Hey everybody! Looking for advice on a trip to Colorado in 2018 from July 26th to August 4th. Around 3-5 bikes and looking at staying in hotels or cabins. Also most of the group likes riding around 250-300 miles a day so there is time to sight see and have a good meal and some cold ones at the end of each day. Will end up staying in a different town or area each night. We start in North Dakota and then spend the first couple days in Deadwood for some entertainment and to ride the Black Hills. Any info, rides, maps, to do's, or anything is much appreciated in the Colorado area. Also if it is worth coming home thru Kansas and Nebraska or to back track the same way home for the most part. Thanks again. Jeremy

 

A friend and I did CO a couple of years ago. We did Rocky Mountain NP, Buena Vista, Quray, Durango. We rode the train in Durango. Had a blast. Rented a Jeep in Ouray one day. Scenery was unbelievable. We crossed three mountain passes on the Jeep trails. A day in Moab. Day rides everyday.

 

Avoid Kansas if possible.

 

IMHO, I would backtrack it. Plenty of alt routes.

Of course the million dollar highway and Silverton are great. If you want to ride the train, book in advance.

We did 4 corners, wish we would have done Monument Valley instead. Spent a day in Moab, Ouray. Stay outside of Durango.

Beautiful country. Plenty of rides and things to do.

 

4 corners we skipped. Liked Mesa Verde. You have to get tickets to go on ranger led trips into the ruins. I think you can pre buy online? Or you can see a lot from the top. Many view points. Takes a while to drive up and into the ruins area. We were early morning before traffic. Cortez rooms were cheaper than Durango.

East Utah has lots of scenic spots up to Moab if you come up that way.

I loved silver thread scenic byway, aka CO 149. Lake City over to Creede. We were on ghost town hunts. Only did San Juan area. So I leave the rest of the state to more experienced.

Gunnison Canyon was nice, but slow speed limits on big hills to the bottom. Consider the year pass card if you see many National park spots.

Stayed in Montrose. Lot of rooms and a bit cheaper. Booking ahead can save you $$ if you know where you will be. I looked at name brand chain rooms that were $20 to $30 less when checking months in advance. Booked some but not all. More $$ when I looked a couple of weeks in advance. We were first of July. Favor just find a room wandering, but it has drawbacks as well

 

Over the last four years I have rode a whole lot of CO. You really can't go wrong as long as you stay out of Denver. Be prepared for construction. They only have the summer months to repair roads, so it will slow down your day. A 250 mile ride can take as much as 8 hours or more depending on the roads and how twisty they are. I can help you with some routes and places to stay if you wish to PM me. Another great resource is Pikes Peak's HOG Chapter. You can email them and see if they have some ride maps available to send you.

 

One other note, you will want to be finished riding in the mountains between 2pm-3pm unless you don't mind torrential rain storms. There are mountain showers nearly every day that start around 2pm or so that last until sunset.

 

Durango or Ouray are good places to spend a few nights and make day trips: Silverton, Mesa Verde, Telluride, Dolores River, Monument Valley, Crede, South Point, Gunnison Canyon, Durango to Silverton Train for sure. You can make day trips over several high altitude mountain passes: Lizard Head, Red Mountain, Wolf Creek.
Durango if you want some night life. Ouray for scenery.

 

How many days are you planning on staying in Colorado. There are a multitude of roads that are worth riding. A bunch of roads north of Denver to Estes Park over to Grand Lake and down to Winter Park and south. There is also Poudre Canyon (hwy 14) that starts north of Fort Collins and goes to Walden. In the southern part there good roads pretty much every where. You can P.M. me for help as well.

 

The 250-300 miles per day is about what we do as well as a group & like you say, then you have time to sight see in the area you will be staying at for the night along with a good meal & some cocktails at the end of the day! Sorry I can't help you out with CO ideas but would like to plan a road trip to CO as well sometime so i will be watching this thread for ideas.
Have a great trip!