
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OneSizeFitsAll said:
Been out of town, just catching up. Absolutely friggn marvelous. Gotta just love Chief Joseph Highway-one of my favorites. Thanks Lee
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Thank Man!

I will have much more to add as the days go by. I am going to make it a mission to process one video a day, plus my buddies pictures as they are available to me.



 
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Oldschool said:
I will have much more to add as the days go by. I am going to make it a mission to process one video a day, plus my buddies pictures as they are available to me.
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I was going to ask if they were on Adv Rider and if they would be doing threads as well.....that way we'll get to see pics of you!
 
lytehouse said:
I was going to ask if they were on Adv Rider and if they would be doing threads as well.....that way we'll get to see pics of you!
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Yes they are on ADV, but I won't be duplicating the report there this time. You guys have the exclusive. They won't be able to post here unless they join, so I'll post up the silly pictures of me when I get them. I suspect that there is at least one undignified shot or two in there.

So I have been cleaning the bike over the last couple of days and tallying the damage. As of now it breaks down like this:

* Side stand was sticking - easy fix as it was just jammed up with dirt - $0
* Broken Signal light lens - replacement - $5
* Scratched windshield & torn graphics (mine) - Replace vinyl - $10
* O-Ring leaking on Oil filter cover - replacement - $1
* Right Fuel tank lock jammed - Locksmith repair - $ $17

Stay tuned for more exciting additions.... Same Oldschool channel, same Oldschool Time.:rofl:



 
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I have to say, you're really putting that bike through its paces. I think if anyone questioned the build quality of a modern KTM, you have answered their question
 
Oldschool said:
Yes they are on ADV, but I won't be duplicating the report there this time. You guys have the exclusive. They won't be able to post here unless they join, so I'll post up the silly pictures of me when I get them. I suspect that there is at least one undignified shot or two in there.
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PG rated I hope! :jaw drop:

Seriously though, guys are lucky in that respect.....we girls have to do the squat thing in the woods....and hope like hell there are trees or bushes to do it behind! :scared:

If they do threads over there, I'd love to read them as well.......just need their user names there :)
 
lytehouse said:
PG rated I hope! :jaw drop:

Seriously though, guys are lucky in that respect.....we girls have to do the squat thing in the woods....and hope like hell there are trees or bushes to do it behind! :scared:

If they do threads over there, I'd love to read them as well.......just need their user names there :)
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Here you "go"; Women can pee standing up with Go Girl | Go Girl Female Urination Device Then you can do it like the boys! :innocent: I have a funny story about that, since I know a woman trucker and she almost caused a wreck using it one night. Apparently a passing male trucker was somewhat distracted by her using it. To hear her tell the story, I was almost in tears laughing.

The PG rating shots are the only ones I'll post. I would be very surprised to see one of the guys start a thread over there, but if they do, I will most certainly post a link.
 
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Videos

Ok, the long process has begun, and some videos are up. I am sneaking them into the day reports that they belong to, so you will have to hunt for them. The first ones are not exciting, but they pertain to the days where you find them. I processed about 8 tonight, but uploading them will take all night and tomorrow. Your patience will be rewarded, but like an easter egg hunt, you will have to search for your reward.


Chief Joseph Highway, the good bits.
 
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Oldschool said:
Here you "go"; Women can pee standing up with Go Girl | Go Girl Female Urination Device Then you can do it like the boys! :innocent: I have a funny story about that, since I know a woman trucker and she almost caused a wreck using it one night. Apparently a passing male trucker was somewhat distracted by her using it. To hear her tell the story, I was almost in tears laughing
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(Loved Chief Joseph!)

I've seen these...then after use pack it back in my tank bag or what?!?!?! LMAO, uh no!

reminds me of this video: :rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwjkPDAf_R8
 
Tire wisdom

Ian is our resident tire analyst and will have pictures to post in this regard.

My own observations about this are that My new rear tire Mitas E-07 is my new favorite rear tire. It stayed with a rounded profile, much more so than the Hiedenau K-60 that was my previous favorite. The main difference was the lack of a solid center strip on the Mitas, vs the Hiedenau. This made the tire slightly noisier on pavement, but provided much better traction, especially climbing off-road. It is still a compromise over a square knobby tire but after 8000 km ANY square knobby tire would be finished. I initially had Continental TKC-80 on both front and rear and the rear was done at 8000.


Note Original rear tire.


K-60 rear


Mitas new vs worn out K-60.

I had to replace my front during the trip, which was a bit of a surprise since the Michelin T-63 had on the previous year given me 12,000 km. I was running approximately 5 psi lower pressure this time around and the tire was extremely sensitive to the lower pressure (23 psi) on the street. Before the Michelin T-63 I had been running Continental TKC-80 fronts, and found they consistently scalloped-off by about 8000 kms. I consistently ran 28 psi in my continentals. The replacement choices that I had on the trip were either a Continental TKC-80 or a Dunlop 606. They were both priced within a $12 of each other (the Dunlop the cheaper) but I had seen how quickly the Dunlop wears on pavement and that made the TKC the better value. The Dunlop 606 is an excellent off-road tire and is very aggressive with big gaps between the staggered knobs, but what makes it great in the dirt, is its downfall on the street. It is much less stable and far faster wearing as a result.


Michelin T-63 when new.


Worn out T-63 Michelin removed in Gunnison,CO.


New Continental TKC-80 bought in Gunnison.

I replaced my worn out Michelin with the tried and true Continental, but this time ran the front pressure at 30 psi and will see if this improves the longevity of the tire. The design itself; with a staggered single and dual knob pattern down the circumference of the tire is part of why the knobs scallop off the way they do, and the higher pressure should prolong that issue, but not eliminate it. 8000 km is a respectable mileage but if I can get 10,000 I'll be happy.

From Ian Beales, our Tire Analyst I have these pictures to add:


My front before the trip. Michelin T-63


My rear Mitas E-07 before & after (about 8000 km)


Paul's Front T-63 Michelin before & After.


Pau'ls rear Hiedenau K-60 before & After.


Ian's Front TKC-80 before and After.


Ian's rear K-60 Before & After.

PS. Another couple of videos have been snuck into the daily reports, and more are uploading as I type. Keep checking back.:poke:
 
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Videos Thus Far

Cumberland Pass

Cinnamon Pass

Piskun Reservoir Campsite

Riverside Campground

Hummingbirds at Buena Vista Cabin

Ashton Flagg Ranch Road

Northern Wyoming Continental Divide Trail section

California Pass & Summit

Buffalo Bill Tunnels.

Many, many more to come. Stay tuned Same Oldschool Channel, Same Oldschool Time.

 
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