CZAR Fall Ride

Dan K., recently proposed to host a CZAR (Colorado Zidecar Adventure Riders) ride in the roads and trails roughly centered on Black Hawk, Colorado.

It had been a long time since members of the CZAR had ridden together as this year's CZAR Rally fell by the wayside due to many factors.

So, six other Ural sidecar rigs, six drivers and three wives as the monkeys, all showed up along with myself at Morrison, CO yesterday for a breakfast rendezvous and subsequent ride.

Breakfast in Morrison

photo courtesy Tim L.

After breakfast we set off at a good pace down familiar and unfamiliar roads, with Dan K. leading the way.  It was a combination of paved and dirt, steep and flat, twisting and straight, smooth and incredibly rocky/bumpy/gravelly and dusty roads.  We would suffer. two clogged air filters and one flat tire on Mammoth Gulch Road (road being an incredibly kind description of what was at times a good imitation of a rocky goat trail), and one rig would end up being deadlined for unknown issues at Dan's place in Black Hawk.

 A brief respite after coming up Witter Gulch Road and parked

along Squaw Pass Road

 Dan K.  The Ride Captain.

Deana and Jay

photo courtesy Tim L.

 There was a bit of fall color, not much, to be seen so far.

Here's a pond side view from near Black Hawk

 Just prior to challenging Mammoth Gulch Road, Spat's rig

had to have its air filter changed out.

 Did I mention it was very dusty conditions on the dirt roads?

Jay B's air filter also needed replacing shortly AFTER we started up Mammoth Gulch Road .  Then to add insult to injury, Jay's rig also got a flat tire on the pusher wheel shortly before we got to the summit meadow area of Mammoth Gulch road.

 Cookie and Spat

photo courtesy Tim L.

Deana and Jay

photo courtesy Tim L.

 Everyone jumped in to help Jay change out the flat tire.

The ladies appear impatient.....(all in good fun)

 Posing Scarlett at the meadow summit area of Mammoth Gulch

 Getting the Uralisti to pose heroically, AND, point in the same

direction, can be a challenge.

 The only time I stopped for pics on the way down to Tolland

Road while on Mammoth Gulch Road.

 Finally at Dan's home, about two hours behind schedule or 

just about right for URAL time....food and drink was had 

and camaraderie shared.

Update: video from the riding:

It was at Dan's home, after the meal, that I took a look at Mike S.'s 2014 rig which he said was acting rather badly.  I heard metallic clanking noises when I took it out for a test ride and quickly returned to Dan's driveway.  Much troubleshooting later, we were stumped.  The pusher wheel would, in neutral, stop rotating if turned by hand.  It would roll just fine, but something was definitely amiss with either the transmission or the final drive.

The rig being under warranty, the decision was made to button it up, leave it stored at Dan K's house for now until we can get a trailer to take it to the URAL dealer in Fort Collins, CO for diagnosis and repairs.

We left, rather late, due to all this but it also allowed for us to meet a fellow sidecar rig rider and his dog Blanca!  The picture below shows the rigs at the gas station near Dan K's home.

Blanca (#blancathedingo)

The rig's owner's name is Tim and he lives in Boulder.  He seemed quite happy to finally meet some local fellow sidecar riders.  Hopefully, he'll be able to join us on future rides.

Now with Miks S. as my monkey passenger, we rode in the falling darkness towards Mike's home.  No issues involved with this part of the ride, got Mike home safe and got myself and Scarlett home by 9PM.  Long day, and to top it all off, had a minor gas leak at the injector fitting on the right side throttle body!  No big deal, just lost some gas, the fitting had just come loose a bit.