Here's a brief ride report of my trip
This is a fairly accurate route of my trip (
http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UT...4743387438309243557.000490579b3e869bcb870&z=6) marked by cities where I spent the nights. Left Sunday Sep 5 and came back the following Sunday. Total trip was exactly 7720km according to the odo, throughout 7 days of riding, and I took a day off in Denver to just walk around. Bottom line was it was way too much mileage in too little time, but still an absolute blast. As my trips often become, it was a race to see as much as I possibly could within a very short time frame, as such taking pictures/rest/food took a distant second to just riding. As it is, I had to scale back some of my trip, wanted to hit the Mexican border but time was too tight. Incredible seeing the geography change so much, from plans to mountains, to desert, and the Rocky Mountains are unbelievable. Loved being able to go from 6k feet elevation in Denver, to double that within a hour and a half. Great weather considering the time of year, only saw real rain the first two days and mostly clear skies after that.
A brief outline of my days:
Day 1: Left Toronto around 8 and hit the road, of course 500km into day 1 at only my second fuel stop, my gps stops working. Good thing the first two days were mostly interstate and easy to navigate by map. Nothing exciting, hit some heavy rain by Milwaukee, with a few showers after that. Took a wrong turn off the interstate at Madison, and ended up in Spring Green through some backroads.
Mile 0, all packed and ready:
Day 2: More straight interstate riding, weather started out ok, but got progressively worse. On and off rain, with extremely high crosswinds, worst wind I've ever ridden through. Especially through South Dakota, the wind burst passing a tractor trailer pulled my right foot straight off the peg. Interesting experience for sure. Thankfully I passed the wind system by the end of the day.
Flat, windy, and rainy somewhere in Minnesota:
Rain covers on the bike:
After riding straight in the rain and wind for forever, this was a surprise:
mess in my hotel room after a long tiring day of riding:
Day 3: Equipped with some paper maps, rode south from Rapid City, SD, Nice to finally get off the interstate and actually get in some twisties. Saw Mount Rushmore, and Crazyhorse. For a non-touristy guy, Mount Rushmore is really impressive, unbelievable how sharp the heads are in real life. From there, rode through Custer State Park, saw some buffalo (very cool btw), and hit Buffalo Gap Grasslands. Very cool riding through Southern South Dakota and Wyoming, not a single town or anything for many miles and miles, really have to be careful with your gas around here. Got to Rocky Mountain National park just a bit before it got dark. Unfortunately, by the time I really hit some altitude on the Trail Ridge Rd that runs horizontally across the park, it was pitch black. The sky was hazy, so I didn't even have stars or the moon. Very scary riding through switchbacks at 12k feet not being able to see a damn thing. Sky cleared by the time I got some miles out of the park, and I got the most amazing view of the stars I've ever seen. They were so clear, I swear I saw them moving.
Mountains in the far distance;
No explanation needed:
Crazyhorse:
Pics from the lookout at Mount Coolidge in Custer State Park:
I thought this was a rock at first, but that there's a buffalo!
Shot of Buffalo Gap Grasslands:
Somewhere in Wyoming:
