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.