Ah, the promised land!

Unlike my partner in crime, I managed to stay out of the mud!

As always, the last day of riding in Arizona lived up to my expectations. Despite the fact that it was 20 degrees cooler than normal and colder than Indy! The sun always seems to shine in the Valley. The Salt River Canyon was beautiful. Much easier than when I first rode it the opposite direction from Phoenix back to Indy in February. In fact, if I remember correctly I was being passed by cars earlier this year. This time it was the other way around.

One of about 6 passes I rode!

It was a little sad to leave my little Triple in a friend's garage. He had been very good to me the last 7 days, and I felt like I was abandoning him. I left him shiny and clean, though, and he'll need his 12,000 mile service when I get back to Phoenix. Very soon, I hope.

It was a great adventure. Everything I had hoped it would be. A few lessons learned, some amazing new places discovered. And seen from the best view possible!

Is it ever not fun?

I don't want to spend a lot of time on this (complaining, that is), but yesterday was brutal. My goal was to ride from Durango to Holbrook or Show Lo AZ. A storm came through that caught the weatherman and the locals by surprise, and when I rode out of Durango it was raining and windy. Not my favorite, but manageble.

I was riding south where I expected the temp to rise and clouds to disappear within 30 miles or so. According to the radar I was on the bottom edge of the storm. Well, the rain turned to sleet and the temperature dropped dramatically to the point that I was freezing and soaked. My hot-blooded little Triple wasn't even running at full normal temp.

I laughed out loud in my helmet when I entered NM and saw the welcome sign: "Welcome to New Mexico, Land of Enchantment". I didn't feel very enchanted while being pelted with ice.

I finally reached a gas station in Aztec NM and called Ashley. I felt like a baby, but I was in a panic. I was so frozen that I couldn't pull the clutch. He was driving from Denver with his and Mel's bikes on a trailer, but he refused when I told him he might have to come get me. After much hot chocolate, research, radar-checking, glove drying under the hand dryer, and general pep talking, the rain cleared a little and I knew I was thawed out enough to make it 10 miles to the next town where there was a dealership that had battery operated heated gloves. And hotels. Ashley had called and had it all set up for them to take care of me.

Well, they didn't have the batteries that fit the gloves (!), but they took me in, warmed me up, fed me more hot chocolate, wrapped my feet in ziplock bags and new motocross socks, and stuck a hot air hose in my boots to dry them out. An experienced gentleman who works there helped me figure out the best route and sent me on my way. By that time the sun was almost out! It was still too cold for the gear I had, but by stopping every 40 minutes or so to warm up, I made it to Holbrbrook.

Little Trip is a dirty boy, but he
took care of me all day.

I had the choice to stay the night in Gallup, which was 100 miles shorter than my goal destination. But I didn't take it. For the next hour plus I talked to myself about why I didn't stop when I could have. I was still freezing, rain was threatening, and I had to do that last stretch on I40 (yeah, I know, an interstate, my only interstate of the whole trip).

Except for the stint in the sleet, I pretty much convinced myself the whole day that I was having fun. That's what this is supposed to be, right? Fun? Well, in the end, it was, because of the sense of accomplishment, the knowing that I was succeding and that it wasn't easy, that I would figure out a way to reach my goal of making it to AZ today--with the reward of a great ride tomorrow!

It would have been nice to have my wing man by my side, I have to admit. And, I had several hours to decide that both the New York City and Boston Marathons were easier. Without a doubt. I'll pack extra gloves and socks next time, and I'm hoping Santa will bring me winter boots or heated gloves or grips this year. But for now...I can't wait to tackle the Salt River Canyon today!

Sometimes you just gotta say...

Lessons of the week: Summer boots eventually leak. Snow does not mean "no riding". I CAN maintain speed in rain. I probably won't blow over. Fear is my enemy, not my friend.

Today I rode over three 10,000+ feet passes from Crested Butte to Durango. In October. With snow on the top. As I rode through Montrose I saw the big snowy mountains to the south--right where I was headed. I was debating whether or not to take 550 - the "high" road, or to go through Telluride - the "low" road, because of the cold and possibly snowy conditions. There was significant snow at the top, but I figured I wouldn't be riding that high. I wanted to take the challenge of the Million Dollar Highway, but I was a little scared. It was high, I was alone, and something baaaaaad might happen.

A quick stop at a dealership as I rode into town helped me make my decision.

I originally stopped to ask for heated gloves. Apparently those aren't sold in dirt bike country. I looked for some in Gunnison, too, without success. But the people were friendly so I asked about conditions on Red Mountain Pass. "Oh it's going to be brutal" the guy said. Really? Why? "Cold, windy, maybe snow". Not what I wanted to hear.

As woman walked out from an office, the guy quickly turned to her for support. "Don't you think it's snowing on Red Mountain pass?" he asked. She shrugged. "I don't know. Want me to call somebody"? "Yes!" I said.

As she flipped opened her cell, the guy said to me "She knows people. She used to live there".

"Flurries this morning but dry now" she said matter-of-factly. "If I was you I'd get there soon. It gets worse in the afternoon " the guy offered. "what are you riding"? "A Street Triple...Triumph" I said, losing confidence in him.

"One time I rode a Honda Goldwing in the ice and snow. It was not fun" he said. If that was meant to scare me into staying the night with him, it didn't work. The woman was eying us both. I asked her what she thought. She pulled up another website with a live satellite image from the top of the mountain. Clear and dry.

Only one thing to do. I zipped up and left. The previous day I had ridden over Independence Pass near Aspen to find it snowing at the top. It wasn't sticking and it was fine. Probably not the ideal way to see the top of the world, but I didn't crash, freeze or otherwise die.

The ride to Durango was awesome. Mostly clear skies, which was nice for riding, of course, but even more important, the views were breathtaking. I was went as high as the snow line at the top--it was right there on the edge of the road. My hands were cold, but not to the point I couldn't manage.

I stopped for lunch in Silverton, where the bartender/waiter at the Brown Bear Cafe recommended I go to a store and buy some gardening gloves to wear as a liner under my $150-waterproof BMW Atlantis gloves. "Your hands are going to freeze" he said. I had learned by now that he was wrong, and that made me happy. I knew I'd be fine.

Tiger, Street Triple and Adventure ready for a big day!

Our friend Stephan is flying to Denver this morning early and we're heading to olorado Springs to meet Mark, who drove from Phoenix yesterday. How lucky am I? Four guys and my little Street Triple to have fun with! We're going to end up in Crested Butte for the night...taking the long way, of course!

Colorado Adventure Begins

Today we did Loveland pass elevation 11,000. Amazing. Hard to look at the scenery for fear of going over the edge! I'm very fortunate to have had my bike trailered out for me while I flew. Nice to have friends (and a nice husband)!

The aspens are in full color and it looks like the mountainsides are on fire. Amazing. We hit some scattered rain - my second time ever riding in the rain - and it was nice. Hard to shake the feeling that my tires are going to magically scoot out from underneath me, but it hasn't happened yet.