1 - Early days - Planning

Old Farts MC - US Bike Tour to Colorado, Wyoming and a small portion of Montana. 22nd - 28th Septamber 2007.

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Having been holidaying in the US for some years with a bunch of mates from the UK this years trip was going to be somewhat different because some bright spark on 2006's trip said 'What about renting bikes next year'. The die was cast.

Two of us didn't even have a bike licence at that stage but we had 15 months to get one. Nigel was quick off the blocks and not only picked up his bike licence but a Harley of his own all before Decembers end in 2006. This left just me to get mine, in a foreign country (Switzerland) where I have lived since 2002 and with a window of just 6 months when the weather is good enough up here in the mountains. No pressure then. However, after a couple of false starts I managed to get my licence just 10 days before I flew to the UK to start the trip.

As unofficial and self appointed group disorganizer I set about the task of planning a couple of interesting routes. Basically I wanted to give the boys a couple of choices and settled on the following.

A -- North from Denver to Cody via Casper. North from Cody to Red Lodge then Yellowstone North Entrance Via The Beartooth Highway. Then south through Yellowstone west thumb down to Rock Springs then back to Denver.

B -- West from Denver to Grand Junction then south as far as Durango via the San Juan Skyway then back up to Telluride, Montrose, Gunnison and Leadville before returning to Denver.

I was happy with both rides but in the end it was route A that was selected.

We decided to rent our bikes from Eagle Riders at Denver. As many bikers will know, Eagle Riders are a franchise outfit and the Denver Operation is also a Thunder Mountain Custom Cycles branch. Booking online was easy and after researching what the most comfortable bike was likely to be I decided on a Harley Davidson Road King.