Saturday, May 31, 2008

The Trail Ridge Road and Milner Pass

I've been motorcycling now for over two years, and amongst all my rides within Colorado, there's been a pass I've tried to ride twice during that time and twice found my way blocked by snow and ice. Bad timing and bad planning on my part usually was at fault.

Today was a gloriously sunny day with a promise of temperatures in the low 80s so I headed out towards Rocky Mountain National Park and the Trail Ridge Road which traverses it and across the Continental Divide. Along the way, I stopped to document my motorcycle having been ridden to five other passes/saddles for my ongoing Passbagger 50 effort.

I arrived at Rocky Mountain National Park next to Estes Park a bit before noon. Traffic was medium heavy I would say, lots of cagers and motorcycles out to enjoy the views offered by the Trail Ridge Road. $10 a person is the cost one pays and its well worth it!

This road is so full of vast and awe inspiring mountain vistas that I kind of went a bit overboard with the panoramic shots as you can see below. I hope you like them.

This is the first range of mountains you see once you're past the Gate












This wall of snow was about 20ft high, I passed others that were higher!




A great day of riding, finally bagged Milner Pass on the third attempt and managed to also add five other passes to the list of ridden passes. I wore my Cycleport Jacket and it kept me comfortable when the temperatures hit 90 according to my onboard thermometer and down to 50 degrees with my Sheltex liner underneath. My Cycleport pants should be back this Monday, I'd sent them back for some slight mods around the knees.

End of month mileage reading: 57,616 - 2232 miles since last end of month reading.

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