Today the 17th of June the weather forecast is for a high of 93 in the city. Too Hot for me, got to head to the High Country. I had a couple of objectives that I wanted to accomplish with today?s ride. First, I needed to burn off some more rubber so I can mount a new set of tires for my trip to Spearfish next month. Second, I wanted to see if the construction on HI-way 77 (Tarryall Rd. ) was finished. And Third, I just wanted to GO RIDE. I left the house a 7am so as to get across town before the heavy Rush hour starts, and I wanted to get back early afternoon before the afternoon heat and evening rush hour. It seems lately like the rush hour is all day every day. I remember a time when one could cross the city of Denver at 7am with little or no traffic jams. I guess I am just showing my age.
Anyway, I headed out hi-way 285 across town and up into the mountains. 285 takes me all the way over Kenosha Pass and down into South Park. Just a few miles down lay the small hamlet of Jefferson. Here I stopped and gassed up and turned left on to Tarryall Rd. (HW77) which connects Jefferson with Lake George, 44 miles to the south. Along the route is Tarryall Reservoir. (I have been told there is good fishing there) Construction on 77 has been ongoing for about three years now as CDOT has been repaving the complete 44 miles in stages. The last stage of eight miles is being done now and I wanted to see how far along they are to completing it. As soon as I made the turn there was a sign that said 1 to 2 hour wait possible 32 miles.
Well I knew I was going to be back tracking as I was not going to be waiting 1 and a half hours for a pilot car to take me through. I did that during stage two of the project a couple of years ago with my DR650. A story to be told over a cold beer. Some of you might even remember that episode. The 32 miles that I did ride was/is beautiful pavement with high speed sweepers and gorgeous scenery. (See the pictures) So I took off down the road. The FJR just purred along wanting to go faster and faster. I had a hard time keep the speeds down as I also wanted to get some pictures along the way. Got down to where the pavement ended and turned to gravel. If I was riding the Wee 650 V-Strom, of mine, I would have continued, but the FeeJeR does not like gravel and I don?t need a lot of rock chips in the paint.
As I was turning around a fella in a pickup stopped and we chatted a bit. He told me that every hour a pilot car leads traffic through the construction zone of about 8 miles gravel and dirt. I will check it out later in the summer with the Wee Strom. But for now I am going to head back out and go over Guanella Pass (which is all paved as of last year) and down I-70 on home. Did about 225 miles in six hours today. Accomplished all three objectives. Might have one more day ride left on that Rear PR4GT tire before I have to change it. All in all another great day/ride in Gods Country.
See my FB page for the rest of the pictures.
https://www.facebook.com/chuck.hende...80?ref=tn_tnmn