Next in the BDR series - COBDR

Hey, guys! Sean and I met you guys at that great dispersed camping campground between Lake City and the Los Pinos. We did the route South to North. Glad to hear you guys are having fun! Jealous you guys are doing both the COBDR and parts of UTBDR! We are back home now--had a blast!

We were able to do all those nasty "impassable when wet" sections thanks to luck of the draw. If we'd been 1 day earlier, we probably would have to skip 2 sections, but that stuff dries so fast, we were able to run everything. We had 2 great nights of remote camping and did motels the other nights. THANKS to the BDR folks!

Having just completed the route from Delores to Steamboat Springs (we did a huge figure 8 after parking the truck at Copper Mountain), I can tell you that I'm definitely planning to take my wife & daughter back out there, rent a Jeep Wrangler, and do this route. It's definitely doable in a stock Jeep. Of course it will take at least twice as long in a Jeep compared to a motorcycle. Like others have said, there are some sections that can get really muddy and might pose a challenge or need to be avoided, but I'd just drive it and make those decisions as needed.

I'm not a Colorado expert, but latter half of October probably means some of the passes are closed with snow.

We are going to a Friday-Sunday schedule after Labor Day. So if you can push your stop to the 15th, we'll definitely have food.

The store will continue to be open 7 days a week however, so please stop in and say hi, even if you don't really need anything (although you always need ice cream and a break on the porch when you get here)

Here in Pitkin its been getting down into the upper 20s, lower 30s (at least into freezing temps) the last 3 days... so I would plan accordingly.

It can definitely be iffy. We have already been getting light snow at tops of passes (none of it sticks though). I don't know for sure that they will be closed in later October, but I would certainly bet on it.

Still having a blast. Well into the UT BDR now. Did the CO BDR from Craig to start then done to Mexican Hat. Took 3 full days and two half days (1st and last days). Camping tonight around mile 600 into the UT BDR (Soldier Summit)

Hats off to those who put this together. What an incredible experience!

Yup! This was bad enough in early July when we rode it. Up the right side on the grass was the way to go, at least until that gets churned up.

2013 riding N to S we were rained out at Gypsum...3 days of monsoon rain. Now this year it looks like a repeat. The plan is to meet in Gypsum Thursday (September 4th) at noon and finishing our route. Forecast is 60-80% chance of rain from Friday on...we're riding big bikes with good riding skills.

Any guidance from locals? Most of the RR are wet. Mud and 500 lbs bikes make for long days.

If the forecast doesn't improve, we are going to bail and ride ID and NV.

The roads north of Gypsum get slick when soaked, but they are rideable. We came through the same day it rained with maybe 2-3 hours to dry off. There were some dog paddle sections, but we made it through. This pic had three sets of tracks of guys that gave up running north to south (we were south to north). Both of us run low fenders, so I was really watching that front wheel carefully. As soon as I would see some dryish dirt or any kind of rocks, I would light her up and clean out the tires.

There are a couple area of the BDR that folks need to have camping gear as a solid rain can pin you down with zero chance of riding out until the wind starts drying the surface off. This pic was just an hour after the rain let up.

We had trouble on the same exact hill last year in October. That hill was supper slippery, a type of slippery you can't explain. Worse than ice.

We had trouble there as well last year, though it was less from the road surface and more to do with the great big fecking tree that fell across the road.

Thanks for all of the input folks!

We're heading out today in the Wrangler to run the COBDR north to south. I plan on keeping a very good eye on the weather and avoiding or waiting out the infamous slick spots. We've got eight days to get to/from and complete as much as we can. I'd so much prefer to be on a bike but as that's not an option… should be a great time none the less.

Dark green YJ with a roof rack - if you're out there say "Hi". We should have extra water, snacks and the like if any riders need a hand.

Happy trails!

Father son trip for the COBDR. We will arrive at the start at 4 corners tmro.

Here's the link.

http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?p=25018628#post25018628

Just got back from CO riding mostly the area between Ouray & Taylor Park over 7 days. I took 2 friends out there that hadn't ridden in CO before. We parked our truck in Silverton and basically followed the COBDR on our way to Taylor Park. We were able to spend a day there base camping and riding 1 day without luggage before we headed back to Silverton and spent 3 more days base camping out of there. I gotta say the weather was perfect this time of year and we only had rain one afternoon as we came in over Cinnamon pass back to Silverton. We did meet quite a few folks riding the TAT and a couple others riding the COBDR. Ophir pass was rough this year compared to last year, especially if you were doing the East side of the pass down hill. It is just so torn up and so many lose rocks. I find it easier to climb that vs coming down that stuff. My buddy was looking more forward to going over Cinnamon pass than Ophir pass.

We were all on small bikes (WR250R, KTM 500, DR650) and I was quite surprised at some of the more difficult trails we found that aren't part of the COBDR. You can get yourself into a pickle in a hurry on some of those trails. The COBDR is definitely well laid out to show you as much as CO as you can without getting you over your head.

