Father and Son, First Ride

[Guest]

This was the first ride my dad and I took together. My dad grew up riding motorcycles starting with a Trail 90 when he was around 10. Life and a family put motorcycling on hold for him. Fast forward 35 years when his son (me) traded a couple of .22s for a beat up '80 GS550. I spent the following year getting hooked on riding the Colorado Rockys with that old bike.

I just recently purchased an '09 V-Strom 650, which freed up the GS for someone else to go on rides with me. I didn't have the Strom for a month, and with only a few short hops on the strom, my dad was once again hooked! So, on a spur of the moment, the only way my family knows how to be, we planned on a short trip from Loveland, CO up through park county (que south park music) on into Leadville.

Thursday I told my dad that we should head up there Saturday for a couple days of camping and riding around the old mining areas. That only left Friday to get the old GS up and running (well running good enough for the trip anyway! ) so we spent Friday loading all the gear, putting a new chain and new oil in the GS and hoping it would make it.

We headed out bright and early Saturday morning, even though the weather didn't look that great. We had a couple of old walkie talkies to talk to eachother during the ride.

Loaded up and ready to ride!



We took back roads all the way up to Leadville (the GS will only do about 65 max in the high country). But first we had to stop off to get dad a rain suit. Turns out we'd need it all weekend :huh .



I don't have any pictures of the ride up. The only excuse I have is that my fingers were wet and frozen, as was the rest of me, so I couldn't work the camera anyway (oh yeah, the camera stopped working had to dry out before it started to work). A little outside of Golden we switched bikes, I'm now riding the GS. The whole way up, my dad was radioing me talking about the Strom and how it was like a guided missle (he hasn't ridden a modern bike since now). Every time he'd go around a bend or accelerate out of a corner, he'd radio me saying "I've GOT to get me one of these!".

Well, 6 hours of freezing rain later, we pulled into camp. Note: don't trust a GPS, I just got a 2720 and programed in the route for shortest distance avoiding major highways. The only problem was, minor roads was set up to be "Prefer", so the GPS took us on a little round about way. When we followed the GPS and it lead to a dirt trail going up over a pass (that was still snowed in), we had to back track a little.

Camp set at 5:00 p.m.



Oh yeah, did I mention the rain? It rained all night. It rained all morning. It rained all day. It rained all evening. We got wet.

The next day we woke up and rode to breakfast. Sitting in a fancy restaurant with soaking wet riding gear while others just stare at you works up an appitite. After breakfast we headed out to the mines. It's been raining constantly, so the dirt roads and trails were fun at times. plenty of streams and BIG puddles to cross all day. It was great fun though.

Heading up to Mosquito Pass

[Colorado CJ]

Dad riding the GS (he rode that thing like a dirt bike!)



There are countless mines, mine shafts, tailings piles, old homesteads everywhere out here. Our other hobby is prospecting (dredging, metal detecting) so this was right up our alley.



We tried to stay on the trails, but sometimes they didn't go where we wanted to go. Dad trailbreaking, pretty good for a 60 year old on a 30 year old street bike! (as they say, it doesn't look as steep as it was.)

[Colorado CJ]

Lots of areas to explore/ride out here





Lots of old buildings too. Just be careful, there are mine shafts everywhere and collapsed tunnels/mines all over the place, walk where you can see solid ground. This barn wasn't a barn at all, the side building had a mine shaft dug in it and there was a large brick (2 foot thick walls) storeroom inside. We think it was a safe for storing gold between runs to the town. It looks like they made it look like a barn to ward of robbers.



Me detecting for some gold (hopefully). I didn't find much but old junk. One interesting thing my dad found was a part to a scales (somewhat like the old balancing scales used to weigh gold). Last year, a local found two gold double eagles along with a couple of small nuggets just up the road from here.

[Colorado CJ]

Inside the cabin from the prevoius shot. There must have been a lady living here as there was wood floors and wall papered walls. They hung cotton sheets on the walls and ceiling and wallpapered over that. Most of these cabins aren't near as nice (dirt floors, etc..)



People must have been alot shorter back in them years



After a few hours of riding the trails and detecting, it was time to head for home. You can see the lake where we camped in this picture:



Dad heading back to camp



That's the last of the pictures. We broke camp at 2:00pm and headed back to Loveland. We decided to go the shorter route and hit I-70 on the way home (it was mostly down hill from there, so the GS did fine). The rain/hail and cold made for a miserable ride back, but we still had fun. The GS made it back in one piece, but with all the rain, was not running very well (it died at every stop since it wouldn't idle at all).

Even though the weather was lousy, we both had a great time. My dad is now contiplating on how he is going to get his own V-Strom. He's been re-hooked on riding after his 35 year hiatus.

We are planning for many more rides together in the future.

[SqDancerLynn1]

You need to work on that 550, it should do 100 mph without any trouble
Sound like you had fun

[mriddle]

Simply awesome.

[Buffalo Bill]

Nice read! Thanks!

Your Dad is only 5 years older than me, so stop talking like he's 90!
Love the story, no surprise about the low power, the carburetor was tuned for sea level. I learned that lesson driving a '62 Chevy Van from San Francisco to Lake Tahoe. We had plenty of power in the lowlands, but as we climbed the mountains I had to progressively shift to a lower gear until we were in first gear at 20 mph. Power came back as we plunged down into Nevada on the other side. I read up on altitude and carburetors later.
Great pics too!

[spyug]

Who'd a thunk a street GS could work as an off roader Says a lot about the skills of the old coot and just goes to proove old farts like us still have something to bring to the game.

What a great father and son adventure. Its stories like this that make me really miss my old dad. We were really close when I was a kid..not so much as I "matured". I wonder what good times we might have had now.

Great pics & story thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Spyug

[mcloud]

My favorite. That's what riding is all about.
Great story, make sure you tell us about your next ride.
And since your dad is now a GS rider, get him on the forum

[tkent02]

That is great, my dad and I did a few little rides around town, nothing like this. You are incredibly lucky. When is he getting his Strom?

You need to work on that 550, it should do 100 mph without any trouble
Sound like you had fun

Not up here. Leadville is over 9,000 ft, the hills around it much higher.
A properly tuned 1000 will only do 100 on the down hills, maybe level....if there was any level.
It takes air to make power, we don't have much.

[seuadr]

beautiful pictures, thanks for sharing. makes me a little jealous, we don't have those kinds of mountians around here :P

[lurch12_2000]

Great story and pics!
I've been riding with 2 of my sons seperately, but never all 3 of us together....until this past weekend....and I'm not an old "coot" yet!

[gustovh]

Most exelent adventure. Reminds me of my first ride with my son.
V

[yasser]

Great story and photos. It would be really fun to see those places in person. Funny that you grounded the story with a description of using trail 90s. My dad and I used a 110 and a 90 for MANY deep woods and winding miles last year in the U.P. of MI on and off road. It appears your off roading dad out grew the 90s but still enjoys the off road course.

[blokv1100]

Dad heading back to camp



That's the last of the pictures.
We are planning for many more rides together in the future.

This picture should be framed and given back to him on Father's Day, it's a great shot with the trees and mountains in the background.

I too have some wonderful memories of my Dad and I going on motorcycle adventures.