On Mount Evans with The Leading Ladies

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting up with fellow moto-blogger Gary France and his beautifully painted Harley Davidson Road King motorcycle, aptly named "The Leading Ladies".

Gary writes the thoroughly enjoyable blog: Garys USA Tour on a Harley-Davidson.  The man lives in Great Britain, flew his 2005 Harley-Davidson Road King over and has so far racked up 23 of these United States on a four month+ tour!

Note: This posting is also located on examiner.com. So what's the difference? I get paid per # of hits on that site, so if you feel like helping my fuel budget, read the article there instead: LINK

Just one of eight of Hollywood's Leading Ladies pictured on Gary's motorcycle

note: not photographs, the artist airbrushed them onto the motorcycle by hand!

I showed up at the Red Rocks Amphitheater along with my co-worker friend Oscar and his family and rendezvoused with Gary at the top of the amphitheater itself.  It was a blazingly sunny day here in Colorado and quite warm by 11:00 AM.

After the initial pleasantries and introducing everyone around, we spent a few minutes gazing at the people who were exercising by running up and down the stands of the amphitheater.  Soon though we were on our way towards the park exit and onto Bear Creek Canyon Rd.

We twisted our way through Bear Creek Canyon's high rocky walls, in pretty heavy traffic since it was the Labor Day holiday weekend.  Still, we made it to CO74 and the town of Evergreen with no incident.  I was in the lead, Oscar in the middle on his vintage 1975 Honda CB360 and then Gary brought up the rear on his Road King HD.  The rest of Oscar's family followed the three motorcycles in a Jeep chase vehicle; for you see, Oscar had just "resuscitated" the bike which he'd bought as a "barn find" and the carburetors were still giving him some issues.

We cruised on up CO74 till we got to the Squaw Pass Road turnoff, a brief pause for Gary to mount his Hero GoPro camera onto the right side engine guard and we were off!  The ride up Squaw Pass Rd to Echo Lake was pretty smooth though it turned out later I should have slackened the pace up as Oscar's Honda was having fuel/air mixture issues and the thinner air at Echo Lake was not enough.

So Oscar had to stop at that point to await the chase vehicle and let things cool down as the smaller engine on his motorcycle had some issues keeping up with Brigitta and the pace I had been setting coming up on Squaw Pass Road.

Gary had gone on ahead as I made sure Oscar was alright, then I went up as well, telling Oscar I should be back within an hour or so.  I was to be mistaken in that time assessment.

It was the last weekend before the close of the Mt Evans Road for the season and I think half of Colorado had the same idea we did!  I'd never seen so many cars on the mountain and this lead to many delays as folks would stop and block the road to take pictures!

I made it to the top, found Gary's motorcycle and parked Brigitta next to his Leading Ladies.  Gary walked on over as I was getting the helmet off and we proceeded to look over the "nation's highest parking lot" as Gary put it.  Conditions were quite windy at the top, but not too cold for either of us.

Here's Gary, looking every inch the daring moto-blogger, near the summit of Mt Evans

The Leading Ladies and Brigitta wait patiently for Gary and I to finish taking photos

Note Gary's signature helmet proudly displaying the Union Jack

Here's Gary at one of the several small pullout areas with a view to the south I think

A small portion of the over 14 miles long Mount Evans Road 

leading from the toll booth at Echo Lake to almost the very top of the mountain

Gary brought along the good weather it seems, I'd never seen such clear sky conditions as that day.

Looking towards the east I believe, Gary and the girls

One more of Gary and The Leading Ladies, just before Summit Lake

as we were heading down from the top of Mount Evans.

An isolated mountain lake on Mount Evans

We made it back down to Echo Lake with no issues in spite of the maddening hordes of cagers on the road.  I searched for Oscar and his Honda but they and the chase vehicle with the rest of the family were nowhere to be found.  I figured they'd gone ahead and returned home and I would be proven right later on.

So, Gary and I, smoothly rode our way back along Squaw Pass Rd back towards CO74 and the towns of Evergreen, Kittredge and Idledale.  We bypassed the town of Morrison as we neared it, electing instead to head south a bit to US285 which we then took to the C-470 southbound slab.

