Meandering Ride and Riding Farkle on April's Fool's Day

Temps ranging from 59 to 64 degrees. Mostly sunny with developing overcast skies.

I had to work till 0200hrs this morning, slept till 0900 or so and woke to a nice sunny day with balmy temperatures which demanded I ride. Of course, I obeyed.

First though I rode the motorcycle to the grocery store to stock up on TV dinners and such to enable me to survive until my wife and sons come home midweek. : )

The motorcycles panniers replete with said items, I returned home for lunch and left soon after Noon headed towards the local REI store for a camelback hydration pack for my rides. Here's the one I got:


I strapped it on after putting a bit of water into it from a drinking fountain inside REI and headed out for some riding. The thing works pretty good, rigged it so the drinking hose/mouthpiece hangs over my left shoulder and by my left side. I kept taking small sips at stoplights and on long empty stretches of road and found it very convenient and easy to use. I do have to flip the helmet faceshield up to use it but its no hassle.

I bought the least expensive one not only because I did not know how it would all work out in terms of my riding but also because I fit right in there with the old joke: Do you know what's the cheapest part of a BMW motorcycle? The owner! The pack only cost me $32 with tax.

Here's my route, the highlight being that I tried out North Turkey Creek Road after tanking up at the gas station by Tiny Town and found it to be a very nice and twisty road. However, the remnants of the gravel spread by the county to provide traction in snow remains and I could not go very fast on said twistys. Oh well, the time will come and now I know of the road.


I rode down some of the usual roads, Deer Creek Canyon, north turkey creek road, the stretch of US285 leading back to Morrison, which I then took to Kipling and down back into the Chatfield reservoir area. Then the usual backroads back towards Castle Rock and Parker. I took a different route back home, this time detouring through Singing Hills Road to Delbert Rd and back to the Smoky Hill Road area and home.

About 134 miles or so of riding, all within about 4 hrs including the time spent buying the camelback. Got home at 4pm, it was still nice out and the sun was definitely more in evidence near my home than it had been in the foothills.