Uraling in the Ride for Freedom Service Dogs Poker Rally

Another beautifully sunny day today here in Colorado, perfect weather for riding one's motorcycle in the 2010 Freedom Service Dogs Poker Rally Ride with friends.

I again was fortunate to have James Briggs as my "monkey", riding in the sidecar rig which I call Natasha.  I'd met James during this Spring's Ride for the Kids put on by the Pediatric Tumor Foundation.


I invited a fellow Uralista, Craig H. and he rode his Ural Arctic Rig.  This allowed James' brother Lachlan to also get a sidecar ride in while their father Terry rode escort on his Triumph America motorcycle.

Rounding out our little group was a neighborhood friend, Bob T. who is new to motorcycling with his Suzuki Cruiser; he brought along his son Andrew riding pillion.

We all met at the Festival of the Bastardino in Centennial Park, in Englewood, CO which was the starting point for the Ride for Freedom Service Dogs Poker Rally.  I must say, the event organizers did a great job getting everyone registered, checked in and moving in the right direction!  A very well run event!

We all were on the road a bit before 11:00 AM and the route had us cruising south on US85, the four of our motorcycles riding together of course, with most of the riders way ahead of us already.  This was fine as I was setting a comfortable pace that would allow us a safe and scenic ride.

We took US85 south out of the Denver Metro area until we got to the small town of Sedalia where we turned right onto CO67 for a brief passage through the town.  Soon we turned South onto CO105 and were riding smoothly towards the town of Palmer Lake.  Did I mention the weather was gorgeous?  It was some great riding conditions that accompanied us the entire day.

Our first poker card stop, where one draws the second poker card for one's "hand" which is turned in at the end of the ride for prizes.  The stop was the Rock House Ice Cream shop in Palmer Lake, most of us got some ice cream cones and it was a nice place to take a break during the ride.

photo: Craig H.

Lachlan and Craig near the Rock House Ice Cream Shop

This rider shows there's other ways to bring one's dog along besides a sidecar rig!

photo: Terry B.

Soon though we continued heading South on CO105 until we got to the town of Monument, here we turned eastward.   Our route had us heading towards the junction of CO105 and CO83, aka Parker Road.  Turning south once more on CO83, it was less than 25 miles until we reached the outskirts of Colorado Springs.  A brief sprint on I-25 was performed with no incident and soon I was leading our small group onto the Garden of the Gods Road exit.

The trading post within the Garden of the Gods Park, with its beautifully sunlit gigantic rock formations, was the next stop for a poker card drawing.  There was good parking for the many motorcycles that comprised the riders of this rally and a small lunch was provided by the event organizers.

The crew lines up for hot dogs

photo: Craig H.

After the quick lunch and some rest, we meandered out of the park and go on westbound US24 after unintentionally transiting through Manitou Springs, my fault, I missed the turn.  Still, it was only a short delay and soon we were winging our way through the winding canyon roads west of Manitou Springs heading towards Woodland Park and CO67.

The "Balancing Rock" in the Garden of the Gods

photo by Lachlan

The scenery along US24 (I think)

photo by James

The published fuel stop for the rally was the "Loaf and Jug" in Woodland Park but I elected instead to stop short at a different gas station.  It was kismet, for who walks up to me at the gas station but Gary France!  I mean, what are the odds of our meeting again like this?  He'd just come off of riding to the top of Pikes Peak and he spotted me pulling up to fuel up!

Gary France and the Leading Ladies
Fresh from the top of Pikes Peak!  

After tanking up, we all rode together for a little bit and parted ways at the junction of US24 and Northbound CO67.  You see, Gary was headed for Cripple Creek and the Shelf Road to Canon City; we were heading west on CO67 towards Deckers, the next stop of the poker rally.

The road was mostly empty and we made pretty good time.  The hillsides along the way are still showing signs of the vast destruction wrought by the Haman Fires of not so long ago.  Natasha, my Ural Sidecar Rig, must be quite the smooth ride for the passenger as James managed to catch a few winks as we rode along.  I was kind of worried about his helmeted head weaving back and forth so I slowed the pace down a bit.

