Ive been coordinating with CudaJim, and we will be headed to the springs this evening. We will be leaving Boulder around 5 or 5:30 and are hoping to be there by 7:30. We will need to check in at the KOA, but then it would be good to grab some dinner & drinks with you guys!
You all have my number, call if you need ti, otherwise ill check in when we get down there!
See ya!
.
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Well, fire the engines! Spur this iron space-pony on!
I;m sure Doug and his wife have been out all day enjoying the sites. Any how text me where you are going to dinner and the wife and I will meet up with y'all. If you need an idea just let me know. We can hit breweries or anything else you guys want.
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Never Trade the Thrills of Living for the Security of Existence.
Dave, Jill & I just got back to our room, we had a nice visit with the family at the shop Spent mid-day cruising Garden of the Gods, had a light lunch in Manitou Springs, then hit the shop on the way back.
Declan, we got your texts, looking forward to seeing you & Jim.
Todd, you're coming down Saturday morning right?
Dave, give us a call when you're off work if you wanna hang out prior to meeting Declan & Jim. We're back at the room, gonna take a well needed nap.
LOl, I got a text from my mother-in-law saying you stopped in. She will be pilon on Saturday for the ride up the mountain. I'll probably ride home when I get off and get the wife then we can find a place to eat and let jim and Declan know. We may need to eat before them. I had to skip lunch we were so busy today. Well....I have some sticky rice that could hold me over.
Shamless plugg: They have another shop on the east side of town that works on Toyotas if you need anything before you hit the road.
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Never Trade the Thrills of Living for the Security of Existence.
10:15ish local time, just got home. I was filling up with gas in Kearney about 2 hours ago & I saw a guy wearing a red sleeveless t-shirt with NEBRASkA across the front...
god I hate this state (mainly just the football fans & the humidity).
I'll get to work on pics & video as soon as I can.
Thanks to all who showed up & rode with us!! We had a fantastic weekend, even with a broken clutch cable
Mary, I hope you made it home safe!! We were both thinkin' about you on our way home today.
I started in Raton this morning and made it home around 6:30 tonight. Had enough time to clean up and make it to the concert, which I just got home from. I'm too tired to think straight, so i'm gonna go pass out now.
I just spent the morning down-res'ing & hosting pics... vids will be a few days.
Shall I post a ride report in this thread? Might as well... kind of a ride report / monkey hand-off.
We should get the monkey his own profile to document his travels
Jill & I left Omaha about 8:30am (CST) & arrived in Colorado Springs by about 6pm local time.
We got checked in to our motel, then had a great dinner at BJ's Brewhouse - thanks to Dave for the suggestion.
Thursday, Sept 1
Jill & I had a day to kill seeing the sights on our own. So after a quick morning run for supplies, we jumped on the bike again & headed out for Garden of the Gods.
We made 3 or 4 laps around the small loop, then eventually headed south into Manitou Springs. We found a place to park on Manitou Ave & walked a couple blocks in each direction to see the sights. We had lunch at The Townhouse Lounge, they had a good amount of outdoor seating.
After lunch, we walked some more & Jill wanted to see the natural springs.
When we'd had enough walking in our riding boots, we jumped on the bike again & headed back through town, & back up through G.o.t.G. & went to check out the shop where we were to meet up on Saturday morning.
After that we went back to our room & rested for a couple hours until Dave got off work.
Jim & Declan were on their way down by that point, & we all met up for dinner at a great little Mexican cafe:
Jill wanted to sleep in, so I headed up to Dave's house for an early morning ride with him & Jim & Declan for a morning ride. It wasn't long after they arrived that we received word that Mary was on her way, so after all were present & accounted for, we headed south picked up Jill, and we all headed out for an awesome day of riding.
Dave led us West on 24 all the way to Hartsel (right?) then South on 9 to Hwy 50,
then he showed us a special little nugget of joy called... Skyline Drive which overlooks Canyon City.
^ this is us toward the end of Skyline Dr, I've got some good GoPro footage of the entire stretch.
As we descended off of Skyline into Canyon City, my clutch cable decided it had had enough & gave out on me.
This was where the brotherhood of forum friends turned an "oh, shit!" moment into a manageable situation.
With a bit of bike trading to get us into town & smart phone use over lunch, we were able to track down local dealerships,
acquire part numbers, get help advice from the forum & form a plan to get us all back to Springs.
We stopped at a couple dealerships on the way back to Co. Springs, but no-one seems to carry clutch cables in stock.
