2007 Colorado and Glacier Ride
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2007 Colorado and Glacier Ride
Mel submitted over 40 pages of images and story covering the entire 16 days of riding last year. Here are just a few of his best stories and images so you can enjoy parts of the ride the Breakfast Club took last year. You can check out Mel’s review of his Fox Creek Leather Vented racing jacket by clicking here. You will need to scroll down to see Mel’s review.
The 2007 Breakfast Club ride had a shaky start because it began as “another” Colorado ride. While Colorado is a great place to ride, we had already made two previous rides to Colorado and some of us wanted a change of scenery. I won’t get into all of the details leading up to this ride but I have to say the planned ride to Colorado fell apart and I decided that I was going to ride through Yellowstone, Teton, and Beartooth highway if I had to go by myself. Greg and Robert were quick to join my adventure, and we waited to see if anyone else would join us. The two major problems with this ride were the distance (over 5,000 miles) and the time required to make this trip. Since we previously decided on a target limit of 350 miles per day it would take sixteen days to complete the ride (Some members of the group had jobs and vacation limits).
A “compromise” was made to “combine” the proposed Colorado ride and what was now called the Glacier ride to accommodate the majority of the club members. Those who were lucky enough or unfortunate enough to have jobs could elect to make the nine day Colorado ride and those who could ride longer would continue on from Colorado with the “Glacier” ride.
* During a gas stop outside of Sweetwater I checked my Blackberry and found a message from Steve (one of the two key guys that did not accompany us on this ride). Steve asked if “we were wet yet?” I thought that was an odd statement, but I responded “not yet.” It wasn’t long before we found out what Steve was referring to. Conrad had purchased a new Garmin 376C GPS with satellite weather mapping capabilities and he reported that there was a huge storm in our path about thirty miles ahead. We discussed changing our route, but it would add more than one hundred miles to our ride. We elected to slow our pace and hope to miss the storm as it passed in front of us.
I have ridden in heavy rain storms before, but this was the worst I have ever encountered. If you have never ridden a motorcycle in a heavy rain storm while wearing a helmet with a face shield and wearing glasses, you should really try it. It is impossible to see through your wet glasses and a wet face shield (inside and out) at the same time. In order to see at all you must lift the face shield and deal with the rain directly in your face. You can’t stop because you could be run over from behind; you must continue riding while looking for a place to exit the highway.
* We followed a river into Lake City (A truly interesting little city) then over a mountain pass to the grandeur of a vast pocket meadow. As we rode to our next destination (the city of Creed) we encountered a group of bikers heading in the opposite direction. We commented that “we hope this is not the Del Fuegos.” We had often joked about scenes from the “Wild Hogs” movie and every time we saw a group of bikers we comment on the Del Fuegos.
* As we neared Telluride we ran into our first encounter with Colorado road construction. I have never ridden to Colorado with out running into road construction. I believe Colorado has two seasons, winter and road construction. Fortunately we were not delayed very long and we had the opportunity to ride on dirt road into the city of Telluride.
* The weather had threatened rain all day and as I got close to home a few rain drops fell on my face shield. The cloudy skies had protected us from the potentially hot west Texas weather, now a little cooling rain would not negatively affect my mood.
As I pulled into my garage I glanced at the odometer and calculated that I had ridden a total of 5,505 miles from garage to garage on this longest of all rides so far. We were all amazed that we were not more tired. I believe it is because we treated this ride as sixteen individual day rides and not one long sixteen day ride. Each day ride was segmented into reasonable lengths and sufficient short breaks were taken each day to ensure we would not be worn out. This ride was a good test for the ride we are considering for 2008.
Valentine Sale
Our Valentine’s Sale can save you
as much as 50% on Fox Creek Leather gifts.
And don’t forget to put yourself on that gift list. Here in Virginia, we’re looking forward to spring and riding weather. We have a variety of jackets, vests, belts and gloves in addition to our on-going Inventory Clearance and Blowout Sales. Now’s the time to gear up while it’s on sale!
Newsletter Winners
Well, it’s time to announce the winners for the Newsletter Subscriber $250 Gift Certificate and the Newsletter Author $500 Gift Certificate.
The way it works…
Once a quarter, we have a random drawing for a $250 Gift Certificate. All you need to do to be in the running for this certificate is subscribe to our newsletter. So, not only do you get info about new products and upcoming sales, you have a chance to win $250 of Fox Creek Leather gear. Johnthan Morgan of New Jersey is our newest quarterly winner.
The $500 Author’s Gift Certificate is a little more involved. First, you need to send us a story about a motorcycle trip or event with your Fox Creek Leather gear. If your story is featured in the newsletter, you will be entered into a random drawing for a $500 Gift Certificate. This is a random drawing in January for the previous year. Dennis Miller of Georgia is our 2007 winner. You might remember him from our February 2007 issue - he tangled with a Yard Shark enroute to Panama City, Florida for the Fall Thunder Beach Ralley.
Congratulations to both Johnthan and Dennis.