Colorado Roads

[rob08031]

My first post here and I just got back from some great riding in my home state, Colorado. I had my 600 mile checkup last Friday and left Tuesday for this ride. I did around 1,000 miles over the previous two days, all on secondary roads except for a 30 mile stretch of I-25. I'm a fan of Butler maps so I used their Colorado map for my route guidance, maybe one day I'll pony up for the GPS.  Day 1 considered of leaving Colorado Springs and once I hit Pueblo, riding US-50 westward until Poncho Springs. I screwed up and did US285 south instead of staying on US50.  I missed some nice riding through the mountains that I'll have to go back to do...  US-160 westbound has some nice curvy roads and I decided to go check out the Four Corners. After a quick stop for the requisite pictures, I spend the night in Durango. Great and interesting town to overnight in.
Today I rode the Million Dollar Highway (US-550) throught Silverton and Ouray up to Montrose. During that stretch I saw some bighorn sheep and some moose, plus helped a guy whose bike fell over when he stopped to take some pictures. In Montrose I took US50 eastbound until I got to around Sapinaro and then got on CO-92 (Blue Mesa ride).  Lots of great corners and mainly had the road to myself. I might have exceeded the speed limit by a mile an hour or two...  At the end of Blue Mesa, road CO 133 up to Carbondale.  That road has some nice curves and had a deer watch me go cruising by, luckily she stayed on the side of the road. Then I did CO-82 through Aspen and Independence Pass. Too much traffic to have fun but the scenery was great. Came back to the Springs via US-24 which has some curves and scenery but it's not like the mountains.
My only complaint is the seat on the bike, everything else worked great. I either need to change out my seat or start wearing some padded biking shorts to see if that helps. I read one of the other posters who runs his bike in hard mode for the twisties, so that's what I used on this ride. The bike stayed planted the entire time.

[MacJ]

I just plotted your ride on Google maps (which is about as close as I'll ever get to actually riding it ) and it looks a great ride. With that distance in the saddle I'm not surprised it was a bit uncomfortable. I have a saddle cover of 15mm Merino sheepskin which I think helps the 'numb-bum' syndrome.

[timminator]

That is a great looking ride, and welcome to the forum!  I live in the Portland, OR. area, and often do some fun rides through the cascades and coastal range, but they are nothing like the Rockies.  Considering a tour out to Yellowstone next summer with my family, that ought to be fun.  Tim