Natasha and I rode at a good but sedate pace through the towns of Parker and Castle Rock. Traffic was kind of heavy in both towns but otherwise the roads were pretty good. Soon enough I was on CO 105 heading south along the valley it runs on making my way to Perry Park. This housing area lies north of Palmer Lake just off of CO 105 which is also known as Perry Park Road.
You take Red Rock road in, past many houses built into the forest and onto the bare rock walls which make up the scenery in this area. Soon, you turn right on Perry Park Boulevard, past the Wauconda Reservoir and the Perry Park Country Club. Turn left onto Wauconda Drive and the first nice rock formation presents itself to you, lying in the middle of one of the golf course's fairways:
Further along are very expensive homes nestled amongst the rock formations which form a ridge line. I rode past these houses and turned left towards where the pavement ends and the rock formations I came to photograph begin:
The above is Camel Rock, looking at it head-on
A more recognizable Camel Rock (it's still up for sale folks!)
I wandered a bit around the area, looking for suitable backgrounds to pose Natasha by. Mud and snow though had most of the area closed off so I turned myself around to get this panoramic show near the area where the smaller rock formations abound:
warning: 2MB+ sized picture
One more shot of Camel Rock
Wauconda ReservoirThis is the large rock formation one sees where Red Rock Rd and Perry Park Blvd meet up:
The namesake for Red Rock Road I thinkI made my way back to CO 105 and headed north on it for a few miles until I got to the turn off for Douglas County Road 12. It's the back way to Bee Rock, a pretty cool rock formation I found while looking for a way to get to Elephant Rock.
It's a dirt road, with several patches of snowy mud and ice to make things interesting if you're on two wheels only. Being on three today, it was no big deal for Natasha to carry me on through these obstacles so we could get to these views of Bee Rock:
Soon I was back on pavement, using CO 67 to get back to Sedalia. It was 1:00 PM and I got to the town just in time to cool my heels at a railroad crossing. I lost count after 50, in terms of how many cars the two locomotives at the front and two in the back belonging to the BNSF rail line were moving.
I used US85 to get back to Castle Rock, and from there it was Crowfoot Parkway again back to Parker. From Parker, it was back roads back to my home neighborhoods. I am happy to report that Natasha did just fine! Nothing fell off, nothing broke and no weird noises or behavior on her part.
Hope you got some riding in today, temperatures were in the 60s I think by the afternoon here. Got home, and saw how much mud had collected on poor Natasha while I cruised around Perry Park:
A few minutes with the water hose and she was clean again, ready for the next ride. I plan to change out her engine oil and filter along with both the final drive and gear box as well. This is supposed to be done every 2500km and the last time I did it was at 6372 Km, after the rebuild due to the failed alternator. A bit early but maybe I'll catch the rest of any remaining metal debris from that debacle!
My previous rides to Perry Park on my other motorcycles:
Maria and Brigitta go riding together
A return trip to Perry Park's rock formations
My first ride to Bee Rock
Last Sunday ride of 2008
My first time at Perry Park
9 comments:
Fascinating geological formations. Thank you for the awesome bike shots. Hope Natasha enjoyed the trip, too ;-)
Dear Charlie6 (Dom):
Well it appears that you had a pleasant run out into the country on Satirday. We had an "All Hands On Deck" assembly of the Mac Pac to help one of our members move across town. About 40 riders turned up, with nearly as many trucks and vans to help get this guy situated.
It is sunny here today, with temperatures expected in the 60's. I will resoving a mehanical issue with my top case, and scrubbing last week's crap off the machne.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Sonja, thanks for reading this stuff...here's hoping that you get some riding in this winter in spite of new work conditions....
Jack,
wow, that's quite a turnout...but how many workers and how many "supervisors"? : )
I hope you got that topcase opening reliably in time for at least one quick ride.....
Charlie6:
your temps are higher than ours, and it has been raining for the past 3 weeks with flooding everywhere. Of course, if I had Natasha's sister, then it would be no problem.
I like your rock formations, very picturesque. Does your camera have Panorama mode, OH, forget it, I forgot you are a computer Guru. You just have to take a few pictures and snap your fingers . . .
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Bobskoot....hmmm...water crossings with a Ural....I wonder if the sidecar floats if the water is deep enough? ; )
as to panorama mode and being a computer guru....no need for either...you do need some software used to "stitch" several photos together though....getting the exposures to match, even with "exposure lock" enabled, can sometimes be tricky as you saw.
Nice ride report! I felt right there with you. I'd love to ride a sidecar motorcycle one day. Also, I really appreciated your photos.
Charlie6:
I use Autostitch. There are some parameters you can change to print really big panos, but if you leave the settings at default you get nice internet size with small files sizes
http://people.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html
this is a free program and you can use any camera. It will stitch automatically and "syncronize" all the light levels so no need to keep exposure the same, or use any manual modes. To minimize barrel distortion, don't set camera to wide angle. Try to put lens around 45 mm perspective. 25% overlap would be a good place to start
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Great pictures! That Ural really seems to allow you to go many places.
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