Ouray - Take Three
523 Miles
At the risk of being uninventive we decided another trip to Ouray for dual-sporting was in order. We usually at least have some reasoning behind our decisions on trip locations, and this year was no different. Mike, and his Dad, Ralph, were interested in another trip, and Mike’s two sons were at an age when they could enjoy it and be responsible enough. Although it’s an overused term, this year was indeed a perfect storm. Ralph would be celebrating his 76th birthday in July and Mike’s oldest was entering his second year of college, and his second had just gotten his driver’s license, so we decided it was now or never. Steve and I had the bikes from 2010 to use so we were all set. Now the only question was the date for departure. We set the date early in the year, and began to prepare. The only thing Steve and I really needed to do was to optimize our bikes from our learning in 2010. We researched extensively about how to make the DRZ more capable at elevation. We had ridden at altitude in 2010, but not quite to the extent we would realize in Colorado. The bike performed admirably in Utah so we were slightly skeptical anything needed to done at all. I read many articles about opening up the airbox, and re-jetting, but it seemed for every article I read about this I found one that was contradictory. In the end we decided to convert from a 15 tooth front sprocket to a 13 tooth, added a K&N air filter, and couldn’t have been more happy with the performance. I did not post anything on Thumper Talk, but I would have said there is no need to do anything. Mike and his group ended getting a mix of bikes. Mike rode a Yamaha XT225 again, Ralph rode a Yamaha XT350, Zach had a Suzuki DR650, and Shane a Yamaha XT 350. Ralph had decided to bring a couple of extra bikes as Mike’s brother John us for a couple of days and one extra for good measure that proved to be prophetic.