A Christmas Day Ride

The motorcycling gods smiled upon me overnight and we woke to about three inches of snow in my surrounding neighborhood.

First of course was the opening of presents with the family and a sumptuous breakfast from my loving wife.

By 9:00AM I was geared up and motoring out of my snow-covered neighborhood streets, heading south towards a more rural neighborhood that lies south of Inspiration Drive and west of the town of Parker.  These neighborhood had good accumulations of snow on their roads, and very little traffic when compared to the main drags so it was fun snow riding for me and Valencia, my 2011 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig.

Temperatures were in the mid-single digits and it felt quite bracing while riding at speeds above 45 mph, under 45, it was quite comfortable.

Valencia's new Heidenau K37 dualsport pusher tire made for good traction and I never had to engage the 2WD function the whole time I was out.  I cruised these small ranch developments and looked for scenic spots to pose Valencia by.  Haze and clouds covered the front range mountains so no views of the peaks today.

After leaving the above snow-covered wonderland, I headed north on Gun Club Road towards Powhaton Road off of Jewell Road.  These roads were snow-covered as well, though Gun Club Road being a main drag had been plowed much more than the other roads.

I ended up on Smith Road, heading west towards Tower Road and a gas station near where I used to work for Sungard Availability Services.  Fueled up again, we made our way to a planned but not yet begun development near the Green Valley Ranch neighborhood.  The roads are paved, with acres of grassland where I imagine houses and buildings will stand one day.

Today though, it was clear snow-covered play land for my rig and I.  I ventured to a remote portion of the development, and tried my hand at some snow donuts.  It's more difficult, to make donuts on Valencia than it was on Natasha, my '96 Ural Sportsman.  I'm thinking its because the Sportsman had fulltime 2WD and Valencia doesn't.  Weird.

Donuts finally out of my system, I motored out of the development and headed on back home via Tower Road to Colfax, to Picadilly Road.   Once on Picadilly, I detoured onto a dirt road that was delightfully snow-covered and crossed a large field used for wheat growing during warmer months.  This dirt road eventually turns and dumps one onto the parking lot of the E-470 Tollway Administration Building.

Where that building is, there's a small open area next to it with a nice view of a couple of the golf ball shaped radar domes that I think are part of Buckley Air Force Base:

Temperatures had now soared into the low teens and it was feeling almost balmy in comparison to earlier in the morning.  It was time for lunch so I headed on home.

Yep, just the right amount of snow for Christmas Day and this rider.....hope your Christmas Day was as great as you hoped.  Mine sure was!