American Flag pass just north of Taylor Park about kicked our butts. Well It actually did kick the butt of my buddy on the DR650 when he bounced off some rocks and fell off the side of the mountain on that one, but only went about 10ft before he stopped. It took the help of an ATV and some tow rope to get his bike back on the trail. It took us all day to do that one pass and make a loop out of it. We found ourselves on some single track too in the Taylor Park area and although I was enjoying it on the WRR & the KTM guy was too, our DR650 friend just wasn't feeling it so we tried to stay more or less on the ATV type trails and ones without the baby head boulder climbing!

Anyway, I feel very privileged to have been able to visit CO twice in 2 years and ride some of the fantastic riding there is in the San Juans and Gunnison NF and other areas we visited. I still think the Cumberland Pass area has some of the best scenery around and remains one of my favorites.

My son and I started the COBDR sunday morning from 4 corners. We finished the first section after a late start. We left the north side of Dolores at 1pm. After groundhog reservoir it started raining and hailing. The first mountainside you come to after groundhog reservoir was extremely slick on the way up. We were both riding our loaded F800's. The recent rain made it extremely difficult to move forward. Standing on the pegs was near impossible. You had to sit and use your feet at outriggers to glide along.

The best thing to do is stay away from the sides of the trail as it isn't compacted. If it is that slick, pick a rut and ski your feet along the sides. It was only the first 1" that was slicker than snot. It was hard packed underneath and felt like a skating rink. You can also aim for the rocks as they will provide you more traction and help clean out your tires. We were using some pretty aggressive tires too. Mitas Dakar E-09's.


We got through the slick section and observed a really steep incline and if that hill was as slick there would be no way we were going to make it. Luckily that hill wasn't slick. We ended up getting off that mountain at the end of section 1 and onto highway 145 at 9pm. We made into Telluride and stayed at the Hotel Telluride. Granted it was $223 for two beds, but they went out of their way to accommodate us. They guided into the underground garage and met us there with the cart and took our gear to the room. They also kept the hot tub open for us past its 10pm closing time. The kitchen was closed but they brought croissants, bowls, and a container of boiling water to our room so we could make the freeze dried food that we had.



We got up the next day and rode to the beginning of section 2 and arrived at Ophir pass. It was raining when we arrived and decided to proceed. I'm not going to lie. The pucker factor there was at DEFCON-1! I had no issues getting to the top, but it was a little unnerving to say the least. On the bigger displacement bikes like our 800's it is best to keep it in 1st gear and the RPMs at about 2100 and use your clutch to maintain a steady precise calculated pace. If your speed is too fast and you hit the Jeep ruts everyone has been talking about, you are going to start bouncing and take a header into the rock face or worse ride off the side of the mountain. At the last switchback near the top on the inside, there is a deep hole/rut. I went up the middle of the road right before the switchback since there were a bunch of loose rocks on the outside then went to swing wide to get a good line and then noticed the hole/rut on the inside of the turn. I aimed pretty much for the rock face so that I would avoid the hole. As soon as my front tire almost made contact with the rock face I cut left and throttled up. I got a good line up the right side but my back tire began to slide to the left on the face of the hole so I had to power out of it to prevent falling over on the left side of my bike. The adrenaline was now at full. Right after I had to force myself to loosen up and not be so rigid since my speed was picking up and my bike began lurching up and down over the rocks and ruts. I leaned forward over the handlebars to put more weight on the front tire, squeezed the bike with my knees, and backed off the throttle to slow down. Once my momentum began to slow I then began to massage the clutch to control the speed over the copious amounts of wet slick jagged rocks and ruts and everything began to smooth out for me. I have to admit, that was the most difficult technical section of trail I've ever ridden. The rain didn't make it any easier either. I would also recommend that if you are going to ride a large displacement bike up that pass to have a steering dampener installed or go really really slow. My son didn't make the switchback. His bike fell over on the left side in the big hole. Luckily there was a jeep and an FJ about 500 yards behind us. Once I made it to the summit, I began walking down to help him but the drivers had graciously helped him right his bike and get him going. I was working my way down the trail clearing it of larger rocks when I saw him coming. As he was passing me I yelled at him to stay right since there was another large hole about 25 yards up the hill. He only made it about 2/3rds right and hit that hole too. His bike began to lurch and jolt and he quickly stopped to prevent going off the side. I arrived to help him back his bike up and point it uphill again. As I was helping him get it started up the hill again, I noticed that he was revving his bike way too high to get it going. He made it up the rest of the way and once I finally made it the 300 yards up on foot I went right for my Gatoraid and Boost Oxygen bottle. Once I recovered and thanked the passing jeep and FJ Cruiser, I walked over to his bike and confirmed my fears. He had burned up his clutch. He had ZERO freeplay and adjusting the cable only left about 3 threads on the left of the bracket. I told him that our BDR was probably over. Once we got to the bottom we had to adjust it again which left no more adjustment. To top it off, the massive storm that smoked Vegas and Arizona was now coming our way. So we rode into Ouray to get a room in the pouring rain. We sourced a replacement clutch pack at Foothills BMW in Denver. So today we rode north from Ouray to Grand Junction then east on 70 in a torrential downpour. It rained heavily and relentlessly until we reached Golden Colorado. The temperatures averaged 45 degrees in the rain and bottomed to 41 degrees. Time constraints and the barrage of storms isn't going to allow us to continue our BDR this year. But in the first rainy muddy section, and the rainy Ophir pass, we both left feeling like we accomplished something. It was pretty awesome.

