Passes & Canyons Blog

Kevin and I were on V-Stroms but Janet rode her Ninja.

Sometimes the best tool for the job is not the one designed for that purpose, but the one – the only one – you have.

Take dual-sport riding, this business of taking a motorcycle down the highway to get somewhere, and then taking that same bike onto the dirt when you reach your destination. Years ago, when motorcycles were less specialized than they are today, riders were far more ready to take their street bikes in the dirt. Nowadays we have dirt bikes and dual-sport bikes, and most street bikes never see more than a short stretch of gravel here and there. Many never see anything but pavement.

I went dual-sporting awhile back in the area around Gunnison. The two Suzuki V-Stroms we were on were provided by my friend Kevin, who used to rent V-Stroms out of Gunnison. And there was a third person with us, Kevin’s wife, Janet, and she was riding her Kawasaki Ninja 500R.

The Ninja is a sportbike, the antithesis of a dual-sport or dirt bike. Whereas the V-Strom has 6 inches of suspension travel in the rear, the Ninja is limited to 3.9 inches. On rough roads those 2 inches make a huge difference. And ground clearance on the Ninja is only 4.9 inches, compared to 6.5 inches on the V-Strom.

We headed out of Gunnison on the highway, went up and over North Cochetopa Pass, and then coming down the other side we turned off on an unpaved county road. It was pretty good gravel, hard packed and stable, and well maintained. The V-Stroms, like any good dual-sport bike, were right at home. And the Ninja just cruised along, too.

As we began to climb up to Carnero Pass things got a bit rougher. There was washboard, a few ruts, and some stretches of badly disturbed surface. The V-Stroms ate it up. The Ninja took it slowly, navigating around the bigger holes, following the smoothest path. Not a problem.

Over the top and down and we followed a ranching canyon to its outlet onto the prairie. The road was once again good hard-packed gravel. Then we turned onto an unpaved county road that was broad and flat . . . and deep in loose gravel.

“That sucked!,” Janet said when we stopped in town. “That mountain road was fine. I had no problem with it. On that flat road I didn’t feel comfortable going above 40. I knew that if I screwed up it would hurt.”

“Deep, loose gravel is hard, I don’t care what you’re riding,” Kevin replied in agreement.

So the rougher, less-maintained road was really better for the Ninja.

“The suspension on the Ninja was fine. I absolutely felt confident on it. I feel very maneuverable on that bike. I can move it anywhere I need it to move to avoid obstacles in the road,” Janet explained.

That said, she added, “I’d rather be on the (paved) road.”

Janet is a serious mountain bike rider, but has only started riding motorcycles in recent years. She chose the Ninja because it was one of the only bikes she could handle considering how short her legs are.

“Now I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I want a dirt bike because I want to start doing all these gnarly roads around in the mountains.’ I want to get up in there without having to be in a car. It just catches me off guard because I didn’t expect motorcycling to get under my skin. And when I ride it gets under my skin. When I’m not riding I’m like, ‘No I don’t want to do that, I want to ride my bicycle.’”

Janet has taken her Ninja over other mountain passes on gravel roads. “It’s the only bike I’ve ever had. If I want to go somewhere it’s the bike I ride.”

It’s just that simple. For Janet, it’s the best tool for the job.

Biker Quote for Today

I need men for some things; riding a motorcycle is not one of them.

I went dual-sporting again this weekend with Kevin Smith over in the Gunnison area. Kevin lives over there and rents V-Stroms through his company, Colorado Mountain Moto. Last year we rode Cinnamon Pass. This year we rode Carnero Pass.

Never heard of Carnero Pass? Neither had I. But it’s the perfect example of what I keep saying, that I want to do a lot more dual-sport riding because I know there are a lot of fabulous roads in this state that I’ve never been on because they are not paved.

Oh, and just to make that last statement seem a little foolish, Kevin’s wife Janet rode with us–on her Ninja. Now, Kevin says this Ninja 500R is really more a standard than a sportbike, but still, we were on dual-sports and Janet was on her Ninja. It’s a matter of attitude. Some people say “A touring bike is whatever bike you’re on when you go touring.” I guess you can say that a dual-sport bike is any bike you’re on when you go dual-sporting. This is the bike Janet has so it’s the bike she rides wherever she wants to ride. This is not the first gravel mountain pass road she’s been on on that bike.

Now, I still wouldn’t have wanted to have been on that road with my Concours. But my CB750 is a different story. That bike just handles better on gravel than the Kawi. And if that Ninja could do this ride my CB could, too.

So where did we go? We headed east out of Gunnison just a few miles to where we turned off on CO 114, which runs down over North Cochetopa Pass to Saguache. We went over the pass but before we got as far as Saguache we turned off onto Saguache County Road 41G. This is the road that goes up over Carnero Pass. Carnero is almost as high as Slumgullion Pass, which we crossed later, but you’d never know it. I guess we had done most of our climbing coming up North Cochetopa, and so even though we down then a ways, it didn’t seem like that much further up to Carnero after we got off CO 114.

Coming down, though, we had a pretty good descent as we made out way toward Del Norte, where we finally reached the pavement again. In the interim we rode some very nice roads and saw some terrific scenery and just generally enjoyed a day out away from pretty nearly anyone else. We did go back to Gunnison via South Fork, Creede, and Lake City, though so that was all paved and populated. The aspens are turning, though not quite at their peak yet, and it was a beautiful autumn day, though it did get blustery in the afternoon. What a great day to be out on some great roads. I love living in Colorado. (You can read more about it and see pictures from the ride on Examiner, via that link immediately below.)

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Dual-sport riding out of Gunnison

Biker Quote for Today

The quickest way from Point A to Point B is not on a straight line, it’s on a motorcycle.