Be Ride Back

Watching Us Watching Him Watching Us.

We spent two fabulous weeks at the Tiger’s Den, Kelly and Allan’s cabin up in the Colorado mountains; we searched for special rocks with Kaiden, picked wildflowers with Eddie, had a laugh and a meal with Kelly and Allan and spent long hours sitting on the front porch watching the lake and the snowy mountains far behind it, or just admiring the starry skies at night. Spring brought with it warmth and fresh grass – a perfect time for baby deer to be born and for us to giggle with joy as we watch them waddling next to their mums, grazing on the young leaves under the cabin. We took the hummingbird feeder out of storage, cleaned it up a bit, made some delicious syrup and ensured that the buffet is open 24/7; what started with a single bird, quickly turned into a humming soup kitchen and we felt like two Buc-Ee’s employees, hardly able to make enough brisket sandwiches for the hungry mass.

The weather up in the mountains was mostly warm and lovely, though some days strong winds would blow, carrying clouds of smoke from the wildfires that were raging around us; we were happy to be far enough and safe, but saddened to hear about the significant damage those fires inflicted on people and animal alike. We took daily walks around the forest, only stopping to catch up on our breath and make sure that we are not being followed by a bear, knowing very well that if we did see one, there won’t be anyone around to hear our screams. It was amazing to think how just two years ago, when we were here after Asi’s accident, he couldn’t even walk a few steps up the hill with his walker and now he’s climbing it like a mountain goat.

It was now time for us to leave the cabin (again) and start heading northwest; Asi woke up early while I was still snoozing in bed, and when he came to wake me up whispering that there’s a Moose outside, I jumped out, almost forgetting to put on my pants before rushing out. We quietly opened the cabin’s door and indeed, a huge Moose was standing just across the road, watching us watching him watching us. We were both grinning with happiness (Asi and I, I am not sure about the moose) and stood there for a long time staring at the majestic animal until it was tired with the staring contest and wandered back into the forest. There was nothing we wanted more than to see a moose again, but as we were leaving today, we thought this might never happen.

But it did! What a sendoff.

We drove to Fort Collins, ran some errands and went to Kelly and Allan’s house to return the car; we removed the tarp that Kelly and Allan strapped above and around Woolly and Elsa to protect them from the elements, loaded them up, changed into our riding gear and rode to the campsite we had booked for the night; it was hot and humid and we were both sweaty, stinky and eager for a cold shower and a rest. Later that evening, when our internal temperature dropped back to a reasonable range and we smelled fresh and fluffy again, we met Kelly, Allan, Kalene and Randy for dinner and we laughed so hard that I thought I will choke on my pizza.

It was a bloody good pizza.

The leftover pizza was now packed in little boxes and though we tried to ignore what was to come - it was time to say goodbye. again. We hugged as hard as we could, kissed as much as we could and hugged again, so sad to say goodbye, but also feeling lucky to have someone we love so much to miss so much.

The following morning we woke up with the birds, hoping to cover as many miles as we could before it gets too hot and windy; we had over 500km to ride to our destination in Buffalo, Wyoming, and we were keen to get on the bikes and on the road again.

The road wasn’t all that interesting, but the view was beautiful and we were reminded why we loved Wyoming so much when we were here for the first time 2 years ago; the camping cabin we booked was small but clean and since it was too hot to cook we decided to see what’s on offer on UberEATS; we contemplated between Domino’s pizza and Domino’s pizza and decided to shake things up a bit and order Domino’s pizza. I am not sure it was Michelin star worthy, but it was warm and it didn’t make us sick, and that’s a win in our books.

"The Only Thing Sweeter Than Union is Reunion." [Kathleen McGowan]

The wind was howling all night, but Woolly and Elsa stood strong and, in the morning, they were both there, battered, but ready for the next adventure.

We took the scenic route to Colorado Springs, riding through windy country roads, enjoying the wildlife and the peaceful countryside. We gave way to a mama dear and her baby so that they can safely cross the road, a sight that gets us excited every time. When we got closer to Colorado Springs we saw a familiar sight ahead of us – Pike’s Peak, standing proud in all its glory, unbeatable and proud. We still can’t believe that we rode all the way to the top of this beast!

We stopped at the local carwash in Colorado Springs to get the muck and all the bugs off of Woolly and Elsa, had some lunch and arrived at Christian and Viki’s place in the afternoon, excited to be reunited with our friends; we met Christian for the first time almost 2 years ago when we did the offroad training together, and he was there for us after Asi’s accident, which meant the world to us. We remained friends, regretting that we live so far apart, but happy that we got another chance to spend some time together.

Christian and Viki kindly hosted us in their beautiful home; we had lots of fun exchanging adventure stories, talk philosophy and roam the local farmer’s market together and we were spoiled rotten by Christian’s cooking, knowing very well that our diet would have to be put on hold for the duration of our stay. Christian cooked for us delicious “Osobuco al Disco”, which, as the name implies, is cooked in a "disco" (short for disco de arado) - a large, concave steel pan made from repurposed agricultural plow blades and can only be found in Argentina; the ‘disco’ rests over an open fire and inside root vegetables and juicy pieces of Osobuco are cooked together. Being Argentinian means that Christian sure knows his way around great food, but it also means that 11pm is a reasonable hour for having dinner.

It was totally worth the heartburn.

Asi took the time and the garage space to balance Woolly’s front tyre, a task we couldn’t do when we installed the tyre in Bariloche, changed Elsa’s front and rear tyres, and while he was at it, he also replaced the worn front wheel bearings and I, as always, stood by his side and tried to help (or, at least, not interrupt) as much as I can but also keen to learn how to do maintenance on the bikes. I was trying to make myself useful when Asi was engineering a solution to pull the bearings out, and when I was given a hammer, I hit my target 99% of the time. The remaining 1% is now a hematoma on Asi’s hand.

I still think that 99% is quite good.

We were supposed to also meet Manu, another friend we met in training last time we were in Colorado, and go for a ride together, but the weather was bad and instead we spent a nice, relaxed day at home; for dinner, Christian baked incredible Neapolitan Pizza and Argentinian Fugazzeta, which had loads of cheese and onions, probably enough to justify a triple heart bypass, but we were in no position to refuse the incredible oniony cheesy smell that was coming from the woodfire oven.

After 3 great days we said goodbye to Christian, Viki and their adorable dog Shaggy and headed towards Denver, where we were planning to see Asi’s cousin, aunt and family; we had a short ride to get to Denver, so we took the opportunity to do a pitstop at the local REI and buy a new pillow for Asi, had a sandwich at Jimmy John’s and by late afternoon we were already laying on the grass, under the shade of a Maple tree in front of Asi’s aunt’s house.

We spent 3 days with Asi’s family in Colorado with our diet still on hold since I don’t think it includes French pastries and Indian food. We drove up to a beautiful lookout just outside Denver where we could see the entire city, as well as Buffalo Bill’s grave at the top of the mountain, where he asked to be buried.

Being dead sucks but having a great view from your grave helps, I guess.

We left Denver late in the afternoon, because someone decided that going to the French Bakery in town to buy some flaky pastries for the road is prudent, and also because by the time we were back from the bakery, Asi’s aunt already made some lunch so we sat to eat, just so that we don’t shrink with hunger in the 1.5 hours it will take us to get to our destination.

Our stomachs were full of meatballs, my topbox was full of pastries and by the time we left Denver it was already late in the afternoon, and the sun was up high, shining down on us with full force, which was quite brutal, especially when standing in traffic trying to get out of Denver. Luckily, we left the city just before rush hour and soon enough we were on the i25, counting backwards the kilometres to the next Buc-ee’s, and our destination for the day – a campsite in Fort Collins.

Now you might wonder what do we have to do in Fort Collins, not really a tourist destination in Colorado, but some of you might remember that this is where we stayed after Asi’s accident, and more importantly, this is where the latest addition to the family lives – Kelly, Alan, Kalene and their family, people who opened their hearts and home for us when we needed them the most and one of the main reasons we decided to get back to the USA before returning to Australia. We checked in, got into our cabin, sent a photo and location to Kelly and Allan and in no time their Buick was parked next to Woolly and Elsa, and all you could hear for miles were squees of happiness, laughter mixed with tears and bone-crushing hugs.