Just a suggestion but if Ophir sounds too rough for anyone, there is Last Dollar Road out of T-ride to the west and north. Easy Jeep road with just a few water features that were easy to go around/through. It will take you up to Dallas Divide and then you can drop into Ridgeway. So south to get back on the harder route or go north then east to the Owl Creek Pass easy detour.

Guys - sorry about your clutch. There is always next year and I plan on giving it another shot then. Hope for less rain but just something you never know.

Thanks

Wow :eek1
You guys are having some crazy adventures on the COBDR.

We were on the route 8/24 - 8/29...well, partially on the route that is. Our intent was to start in Buena Vista and head south to Cortez, then hop over to the UT BDR and head north for a bit. We only got as far as Lake City before heading off route to avoid the severe storm and flash flood warnings around Telluride. We couldn't avoid the afternoon storms though and spent one rainy night in some camper cabins in Ouray. We did Cinnamon Pass, which was great, and hoped to come back and do Ophir later in the week but didn't have time. We rode through one pretty big storm with high winds, hail and temps dropping from near 70 to 42 and we had a couple mechanical issues to sort out the first couple days. But besides that...we had some very nice weather, were able to camp all of the other nights and, most importantly...we had a great time riding some really fun trails!!

We completed our COBDR Jeep journey - North to South, hit Delores Thursday afternoon. What a great time!

The route is well laid out - great scenery and challenges. Job well done to the folks that put it together. I look forward to riding it on my bike!

Thanks again to those who provided input regarding the slick spots, we planned (and got lucky!) so subsequently only had one day of hard rain (over Cottonwood and Cumberland Passes as well as through the tar pits between Taylor Park and Tincup). For the most part the skies were clear and the temps perfect.

YAY Colorado!

Thanks for the report! Good to know how well it worked in the Jeep. After riding it on the bike this summer, I want to get my wife & daughter out on it next summer in a Jeep.

I'm interested to know--it sounds like Delores was your S point, where did you start in the N? How many days did it take you? Did you pretty much drive the whole time or did you take any 1/2 day breaks in cool towns?

On the bikes, we just rode (which was awesome!), but with the family in a Jeep, I figure to take twice as long as the bikes and want to enjoy at least a few more hours doing short hikes, checking out waterfalls, taking pictures, and walking cool towns.

Just rode sections 1-3 of the COBDR over the last few days and was quite surprised at the difficulty in some areas, though part of this was due to very muddy trail conditions after heavy rains. Section 1 north of Groundhog reservoir had long stretches of slick mud with a couple steep ascents -- I don't see somebody on Tourances or Gripsters getting through this easily after heavy rain. Section 2 northbound Ophir pass seemed straightforward but Corkscrew had some very steep loose sections - crossed paths with a guy with a burned out clutch stuck partway up. Section 3 is easy going until the north end where again you will find some very boggy areas after a rain.

I rode the CDR in 2008 and honestly you could do almost all of it in a minivan if you wanted to: the roads on the Divide route are easy and well maintained. Just good easy fun. Do not assume the COBDR is the same! The scenery along the COBDR is even better than the CDR -- I had a BLAST and would go again in a split second, but was grateful to be on a small bike (250) and with decent knobbies and only lightweight camping gear.

Point of post: There are two kinds of guys on ADV -- the ones who have been riding dirt bikes from childhood (to whom the COBDR route will seem easy), and the ones who came over to dual sports from street bikes. You know who you are: like me prefer to ride the hard sections sitting down! If you are in the second camp, pick a small bike for the COBDR, or plan on picking up your bike a whole lot.

CDR = great scenery, easy riding, big bike will do just fine
COBDR = even better scenery, gets further off the beaten track, you will feel like you're really exploring, but be aware more challenging

These are astute observations and sage advice! I think time is ultimately the biggest factor - most folks have only a certain amount of time off and feel obligated to get it all done in the given window where the luxury of being able to wait out bad weather would be best case scenario.

Bike size and riding skills are BIG factors but the difference between a wet and dry COBDR is HUGE. Plan for extra time to sit out the bad weather (and how bad is getting delayed in Colorado?)