The Baker's Dozen — Thirteen dirt passes in one day

C o n g r a t u l a t i o n s !

Billy Aller and Gary Younger rode 13 western Colorado unpaved mountain passes in 12 hours on Suzuki DL650 V-Stroms. The loop was 450 miles long, about 1/2 unpaved. The pass summits range in elevation from 10,000 feet to over 13,000 feet. Seven of the unpaved passes are gravel and dirt 2WD roads, six are 4WD roads with dirt and rocks. Connecting roads included all or half of five paved passes as well.

The Baker's Dozen: Thirteen Unpaved Western Colorado Mountain Passes in One Day

450 mile loop. Unpaved roads and passes are blue, paved connecting roads are magenta. Unpaved passes are designated with white numerals in black boxes. 1. Kebler 2. Ohio 3. Black Sage 4. Waunita 5. Old Monarch 6. Cochetopa 7. Los Pinos 8. Cinnamon 9. California 10. Hurricane
11. Corkscrew 12. Ophir 13. Last Dollar

The 5th annual Nine-unpaved-passes-in-one-day ride was scheduled for mid-June, 2008 but 4 of the passes were still snow blocked. It was my intention this year to turn the annual 9-pass ride over to Billy Aller. Subsequent discussion with Billy resulted in the 9-unpaved-passes becoming 12-unpaved-passes, or the Dirty Dozen. When actually ridden on August 14, 2008, Billy added yet another unpaved pass so we will call it the Baker's Dozen unless Billy gives me another name. I rode along for the seven original passes that remained in the loop. The new passes were all 4WD roads in the San Juan mountains and I bailed out. Billy and his friend Gary, both on DL650 V-Stroms, completed the 13 passes in about 12 hours. There will be no more annual 9-pass rides. Long live the Baker's Dozen.

—Verle Nelson, Cedaredge Colorado

First Annual thirteen-unpaved-passes-in-one-day ride August 14, 2008

Verle Nelson writes:
Morning, August 14, 2008: I met Billy and Gary in Austin, Colorado at 7:00 A.M. I wanted Billy to try the Versys so we swapped bikes and rode a spirited pace to Kebler Pass and over the summit to the Ohio Pass road where we swapped back. Once on our own motorcycles the pace was even faster. I'm certain this was the fastest pace of all the multi-pass rides for me but perhaps not for Billy who was always fast on past rides and usually out of sight. We topped up our fuel tanks at Gunnison, then rode to Pitkin to pick up Black Sage, Waunita and Old Monarch passes. Traffic was light to non-existent. We made good time with Billy leading. I followed Billy and sometimes saw speeds of 80 to 90MPH on straight sections of dirt, gravel, sandy roads while trying to keep up. Gary brought up the rear just back of the dust cloud.

Old Monarch comes out on US50, just east of the summit. We rode US50 to Sargents, topped up our fuel tanks again and continued west on US50 to Doyleville and one of my favorite 17 miles of gravel road. Wide, well groomed, loose gravel but not deep in the wheel tracks, this road winds, dips and ascends through rolling, naked hills at an average elevation a little over 8,000 feet. I led this stretch. We all topped out on straights, the 2008 (Euro3 compliant) DL650 with Pelican side cases at 105MPH, the 2004 DL650 with Pelican cases and down one tooth on the counter shaft sprocket at 114MPH, the Versys with small, rounded Givi E21 cases at 113MPH. This is a milestone for me, the fastest I've ever gone on gravel roads. Three big bikes with saddle bags, all going over 100MPH on gravel. The dust cloud must have been visible for miles. I wish someone had been taking a video from a hilltop.

We settled down and rode mostly a leisurely 80MPH to paved North Pass until traffic near the summit slowed us. South of North Pass, we turned back north again on gravel to Old Cochetopa. I took the tail end on this section. Billy did his usual disappearing act, waiting for us at the turn towards Los Pinos. Billy and I rode together on the fast gravel road to Los Pinos. At one point we met a lone rider on a dirt bike. Billy and I were both doing 100MPH and for some reason, the dirt bike rider wouldn't look at us. Maybe he didn't see us. When the good gravel ended, Billy disappeared again but was waiting just over the summit of Los Pinos. We stopped there for lunch.

After Los Pinos we took a 15 mile one-lane dirt road to CO149 near the top of Slumgullion Pass. My suspicion that Billy may have been holding back earlier was confirmed when he disappeared so quickly and completely I actually wondered if he had pulled off to hide. He hadn't. He was waiting at CO149.

