MotoPat DAY 1 - Episode 5- Motorcycle Ride on US50 from Colorado Springs to Moab, Utah October 2022

Getting off the beaten path is what these rides are all about. It’s like taking great big breaths full of America and the parts almost no one sees anymore. Like most of you, I spend most of my life looking through the bars of my many appointments of ,my google calendar. These rides for me are where I get to be completely free of stress, schedules, worry, and reservations. I just ride and see how far I can get and what I can see each day. This day was a great one, with perfect weather and I never sweat once all day. The bike was flawless and ride was perfect. We’ll talk to you again tomorrow :)

US hwy 50 was created in 1926. It runs from Sacramento, CA to Ocean city MD and is 3,073 miles in total length. The route runs through mostly rural desert and mountains in the western United States. Heading from West to East, US 50 leaves I-70 upon entering Colorado and heads southeast through Grand Junction and into the southern part of Colorado. Once there, the road climbs to its highest elevation of 11,312 feet (3,448 m)[4] over the Rocky Mountains and over Monarch Pass where it crosses the Continental Divide. After descending from the Rockies, US 50 passes by Royal Gorge near Cañon City and serves Pueblo where it crosses over I-25. The route then joins U.S. Route 400 in Granada and follows the Arkansas River all the way into into Kansas.

The first time I can remember riding on us hwy 50 in CO was back in 2007 when I did my first trip to Alaska. I returned from the wooly North pretty busted up, sore, and in some pain after riding some 10,000 miles in just 21 days to that point. I rested up for a day in Colorado Springs with my Uncle Ed Murphy, and then rode down to Pueblo and hung a left on 50. I followed it all the way to St. Louis and decided the next day just to bust it home on the super slab because of how tired and sore I was.

I traversed US hwy 50 four times in 2022, which is a record for me. I love 50 as it meanders through Colorado. It is absolutely beautiful, barren, with great rises and drops in elevation. There are plenty of curves to keep you busy and many signs of when the road was new. There are old picnic table rest stops along the way where you could take out a lunch and take a break from driving across country. The towns are sometimes really far away from each other and so I had to keep an eye on my fuel level on the new bike as it holds 2.7 gallons less than my BMW back in TN. When I left COS, I headed South on South Nevada Avenue which eventually turns into CO 115 South. Just past the town of Penrose, named for Spencer Penrose, I got onto 50 headed West.

Once headed West, and after you pass through Canon city, you get a nice section that allows you to lean over pretty well for about 35 miles into Coaldale where 50 slides into a long canyon in between the mountains headed for Salida. You pass over 285 in Poncha Springs, and now your are lined up for the big pass at Monarch.

Now, mountain passes with such high elevations, tight curves, and switchbacks are a nightmare for truck drivers who have to struggle up at low speeds and then engine brake down, sometimes only making 15 mph. Flatlander in cars often overheat their brakes, not knowing how to downshift. On a big 1200cc motorcycle with ABS brakes and good rubber, these passes are more fun than than a house on fire. Monarch is an amazing ride but you have to be ready for anything as people lose their brakes there all the time and there are always people pulled off the road just past where they overheated.

After you come off the literal "high" of Monarch Pass you descend into another twisty section as you head to Sergeants where things settle down again and it’s just gorgeous till you pass through Gunnison and Montrose. Montrose to Delta is a long stretch of farming communities and there are lots of places to fuel up and eat. Once through Delta though, you are in a long high desert section that is mostly straight and boring.

On I-70, the speed limit through there is 85, you can run 90 without fear of getting pulled over but it sure eats up your fuel economy. The Supertenere with me on it and all my crap gets about 55 mpg off road and running 45-50 mph. At 75 mph, mpg’s drop to 47. At 90 mph, you are getting in the mid-20’s but it’s fun after going mostly slow all day and we don’t have any 85 mph speed limits in Tennessee where I live—so you do the thing…. I ran I-70 all the way into Utah where it passes US191, which was my goal for the day and pretty much for the rest of the trip. I shot some gorgeous drone footage along us50 as it ran next to the AR river and even more footage around Moab and in AZ but I flew the damn thing into a perfectly good tree in AZ and learned why drone folks always download footage after EVERY flight. Sorry about that…. I found a place that made me a sandwich in Moab and located my hotel before turning in for the night.