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420 Western Colorado Loop Ride 9-16-2020

nickrides

Nick Kennedy
420 Mile Western Colorado Ride Today

After a couple of crystal clear days, woke up to modest smoke this morning. Had the day off so decided at the last minute to head out at 10 am.
Telluride down valley to Placerville, new pavement, nice twistys, scenic red rock canyon.
Placerville to Ridgway up over Dallas Divide, Classic Colorado cruising.
Ridgway to Montrose, the only straight droning section of the whole day, 25 miles.
Montrose to Blue Mesa Dam, High speed sweepers, new pavement and scenic.
Blue Mesa dam to Crawford via North rim Black Canyon rd. This is a super good section, Million linked together curves! No gravel or LEO's.
West towards Delta and then a right turn up into Cedaredge and up onto Grand Mesa. This is also a really good section, good curves and scenic, high speed section if you like. Up on top of Grand Mesa you top out at 10,800' Cool up there.
Going down the northside near Powerhorn ski area you come to the village of Mesa. Riding off riding off the mesa is very nice.
Down below Mesa to I-70 this this canyon section that is one of the best roads in the state, constant radius, moderate to high speed cruising, makes you feel like your on a GP course!
I-70 west to Grand Junction to hwy 50 south to Whitewater, then west on 141 to Gateway on to Naturita, a 90 mile super awesome section of hwy.
People come from all over to ride this. Came out of corner doing 90+, there was a trooper sitting on the side of the road with his lights on.
I clamped on the brakes and looked at him and kept going. A mile further the was a Tesla truck photo shoot going on. I think the Trooper was just running interference for the photo shoot. Onwards home to Telluride via Naturita, Redvale and Norwood.
All in all a very pleasant day!!

Stats: 420 miles, 8:30 hrs
Nick
 
Thx for the ride, Nick. Sounds like a wonderful day. I have ridden some/most of those roads over the years and your words brought back some great memories. I am jealous that you live that close and can ride there whenever you want.
 
Hi Royce
The riding out of Telluride is about as good as it gets, except for winter of course. Access to the High mountains and the desert just to the west. On that ride yesterday i had both, High Mountains, low desert. Most of the roads are empty and in good shape, few LEO's, but there out there. My biggest concern are the deer, they are such retards.
I live quite high at 9740, but my access road is south facing and the sun takes care of alot of the white stuff.
Ride Safe in 2020
Nick
 
Great riding in the Telluride area.
Been a long time since we were in Telluride. The last three times we tried to visit a thunder storm had us change our route.
We spent the night in Naturita the 12th, had breakfast in Telluride, then headed south on 145.

North of Naturita
hwy 141 Hanging Flume (6).jpg

hwy 141 Hanging Flume (13).JPG

Mexican breakfast in Telluride
Telluride (2).jpg

South of Telluride.
Telluride (4).jpg
 
Thanks for the ride report, Nick. I live on the Front Range, so I don't ride the Western Slope as much as I'd like to. I sometimes ride right past everything around those parts on my way to the West Coast, but I seldom take the time to enjoy it. Still working for a living. Once I retire, I'll be able to take my time.

Lots of good roads on this side of the Rockies, too, but it's gotten so crowded that you have to pick your time and place carefully.

Rick
 
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