Dauntless Sidecar proves to be my lifesaver...

I was basically side-swiped by a 2007 Toyota Corolla driving woman this morning as I rode Yoshie, my V-Strom DL1000 Motorcycle with Dauntless Sidecar.

I was traveling westbound on a three lane highway known as Arapahoe Road, and had just crossed under the overpass that is the I-25 Super Slab that crossed the Denver Metro Area going North/South.

I saw this silver car exiting the I-25 and turning right to enter Arapahoe Road.  I kept an eye on it as there was nothing between it and the extreme left lane where I was traveling.  Instead of just driving onto the extreme right lane, she proceeded to cross over all three lanes immediately and as I jammed on the horn and started braking, she went right for me.  I swear, I don't think she even looked!

I was trapped by a 4-6 inch high concrete median to my left and could not dodge, still I saw I would not be able to stop in time to allow her in front of me, I started swinging into the concrete median to try and swerve away from here, raised concrete curb be damned.

It was not to be, the right front corner of my sidecar subframe apparently was hit by her left front wheel.  I of course lost all forward momentum at that point for a second or two, I heard metal and plastic crunching noises, remember seeing bits flying in the air as I was thrown forward into the windshield of my motorcycle.

I must have been holding the grips pretty good at this point because once I hit the windshield, I think I bounced back into the saddle.  The rig was now moving forward once it lost contact with the car and I was able to regain control of her and bring her to a shuddering stop by the concrete median, and clear of traffic.

I say it was a shuddering stop because I could not actuate the clutch lever.  Turns out I somehow held onto the control assembly hard enough to twist the thing forward about 180 degrees so the lever wasn't where I was expecting it to be!

I got off the motorcycle, checked for oncoming traffic from behind me and was clear.  The idiot cager had been stopped by the damage inflicted on her car by the sidecar's subframe.  A couple in another car stopped and asked if I was OK, I told him that I thought so and asked them to call the police, which they did.  Whoever you were, good samaritans, my thanks again.

 The Toyota Corolla that hit me, initially came off worse from

the encounter, I thought

That dent on the wheel was where I think it hit the beefy steel tube

that makes up part of the subframe assembly for the sidecar

 What a flimsy bumper on the Corolla, it's really just a damn plastic cover

 Where the van is passing my shadow, is where I estimate the impact occurred.

I am standing on that damn concrete median that separates the

West and Eastbound lanes of Arapahoe Road.

The above is looking west.  As you can see, I drifted for quite

the distance before I regained control.

 A police officer from Greenwood Village showed up in less than 30 minutes 

and got our stories and information.

 I thought initially my damage was limited to a broken wheel fender on the sidecar

and a dent on the subframe tubing plus scratches.  Not too bad, I remember thinking.

 Above it the main impact point on my rig by the Corolla

There's a dent on the tube, probably where her wheel rim hit it.

 The broken stub where there used to be a mount for my phone/GPS.

My jacket must have caught it and broken it off as I was flung forward.

The bracket that used to secure the front of the wheel fender.  

It broke from the fender's fiberglass unsurprisingly, but note the

impact managed to break one of the mounting bolts!

The officer gave me his card with the case # of the accident report he'd be filing, he assured me that he'd be charging the idiot driver with careless driving and told me I was free to go.

I got my helmet back on, checked for traffic and motored towards work as it was closer than home at this point.  Yoshie felt a little funny at first, kind of wiggling a bit underneath me but she soon settled down and I didn't notice anything else bad.  I noticed my throat had started hurting at this point, but only when I swallowed.  "Weird" I thought but figured it would go away.

I kept reliving the impact moment in my mind and counted myself damn lucky at this point.  Figured I'd order another bracket and wheel fender and some touch up paint and Yoshie would be good to go!  Nope.

As I was walking into work, some guy who works there followed me in and he asked me: "Did you know your rear tire is wiggling back and forth when you're moving?".  I stood there and said "No, you mean the tire in the sidecar?".  "No", he said, the one to the rear of the motorcycle.  Damn.

I headed up to work, to call the insurance companies involved, the doctor to make an appointment to check me out and yeah, there was work to be done.  The morning flew by in meetings, my throat continuing to hurt when I swallowed.  Not sure how I managed to hurt it, am thinking perhaps as I was impacting the windshield, my helmeted head must have snapped forward, and I pressed my neck into my chinstrap buckle assembly?

