Day 16: Durango to Frisco 368 miles

Today was filled with some highs and some lows. We were trying to cover a lot of ground to be able to ride through Rocky Mountain National Park early on Friday.

We left Durango pretty late, around 9am, and it was already starting to get quite warm. No need for electrics this morning. Paul's rented RT gave him some difficulties starting, so he was reluctant to shut it off unless we were stopping for a while. We retraced our same route as yesterday, up by Silverton and Ouray on US-550. This shows the descent down into Ouray.

At Ridgway, instead of turning south, we continued north on US-550 which becomes US-50 at Montrose. We were in a very flat, very hot area. At one point, Paul's moto computer thermometer read 100 degrees. We took CO-82 east for a few miles, then CO-54 north. Our goal was Cedaredge, the town where Paul's paternal grandmother had grown up. It is very much a farming area with lots of orchards growing cherries and apples. It appeared that things only grew with supplemental irrigation though. It was hot and dry. We got lunch in Cedaredge, with the worlds's second slowest waitress. We had the slowest one later at dinner.

We backtracked from Cedaredge and turned east on CO-92. Here's where I experienced the first of any mechanical difficulties. Even though I had plenty of gas, my engine sputtered and stalled a couple of times. Once when I was trying to cross onto a busy highway. Another time when we were being herded through a construction zone and I had a huge truck tailgating me. Both times I managed to coast out of danger and get restarted, but it was distressing. We stopped and filled up at the next opportunity and put in some gas additive. About 20 miles later, the engine seemed to be running more smoothly.

CO-133 took us over McClure Pass (8,755 feet). We took CO-82 east which leads through Aspen. The area sure is pretty, but it was so busy and congested. I hadn't expected it to be quite so popular in the summer. But on we went, up Independence Pass (12.095 feet). There was still plenty of snow around at the top. From there, we descended still heading east through Twin Lakes to the junction of Us-24. We headed north, back through Leadville again, and north on CO-92 over Fremont Pass again.

We took a short hop on I-70 east to the town of Frisco where we got dinner and found a room for the night. It was while ascending Independence Pass that I had my second "mechanical" problem. All along, I have felt very confident with my machine's handling and the performance of the tires. Therefore, it was very disconcerting when I slipped a couple of times, not going particularly fast in a corner. I wasn't on the painted line and I hadn't noticed anything in the road. It made for a slower journey for the rest of the day.

When we got to our hotel for the night, I took a good look at my rear tire and noticed a pretty sizeable piece of metal embedded into the tread, but also protruding out a bit. I know enough not to pry it out. So instead of our intended plans for Friday to ride through Rocky Mountain National Park, we will be heading into Denver to the dealer to see if the tire can be repaired or replaced.