Our 550 is not for the faint of heart. It is unforgiving if one makes a critical error about road conditions at any time of the year. Straight down with a hard landing.
This fella got lucky that a DOT employee heard him or the man may not have made it back up the hill alive. More than a few souls have become statistics of the coroner or the hospital E.R. over the decades up there on Red Mountain, Molas, and Coal Bank passes.
I've dodged rocks (big ones, small ones), felled tree, stuff falling off truck beds, blown tire shreds, an elk, a mountain sheep, and a coyote or two goin' over those passes from Ouray to Durango in the light of day and the ink of night, dry and slick.
An exciting, visual, and energetic ride, whether by bike or car or truck, but a ride to be taken with focus, caution, and joy all in the same seat.