I left work shortly after 2:00PM, thinking to go to the doctor on my relatively undamaged rig to get myself checked out.   I took a closer look at the rig in the parking garage and I was dismayed to find the rear wheel looked liked it was bent, as if the swingarm had been twisted slightly!  I also now saw from the front that the subframe mount hardware on the motorcycle appeared bent towards the right side of the motorcycle!

 Note how the rear tire is off-center now, probably not a good thing.

I am told by Oscar, who followed me to the dealer part way that he could see

it moving sideways by a good two inches as I rolled along.

The front wheel is lined up straight, not the subframe mount 

hardware was bent towards the sidecar.  The vertical

arm, onto which the sidecar is attached by the support arms, 

should be straight up and down!

 The scuff/rubbing marks etched onto the left side subframe mounts

 indicate that the motorcycle was forced by the impact into that concrete

median.  Above is the leading edge of the subframe.

Above is the trailing mount of the left subframe.  Check

out the scoring caused by contacting the curb on the raised median.

 Above is the axle nut and right side tensioner screw.

The screw is supposed to be centered in that rectangular opening, 

pretty much in-line with the hole you can see behind it.

"not quite aligned, is it?"

Same damage on the left side tensioner screw.

So, riding to the doctor's was out.  I elected to slowly ride to the nearby Honda/Suzuki Dealer on Arapahoe Road and have them assess the motorcycle and sidecar for damage.  Who knows, with all that force impacting the sidecar, it surely got transferred onto the motorcycle's frame by the mounting hardware!  I could have hairline cracks in the aluminum frame for all I knew.

I got to the dealer with no issues.  As I rode there, I could feel I was tilted to the left and the rig was not really tracking very straight at times.  Damn.  Got the rig checked in, but the shop won't be able to look at it till this coming Tuesday.  Coincidentally, that's when the idiot cager's insurance adjustor is able to go look at it also.

My loving wife came and picked me up after her work was done (I'd called right after the accident and she knew I was not injured) and we went home after taking off all removable items from the rig.

So, the ruggedness of the Dauntless Sidecar subframe saved my butt today!  Ironic isn't it, I had no issues yesterday in a heavy snowstorm on snow/ice-covered streets but today in bright sunshine and dry roads some careless idiot tries to take me out!

Now I have to wait for Tuesday afternoon for the damage appraisal.  To my eye, my Yoshie may not be repairable but we'll see.  I know that if the sidecar's subframe is bent, am pretty sure it's not fixable without shipping it back to the manufacturer in Enumclaw, WA.  

I know, I know, it's just a motorcycle, and I should consider myself lucky.  I do, I really do.  The motorcycling gods were really looking out for me this morning.

27FEB11: Update:  Rode through the cursed intersection this morning, a bit nervous I'll admit, but no issues.

Here's a googlemaps shot of the intersection in question.  The red line denotes what I remember the stupid cow took as a path to the lane I was occupying.  The black X is the collision point.  That's where I saw bits of plastic from the accident.  I estimate I was just in front of that gray car to the east (left) of the X.

Snowy Commute

I bet you thought it was going to be another book review huh?

Today we in the Denver Metro Area awoke to about 2-4 inches of snow on the ground and a rather messy and prolonged commute.

Hoping to skip part of the commute debacle (which gets better in snow), I snow-blowed the driveway first.  I headed out of the house at 7:10AM, a bit later than usual and got out of the snow-covered neighborhood with no issues on Yoshie, my V-Strom Sidecar Rig.  I did take the extra caution of weighing down the rear end of the tug by putting the deep cycle battery (57 lbs) inside the topcase.

The roads leading to the main roads were OK, but heavily rutted and plastered with little ice "mines" which would sometimes cause my tug's front wheel to dance in my hands.  No big deal, but it was a bit bumpy at times.  I think they put the magnesium chloride a bit too late which causes such conditions, not sure though.

Arapahoe Road traffic, never the best during rush hours, was slow and glacial today....it moved but conditions didn't lend themselves to rapid commuting shall we say.

It had been only lightly snowing east of the I-25 Super Slab, but it really started coming down when I crossed under it and neared work!  I kept having to brush snow/ice from the front of my visor every few seconds, but still, not a big deal.

The hardest part of the commute?  The intersection of University Blvd and Arapahoe Road.  It sits on top of a hill and cars were having a heck of a time making it up the slope at times.  Yoshie did fine, dodging around stuck buses which were blocking multiple lanes of travel.  I ended up ducking into the shopping center which houses the building I work in due to one particular bus who was stuck and blocking all westbound lanes of Arapahoe Road west of the intersection.

