Back Roads and Side Trips You Might Like
We spent a long time going not very far on the second day of the OFMC’s yearly trip this year. As any experienced rider knows, that often implies an especially good ride. It was.
Here’s a map of the route. I’ll have to describe some of it to you since the map doesn’t give enough detail.
We started the trip by getting together in Cripple Creek. Most people reach Cripple Creek by coming down from the north, from U.S. 24 at Divide. Many don’t know there is a back way. We left Cripple Creek via the back way.
To find this road, you take the main drag all the way through town and then hook a right, followed by a quick left. You’re on your way. This is Teller County Road 1. It’s a nice, twisty two-lane that passes through some very pretty country. Go about 7 miles and then turn left on Teller County Road 11. More nice back road. You eventually reach Colorado 9 just a few miles north of where it intersects U.S. 50, a little west of Canon City.
So that’s one back road worthy of a ride. An alternative would be to turn off Teller 11 onto Teller County Road 112, which comes out to Colorado 9 at Guffey. That’s also a nice ride.
We headed on south to U.S. 50 and then turned west. In a short distance we reached Fremont County Road 3, which is the back route up to the Royal Gorge. This very old, very narrow, very twisty little strip of asphalt winds its way up and around to the bridge. You do have to pay to cross the bridge, and if you don’t you have to go back the way you came, but if you’ve never been to the Royal Gorge you really ought to spend the money to do it once. It’s worth it. Plus, we asked for a motorcycle discount and got it. And the road is great.
Once we crossed the bridge we rode back on out the main road and rejoined U.S. 50, and this time we turned east, to Canon City. As you near Canon City you want to keep an eye out for the road over Skyline Drive. This one-lane, one-way, 15-foot wide strip of pavement runs up and along the hogback that overlooks the city. This is a great ride. It’s only 1 mile but it’s a truly spectacular mile.
From Canon City we headed southeast to Florence and then turned south on Colorado 67. This becomes Colorado 96 and turns southwest and then intersects Colorado 165. We made the left turn onto 165 and rode down the 10 miles or so to Bishop Castle. I won’t spend time describing the castle here, just check out the link.
After climbing around in the castle we retraced our route to Colorado 96, headed on west, and reached Colorado 69 at Westcliffe. There we turned north and rejoined U.S. 50 one more time at Cotopaxi. U.S. 50 then carried us up the Arkansas River Valley to Salida, where we stopped for the night. We weren’t more than 50 miles from where we started but what a great day’s ride!
Biker Quote for Today
The twisties – not the superslabs – separate the riders from the squids.
