Next day it was off to conquer Black Bear pass. I’ve never ridden it and neither had the other two. Heading up was cake, I didn’t have any issues once I got around Bart and could use the momentum. I wasn’t sure what to expect, from this trail but it wasn’t too bad until I got to the steps. I made it down the first section and only scared myself 2x, then I got to a really steep, rocky and narrow section. I managed to get the bike down most of it, but than the front wheel bounced into the rock face and I couldn’t get it unstuck without getting off. So I walked the bike down the last 40 feet of the section, let’s just say that section was super freakin hard and kick my butt. I didn’t however have to ask anyone else for help so it was a win for me. I just had to wait for the other two to make it down. It was a long wait too. 🙂
This time on the switchbacks I locked the front up and tucked it twice, not sure why it wasn’t like I hadn’t done harder stuff already that day. Go figure, true to form, I make it through the hard stuff, just to fall on my face in an easier section, bringing my fall count to 5 to Kelly’s 2. ( I didn’t get to see the second one) The waterfall on this section is awesome.
This meant lunch in Telluride, at a great pizza joint, the guys thought the waitress was hot, what ever… I thought one of the bartenders was hot, myself. Not sure when Bart ate the sour grapes over lunch, but he was is a pissood. Snapping at both Kelly and I. I have to say I was completely offended when he called me high maintenance while we were gearing up just because I took longer to get ready than he did. I had my stuff and Kelly’s cable locked to my bike. Talk about impatient.
After lunch it was Imogene back to Ouray. It was on the way up that my license plate fell off and Kelly grabbed it. The poor bike really was taking a beating and it only got worse as we headed further up the road. I was leading and I couldn’t tell which way it went once I got to a certain point so I stopped. Bart went on by, Kelly stopped and just fell over, his bike was laying down hill so I helped him pick it up. I headed off up the hill only to have the front of the bike bounce off a rock toward the rock face, it went part way up before I got it back. I was just starting to back it down, when I went to put my foot down into nothing. I fell over and went over backwards off the bike. Kelly actually has video of me going backward with my feet over my head down the hill. It was now his time to earn those dinners I’ve been cooking. He helped me get it up and aimed the right way, I tried to go up and around the rocks only to keep stalling it. So he tried, he just stalled it or spun the back tire. So he walked it up and I pushed it, up till it was out of the way. He went back to get his bike, and fell again just a bit further up the hill than I did. So I helped him pick it up. I needed a few minutes after that. Since that roll had knocked the wind outta me, and I hit my head pretty good.
We finally made it up to the top to find Bart waiting in the only spot where there was shelter from the really strong wind up there. We BS for a bit, he snapped at me again about how I’d parked my bike. Not sure where that was coming from since it was next to his and called me high maintenance again. 😛 is what I have to say to that.
We started down the pass and came upon a couple of Razors that refused to move out of the way. In trying to go around one of them I fell into some more rocks. Bart and Kelly had gotten around them and didn’t wait for me since it wasn’t a hard area. I just didn’t want to get as close to that razor as they did. One of the other razor guys helped me get the bike up. I started down the hill and I’m still not sure what I did but I my foot slipped off the peg and I fell back. Now I’m sure you know what that means I did to the throttle, right? Oh yeah, I rolled all the way on! The bike shot forward and I fell off the back of it. I had to be doing at least 45 when I hit the ground and slid along the rocks into a stream of water. The bike hit a boulder and came to a stop just in front of me. Talk about embarrassing and not to mention really, really painful. I had ripped out my pants so whole left side was in three pieces from sliding through the rocks. The same guy who had helped me up earlier helped me again, it was have been scarier to watch, since he kept asking me if I was okay and others asked me if I needed medical help. By the time we got the front end of my bike straightened back out. Kelly had come back for me. Bart decided to take a nap down the hill.
I made it down to where Bart was waiting for us, he had a good laugh at my pants. I hadn’t realized what they looked like until then. Oh well. Unfortunately, this let that rude razor get back in front of us, so we waited for him to get through the next rough area before heading down. I think it’s safe to say I wasn’t doing so hot at this point and I was stressed/tired so guess what happened again? Yup, I fell over about 100 feet down the trail. I was also stuck to the foot peg so I couldn’t get up to quickly. That set Bart off again, since he had to set his bike down to come help me. He actually stood there and yelled at me for a minute before I started to walk away down the hill with the bike. Then he backed it off and started to tell me that he was disappoint in how bad I was riding. I really didn’t like him at this point. That kind of thing has the opposite effect on me then what I think he intended. First off it pisses me off, then it makes me ride worse and that is exactly what happened. I ended up goin the rest of the way down at 1/4 speed and almost fell over 5 more times. It’s the first time I ever remember thinking that I didn’t like motorcycles and I just wanted to go back to the campsite pack up and go home crying.
We made it back to Ouray and stopped off for Kelly to get some more beer. I knew at that point I had taken a real beating since I was having a hard time walking. We headed back to camp. I headed off to the showers as soon as I could get my hands on a beer and get out of my riding gear. I needed to survey all the damage I had done to myself before I checked out the bike and had to deal with Bart. At least by the time we got back to camp I wasn’t hating motorcycles, but I was sure I did not want to ride the next day.
As it turns out the next day was rather lazy and we took our time breaking down camp, and heading over to Gunnison to set up camp there. I was thrilled since I still wasn’t able to walk well. I had some really great bruises up both legs and across my rear. This put my fall count to 9 to Kelly’s 5. I won!!! 🙁
