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My wife and I just got back from our first road trip on this bike. We went from our home near Denver to Taos, NM. Great ride, but we are NOT iron butt material, at least not yet. It was about 350 miles each way with the route we took. We went through the mountains all the way on 285. Got rained on at least 4 times on the way there, mostly light rain. The closer we got, the more bikes we started to see. Buy the time we got into Taos, there were bikes everywhere. When we got there and were checking into our hotel, I asked the clerk if something was going on. She proceeds to tell me that the Red River Rally was happening and hour north in Red River, NM. I had no idea. So we were planning to come back home yesterday, but decided to stay an extra night and go check out the rally on Sunday.
We go to get our stuff unloaded and into the room and went back for dinner. The clerk sees us and calls us over. Turns out there was a biker gang shoot out at the rally and the police were shutting everything down and asked if we still wanted an extra night. We decided to stay anyway as there were other thing we wanted to go see. So Sunday we went sight seeing and ended up near Red River so we went into town just if they really did shut it all down. The did shut down many of the local businesses, but there were still vendor tents and food vendors going strong and probably a couple thousand bikes in town. We looked around a bit but didn't stay long, my wife was kinda weirded out.
We rode home today. Beautiful weather all the way until we got a 15 miles from home. The sky opened up and poured on us. Worst rain I've ever ridden in, and even some small hail. thought about stopping under and over pass, but I wanted to get home so bad, I just pushed through it. On the plus side, the bike handles fine in heavy rain and I found out my boots are in fact waterproof!
Nearly 1000 miles for the 3 day weekend and I'd do it agon next weekend if I could.
Here's a couple pics I took when we stopped for a quick butt break on one of the lower passes we went over.
My wife and I just got back from our first road trip on this bike. We went from our home near Denver to Taos, NM. Great ride, but we are NOT iron butt material, at least not yet. It was about 350 miles each way with the route we took. We went through the mountains all the way on 285. Got rained on at least 4 times on the way there, mostly light rain. The closer we got, the more bikes we started to see. Buy the time we got into Taos, there were bikes everywhere. When we got there and were checking into our hotel, I asked the clerk if something was going on. She proceeds to tell me that the Red River Rally was happening and hour north in Red River, NM. I had no idea. So we were planning to come back home yesterday, but decided to stay an extra night and go check out the rally on Sunday.
We go to get our stuff unloaded and into the room and went back for dinner. The clerk sees us and calls us over. Turns out there was a biker gang shoot out at the rally and the police were shutting everything down and asked if we still wanted an extra night. We decided to stay anyway as there were other thing we wanted to go see. So Sunday we went sight seeing and ended up near Red River so we went into town just if they really did shut it all down. The did shut down many of the local businesses, but there were still vendor tents and food vendors going strong and probably a couple thousand bikes in town. We looked around a bit but didn't stay long, my wife was kinda weirded out.
We rode home today. Beautiful weather all the way until we got a 15 miles from home. The sky opened up and poured on us. Worst rain I've ever ridden in, and even some small hail. thought about stopping under and over pass, but I wanted to get home so bad, I just pushed through it. On the plus side, the bike handles fine in heavy rain and I found out my boots are in fact waterproof!
Nearly 1000 miles for the 3 day weekend and I'd do it agon next weekend if I could.
Here's a couple pics I took when we stopped for a quick butt break on one of the lower passes we went over.
Great photos, glad you had a good time, and thanks for sharing.
Sounds like a great "First Road Trip" experience..!!
Congratulations, and thank you for sharing.
Riding in the rain is always problematic. Making the decision to ride on, or pull over should depend upon how prepared, and how experienced you are. In my experience...I've seen folks pulled over, huddling under an overpass not knowing that the rain ended less than a mile up the road.
Rain tolerance is an individual decision, keep your wife in the decision making process. Have a good set of rain gear with you, including gloves that provide a secure grip when everything is wet...real wet.
Ride Safe..and ENJOY.
Heck we just came through Taos on the 30th coming home from IA. We stopped to eat at a place called Guadalajara Grill and I got one of my Easy Rider movie location shots there at Red Arrow Emporium (a topic I started a while back and can now add to). A station attendant mentioned the shooting to my wife the day before in KS.
First Road Trip