Slewing the rig around the mall's streets (not very well plowed yet), it was a bit of fun but had to pay attention to all the snow plows frantically moving about trying to clear the roads.

Finally got to the parking garage and got some photos of the scenery from the third and fourth levels:

 Lightly snow-covered Yoshie

 Treeline view from the fourth floor

 Neighborhood entrance next to the parking garage

Not too much snow got on her eh?

So, not a bad commute per se, given the conditions.  No close calls on the road, one idiot in the parking garage not paying attention to stop signs but I saw her approach and reacted accordingly.  

Hope you got a ride in today, I'm looking forward to the ride home!

Book Review: The Complete Guide to Motorcycling Colorado by Steve Farson

The cover of this book reads: "The Definitive Reference for ALL the Best roads, Rides and Trips".  Quite the goal that Steve Farson set for himself in trying to put all the wonderful riding available in Colorado into one book.  I would say though, that Steve is definitely the closest thing to that goal that I've ever read!

From motorbooks.com's website:  This comprehensive new guidebook to Colorado contains colorful in-depth descriptions of 172 different rides that can be combined in a variety of ways to create the best trips for all riding styles and interests. The individual rides have their own more detailed maps, along with route descriptions, photos, local points of interest, and historical information.  In addition, onboard videos of each ride are available at www.rmridervideo.com.  Regional maps show how the rides can be combined to form journeys from half a day to several days in length, on paved roads or into the back country, or both. Color photos for each ride introduce the incredible variety of terrain, and historical photos placed next to present day shots show how much (or how little) has changed in the intervening years.

In his years of riding Colorado and other parts of the country, Steve has pretty much covered every road and byway in Colorado reachable by motorcycle.  A lot of the rides and routes he describes so well in the book I've ridden myself and the detail, history and observations he adds to the actual route description rekindled in me a desire to revisit some of those byways again.

Also close to my own heart, he offers pictures of Colorado locales from "back then" to "now" to show the reader how things have changed or remained the same through the years.  I first saw this style of photographical history in John Fielder's Books, and I've done some postings myself but with motorcycles in the "now" picture.

As with most ride guide books, the rides are broken up into sections of the Great State of Colorado, giving the reader an fast reference to the area to be explored via motorcycle.  Not only are the routes numbered on the map, but Steve Farson has a color code system for ready finding of a specific route, very handy.

This book will become probably the top reference I use to plan daily and longer rides within my adoptive home state.  I strongly recommend this book to other Colorado riders and definitely for anyone planning to ride their motorcycle to this state to see its scenic wonders.

If you'd like to buy this book, and please tell them you read about it here, please follow this link.

Book Review: There & Back Again to See How Far It Is

When I was first emailed by motorbooks.com to see if I wanted to review this book, I thought of Gary France's epic journey through the United States and wanted to compare his travels with this fellow Englishman's writing.

Link to book on motorbooks.com

From Motorbooks:  Vultures wheeled overhead as Tim Watson found himself running out of fuel in the desert. Indeed he had many hair-raising encounters in his 8,000-mile ride across small-town America – severe dust storms, mountain snow, an angry rattlesnake and even angrier racoon, not to mention weird folk, and the novice rider’s struggles with a huge motorcycle. His account, informative and hilarious, is a must for armchair adventurers and anyone who has ever wondered what small-town America is really like.

This is quite an enjoyable and easy to read book.  Tim Watson's misadventures, experiences and growth as a motorcyclist are chronicled in short, often time humourous snippets of travel between small towns in the western third of the United States.

His travels encompass California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Oregon and detail his encounters with "interesting" people along the way.  His wife rides along on her own motorcycle, providing not only photographic support but serving as the "voice of reason" and interpreter for the intrepid author as his English accent and dry sense of  humor was apparently a barrier at times to communication with the natives.

A very nice travelogue, he highlighted for me some destinations I'd not heard of and which have now made it into my personal "to do" list of ride destinations.

The author's self-deprecating attitude and descriptive verbiage are a highlight of this book, where he progresses from not really knowing much about riding a motorcycle and fearing instant death from his machine; to a somewhat seasoned rider more comfortable on America's highways and byways.

He does have an initial preoccupation with population and land statistics and figures but this eventually dies off as the book progresses.  Tim Watson brings to the reader little known facts of the destinations he reaches, such as the fact a firing squad used to be an option in Utah for death-penalty convicts!  The book delves into his interest with the varied Native American cultures remaining along the line of his travels.

