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Northern USA
The 33rd Annual Colorado 500
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[QUOTE="INCA, post: 1306625, member: 45997"] Wednesday, 8-20-08. This is the cool it, relaxing day for some of the riders as we will spend a second night at the same motel. Bob and I head back south on US 550 beyond where we came in the day before and turn left. This trail is called Corkscrew Gulch and is another path of rocks that winds around and becomes California Gulch after a while. As is common in many parts of western Colorado, there are the remains of old mine operation buildings here and there. Jeep rentals and tours are important to the economy and much effort is put in to keep the trails passable. There are even pit type toilets at some places. At Animas Forks we follow the river road towards Silverton and lunch. With the Colorado 500 riders, the narrow gauge train passengers from Durango and other tourists, the town is jumping. I also get a tourists tour of town before we go northwest to pick up the trail over Ophir Pass. By now I’m somewhat used to bouncing over all the rocks but still can’t keep up with Bob on his new 530 with a Revloc clutch. When he gets to Old Ophir and the 15 MPH limit, that I can handle. The town, about half a dozen houses, wanted to have the pass closed in order to stop the traffic of Jeeps and dirt bikes. At Ophir we have blacktop all the way to Telluride. Let me mention here that there is quite a bit of blacktop and gravel road miles involved. That is simply the way it is in order to get from one trail to another. There is no comparison to what the trail system is like in Michigan. I wasn’t sure and didn’t ask why, but Bob made a tour of several blocks in Telluride before turning up a narrow residential street that looked like a dead end. Next to the last house on the right we turn on what could be taken for a gravel driveway. Far from it as this is the way out of town via Imogene Pass. We stop at a wide switchback for a short break on the 4400-foot elevation climb and I notice, for the first time, bubbles coming up the gas cap vent hose. I figured it was in some way due to the temperature and elevation change, hit the magic button and soldiered on over more rocks. Not far from the top of the pass at 13114-feet, the trail was rougher and steeper, the engine stalled and coolant poured from the overflow. Between the rocks, loose footing and steepness, I wasn’t able to go forward and had to back down a ways. By now Bob had doubled back as other riders had informed him of my situation. No problem getting under way and over the steep part now. A few minutes cool down time, refill the radiator from a bottle of coolant in the backpack and it’s back to normal again. After thinking things over, I was able to figure out why the engine boiled over. I had been using 2nd gear in the smoother, flatter sections, thereby lugging the engine. The vent hose bubbles were the result of the extra heat from the engine expanding the gasoline. Had I stayed in first gear and let the RPM’s go higher, things would have been OK. I have charged it to being over confident and a learning experience. Getting to the top of the pass is uneventful and after some more break time, it’s downhill for a while. These being two way four wheel drive roads, you have to take blind turns slow and leave room for someone coming towards you. There is another pass south of Imogene that is one way and classed as “extremely dangerous”. This means make a mistake and it is “dearly beloved “ time. After crossing a bridged stream, we see a place to also cross it over some rocks and spend a few minutes playing. One would think you wouldn’t want to mess with rocks any more than necessary. On the other hand, what’s wrong with an 80-year-old juvenile playing in the water? The lower we get, the smoother and better the trail gets, until we get to the gravel that takes us back to the blacktop just outside of Ouray. Riding for day three is now finished and the only maintenance INCA gets is some chain lube, a clean filter skin and make sure the radiator level is OK. This is an account of the ride and I’m not about to get into “off duty” time in these out of the way locations. Young Ted [/QUOTE]
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Who to Ride With, Where to Ride
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The 33rd Annual Colorado 500
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