So in the past two years I've ridden to and in or though Colorado from St. Louis four times. The first trip on my Wide Glide in 2017 around Memorial Day starting out in Colorado Springs but moving up to Denver and Estes Park and I came home through Wyoming, Nebraska and Iowa. That trip is the catalyst for me buying my Street Glide a month or so later. After buying the SG, I wanted to take it on a trip so up to Yellowstone I went, but I also went back to Colorado Springs and Estes Park on that trip too. In 2018 my sister and nephew went to Aspen, and I said what the hell, and went out there and met them. I had not been able to take vacation that year until mid July due to a merger at work. I had wanted to do the Million Dollar Highway so I knocked that off the list on that trip. I had already planned my big west coast trip to the Grand Canyon, Cali, back through Utah. That was mid September I believe. I basically just rode through Colorado on 70 on that big trip spending a night in the eastern part of the state. Was a bit cold already then.

So my oldest friend who I've known since kindergarten, works for the FAA, goes and inspects various airport mechanic shops and he has to work out of Denver in mid May and wants me to come out and he will rent a bike and we can go riding. I've decided I'll go. I basically learned to ride motorcycles as a kid on his dirtbikes. Plus the hotel will be on the taxpayer's dime, thanks guys. Ok, we will have to pay for the weekend nights ourselves.

I'm hoping I'll have my SG back. Its been in the shop from an accident I had about a month ago. Basically waiting on a new fairing and saddlebag, but its that Laguna orange that was only offered in 2017 I think. If I don't have the SG back, and since I've committed to going, I may have to take the Wide Glide. My body is hoping the SGS is ready to go as I can do twice the miles in a day on it. Plus the cross winds on 70 pushed me all over the place on my Wide Glide. Here's to hoping they have some decent weather. It was pretty nice for the most part when I first went out around Memorial weekend in 2017, but the first day I tried to go up Pike's Peak it was closed at the 15 mile marker due to road conditions. Looks like we'll also be to early for the opening of Mt. Evans. I've done a lot of the main spots by myself already, so I'll let my friend choose where to go.

 

Go ahead and set up the WG for heated gear if it's not already. Mid May you're probably gonna need it!

 

Go for it ! Such a great area to ride. This will be my fourth year to Colorado/Utah, going end of May, and still haven't seen it all.
Send pics ! Be safe..

 

I don't know if you've done this ride or not but if you haven't I can't recommend it enough. It was by far my favorite of my trip out there. I made a loop from Estes to Fort Collins to Walden to Granby and back through RMNP back to Estes. If I could do it again I would turn around in Walden and go back to Fort Collins. The road is just epic with everything Colorado has to offer in the 115 miles or so from Fort Collins to Walden and a beautiful river flowing along side most of the way. Just fill up with gas on each end because there was no Premium or in between. And best of all almost NO TRAFFIC!!!!!

 

I'll just wear my rain gear over my jacket with its liner if its too cold. That's what I did on that last west coast trip, when I left it was around 37 degrees in MO. I think it got closer to 30 degrees in some of those high elevations on the way back. I don't own any heated gear, so besides setting the bike up for it, I'd have to buy some.


I haven't done Loveland pass yet, not sure if it will be open. Two of the trips up near Mt. Evans I had a blast riding out Squaw Pass Rd or 103 and thought I was recording both. The first one, on my Wide Glide, I did record but transferred the video to a hard drive that died pretty much as soon as I got the video moved to it. The second time, on the SG, I got stuck behind a Goldwing Trike and a regular Goldwing both riding two up. The Trike was leading and the second Goldwing and early on the 2nd one tried to get the first one to pull over to let me by, but I guess they didn't notice. While I was a little faster through the twisties, they were actually going pretty fast themselves for riding two up. I would just hang back a bit and close on every curve. When things finally straightened out, got a thumbs up from the bike. I thought it was going to be a nice video, but I must have double tapped the record button on the GoPro as it started recording after the ride when I thought I was hitting stop record.

 

Haven't been to Granby yet. I've ridden up to Estes Park a couple times on the Peak to Peak hwy and then when I left Estes Park each time I took 34 towards Granby before heading north to Wyoming. I may be limited on how far from Denver we can go. My friend doesn't currently have a bike anymore so not sure how many miles a day he physically can do anymore. We won't be changing base cities so where ever we go we have to go back to Denver. Five hundred miles a day or so on my SG is easy for me, on the WG I'd be feeling it.

 

Still cool to be with a childhood friend. I remember in the Gateway canyons, a trike couple from there was in front, I couldn't catch it... And they were n there 70's ! And going about 80.. Love the old farts enjoying a ride..

 

Loveland pass is a nice ride but it's not a very long ride in itself. If you're staying in Denver you could cut across to RMNP to Granby and go down through Winter Park and Berthoud pass and then on to Loveland. That's what I did although from Estes and it was an easy short days ride. Berthoud is really nice itself with much better scenery than Loveland imho Videos are on my channel although I didn't catch the entirety of Loveland in either direction due to camera operator error in one direction and battery dying in the other lol