Colorado Adventure Motorcycle 2000 (CAM2K) Dates: September 2-9, 2012 Start and Finish: Colorado Springs, CO 2,000 miles of Colorado Awesome This is a companion ride to the Colorado Adventure Motorcycle 1000 (CAM1K). Big_John and I are fully coordinating these rides together. We will be riding about 300 miles per day of pavement (75%) and easy to moderate dirt (25%), while the CAM1K riders will be riding 95% moderate to hard dirt. We will start and stop in the same locations each night, but this will be your opportunity to experience some of the best Colorado roads, history, and vistas, while not beating yourself and your bike up along the way. This will be a more relaxed ride. Appropriate Bike: Big Adventure Bikes from adventure-style 650s up to BMW R1200GS. I'll be riding my R1200GSA. This will be appropriate for two-up couples, as well as nearly anyone else with a bike who can ride 300 miles per day for a week. Just like the 1K riders, you'll have the option to carry your gear for camping each night, but you'll also have the option of hotels. The riders who complete the entire CAM2K will have the opportunity to ride 50 Colorado Passes during this trip. (Passbagger certification "in work", more to come.) Just like the CAM1K, this will also be a fund-raiser for TPA (Trails Preservation Alliance). If you are interested, please send me a PM with your email address. I will have an introduction email, outlining the details and more information to share, so that you can make an informed decision. This 'first post' will be the location for information. Pictures and Routes will be posted over the next few days, so subscribe to this thread and come back for updates...
THIS POST IS CURRENTLY BEING EDITED, CHECK BACK SOON AS DETAILS FILL IN ... Our route for the week will cover central through southwest Colorado. This route description will start with an overview, then will be followed by a day-by-day breakdown of the route. With permission from Steve Farson, I'll be using his "Complete Guide to Motorcycling Colorado" (CGMC) for some descriptions of the areas. I will cross reference Steve's "rides" from his book so you can read more information on each area. For example, on Day 1, we'll ride Steve's "Ride 56" and several others, so I'll reference this as "CGMC56". Even though I've already ridden most of these roads myself, Steve's book is just awesome and provides great insight. If you don't have a copy, get one. You'll love it! Steve also has a website with video and additional information not in the book. Once you have his book, you can register to gain access to the additional information. Information for his book is here: http://rmridervideo.com/ We'll start and finish in Colorado Springs. In the picture below, we'll be moving clockwise. Day 1) bright green Day 2) cyan Day 3) blue Day 4) magenta Day 5) dark green Day 6) dark blue Day 7) brown ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Day 1) Colorado Springs - Saguache From Colorado Springs, we'll head west along the curves along the north base of Pikes Peak, then around the west side of the mountain. We'll ride through Victor and Cripple Creek, and the richest mining history in the state. As Pikes Peak fades behind us, we'll ride west through twisting sweeping homesteads, then up through Hartsel and west again into Buena Vista for some lunch. We'll ride west up and over Cottonwood Pass through some of the most fabulous curves of the day. As we pass the treeline, views open up as we become part of a postcard. Once over the pass, the road turns to dirt for a while. This is graded, hard-pack stuff, appropriate for all adventure bikes. We'll ride back down into the mixed pine and aspen forest into Taylor Park. From here, we'll head south through the Pitkin aread and a few gentle passes, until we arrive at Old Monarch pass and drop into Highway 50 near Monarch Pass and back to the pavement down the west side of Marshal. We'll ride over one more dirt pass today as we ride over the old railbed, now smooth county road. We'll head south towards Saguache. As a great bonus, there is a fantastic hotsprings right near the end of todays journey. A great soak, to end a great day. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Day 2) Saguache - Silverton ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Day 3) Silverton - Naturita ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Day 4) Naturita - Grand Mesa ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Day 5) Grand Mesa - Leadville ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Day 6) Leadville - Silverthorne ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Day 7) Silverthorne - Colorado Springs ____________________________________________________________________________________________________
This looks awesome, I won't be able to do it this year, but I will be done with school next spring and would love to get on this in 2013
I sent a PM with my email address on Stromtrooper.com but I wanted to post here and subscribe to this thread. Put me on the interested list. I am really excited about the option for the bigger bikes.
We are pleased that a friend gave us the idea to add the 2k for the big bikes, to the 1k efforts. And with the 1k and 2k sync'ing up each afternoon at a campground, it will make for great social time each day.
As I mentioned on the 1k.....we have 32 who are IN...requesting info. If you are interested, send Mac or me a PM and we need your email address. Thanks, John
I also signed on Stromtrooper forum. Been to Colorado twice for the FJ Cruiser summit in Ouray. Can't wait for this trip.
Did some scouting this week...... Those doing the CAM2k....are in for some awesome frickin stuff!!!!!! <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> <o> </o> <o> </o> <o></o> <o> </o> <o> </o> <o></o> <o> </o> <o> </o>
I have received a handful of questions via PM and thought it best to reply here, as I imagine these questions are crossing everyone's mind. The Fires..... Yeah, it is a real problem right now. Matter of fact my hometown is burning.....Colorado Springs. But, I have 99.9% confidence that the conditions will be just fine by the first of September. Every year in July, Colorado receives a seasonal wind shift and the monsoon rains begin. We are about two weeks away from that shift. I believe the ride will go off as planned. Support Vehicles...... I really don't mean to offend anyone with this decision, but Support Vehicles are not a part of this ride. The spirit of this ride is True Adventure Riding (as with the CAM2000). Everyone will be required to carry their gear on their bike for the full 7 days. I understand that this decision will eliminate many riders, and we don't mean to exclude anyone, but this is an Adventure Ride.......this is not a dirt bike ride with support vehicles. Here is a pic of my 2000 Honda XR650R.....and this is how she will look when we depart on the CAM. Motels or Tents...... Over the next 2-3 weeks, I will be setting up our nightly accomidations. My arrangements will be campgrounds for tent campers, group rate pricing with individual payment. I will also do my best to find a motel very close to the campground for those that simply need a roof over your head. Making those reservations will be completely your responsibility, if you wish to have a room. By the way, the campgrounds will have bathrooms and showers. There might be two nights where a motel will not be an option. Colorado OHV Sticker...... This is an interesting one. For instance, there is still a lot of confusion as to when a sticker is required and when not. I am on the COHVCO Board of Directors and I believe I have a firm understanding. Needing the sticker is a question of the access a rider needs or will be riding. County maintained passages do not require the sticker. Trails require the sticker. Any time a rider passes through a pinch gate, a sticker is required. The high mountain jeep trails are a real confusion, as most of those are county maintained and do not require a sticker. I can say with confidence that the routes we have chosen for both the 1k and 2k will not require the sticker. I am going to research this further and will report back, but I do not think an OHV sticker will be required. If this ride, routed through 7 days of single track, then yes....an OHV sticker would be required. Any other questions? .......
This ride is closed. Due to limited interest on this road ride, we'll be focusing all our efforts at this time on the CAM 1K, only.
