A crisply cold morning ride to Morrison and the weekly breakfast gathering of the ColoradoBeemers club to which I belong. Got there a bit after 0800 after tanking up outside the town of Morrison once I got off the C470 superslab I'd taken to get there.
After a hearty breakfast, I decided to go on the "Eastern Peaks of Colorado" ride with what turned out to be four other riders. This ride had been scheduled in the club's ridebook for last weekend but bad weather had forced its postponement to this weekend instead.
The four guys who I rode with were Gary, the ride captain on his 07 R1200RT, Dana on his 1200S, Kim on his K1200, Tim on his 02 R1150RT and myself on Maria. We took 285 out of Morrison, spotted the cops doing radar where they apparently usually hang out where 285 and 470 meet. Got past them with no issues, took Kipling down to C-470 and then East until we got to I-25. Southbound for just a tiny bit and exited on Lincoln which we continued eastward on until we got to Parker Road.
South now on Parker Road, through Parker and Franktown and the open road of CR83. All the way to Colorado Springs on this road, then a series of turns got us finally on Woodmens Road and from there to US24 which he headed East on to see the "peaks". Gary would point out the peaks as we rode by, if he had not, I think I would have missed them! : )
The name of the ride is very much tongue in cheek as the lands East of the Denver Metro area are really just rolling hills and plains. Once we were East of Calhan and points east, the wind really started to pick up and we were frequently forced to ride leaning into the wind in order to go in a straight line!
Still, the wind was not bad I kept telling myself, not as bad as the stuff I encountered when riding to Sturgis the day I bought Maria from the BMW dealer there. No problem.
Hah, I spoke too soon. The winds really picked up as we got close to Limon and I was really having to concentrate on maintaining my position on the road through leaning into the wind and trying to anticipate the gusts that must have been over 40mph in speed. I even tried lowering my windshield to it's lowest position in order to minimize my profile to the wind! There were several points in that portion of the ride where I thought my motorcycle's back end was being pushed up by the tailwinds that were hitting it at that point! A bit nerve-wracking but we made it into the town of Limon with no issues.
We tanked up and ate lunch at the Denny's located near the entrance to I-70 which Limon borders on. During the talk at lunch I learned the "real" meaning of the name of the town of Limon. It's not the spanish name for lemon as I'd thought all these years but stands for "Lost In the Middle Of Nowhere". Now you know.
Eastern Peaks RideThe ride home back towards Denver was windy but not as bad as what we experienced heading to Limon on US24. Thank Goodness for that. I departed from the group at the E-470 exit, waving my goodbyes to most of them as I overtook all but one rider and then exited. I should have stayed on Gun Club Road instead of electing to take the tollway though. There was construction on the tollway and it was down to one land on the southbound side. Slowly I made my way home, watching the traffic on Gun Club Rd whiz southbound where normally they would have been watching me go faster on the tollway. Oh well.
So, about 270 miles total ridden by me including going to Morrison where the ride started. I got home around 1530 or so and just puttered around the house and garage. Got to go in tonight to do some work at the datacenter so I have to get some rest.
1 comment:
Rock on fellow CO riders!
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