I think a ride is needed......

[Giaka]

What say you? Is this doable in 7 days? (planning mid or late May)


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[falconati]

You can do it!  Looks glorious.

[cbsnbiker]

If I can ride from New York to San Fran in four days, you can do your trip in seven.

Looks like fun!  

[st2sam]

Go for it!   Mind if I join you?
Will you be riding the Honda Barcolounger? If so, piece of cake.

[Justin]

Easily. But why so much slab?

[Orson]

No Ut-12?  

 

[JimWilliamson]

With that much Interstate and averaging 357 miles per day, certainly.

Make the thread a call for other road options, then maybe not in 7 days, but you could pick-n-choose what to ride.

FWIW I-80 across southern WY (Rock Springs / Rawlins / Laramie) is so/so and can be windy. Laramie to Cheyenne - up and over some hills - OKish. If you like history, the highest peak of the original transcontinental RR is south of 80 between Laramie & Cheyenne (~5 miles of packed soil). A common cut-off is US-287 between Laramie WY and Fort Collins CO (recommended).

Here's an edited route for Colorado roads


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1) I chopped off some I-80 drone by dropping south from 80 while you're still in the mountains (I-25 is east of the mountains and you're on the plains, in Fort Collins / Denver traffic)

2) CO-125 between Walden and Granby is a nice road

3) Granby-Frazier-WinterPark not wonderful, some traffic, but good scenery. Between Winter Park and I-70 is Berthoud Pass. Decent views.

4) South of Leadville CO you head west and up and over Independence Pass, a destination road

5) Aspen to Carbondale, not fantastic (traffic)

6) South of Carbondale CO you roll over McClure Pass (not as grand as Independence, but certainly some good views)

7) Hotchkiss CO - decision point: Turn south and run CO-92, one nice road, or if time is tight, head west directly to US-550. US-550 between Grand Junction and Ridgeway stands out as one road to avoid. Traffic with blah views. It's often used as...

8) US-550 between Ouray and Durango is a destination road.

[Giaka]

Easily. But why so much slab?

That was just a quick google map to try and hit those states and keep it under 2500 miles. You guys feel free to add the appropriate side roads.    

And yeah it will be on the flying recliner. My favorite riding buddy wants to come along and she would rather ride on the back. Maybe I can talk her in to riding her SV but if she doesn't want to I am OK with that too.

[Orson]

You guys feel free to add the appropriate side roads.

That little bit across southern Colorado into Farmington, New Mexico, while scenic, isn't very challenging. More of a "just sit there and watch the scenery go by" type of road. The same goes for Monument Valley.

I would recommend taking the majestic, red rock of CO-149 up to Grand Junction, take a little bit of interstate into Utah where you can hook up with the magnificent Ut-12  

Northern Utah and southeastern Idaho are like the surface of the moon. Only geologists and dinosaur hunters go there  

[Eric308]

Just a note here...some of those high Colorado passes such as Independence don't even open until very late May and that is weather permitting. If you stick to that proposed route you should be OK...but if you deviate as suggested you might hit some closures.

[DancesWithTrees]

That's a scary amount of interstate for a motorcycle ride.