This book is a good way to see small town Western America through the eyes of a non-native.

This would be a great read for those of you who like travelogues with a sense of humor, who prefer to wander the less-traveled roads and see more unique life experiences.

The book is available from motorbooks.com, please tell them you read about it here if you decide to buy it.

LINK to book

Book Review: Adventure Motorcycling

Ted Simon, world-renowned motorcycle rider provides the foreword to Robert Wicks' extensive illustrated, very detailed but not overlong guide to the intricate world of Adventure Motorcycling and what one should consider and know before undertaking such a journey.

Link to book on motorbooks.com

a division of Quayside Publishing

The reader's appetite is whetted by listing some of the big names of motorcycle adventure riders who've blazed the way for us as they circumnavigated the world.  Names such as Ted Simon, Helge Pedersen, and more recently Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman in their "Long Way Round" ride around the world on mighty BMW GS Motorcycles.

There's three sections to the book.  Section 1 takes you through the preparations and logistics you need to consider, do, prepare and plan for before you hit the wide open road.  The six main subsections deal with:

1. Practicalities: Such as whether you'll ride solo or with a group, what routes to take, the budget and research.
2. Choice of Motorcycle:  An extensive list of "suitable" motorcycles is presented to you with their specifications and you gauge the ride based on suggested criteria or Key Factors such as Budget, Range, Load Carrying Ability, Handling and Weight and others.  Being a Beemer guy, I never realized there was such a rich choice of motorcycles to choose from, but the book does show a lot of the BMW models.
3.  Motorcycle Preparation:  What modifications/farkles are you going to add/need for the trip?  Types of tires are discussed, what type of fuel tanks should be considered, hard or soft luggage, and finally the logistics and shipping one's motorcycle when time is limited or there's an ocean between you and your destination.
4. Gear:  Documents/Finances, clothing, spares and tools you might want to carry, how are you going to know your way, supplies, camping and cooking on the road.
5. Riding Techniques: Training you should go through or consider, some details on techniques to try based on different terrains and finally, the pre-trip shakedown to make sure all is ready.
6. Documentation:  Managing the plethora of paperwork required to cross many countries, Visas, Driving Permits, Carnets, Motorcycle Insurance & Green Cards, Personal Medical Insurance and of course, Money.  This section should give you pause and cause you to prior plan as paperwork takes time.  You can't really just show up at a border and ask to be let in, not that simple.

Section 2:  

On the Road

1. Living on the Road: How to stay healthy: Common Ailments, Inoculations.
2. Some safety considerations while on the road: General security, accidents, money, routines.
3. Some things you should know about First Aid: List of things you need to know how to deal with.
4. Knowing what to eat and drink, if its not something you brought along.
5. Places to stay.
6. What to do at border crossings: Tips, information and examples.
7. Adapting to new countries and how they do things.
8. Some notes for female riders:  Personal safety, dress codes, attitude, health issues.
9. Some points on keeping in touch with family and friends while on the road: Communication means.

Navigation

1. Using a compass.  Really, you need to know.  GPS devices will fail.  
2. Maps:  Can't really do a long trip without the proper maps, can you?  How to carry them, use them and read them.
3. GPS: Technological terminlogies related to GPS and tips on how to use them.

Maintenance & Repairs: How to take care of your ride so you can survive the adventure together.

1. Engine and Chassis: Control cables, coolant, mounting hardware, clutch plates....etc
2. Electrical Systems: Terms, troubleshooting and maintenance.
3. Fuel: Filters, the quality of gas you'll find and deal with.
4. Air Filters: your engine needs air, know how to take care of the filter and replace it.
5. Sprockets and Chains: Key maintenance!
6. Suspension and Wheels.  Tire pressure, repairs of tube and tubeless tires.
7. Emergencies: Basic survival information and some Essential Equipment is discussed.

Section 3:

Typical Adventures:

Three "typical" adventures are provided by the author of riders who've actually done the ride described.

The first being a Ride from England to the South of Morocco entailing two weeks in the fringes of the Sahara Desert.

The second adventure is by a group of eleven riders who ride from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa in about 35 days, wherein they cover 7800 miles, deal with multiple issues, repairs, injuries, sickness, even jail and apparently had a marvelous time of it.

The third and last adventure was still ongoing as the book went to publisher.  Two friends left England in March of 2006, riding around the world.  Talks about the two years they prepared for it and the three years + it would eventually take for them to do it

So, plenty of stuff to read but only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the research one must acquire and understand before doing the kind of adventure motorcycling described in this book.  Just the paperwork alone is seemingly daunting but the book guides your initial steps.  I found the book well thought out and it takes you through the different phases of the adventure quite smoothly.

