First ride offroad - Golden Gate Canyon State Park and Rollins Pass
 

Took my RX3 offroad yesterday afternoon.

The first part was a graded, improved road into Golden Gate Canyon State Park.

At one point, I noticed brake fluid dripping from the reservoir. Both screws had come loose. After a quick wipedown and tighten, I was on my way.

When I reached Hwy 119 (Peak to Peak scenic byway), I headed to Rollinsville. I was running out of daylight, but I wanted to see how far I could make it up Rollins Pass.

These pics are all the way up the valley past the turn to Moffat tunnel.

After the sun broke through the cloud, I got a few more nice shots.

With the fading light, I finally had to turn around.

The road had gotten pretty rough and technical, so I put on the high beams and came back down. Caught these beautiful shots of the setting sun over Moffat Tunnel on the way back.

But my adventures weren't over yet.

The headlight was really shaky, so I checked the mounting bolts. Good thing I did ... they had rattled loose and one was about to fall out. Tightened them up and got rolling before the mosquitos ate me alive.

But between the rising dark and the loose conditions, I couldn't make my turn from the trail onto the main dirt road. Went wide, couldn't stop and put my RX3 into a ditch. The skid plate caught on the berm, stopping it sharp and I went over the handlebars.

I've done this many times on my mountain bike and fell like a pro. No real injuries, but I banged my thigh on the handlebar and got a big lump in the muscle. It's really sore and will probably bruise up today. I was wearing full helmet, pants and jacket with back pad, but I'm glad I didn't land on a rock.

The bike is fine. Both front and rear crash bars did their job and nothing bent or broke. Someone stopped and helped me pull it out of the ditch and it started right up. The mirrors were loose, but no damage, not even to the side box on the ground (thanks to the rear crash bar). Probably some scrapes and the skid plate and bars, but I couldn't tell in the dark. It started right up and rode 30 more miles down the canyons to the house.

I've got to say, this bike is tough. I couldn't be happier with how it took that fall and shook it off. I rode away like nothing happened.

Sorry, no pics of the crash ... forgot to put my phone in airplane mode and it died looking for signal.

Thanks for the report and pics, that's a great sunset. Hope both you and the RX-3 are minimally scratched and heal quickly.

Thanks for posting the nice ride report, and the great photos. :tup:

I'm glad to hear you, and your RX3, suffered minimal damage from the fall. ;)

Beautiful pics. I'm glad that you weren't seriously hurt.

Great Pics, hate to hear about your incident, but glad you and the bike fared well.

Thanks everyone! My leg feels better today. The swelling is going down and stairs are getting easier. Can't wait to get back to Denver and ride again.

I'm hitting Gilpin County tomorrow-many of the same places you went. I plan to be down well before dark, though! And I just read through the thread about protective gear-your story reinforces my ATGATT philosphy. Glad you're OK!

:tup: