| Author | Message | ||
     Needs_o2 |
I was just wondering if any of you true adventure riders out there have done the Alpine Loop in CO, from Lake City to Silverton? I was thinking of taking it to get to the S.W. Buell Rally. Is it doable two up on a semi-loaded Uly, or will I be squeezing out diamonds? Thanks in advance. | ||
| Sfarson |
Needs... Take a look at this vid I made of riding Cinnamon Pass as part of the Alpine Loop. It will give you a preview of what to expect. Would mention it was a KTM990 I was riding at the time... http://youtu.be/sAUy9-y4wPg I've seen a video of a couple riding Cinnamon two-up on a BMW F800GS. I've seen pics of tootal's Uly at the top of neighboring Engineer Pass. Of these two passes going from Lake City towards Silverton, I would give the slight easier edge to Cinnamon Pass. On the descent to the ghost town of Animas Forks there will be some loose scree on steeper sections and some baseball sized rocks. Your passenger could always hop off through these sections. On the ascent there were sections I found more comfortable by standing on the pegs. If the vid doesn't provide enough preview, I can fetch and post some pics from the book I wrote on motorcycling Colorado (The Alpine Loop is one of the 172 chapters in this big reference book)... The Colorado Book | ||
| Needs_o2 |
It didn't take long to find the right guy for the right answer, thanks Steve. Looks like I'll be buying a new book. Not sure where you're at, but we must not be too far apart. We're just north of Silverthorne. Do you recall how long it took you to get from Lake City to Silverton. | ||
| Sfarson |
Are you just off of CO 9? Many chapters in your area... Ute Pass, Williams Fork, Trough, Gore, Headwaters, Willow Creek, Loveland, etc. You're at ground zero of many great rides! I'm in Park County, not far from Kenosha Pass. It was mid-afternoon when I departed Lake City for Silverton via Cinnamon. Think I arrived at Silverton around 5:30p. Give yourself 2 1/2 hours. Maybe a little less, maybe a little more. | ||
| Od_cleaver |
I did that ride last year on a DRZ400S loaded with camping gear. From Silverton I took Ophir (sic?) Pass. I think that I would have dirtied my pants riding a loaded Uly two up. That was the first time for me on that type of road. Call me a novice. The road is wide. For the most part the road surface is gravel, rock and hard packed whatever. There were no sections of sand. I don’t recall seeing any ruts. There were a couple of shallow run off type creeks, but the bottoms are solid. On at least one of these, depending upon the line you take, you will exercise your suspension. Some of the road surfaces (gravel/rock) will probably be a little loose for street tires. All of the 4 wheelers pulled over and let me pass. They move so slow, that I would have fallen over if they did not. There are some tight switchbacks that I think will make you wish the Uly had a lower first gear. I think, depending what this year’s run off did to the road, it would be classified as an easy 4x4 road. If it is snowing or raining, I would wait for another day. Would I take my Uly up there? No, that is why I have the DRZ. I hope that helps. Good Luck, | ||
| Needs_o2 |
Steve, I live 3 miles south of Ute Pass Rd., right above Hwy 9 and the Blue river. Ute Pass Rd. is what I use as my test track for two and four wheels! Od, are you talking about Ophir Pass or Cinnamon Pass, and I've always wished I had a lower first gear for around here. Thanks for the input. | ||
| Od_cleaver |
Needs, Cinnamon Pass for the lower gear. For me it was those tight switch backs. Switch backs that seem to fall back on themselves in the middle of a good climb. | ||
| Rubysdaddy |
I rode the Uly loaded from Silverton to Lake City on Pilot Roads. Very doable as long as you are comfortable with rocks, some water, and those delightfully tight switchbacks! The key is to keep the bike moving along - stopping and starting will make it much harder. I've always felt the stock gearing is fine. I coasted with the motor off most of the way down towards Lake City just because. Rain will make it a bit harder, especially going up. | ||
| Buewulf |
I've done that route on a 950 Adventure, and it was cake. A Uly wouldn't be my first choice to make that ride, but I have done similar routes on my Uly and it does OK. You should do fine so long as everything is dry. There are a few rocky sections that will require your attention (and your better half to dismount if you don't feel 100% confident in your skills), especially with that 17" front wheel, and you'll want to get off and pick your line through the water crossings. You'll do fine with the stock gearing so long as there isn't much traffic to slow you down. Slide the rear through the tight switchbacks rather than slipping the clutch otherwise the plates will get pretty toasty. I have never ridden a Uly with the XB9 primary, but that would probably be the ticket if you could get one installed before the trip. Have fun! I'm jealous. | ||
| Tootal |
I did engineer pass from Ouray to Lake City and then rode around the South to Durango on roads only to do it again from Silverton to Lake City. I was fully loaded on the Uly with bags and trunk. I would recommend XB9 primary gearing. I really enjoyed this ride, I highly recommend it. Great video Steve! Brought back some great memories, well done.     (Message edited by tootal on August 20, 2011) | ||
| Sfarson |
Tootal... I continue to salute you for the adventure of doing this on your loaded (and great) Ulysses. Twice! | ||
| Tootal |
Well, I forgot to plug in my camera the night before and by the time I got from Ouray to Engineer Pass the battery was dead! I decided to ride to Durango for an evening at Carver's brewery. The next morning I decided to ride back up there through Silverton just to get the picture! The Silverton route was much easier than from Ouray. It was a lot less rocky. Heck, I could have rode my Harley up 3/4's of it. The switchbacks are a pain but I hit them as fast as I could, with stock gearing, and rode them high where the atv's had created a berm. I really could have used lower gearing on a couple of them. I was fanning the clutch like a 2 stroke to keep my speed up. If you ride from Lake City to Silverton it will be much easier since the harder terrain is on the Silverton side and you'll be going down hill. | ||
| Needs_o2 |
Thanks for the input guys. We left early Friday morning, and just saw the posts today. Got to Lake City and stopped at an ATV rental place to ask their opinion and didn't like their answer, so I stopped two 40 somethings on KTMs. They advised against it, so we decided not to because we didn't have the time to do the backtracking if we had to. We did put on about 100 miles of dirt, including Old Lime Creek Road that tested my ability, but didn't win. We'll be sure to give it try next time we are in the area.  This is one shot of Old Lime Creek Road that Julie took. It's not, however, the most difficult part. No pics of that because she was too busy trying to bend the grab bars. The road climbed to some great overlooks of Lime Creek before dropping down to the creek itself. Glad I put a new front tire on before the trip! Steve: Have you ever done Old Lime Creek Road? |
