Mar/Apr '23 Premium Content Getting High in Colorado Riding in central Colorado is a treat, no matter the time of year, but doing it in the fall is something everyone should experience. The aspen trees are bunched in groves varying in thickness all over the mountains and they begin to explode into a wildfire of color in mid-September.
Classic Roads Classic Roads: Trail Ridge Road National Scenic Byway This 64-mile Classic Roads adventure begins in the historic mountain resort town of Estes Park, Colorado, the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, and rolls along a stretch of US 34, which is the highest continuous paved road in the U.S. It has been a popular destination for motorists
Roundtrip Tour Premium Content Giro Alpino: A Family Reunion in the Rockies Giro Alpino was Ducati’s new tour event, centered around Breckenridge, CO. Participants were told to expect incredible roads, spectacular fall colors, and exquisite dining. I did because I live here in Colorado. What I didn’t expect was the warm welcome we received into the Ducati Multistrada family. I
Destinations Destination: Pagosa Springs, Colorado This picturesque community, situated 35 miles north of the New Mexico border, serves as an ideal location for looped explorations. The San Juan River flows through the city’s center, where you’ll find the Pagosa Hot Springs, touted as the “World’s Deepest Geothermal Hot Spring.” Its name originates
Destinations In Pursuit of Wildness: Rocky Mountain National Park Bear with me, as it’s been 1,200 miles since I left Three Rivers, CA, and the wild views before me are stunning. The Rocky Mountains in Colorado stand majestically before me. The Quaking Aspens tremble in the wind. The weather is mild. I’m on a “rocky mountain
Roundtrip Tour Premium Content Flaming Gorge With A Hot Date I have really great friends. They give me stuff—boots, jackets, motorcycles… You know, the usual. A few years ago, two of them invited me on a group motorcycle trip to Europe. It was to be an extreme Alps ride, as in Stelvio Pass and about a dozen others. Then,
News Take A Joy Ride in Breckenridge, Colorado This Summer A motorcycle adventure in the Rocky Mountains is an indescribable experience. Revel in the unparalleled views of the Ten Mile Range while you ride high-altitude passes, hairpin switchbacks and winding mountain roads.
Roundtrip Tour Premium Content A Colorado Plateau Odyssey in America's Four Corners Region It’s early September and the summer tourists have abandoned the 130,000-square-mile red rock landscape known by geologists as the Colorado Plateau. It contains the largest concentration of scenic wonders in America. Roughly centered where the states of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Arizona meet, the plateau was once
Roundtrip Tour Premium Content Colorado Adventure Ride: The Pinnacle Motorcycles differ from any other mainstream form of motorized transportation. Because they must be balanced, they require a great deal of skill to operate well, especially off pavement. By comparison, four-wheeled vehicles are incredibly easy to operate over difficult terrain. The very characteristic of a motorcycle that makes it challenging
Reader Ride Premium Content To Honor A Friend Several years back, a friend moved from California to Colorado, where he promptly bought a motorcycle. “Dude!” he wrote, not abandoning his California roots entirely. “Come ride with me. The roads here’ll blow your mind!” “Someday,” I told him. It was the last conversation we ever had. When he
Jan/Feb '22 Premium Content A Sublime Loop Around the Southwestern States Wheeling up to the U.S. border from the Mexican side at Tecate was more of a drive-through experience than the usual cacophony of queues and chaos surrounding the more southern fronteras. The two-year familiarity of my old, comforting Latin American life was about to leave me for a convenient
May/Jun '21 Destination: Pikes Peak International Hill Climb > Nearly every motorcyclist has gotten lost while browsing a magazine. Suddenly, we are transported to high altitude destinations, riding up and down the Stelvio Pass in the Alps or Paso Internacional Los Libertadores in Chile. Roads like these must actually be ridden to be truly understood. Though one may fantasize
