Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Skyline Drive - Revisited

It was time to introduce Yoshie, my new tug, to the epic riding views of Skyline Drive.

Sunday was a gorgeously sunny day here in Colorado and the temperatures were nicely cool in the morning as I rode down the I-25 slab on Yoshie, my V-Strom Sidecar Rig, towards the Cañon City's Skyline Drive.

Yoshie's powerful 1 liter motor, coupled to the strongest drive chain that I could find, hummed along without protests at speeds reaching 80 MPH at times.  In less than two hours, I made it down to Cañon City and tanked up again.

Things had heated up a bit in terms of ambient temperatures but still, not so forbidding as to detract from what would be a great riding day.

Below are two videos I shot with my GoPro camera, the first one with the standard forward-looking perspective but from higher up than usual.  I'd cobbled together a camera perch of sorts for the occasion as I wanted you to get a good view of the narrow road that is Skyline Drive.


The second video is of the same road, but this time the GoPro camera was pointed backwards showing the view of the road I'd just ridden.


I was done with the filming shortly after lunch, and the temperatures had gotten a bit warm as I rode onwards to the Shelf Road.  This is a dirt road cut out of the side of the mountains that form the walls of a canyon.  It was the route between the mining in the Cripple Creek area to the railroad in Cañon City back in the day.

More on the Shelf Road in the next posting.

Yoshie continues to do fine as I test out the ability of the new chain and sprockets to bear the loads imposed by side car duties.

10 comments:

RichardM said...

The first video appears very IMAXish with the high vantage point. All you need now is a steady cam. Glad things are holding up with the new chain and sprockets. Do you miss reverse and 2WD yet?

RichardM said...

BTW, the videos are great. I like the vantage point...

SonjaM said...

+1 for the IMAX effect on the first vid. I like the music selection, it gives a very dramatic effect. Interesting titles, What exactly did you have in mind with "heroic age", and "clenched teeth"? I know I would feel heroic traveling the mountain ridge, but it would certainly involve clenched teeth ;-)

LNGRDR said...

Nice video, I rode Skyline Drve a couple of times last month, fun little road.

LNGRDR said...

Nice video, I rode that road a couple of times on my Co trip and had a great time

redlegsrides said...

RichardM, thanks....the higher I moved the camera, the more it moved about....will have to work on that. As to reverse, I just have to "think ahead" before parking the rig....2WD? I'll let you know after the first snows.....

SonjaM, glad you liked the videos as well. The titles did kind of coincide, didn't they? :)

BKRNRD, thanks, glad you liked the videos.

Unknown said...

Charlie6:

I thought that road was too scary for me, then there's no place to turn around being one way. You are committed once past the point of no return. I keep looking over the edge . . . not good.

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

irondad said...

How fun to introduce a new bike to fun roads!

The first video is an incredible view. What an advertisement for the importance of looking where you want the bike to go, eh?

Steve Williams said...

Nice video. I have to say I the music sweeps me along thinking at some moment you are going to hurtle over the edge.

Glad you didn't!

I''m going to have to start thinking about shooting some video.

Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks
Follow me on Twitter

Bluekat said...

Awesome road! Love how you're just riding on the knife edge. Narrow too, more like a bike path. Great fun!