After the 41°F at the top of Mt. Evans, it really felt much warmer and windy down in the front range, and I for one was glad to get off the slab at the US85 or Santa Fe Drive exit.  From there it was County Line Road, under the I-25 slab and we were back at my home at 5:00PM or so.  

You see, not only did I have the pleasure of riding with Gary but he had agreed to overnight with us on his way to points south in Colorado.  We had an extremely enjoyable evening talking and sharing experiences, staying up late solving the problems of the world.

Gary sure is a lucky fellow being able to do what he's doing, the Chang Gang wishes you continued safe travels my friend!  See you online.

Natasha in Bondage

No, sorry to disappoint, but this is not a Jack Riepe type posting in terms of salacious content and wonderfully written prose. Title grabbed your eye though, didn't it?

The time has come for me to explore the concept of sometimes trailering my Ural Sidecar Rig or my Beemer Airhead motorcycle for the longer trips across this great country. Sure, my Beemer can handle highway speeds all day long and not strain at all but the same cannot be said for the Ural.

That, and since I want my family along sometimes on the long trips, this way I can trailer the motorcycle and still help out with the driving duties of the family minivan.

Up till now, I'd always been one of those motorcyclists who believed in riding his trusty iron steed anywhere he wanted to go.  Reality now is a new job with only two weeks vacation and with the Ural I'd end up using up most of that time riding there and back, with no time to explore much at the destination.

So, I looked into trailers, the one I want is pricey and I remain unsure as to how much use I'd get out of it you know?  So when a co-worker friend of mine offered up his trailer to try out with Natasha, I took him up on the offer.

This past weekend, I was stuck near the house since I was on call for work; so it was perfect time to go pick up the trailer and see if I could fit Natasha onto it.  My loving wife had recently had U-Haul mount a trailer hitch onto the minivan so I was all set.

I drove the car out to Oscar's house, and we got the trailer attached with no fuss.  There was an issue with the left brake light but I thought I could figure it out.  Oscar and I figured it was something with the trailer wiring as its been "well used" over the years.

Got the trailer home and here's some pics of the first attempt at loading Natasha:

Oscar's Trailer, those are 13" tires and the width of the trailer is 5ft.

Note the gap I had to bridge between the trailer's deck and the sidewalk in front of the house

Turns out, regular auto service ramps from the local auto parts store, with some bricks, fit the bill

My first attempt to load with my loving wife taking pictures

Those of you experienced trailer owners will have noted I was trying the above without leaving the tow vehicle attached!  Yep, I ended up causing the front of the trailer to raise up as soon as the front of the motorcycle placed weight onto the rear of the trailer!

I quickly pulled in the clutch and eased her back off the trailer and onto the ramps to "assess" the situation.

The aftermath of the first attempt, luckily Martha didn't snap pictures of the Ural with the

trailer's front end up in the air!

After some thought, I placed a cinder block under the rear left corner of the trailer to prevent it from going down and all was well.  Yes, next time I used the minivan as an anchor.  Have you noticed I tend to learn things the hard way?

So the second attempt went much smoother, a bit of jockeying around to make sure the sidecar wheel was as close as possible to the right side frame and the left side jug, engine guard and pegs cleared the left side frame just fine!

Lining Natasha up with the ramps

You'll note the cinder block now in place!

And here she is, snug on the trailer!

It's less of a tight fit than I had originally estimated but still not much room to play with when riding her onto the trailer.

Not much room to play with.....

Oscar plans to weld a set of ramps and tailgate to the rear of the trailer

The next step, and the inspiration for the title of this posting, was to tie down the rig securely and take it out for a spin!  I used straps borrowed from Oscar and attempted what I thought was a secure tie down.

I noticed her bouncing a bit more than I liked and drove over to Oscar's place for his advice.  I was pretty much wrong on everything involving the tiedown usage methodology!

