TRAJISTO
08/25/03, 8:12 AM
Let me premise the following with this statement: "this is not meant to make anybody jealous, it is for informative purposes only!"
I just got back from eight days of riding the Rockies. My Dad puts on an off-road ride called the Colorado 1000 through the Rockies every August. This year about 55 guys went from many different states including Tom Cooley #103(KTM 300EXC); Todd Davis #242(KTM 300MXC); and Jim Richardson #519(Suzuki DRZ400). All the bikes are street-legal for the road sections. The Colorado 1000 began about 20 years ago when my Dad took five other LA County firemen he worked with up for some long distance off-road riding. The annual event was born and has grown to its' present size.
The ride began in Dolores last Saturday. The first day we do Scotch Creek up by Rico to the Hermosa trail(awesome!) up to Purgatory ski resort and then back down to Scotch Creek. Day 1 is 80 miles of mostly two-track and single-track with a little highway section to the ski resort. Purgatory was having a big NORBA race last Saturday. Damn those mountain bike chicks are in shape. But I digress.
The actual ride leaves on Sunday. Day 2 begins in Dolores. We ride single and two-track up to Lizard Head Pass for lunch. We then climb over Ophir Pass and Black Bear Pass in to Telluride for some beverages. Bridal Veil Falls above Telluride is where that Jeep commercial was filmed with the guy who follows the GPS coordinates the girl in the bar gave him. It and the house built on it are really spectacular. From Telluride we go over Imogene Pass to Ouray. Our destination for the night. We logged 125 miles for the day.
Day 3 leaves Ouray for Crested Butte(the Holy Grail of all dirt bike riders!). We go over Poughkeepsie and Engineer Pass' into Lake City. From Lake City we ride two-track over to Gunnison and then on to Crested Butte. We put in 180 miles this day. It was raining hard when we got to Crested Butte. That night I went to bed dreaming of all that wet single-track out there.
Up to this point the only problem all four of us had were some leaky fork seals on my 300EXC. Up to this point!
Let me start this next segment by saying the most incredible portion of this ride is the single-track on Days 4 & 5 in and around Crested Butte. Everybody anticipates these days. The other days are awesome in there own right but nothing compares to the riding around this town. It is dirt bike paradise. This being said we were all looking forward to our first free ride day here. My group(Tom, Jim and Todd) left Crested Butte that morning for some exploration of new trails. We hit our first single-track section and Mr.(I got to catch 'em)Davis proceeded to launch himself off the bike when he cross-rutted a trail. He rode 12.2 miles total that day(.2 of it through the air[:0]!). He ended up with a third degree seperation of his right shoulder. Trip over! He won't be sand-baggin' the 200's for a while;)! I guess he was trying to mount a throttle on the left side while we were gone but luckily it didn't work. Fortunately I got to steal his front forks and pipe because mine started leaking pretty bad and my pipe cracked in half. The rest of us rode incredible trails the next two days which totaled 145 miles. The weather was spectacular. Day 5 we were led by Pete of the Crested Butte Trail Riders Association. Thanks for all the bitchin' single-track Pete. You are the man!
To anyone who cares about keeping our trails open the Crested Butte Trail Riders Association is one of the most important groups to join. It's only $10! They fight hard to keep vital areas open for the future. They need our support. www.cbtrailriders.org
Day 6 and unfortunately we have to leave Crested Butte. But we go to another great area around Lake City. I took a group on one last blast through the single-track in the morning on the way out of town prior to going into Taylor Park. What a kick in the arse! We ri
I just got back from eight days of riding the Rockies. My Dad puts on an off-road ride called the Colorado 1000 through the Rockies every August. This year about 55 guys went from many different states including Tom Cooley #103(KTM 300EXC); Todd Davis #242(KTM 300MXC); and Jim Richardson #519(Suzuki DRZ400). All the bikes are street-legal for the road sections. The Colorado 1000 began about 20 years ago when my Dad took five other LA County firemen he worked with up for some long distance off-road riding. The annual event was born and has grown to its' present size.
The ride began in Dolores last Saturday. The first day we do Scotch Creek up by Rico to the Hermosa trail(awesome!) up to Purgatory ski resort and then back down to Scotch Creek. Day 1 is 80 miles of mostly two-track and single-track with a little highway section to the ski resort. Purgatory was having a big NORBA race last Saturday. Damn those mountain bike chicks are in shape. But I digress.
The actual ride leaves on Sunday. Day 2 begins in Dolores. We ride single and two-track up to Lizard Head Pass for lunch. We then climb over Ophir Pass and Black Bear Pass in to Telluride for some beverages. Bridal Veil Falls above Telluride is where that Jeep commercial was filmed with the guy who follows the GPS coordinates the girl in the bar gave him. It and the house built on it are really spectacular. From Telluride we go over Imogene Pass to Ouray. Our destination for the night. We logged 125 miles for the day.
Day 3 leaves Ouray for Crested Butte(the Holy Grail of all dirt bike riders!). We go over Poughkeepsie and Engineer Pass' into Lake City. From Lake City we ride two-track over to Gunnison and then on to Crested Butte. We put in 180 miles this day. It was raining hard when we got to Crested Butte. That night I went to bed dreaming of all that wet single-track out there.
Up to this point the only problem all four of us had were some leaky fork seals on my 300EXC. Up to this point!
Let me start this next segment by saying the most incredible portion of this ride is the single-track on Days 4 & 5 in and around Crested Butte. Everybody anticipates these days. The other days are awesome in there own right but nothing compares to the riding around this town. It is dirt bike paradise. This being said we were all looking forward to our first free ride day here. My group(Tom, Jim and Todd) left Crested Butte that morning for some exploration of new trails. We hit our first single-track section and Mr.(I got to catch 'em)Davis proceeded to launch himself off the bike when he cross-rutted a trail. He rode 12.2 miles total that day(.2 of it through the air[:0]!). He ended up with a third degree seperation of his right shoulder. Trip over! He won't be sand-baggin' the 200's for a while;)! I guess he was trying to mount a throttle on the left side while we were gone but luckily it didn't work. Fortunately I got to steal his front forks and pipe because mine started leaking pretty bad and my pipe cracked in half. The rest of us rode incredible trails the next two days which totaled 145 miles. The weather was spectacular. Day 5 we were led by Pete of the Crested Butte Trail Riders Association. Thanks for all the bitchin' single-track Pete. You are the man!
To anyone who cares about keeping our trails open the Crested Butte Trail Riders Association is one of the most important groups to join. It's only $10! They fight hard to keep vital areas open for the future. They need our support. www.cbtrailriders.org
Day 6 and unfortunately we have to leave Crested Butte. But we go to another great area around Lake City. I took a group on one last blast through the single-track in the morning on the way out of town prior to going into Taylor Park. What a kick in the arse! We ri