Enjoy!
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Our ride to Taos, NM with a group of riders from the Colorado High Country Cruisers (planned for September 9th-September 12th) actually sort of started on Wednesday, September 8. That's because we made a plan to ride down to Taos with our friend, Storm on Thursday, and we invited him to spend Wednesday night at our house so we could get an early start the next morning. He arrived shortly after 7 - bearing a lovely bottle of (what else?) Yellowtail Merlot - in time for Marty's delicious pork loin dinner. We made it an early night, as we were meeting other riders in Colorado Springs the next morning and needed to be there pretty early. (Sorry, no photos)
By the way, for those of you used to one of Marty's thrilling chilling ride reports spiced up with narrow escapes and numerous breakdowns - well, this ain't one of those. This was a lovely relaxing street ride with Marty on his Valkyrie and me on my Magna 750; Storm was on his BMW 1150GS headed for Sipapu and the big Beemer rally there. My thanks to Marty for the photos (I haven't mastered the art of taking photos while riding). Also, my thanks to both Eddie and Dave (you know who you are) for letting me use some of your ride report information.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
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We headed out around 7:30, riding I-25 south to Colorado Springs for a meet-up at Apex Motorsports at 9:00. After a quick gas stop, we met Dave (on an FJR) and Smoky (on another Valkyrie, with almost the same color scheme as Marty's), and headed for Florence via 115.
From Florence, we went through Wetmore to Westcliffe, and on to Walsenburg, where we picked up the Highway of Legends (Highway 12) down to Trinidad. It was very windy during parts of this stretch, which was exciting at times.
At Trinidad, we hopped on I-25 to head to Raton; during that stretch, my ride got quite exciting suddenly when a pickup truck on my right decided he wanted to occupy my lane while I was still in it. Fortunately, he heard my horn and moved back over before I wound up in the guard rail - but the median was looking pretty good right then. Marty was ahead of me, and he missed the whole thing.
Anyway, at Raton we picked up US 64 to go west to Taos - a lovely road that I'd like to revisit.
US 64 has some tighter, more twisty sections (sorry, no photos), which allowed Marty and Dave to zoom ahead while Storm and I meandered a bit so we could see the rock formations and surrounding scenery, and Smoky rode sweep. At some point, Dave and Marty pulled over to let us catch up and pass them, which put me in the lead for quite a ways. As we approached Taos, I realized that Dave was no longer with us (he had taken a shortcut), and at the same moment realized that I didn't know how to get to the hotel. Smoky was kind enough to take over the lead, and he led us to the Quality Inn. We said farewell to Storm after making a plan for the ride home, and got settled in the hotel. We caught up with the rest of our HCC group out by the pool, and then had dinner together in the hotel.
Friday, September 10, 2010
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After breakfast, we headed off as a group to ride the High Road Scenic Byway and the Enchanted Circle. We rode the High Road from Taos to Espanola - it's a lovely ride, going through a variety of terrain.
The only downside was the 4-5 miles of dirt and gravel in the construction zone. Good thing I'd had some recent experience riding gravel - this was relatively straightforward, even on street bikes. Anyway, from Espanola we took 518 past Sipapu to Mora, picking up 434 to Angel Fire.
Marty's Valkyrie and my Magna (and me):
At Angel Fire, some of the group stopped for lunch and some of us headed on up to US 64, where we stopped to tour the local Vietnam Memorial. The Memorial was initially built by the family of a vet who never came home, to honor the service of all those who fought and died; poignant doesn't begin to describe it.
Here are a few photos of the outdoor and indoor exhibits.
They've also built a separate chapel (no photo) as well as an outdoor amphitheater (pictured).
Those of us who went to the Memorial then rode on via the Enchanted Circle towards Red River via US 64 and 38. We stopped for a late lunch in Red River only to find that because we were a bit early for most restaurants our options were quite limited - there was a burger joint open, so we chose that and had a good meal.
The folks who had lunched in Angel Fire caught up to us, and there was the typical frivolity and mingling and even some shopping for souvenirs and T-Shirts. Marty and I weren't really in a shopping kind of mood, so we headed on back to Taos via Questa and 522. Once again, I wasn't sure exactly how to get back to the hotel, so Marty led us there once we got close to town; as it turned out, we didn't even have to make any turns, since 522 joined 64 which connected to 68 which is where the hotel was. One of these days I really should bite the bullet and get a GPS - ya think?
Saturday, September 11, 2010
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After another group breakfast, we joined others for the day's ride, heading northwest via US-64 to Chama.
Beyond Tres Piedras we found a lovely section of road that climbs the mountains with big sweepers, smooth surfaces, and almost no traffic.
It was beautiful and very relaxing, eventually climbing to the Los Brazos area and then heading north to Chama. In Chama, we picked up 17, and proceeded over Cumbres and LaManga passes, bringing us back into Colorado briefly.
We stopped for lunch in Antonito, Colorado, and then rode back to Tres Piedres via 285 to complete the loop before heading back on 64 to Taos. On that stretch of 64, we passed the Greater World Earthship Community (self-sustainable living) and later crossed the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. We've been over the gorge before, so we didn't stop for photos this time.
That night the group went to dinner at The Gorge restaurant in downtown Taos, followed by a casual club meeting back at the hotel.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
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Finished with the BMW rally in Sipapu, Storm arrived and joined us in Taos for breakfast at our hotel, and then we headed north together along 522 (it turns into 159 in Colorado) towards Fort Garland.
We picked up US 160 to Walsenburg, then took 69 back to Westcliffe and on up to US 50. Very easy, casual riding. Less windy than the ride south, too.
From there, we went east to Highway 9 and headed towards Florissant and Cripple Creek on 11. Again, very easy riding. Along the way, Marty heard the siren call of the Black Jack tables, so he detoured off to Cripple Creek while Storm and I headed for US 24 and Woodland Park. Storm then took 67, heading for Lakewood, while I stayed on 24 until I could pick up I-25 and head back to Larkspur to call it a day.
(Marty's short epilog: The Black Jack dealers were unkind to me, but they were sympathetic…)