141 is my favorite Colorado motorcycle road!

141 is my favorite motorcycle road in Colorado. It is also part of the Unaweep-Tabeguache Scenic Byway. There are no climbing switchbacks here, no significant elevation changes, no hairpin turns either. Just beautiful scenery, good pavement and a road that swings back and forth for miles and miles while hugging the banks of the muddy Dolores River. Ah, and even on the weekends the traffic is light.

I first rode this amazing road in the summer of 2004 on my 954RR from North to South. Back then there was no resort at Gateway and no gas available between Naturita and Grand Junction, which is some 100 miles.

Not a big deal really, if you planned ahead. Starting 141 up north at Grand Junction if you got gas there you would make it all the way to Naturita or beyond. And if you wanted to ride 141 starting down south you just had to gas up in Naturita so you could make it all the way to Grand Junction.

Sandy and I pulled over on 141 taking in the scenery

The 954RR will travel about 150 miles before running out of gas, I don’t remember ever being worried about running out of gas on that bike until I rode the 954RR to Colorado in 2008 and rode 141. This time I was riding from Moab, UT where I gassed up last. As I turned from 90 east on to 141 North, it was already late in the afternoon and at this point reaching tonight’s campsite was already not very realistic, but I wanted to get as far as I could.

That's the Dolores River down there

A cactus blooming along highway 141

A motorcycle riding through the red rock canyon on 141

As I got ready to turn on 141 I glanced at the sign that pointed toward Naturita, thinking I should fill up with gas over there before heading north, but Naturita was about two and a half miles east and I needed to go west so I decided to get on 141 and chance it. I kept calculating in my head the miles left to Grand Junction and the gas I still had in my tank and I was thinking that I had a good chance of making it to Grand Junction.

Sandy enjoying the sweepers along highway 141

Picture taken from the camera mounted on the bike

As we got closer to Grand Juction, we were getting closes to rain

Well, sure, if this wasn’t my favorite road in Colorado I would have had a good chance to make it to the next gas stop. But this road just flows oh so nice, the curves here just beg to be ridden hard and fast, especially in the direction which I was heading. Something about this direction, the curves just flow so nicely for me. The resort at Gateway saved me that day, since I was riding at high RPM’s for hours and wasting more gas then I should have. When I pulled up to the resort at first I was disappointed that even this road and area was starting to get developed. But as I gassed up and grabbed some food at the store, which had everything which one might require, from bananas to hot burritos, I continued to east toward Grand Junction relived that at least now, there was a place to stop at and get gas and food. The resort is pretty cool.

Today was my third time riding 141, and again, I was riding it in my favorite direction from south to north. And if that wasn’t great, in a few days I was going to ride this road again, from the other direction.

Highway 141 is located on the west side of Colorado, the fun portion is about 92 miles long

Thanks Doug D.

Props to Doug D. over at Hardcourt Bike Polo for the polo mallet heads. Thanks,

Keep an eye out for the Velocity Bike Polo Team representing in the Grand Raggedy area soon.

Bucket down

I am most definitely not a rain girl. At one time, I used to think I was a rain girl, but this was when I grew up and lived in one of the driest climates in Canada, and so rain was both a rare occurrence and a special treat.

When I was preparing to move to the UK many years ago, everyone warned me that "it rains a lot in England!" Yeah, yeah, I thought. But rain is lovely and comforting and makes you feel warm and toasty when you're at home under a blanket with a big bowl of popcorn watching a movie, and then when you realize you forgot the candy all you do is get in your car that's waiting in your dry garage and drive five minutes to the store, where you park right next to the door and hop from your car to under the store-front awning, dash in and dash out, and before you know it you're back home, snug as a bug, and the next day, it's gloriously sunny and you can go outside and wonder when it might rain again.

But as I learned all too quickly, living in England is nothing like this. Instead it is more like, Oh my goodness, I cannot believe it is raining again because it has been raining every.single.day. for three weeks and I have not seen the sun for more than 45 cumulative minutes in all that time and my skin is turning pasty and gross and every time I go out (on foot!) I get soaked to the bone and then once I get to work I announce to everyone that my "pants" are wet right through, and they all snort and laugh because they're British, and in their vernacular, "pants" means something very different altogether, and now I am both wet and looking like a fool, but I cannot put my shoes or socks over the vent to warm up because this is Britain and they don't have vents, so I will remain miserable and cold and wet and wonder when I will possibly see the sun again, and then lo and behold, on the first full day of sunshine, every British person (or at least it feels that way) runs outdoors and strips off their shirt and lies, half-naked, in the chilly spring weather.

It's been raining a lot in New York lately. It was tolerable for a while, and I appreciate that all this rain is good for the trees and the grass and the flowers, and is indeed the very reason that Central Park is such a lush playground to begin with. But after many days of this, and many days more in the forecast, it's starting to wear a little thin. I believe that Friday is the sole day of sunshine in the forecast between now and when we leave for vacation, and you can bet that Zdenek and I will both be riding tomorrow.

Zdenek and I are incredibly anxious for our vacation to begin. It's been a tough slog in NYC this year and we're both knackered (my inner Brit reveals herself). The forecast isn't meant to be much better where we're headed, but even if it's chilly, I hope that it is dry. Maybe by the time we get back, the clouds over this little island will have cleared away.

Gunnison, CO to Grand Junction, CO

The ST.N motorcycle meet was officially over this morning. In the early morning people started to head out. Sandy and I had a planned route for today. Scott was supposed to be heading to Texas but when he heard about some of the roads we were planning on riding, he decided to tag along with us.

Highway 50 west of Gunnison near the Blue Mesa Reservoir

Highway 50 looking east

After grabbing a quick breakfast in Gunnison we headed west on highway 50. It was a beautiful morning. In Montrose we turned south on highway 550. By the time we got to Ridgeway and the junction of 62 and 550 we were ready for a break.

Sheep along highway 50 near Montrose

Highway 50 is a pretty nice ride

We turned on 62 and headed west. 62 runs along a river and the curves of the road mimic the flowing waters near by. The pavement twists to the left then the right, left then right, this continues for many miles. I just love the sweepers on this road, they flow really well and can be ridden pretty fast. But today there was so much traffic on this road that we couldn’t enjoy the curves the way we wanted to. Colorado has some great roads, but unfortunately there isn’t many of them, so on certain days and at certain times they do get pretty busy.

New pavement on highway 550 south of Montrose

Highway 550 just north of Ridgeway

Once we turned west on 145 there was significantly less traffic. By the time Sandy and I arrived at the junction of 141 and 145, Scott was no where to be found. Unfortunately we were in the middle of nowhere and our cell phones didn’t work so we continued west on 141 and stopped in the town of Naturita where we again had a cell phone signal.

At the junction of highways 145 & 141

Scott had left a message for Sandy saying that he had a puncture in his tire. He was definitely having some bad luck on this trip, first his chain and now his tire. By the time Sandy got in touch with him, he was already getting the tire plugged up but told us to keep going without him.

While taking a break in Naturita we were watching the dark clouds building in the west and the wind picking up. There was definitely a storm brewing up ahead and we were going to be riding right in to it. The temps were dropping as well, so we got our rain suits on and continued west on 141, my favorite road in Colorado!

Rain on highway 141

We got to enjoy a bit of dry pavement on 141, but then the rain came. There is hardly any traffic on this road, so the rain only slowed us down a bit. Rain or shine, this road rocks!

Some amazing scenery and orange rocks along highway 141

Running in to some of the guys from the ST.N meet on highway 141

The guys posing for some action pics

And acting silly

The rain stopped for a bit further down and we got to enjoy 141 to the fullest and the sweet curves that run along the Dolores River. The scenery is amazing here, the orange and red rocks make you think you are in Utah not Colorado, after all Utah is not that far away.

We even ran in to some of the ST.N folks who were at the motorcycle meet this week. How great is 141? Quoting the guys we ran in to on this road: “This road is so good, it’s worth a trip from California” and we all know California has some amazing motorcycle roads.

After a long stop for pictures and chatting with the guys, Sandy and I continued toward Grand Junction on 141. The plan was to camp tonight just east of Grand Junction. After spending the last two nights in a motel we were really forward to camping. But before we finished riding 141 the rain came again, much harder then before. In Grand Junction we pulled over at a gas station in the middle of a downpour to figure out our next move. We were told it had been raining here all day, the main road through town was flooded and the rain was supposed to continue. The state park we were going to be camping at was along the river, so besides the rain there might be some flooding also, not something we wanted to deal with.

Rained out at Motel 6 in Grand Junction

Enzo’s Pizza delivered to our motel room - yum!

After stopping at a Best Western and finding out how much they wanted for a room, we jumped on I-70 heading west (out of the way) and grabbed a room at the Motel 6 near the airport. With the extra money we saved on this cheap room, we treated ourselves to a delicious pizza. There was no restaurants near the Motel 6 and since we were sopping wet we didn‘t feel like jumping back on the bikes and riding in the rain to get food. We decided to crack open the phone and ordered a pizza and salad from Enzo’s Pizzeria & Italian Café. They delivered and it was really good.

We got a call from Scott. He ended up getting his tire plugged, but the tire wasn’t holding air so he headed to Montrose where he was hoping to get a new tire from a dealership. The dealership was closing when he got there so he would have to wait until tomorrow, but he couldn’t find a cheap room in town. In the rain he rode up to Grand Junction and crashed on our floor. I had a mini air compressor with me, so if his tire was flat in the morning, we could at least get some air in to it.

Our 260 mile route today: Highways 50, 550, 62, 145 and 141

Highway 135 to Crested Butte, Colorado

The town of Crested Butte sits at the elevation of 8,885 feet. It‘s a tourist ski town located 30 miles north of Gunnison. After running highway 114 Sandy and I decided to head out to Crested Butte and just hang out. Highway 135 is not especially twisty or scenic, but I have to say that the town of Crested Butte was worth a ride up there.

The bikes get parked, and the girls go exploring the town

Gunnison Inn

Back at the Gunnison Inn, some 25 people walked over to the BBQ place across the street for dinner. No food pics of today’s dinner because I don’t really eat BBQ. I was very lucky that there was a Burrito joint next door, so I got a nice veggie burrito made and brought it over to the BBQ place so I could eat dinner with everyone. The pitchers of Fat Tire kept getting re-filled and after dinner there was an even larger group of people hanging out in the parking lot drinking beers. It turned out there were three woman riders here that rode up on ST Ducs, so of course we needed t good poser picture of us.

Don't look at the girls on the Ducati's, look at the guys in the back, too funny

My future training partners

I've already made mention of the fact that my sister has the three most wonderful children. I was delighted to talk with one of them last night and learn that they are more than just a collection of adorable faces -- they are becoming athletes! My two nephews are each kicking serious butt in their competitive swim clubs, while their younger sister (seen here at her esteemed preschool graduation ceremony) is apparently happier in the pool than out of it. It seems that they are all taking after their Uncle Zdenek (to whom they have no blood relation, but that's beside the point).

And so, I dedicate today's post to these future athletes (which -- let's be honest -- also seemed like a good way to post some cute photos). I am thrilled that they have found such pleasure in physical activity, and though I know that the hard work and committment is only just beginning (for both them and their parents), I am rooting for them from afar!