Jul/Aug '19 Premium Content Colorado: A Himalayan in the Rockies An early fall ride through the Rocky Mountains is one of those irresistible and unforgettable trips: mile after mile of stunning scenery, remote and pristine environments, high mountain passes, wildlife at any turn, interesting towns, and twisting and curving roads. I had the pleasure of taking such a ride last
Jan/Feb '19 City Escape: Fort Collins, Colorado > This 105-mile section of CO-14 has become an all-time favorite over the years. Leaving Ft. Collins, the road winds alongside the Cache la Poudre River and climbs steadily into Roosevelt National Forest until it reaches Cameron Pass (10,200 ft). From there it descends steeply before flattening out on the
Mar/Apr '18 Premium Content Pagosa Springs, Colorado Shamrock Tour®: Riding “Naked” in the Rocky Mountain State With an abundance to see and do, Colorado is a tourist mecca for good reason. While many flock to explore the beauty and rugged wilderness (whether hiking, rafting or mountain biking), we made plans to visit some of the old mining and railroad towns that sprouted up in the mid
Sep/Oct '17 City Escape: Colorado Springs, CO > This scenic loop west of Colorado Springs includes some great small towns and miles of tree-lined splendor. Some iconic mountains and rock formations are mixed in for good measure. The ride is best made from late spring through early fall. Rocky Mountain weather is, to say the least, variable, so
Nov/Dec '16 Premium Content Continental Divide, Part 2: Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico Our route out of Rawlins, WY, takes us through the city’s center before turning south and heading out of town. It is a great day for riding, with mostly clear skies and cool temperatures, as we enter the Medicine Bow National Forest. Not far from the Colorado border we
May/Jun '16 Premium Content San Francisco, CA to Denver, CO: Over the Barriers To travel from San Francisco to Denver you have to cross several major ranges, endure blistering heat and frosty cold, and carve a path for yourselfup some steep and twisty inclines. There’s plenty of excitement to be had. The great traveler Marco Polo would be jealous. It took him
Jan/Feb '16 Denver, Colorado City Escape > The highest continuous paved road in the United States is in Rocky Mountain National Park—Trail Ridge Road. Connecting Estes Park (the town that inspired Stephen King’s novel, The Shining) to Grand Lake, home of … well, a pretty big lake! But then again, why settle for ghost stories, big
Jul/Aug '15 Premium Content Trans-America Trail, Colorado to Oregon: Detours, Broken Bones, and New Friendships As if on cue, my new riding partner, Luke Swab, rolls into Fairplay, CO, on a Yamaha WR250R, where I am waiting to meet him by the side of the road. I’m relieved, yet I’m apprehensive to have a riding partner. The first half of the journey had
May/Jun '15 Premium Content Trans-America Trail, Tennessee to Southern Colorado: Banjos, Tears, & Corn Nubbins I have arrived in Tellico Plains, TN, and the official starting point of the Trans-America Trail (TAT). It took thousands of miles just to get here, but as I prepare to make my first turn onto the trail, I feel a weight and a reality of what I am about
Nov/Dec '14 Premium Content Colorado Rockies: Mountains, Mesas, and Monsoon Season? What a difference a day makes. Riding the ski lift at Crested Butte, my wife, Sharon, and I attempt to watch both the alpine panorama unfolding ahead and the shrinking festival grounds below where Lukas Nelson’s band POTR is performing to a growing crowd under a sapphire blue sky.
Sep/Oct '14 Premium Content Reader Ride–Colorado High Country: Back to My Childhood Home Our 2012 Honda Gold Wing purrs as we head south on U.S. 6 through the beautiful Spanish Fork region. It’s Day 2 of our seven-day journey from Eagle, ID, to Golden, CO, where I grew up. I look forward to sharing my home turf with Howard, my intrepid
Jul/Aug '14 City Escape: Denver, Colorado > Dual sport Colorado in a day! The twisty paved roads of Jarre Canyon connect to the sandy forest of Rampart Range and return you to pavement among the stunning rock formations of the Garden of the Gods before soaring 14,115 paved feet of elevation on Pikes Peak. Ride June
Nov/Dec '13 Premium Content Colorado: Off Road Across the Rockies I could stay on I-70. It crosses the Rocky Mountains in a couple of hours—but this would be a waste of landscape and adventure. Here in Colorado, America’s major mountain range offers one fantastic and rare opportunity. You can cross it almost completely off-road. Not in hours, but