I would regard this book as a good starting point for your research, it gives you pointers as to further places to look and learn while its richly illustrated contents fire up the inner urge in one to explore the world on a motorcycle!

This book is published by Haynes Publishing and is readily available from www.motorbooks.com.  If you end up getting this book, please mention you heard about it here!

Five Urals and One Strom Rig challenge the Elephant Ride

We woke to temperatures in the low teens this Sunday morning, and it felt quite "brisk" as I rode across the Denver Metro Area to meet with what would turn out to be five Ural Sidecar Rigs at the gas station just outside the town of Morrison, Colorado.

The gathering of the rigs

We left the gas station by 08:30 AM and a bit short of an hour later, we'd ridden along US285 to the town of Grant, Colorado.  The road was nice and dry and strangely, the weather also felt warmer in Grant than it did in Morrison!

The rigs at Grant, Colorado

The strangest vehicle I saw today that would try the Elephant Ride

As folks made pit stops and sorted out their gear/rig.  I fastened three chain links to my pusher tire, double-secured them with some 550 cord (aka parachute cord) to prevent their moving sideways.  It's called, by the way, 550 cord because military specifications call for it to have a breaking strength of 550 pounds.

My rig ready as it ever would be, the six rigs got lined up and off we went up the Guanella Pass Road to see how far we'd get.  I have to say, there really was not much snow on the road when compared to previous years.  We all made good time and really had no issues with what snow we did find except for a couple of spots and even then, no real problem.

We took a break at the last hairpin turn and girded our loins for the upcoming last portion of road before the dreaded "snow drift" that had stopped us on my first Elephant Ride.

Craig H and his 2007 Ural Gear-Up

The last stretch of snow-covered road before the "snow drift"

Here's a picture from the 2010 Elephant Ride which gives you an idea of the snow drift that stopped the Ural rigs that time.  I am happy to report that this year, not only did all the Ural Rigs make it across, but so did Yoshie, my V-Strom Sidecar Rig!  Sure, there was some assistance required for the rigs to make it across as you can see in the videos but it's progress!

Craig H and his Gear-UP would be the first Ural to make the attempt

Nick, one of the new Uralisti I met today, had a bit of a mishap as he attempted the snow drift above.  We believe his sidecar wheel hit some hard bump buried in the drift and it caught air, causing the tug to fall over onto it's left side.  Nick adroitly came off the tug, did a couple of rolls, stood up and helped right his rig.

Nick's rig goes onto its side

Above video courtesy of Deana and Jay



Above and below videos courtesy of Deana and Jay






Above video courtesy of Deana and Jay

Once we had all the rigs past the drift, we had to stop to give Nick some time to troubleshoot his Ural.  Its engine was having a lot of trouble staying running.  After a bit of fiddling and trial and error, he got it running but very weakly.  He decided to turn around and we got him across the snow drift and he headed on down the mountain.

The remaining five rigs continued onwards, but not even 200 yards further down the road, there was this large field of snow.  John aka Spat and Cookie, on their white Ural, sped up and came to a dead stop in the midst of this snow mass, stuck.  They would mark the furthest point of progress for our rigs.  Still, we'd finally conquered the snow drift and we could see the gate!  You see, the Forest Service closes the road to the pass for the Winter, and the the gate is the point our rigs had tried to reach each of the previous years.

 Dead Stop....we ended up hooking a tow strap to Spat's rig 

and we pulled it out of the snow trap.

 You can see how close we were to the Forest Service Gate!

 A closer view of  the Forest Service Gate, closing the way

to Guanella Pass during the Winter.

Deana entertained us while we rested for a bit
video courtesy of Deana and Jay

The rest of the rigs, resting as we caught our collective breath

after pulling Spat's Rig out of the deep snow.  It was also quite warm up there, 

several of us doffed layers as it was almost 49°F up on the mountain!

Above video courtesy of Deana and Jay

It was hard to breath at altitude, and each time we helped each other with a stuck rig, we'd spend some minutes just gasping for breath.  Soon enough, it was time to turn our rigs around, and travel the 200 yards back to the snow drift.  Perhaps it was because now we were headed downhill but all the rigs managed to traverse the drift with no issues and more important, no assistance needed!

Coming back across the snow drift

photo courtesy of Spat and Cookie

above video courtesy of Deana and Jay

Our rigs, back across the snow drift.

