4 - Monday - 2nd Days Ride - Casper to Shoshoni WY

The plan for today was to head up to Cody via Shoshoni and Thermopolis to arrive by lunchtime and send the afternoon at The Buffalo Bill Museum. It did not happen.
The reason for this breakdown in the plan was simply the worst weather anyone in our group had ever experienced on a motorcycle. It was bitterly cold from the start but we had the gear against the cold so felt confident, however it was to prove quite futile against the conditions we would encounter when it would be impossible to turn back.
The first leg to Shoshoni was a shade over 100 miles but we found ourselves stopping at Powder River just to get some feeling back in the fingers. 40 miles from Shoshoni we ran into driving rain laden with ice crystals blowing in from the north and freezing temperatures that were greatly enhanced by wind chill. At about 30 miles from Shoshoni I realised that there were no longer any bike lights in my mirrors so I pulled over, got off the bike and tried to revive my fingers on the engine. Eventually Nige rode up to explain that we had lost a rider, Brian. It wasn't an easy decision to make but we decided to press on to Shoshoni and wait for him there because conditions were so bad that if he had gone down with exposure anyone going back for him was certain to suffer the same fate. Everyone had been briefed that Shoshoni would be our RV and I was certain Brian would make it and had just stopped to warm his hands.
Never have miles gone so slowly and never have I been so glad to see a 2 horse town like Shoshoni. Thawing out was painful, have a look at this movie. A group decision was made to stay in Shoshoni and see if conditions improved in the morning.

3 - Sunday - 1st Days Ride - Denver to Casper WY

The target for the day was Casper WY about 270 miles. I was up early and grabbed the weather forecast off the Internet, it didn't look good with rain expected further up the highway.

Riding north up I25 the clouds were gathering and by the time we stopped for breakfast at Johnson's corner just shy of Loveland we had already felt a few spots of rain. By the time we reached Glendo we were all pretty wet and not only was it raining hard there was a wicked crosswind which even made keeping heavy bikes like Harley's in a straight line a bit challenging. So, Glendo seemed like a good stopping point for refreshments and drying out. As it happened, it was a superb place to stop as there is a fantastic old bar here called the Old Western Saloon. A few beers helped to restore our spirits and the old lady who ran the place took a shine to us and gave us souvenir bandanna's.

By the time we rolled into Casper the rain had long stopped but the wind continued to blow hard. We made a quick stop at the Walmart so a couple of guys could buy more reliable waterproof trousers!

2 - Early Errors

Picking up the bikes at Thunder Mountain / Eagle Riders was pretty straightforward but with the exception of myself none of the other four riders in our group ended up with the bikes they ordered. Uncle Bloatus had reserved a Sportster and ended up with a Low Rider and of the other three, all of whom wanted Dyna Wide Glide's, Nige and Brian ended up with Street Glide's and Mike a Softail Deuce.

It being quite late in the day, after sorting out our kit our first stop was a Holiday Inn half a mile down the road. I thought everyone was ready, I thought everyone was following, I though everyone knew where we were headed. I was wrong. When I pulled into the HI car park there were only two riders behind me and not four. Uncle Bloatus and Brian were nowhere to be seen. Eventually they re-joined us but it was an early lesson learned.

1 - Early days - Planning

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

Note to Non Bloggers:- To view the photos in a larger size just click on them. To view movies click once (This activates the control) then click a second time to play.

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.