The Southwest Colorado Trip - Day 1

Today was day one of a long overdue week long vacation with the family. My loving wife chose a timeshare in Pagosa Springs, CO and booked it many weeks ago. Work continues unabated at United Airlines, but my manager said I could still go. I just have to attend some meetings during the upcoming week and since I am a contractor and no work means no pay, it should all work out.

Anyways, I worked all last night and early morning, grabbed three hours sleep this morning and was on the road by Noon. Traffic was bad, couple with a couple of spots with construction-related lane closures but I still made pretty good time. Riding on US285 as I did this past weekend, I made it to Poncha Springs by 3:30 PM and checked in with the family. They were in the minivan and about two hours ahead of me.

Before I got to Poncha Springs, I went by Mount Princeton on US285 and spotted a sign for Chaffee County Road 162 which seemed to head straight for the gap between Mount Princeton and Mount Mamma. I deviated from my highway run for 30 minutes and came upon the town of Mount Princeton Hot Springs, some kind of spa resort apparently. I went past the small town and took these pictures:

Looking west on CR 162, just beyond Mount Princeton Hot Springs

The foothills of Mount Princeton, to the east of the Mount Princeton Hot Springs

The "ghost town" of Saint Elmo was about 12 miles further west but I did not have the time today to explore it. I headed instead back towards US285, stopping briefly to get these shots of the mountains:

A panoramic view of Mt Princeton and Mt Mamma

I proceeded south on US 285 and encountered a bit of stormy weather as I cruised towards Saguache and US 160. I did end up getting rained on a couple of times, briefly, but each time I was able to outrun the rain and the warm weather dried me out nicely each time.

I was riding directly at this weather pattern

A closeup view of part of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range

While Brigitta was shadowed by the rain clouds, the Sangre de Cristo Mountains were nicely lit

Looking south on US 285, somewhere north of Saguache

I got to US 160 and turned west towards Pagosa Springs. You ride through the large San Luis Valley and go through a couple of small towns such as Del Norte and South Fork. As you leave the San Luis Valley you get to the mountains around the Wolf Creek Ski Resort and the Continental Divide.

The requisite pass picture of Wolf Creek Pass

The view one sees when starting to descend from Wolf Creek Pass

The valley below, from the Wolf Creek Pass scenic overlook

The riders in the pictures blasted past me just before I got to the overlook, moving way faster than I was, and yet we ended up in the same spot, same time.

A vertical panoramic view, showing the cool rock formations at the base of the overlook

The scenic overlook one gets to after descending from Wolf Creek Pass is well worth the stop. You get a great view of the valley in which Pagosa Springs is located. The road up to the overlook is nice and twisty as is the road down into the valley. The light wasn't quite right for some of the rock formations near the pass so I hope to be there tomorrow soon after sunrise for another try.

I rode on down into the valley, and was soon in Pagosa Springs which was about 20 miles away. Again, it rained on me briefly as I neared the timeshare's location. Here's where the only real danger of the whole ride existed. Clueless cagers wandering about lost inside the timeshare complex trying to find their units! Truly amazing these people were able to pass driving tests.

No matter, I reunited with my family at our timeshare unit, safe and sound. Dinner was almost ready and my loving wife had the wine handy. What more could I ask?

I got to Pagosa Springs at 6:30PM so it was about six and a half hours of riding with picture stops. Brigitta's odometer was right on 76,000 miles when I parked her for the night.

There's some truly beautiful scenery in this part of Colorado so far. The next few days should be some great riding!

EOD Mileage: 76,000

Brigitta's stripped transmission input spline

I got Brigitta, my 1987 R80 Beemer back from Pete Homan today. Pretty fast work really, the most time was spent trying to fix the neutral sensor switch and they ended up replacing it instead.

I thought I'd show you what went wrong this past Saturday, which left Brigitta and me stranded for a short while on the side of the road.

Basically, the transmissions on these airheads use an input spline to mate with the clutch plate to engage and disengage the gears in the transmission when shifting gear. I thought you were supposed to lube them with special lubricant every 15,000 miles, no more than 18,000 miles. Well, according to Pete, one should do this service with every major service, every 10,000 miles!

I had been planning to lube the input spline when Brigitta hit 79,000 miles which I had calculated was roughly 15,000 from when I got her. I guess I should have done it sooner. Here's the result of what happens when this is neglected:

Here's the forward end of the old transmission, note the plentiful shiny metal flakes splattered about, they're the metal that was sheared/worn off of the input spline's gear teeth!

A closeup of the failed input spline, note how far down the teeth had been worn down! The correct height for the teeth is shown at the base of the input spline. Yikes!

Here's a shot of the input spline from the transmission I bought on Ebay and which now is mounted on Brigitta.

Pete Homan was able to get Brigitta back on the road in two days because I had bought previously a used 1981 airhead transmission thinking it would take the place of the one Brigitta came with when it came time to rebuild it at 100,000 miles.

Turns out, I was wrong about that too....sure the engine might go to 100,000 miles before needing an overhaul but transmission are really expected only to possibly make it to 50,000 miles! I'd been on borrowed time ever since I bought the motorcycle it seems.

I cleaned up the failed transmission this evening, I think I'll be having it rebuilt with a new input spline (rumored to cost $300), have the rest of its innards checked out and have it ready if/when the one I got from Ebay fails or needs work.

