Saturday Ride - Independence Pass
B/c it was going to be 100F+ in Denver Metro from 3pm-6pm, I delayed my escape from town till 1pm so I'd arrive back in the late evening and avoid the nasty heat...
Took off around C470 and passed the NHRA Top Fuel race at Bandimere... shitloads of people sitting inthe heat watching 1/4 mile... miserable... fun at night in the summer but fark, not in that heat...
damn...
Passed through Evergreen where the temps finally subsided under 80F and I'm tailing this midlevel 5 year old Lexus in the left lane as we're zooming 80mph through a nice right sweeper and the m'fr hits his brakes and almost puts me in his passenger seat and then speeds off as to tell me, "Hey motoprick, quit tailgating me, the left lane is mine, its not for passing!" I pulled my balls out of my stomach and got up next to him in the middle lane... he's 50+ year old guy that has his aviators on and his hair is slicked back, he brakes hard and waves me passed all pissed... I didn't move... I just pointed at him, straight at him and kept looking at him... I think he realized that any crazy mf'r on a sportbike that's not looking at the road going 80mph pointing at him in full gear might not be someone he wants to mess with... he slinked his car over to the middle lane and down to under 70mph and I never saw the douche again... hopefully he learned his lesson...
Continued down I-70 west, headed to the Copper Mtn Exit... I came up on an '07 Porsche 911 Turbo before Georgetown that did his damndest to accellerate away from me, but I just had a full service from SuperTune and new sprocks (14/38) on my 998 and that wasn't going to happen... I gave him the hang loose sign as I pulled away and I couldn't tell if he was miffed b/c he coudln't lose me or he realized he didn't have the prettiest vehicle on the road...
Take the Copper exit and head to Leadville for gas... nice cool temps...
Right outside of Leadville Pulled over doing 50 in a 40... I've gotten 4 tickets in the last 6 years... 2 of those in Leadville, CO... f'n wankers... $50, 2 points... oh well... there were three coppers within 5 miles of each other... and I thought I was going slow due to the road maintenance going on, gravel, oil, etc... he followed me for at least 5 miles till we got out of the rain... that's nice, but shit if you are gonna be nice, warn me and let me go... what's the point? ugh...
Took every bit of energy I had to keep my spirits up and shake off that incident for I was ready to rip up a terrifying 40+ miles of beautiful road to Aspen...
Next pic at Twin Lakes at the beginning of Independence pass, which by the way needs to be paved b/c its in some serious bad shape in spots... so watch out fellow riders...
On my way to the summit, I saw two Ferraris a Black Enzo and a Black F430... fun stuff... didn't take a pic as I was in no position to remove hands from handle bars...
Didn't see any rain drops but it was threatening in the area...
Topped up tank in Aspen... Strange, you go over the pass and all of the sudden you are in Europe paying insane prices...
Gas price pic was in Aspen... gassed up in front of a new black Aston Martin DB9 vert... nice car... didn't take pics b/c I was attempting to be cool...
But we nodded at each other and I was on my way back to hit the pass in the reverse direction...
On they way back up the rain came... on the way down it dried up and was nice and cool...
Last Pic... From Buena Vista up to Fairplay...
On my way towards Fairplay I attempted to top out the bike in 6th... saw 155 at 9500rpms with 1,000 rpms to go... the new gearing worked wonders in the pass, dropped my top speed from 185 to 160... easy to blast up to 120 now... anything over isn't needed for the street... surprisingly very stable and smooth at 150+... not many roads to do that on here... stick that Colorado State Patrol...
Gassed up, bio break in Fairplay, darkness closing in and I have about 70 miles to go... easy peasey... just keep a look out for Deer and all is good...
Left at 1pm, returned home at 10pm... 386 Total Miles... I have to admit I had some pain in my left shoulder and my hands were sore... I need to not white knuckle in the twisties and I'll be good... but that could also been compounded by a Friday night after work 150 mile loop up Mt. Evans and back the day before...
That definitely qualifies as a sport-tour... I had no need for bags or high bars or comfy seats... I just need to work out more... I could lose about 20 lbs. and that would make the world of difference... Then I'll set out on a nasty SaddleSore1000 loop around Colorado on it... Years ago my buddy Steve bet me I couldn't do a 1000 on my KTM 640, so I did it to prove him wrong and for a free dinner... so what if my right hand was numb for 3 days... I did it... ha...
Great day all in all... I successfully escaped the heat and made a great ride even though I got a $50 ticket... oh well... coulda been worse...
Thanks to Mike at SuperTune for such a sensational tune-up full service on the bike... I'm gonna need to order new tires soon...
Purchased 998 in early May with 4500 miles... Bike now has 8,000 miles and gets better every time we lay our hands on it...
Here's my route:
Boom!
Late to the party.
Linear Mode
