Yesterday, Independence Day, was a very warm (OK it was damn hot) day here in Colorado. I met with John S, a fellow Uralista and he'd brought along his wife Cookie and met a new Uralista from Sovietsteeds.com: John B. and his new Ural Gear-UP rig. Along with John B, came along his lovely wife Sandy riding as the monkey in the sidecar and also Sandy's brother Dave riding on his early 80's Honda Goldwing. John B and Sandy had trailered their Gear-Up from New Jersey to visit her folks in Conifer.
We all met up at the Bradley gas station in Conifer, CO. Located at the junction of US285 and CO73, it was a convenient spot for us to rendezvous with the final member of the ride: Dana aka dirtydr on his 1150GS Sidecar Rig.
Once assembled and introductions made, we made our way to Pine, CO where we took CO 126 south heading towards Sphinx Park, CO which is a small settlement a bit off of CO126 near the town of Pine. The road is roughly paved but navigable by just about any motorcycle and takes one past some really massive rock boulder formations and some really large rock domes.
The rigs at the Bucksnort Saloon
To take a break from the heat of the day, we rested a bit inside the famed Bucksnort Saloon, replenishing our fluids and relaxing in the air conditioned interior of the saloon. Dana parted ways with us at this point, electing to ride back towards Vail, CO.
At the Scraggly Peak Overlook
Once everyone was hydrated once more, we took off and retraced our route back to CO State Rd 126. We headed south past the small town of Buffalo Creek, the still desolate Haman fire area which is still recovering from that massive fire, and descended down towards Deckers, CO.
The party broke up after a break at Deckers. John and Cookie headed towards SE Aurora to rendezvous with a fellow who'd trailered Cookie's new motorcyle, a previously-owned F650GS Beemer. She would be riding it home.
John B and his wife, along with her brother Dave, continued on CO67 paralleling the South Platte River Rd and eventually transiting through Foxton on their way back to Conifer where John and Sandy where staying.
I followed them for a bit but turned off onto Sugar Creek Rd off of CO67, a dirt/gravel road which eventually dumps you in the small settlement of Sprucewood, CO.
From there, it's twisty paved roads all the way back to Sedalia, CO. Then it was the usual backroads through Castlerock, Parker and eventually the eastern end of Centennial, CO and my home neighborhood.
The view from Sugar Creek Road
A good ride, met a new Uralista and his wife, met his Goldwing riding brother-in-law Dave, rode again with two fellow Uralisti. The heat was a bit overbearing but keeping hydrated and my workout shirt wet with water made things quite bearable.
A previous ride by me via Ural Sidecar to Sphinx Park: LINK
3 comments:
Wow! You mean to say that there's actually a time with no pristine snow capped hills and you have to suffer the heat like the rest of us?
Just to make up for my snide remark I'll click on the Examiner link and help out with your gas money!
Dear Charlie6 (Dom):
I have left one comment on the Examiner Link, but wanted to also leave a comment here. Now that you have settled in with the V-Strom hack rig, do you find yourself missing reverse gear?
Now I understand that your Ural was problematic, but an older model. Still, I have read of mechanical challenges plaguing some of the newer ones too. Did any of the folks on this ride experience exploding alternators, collapsing wheels, or bad joints? If not on this trip, did they have stories to tell?
Fondest regards,
Jack/reep
Twisted Roads
Irondad, I'll see about getting you some more snow-capped peaks.....
Jack, I sure miss that reverse gear but now just give parking the v-strom rig some forethought, its all good.
No, none of the two Ural rigs on this ride suffered any mechanical issues. The newer rigs are much more reliable though of course their owners don't go online to report "all is well", you only hear from the one's who had issues.
One of the rigs was still being broken in, the other was piloted by Spat, and it's been a champ in terms of reliability.
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