"nope, sorry... I can order one in for ya"
At the end of the day, Dave was kind enough to ride with me & Jill all the way back to Canyon City to find my bike where we had stashed it earlier & we hauled it back in my U-Haul trailer.
It was quite a long day, but a great one at that.
This was the day we had decided to tackle Pike's Peak.
We woke up to a major temp change from Thursday & Friday, quite cold & WINDY!
Since my bike wasn't in any condition to go up the mountain, Jill & I headed down to the shop to drop the trailer & meet up with the group anyway. Shortly after we arrived, Dave's father-in-law & a friend each showed up & after telling them of our story from the day before, they escorted us back down to APEX where we had stopped on the way home on Friday afternoon to try again to acquire a clutch cable. The store wasn't open yet, but these guys had an inside connection & left us there with the service writer as they headed for Pike's Peak. Still no luck, but oh well. We headed back up to the shop to grab my toolbox out of the trailer, it was then that Dave called me from APEX, & Jill & I decided we'd 4-wheel it up the mountain behind the rest of the crew.
We headed down to meet everyone, Todd came down early from Denver & we missed seeing Jim off as he had to get back home for work.
We peeled out of town & headed for the biggest rock we could find...
Up we went!!
We took a break at the designated stop which I assume is about 1/2 way up the mountain. They have a pull off area where they check the temperature of your brakes on the way down. If they're too hot they make you wait until they cool down before proceeding with your decent.
...and away we went again!
I had to get a pic of my truck at the top for another forum,
...and for the "Toyota jump" picture thread on said forum:
Anyways, back to the good stuff:
...and, heading back down:
We stopped at the bottom of the mountain for some good Texas-style BBQ at Rudy's in Colorado Springs.
From there, we all headed back North into town - Jill & I stopped by our room for a quick change of clothes while the rest of the group met up at Dave's house to pack, we had special plans for the evening
To end the trip in style (), Jill & I, Todd, Declan & Mary all headed up into Denver to experience... Casa Bonita
Be sure to check out the South Park episode >here< you get the basic tour if you watch from the beginning up until 02:36, and then again towards the end in scene 3, 18:28 through 20:40.
Here is our journey:
Jill & I arrived a couple minutes before the rest of the group & wandered in:
almost immediately after this pic ^ was taken, Declan called from the parking lot out front & we eagerly exited the building to meet up with the group.
There was a fountain out front,
so we tossed in some coins, made a couple wishes & headed in to get in line
It kinda felt like we were cattle headed for slaughter,
but along the way it was kinda like being in line for a mexican haunted house
Once we made our way through the line which did numerous switchbacks back&forth throughout the building, we placed our orders & were escorted to our dining room. Getting there was a strange trip in itself - we got a small glimpse of how big this place really was, & it was odd too - not your standard square building with straight walls, no this was like being in a tropical forest on an island. There were trees & other vegetation, lights, nooks & crannies, all kinds of terrain to be explored which was almost like sensory overload.
I would describe this place as something you'd see in a dream. Strange layout, you might see two or three tables stashed in a nook of a cave, and then go into another cave where you'd find an entire room. The floor was sloped, multi-leveled, anything but square... I was wondering how many building codes were being violated... but it was nothing less than awesome, in a weird sort of way.
We were seated in what looked kind of like a small ballroom with ornate decorations on the walls & ceiling. We were seated at a table which was just off the center of the stage which had red curtains lowered & a sign on the wall indicated that a magic show would begin shortly.
A few minutes after we started eating, the curtain raised slowly as a Japanese-American man played a harmonica into the microphone, the crowd was silent. This was confusing, scary & hilarious all at the same time.
But he eventually did some pretty decent magic tricks and even got the crowd involved.
He did a card trick, a magic rope knot-tying trick, a trick with the 5 solid steel rings.
There were these two ladies loaded up with light-up toys for sale who came through our dining room.
Mary got herself a souvenir
oh yeah, the monkey had a good time as well
I think the monkey nearly exploded from all the sophapillas
After we were done eating & the magic show was over, we got up to go explore.
We went through Black Bart's cave, we saw the cliff divers
there was a LOT to take in.
and then, just when we thought it was all done, there was just one more thing to do:
Damn I missed Casa Bonita It looks like you had a great time. I really should have skipped my HS Reunion. Kind of cool to get a beer with the old guys legally now but all the same I would have had more fun in Denver. I need to upload my photos now too. I also need to edit the video to only add music other wise it is awesome! Love the peeing photo! I knew that would be great!
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Never Trade the Thrills of Living for the Security of Existence.
