Meandering about NW Denver Metro

I was running errands Saturday morning, ended up near downtown Denver with time to kill before I was to meet a friend near Invesco Field at Mile High; home of the Denver Broncos.

It was bright and sunny but with high winds throughout the whole day.  Heck, it was 73°F at around 8:00 AM when I left the house, it would get warmer throughout the day.

I'd meant to drop by VintageMotos to say hi to the guys there but 10:00AM came and went and the door remained locked.  Oh well.  I cruised north until I got to I-70 which I used to rapidly get to Sheridan Boulevard, exiting there and heading south to where I'd seen an eye-catching tower and a wooden roller coaster park.

Now, I am sure, back in the day, that Lakeside Park was quite the attraction.  I am even sure that its claim to having the "Greatest Roller Coaster in North America" might have held true in its heyday.  Nowadays though, the park is bit delapidated looking and I really wonder about "The Cyclone" wooden roller coaster.

The entrance to Lakeside Park, it must be quite the sight at night with all the lights lit up

I circled the park, which is amidst a pretty worn down neighborhood, and got as close as I could to the roller coaster for some pictures:

The wooden supports for the roller coaster's tracks looked pretty worn out.

I left Lakeside Park, cruising east along side streets, trying to find the route to the large tower one can see while heading west on I-70 and just before Sheridan Boulevard.  I'd been there before on a previous ride but this time I went further into the office complex owned by Qwest and AT&T apparently.

Large panoramic shot of the tower, you cans see it from quite a ways away

I continued cruising the side streets and soon found myself just west of the I-25 slab, working my way southward towards Mile High Stadium.  Traffic was light and the bright sun had folks out walking their pets and riding their bikes.  I was going to Parking Lot M at Mile High Stadium to meet up with Jay, a co-worker, who'd told me of a company called Zero Motorcycles who were letting folks do demo rides on their electric motorcycles.  Watch for an upcoming post on that event.

The wind never did let up, getting quite strong and gusty at times.  It made my front wheel feel a bit wobbly when on the slab running for home.  Made me almost wish that I'd chosen to ride Natasha, my Ural sidecar rig, but the day was just too nice not to have Brigitta with me.

Got home, de-rigged all the cold weather shielding off of Natasha and got her ready for tomorrow's ride.  The DAU (Denver Area Uralisti) ride to admire the vintage motorcycles that will be showing up for Bob Ohman's Old Bike Ride #8.  Watch for that posting as well.