Skyline Drive Memories

Many is the time that I've ridden one of my motorcycles over to Cañon City, Colorado with the express purposes of enjoying the riding and scenery of nearby Skyline Drive.

Created by prison labor I read somewhere, it is laid astride a hogback ridge next to the town itself.

All paved, but a bit narrow, it's a one-way road which one can take to enjoy the scenery or to dare the fates as the edges of the road are quite near.

It's a nice little road to ride when in the area; whether visiting the state's prison museum or a few miles down the road, the Royal Gorge Bridge.  

US Highway 50 goes right by Skyline Drive if one is crossing the state in a more sedate manner than the super slab known as I-70 further to the north of the state.

Here's a compendium of photos from some of the rides I've done over the years:

Some of you may have missed it when I first published this video of riding this neat road.

Just a ride down memory lane.

Another Beautiful Colorado Sunset

Beautiful weather conditions yesterday, all day, for us in here the Metro Denver area.  It got to the mid-60s Fahrenheit!

Work was one small hassle after another, leaving me in a somewhat sour mood by the end of the day.

4:00 PM came and went and there was mention of a beautiful sunset in the making by the weather guy on the TV.

Wasting no time, I geared up, and Scarlett and I motored to our usual spot for capturing the beautiful sunsets that Colorado tends to have.

I must say, the colors were so good tonight, that of the 91 pictures I took as the sun set into the western horizon, it took me quite a while to whittle it down to 19 candidates, of which the six below made it to the final list.

I hope you like them.

So, in order, as the sun slowly left us here in Colorado:

 -0.3 F stop

 -0.7 F Stop

 -0.7 F Stop

 -1.3 F Stop

 -0.7 F Stop

-1.0 F Stop

Note: the only post-processing done was using the "auto" feature of google photos and cropping.  No further tweaking was done by yours truly.  I didn't see the need, you see.

A Cloudy Day of Leaf-Peeping on Mount Evans Road

Fall Season starts today and this past Sunday found Scarlett and I riding into the mountains, joining the growing number of "leaf-peepers", the folks who drive up to seek and enjoy the colors of the aspen leaves as they turn yellow and red as temperatures cool down.

Altitude drives the rate of change for the leaves it seems, as the higher Scarlett and I rode, the more frequent the splashes of bright yellow and occasional reds that fluttered in the wind, highlighted by the dark background of dark green pine trees.

The road to the mountain colors involved twists and turns along Deer Creek Canyon Road, Bear Creek Canyon Road, and Witter Gulch Road, eventually leading me to CO 103 or Squaw Pass Road.

Witter Gulch Road
"Calvin and Hobbes courtesy of www.gomics.com"
Inspiration: Petapixel

One takes CO103 about 12 miles from its junction of Witter Gulch Road (which is now paved, I discovered) and ends up near Echo Lake and the entrance to CO5, Mount Evans Road.  Here's some of the Fall Colors Scarlett and I managed to find along the way to Mount Evans Road:

 Near the sign for Squaw Pass

 Near Echo Lake Lodge, the spot I like to pose my motorcycles

at, with the phrase: "On a Clear Day, you can see Forever"

Scarlett and I would end up above the clouds you see.

A little bit clearer and yeah, you could see forever...

Once we arrived at the fee station for Mount Evans, we found that the road was only open to Summit Lake and so the fee was only half.  The below views along Mount Evans Road cost me all of $1.50 and gas.  Good deal eh?

 It was a bit cloudy as we neared Summit Lake, about

10 miles from the entrance station.

Peaks wreathed in clouds...

 Here's how things looked near Summit Lake, being in the clouds

felt a bit like a soft Irish rain, small water droplets felt on one's face...

Once again back on CO 103, Scarlett and I headed back towards Bergen Park, stopping a few times for pictures:

I had a sense of serene peace while taking this last picture, 

this one is for you, Bobskoot.

A good day of riding away from the metro area where the leaves remain green and Fall is but a pending event on the calendar.  

Valencia is sidelined again.....dammit.

Yesterday afternoon, after lunch, Valencia and I motored out of the neighborhood to try and get some pictures of Mount Evans as we were having a bright sunny clear day here in Colorado.

Turns out, the crisp views of the nearby front range mountains that I'd glimpsed while running errands in the morning, were obscured slight by haze in the afternoon.  I had been in a cage in the morning, so no camera with me.

Still, one must make do:

At the Rocking Horse Subdivision

While meandering about the nearby eastern prairies...

Mount Evans

Valencia's motor started exhibiting what I thought were "ignition missing" issues, basically it felt like the ignition would cut out for a second.  Thinking perhaps it was the PowerArc sensor disk having gotten loose again, I headed for home to check.

On the way home, I started hearing and worse, feeling metallic clanking noises.  Some were hitting hard enough I could feel the impact through the foot pegs.  Damn.  I even stopped to check the oil level thinking perhaps it was too low, but no, it was fine.

Luckily, I was within a couple miles of home when the noises appeared and I nursed Valencia back to the barn.

Once in the garage, I checked the PowerArc sensor disk but no, it was nice and secure, so it wasn't ignition "misses" causing issues.

The metallic noises led me to remove the left jug's valve cover, to see if the nuts holding the heads had worked loose or something similar.  Nope, all secure, but then I noticed a lot of metallic shavings, shining brightly in the small amount of oil one usually finds in the valve cover!  There were also metal shavings all over the inside components of the valves.   Damn.  (Sorry, no pictures, I went into "get it to the dealer" mode at this point as it was late Saturday afternoon).

At this point, it was flashback time to when the engine basically seized on me in Oregon as I was making my way back to Colorado from Alaska.  Not taking any chances, I buttoned Valencia up and put her on the trailer.  

Less than two hours later, I was dropping her off with Randy, at Unique Rides in Fort Collins, the nearest URAL dealer and known good mechanic.  We discussed the recurring engine issues Valencia has experienced and Randy said he wanted to talk to URAL and see about sending the engine to them for full analysis.  He also told me he was hearing sounds I couldn't hear (my high frequency hearing is shot from my days in the Army) and he was sure if I'd kept running the engine, that it would have eventually seized up.

As it was the weekend, he won't get a chance to talk to URAL till Monday or Tuesday at the earliest, we'll then see what the plan is to fix Valencia.  She's still under the URAL warranty so she should be covered.

Me, I'm hoping that the entire engine is replaced.  Most if not all of its "innards" had already been replaced by Raceway Services in Oregon, and I would like to have Sergey of URAL to check out the engine on Valencia to determine why it's had so many issues.  Sergey is regarded as the Mechanical Guru, at URAL.

It's looking like Valencia is out for this year's Elephant Ride.  Yoshie could do it, if I swapped her rear pusher for a dedicated snow tire but I'm not feeling up to it.  Damn.

More to follow.

Pre-Snow Sunset and Post-Snow Lunch Ride

Ah, Colorado.  Where the weather can change suddenly and temperature shifts involving changes of 20-40 degrees farenheit are not uncommon.

Yesterday, as I rode home on Brigitta, my '87 BMW R80 Airhead, the forecast of snow in the late evening was on my mind as temperatures held in the low 40s.

After running an errand to the post office after I got home, the setting sun painted the southwestern skies is vivid hues of orange fading later to pinks.  Though I hurried (should have skipped the errand) I only managed to catch the closing act of a truly gorgeous sunset.

Colorado Sunset, that's Scraggly Peak in the distance.

We woke to about four inches of snow, maybe a little more, in my neighborhood.  I wasn't worried as I had a fresh tire on the pusher wheel in preparation for the upcoming annual Elephant Ride.

I took this picture of the driveway as I backed Valencia

out of her spot, its about 4 inches deep.

Valencia had no issues with the snow as we motored out of the neighborhood.  The main roads were plowed so there was just snow/ice packed onto the road surface.  It made for some slick conditions at times but nothing major.  

Today, I had work planned at Encana's Denver area data center in the Tech Center.  It was a short commute, though Arapahoe Road remains a nerve-wracking experience when things are slick.  Still, managed to get to work with no issues.

A bit before Noon, I took Valencia out for a short ride to see the sights.  All the snow was gone from the roadways, and the melted stuff was evaporating in front of my eyes.  Very strange to me still, watching wet pavement steam away when temperatures are in the low teens.

I spotted a row of satellite dishes belonging to DirecTV so I stopped to pose Valencia:

As the sun was out, it didn't really feel cold at all.  I was of course all geared up but didn't have the layers I'd worn for the morning commute.  Got to love living here, snow in the morning, clear if wet roads in the afternoon.  

Pre-Dawn Cityscape view from new parking spot.

Just before Christmas last year, I got official notice from the property management people of DPW Parking.  They're the folks who own and manage the parking space at 1670 Broadway, under the UMB building.  They'd decided that motorcycles with sidecars would not longer be permitted in the motorcycle-only parking sections and that sidecar rigs would be charged the full car rate of $16/day for parking.

Prior to that, I tried to argue my case, the fact that in winter weather sidecars would probably be the only motorcycles using said spaces, all to no avail.  Oh well, its private property so I had to find other parking for the days when a sidecar was in order.

I found a spot three blocks from work, so now I get a brisk 5-7 minute walk from the rig, to and from the office.  Exercise right?  It's $2.50 more than regular motorcycle parking at the old spot, but it beats paying $16.00/day or worse, finding black ice while on two wheels.  Been there, done that, got the t-shirt and slightly separated AC Joint on my right shoulder as a souvenir.

Sadly, I believe it was whining from some fair weather motorcycle owner(s) at the old parking garage that drove the decision by the property management folks.  Apparently they didn't like the fact sidecar rigs took up two spaces.  Whiny bastards.

Anyway, bitterness aside and moving on.

At the new parking spot, one does enjoy a nice view of part of the Denver downtown cityscape.  I mentioned I get about 14 minutes of walking exercise a day so it's all good.

First Sunset Post for 2014

After a snow-covered weekend, things are starting to clear up around the Denver Metro Area.  This morning's commute to downtown Denver showed me clear if wet main roads, with just patches of snow remaining here and there to keep on on their toes when walking.

My neighborhood streets remain snow-packed of course, so it'll be Valencia again tomorrow for the ride in to work.

I give you, my first sunset picture post for 2014.  I'm still getting over a cold so I'd not been out and about the last few days when it was late in the day.

A Colorado Winter Sunset

On a separate note:

Before, when I would find out about some new farkle or piece of riding gear that seemed like it would fit my riding habit, I would contact the seller and ask to review it on the blog.

In a turnaround of this process, I was recently approached by the folks at motorcyclehouse.com to do reviews of some of their offerings.  After several emails, due to logistics, the only items available for review at this time were their leather jackets and leather saddlebags and assorted leather goods.

Their main website at motorcyclehouse.com also offers many other items and I requested to be shipped a set of raingear and some electrically-heated gloves for review.

Logistically, they're out of stock on these items and so I must wait.  I explained to them that as I only wear my custom-made Motoport kevlar riding jacket and pants, I wasn't a suitable candidate for their leather riding jackets.  Also, their saddlebag offerings didn't have something suitable for Valencia, my 2011 URAL Patrol sidecar rig so that was out.

Still, it's a promising start I think.  More to follow once the items I requested arrive.

Testing the Snow Chains

Another snow storm, and we woke to snow falling on the Denver Metro Area.  Accumulations would only be about 4 inches, tops, in my neighborhood area.

After a sumptuous lunch of chili, I installed the snow chains on Valencia's pusher tires and headed out to give them a slight workout.

The chains did fine on the unplowed neighborhood streets, I even made it a point to go on the deeper accumulations of snow and there was no drama, just steadfast traction.

The main roads were "kind of" plowed by then, and I had to keep my speeds under 20 mph to avoid damaging the snow chains where the pavement showed through the snow-packed streets.  I stopped numerous times to ensure the chains were tight and that I still had eight of them.  :)

It was quite enjoyable, as usual, watching folks reaction when they see a sidecar rig motoring by them as they cleared snow from their driveways.

 Near Timberline Elementary School, where both my sons went.

As you can see, the snow was not very deep.

On Berry Street, the main road leading out of my neighborhood.

Overcast skies and still falling snow made for rather monochromatic pictures, so the above pictures have been tweaked a bit for effect.  

I went about ten miles of wandering about in 20°F temperatures, wasn't ever cold as I had one my layers.  I even left the heated grips on their low setting.  The chains did great, no issues that I could see with clearing the drive components, a more careful examination to be done once all the snow melts from Valencia.

PS: As a slight poke to scooterinthesticks......Snow equals riding, assuming a sidecar rig is handy.

Update: 05JAN14, Sunday.

Miles and I rode over to the mall to get him some new jeans.  Here's Miles and Valencia once we returned after dodging all the idiots who had come out of the woodwork.

A View of Longs Peak

One of the larger mountain peaks visible from the Denver Metro area, laying almost directly west of it, is Mount Evans.  It's claimed to be country's highest paved highway, CO5, which takes one to its summit at over 14,100 feet.

Mount Evans has been the subject of many of my postings, today I would like to show you views of the other large peak visible on a clear day from Denver:  Longs Peak.

Lying more to the North/NorthWest of Denver, its one of Colorado's Fourteeners

It is named after Major Stephen Long, who explored the area in the 1820s. Longs Peak is one of the most prominent mountains in Colorado.  More here on wikipedia.

Popular with mountain climbers and hikers, it's not climbable by motor vehicle that I know of.  You get great views of it when riding the Peak to Peak Highway on the way to Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park.

Today, I was in Northglenn picking up a Harmonizer Carburetor Balancer tool from my friend Darrell S, a fellow Uralista.  He sold it to me as he's trading in/selling both his 2006 URAL Patrol sidecar rigs in order to finance the purchase of a 2014 Ural Patrol, the one with fuel-injection and many other modern improvements.  I can't wait, for him to get it, so I can get a first hand look at one of these rigs!

Anyways, I was north of the Metro Area, the weather was pretty clear, and the views I'd seen of Longs Peak while going to Darrell's house had set my pictorial objective of the day.

I rode NW from Darrell's house, ending up on 160th Street heading west till it junctions with Sheridan Parkway.  From there it was a dirt road to a nearby construction area which unobstructed views of Longs Peak.

 Above and below pictures taken with my Nikon AW110 camera.

 Above and below pictures taken with my old and mostly

non-working Panasonic Lumix ZS8.  I use it for long focal length shots

as its optical zoom is greater than the Nikon's for such shots.

What do you think of the clarity of the last two pictures?  I think it's "acceptable" after some tweaking with ribbett.com's online tools.  The Panasonic never did recover from the big rains we had weeks ago, that led to the big floods which made the national news.

Hope you're getting some riding in this new year.

Update: Just noticed that URAL's Facebook page is sporting one of my pictures!  :)

URAL's FB Page

New Year, New Snow....a Good Start.

New Years Day, 2014

It snowed overnight and we woke to about an inch or so of new fluffy snow, a nice little present from the motorcycling gods I thought.

I'd been fighting a cold though, drugged up on the "good" Sudafed, so it took me a while to geared up in my freshly laundered riding gear and headed out onto the fresh snow.

The temperatures were in the low 30s °F, although it was overcast skies hiding Valencia's and my view of the front range mountains.

It's going to be time soon to replace my pusher tire on Valencia, the thread is worn down and there were some fishtailing motions on some of the hilly portions of the ride.  I had my tire chains with me so I wasn't worried.

Valencia looks forward to what the new year will bring.

Here's hoping you got a ride in on New Year's Day.  Wishing you great riding conditions and opportunities.

It's a brand new year ahead of us, let's see what we can make of it eh?

Last Weekend Ride of 2013

The last Sunday of 2013, we woke to about two inches of fluffy snow here in the Denver Metro Area.  I was now quite happy with my decision to have left the Steamboat Springs area a day earlier than originally planned.

After a late breakfast, my loving wife Martha had me go out and pick up some detergent for the mounds of laundry that needed to be done.

Valencia was the obvious steed of choice to go out in the snowy conditions and off we went to complete our tasking.

Of course, once we were outside, and our task accomplished......

We somehow ended up in the Travois Trail Neighborhood, after cruising through the Rocking Horse Neighborhood.  The sun was just right, temperatures at a balmy 18F (it would soar to 24F by the end of the riding), and all neighborhood roads nicely snow-covered.  Ideal URALing conditions.

Valencia and I wandered about the neighborhoods to the south of Inspiration Drive and the mountains were visible at points that required a stop for pictures.

 Rocking Horse Housing Development

 Travois Trail Development

 Near the intersection of Sandy Creek Rd and Forest Canyon Drive

Parking lot of the Saddlerock Golf Course

Here's hoping you get one last ride in before the end of the year.

Previously: Visiting Friends in Steamboat Springs

Winter Solstice Ride

First Day of Winter, though the temperatures have been quite cold and also quite warm here in the great state of Colorado, today would be a day spent in below freezing temperatures.

I left the house shortly before 9:00 AM and headed west through Denver's Hampden Avenue, aka US285 until I left the metro area and arrived at Morrison.  I continued westward through the mountain towns of Idledale and Kittredge, not much of a snow accumulation to be seen at all.

Transiting through Evergreen, Valencia and I diverted onto Upper Bear Creek Canyon.  We watched the crowds skating and fishing on the frozen lake on the west side of Evergreen as we wound our way towards Witter Gulch Road.

The distant peaks were partially hidden in mist and fog today.  Valencia and I then turned onto Witter Gulch Road to ascend towards CO 103, aka Squaw Pass Road.  This is the road that leads one to CO5 which is the Mount Evans Road; it was of course closed for the season.

Spotted the above bucks, two of four total along Witter Gulch Road

Upon reaching Squaw Pass Road, I turned left and ascended slowly towards Echo Lake.  The road conditions weren't bad at all.  Hardly any snow/ice covering the road until perhaps the last mile or so before Echo Lake.

 Peak Views as one rides on CO103 towards Echo Lake

The clouds pretty much obscured the views of Mount Evans and the peaks visible from Echo Lake so Valencia and I just proceeded on down towards Idaho Springs.  Surface conditions were a bit "less optimal" for two-wheeled vehicles on the western portion of CO103.  There were some pretty long stretches of road that were completely snow/ice covered and I had to adjust my speeds accordingly.

Close to Idaho Springs, there's the turnoff for the West Chicago Camping Area run by the National Forest Service.  I'd been down this road a couple of times, never having quite made it to the campground itself.  Today would be the day.  The road conditions started off fine, but as we got near the campground, I started loosing momentum on the snow covered trail.  Soon, I was stopped and had to move out of the way for a cager behind me.

Once the cager was past me, I engaged the 2WD lever and Valencia strongly pulled onward and upward on the trail.  We made it to the campground shortly afterwards and I decided this was a good time to try the snow chains on the pusher tire.  The chains took perhaps ten minutes to put on seven of them of pusher tire, I elected to not put any chains on the front or sidecar tires.

 West Chicago Camp Ground

Not the steep part that temporarily stopped me, but you can

get an idea of the snow cover on the road.

Valencia and I ended up in Idaho Springs around 12:30 PM.  The weather had soared into the mid-20s from a low of perhaps 19F near Echo Lake.  It was almost balmy as I motored slowly through Idaho Springs to snap these pictures:

 That's I-70 behind the fence, I've always wanted to stop and take a picture

of the frozen waterfall, today was the day.

 The view along Riverside Avenue, in Idaho Springs.

 The ARGO Gold Mine, you can apparently tour it when you're in town.

 I liked those small mine cars

After Idaho Springs, it was frontage roads back towards the Denver Metro Area.  I entered via US285 once again and stopped at Fort Logan to visit the son of a friend of mine.  Long time readers of this blog know I try and visit this particular grave site; the final resting place of Staff Sergeant Brian J. Joiner, USAF and pay my respects.  Last weekend, the 14th, was Wreath Across America Day, and I had asked the organizer for Fort Logan National Cemetery to have one placed at Brian's tombstone.

I was happy to see that the wreath was still in place, I hope next year to lay it in person after the ceremony; other duties prevented me from doing it for this year.

Thanks for your service Brian.

Valencia and I having finished our visit with Brian, we motored onto our home neighborhoods via the usual routes.  About 130 miles covered today, with temperatures ranging from 19F to about 30F, and an occasional view of the sun.  Pretty good riding day overall, hope you got some riding in.....no sense wasting this time on travails such as Christmas shopping!  :)