The Arch and the Reservoir

Lazy day today, worked around the garage most of the morning, squaring away the tools and gear that I keep inside Valencia's trunk, making sure the new jack actually worked (it did), and just hanging out at the house.

In the afternoon though, temperatures had soared into the high 50s!  The sun was out, and being a mile closer to the sun than most folks in the country, it felt quite nice and warm.  A ride was in order.

I headed out around 2:00PM on Brigitta, my '87 BMW R80 Airhead.  I became re-acquainted with the concepts of good acceleration and power quickly as I rode out of the neighborhood.  Brigitta's engine purred underneath me as I clicked through the gears and cruised in the great weather, enjoying the wind in my face through the open visor on my helmet.

After a bit of riding in traffic, I arrived at my destination; the Westlands Park in the Denver Tech Center, near the junction of Orchard and Quebec Road.  The lighting was pretty good, the spot I wanted was open and no cars parked nearby.

The Arch in the DTC

Different angle, slightly shorter depth of field

Leaving the DTC, I wandered back east towards the Cherry Creek Reservoir and Park.  Turning into the park, I cruised slowly along the clear paved roads, passing joggers, bicyclists and folks just out enjoying the warm day.  The light was all wrong though to take a picture of the dam and its control structures though so I settled for two of the still partly frozen reservoir's surface.

 Cherry Creek Reservoir

Pictures done, I meandered out of the park and entered the very heavy traffic on Parker Road.  A few minutes of cager-dodging later, I got back onto Orchard Road which took me to my home neighborhoods with no incident.  Surprisingly, I only saw two other motorcycle riders the whole time I was out.

Hope you got a ride in today.....

Previously: March Sunset

March Sunset

I went Uraling after dinner today, going to the local big box store to pick up a replacement floor jack.  The one that I'd had for years had finally sprung a leak you see, so no longer safe to use and not worth repairing.

I picked up the jack first, and that was my mistake.  For you see, the other objective had been to capture a picture or two of the sunset and my timing was a bit off.  I was still motoring along towards Piney Lake Road as I watched the best lighting occur off to the west!

Still, I got to the planned spot and got these two shots, hope you like them, though I did miss the peak sunset lighting.

Moral of this posting?  Mother Nature waits for no one, whereas the jack would have waited a few more minutes....unless of course, it had been Jack Riepe, in which case he would have enjoyed the sunset's colors while sitting in the sidecar!

A Ride to the Race Track

A Horse Race Track that is....although I am quite sure it didn't occur to any of you that I was going to be racing my Ural Sidecar Rig, Valencia!

There was still much snow on the ground in the neighborhood streets, snow that back in 2007 would have trapped me until it all melted away.  That is no longer the case!  Valencia and I blasted our way out of the cul-de-sac, purposedly driving straight through the bigger mounds of snow that had piled up as folks dug themselves out of this latest snow storm's results.

We quickly exited the neighborhood streets and motored along main roads which while still snow-covered in stretches, were pretty much clear and filled with melting snow water.  I made my way to a local subdivision that is till being built out that has a clear view of Mount Evans and the front range mountains:

Mount Evans, from the Copperleaf subdivision

Then I decided to motor over to the Aurora Race Track, which had for the last few months, had it's main gate closed so I'd not been able to use its nicely placed parking lot for sunset pictures.  Today I rode up to the gate and noted that it wasn't locked, just a chain with a couple of small carabiners holding it together.

Took a chance, undid the chain, rode in and found an elderly gentlemen outside the race track building, shoveling snow.  I asked him where I could find the man in charge, to ask permission to take pictures.  He said the man had left for lunch and after I explained things to him, he readily said go ahead and take the pictures!

The parking lot had part of its surfaced plowed clear so folks could get to/from the rear of the parking lot where there's a lot of RVs and campers parked.  The rest was pretty much virgin snow, about 2-4 inches deep.  I got into 2WD and easily motored about until I got Valencia in the right spot for pictures.

 Above is a look at the parking lot snow conditions, it wasn't the spot

I ended up using to get the picture below:

I think I'll title this one: Valencia, Sidecar Rig of the Rockies!

Pictures over, I rushed home on slushy streets with lots of running water as the sun melted away the snow on the roads.

I expect the snow will last us a couple of days more, hopefully it'll stick around some more on the mountains.  We've been waiting for a snow storm such as Rocky for a long time.  Oh, there's a possibility of another snow storm, albeit a smaller one, hitting in a couple of days.

For those of you to the east of Colorado, Rocky is coming, and he's got a bunch of snow for you too.....

Previously: A Quiet Sunday Ride in the Country

A Quiet Sunday Ride in the Country...

We're in the throes of the first major blizzard of this Winter, Storm Rocky, kind of a silly name but then again the one before that was "Q".

We woke to about 2-3 inches of snow in my neighborhood, I went out after breakfast to do some snow-blowing or what my youngest son Miles referred to as a "snow job".  I got to talk to him about colloquialisms one of these days.

Job done, there was already a 1/2 inch of snow where I had cleared the earlier snow!  Oh well, it was time to go riding of course.  I geared up and motored out of my neighborhood on Valencia, my 2011 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig.  First it was a brief cruise through the neighborhood to gauge conditions, traction was fine though the snow was still falling and causing slight visibility issues for me and the gopro camera.

I rode out to Smoky Hill Road and eventually ended up in the ranching neighborhoods off of Piney Lake Road and Bronco Road.  This is the same neighborhood where I went for a lunchtime ride this past Thursday, I was curious to see how the additional snow had affected conditions.

As you can see in the pictures above, the roads had a lovely amount of snow, perhaps 3-4 inches tops, and I only had to engage the 2WD on the steeper parts of the road due to the pusher tire slipping without the help of the driven sidecar wheel.

I wandered all about this neighborhood and soon it was time to go back towards my home neighboords.  The streets were slushy in spots but mostly snow-packed.  The plows were having trouble keeping up with the falling snow, which by now had gotten stronger and the winds had increased as well.

I got to the rear parking areas of the local High School eventually and practiced some donuts, you knew I was going to, didn't you?  You definitely need to engage the 2WD, otherwise all you end up doing is some wide sliding.

Fun over with, I headed on back home, arriving just before lunch with no issues.  Some cars on the road but not too many, saw one pickup truck that just kept fishtailing on the turns, he was the only one seemingly not able to handle the snow.

Here's a movie of my ride through the neighborhood, the ranching neighbood, the ride to the high school and the donuts, and finally the ride back home.  I hope you like it.

 Nearing my home neighborhood

 Home again, safe and sound

 Check out the icicles emanating from the hub...


Previously: Snowy Lunchtime Ride