Oscar showed me how to properly tie down the rig and then she was really held in place, no more bouncing around as I drove around some more with the trailer in tow.  I noticed both my front shocks are leaking oil though, I guess the attempt up Argentine Pass took its toll!  Oh well.  Time to get them serviced!

Note the tiedowns now anchor the front wheel into place, am planning on buying a wheel holder soon

The rear proved a bit more difficult to anchor properly, will do some more research 

as I am not sure the anchor points I used will be strong enough for longer rides

Another view of the tiedowns and how Oscar "locked" the front wheel in place for now

Got Natasha back home and unloaded, worked on the left brake lighting issues.  Much troubleshooting later, finally narrowed it down to the brand new wiring module from U-Haul that was wired into the minivan's left light assembly!  Good quality control eh?

I got a replacement from them and all was well.

So, now I know I can trailer Natasha with the minivan, whether for long trips or repairs.  Lots of stuff learned while "bound" to my home neighborhood due to on call duties and some electrical troubleshooting practice.

Silver Plume, Colorado - Then and Now

A recent ride took me to the small town of Silver Plume, Colorado.  It's a very small town off the busy I-70 Interstate near the larger town of Georgetown.

I'd always thought they'd named the town after the eye-catching frozen waterfall visible on the side of the nearby mountain when one is riding on I-70.  It was actually a town that sprung up around silver mines in the area.

If you like the look of old victorian age western buildings, this town might be worth a brief stop when riding on I-70 enroute to some of Colorado's many beautiful destinations.  I found the town small but quaint, quiet and a bit dusty.

As is my wont, this posting is to showcase photos of the town that I took as part of the ride in search of Argentine Pass and compare them for you with pictures from the Denver Public Library's Western History and Genealogy catalog.  As in previous postings, you have to click the external link to see the picture at the library's own site in order for me to avoid copyright issues.

Silver Plume's Jail 2010

Occupancy limit: 2, not too comfy

Silver Plume Jail circa 1875

thumbnail picture source: DPL

click here for full article and picture

if the above link does not work, click on DPL link and search for x-2182

Silver Plume Schoolhouse, now a museum, 2010

Silver Plume School circa 1908

thumbnail picture source: DPL

click here for full article and picture

if the above link does not work, click on DPL link and search for x-2162

Main street, Silver Plume, 2010

Silver Plume Main Street circa 1892

thumbnail picture source: DPL

click here for full article and picture

if the above link does not work, click on DPL link and search for x-2180

The Windsor Hotel, now a private residence, 2010

Silver Plume Windsor Hotel circa 1902

thumbnail picture source: DPL

click here for full article and picture

if the above link does not work, click on DPL link and search for x-2214

Hope you enjoyed this short posting on Silver Plume, Then and Now.

My other "Then and Now" Postings:

A ride to Georgetown, CO - Then and Now

Golden, Then and Now

Elephant Rock - 1880-2009

Cañon City's Skyline Drive.

Another Long Day, another Sunset Ride

Today I was awakened at 03:12 AM by a voice from Sungard's India operations center saying network stuff was down and could I help.  Again, they'd failed to raise the primary oncall engineer and so it was my "chance to excel" as my Army mentors used to say to me when handing out especially nasty missions.

Suffice to say I ended up on the phone and online for the next 12 hours or so, dealing with the non-critical crisis and my regular work.  Still, got a lot done and learned a bit more about troubleshooting Sungard's complex network infrastructure.

I caught my third wind in the late afternoon and after dinner and some mindless droning in front of the TV, went out for a ride to see if I could catch the moon rise.

Low clouds to the east and south precluded even a glimpse of the moon but I managed to situate Brigitta, my '87 R80 Airhead Beemer in a nice spot to shoot what turned out to be a pretty nice sunset.

Hope you like these as much as you liked the ones of Natasha, my Ural Sidecar Rig from three days ago.  I motored about for a while longer after the sun sank from view, the temperature was in the mid-80s but not muggy so it was not uncomfortable riding.  Soon enough though, my headlight's beam of light shone my way back to my home neighborhood and the garage.

Going to hit the rack early tonight, you just know they're going to call me again.....