Colorado BDR 2023 - Day 2 | Arriving in Denver
Sunday, July 23, 2023
We arrived at 8am. Filled up with gas so we’d have one less thing to do when we leave.
We found a Walmart parking lot to use as our bike staging area. We unloaded the bikes but left our luggage in the Jeep while we rode to find coffee and food.
Load out
We didn’t get many photos of our gear organization as we loaded the bikes. It was 98 degrees in Denver and we were wasting no time to get to the mountains.
We grabbed a few steaks and brussel sprouts for our dinner and rode out.
Finding camp
We’d planned ahead to meet up with Seth and Harmony Haley and their two kids for our first night of camp. I found an article listing the top 5 dispersed camping options close to Denver. We settled on Bill Moore Lake because of its proximity and having a reputation for having less traffic. We would soon learn why.
Biting off moore than we could chew
Bill Moore lake sits at the top of county road 251, a popular Jeep road filled with washouts and boulders. I was thrilled but my riding companions were less so. We kept going in hopes of a beautiful camp site beside the mountain lake. A couple of technical sections, some graceful spills, then it all stopped. The clutch on the Triumph Tiger 800, Josh’s bike, started slipping badly. We’d certainly been using the clutches hard getting up. We realized we wouldn’t make it up if we burned out the clutch. A gentleman on a side by side came down the mountain we were going up. It was easy to tell that he thought we were nuts for attempting this road. Josh was exhausted by this point from fighting the struggling bike. George, our new friend from the mountain offered to help us get back down. We abandoned the Tiger temporarily and Josh and our luggage rode down in style while we followed with the other two bikes. We made quick work of the decent.
George, our hero
After bringing Josh and our gear to the bottom of the mountain, George took me on a thrilling ride back up to the top to pick up the Tiger. We would’ve had a much worse time without his help.
We finally got down the mountain, met up with Seth and Harmony and headed for the closest campground.
Here are a few more photos including one very blurry photo of that spirited ride with George, the hero of the day.
