The common departure point was Delta, Colorado, 150 miles from Moab, Utah. Getting to Moab also made use of mostly unpaved roads, selected with consideration for a rather tight schedule. The resultant route ended up being four connected loops with paths that cross one another in a manner a bit difficult to describe but understandable if one peruses the crude map below. Starting from Delta Colorado, the 1st and largest loop will be the 4th loop completed at rides end; the 2nd largest loop and 2nd loop entered will be the 2nd loop completed; The 3rd loop entered, a small loop, will be the 1st loop completed. The 4th loop entered, a small loop, will be the 3rd loop completed. Got that? It's a good route with probably less than 20 miles of repeat road.
Total time for a brisk ride, few stops, was expected to be under 10 hours. Success doing long rides in one day comes from having a plan. Ours follows:
The three riders were Billy, near age 40, on a 2004 Suzuki DL650 V-strom, Troy, early to mid-40s, on a 2007 Kawasaki KLR650 and Verle, nearing age 70, on a 2008 KLR650. Billy and Troy are both expert riders with off-road competition resumes. Verle is usually a good enough rider with a lot of experience but no competition resume. Unbeknownst to Billy and Troy, Verle was privately thinking this may be his last long ride combining endurance and speed.
The Moab to Telluride event would likely have come off pretty much as planned except for a minor delay to clean the air filter on Troy's KLR and a major delay fixing a flat rear tire on Verle's KLR. These en route maintenance and repair events were primary causes of a planned 10 hour ride becoming a 12 hour ride for Billy and Troy and a day and a half ride for Verle who spent an unplanned night at a motel in Montrose.
Thursday, June 19, 2008: all three riders met in Delta, topped off fuel tanks and were on the road a little before 7:00 a.m. The unpaved road over the Uncompahgre Plateau from Delta to Nucla was freshly graveled, groomed and fun to ride. There was very little if any traffic. The dust was terrible requiring the bikes to string out. Pavement to Paradox was fast but uneventful.
Climbing out of Paradox Valley to the northwest from the town of Paradox, the paved country road soon turns to gravel and remains gravel or dirt or rocks as we rode past Buckeye Reservoir, taking the Taylor Flats road to the Gateway-to-Castleton Road which was being sprinkled and graded but didn't slow us much, if any, and on to pavement again at a point overlooking Fisher Valley to the north. We followed pavement through Castle Valley and turned westward on UT128 where we were slowed somewhat by pavement resurfacing but still able to stop for fuel in Moab only slightly off schedule.
The unpaved Sand Flats road from Slickrock east to the La Sal Mountains was in good condition (there isn't much sand anymore), the La Sal loop road pavement was deteriorated enough to make the tight, twisty descent back to the Gateway-to-Castleton Road a fun ride. We were soon back on gravel and dirt which continued through John Brown Canyon to Gateway where we stopped at the Outpost to top up our fuel tanks and enjoy sandwiches from the deli, again only a few minutes off schedule.
Road 6.30 is marked as such and easy enough to find 4 miles northeast of Gateway, just before the tight S-turn entering the narrow canyon on CO141. From there, the character of the off-pavement riding changed sharply as rather than smooth, fast gravel and dirt we first had deep sand, then rough, rocky roads with very tight, steep, rough switchbacks as the various roads descended into and climbed out of multiple canyons, working their way eventually up onto the southern end of the Uncompahgre Plateau. Once again, our road was being groomed by a grader which, at this stage of the operation, had merely dragged various-sized rocks onto the road rather than smoothed the surface.
When I caught up with Billy and Troy waiting at an intersection, Troy was cleaning his air filter. This didn't take long and we prepared to resume the ride. Troy left first. Fast guys don't look back. I attempted to go next but my bike was reluctant to move and refused to go straight. Billy called for a halt. My rear tire was completely flat which at least may explain some of the spooky handling I had been experiencing. This is not a tire repair manual so I'll make this brief. We got it off the road. Billy actually lifted the KLR up onto rocks to raise the rear wheel for removal. We found a nail, marked the spot, pulled the nail, extracted a section of the tube, couldn't find the hole, decided the tire had slipped on the rim and the nail no longer pointed to the hole then completely removed the tube. Billy inflated it with his 12-volt air compressor until he could hear the leak. My aging tire repair patches and glue were unusable. Billy used his fresh ones, patched the tube, remounted the tire and aired it with his compressor. This took enough time for Troy to ride 25 miles to the next intersection, realize the massive dust cloud that had pursued him was all his and no one was following, ride the 25 miles back to where we were wrapping it up, giving him 50 miles on us at days end. I wanted to continue the ride to the Telluride airport. Both Billy and Troy agreed even though they had other things to do.
Last Dollar Road from Dallas Divide to the Telluride Airport seemed twice as long as the last time I rode it. That was our last unpaved section. We rode the highway to Placerville and over Dallas Divide to Ridgway where Troy (on reserve due to his 50 extra miles) and I (because I had farther to go) refueled. We said our goodbye's there as I wanted to call my wife (cell phones don't work most places we were all day) and explain my delay. Billy and Troy got home around seven, a couple hours later than I had originally projected.
I called my wife from a quiet spot away from busy traffic and told her I was an hour and a half from home. Spotting a Subway Sandwich shop nearby, I decided to grab a quick sandwich before continuing. On the road again, the bike soon began to squirm. I first hoped to blame the freshly oiled asphalt but soon accepted that my rear tire was going flat again. I continued several miles to a service station in Corona, hoping to air the tire and continue on. The rear tire was too flat for the bike to lean on the side stand. They had air but it required 75 cents in quarters and I had no change. The station was closed. I inflated the tire with 4 16oz. Co2 cartridges from my flat-fixing kit and continued towards Montrose. It soon felt flat again and was completely flat with the bead broken when I pulled up to the City Market gasoline pumps in Montrose. No air. I rode over to a shade tree and used my remaining 3 16oz. Co2 cartridges. It went flat again as I watched. Hot, sweaty, tired and discouraged I rode on the flat to a nearby motel, found a depression for the sidestand so the bike wouldn't fall over and parked it for the night, thankful I had made it to Montrose because all my chances of help were there. I called my wife again, telling her that even though I was only 40 miles from home I wasn't going to make it until the next day.
The next morning I called Billy at Davis Service Center explaining my predicament. Billy promptly arrived with an employee from Davis Service Center and a trailer, loaded my bike and within minutes it was in the shop, on a stand and we were searching the racks for an appropriate new tire. The only new tire in stock in my size was a Pirelli MT21, a knobby that's been around for years but remains available because it's well liked. Problem is, I haven't had a knobby for about 40 years and claim I don't need or want one. Now I have a knobby. Billy will never let me forget this.
By 11:00 A.M., I was home on my new knobby. Davis Service Center really made my day, adding a happy ending to a story that seemed a bit dismal the evening before. I'm very grateful to several employees, Jeremy the service manager and especially Billy.
And a special thanks to both Billy and Troy who chose to stick with me all the way to Telluride even though I had blown the schedule and they had other things to do. I believe they enjoyed this ride, as did I. The total route worked well for us and should work as well for any big dual sport or adventure tourer riders who aren't intimidated by a few gnarly sections. Or maybe the graders will have smoothed and groomed all these roads in a couple weeks time. I hope not. I like them the way they were this ride. Of course, the first time I rode this Gateway to Divide Road route, I said I probably wouldn't do it again but I did. This time I said it was probably my last of such long rides but who knows? I do have a knobby now.