I recently met a fellow sidecar rider, Cesspool is his username on advrider.com, and he rides a beautiful BMW R1200GS mated to the same Dauntless M72D Dual Sport Sidecar that Yoshie has.
Cesspool has been working diligently to "dial in" his rig so that it rides correct and with least amount of effort. The first time I saw his rig, something just didn't look right in the way it had been set up, the angles on the support arms seemed "off".
Much work since then, Cesspool aka Greg thought he had it pretty close. We arranged to meet in the town of Dumont, CO and from there ride out to the Rocky Mountain National Park on our rigs to see how his behaved.
We met up around 9:30AM and after a brief chat, we moved on over to the nearby truck weigh station as Greg was curious to see what the weight readings were for his rig. He talked to the operator and he agreed to let us put our rigs through, no charge! Such a deal.
Weighing operations done with, we headed west on the I-70 Slab until we got to the Empire/US 40 exit. Turning north on this road, we climbed upwards towards Berthoud Pass. Soon enough we were in the parking lot where the visitor center is for the pass and posed our rigs accordingly.
Motoring onwards, we headed north to and through Winter Park and the towns of Fraser, Tabernash and Granby. At Granby, we turned off of US40 and headed now northwards on US34 past Lake Granby, Shadow Mountain Lake and finally to the Grand Lake.
Soon after Grand Lake, one enters the Rocky Mountain National Park limits. We each paid our fee of $10 for our motorcycles and headed on towards the nearby mountain peaks.
We rode the five hairpin turns and reached Milner Pass where once again we posed our rigs by the pass sign.The ride up to the top of Trail Ridge Road was smooth and dry for the most part. Some snow has already started to accumulate alongside the road but not to any great extent.
We stopped at the Alpine Visitor Center and I mounted the GoPro camera pointed rearwards so I could capture Greg and his rig as we rode on Trail Ridge Road. The weather was heavily overcast and gray. The wind was up and blowing but it was not very cold. Good riding weather, really.
Pretty soon, we came to my favorite stopping point on Trail Ridge Road. The "Rock Cut" is a parking area with great overlooks of the nearby mountain peaks.
We continued eastwards on Trail Ridge Road, again I was shooting video of Greg as he rode along behind me on his rig.
Too soon, we had ridden downwards enough that the scenery was mostly obscured by dense pine forests. You can see the ravages of the Pine Beetle though throughout the park, quite a shame really. The beetle infestation has really taken a toll on the forests of Colorado.
Once we were at the valley floor, Greg and I switched rigs so we each could get a taste of the other guy's rig and how they handled. I must say, Greg's GS is quite smooth and nice to ride. The muffler emitted a wonderful sound as I rode behind Greg on Yoshie. This was only for a very short ride and we ended up parking at the Beaver Meadows visitor center to exchange notes on the rigs.
It was time to head home now and Greg led the way through the town of Estes Park which was crawling with tourists! We took US36 back towards Lyons, CO. It was a nice and mellow ride on US36, both our rigs taking its twists and turns with no issues and easily keeping up with traffic for the most part.
I turned south at the junction with where US66 and US36 separate in Lyons, I beeped my horn and waved goodbye to Greg as he continued on US66 towards Longmont, his home. I transited through the usual traffic jam that is Boulder and soon enough I was heading towards home. I experienced some delay as US270 was having construction work done and we had to take detours, but not a big deal. I sure am glad though, I don't work in that part of town!
Got Yoshie home after 280 miles on her odometer, no mechanical issues and the chain seemed just fine when I checked it. Greg emailed me earlier this evening and told me he'd adjusted what we both thought was excessive toe-in on his rig. Sounds like more riding is in store to further "sort out" his rig. It rides fine, both of us thought so, but there was some effort involved when turning her to the right, this toe-in adjustment should do the trick.
Note: Just as well we rode the Trail Ridge Road today, just got a notice from CDOT saying the road was closed due to "adverse conditions". I guess those dark gray clouds we saw today were as threatening as they looked!
Other rides on Trail Ridge Road:
Father's Day Ride on Trail Ridge Road
First ride on Trail Ridge Road and Milner Pass
Uraling with my family in the RMNP
Ride Safe. Ride Aware.
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