Hey man, had to put in my two cents--a year or so ago my wife & I road through new mexico into colorado on our way to sturgis, we ran across a town , I believe it was canyon city,check your map, anyway it has the ROYAL GORGE BRIDE in it , you can ride up to it & across bridge, its great, when your on the middle of the bridge, take off and the hole bridge moves!!! Watching all the tourist grab the bridge sides (ha,ha) it s great, might hit the inclined railway ride too,,just something different. Also recommend hitting SKYLINE drive its a short cool one way ride ----just a recommended area to ride around. Found a fairly cheap hotel to stay in also----
RIDE HARD LIVE FREE,
TOOLBOX

 

Yes, that is Canon City. The bridge is pretty spectacular, the highest suspension bridge in north america (or something like that). Very impressive. I drove my Cobra across a few years back - that really made the bridge shake!

 

If you are afraid of heights (like me!) you'd better take an extra set of Fruits with you! That is one hell of a drop from that bridge. [:@]

If you do go there, check out the ride on highway 9 from the Royal Gorge Bridge up into South Park. You can also ride over the pass into Breckenridge and spend a night there. Off season hotel costs ought to be cheaper than during the winter. Breckenridge and Summit County have some great roads and lots of shops for the ladies.

 

I ride this area often and if I can make a suggestion about a route.

From Amarillo I always take I-40 west to San Jon, NM then 469 to Logan, hwy 39 to Roy, NM, hwy 120 to Wagon Mound then over to Ocate. Hwy 120 continues at Ocate but turns to dirt going over the mountain. I wouldn't recommend the dirt part. At times it's passable without any problems at other times if the afternoon rain showers hit it's not much fun. From Ocate I take hwy 442 to hwy 518 then into Mora. From Mora hwy 434 to Angle Fire it's a nice little road. From Angle Fire you can go thru Taos or on up to Eagle Nest and Red River. Depends on how much time you have. There's a Vietnam Veterans Memorial between Angle Fire and Eagle's Nest. From Taos take Hwy 64 to Chama.

You might want to check out Mesa Verde National Park between Cortez and Durango CO. The Durango Dinner on Main St in Durango is a good place for Breakfast. I stayed at a Best Western in Durango down by the old steam engine Train Station. It's within walking distance of all the places there on Main Street. If you make it to Utah check out Moab with Arches and Canyonlands Natonal Park.

If you get down near Santa Fe, NM ride Hwy 4 from Espanola thru Jemaz Springs over to Hwy 550 at San Ysidro it's one for the best roads in NM. The Range in Bernalillo has good food along with Sadie's off 4th and Solar in Albuquerque. The Sandia Casino at I-25 and Tramway just north of Albuquerque at is a good place to stay in that area along with the the Holiday Inn Express on 550 just west of I-25 in Bernalillo.

Have Fun and enjoy your trip,

FatDave

 

This may be a response that is too little -- too late -- but one of the members from our riding group spent about 2 weeks riding all over Colorado, and he has posted his trips via maps, as well as route commentary, on one of our other member's websites. Check out "Chuck's rides" at www.taylorsweb.org

Hope you enjoy the trips and the information that goes along with it!!! And I hope you enjoy riding one of the best motorcycle states in the union!!!

Tod