We rode a more or less modest pace to Lake City and stopped for fuel. Here Billy and Gary backtracked to the Cinnamon Pass road; I headed home via the Blue Mesa Cutoff and Black Mesa. In some ways this ride was uneventful as there was no rain, it wasn't too hot, there were no problems, no incidents, no pucker moments. In another way, it was my best 9-pass ride ever even though I rode only seven. My ride was 407 miles. I was home by 4:30PM.

Billy Aller writes:
August 14, 2008: here is how the rest of the afternoon went. After fueling in Lake City, Gary and I headed South out of town toward pass number 8, Cinnamon Pass. The pass was in normal condition with lots of dust, little traffic and cooler temperatures. Gary and I stopped to get some helmet cam footage after a small child stepped out into the lane of traffic twice before an unconcerned parent gave a half-ass attempt at getting the children out of the road. Gary, not having more than 100 miles of gravel road experience, did very well and led to the summit of Cinnamon Pass. Once on top we took pictures at the summit and I led the decent.

Soon we were at Animos Forks and headed for California Pass. I led this pass and we quickly arrived with no traffic encountered. I then pointed in the close distance to Hurricane Pass. We passed a couple of Jeeps and topped out at Hurricane and again took pictures to prove we were there.

We were now going after Pass number 11. We descended quickly to start up Corkscrew Pass. We passed a Jeep load of Tourists on a Jeep Tour and made our way to the top of Corkscrew. We did not get a picture because the sign for the pass was missing. We did however get a beautiful picture of the scenery in our heads that will last a life time. The decent was normal, the river crossing all but dried up and best of all no traffic. We arrived at Hwy.550 and decided to eat an energy bar and drink a bottle of water. At this point we had a decision to make. We could head North on 550 to Ouray and ride Owl Creek for 12 unpaved passes or we could head South and ride Ophir Pass then head down Illium and ride over Last Dollar. We chose the latter to make it 13 Unpaved Passes.

Heading South on Hwy. 550 was a real treat. The road had a new surface and the tarmac was so smooth and the road had been widened. We road over the top of Red Mountain pass and down to the turn off for Ophir Pass. Ophir was in good shape and the view from the top for pictures was incredible. We encountered a few vehicles on the decent and they were nice to move over and let us ride thru. We then immediately crossed the Hwy. and rode north on unpaved Illium to Hwy.145. Once on 145 we turned again and headed up to Last Dollar. I again let Gary lead and he led us to the summit. We had completed 13 Unpaved Passes in one day!

This trip was fast and smooth with no problems. We rode down to Dallas divide and into Ridgway and on into Montrose. We made it back to Montrose at 6:42pm and 450.0 miles exactly.

The day was filled with all the elements that make up a good ride. We had three fast riders, a perfect day and no issues. Thanks to Verle for the inspiration and to Gary for coming along on his first Adventure ride. I can hardly wait to see what we can do to top this years ride!

Picture Gallery

Billy's photographs (with captions by Verle until Billy sends his own).
2008 13-pass ride Billy's DL650 V-Strom, Verle's Versys on Old Monarch Pass.	2008 13-pass ride Verle is 30 years older than Billy. Billy doesn't care.	2008 13-pass ride Verle is nearly 70 years older than the Versys. The Versys doesn't care.
2008 13-pass ride How come Billy is the only rider who gets to take shots like these?	2008 13-pass ride California Pass. Billy has been there several times on the V-Strom.	2008 13-pass ride Hurricane Pass. Billy and V-Strom have been here several times too.
2008 13-pass ride Corkscrew Pass to the right. Earth straight down.	2008 13-pass ride Just yards from a really steep, loose-rock descent.
Verle's photographs.
2008 13-pass ride Billy and Gary, at the summit of Old Monarch Pass.	2008 13-pass ride Gary's DL650. I've liked that flat-dark-gray paint since I first saw it.	2008 13-pass ride Billy wasted no time choosing a picnic spot on Los Pinos Pass.
Route Sheet: Meet at Austin Colorado. CO133 to Kebler Pass. Kebler Pass to Ohio Pass. Ohio Pass to Gunnison. US50 to Parlin. Parlin to Pitkin. From Pitkin over Black Sage Pass, Waunita Pass and Old Monarch Pass to US50. West on US50 over paved Monarch to Doyleville. Gravel road from Doyleville to CO114. CO114 south over paved North Pass to gravel road back north to Old Cochetopa Pass. West over Los Pinos Pass, On west to paved Slumgullion Pass on CO149. CO149 to Lake City. Lake City over Cinnamon Pass, California Pass, Hurricane Pass, Corkscrew Pass to US550. South on US550 to the Ophir Pass road. Ophir Pass to CO145. Across CO145 to Unpaved Illium road north to CO145 west of Telluride. Over Last Dollar Pass to CO62 and Dallas Divide, then through Ridgway to Montrose.