Wow, excellent pictures! I love the overlook shot with the winding roads and lake in the distance and +1 on making the 4 ascending 9ers pic the new banner! 14,000ft is very impressive. Any issues with the bikes (rough idle, power loss, etc) at that elevation?
And the Casa Bonita sure is something. Reminds me of restaurants out of theme parks with the layout and shows. Thanks for sharing!
"Security is mostly a superstition, it does not exist in nature: avoiding danger in the long run is no safer than outright being exposed. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing."-Helen Keller
I didn't notice any problems on mine but then again Todd, Declan and myself live here so the bikes and us are use to running at altitude. I know Doug said his felt sluggish and I dont recall Mary mentioning anything. At the top they all started up fine and seemed to idle just as fine. Just FYI I installed a PC last Sunday and it is still loaded with LDH's Stock map. However, I have an K&N and am Running Stubby Delkevics.
__________________
Never Trade the Thrills of Living for the Security of Existence.
By the time I made it back to Dallas, I had put 2002 miles on the bike. Not bad for a 4 day excursion across 3 states. I was super lazy and only took a few pics. My real camera ended up buried in the tank bag and my phone didn't like low light situations.
But here are some of the gems from my trek.
Day 1
Ready to ride:
Ticket avoidance rest stop with volcano in the background. I had been exceeding the speed limit in a construction zone along with several other cars, when out of nowhere a wild State Trooper appeared. I suddenly felt the urge to stretch my legs and got the hell off the highway. When I pulled out the rest stop, I saw that Mr. Trooper had found a victim just a few miles up the road.
600 miles from Dallas, the monkey and I settled for cheap food and cheaper beer in our tent in Raton, NM. The rains came, and we hunkered down for the night.
Day 2:
Sunrise at the KAO in Raton, NM. Its always a relief to wake up and find the bike still there, and still upright. I knew it was going to be a good day. I packed up and headed toward the Springs.
After meeting up with the rest of the gang at Dave's house had a sweet ride, ending with the unfortunate clutch cable debacle.
Wow, excellent pictures! I love the overlook shot with the winding roads and lake in the distance and +1 on making the 4 ascending 9ers pic the new banner! 14,000ft is very impressive. Any issues with the bikes (rough idle, power loss, etc) at that elevation?
And the Casa Bonita sure is something. Reminds me of restaurants out of theme parks with the layout and shows. Thanks for sharing!
My bike idled poorly at the top. I was worried it was gonna stall a few times, but I just gave it some gas and crossed my fingers. As we descended it started running better, and all was right with the world once again.
My bike idled poorly at the top. I was worried it was gonna stall a few times, but I just gave it some gas and crossed my fingers. As we descended it started running better, and all was right with the world once again.
It's the thin air up at that altitude...mine was the same.
I'm glad you guys are posting up the awesome pictures you took, since I didn't take many pics myself!
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Well, fire the engines! Spur this iron space-pony on!
This whole weekend was just as great as a time for me. You could of had a bed Mary! I enjoyed having the company and showing people the sites. No thanks is ever needed. I'm sorry you two felt like you had rough idle. Mine started up fine and felt fine. I put her in second when she should have been in first on the dirty section but that was to calm down the torque so the rear wouldn't go out on me. But then again we went from 6800ft to 14,000ft so rough idle or a sluggish feeling is to be expected.
__________________
Never Trade the Thrills of Living for the Security of Existence.
On our fuel injected bikes, the RPM's always drop about 4-500 at that altitude, but hardly noticeable if your not looking for it. Bikes still run fine tho, a carb'ed bike will have serious issues that high up, would need re-jetting for the top....
Thanks for posting up the pics guys! Looking forward to seeing some of the vids to....really had a fantastic time with ya'll!!!
__________________
Spoiler:
ALL PARTS HAVE ARRIVED....let the wrenching begin!!!
My 9'er had a low side slide.....She's down but not out......and about to rise from the ashes!
Currently:
2004 Honda 919 Silver
599 Headlight
Buell M2 shield
Givi Crash bars
Dynojet PCIII
Akrapovic exhaust - GSXR shorty CF
Seat with gel insert and re-shape
Custom LED Rear lights w/ vizi-tech flasher
Competition Works Fender Eliminator
Front 3-way LED Turn Signals flushmount
6-Spoke wheel conversion ( 900rr / F3 )
Michelin Pilot Road 3 - New @ 19940 8/10/11
Dyna Beads for tire balancing
17t / 44t Sprockets
Piaa horns 400 & 500 hertz
Ohlins rear shock from an F3, Re-Valved/Sprung
F4i Forks, custom sprung/sealed
ASV levers - Black W/Red Adj.
Tech-Spec custom tank Pads
Napoleon bar end mirrors
SW-Motech center stand
Custom one-off Bars W/Heat
FuzeBlocks FZ-1 Power Distribution
RC51 front brakes w/Bremzen pads-10 button rotors
Buell Ulysses Foot Peg conversion
etc, etc,
Okay just one of three maybe four videos to come from me. Sorry for just one right night this is kind of a test and this is my First time editing a video EVER. I hope you enjoy. This is the road that leads up to the turn off to get to The Pikes Peak Highway. It is US Highway 24 aka Ute Pass. It is the major way for people from COS to get into the mountains.
So sad I missed out on this, just now finding time to catch up on the thread here. We had a good trip back home and spent some time with families and celebrated my little ones 2nd B-day with all the Grandparents since my dad isn't doing so great.
Any of you guys riding Sunday, I know Declan has Guards.........??
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"He was a wise man who invented Beer"--Plato
Maybe next Sunday? I am trying to find out the plans but I might be in Breckenridge during the weekend and a trip up Independence Pass would be great. The Aspens should be changing.
__________________
Never Trade the Thrills of Living for the Security of Existence.
Hey Robo I just found out that they went up to Buena Vista to vist with you, if I had known that I would have worked it out to come! I love getting the opertunity to vist with other members. Sorry I missed out on meeting you but atleast every one had a good time! Make sure to bring the 9er out next time and we can get another Swarm on Colorado Roads!
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Never Trade the Thrills of Living for the Security of Existence.
Hey Robo I just found out that they went up to Buena Vista to vist with you, if I had known that I would have worked it out to come! I love getting the opertunity to vist with other members. Sorry I missed out on meeting you but atleast every one had a good time! Make sure to bring the 9er out next time and we can get another Swarm on Colorado Roads!
No worries, unfortunately I didn't post up on this forum that I was going to be out there for a while. There will be plenty of next times though as I'll be moving out to Colorado by June 2012.
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MH60M - The only Chopper for me...
Any of you guys riding Sunday, I know Declan has Guards.........??
Glad your back! Hope everthing went well given the circumstances...
Really would love to, but probably won't ride tomorrow. Gotta figure out how to get my car back down from Westminster. Left it up there tonight when I picked up my 9'er from the welder. Not looking forward to the 2 hour bus ride....More about why it was at a welder in another thread soon....
I'm all good for Dave's idea for next weekend tho....
__________________
Spoiler:
ALL PARTS HAVE ARRIVED....let the wrenching begin!!!
My 9'er had a low side slide.....She's down but not out......and about to rise from the ashes!
Currently:
2004 Honda 919 Silver
599 Headlight
Buell M2 shield
Givi Crash bars
Dynojet PCIII
Akrapovic exhaust - GSXR shorty CF
Seat with gel insert and re-shape
Custom LED Rear lights w/ vizi-tech flasher
Competition Works Fender Eliminator
Front 3-way LED Turn Signals flushmount
6-Spoke wheel conversion ( 900rr / F3 )
Michelin Pilot Road 3 - New @ 19940 8/10/11
Dyna Beads for tire balancing
17t / 44t Sprockets
Piaa horns 400 & 500 hertz
Ohlins rear shock from an F3, Re-Valved/Sprung
F4i Forks, custom sprung/sealed
ASV levers - Black W/Red Adj.
Tech-Spec custom tank Pads
Napoleon bar end mirrors
SW-Motech center stand
Custom one-off Bars W/Heat
FuzeBlocks FZ-1 Power Distribution
RC51 front brakes w/Bremzen pads-10 button rotors
Buell Ulysses Foot Peg conversion
etc, etc,
Looks like you guys had a great time. Wish I could have made it...Sucks I always have to work weekends, at least until the post office flops or whatever. Hope I can swing it next time you guys are in town. Glad everyone had a safe trip.
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"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." ~Robert A. Heinlein
Spent mid-day cruising Garden of the Gods, had a light lunch in Manitou Springs, then hit the shop on the way back.
My 9'er had a low side slide.....She's down but not out......and about to rise from the ashes! 
), Jill & I, Todd, Declan & Mary all headed up into Denver to experience... Casa Bonita 
After meeting up with the rest of the gang at Dave's house had a sweet ride, ending with the unfortunate clutch cable debacle. 
Hope I can swing it next time you guys are in town. Glad everyone had a safe trip.
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