Route Planning:
After some help finding a place to camp around Salida by my friend Dusten, I think I have all the camping spots planned out now (or camping areas at least). There is a small chance that night I may skip camping and crash at the Mt Princeton hot springs. Who knows, that’s something I’ll figure out the night of, it will be a very long/challenging ride that day (Gunnison – Aspen – Salida) so I may feel more like a relaxing hot pool and a shower than camping.
Total mileage is ~ 1500mi, but its the riding time per day that is unexpectedly high for each leg for the mileage covered. Below is the mileage and expected time. Add about an hour or two onto each of those for stopping, fuel, food, etc… The low riding time and distance on Day 4 and 5 are important as those areas are places I want to explore more (around Durango and Gunnison) and also a mid trip break isnt bad.
Day 1 206 mi 4:18:58
Day 2 271 mi 5:30:01
Day 3 248 mi 5:28:55
Day 4 182 mi 3:28:30
Day 5 126 mi 2:56:50
Day 6 229 mi 5:25:09
Day 7 245 mi 6:44:46
Also I’ve found the Garmin software to be horribly off on some roads for the expected speeds. Up Col de Turini in France the GPS expected us to keep an average speed of 65Mph up the mountain. When the real speed limit was 40, and our speed was below that due to the foggy conditions. So I am curious how realistic these numbers are.
Gear:
I pulled the trigger on a rear “trunk” for the motorcycle, to hold the tent and other odds and ends I want to keep dry. I picked up a Givi E370NT Monolock case that will go right behind the MotoFizz bag.
I am also picking up a cheap heated “Bib” for the ride. Since some of the morning departures in the mountains could be in the 20 – 30F weather range I will want something to keep me a bit warm in the morning. Aerostich has a $67 electric bib that keeps the important bits warm.
Keeping comfortable in these mountains could be interesting given the wide swings of temperature and altitude.
Other Prep:
I need to do a good bit of wiring work on the motorcycle, and get the GoPro hardwire and remote trigger stuff soldered up. I should have this stuff ready to by end of next week I hope.
Other than that, I am getting more and more excited!
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