Day two: Lunch in Ouray, Co. Approx 2:30 and we head up to go over Imogene Pass. Done it several times in the 60 so no concerns......Hook up a group of mixed bag of 1150's, 1250's, KTM and Africa Twins for Missouri. We spend the next 6 hours reaching the pass. There is so much rubble, rocks and babies heads on the trail that the moment you lose traction the bike goes down. We spend hours lifting 450 to 900 pound bikes up and pushing them to get traction. Two of the most spectacliur crashes were when Kevin launched his GS800 up a 60 foot granite face and then hit a gravel/scree field, the big bike lost traction slid backwards, the rear tire dug in launching the front tire into the air and launching Kevin off the bike.....he flies down the scree field like Superman and face plants half way down! I drop my bike and run up the hill (12000 feet) and he pops up and gives me the thumbs up and yells he's OK! We drag the heavy bastard around and drove it down to the base of the granite face for a second attempt.....he made it the second time!
I take a run at it on the KLR tractor and hit the top of the granite face and launched like a Dukes of Hazard jump scene......that heavy bike sailed like a little Honda 70 trail bike of a home made dirt ramp but came down like a ton of bricks! I managed to lock the brakes before finding the cliff edge!
By now the sun is going down as we head down on the Telluride side. Half way down one of the big Beemers rear brakes lock up and stalls the bike. We spend another half hour getting it to release. Once in Telluride it's pitch black. We look for a hotel since we're and hours away from our designated camp area. Hotels start at $450 plus parking so my wife tells us about the Telluride City Campground in the park. We ride down and the old man camp host greets us and tells us they're sold out......but, he feels pity on us and lets us use a site that just got canceled for no showing. We setup in the dark and pass out. We showed our appreciation with a bottle of Larceny Bourbon the next morning. That's Adventure!
