Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Snow Day Uraling

We got a pretty good amount of snow overnight here in the metro Denver area.  I spent a good 45 minutes or so clearing what looked like to be seven inches of snow from my driveway and sidewalk!

Days like today, I'm glad I don't have a work commute anymore.  Though I think it would have been a fun challenge to drive the rig to work in the deep soft snow!

Instead, after I got the driveway cleared off; I went for a short ride through the neighborhood streets and the nearby high school with Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol Sidecar Rig.

A fun time was had by all!

The snow was pretty deep in the neighborhood streets which rarely see a snow plow from the city.  Scarlett's front wheel acted more as a rudder for steering than anything normal and I had to use 2WD on the uphill portions as well as the deeper stuff.

I had such a big grin on my face, I wonder if the folks out shoveling their own walks and driveways overhead my several joyful shouts of "Wheeeeeee!" as I motored on by having a grand old time.

Traction at the intersections proved iffy for some of the cagers that I saw out and about.  They'd come to a stop OK but getting started proved to be "interesting" for some of the cages.  Scarlett's 2WD ensured I always was able to get going from standing stops of course.

The main roads were pretty much snow-covered as well, the snow plows just weren't enough to keep up with the gently falling snow.

 At Eaglecrest High School's main parking lot


 Bare trees used as background in the high school's back parking lot

 The above shot had signs ruining the shot, so I photoshopped them out.
Hope you don't mine my manipulation of reality.


Next, Scarlett and I motored onto the Copperleaf neighborhood and got this shot of the power lines with Scarlett just a bit into a snow drift.


Then it was time to go towards the intersection of Picadilly Street and Arapahoe Road for the usual shot of the tree-lined street:


 The snow was almost deep enough to float the rig on its 
pontoon-like mufflers.

On the way back to the house, I made a quick stop by the Timberline Elementary school to get these shots:


Note how the snow had built up on the rims, cool huh?

One more fun circuit through the neighborhood, still with a big old grin on my face, and then it was time to go home and get to work.  What a great day for snow riding!

6 comments:

RichardM said...

7" of soft snow would pack down to ruts pretty quickly. Doesn't sound like very much fun unless you can get rid of the other traffic.

redlegsrides said...

It was fun in the morning with little traffic, not so much fun when I went out to catch the sunset. Then the roads were full of idiot cagers.

David Masse said...

What is this snow? We used to have snow, now we have drizzle, grey skies and drizzle.

You seem to have lots of snow. Now that riding season is officially done here, by all means, share why don't you? SEND ME SOME SNOW!

redlegsrides said...

Yeah we could send snow but then the Mounties will want to inspect your Vespa's tires.

Unknown said...

It was a fair storm here in Salt Lake, Dom.

I heard a factoid on the radio today (I'm trying to find it online) that this one storm brought more snowfall than all of last winter--I think it was at the International Airport. This is not to suggest that it was a BIG storm (it was average, really), but to prove once again just how bad last winter was. Here's to hoping that this is just the beginning.

Your pic of the snow built up on Scarlett's rims... Yeah, that's pretty cool.

SonjaM said...

At least the weather looks pretty normal in your neck of the woods. We have mild spring temperatures... again.