Cottonwood Pass

Independence Pass

Kenosha Pass

Monarch Pass

Poncha Pass

Spiral Mountain

St. Elmo

Trout Creek Pass

It was one of those days you see in Colorado Chambers of Commerce brochures, bright sunshine, blue skies, no wind, snow on the peaks all around the central part of the state that my route for this year’s Two-Bits Rally took me. Some of the best views that the state has to offer, which is the norm for this rally.

Come to think of it, every one of these rallies has taken place in beautiful country and weather, with one notable exception where it rained so hard, the route out onto the plains past Limon was the most logical option, and at one point, I actually considered stopping to let it pass, but since it wouldn’t, we pressed on and counted on the others late arrival in Frisco and their resulting penalty points to place well overall.

But this years perfect conditions made the ride most enjoyable! Right from the start, I got to ride a new road that I have not ridden before. I have thousands of miles on two wheels in Colorado, but I am always looking for new challenges, vistas, and photo ops wherever I can find them. Maybe one of these years, the rally will be something like the “Front Range Canyon Blast,” that is on my bucket list to do. Randy are you listening??

So right from the start, I got to ride a new road, Deer Creek Canyon Rd, beautiful, twisty smooth, and as luck would have it, I happened to fall in behind three Porsches on a Saturday morning romp. In all fairness, they were not going that fast, maybe 8 MPH over the limit, but it was fun being behind them and listening to them moving swiftly through the trees. But after my second stop at the county yards to record the address, I never saw them again.

I had planned a “greedy,” route to get a lot of points, but as usual, I changed the route 45 minutes in to a different order. Then I thought hard again about another change that would have added miles and time in addition to the bonus points. As it was, I recorded 88 penalty points; had I taken the route I had considered, I might have ended up with a DNF, running out of time at the end.

I haven’t been over Independence Pass in about 5 years, so I ran up there to collect the big points, but my stop was prolonged by a big group of Harley Riders from Durango wanting me to take their pictures. So in addition to my own camera, they gave me three of theirs and I took lots of digital images for posterity. My timing was perfect as there was very little traffic on the way back down until about Twin Lakes. By the way, what happened to the little ghost town of Independence? I saw no sign, or no sign of it going either way.

The road in and out of BV is always crowded this time of year, but my timing in traffic was decent and I tried to spread good cheer with a little wave to those I did pass. My bagel breakfast had long run out so it was time for some food and fuel for me and my faithful companion, the “Acura.” (Rick Hall can tell you the story) Then up to Cottonwood Pass, and another surprise. The ride up was mostly uneventful, but arriving at the top, I saw quite a few guys in helmets and leathers, but wait, they aren’t riding motorcycles, they all have huge skateboards!

Is this one of those, “sucker bonuses?” There are some people who think I am a crazy for being a long distance rider, but I have never seen any thing like this. Just as I was ready to leave, all 20 of them headed down the pass right in front of me, with a pickup following them with his cell phone out his window, videoing the whole thing. I wanted no part of this - they were taking up both lanes going into corners, and of course, they have no brakes, but soon they were spread out and I could make some prudent passes.

By the time I got to the front of the pack, we were only a few sharp turns from the last big hairpin. Did I mention that these front guys were hitting 60 MPH?? As they approached a slow car, I wondered what would happen, so they put their hands out as air brakes, I guess, and drug one foot on the pavement to help them slow. Earlier, I watched one slide off in my rear view mirror and was headed for the guardrail, but was not able to see the end result. In the meantime, the guys in front were diligent, looking back to me and signaling me to pass, which I gratefully did.

The rest of the ride, was mostly uneventful, and the sucker bonus this day turned out to be St Elmo, with probably 50,000 ATV and dirt bike riders, heat and choking dust. So one more, “dusty badge of honor,” for me. Seems like that one should have been worth more points, but oh well, I had planned on using penalty point time, and Monarch, Poncha, Salida and that Spiral Drive thing was relatively easy, and a very nice view of Salida and the Arkansas River valley.

Being later in the day as it was, the traffic had eased up a bit on the way back to Buena Vista, and as it was, had I headed down Terryall Rd instead, I might still have collected more points and perhaps made it to the final gas stop with out going over the extra 2 hours, but I didn’t take the chance. I am still happy with my point tally, so I will have to wait until September to see how well I actually did.

I still think that a rally like this is always more fun when it is done on one day, where it is a shared experience with all of the participants. Maybe next year! Let’s speak to the Rallymaster.