Sounds like altitude sickness. Drinking a lot of water helps.

 

Ride your bike, you'll wish you had of if you don't.
Here's a little bit of what to expect.
The gravel isn't that bad but it can be steep in places with some tight turns.

 

Ride it!
I've been up pike's peak a couple times on the bike with no issues. Just be prepared for the cold weather and a little snow. Also, keep your eye's on the road and your bike in low gear as you're coming down (at all times.) This will save your brakes and prevent you from going too fast into the corners. Lot's of sharp one's and gravel.

 

You might want to check out Mount Evans just west of Denver.
It's the highest paved road in the US. Not much on top but the view! But worth it if you in the area.

Notice the gps readings, 14,200 feet!

 

There are several videos on YouTube that will give you a sense of what it's like. And this one. Just don't go as fast as these guys

TH

 

Don't ride the bike up Pikes Peak for two reasons, and neither have to do with dirt:

1. All the other dumb tourists will probably kill you cause they can't turn a switchback.

2. Not sure how the bikes would perform at 13,000+ feet. Might be an issue and breaking on the way down might not be very reasonable.

 

The wife and I with a couple of friends went up that sucker. GREAT RIDE! ! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! !

my buddy and I were on our FXRs and our boss attempted to make it up on his kawasaki. The hydraulic clutch took a dump on him about 2 miles from the top so he missed the thunder storm when we go up there, the 2 Harley's made it tho'. I've never in my life seen lightning that close before. You really don't realize how big a lightning bolt is until you see it up close and personal!

BTW we had just gotten into Colorado completing our trip from WI. Fully loaded with the chicks on the back seat. Still a great ride and on the way down be sure to engine brake as opposed to using the brakes too much. And in the corners look where you want to go as opposed to looking what you want to avoid hitting.

That's all for now. ENJOY THE RIDE! !

 

LOL - Read the rests of the posts. Guess it can be done, I would just have a real problem trusting cagers around me.

 

Got back from my trip yesterday. It was amazing. We didn't do Pikes Peak because the road was muddy.

We left Kansas City Wednesday morning and took I-70 out to Oakley, Ks. Got off of the interstate and rode Hwy 40 and Hwy 94 into Colorado Springs.

Since Pikes Peak was out, we decided to take Hwy 24 and 82 into Glenwood Springs. This was the best part of the trip. We fought rain and a little hail, but once we started gaining altitude, we got views that were outstanding. We started getting snow right before we reached Indepence Pass and the Continental Divide. At the continental divide, there was snow for miles and the only thing clear was the road. It started snowing pretty heavily, so we headed back down the mountain and I had to keep wiping snow off the windshield so I could see. We got to Aspen and fought traffic to Glenwood Springs and visited the Harley Dealer. We ate, took off back down 133, 92 and stayed the night in Delta.

We took off Friday morning to sunny skies and temps in the high 40's We left Delta and stopped at Montrose for breakfast and a stop at the dealer for a t-shirt.
We left Montrose on Hwy 550 and jumped over to 62 and 145. Nice road with alot more views. We got on Hwy 160 at Cortez and stopped at Durango for another dealer visit. We turned back north and got on 550 through the Million Dollar Highway. Amazing road with a ton of twisty's and hairpin turns. It was a little unerving to look off the road and see just a straight drop, but it was worth it. It was getting dark, so we stopped at Ouray and had dinner and crashed for the night. Beautiful little mountain town. I'll have to go back and visit again.

Saturday was our longest day besides the first day. We continued back on 550 back to Montrose and headed East on Hwy 50. We turned back south at 149. The mountains were smaller there, but the scenery was still awesome. At South Fork, we got on 160 and headed east again. We saw the last of the mountains and that signaled the end of vacation to me, I was ready to get home. At Walsenburg, we got on 10 and continued east again. This was the loneliest stretch of highway I've ever been on. Only saw calls every 20 miles are so. We got on hwy 50 and La Junta and coninued East. We stopped at Garden City, KS at 11 PM to crash. 15 hours and 600 miles was almost too much.

We woke up Sunday morning to wet seats. It looked like it stormed pretty hard, but I slept right through it. It was a nice morning though, so we got on Hwy 50 and headed east. Nothing much to see out there but farmland and small towns, and I was still tired from the night before. We got on Hwy 56 at Kinsley and took it all of the way to Emporia. I jumped on I-35 for the last 100 miles of the trip and got home about 4:00 yesterday afternoon.

Overall, it was a great trip. The scenery was outstanding, and the weather was great except for the first two days.
I'm definately going to look at some heated gear next time, so I don't have to change layers so much.
The bike performed perfectly, but I think I'm going to be in the market for a touring bike in the near future. The extra storage, cruise and fairing would have been nice.
I also need to invest in some better rain gear, the Frogg Toggs did their job, but I have some holes on the right leg from catching the exhaust.

 

The doughnuts in the cafe at the top are great! A triumph of cookery over altitude. Even in summer it can be close to freezing on top, at 14,100 feet.

In addition to drinking plenty, spend a couple of days in the area taking it easy, to get acclimatised to the high altitude. I have family in CS and when first visiting them just running up stairs is a no-no! Instant headache and dizziness.