Exploring More Colorado Dirt
Once again, Judy and I were up in the mountains this past weekend, in her new Subaru Forester, checking out some dirt roads. A dual-sport bike is really high on my wish list but until that happens we’re using her high-clearance, all-wheel-drive vehicle to scout out some roads that might make for some good riding eventually.
We knew we were going to be coming from Aspen over Independence Pass, so looking at the map, Weston Pass presented itself as something to consider. This road runs over from a little south of Leadville to just a little south of Fairplay. It’s a short-cut that eliminates the drive down to Buena Vista and then back up over Antero Pass on U.S. 285. Of course, with roads like this one, the short-cut takes about twice as much time as the long way around, even though it’s probably one-quarter the distance.
So let me tell you now, Weston Pass would be great on a dual-sport bike. The ruts and potholes and rocks and all the rough stuff that held our speed down much of the time to around 5 mph would just be fun on a proper dirt bike or dual-sport. And in fact, we did see and talk with one guy going over the pass on his bike. That’s him in the picture. I didn’t get his name but it was good to talk with him because he reassured us our car would get over the pass OK. The eastern side of Weston Pass is easy but the western side, which is the side we went up, was very rough. We saw a sign down on the eastern side warning that the western side of the pass road was not maintained for low-clearance vehicles. They weren’t kidding about that.
In the meantime, if you do have a dual-sport, it’s a nice road, going through some terrific country. I have a strong feeling that the more we go out on these roads in this Subaru the more my “need” for a dual-sport is going to increase. And I know that a bike will go on roads that we wouldn’t dream of taking the Forester on, so that will open up even more possibilities. In the meantime, I’m going to have to depend on getting off in the dirt with my friends Ron Coleman, of Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures, and Kevin Smith of Colorado Mountain Moto. They rent dual-sport bikes so if you’re like me and don’t have your own that is an option.
Judy and I figure the next dirt road we want to check out is Boreas Pass, from Como there in South Park over to Breckenridge. Again, I doubt it’s particularly challenging on a bike, but we’ve never been over it so we’re going to go. And some day I will get that bike.
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July 18th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Boreas Pass is a great road. Last time I went over it was in an old 2wd Chevy pickup- your Forester or a dual sport will do just fine. Great fall color.