Loveland Pass

After a brief stop at Georgetown, we headed west on I-70. The peppy 200 hp 2.0T FSI engine begged me to unleash its 207 lb-ft of torque. The RPM rested confidently at around 2200 rpm when we cruised at 80 mph! The B5 A4 Quattro 150 hp 1.8 T idles at around 3600 rpm and the B6 S4 340 hp 4.2 V8 idles at around 2500 rpm to maintain the same speed.

I was expecting an up surge of rpm and a brief deceleration when I triggered the kick-down button. None of those happened. Instead, this latest generation of Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) enabled the rpm to linearly rise toward 6000. Without any hesitation, the car rapidly approached the triple-digits speed. As I eased the accelerator, the rpm went down linearly to a place where the engine could maintain the speed I desired.

I was looking for a road where I could let this 2.0 T play; in the similar manner I always look for a large patch of green to let my two American Eskimos play. My longing for exhilarating driving was answered by the Loveland Pass highway sign. Anything with the word “Pass” in this mountain region means driving ecstasy. Without a GPS, I took the exit ramp. I didn’t care where this US-6 West would lead me. All I knew, I was about to experience the mountain road that would wake up all my senses.

Route US-6 is a wide nicely paved ascending two-lane undivided highway with ample emergency lanes on both sides. The highest point at the pass is 11990 ft. I mesmerized the picturesque view of the mountains and valleys before me. After a few tries, I finally found the right pattern to shift the seven speed Tiptronic mode of this CVT transmission.

I eased the accelerator, and occasional braked gently, before the apexes to make sure I had the proper speed - not too fast but not too slow. Then, I accelerated smoothly as soon as I cleared the apexes. I settled into this hypnotic rhythm of accelerating and decelerating to get the best line. It was blissful!

My moment of bliss was interrupted by an out of breath heavy truck carrying sand. I waited till I got to a relatively straight portion of this perching road with the unguarded abysmal cliff on one side. After making sure that there was no oncoming traffic, I down-shifted to second, floor-ed the accelerator, and the car sprinted like a cheetah that just spotted its prey. As soon as I cleared the long heavy truck, I moved back to my lane, shifted the gear to three and then four, and continued the increasing up hill acceleration till I saw the 20 mph yellow blind-turn warning sign.

The vista point at the Loveland pass offers the breathtaking grandiose view. No matter which direction I looked, I saw hundreds of mountains and they are weaving at each other. I saw roads in the distance zigzagging downward on the ridges, brows, and valleys of these never-ending-weaving mountains. The mountains are bigger than huge. They have different climates and different vegetations grow at different level. Near the top, the mountains are relatively barren; no big trees grow at that high elevation.

After clearing the G-force producing hairpin just after the pass, I was greeted by the view of a large radius descending carousel turn. I could not ask for more. Looking downward, I could see the road turns into switchbacks for another half a mile or so. The best part was that I didn’t see any car coming up.

I shifted to third to pick up some speed after the slow-but-G-force-producing hairpin turn. I entered the carousel with enough speed. I held the steering wheel at the right angle for this turn and steered the car by varying the power I transferred to the rubber patches. The G-force pulled me to the left, the tires started to make that soft screeching sound. I eased the power delivery so the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) didn’t take over my driving. After clearing the carousel, I shifted to four to pick up some more speed to devour the upcoming switchbacks.

Loveland Pass

After a brief stop at Georgetown, we headed west on I-70. The peppy 200 hp 2.0T FSI engine begged me to unleash its 207 lb-ft of torque. The RPM rested confidently at around 2200 rpm when we cruised at 80 mph! The B5 A4 Quattro 150 hp 1.8 T idles at around 3600 rpm and the B6 S4 340 hp 4.2 V8 idles at around 2500 rpm to maintain the same speed.

I was expecting an up surge of rpm and a brief deceleration when I triggered the kick-down button. None of those happened. Instead, this latest generation of Continuous Variable Transmission (CVT) enabled the rpm to linearly rise toward 6000. Without any hesitation, the car rapidly approached the triple-digits speed. As I eased the accelerator, the rpm went down linearly to a place where the engine could maintain the speed I desired.

I was looking for a road where I could let this 2.0 T play; in the similar manner I always look for a large patch of green to let my two American Eskimos play. My longing for exhilarating driving was answered by the Loveland Pass highway sign. Anything with the word “Pass” in this mountain region means driving ecstasy. Without a GPS, I took the exit ramp. I didn’t care where this US-6 West would lead me. All I knew, I was about to experience the mountain road that would wake up all my senses.

Route US-6 is a wide nicely paved ascending two-lane undivided highway with ample emergency lanes on both sides. The highest point at the pass is 11990 ft. I mesmerized the picturesque view of the mountains and valleys before me. After a few tries, I finally found the right pattern to shift the seven speed Tiptronic mode of this CVT transmission.

I eased the accelerator, and occasional braked gently, before the apexes to make sure I had the proper speed - not too fast but not too slow. Then, I accelerated smoothly as soon as I cleared the apexes. I settled into this hypnotic rhythm of accelerating and decelerating to get the best line. It was blissful!

My moment of bliss was interrupted by an out of breath heavy truck carrying sand. I waited till I got to a relatively straight portion of this perching road with the unguarded abysmal cliff on one side. After making sure that there was no oncoming traffic, I down-shifted to second, floor-ed the accelerator, and the car sprinted like a cheetah that just spotted its prey. As soon as I cleared the long heavy truck, I moved back to my lane, shifted the gear to three and then four, and continued the increasing up hill acceleration till I saw the 20 mph yellow blind-turn warning sign.

The vista point at the Loveland pass offers the breathtaking grandiose view. No matter which direction I looked, I saw hundreds of mountains and they are weaving at each other. I saw roads in the distance zigzagging downward on the ridges, brows, and valleys of these never-ending-weaving mountains. The mountains are bigger than huge. They have different climates and different vegetations grow at different level. Near the top, the mountains are relatively barren; no big trees grow at that high elevation.

After clearing the G-force producing hairpin just after the pass, I was greeted by the view of a large radius descending carousel turn. I could not ask for more. Looking downward, I could see the road turns into switchbacks for another half a mile or so. The best part was that I didn’t see any car coming up.

I shifted to third to pick up some speed after the slow-but-G-force-producing hairpin turn. I entered the carousel with enough speed. I held the steering wheel at the right angle for this turn and steered the car by varying the power I transferred to the rubber patches. The G-force pulled me to the left, the tires started to make that soft screeching sound. I eased the power delivery so the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) didn’t take over my driving. After clearing the carousel, I shifted to four to pick up some more speed to devour the upcoming switchbacks.