Our hearts were full.

We spent the next day resting at the cabin; for breakfast we had French pastries like royalty and for dinner we ordered from our favourite Indian restaurant in town, and while this restaurant might not be the main reason why we’re back in FC, it’ll be a lie to say it wasn’t on our top 3. The following morning we packed our gear and headed to Kelly and Allan’s home, where they left the keys to their car for us, a space to park Woolly and Elsa and an open invite to stay in their cabin on the mountains, a place where we spent 2 months recovering from the accident, a place we never thought we’ll see again. We organised everything, drove to the grocery store for supplies and up to the cabin, a drive we did so many times before. It felt familiar and weird and good and when we opened the cabin’s door we knew it –

We were home.

😁 Ta Da! A new chapter of our South American adventure is now available on YouTube! 😁

In episode 14 of our South American adventure we leave Huacho and head south towards Lima on the dusty Pan-American, where we spend a few days caring for Elsa, Asi's Ducati Desert-X, and reunite with our mate RtwPaul for a couple of days of great (and expensive!) food, some laughs and some adventure stories, before we each go our own way, once again.

From Lima we continue east on the fabulous Ruta 22, twisting and winding along, mesmerized by the green-blue lagoons, but less so by the many mines, scattered like open wounds in the Peruvian landscape.

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Be Ride Back | South America Ep14 | Peru - To Lima and Beyond! In episode 14 of our South American adventure we leave Huacho and h...

Bear-BnB.

We left Montrose and headed towards Gunnison, opting for the longer, scenic route that would take us through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and the fabulous Gunnison Gorge. The weather was lovely, the road was in good condition, the scenery was incredible, and despite my fear of height creeping out on me at times, we both enjoyed the ride very much. We pulled over at the Hermits Rest Vista for a drink of water and a stretch, and we were so impressed with the mountains surrounding us that we almost missed the gorgeous, blue lake at the bottom.

We spent a lovely night in a little camping cabin at the Gunnison KOA, and the following morning when we woke up and removed the covers from our bikes, we noticed that something or someone took a tour of our bikes overnight and left big, muddy footprints all over them. Now, when we checked in, we were told that there are racoons in the campsite and we’ve had many cats climbing on the bikes before, but judging by the size of the footprint, this was neither.

Hmm.

When our bikes were packed and loaded we set our GPSs towards our next destination – Carbondale; we planned to ride the Independence Pass on our way there but decided to skip Cottonwood Pass because extremely strong winds were on the forecast and we were worried about it being too dangerous at high altitude, but two local adventure riders we met while grocery shopping at Dollar General told us that the wind would actually be okay at the pass and so we decided to give it a try.

What a great decision that was!

The road, winding through mountains and reaching a cold 12,126 ft. of altitude was beautiful and so much fun to ride, and after a short break in Buena Vista we headed towards Independence Pass, looking forward for some more glorious twisty mountain roads; a glimpse to the left towards Cotton Pass which we’ve just left showed us just how quickly things change around here, and the mountains that were shining under blue skies a few moments ago were now hidden behind a huge chunk of dark, black clouds; we were so relieved that we’re out of there, bua also slightly worried that we might get caught in the leftovers of that storm on our way to the Independence Pass.

Luckily for us, it only drizzled for a short while in the direction we were heading, then the sun came out and the skies were blue again; the views were breathtaking and the road was great, but the closer we got to Aspen the stronger the wind had become, and, naturally, I thought about “Dumb and Dumber”, cold and miserable on their way to Aspen, fulfilling Lloyd’s Christmas's daydream of his ideal getaway: “I'll tell you where. Someplace warm. A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called Aspen.”

Aspen was lovely but it wasn’t warm and unfortunately for us no beautiful women were flocking us, not even an ugly one, and so, slightly disappointed we rode away the remaining kilometres to Carbondale. The caravan park in Carbondale was lovely, but an unfortunate mix-up with our reservation had us waiting almost an hour for us to check in into our little cabin; we decided to splurge this time and took a slightly bigger cabin with private bathroom and shower, but the real treat was that it was right on the river. Last time we stayed at a similar cabin on the river was in North Carolina, and from our balcony we could see the water level rise as we follow the news anxiously to see if the tornado that was heading towards us is going to fly us, Woolly and Elsa back to Kansas.

