Sunday, April 19, 2009

Reflections

Sunny day today, a nice change from the gray overcast skies of the last couple of days, skies which dumped a few inches of snow on us in the Denver metro area.

The temperatures were supposed to go to the lower fifties so I left the house soon after lunch to see what I could find in terms of snow accumulations.

I first tried heading East on Quincy Road after some meandering of neighborhood roads. The eastern prairies had not gotten much, a couple of inches tops. I guess the winds out there prevented any significant accumulations. I rode out to Tom Bay Road and got onto the road that leads to Local #9 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. Quite the fancy title but the road does give one a nice location for taking pictures of the plains.

That's Quincy Road, heading to points east

Next I headed back into town and spotted this line of earth movers highlighted by the afternoon sun. They'd caught my eye on the way out to Quincy Rd and I returned to pose Brigitta by them.

Playing Follow the Leader?

Nearby the above shot, there's a new housing development being built. I swung in and found flowing water from the melting snows. I saw how the water was lit just right to render reflections of surrounding objects so I thought to pose Brigitta:


I next headed west on Arapahoe Road, turning south by the Lima business center and ending up heading west once again but this time on County Line Road. The roads were wet for the most part, with some puddles to be splashed through along the way.

I stayed on County Line road until I reach Santa Fe Blvd aka US85. I turned south on this road and cruised on down towards Sedalia and Castle Rock. Not much more snow accumulations here on the west side of town than back in the east side where I live.

The only other motorcycles I would spot the whole day were a couple of cruisers parked at the Bar and Grill at Sedalia. I guess the others were still digging themselves out of their neighborhoods? I made it down to Castle Rock and took Founders Parkway back towards Parker. As I entered the town limits, I spotted this empty parking lot next to a playing field covered in a thin layer of water:


Turns out, it's really hard to get a good picture of a motorcycle's reflection in water, when said water is moving. That's OK though, flowing water means snow that's melting away!

I got home from Parker with no incidents, and spent perhaps 30-40 minutes wiping Brigitta clean from all the road spray and grime. Nice ride, perhaps three hours in the saddle and 115 miles covered.

4 comments:

Steve Williams said...

I really love the sort of early spring meanderings like the one you nicely depict in this post. Unfortunately the snow is long gone here and spring is coming on in a green fury. So there are different sorts of rides.

Looking forward to following your rides and I am adding you to my blogroll.

Ride safe.

Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks

redlegsrides said...

Thank you Steve for your kind words, I look forward to your ride reports as well.

Unknown said...

Fortunately, our snow is long gone. We are into our Spring like temperatures now, but still dips close to freezing at nights, but so far no frost. Of course there is still snow on our mountains, where it belongs.
I also look forward to your rides, and of course your great photos.

bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin

Jack Riepe said...

Dear Charlie6 (Dom):

It is very difficult for me to type at the moment as I am holding a pistol in my mouth and only one hand is free.I warned you about this. Snow now depresses me to the point of the ultimate angst.

The temperature dropped to 46 here yesterday, and I coudn't get warm listened to the driving rain hitting my office window. The last of the heavy winter is gone. The "Song of Summer," the call of the White Throated Sparrow was heard for the third morning n a row here, which means the birds are on their way up to New York State. We will only hear them in this locale as the pass through.

Neat post with pictures that will look even better in the July heat.

Fondest regards,
Riepe
Twisted Roads