So I can answer a question. I don’t know if a bear E36 M3s in the woods but cows definitely don’t, they E36 M3 on the road! It was all over the road yesterday, ewww.
Ended up doing 143 miles yesterday, decided not to tank up this morning as I wanted the bike as light as possible for Hagerman Pass and I’ve got a 350mile range.
We stayed in an Airbnb in Carbondale with a guy and his wife. Plus their 2 cats and 1 dog. Nice folks and comfy rooms but it was a bit strange being in someone’s house…
Shoulder sit rep: sore in the morning but gets better as the day goes on.
Got breakfast in Carbondale and then headed out along the frying pan road to Hagerman which was just a lovely ride along the river and reservoir with twisty pavement.
That runs right into the dirt road to Hagerman, which had just been graded. So it was loose, then had some fairly long sections of embedded rock.
That gets you to the trail head for Hagerman, which looks a bit intimidating as it’s loose and steep. Steeper in person vs the pics
I decide to take the line to the right, made it no problem. First switchback is no sweat but the second switchback surprised me as I couldn’t really see it. I got stuck on the inside line and couldn’t gas it enough and dropped the bike.
Ktm decided to take a nap
Ended up breaking off my tail light lens. I wanted to upgrade to the Sicass Racing led tail light setup but unfortunately they’re still outta stock. So I’ll call the dealer tomorrow and buy another Oem one
Made it the rest of the way to the top without issues, definitely a work out tho, need to pick you way thru loads of embedded rocks.
Shortly after we got there two ladies on full rigid cycle cross bikes pedaled up the other direction. I was pretty blown away that they’d ridden up on those! They were both quite pretty. 
Wanted a pic but that seemed creepy, ya know? So took pics of scenery instead.
On the way down there’s one section of really loose rock near the top, where the trail is narrow and there's exposure on both sides. The back end of the bike gave a wiggle and in a moment of car racing reflexes I did the equivalent of “both feet in” which is exactly what I shouldn’t have done on the bike!
So clutched in, sped up, let the clutch back out, big wiggle and down I went. On my left shoulder a bit too, dammit.
Nikos and the driver of a 4Runner helped me get the bike up. Side stand spring had popped off, luckily we found it. Used the ktm tool kit pliers to reinstall it. Gotta say the bike crashes well. Between the Highway Dirt Bike hand guards and the KTM rear racks it's pretty protected.
The Yenkro rally tower is mounted on a swivel, so when it gets hit it just rotates, all you have to do is turn it back where you want it. Really clever piece of engineering. Safari tank now has a good scrape on either side, I'd like to find some carbon fiber tank guards but don't think anyone makes them. Thoughts?
Down some more, came to an area with significant water erosion with running water and ruts that crossed themselves. Couldn’t see until too late that I was on the wrong line, had to cross over the ruts/water. That was a little sketchy but made it no problem.
Next part was loose rock, really skinny clean line right next to the drop off edge of the trail. I shouldn’t have stopped but I did, then my brain started going. The longer I sat there the worst it got. Ended up duck walking the bike down one part with Nikos by my side, then cleaned the rest of the section all the way down. If I'd not stopped I'm sure I would've ridden down it no problem. Ugh, damn brain!
Whew! Hardest pass I’ve done yet! Clearly need more practice before I hit the Alpine Loop.
Rode into Leadville for lunch, most places were packed. Went to the Chinese place, I can’t recommend it, food was meh but at least the service was surly and unfriendly.
From there we rode to Red Cliff, which is a charming town by the river and then did Shrine Pass. Same cdot gravel marbles, then sections of embedded rock to the top.
See the ominous clouds? It was spitting rain, Nikos wanted to run Shrine Pass backwards but I didn’t want to get stuck in a mud bog so we hit slab down vail pass, thru minturn, then up to Leadville.
We passed the SuperFund site right out of Minturn, interesting story about it. Used to be a large mine and they built houses for their employees. They did what mining corporations do and dumped all sorts of toxic chemicals into the land. Not sure what ended the business for them but it got declared a Super Fund clean up site decades ago.
To my knowledge, nothing has been cleaned up yet. Along comes a developer who wants to turn it into a luxury condo/ski area. Promised the town of Minturn he's going to pump in tens of millions of dollars, will they do a,b,c? So the town does, the developer hasn't done jack E36 M3 and now the town is suing the developer to try and recoup the money they've spent.
Total mess. Wish I'd gotten pics of the area, looks cool.
Going over Tennessee Pass the weather really came down on us, rain, hail, huge lightning bolts and thunder. Happy we didn’t go back on shrine pass!
Got to our Airbnb, charming old school place but screwed up way to get the keys to get in. They give you a code to a lock box but don't tell you where the lock box is or which lock box your key is in. Which was awesome since it was raining, we had all our E36 M3 off the bikes and were in moto gear and tired.
Was still raining and wanted to get pizza delivered but the place wouldn’t deliver. Then said there was a 3 hour wait for a pick up order?! Wtf buddy, just close up shop and go home.
Turned out fine, after we took showers it had stopped raining and we walked into town and had a great dinner.
Grabbed a bottle of wine and watched don’t look up on Netflix.
We rode 180 miles this day. I got 67 mpg out of the last tank!
and those freshly graded roads are an absolute dream to rip on with good tires.
