I’m not a motorcyclist, but Eric Gibson’s depiction of what it’s like to go on a riding tour with Lone Tree’s Colorado Motorcycle Adventures makes me want to be: “I’ve gone over mountain ranges and passes and through old towns. You’re not taking paved, highway roads to get places; you are going on Jeep trails and traveling kind of like Colorado’s gold miners. You get to see stuff you would never see from the highway.”
The Castle Pines resident has been on three memorable excursions with the company—the first to Moab, the second to the Four Corners and the third around Arizona with the company’s sister business, Arizona Motorcycle Adventures—and he’s not done yet. He and fellow motorcyclists he met on his trips “are talking about doing a custom ride from Arizona to Colorado next year,” Gibson says. I’ll leave you with the rest of his insights—I’ve got lessons to book.
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF TRIPS: HOSTED …
“On hosted tours, you meet with your group (which won’t go beyond 10 people) for dinner to start. On the road, you don’t have to carry your gear or luggage; you ride as a group so you don’t have to worry about getting lost or crashing without help, and when you stop you get to talk about what you’re seeing. It’s a really fun trip about camaraderie.”
AND SELF-GUIDED.
“To do a trip on your own, you can call up owner Scott Lee and his crew and let them know what route you are interested in. They will ask about your riding skills, what size bike and what kind of gear you need [if you don’t already have your own] and what kind of hotels you like. Then they’ll plan your trip, putting together your map and hotel reservations.”
THE ACCOMMODATIONS.
“You stay in hotels and, on hosted trips, don’t have to prepare your own food. Sometimes you stay in Hilton Garden Inn-type places and sometimes in luxe lodgings, it just depends on what is available. When you arrive at your hotel on hosted excursions, Lee’s crew will have already arrived via a van with your stuff and put your bag in your room. On my trip to Arizona, they had margaritas ready, too. Breakfast, lunch and a couple of dinners were included.”
YOUR FELLOW TRAVELERS.
“The people are diverse and the friendships I’ve built have been amazing. There have been 40- and 50-year-olds from all walks of life on my trips: one guy an airline pilot, another a bond trader, another an anesthesiologist.”
BE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO RIDE.
“These trips are not for beginners. If you go on the trips I’ve been on though, you also don’t have to be a great rider in my opinion. An intermediate motorcyclist with off-road experience could do it. Overall, I think anyone who has ridden a motorcycle (and, if needed, has practiced) should try these trips.”
LET’S RIDE
Colorado Motorcycle Adventures
Lone Tree
720.505.2030