Luckily, it didn’t, and now all we had left to do is to make some cheese toasties and hope this wasn’t our last meal.

We wanted to stay at the cabin for another night, but there was no vacancy, so we decided to continue towards Central City, just outside Denver, and stay at a campsite we stayed at before for another night before we meet our friends, Christian and Viki, in Colorado Springs. We rode mostly on freeway i70, not a choice we’d usually make as we’ll opt for backroads, but we remembered driving it with the truck and trailer almost 2 years ago and although back then it was all covered in snow, we knew that it’ll be beautiful in good weather and we wanted to check if we were right.

Except for strong wind and the constant smell of some tree that is now in bloom and has been stanching our helmets for weeks now, the ride was as beautiful and fun as we had imagined it’ll be and except for a short section of roadwork had us standing still for half an hour, we enjoyed cruising at high speed while admiring the views. We arrived at the campsite, checked in and located the cabin that’ll be our home for the night, just on the edges of the campsite, with nothing but mountains behind. We unpacked our gear, and while Asi was inside the cabin talking to his cousin who we’ll visit in Denver next week, I was basking in the sun outside, listening to music and choosing which pizza we’ll order for dinner, and if it wasn’t for Asi slamming the cabin door wide open, shouting:

BEEEEAAAAAAAR!!!

I would possibly be writing this episode using a paintbrush with my mouth.
It took the bear less than 10 seconds to run the significant distance from the mountains on one side of the highway to the mountains on the other side, and he climbed up the mountain like an agile ballerina, leaving both of us in awe, but mostly happy to not be a bear’s dinner.

We ate our own dinner each one of us facing the opposite direction to make sure we don’t have any furry guests for dinner, reinforced Woolly and Elsa’s covers so that they don’t get blown away by the strong wind and went to sleep, looking forward to being reunited with our friends tomorrow.

"Then I look at you, and the world's alright with me,
Just one look at you, and I know it's gonna be
A lovely day" 🥰🥰🥰

It was a looong ride yesterday so we didn't get a chance to post, but we also had a great day celebrating Woolly's 3rd birthday and 80,000 km on the clock! 🥳🥳🥳

Happy birthday my beloved and loyal mammoth ❤️

The heat was hot and the ground was dry, but the air was full of sound.

Looking at the weather forecast, we knew that the next few days will be extremely hot in Utah, and the last thing that we wanted, or needed, was a heat stroke, so we decided that the best course of action will be to wake up before the birds and head out to the Arches National Park when it is still nice and cool; this way we might be able to come back to the motel before we evaporate and, perhaps, we might also miss the crowds of people that arrive a bit later in their air-conditioned cars, unlike us, peasants.

Arches National Park was as beautiful as we remembered; the red dirt, the delicate arches, the snowy mountains in the horizon and the unique rock formations were stunning and we were in our happy place, riding our loyal horses among these ancient giants. It was still reasonably warm when we left the NP, so we decided to continue towards Canyonlands and enjoy the scenery for a few more hours before heading back to the motel. The road leading to Canyonlands was beautiful, but the stretch of road into the NP had more tar snakes in it than asphalt and we wiggled with them as they were slowly melting under the ruthless sun.

We rode around the park, this time only stopping at a couple of major lookouts to enjoy the scenery, skipping others which we’ve seen before, conscience of the rising temperatures. When we arrived back at the motel, the sun was already high up in the sky and we appreciated the cold room that awaited us, followed by a cold shower and a light lunch. When it cooled down outside a little, we walked to the laundromat a few blocks away, spoiled ourselves with iced coffee and headed back to the motel where we met Garry, a local GS rider who happened to stay at the same motel as us and is riding around the area on his loyal horse.

Our third day in Moab was spent catching up with the family, planning the next few days and doing some admin; it was another hot day and we were happy that we decided to stay in and get some rest, especially since we’re expecting a few more hot days before we get back to a more decent weather.

We left Moab very early the following morning, expecting another hot day; we were surprised to learn how cold it actually was on the first part of our journey, and not just because of the early hour but also because we were riding on the shady side of the mountains, which was dramatically colder. By the time we arrived at Cortez, Colorado, though, it was already hot and we pulled over to drink some water, fuel our bikes and have a cheese sandwich before we enter Mesa Verde National Park; we don’t usually eat anything substantial when we ride because it makes us tired, but we thought that a small sandwich couldn’t be too bad, but as we were tired to begin with, that sandwich was all it took to seal the deal.

Mesa Verde preserves some of the most remarkable archaeological sites in North America, protecting thousands of ancestral Puebloan sites, including cliff dwellings built into canyon walls more than 700 years ago by the Indigenous peoples who once called this region home, and we were very much looking forward to seeing those ruins up close, but when we arrived we were already with low levels of energy, the heat wasn’t helping and the dull offering at the museum was quite disappointing; many of the major lookouts and attractions were closed for construction work and so we rode the remaining loops to see the ruins that were still open to the public and were, indeed, fascinating.

From the NP we returned to Cortez where we had a motel room booked for the night; the kind lady at the reception allowed us to check in even though we were early, and we decided that an afternoon snooze is exactly what we needed. We had some leftover bread, cheese and smoked sausage for dinner and called it a night.
We were very excited to be back in Colorado and not just because it is a beautiful state, but also because after Asi’s accident we thought we’ll never be back here on our bikes, and we had so many places that we thought we might never get to ride, but this time we were glad to be wrong. One of these places is the Million Dollar Highway, stretching along U.S. Highway 550 between Silverton and Ouray in the heart of the San Juan Mountains and allegedly one of Colorado’s most spectacular scenic drives, and as ChatGPT says: “The road is famous for its dramatic mountain views, steep cliffs, and winding curves, climbing through high alpine terrain and historic mining country; whether travelled by car or motorcycle, the Million Dollar Highway offers breathtaking scenery and is widely regarded as one of the most beautiful roads in the United States”

With this kind of sale pitch, we had to give it a go!

I was, of course, a bit worried about the altitude and the exposure that Colorado mountain roads are well known for, but once we started riding it, I realised that after riding in Peru I am now a bit more resilient when it comes to riding on the edge of a cliff and, perhaps, riding in general, and once we were out of the 8-mile long loose, slippery gravel section at the beginning of the road, we had heaps of fun riding along and among those mountains, with a short stop for some chips at a burger joint in beautiful Ouray.

By the time we arrived at the KOA campsite in Montrose it was already very hot, much hotter than we expected, and I guess that whoever installed the aircon in our cabin wasn’t familiar with the phrase “measure twice, cut once” and had the unit installed half-way inside the cabin wall, only partially cooling the inside of the cabin. It was also too hot to cook dinner so we ended up ordering pizza (oh, no!) which we also enjoyed the following day that we spent resting in our little, semi-airconditioned cabin.

250 years strong 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸.

Happy Independence Day to the land of endless roads, breathtaking landscapes, and boundless opportunity!

Yep, it's this time again! Episode 13 of our crazy Peruvian adventure is now live for everyone to watch on YouTube 😁🤙

In episode 13 of our South American adventure we leave Chavín de Huántar on our way to the Peruvian coast, but not before we get to enjoy the scenic Ruta 110 once again, crossing Chavin tunnel and twisting along the mountain edges. From there, we continue to the quaint and lovely town of Chiquián, dodging more massive potholes, but also enjoying some freshly laid asphalt, tight twisties and sweeping curves, just before we start our descent towards the Panamerican and the town of Huacho, our home base for exploring the fascinating ruins of Caral with our mate .

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ilqlEtlX4

Be Ride Back | South America Ep13 | Peru - Chiquián to Caral In episode 13 of our South American adventure we leave Chavín de Hu...

(S)tar Wars.

