Decision time

Walden, Colorado is a small town that feels exposed and miles from anywhere. This morning we awoke to find our bike covered in frost.When Chris first cranked the bike over the bike's engine fired but didn't catch. Subsequent attempts to crank the bike resulted in the solenoid cutting in and out but the bike not cranking.
Chris pushed the bike out into the sun to warm it, and poured warm water over the battery. Even after half an hour the bike still refused to crank. It seemed as if the battery had failed after the first crank when everything was cold. We tried pushing the bike up to the top of the motel carpark and roll starting it, with no luck. On the second try a motorist driving by saw our predicament and stopped to help. He had some jumper leads and gave us a start from his truck battery.

We thanked him, but didn;t get his name before he drove away...
Once the bike was running, we wasted no time getting underway from Walden, taking CO 14 south to US 40 where we turned south to Kremmling. In the distance the mountains were dusted with snow.

Sheep are rare.

We needed fuel and food but didn't know if the bike would restart if we turned it off. Chris spotted a business selling snowmobiles and thought it worth checking if they had a suitable replacement battery. We left the bike running while they checked. They didn't have one but suggested we try turning the engine off and see if the battery would start it - which it did. A little relieved, we ate lunch at The Moose restaurant before fuelling the bike.

We left Kremmling on CO 9 which took us along a broad valley to Silverthorne. Although cold and crisp it was a magnificent ride.

Arriving there was crunch time for itinerary planning. We had intended to ride south from Silverthorne on CO 91 to Leadville, pick up US 24 and then turn west on CO 82 to Aspen. This route would take us over Independence Pass at 12,003 ft in the shadow of Mt Elbert = at 14,433 ft the highest peak in Colorado.
It was already 2 pm and the visitor information centre had a weather forecast that indicated weather was closing in that night, and that tomorrow's weather was going to be the worst for the week. With a 2-3 hour ride to Aspen it could be touch and go if we got there before the weather.

The prospect of crossing a 12,000ft pass in poor weather after yesterday's experience was not attractive, so we opted for plan B - to continue down I-70 to Glenwood Springs.
A few miles from Silverthorne we crossed Vail Pass at 10,666ft with no sign of snow. From there the road was downhill all the way through Vail to Glenwood Springs. The mountain scenery was spectacular. The valley was about a half a mile wide for miles. There were very few farms, only homes and multi storey condos, a highly desirable along the mighty Colorado River.


About 20 miles from Glenwood Springs, I-70 met the Colorado River and followed it down the valley.

Ten miles from Glenwood Springs we rode into Glenwood Canyon, a spectacular gorge into which 4 lanes of high speed road have been shoe-horned. In many places the up and down roads were separated vertically to squeeze them in. The higher road, heading down the canyon, was a viaduct balanced on concrete pillars for part of the way. In places the roads rushed into tunnels before emerging back into the bright sunlight. It was an exhilarating and breathtaking journey at 65 mph.

This road never appeared on our radar when Chris was planning our journey, so it was a pleasant surprise for us. Indeed, had we taken our original route through Aspen, we would have arrived in Glenwood Springs on a different route and not seen the canyon. There is indeed a silver lining in every cloud! This was a great ride. Colorado has such great variety in landscape. It never ceases to surprise you. It's just magnificent.

Starlight Lodge had a pleasant European feel.