2019 Colorado Rally

[skids]

Good, new rubber always make a motorcycle feel great!

[Bonz]

For sure! To be clear, the “old” tire had 7,560 miles, handling was still as good as it was when new, and had 1,000-1,500 miles left but gonna do 1,200 or so riding out to the rally, doing the rides and then home again. One of the claims Dunlop makes, and I found it to be accurate, is the RS3 doesn’t drop off in handling as it wears down. The old one still felt as good as the new one I put on. It’s a great tire.

What was interesting is the original RS3 when they first came out, started with 6.2mm of tread depth, was down to 3.2mm but the wear bar was 1mm from showing. The new RS3 has 8.2mm tread depth to begin with which is a huge difference. Dunlop claims it wil go significantly more miles than the other sport touring tires, and maybe they weren’t getting the mileage in the real world, so added some more tread to get there. Definitely more tread depth compared to other new tires I have run on the rear of that bike.

[JeffH]

Saturday July 6th

I should be rolling across Alabama by now heading for Mississippi on towards Clovis NM and Durango. But that ain't happening

Plans changed and grandkids will be in Atlanta for a couple of weeks. Sure don't want to miss that.

So have FUN at the Rally and be sure to post some updates along the way. Especially the LD Riders coming in.
Be nice to see some reports each day from Rally Central at the campground.

Oh , back in February I had booked Travelodge in Durango from July 11 to 15th. Had a pleasant stay there after last years Gunnison Rally before I headed to Los Alamos. But when checking my Reservation and Conf # last month I found that the Travelodge has been CLOSED. As in shut down. No notifications at all. Just closed. Pretty bad when they up and closed the place to Keep me Out. So moon the place for me when you ride by (between Quality & Days Inn)

I have my Durango Rally ride plan all set so for grins maybe if time allows I will run it later in the year.
Was looking forward to Huevos Rancheros again at Los Hermanitos Del Oeste in Farmington during the rally trip west.

Sure going to miss seeing everyone ………………….
Have FUN and ride safe

Jeff

[Bonz]

Going to miss having you too! No sense in a guy from Georgia coming out to run circles around us with the Great Pumpkin GL 1800 again. Been there, done had my mirrors filled up with that bike more than a few times.

Take care, will post up when I can from the rally.

[Bonz]

Hopefully I’m heading out tomorrow afternoon to stop in Gunnison and on to Durango Thursday morning. Otherwise leaving early Thursday. Shirts are packed, saddlebags and duffel bag ready to put on the bike.

Plan on meet and greet at 5 PM at the United Campground on Friday. We could do burgers and brats, we could also do a restaurant in town or order pizza to the campground. It’s up to you guys. We can decide once we are all there. Also will decide kick-stands up time each night for the next day.

The 3 of us getting there on Thursday will probably be out riding Friday morning into the early/mid afternoon. When you get there tell them your are with the Yamaha motorcycle group and they can direct you. Tim is the manager I have been working with.

The 3 of us getting Thursday will take care of the payment for Thursday night.

Friday night through Sunday night there will be a 8 of us camping. If we can fit onto three sites it will be approx $48.75 per guy for the full stay. If we elect/need to use a fourth site the total will be approx $57.50 per guy for the stay.

I will have talked through that with the campground manager so it should go smoothly when each of you arrive. The plan is each guy pay their portion at the campground and I won’t have to collect it from each person.

Don’t forget the $20 entrance fee for Mesa Verde and the $20 for the rally fund.

Breakfast on your own each morning, lunch is on the road, group dinner back at the campground. Will collect money from each guy to cover the cost of whatever food we decide to go with.

Safe travels guys, post up here with questions or you can text me. I think everyone has my number so should be good to go.

“Westward Ho, destination Durango”, except the Cali boys, please ride east...

Be safe riding or trailering out, looking forward to seeing you all!

[rdmcguy]

And awayyyyy we go!!

Thanks for the update Bonz and for organizing the rally again this year.Im sorry that Jeff H Three phase and misc. others will not be attending this year, but I am looking forward to seeing some familiar faces as well as meeting some new guys.I will be getting there early afternoon Friday with El Toro , grill, coolers and misc other things.......Safe travels to all , see ya when you get there.

[BA80]

Should be getting there about the same time Joe.

[rdmcguy]

I'm glad to hear it Greg, I'm looking forward to riding with you again...Be Safe.

