Karen and I took the ZX-14 up to Estes Park this weekend for an overnight. This was Karen's first time on the bike for more than an hour and my first time with a pillion for more than an hour as well. The trip went really well, except for the constant threat of rain.
We left Sunday morning at about 8:00am and road up Canyon to Nederland. Had breakfast at the Train Car and then took Peak-to-Peak into Estes Park. Very fun roads and little traffic. I took it very easy and Karen was pretty comfortable on the trip. I could barely tell I had a passenger except when going below 15mph or accelerating hard. In fact, the suspension handled the extra weight very well, but it did slow the steering down some.
The rangers told us both days to stay off of Trail Ridge due to freezing rain on Sunday and snow falling from the cuts up high. We stayed very low both days, just in Moraine Park and along the paved section of Fall River Road. Still nice, but not very fun for me.
On Monday, we went into the park and did a hike at Deer Mountain. It was an easy 6 mile round-trip. The views were very nice and the weather was perfect for hiking.
On the way home, we took 36 through Lyons and got into a squall as we came south on 36. We got kinda wet, but it was warm and since we were almost home, I didn't stop to put on rain gear. By the time we got home, we were almost dry.
I would want to have some more luggage space if we were to try for a 2 or 3 day trip, but the combo of the Nelson-Rigg tailpack and my tank bag worked OK for a 1 day trip.
The rangers told us both days to stay off of Trail Ridge due to freezing rain on Sunday and snow falling from the cuts up high. We stayed very low both days, just in Moraine Park and along the paved section of Fall River Road. Still nice, but not very fun for me.
On Monday, we went into the park and did a hike at Deer Mountain. It was an easy 6 mile round-trip. The views were very nice and the weather was perfect for hiking.
On the way home, we took 36 through Lyons and got into a squall as we came south on 36. We got kinda wet, but it was warm and since we were almost home, I didn't stop to put on rain gear. By the time we got home, we were almost dry.
I would want to have some more luggage space if we were to try for a 2 or 3 day trip, but the combo of the Nelson-Rigg tailpack and my tank bag worked OK for a 1 day trip.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment