A Ride to Limon with four other ColoradoBeemers

Temps starting in high 20s, peaking at 55 degrees, with sunny skies and very windy at times.

A crisply cold morning ride to Morrison and the weekly breakfast gathering of the ColoradoBeemers club to which I belong. Got there a bit after 0800 after tanking up outside the town of Morrison once I got off the C470 superslab I'd taken to get there.

After a hearty breakfast, I decided to go on the "Eastern Peaks of Colorado" ride with what turned out to be four other riders. This ride had been scheduled in the club's ridebook for last weekend but bad weather had forced its postponement to this weekend instead.

The four guys who I rode with were Gary, the ride captain on his 07 R1200RT, Dana on his 1200S, Kim on his K1200, Tim on his 02 R1150RT and myself on Maria. We took 285 out of Morrison, spotted the cops doing radar where they apparently usually hang out where 285 and 470 meet. Got past them with no issues, took Kipling down to C-470 and then East until we got to I-25. Southbound for just a tiny bit and exited on Lincoln which we continued eastward on until we got to Parker Road.

South now on Parker Road, through Parker and Franktown and the open road of CR83. All the way to Colorado Springs on this road, then a series of turns got us finally on Woodmens Road and from there to US24 which he headed East on to see the "peaks". Gary would point out the peaks as we rode by, if he had not, I think I would have missed them! : )

The name of the ride is very much tongue in cheek as the lands East of the Denver Metro area are really just rolling hills and plains. Once we were East of Calhan and points east, the wind really started to pick up and we were frequently forced to ride leaning into the wind in order to go in a straight line!

Still, the wind was not bad I kept telling myself, not as bad as the stuff I encountered when riding to Sturgis the day I bought Maria from the BMW dealer there. No problem.

Hah, I spoke too soon. The winds really picked up as we got close to Limon and I was really having to concentrate on maintaining my position on the road through leaning into the wind and trying to anticipate the gusts that must have been over 40mph in speed. I even tried lowering my windshield to it's lowest position in order to minimize my profile to the wind! There were several points in that portion of the ride where I thought my motorcycle's back end was being pushed up by the tailwinds that were hitting it at that point! A bit nerve-wracking but we made it into the town of Limon with no issues.

We tanked up and ate lunch at the Denny's located near the entrance to I-70 which Limon borders on. During the talk at lunch I learned the "real" meaning of the name of the town of Limon. It's not the spanish name for lemon as I'd thought all these years but stands for "Lost In the Middle Of Nowhere". Now you know.

Eastern Peaks Ride

The other thing we decided was to cut the ride short and take the I-70 superslab homewards due to the winds that only promised more "attention-getting" gusts of wind against our motorcycles should we decided to do the whole planned ride route. We skipped the portion North of Limon in the map above. The "peaks" are shown for your enjoyment.

The ride home back towards Denver was windy but not as bad as what we experienced heading to Limon on US24. Thank Goodness for that. I departed from the group at the E-470 exit, waving my goodbyes to most of them as I overtook all but one rider and then exited. I should have stayed on Gun Club Road instead of electing to take the tollway though. There was construction on the tollway and it was down to one land on the southbound side. Slowly I made my way home, watching the traffic on Gun Club Rd whiz southbound where normally they would have been watching me go faster on the tollway. Oh well.

So, about 270 miles total ridden by me including going to Morrison where the ride started. I got home around 1530 or so and just puttered around the house and garage. Got to go in tonight to do some work at the datacenter so I have to get some rest.

Commuting in the cold

Maria, all by her lonesome at my job's parking lot

Temps according to my motorcycle's thermometer: low 30s. Temps according to Accuweather website: 19 degrees, according to the CDOT weather stations nearest work: avg of 25 degrees. Sunny, with basically dry roads, ice/snow still remaining on lawns and houses.

No wonder my fingertips felt cold throughout the 30 minute ride into work, it was 19 degrees in the area. My new thermometer is either placed wrong(same spot as old one) or the sun was hitting the rear rack frame onto which it's mounted! I mean, almost a 15 degree difference in temperature readings?

I kept thinking through the ride that I should have put the ATV grip covers on and worn the lighter gloves since my heavy duty ones weren't keeping my finger tips warm in spite of the heated grips being on full blast. But I kept looking at the thermometer and it said low 30s so I chalked it up to wind.

Still, nice ride in, roads were fine, just had to avoid the wet spots and ride in the wheel tracks of cars ahead of me. No ice/snow on the roads themselves, and with the sun we're expecting today, the roads should be just fine this afternoon when we're supposed to hit our high of 49 degrees.

Finishing a work phone call on the motorcycle

Temps in mid-50s, cloudy and dark.

Of course it was dark, it was almost 8PM! I was at work doing a change, which went very well, and I was still participating in the teleconference that was part of the change as they went through the end portion checkouts related to the change.

I am a network engineer and we make changes to the network during off-hours so as to not impact customer's data traffic. This change was actually happening at a decent hour, usually we have to go in after midnight to do other changes.

My part was done minutes before so I got my riding gear on and headed out to the parking lot at work still listening to the call. I started the motorcycle up to warm it up a bit, got everything but my helmet and gloves on and still the call dragged on.

The road beckoned, there was snow forecasted to start in a couple of hours and still the call dragged on.

Heck with it, I had been listening to the call via my bluetooth headset since I had to be out there on the computer floor doing my portion of the change, so I went ahead and tried donning the helmet with the headset still attached to my right ear. It actually fit and I only felt a slight pressure against my right ear.

Got on my motorcycle, rode off heading for home, and still the call dragged on, but at least now I was moving. I asked if they could hear the motorcycle's engine noise and the others on the call said they couldn't but that I sounded slightly muffled. Since my portion of the change was done, all I had to do was listen while riding, kind of like listening to music only boring.

About ten minutes later the call ended and everyone hung up, I could not of course since I could not reach into my helmet to turn off the call via the headset. This had to wait until I was waiting at a stoplight and I could reach into the tankbag where the phone was and hang up the call there.

Interesting experience, worth a try but I know better than to make it a habit to use the cellphone while riding. Once I get a GPS that gives voice directions via bluetooth however, that's another story.

The ride home was uneventful, I still don't like riding at night that much and I also discovered the anti-fog visor insert I'd recently put in causes some added reflections of the lights from cars and other things on the road. Not safety-related but annoying, hopefully I'll get used to it.

RoadsideAmerica Website

Found this site today while surfing and thought it worth posting on the blog. I plan to use it for future trip planning and thought you the reader might find it worthwhile in terms of planning trips.

RoadsideAmerica.com is a caramel-coated-nutbag-full of odd and hilarious travel destinations -- over 7,000 places -- ready for exploration.

Since our first book, Roadside America, introduced readers to the world of offbeat tourist attractions, we (authors and road trip know-it-alls Doug Kirby, Ken Smith, Mike Wilkins) haven't slowed down. In fact, we're speeding up! Or maybe it's just a bad optical illusion...

For reasons that grow hazier with time, we produced a thicker, more depraved sequel, New Roadside America. The books chronicled tourist attractions throughout the continental United States -- from the World's Largest Twine Ball to an obscure monument to a patriotic pig.