[BA80]

Made it to Denver about 5. There was a detour on 285 that added about an hour and coming over that last pass into Denver the sky opened up and Okie and I got soaked. Neither one of us like that at all. 35 - 40 mph and Okie's pods got soaked and he didn't want to run for crap.

[JeffH]

Made it to Denver about 5. There was a detour on 285 that added about an hour and coming over that last pass into Denver the sky opened up and Okie and I got soaked. Neither one of us like that at all. 35 - 40 mph and Okie's pods got soaked and he didn't want to run for crap.

Greg,

I was looking at DEN area radar about that time to see what y'all were dealing with weather wise. Saw those pesky gremlin rains firing up along the entire front range.
No fun riding in rain when fully loaded like that. Glad Okie kept running good enough to maneuver the Denver area traffic. A few sputters aren't good when all the cars are WOT.
Guess you are at your sisters for a few days. That's a good thing. enjoy

Jeff

[Jerry]

I had to leave Sunday as I had to be home Monday AM for a call with a mortgage broker then back to work so missed the Mesa Verde segment. Downloaded photos last night and will be posting a few up here soon.

My bias...I think SW Colorado is the best place to ride in the state. Route up Dolores Canyon to Ridgeway then back down Hwy 550 into Durango is a great ride of about 250 miles from and back to the campground. You have mountain scenic, valleys, some twisty roads, rivers, flatland areas, farms, buffalo ranches, regular ranches, just about everything Colorado offers except high desert. Enough small towns to find fuel and food along the way.

it is always good to see old friends and meet a few new people. I enjoyed this rally and hope the other attendees did as well.

It did rain a bit every afternoon and from Durango (including some hail) to Ouray on my Sunday trip home. I did take a side trip to Wolf Creek Pass and Valicito Lake before I left, had lunch in Pagosa Springs.

It looks like I will be leaving Colorado for Iowa if our house buying deal goes through. Move (and retirement) would be sometime after closing on September 30th. This would result in me going more east for rallies and such rather than west, but the future remains open. We are keeping our Colorado lot located in Park County and not far from Hwy 285 and Fairplay.

My thanks to Bonz for organizing this rally. it was a lot of fun.

[Bonz]

Thanks Jerry, happy for you and your upcoming move. NE Iowa is a nice place and not the typical Iowa flatland most folks think it is.

Got home around 4 pm yesterday, got SOAKED just like Greg the last 15 miles coming up I-25 to Palmer Lake from Colorado Springs. Pods did fine on the ZRX. It has a bracket made by a ZRX forum member that holds the airbox side covers in place, so basically fully covered for rain purposes. When I didn’t have the covers, never had an issue with normal rain, but yesterday was a gully-washer and glad Greg got to his sister’s place.

Thanks to everyone for coming, good riding with you guys and most important to me are the friendships. Please keep posting up when you get home so we can hear from everyone they made it!

[BA80]

Greg,

I was looking at DEN area radar about that time to see what y'all were dealing with weather wise. Saw those pesky gremlin rains firing up along the entire front range.
No fun riding in rain when fully loaded like that. Glad Okie kept running good enough to maneuver the Denver area traffic. A few sputters aren't good when all the cars are WOT.
Guess you are at your sisters for a few days. That's a good thing. enjoy

Jeff

Just overnight. In Billings, Mt now visiting grandkids. Great Falls Thursday so see some old friends from high school daze.

[rdmcguy]

Sights and sounds along the way..

It took me a few extra days to comment on the rally as I did some further adventuring after the rally, As usual Bonz put together a great route plan and very nice campsite,THANK YOU Howard!..Thank you also to all the guys from misc.States, towns and cities that came to ride and bs. for a few days.
I took quite a few pictures along the way,before,during and after the rally, They are on my facebook page listed as "Summer vacation " part one, two and three,My name is Joseph McCarthy My cover pic. is a mountain scene (from the rally)and my daughter is in the corner of my fb page..Thanks again guys...Hope to see you again next year !

[Jerry]

A few rally photos:

Thursday night, 3 bikes (Howard, Merlin, Jerry) at campground


Joe and Roo engage in an animated discussion


Howard and Merlin


At Lizard Head pull-off


Group at Trout Lake


Routing around rock that fell on road - Hwy 145, Dolores Canyon


Evidence of avalanche along Hwy 550


Old mine site along Hwy 550


Me at Wolf Creek Pass

I will be putting a gallery together to add to my web page that will include a few more photos and some footage of the Durango steam train that rolled through the campground several times a day.