The_Paragon
Thats right, Paragon!
Well, Last thursday some friends and I headed Westbound for the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado. We'd been planning the trip for a while and it was finally time to head out.
Thursday after work, we headed out and made it to Madison where we stayed the night at a friends house.
Friday AM we took off from there and made it to Lincoln, NE. Nothing too exciting about that ride, just pounded I-80 Westward.
Saturday morning we headed out nice and early again and made it into Denver, Co, once again, nothing exciting there.
Sunday morning we took off out of Denver and headed south on hwy 285, Finally hitting some scenery and it was awesome!! We hit Highway 50 West and hit Monarch pass where I met a crazy Swedish man who explained to me how my fz6, or fire-horse as he called it had spirit. It was worth a good laugh anyway!! After traveling 50 to Montrose, we headed on 550 south to Ouray, Co where we based for a few nights. We stayed at the Riverside Inn, which was a nice little mom and pop hotel and cabins.
Monday morning we finally headed off to see the best of the Million Dollar Highway. We headed south from Ouray to Silverton and down to Durango on 550. From there West to Delores on 160 and 184. The North on 145 to Telluride and then up around the Mountains and back down into Ouray for the evening. I must say THE SCENERY WAS AWESOME. The million Dollar highway was beautiful!!!
Tuesday we decided to take a day off the bikes and rented a Jeep to go play off road with. I know its not fun on 2 wheels, but It was still and awesome time. We headed up into the San Juan Mtn ranges on 4X4 only trails and had an awesome time checking out old mines and a pretty cool ghost town. The trails were fun with the steep switchbacks and were definitely not for the faint of heart.
Wednesday we decided that we would head eastwards towards the Royal Gorge/ Colorado Springs area. We started heading east and came across some bad news: The Wildfires over there may be in the royal gorge area. So, we made a quick stop at the US Forestry Dept to confirm that the area was closed as well as there being some major road closings. So we made a little game play change and headed northward to Rocky Mtn National Park. Late in the evening we arrived at the edge of the park where we got a hotel room and checked in for the night.
Thursday were took our sight seeing loop through the park. at one point my Gps read an elevation of 12,250', the fz6 also conferred with its own lack of power. After the park we then headed east and made it to North Platte, NE. Once again nothing too exciting about I-80 through that state.
Friday morning we got up and hit it for another day of riding on I-80. Our goal was to make it to Cedar rapids.. but being in the mid-west.. I mean rain-belt, we got poured on and decided to hang it up for the evening. Good call too, about an hour after we checked into a hotel, some pretty severe storms rolled through.
Saturday AM we got up early and headed to Anamosa, IA to the Vintage Motorcycle museum. It was a worth while stop as they had some interesting old bikes!! From there we headed home to north central, WI! Trip Over
I WILL GO AGAIN!! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!
Observations: The little 600cc motor loses most sense of power in the altitude. I started noticing it in Denver and by the time we would hit some of the mtn passes at 10,000'+ the poor little bike was pretty anemic.. The worst of it was taking off fully loaded: me(fat and full of food) + all bags + full tank of gas. I ended up raising the idle to help out.
Million Dollar Highway Warning: Its getting chip-sealed :thumbdown: ya know where they spread hot tar on the road and then spread gravel chip on top? UGH!! What a way to ruin a road. The first day we rode it they had only started the process so we only had about 1/2 mile of it to deal with. We tried again to ride it after the jeep rental, by that time they had chip sealed miles of it and piles of rock were left everywhere. It was treacherous.
Pics to Come!!
Thursday after work, we headed out and made it to Madison where we stayed the night at a friends house.
Friday AM we took off from there and made it to Lincoln, NE. Nothing too exciting about that ride, just pounded I-80 Westward.
Saturday morning we headed out nice and early again and made it into Denver, Co, once again, nothing exciting there.
Sunday morning we took off out of Denver and headed south on hwy 285, Finally hitting some scenery and it was awesome!! We hit Highway 50 West and hit Monarch pass where I met a crazy Swedish man who explained to me how my fz6, or fire-horse as he called it had spirit. It was worth a good laugh anyway!! After traveling 50 to Montrose, we headed on 550 south to Ouray, Co where we based for a few nights. We stayed at the Riverside Inn, which was a nice little mom and pop hotel and cabins.
Monday morning we finally headed off to see the best of the Million Dollar Highway. We headed south from Ouray to Silverton and down to Durango on 550. From there West to Delores on 160 and 184. The North on 145 to Telluride and then up around the Mountains and back down into Ouray for the evening. I must say THE SCENERY WAS AWESOME. The million Dollar highway was beautiful!!!
Tuesday we decided to take a day off the bikes and rented a Jeep to go play off road with. I know its not fun on 2 wheels, but It was still and awesome time. We headed up into the San Juan Mtn ranges on 4X4 only trails and had an awesome time checking out old mines and a pretty cool ghost town. The trails were fun with the steep switchbacks and were definitely not for the faint of heart.
Wednesday we decided that we would head eastwards towards the Royal Gorge/ Colorado Springs area. We started heading east and came across some bad news: The Wildfires over there may be in the royal gorge area. So, we made a quick stop at the US Forestry Dept to confirm that the area was closed as well as there being some major road closings. So we made a little game play change and headed northward to Rocky Mtn National Park. Late in the evening we arrived at the edge of the park where we got a hotel room and checked in for the night.
Thursday were took our sight seeing loop through the park. at one point my Gps read an elevation of 12,250', the fz6 also conferred with its own lack of power. After the park we then headed east and made it to North Platte, NE. Once again nothing too exciting about I-80 through that state.
Friday morning we got up and hit it for another day of riding on I-80. Our goal was to make it to Cedar rapids.. but being in the mid-west.. I mean rain-belt, we got poured on and decided to hang it up for the evening. Good call too, about an hour after we checked into a hotel, some pretty severe storms rolled through.
Saturday AM we got up early and headed to Anamosa, IA to the Vintage Motorcycle museum. It was a worth while stop as they had some interesting old bikes!! From there we headed home to north central, WI! Trip Over
I WILL GO AGAIN!! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!
Observations: The little 600cc motor loses most sense of power in the altitude. I started noticing it in Denver and by the time we would hit some of the mtn passes at 10,000'+ the poor little bike was pretty anemic.. The worst of it was taking off fully loaded: me(fat and full of food) + all bags + full tank of gas. I ended up raising the idle to help out.
Million Dollar Highway Warning: Its getting chip-sealed :thumbdown: ya know where they spread hot tar on the road and then spread gravel chip on top? UGH!! What a way to ruin a road. The first day we rode it they had only started the process so we only had about 1/2 mile of it to deal with. We tried again to ride it after the jeep rental, by that time they had chip sealed miles of it and piles of rock were left everywhere. It was treacherous.
Pics to Come!!
