I rode County Line Road out of town, getting on the C-470 slab westbound for about a mile and then exiting on Wadsworth Blvd. I cruised onto Deer Creek Canyon Rd and along with many bicyclists, enjoyed the winding turns and twists all the way to Fenders. I headed down South Turkey Creek Rd at this point, a winding road in its own right, until I junctioned with US285 which I took southbound.
As I was approaching the small town of Pine Junction where I normally turn South on CO126 towards Deckers; I spied a sunlit mountain peak off to the right. So I turned off instead onto Mt Evans Blvd in the hopes of getting a better look at that sunlit, snow capped peak.
Down the road a ways, a bonus terrain feature showed itself. It reminded me of a smaller version of the El Capitan rock formation at Yosemite National Park at first. What do you think?
Lion's Head
I made my way out, exploring the side roads which lead one to more housing sites and dead-ends. Once I was back on US285, I continued on towards the South to see what I could see. The weather had turned a bit overcast and it felt chilly as well with temperatures in the mid 40s since I was in the mountains.
Near the town of Bailey, I turned onto Park County 43 because once I again I saw a glimpse of Mt Evans. This county road is nicely paved and eventually splits off with Park County 47 heading NW and Park County 43 continuing sort off towards Mt Evans. I stayed on CR43 hoping to get a good look at the mountain but soon reached a point where surrounding hills obscured my view of it.
I turned myself around and rode back to where the road splits off and posed Brigitta once again with Mount Evans in the background:
I made my way back towards US285 and this time turned North on it heading back to the Denver Metro area. I stayed on US285, making my way into the city until I came to the junction with the I-25 superslab. I slabbed it all the way to I-225 which I took to the Parker Road exit. Parker road of course took me to my home neighborhoods which I reached around 3pm. About 131 miles of riding, it surely has been a mild winter for us here near the Colorado Rockies.
5 comments:
Just wanted to say that I've been enjoying your blog and ride reports. And today was a nice day for it (I'm in CO too)! Keep 'em up!
Cheers!
P.S. I'm sure you know that El Capitan is in Yosemite, not Yellowstone. ;-)
thanks Scott for the correction....yosemite, yellowstone...at least I got the first letter right! : )
I had a ride for the last weekend of Winter, as well. Coincidentally, my mileage was a little over 130 as well. The temperature was 45 at a hundred ninety feet above sea level. That's where similarities end. We also had an inch and a third of rain.
Sounds like you had a nice ride. Thanks for sharing. I can at least follow along on your dry ride.
Dear Charlie6 (Dom):
Once again I am compelled to comment on the stirring quality of your photographs. The shot of Lion's Head and your bike is an excellant composition.
Yet I am continually amazed by the neames of the roads in these places. If I am correct, you stated that the name of the paavement (with two houses on it) in one Lion's Head shot is called a "boulevard."
You ought to compare your picture with Roosevelt Boulevard in Philly. It would be like comparing Lourdes to Mordor.
I will not be riding for the first weekend of Spring. But I will be riding for the second one.
Fondest regards, Buddy.
Jack
Twisted Roads
Dan, we could use some of that rain here, green up some of the countryside...trouble is this time of the year, it'll come down as snow most likely and interfere with riding!
Jack, thanks for your kind words as usual, and yes...they used the word boulevard.
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