We left our little cabin at The Grand Canyon, Arizona, and started the journey towards our next “redemption-bucketlist” items: Zion and Bryce National Parks; our first stop was a little budget motel at La Verkin, Utah, and while the destination itself wasn’t something to write home about, the road to get there was fantastic – first, we rode through the same route we did when we hauled the bikes south with a truck and trailer after Asi’s accident, but the main attraction wasn’t the beautiful views but rather the jumpy concrete road; we vividly remembered how worried we were that the bikes would fall off the trailer every time that it jumped a bump, but now, when we’re actually riding the bikes, we kinda enjoyed the rollercoaster. For the second part of the journey we opted for a scenic detour that took us through the beautiful Marble Canyon; we stopped at the Navajo Bridge, a twin-steel spandrel arch bridge that crosses the Colorado River, and although it was extremely hot, the views were totally worth it. We fueled our bikes at the only gas station around, drank some water and were on our way again; the road was winding along the canyon’s rugged cliffs, and we were twisting with it, enjoying the ride and the cooler temperatures that awaited us at higher altitude.

The motel in La Verkin was surprisingly cheap and surprisingly lovely, which was exactly what we needed before heading to Zion National Park the following morning, and while Asi explored Zion NP with his family before, for me it was the first time, and we were happy to be here together with our little family – Asi, me, Woolly and Elsa. Riding between the canyon walls was amazing and we were blown away by the incredible landscape, thinking that this must be what geologists imagine when they think about heaven. I don’t know what kind of maga-hyper-superdooper-ultra event happened here millions of years ago to create all this craziness, but I bet it was quite the show.

The road winding through Zion NP was short, but it was beautiful and lots of fun to ride, and from there we continued straight to Bryce National Park. The two parks might be close geographically, but they are completely different and each has its own unique characteristics, rock formations and landscape. We stopped at some of the scenic lookouts to get a closer look and were happy to make new friends along the way, especially when they immediately recognised our license plates, being that they live just across the ditch – in beautiful New Zealand!

From Bryce Canyon NP we headed to Bryce Canyon City where we booked a room for the night; we had a mediocre pizza for dinner and spent a relaxed evening at the hotel, watched the beautiful sunset and went to sleep excited for tomorrow when we’ll head to Moab.

It was a cool morning in Bryce, and after we made some coffee, we loaded the bikes and rode the short distance to the building where they served breakfast, which was surprisingly rich compared to other motels in the US. We didn’t linger much and were back on our bikes in no time, trying to make up some distance before it got too hot, knowing too well that by the time we’ll get to Moab it’ll be a scorcher.

We decided to take the longer, scenic route to Moab, and although we expected it to be beautiful, none of us was ready for what was coming…

We started on route 12, passing Escalante and Boulder and crossing Capitol Reef NP before getting on to Route 24, and after much Ooooh-ing and Ahhhh-ing we both agreed that this road must be somewhere in our all-time top 5 motorcycle rides; the landscape kept changing, the colours were unreal, we were up and we were down, we were hot and we were cold (but mostly hot!), we were twisting and winding and at some point we were riding on a road that had nothing but sheer drops on both sides, appropriately named “Hell's Backbone Road”, challenging my fear of height and had me questioning the authorities’ priorities when it comes to where to install guardrails and where they think it isn’t necessary, but despite it all I’d still do it again in a heartbeat just to be able to see those views again.

I am an idiot like that.

At times, it felt like we were on a Star Wars set, travelling between lifeless stars to red planets, looking for signs of extraterrestrial life; the road was mostly well paved but like in so many other places there were sections where it was filled with Tar snakes – squiggly lines of black asphalt crack sealant that’s loosely applied to repair and waterproof roads, which while harmless to cars, they are a notorious hazard for motorcyclists and in extreme heat, like we had that day, the tar softens and loses traction, causing our tyres to unexpectedly slide and wiggle, which is especially scary when they’re bang on in the middle of a curve.

We pulled over once in a while to take in the views and put soak our balaclavas with water so that they will keep our heads cool, and by the time we arrived at Moab it was already 36 degrees (~ 97 F), and although we were exhausted, we were pumped after the incredible day we’ve had so far and excited to be back to Moab, this time on our bikes instead of in a truck. We checked in to the motel we booked for the next 3 nights, unpacked the bikes and had a cold shower before heading to the grocery store to buy some supplies for the next few days.

We were hot and we were tired, but, boy, we were happy.