Pete wants me to change out the transmission fluid about 500 miles from now, or when Brigitta hits 76,000 miles to check out the fluid's condition. He'd noted some water had leaked into the Ebay transmission and was not 100% sure of it without cracking it open.

So, hopefully this Ebay transmission will work out well for a long time. I've got to save up the money to have the failed one rebuilt so I hope it lasts at least that long!

Riding with a Fellow Rounder

This weekend, I had the pleasure of riding some of my favorite routes with a fellow yearround rider from S.E. Texas. We call ourselves rounders, and met with other like-minded individuals online at www.yearroundriders.com

Ken hails from Beaumont, TX where he and his Suzuki Bandit, show the mostly HD cruiser crowd in the area what it means to be a yearround rider. Ken was even seen out on his motorcycle after the snow they had down in Beaumont this past winter, a rare event for S.E. Texas. The snow pretty much locked everything down from schools to businesses but not Ken, he was out riding....the snow did not stick to the streets you see.

So Ken got himself a kitchen pass from his loving wife this past week and journeyed up to the great state of Colorado to see for himself some of the rides I'd documented in this blog. I was fortunate to have time to go riding with him on Saturday and Sunday. Ken is a great rider, can ride for hours with no apparent issues, and was maneuvering his overloaded Bandit on muddy roads with not one fall while cruising through the Rocky Mountain National Park.

On Saturday, we met at Idaho Springs at Noon and we rode up to the top of Mount Evans. We had great weather and I have to say, Ken has great karma in terms of attracting photogenic animals to appear for his camera. I counted over 12 mountain goats near the top of Mount Evans, some even trotted right by his stopped motorcycle! In all my times up this road, I've seen only one lousy goat, and he was begging for snacks at the visitor center on top of the mountain!

Ken and his Bandit, on the way up the Mount Evans Road

Ken at Summit Lake, near the top of Mount Evans

Notice how close this one of several mountain goats just casually walked in front of Ken's motorcycle! Photo courtesy of Ken.

Ken took a picture of me as I looked on in disgust at his luck in attracting the mountain goats for pictures! Note the clouds below our level! We were at times, riding above the clouds!

Our riding on Saturday was cut short though as we were winging our way down CO 103 towards Bergen Park. Brigitta, my 1987 R80, while I was engine-braking down the mountain road; started making the most awful metal sounds and I lost the ability to shift gears.

I coasted to a stop and Ken and I determined that either the transmission or the clutch throwout bearing were probably toast. Dammit! Oh, and to add to things, no signal received on either of our cell phones.

I was able to get her into first gear after several tries and we road/limped on down the mountain, making it all the way to Bergen Parkway before Brigitta refused to go into gear anymore. Depressed, I called for the tow truck while Ken waited with me in the strong rain and lightning and thunder that then occurred. Poor guy had to follow me on his Bandit in the rain while I sat nice and dry in the tow truck. We left Brigitta to be diagnosed at Bavarian Motorcycles West. Pete Homan was guessing it sounded like the transmission input spline gears were sheared away and the clutch plate would also have to be replaced. Dammit! Almost 23 years old and that's all the thing lasted? : )

I learned, the hard way as usual, that while Airhead engines might go 100K before needing an overhaul, transmission will only last about 50K before needing an overhaul. Not only that but that pesky transmission input spline has to be lubed every 10K miles, 15K miles max!

Ken took this shot of me by poor Brigitta, right after it had stopped raining/hailing on us while we waited for the tow truck to arrive.

So now we shall see what the repair costs will be. : (

Sunday, today, went much better. Maria, my 2004 R1150RT, though a bit out of tune due to my hamfisted efforts to change her idle speed; stepped in as the "spare motorcycle" and Ken and I rode about 340 miles or so. We made a big loop, starting at Red Rocks Park near Morrison, riding then on US285 all the way down past Buena Vista and the Collegiate Peaks, getting down to Salida and riding east on US50 to Cañon City so Ken could ride Skyline Drive. We had to make up for yesterday's lost time you see.

Red Rocks Park, near Morrison, CO

Along the Arkansas River, riding on US50 heading East

On Skyline Drive

Man, I was tired at the end of today's riding! Ken looked like he was ready for more! And more is what he's going to get....he's still got the ride back to Beaumont, Texas over the next two days.

It was great riding with Ken, the first yearrounder I've met in person! He's now thinking of planning a yearrounder get-together for New Years down in Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, TX. Could be fun!

Traveling with BMW Motorrad - Time to Vote

I'd blogged before about the photo contest being run by BMW Motorrad for their upcoming calendar with the theme: "Traveling with BMW Motorrad". LINK

Well, now its time to vote, and I could sure use your vote if you like this picture I submitted which was selected as a finalist:

Here's the blog posting that had the above picture of Brigitta on Pikes Peak

Of the 60 pictures in the finalist list, the above is near the end on the second page. If you like it, I'd appreciate your voting for me.

Here's where you go to vote: Traveling with BMW Motorrad

Update 03APR10:  I'd forgotten about this contest, spent some time searching the BMW Motorrad website, finally found the 2010 calendar and the selected winners.  Unsurprisingly, they went with shots that show their current lineup of motorcycles and not the older models like mine, oh well.  Oh, and apparently, the votes put in by folks were not really counted.....

Here's a link to the 2010 Calendar if you're curious what got selected.