440 miles, 12.5 hours.

I made a discovery last night: camping at 9836 feet is VERY COLD. It got below freezing overnight, and I spent a good part of the night moving and shifting around, trying to stay warm. Still, I actually slept fairly well. I think it's because I've been riding such long days and such.

Packing the tent was difficult. The rain fly was full of dew, which had lightly frozen. My hands were fairly numb after rolling it up, and it accumulated quite a bit of dirt while I had it on the ground to roll up. The bike was also a little grumpy about starting- I suspect the oil was too cold for it to run well.

Luckily, my ride out would take a while. I was 2.5 miles and about 700 feet higher than the highway on a rough gravel road, so I gingerly poked along, letting the bike and myself warm up.

I rode back down to Colorado Springs, found a good diner for some breakfast, then headed over to Apex Motorsports. The only other time I've been in Colorado was to buy the bike in March, and I bought it at Apex. So I figured they would be a good bet for some service. They opened at 9am, and I was there as they were opening the doors. Gary, my salesman, opened the building. He got me hooked up with a fresh rear tire, installation of said tire, and an oil change. Perfect! I was out of there by 10:30. Considering I didn't have an appointment and they did all the service, that is remarkably fast. I'm really happy with them, I just wish they were closer to where I live!

I then left town by going right back up past Pikes Peak. I cruised over Independence Pass, which is over 12,000 feet. The road was nice, the construction and traffic sucked, but mostly it wasn't as thrilling as Pikes Peak. I guess I shouldn't have gone there first!

I then rode a big loop to get to the Black Canyon of Gunnison. In order to get there and have a scenic ride, I would follow the north rim east, then turned onto the southern highway to reach the rim road on the south side. In other words, I made a huge loop around the canyon.

The northern highway was much more scenic and technical than the southern one. I only saw a car or two, so I was able to stop on the highway itself for some pictures. It's always nice to enjoy a highway at my own speed, whether that means "fast" or "completely stopped for photo opportunities."

I'd have to go so far as to rank the northern highway, Colorado Highway 92 in my list of favorite highways in the United States- it's that good. The most interesting bit is 25 miles long, ranging from 7500 to 9000 feet, with plenty of twisties, scenery, and elevation change.

After the fun highway, I went onto the south rim road. I spent an hour in the park proper. The views into the Black Canyon are spectacular- the walls are so vertical that it is almost impossible to see to the canyon floor, not to mention having enough light to see it all. I enjoyed poking around in the park, and can see how people would like hiking and camping in the place- it's very pretty, yet remote enough that it isn't too touristy.

I then headed south towards Ouray. I was planning on riding the Million Dollar Highway, but the weather and traffic to the south looked bad, so I changed my plans to go directly to Moab instead.