We all rode back down the hill towards the hairpin turn where we'd paused beforehand, to take a group picture and to chat with some fellow riders who'd gathered there to watch the festivities.

 As you can see, Deana had the guys eating out of her hand!

photo courtesy Deana and Jay

The Uralisti and one Stromtrooper 

We made our way down the mountain with no issues, passing a couple of the dirt bikes that had preceded us since they had to go slower than what our rigs could do.  Before long, we were all gathered back at Grant, Colorado but no sign of Nick whom we thought would be waiting for us in town.  We would later hear from him via email saying he'd gotten home safely.

Back in the town of Grant

photo courtesy Deana and Jay

We rode on, five rigs strong, to the town of Bailey where we had a late lunch at the Cutthroat Cafe.  A nice meal and a chance to thaw out a bit, can't beat that.  And now, a "then and now" shot of the building next to where we had lunch today:

Bailey between 1950-1960 x-7156

Photo courtesy of Denver Public Library

Bailey, 2012

Uralisti gearing up for the ride back to Denver

We would encounter quite the snow storm between Conifer, Colorado and the town of Morrison as we rode along US285.  No big deal but there was need for constant clearing of one's visor as the snow and ice formed  on it.

Once past Morrison, the snow stopped and it was a cool 29°F in the Denver Metro Area as we waved goodbye to each other as folks took different exits from US285.  I would stay on US285, crossing the metro area and soon arriving at my home neighborhoods by way of Parker Road.

A great day of riding, got to meet two new Uralisti, rode again with almost the entire Denver Area Uralisti contingent and all rigs made it home safe.  Here's a compilation video of the road conditions on the way up, through the drift, and back down the mountain:

Hope you got some riding in today.

Update: 14FEB12: Yesterday, there were 1590 views of the examiner.com article.....best ever showing for one of my postings!  Thanks for those of you who visited the link to it.

Snowy Deer Creek Canyon

A bright sunny day here in Colorado, with temperatures in the low 20s as I left the house shortly before 9:00AM enroute to the Denver Tech Center (DTC) where I had some work to do.

Today's view of part of my cul-de-sac, to give you

an idea of the amount of snow we had to deal with.

Work done by Noon, I wandered about the usual spots in the DTC, posing Yoshie here and there as the light and snow accumulations suggested:

 The entrance to Westlands Park in the DTC was well thought out, don't you think?

Snowy Parking Lot in the DTC

I rode south till I got to County Line Road and then I headed West along it until I stopped by the Harley Davidson dealership near Santa Fe Road.  I was riding about, looking for a good spot to capture the foothills of the Front Range and saw this metal sculpture:

At the Harley Dealership

I found a good spot near where the above sculpture is located to show you a view of the "Foothills".

 The Foothills of the Front Range

Zooming in on a portion of the Foothills.

Turning South on Santa Fe Drive, I was soon going fast on the C-470 Super Slab but only for a short while, exiting at the Wadsworth Blvd exit and cutting south to Deer Creek Canyon Road.

Deer Creek Canyon is a lovely two lane road which twists and turns along Deer Creek and is bordered on both sides by tall rocky canyon walls of brown and red rock.  The road was surprisingly clear of snow and ice, with only one spot that a two-wheeled motorcycle would only have to traverse slowly.

My first stop was Deer Creek Canyon Park where houses dwell amongst some lovely rock formations, partially covered after the recent storm with snow, appearing as if coated in white frosting.

 Panographic view within Deer Creek Canyon Park

The hills of Deer Creek Canyon, you can see the 

Lockheed Martin Office Building in the distance.

I exited the park and continued heading into Deer Creek Canyon, enjoying the almost non-existent traffic as I slowly rode the twists and turns, enjoying the view of snow-covered pine trees and snow-covered rock formations:

 Some of the curves on Deer Creek Canyon Road

I turned north at the junction of Deer Creek Canyon Road and South Valley Road, now heading North towards the South Valley Park.  You can see interesting red rock formations to the East of the road as you make your way to the park.  There's plenty of hiking trails and even today, one could see trails cutting through the deep snow made by hikers.

South Valley Park

It was in the low 30s by this point but it was time for me to head home.  Once home, I washed Yoshie down to get rid of all the magnesium chloride which had gotten on her due to road spray.  The brilliant sun you see, was melting the snow we'd gotten over the last two days and the roads were wet with water.

Pretty good day for riding, I hope you got a ride in.