Colorado Ride 2026

AWhat started as an easy warm-up ride through the Colorado backcountry quickly turned into an absolute disaster at 11,000 feet. On day two of our motorcycle trip, my cousin John and I set out to ride a scenic back road pass that looked harmless on the map. We were saving our energy for Hagerman Pass the following day, so this was supposed to be a simple ride to get our feet wet. Twelve miles in, the smooth gravel vanished into boulder fields and technical rock shelves. After wrestling our 500-pound adventure bikes up to the crest of Tomichi Pass—right past the ominous Tomichi Cemetery—things went from tough to critical. On the descent, a stray rock kicked my wheel into a massive root, slamming the bike into a high-side. When I rolled down to John, he flagged me down in a panic: engine oil was pouring out onto the rocks. With a punctured oil pan, zero cell service, and no recovery truck able to reach us, we were completely stranded. What followed was an unbelievable series of events: an unexpected encounter with a lone rider named Preston passing through from Mexico, an impulsive Harbor Freight purchase made days before leaving, an improvised trailside surgery laying a 550 lb bike on its side, and an emergency mission to find oil at an isolated cabin. This is the full story of how a five-dollar tube of JB Weld, a lot of luck, and the kindness of a stranger got us off that mountain.