We got to Deckers with no problems and everyone enjoyed the break from the riding while getting some drinks and snacks.

Some of the motorcycles which took part in the Poker Run

photo: Craig H.

The crew at Decker's

photo: Terry B.

We left Deckers at around 3:30 PM and headed north on CO126's nicely twisty roads, slowly climbing up from the valley floor carved out by the Platte River.  Natasha was doing well though still only managing speeds in the high 40s on the steeper portions of CO126.

We got to Pine Junction and turned east onto US285 and it was a quick, twisting at times, but uneventful ride all the way to the town of Morrison where the rally ended.

Last shot of the crew at rally's end

I took my leave of this merry crew at this time, as I had work to do which required me to get on the Internet. So they went off to the end of rally festivities and I went to work.  Found myself a nice shady spot right about the time the work conference call started and got to work.  I'd brought along my laptop you see, and almost 90 minutes later, we were done.

Got home just before 7:00 PM, a bit over 200 miles or so of riding done, with no incidents but some ongoing carburetion (I think) issues with Natasha.  Still, she performed like a champ!

On a non-motorcycling note, I was given a present by James as a token of his thanks for his ride with me this Spring, he gave me a copy of his newly published book!  Yep, James Briggs, 12 years old, is a published author of this book:

Image Source: Amazon.com

I was quite touched by this gift, and very impressed with this achievement by this young man.  I plan to read it as soon as possible!  Thanks James, I do appreciate it very much!  Note, James has finished his second book and its currently being edited.

A picture of me after receiving the book from James, that light you see isn't 

the sun, it's the flash of realization that James was the author!  : )

Showing Gary around Denver's Downtown

Last Sunday it was Gary's turn to ride in Natasha's sidecar as we took a short tour of the downtown area of Denver. The Taste of Colorado Festival was in its third day and we also took that in to see what kind of people watching we could do.

I'll let Gary cover the people-watching and sights he saw as we rode Denver's steel and glass canyons.

Traffic was very light since it was the Labor Day Holiday and the weather was a bit warm but very sunny and not much wind. We basically rode up and down the main drags of downtown Denver, stopping where Gary fancied a picture or two.

I was mostly the "hack chauffer" for Gary today so not many pictures. I invite you to check out his posting of today's riding. LINK.

One of the sights I did take a picture of was the Colorado Convention Center's Blue Bear:

The Blue Bear

We then wandered about some more, finally ending up near the Colorado State Capitol.  I parked Natasha after Gary finished taking pictures of this impressive structure and we walked into the "Taste of Colorado" area.

Not much to report, pretty much your typical festival with some kid rides, vendors selling everything from food/snacks/drinks to trinkets to artisans hawking their wares.  The crowds were tolerable and Gary seemed to be having a good time doing some people watching; again please check out his blog posting for today.

The festival was located in what's called the Civic Center.  One of the nearby buildings houses the Denver Post.  At the front of the building, I knew that there was the Pioneer Monument and statues representing the pioneers who helped settle Colorado and atop the monument, a statue of famed scout and trail blazer: Kit Carson.

I mentioned this to Gary and drew a blank stare from him.  I said to him: "You know, Kit Carson!"  He responded back with: "Oh you mean the TV personality, right?  Johnny Carson?"

I laughed out loud and quickly explained to him who Kit Carson was, as I'd forgotten that since Gary is British, that western history of the USA was probably not  widely covered when he was going through the English school system.  I kidded Gary about this for a bit and told him it'd end up in the blog.

One last "dig", Gary initially pointed at the statue of the miner before pointing correctly at Kit Carson

We left the "Taste of Colorado and were home a bit before 1:00 PM I think, a quick lunch later and soon it was time for Gary to ride off into the sunset.  Or in this case, an interview with fellow examiner.com writer: Ken Bingenheimer.

Quite the enjoyable visit by Gary, and it was over way too soon we think.  As his departure neared, we took some last photos of the bikes and of each other:

He looks right at home on Natasha doesn't he?

Our last shot of Gary as he resumes his adventure

Safe Travels Gary!  We'll see you online.....Cheers!

9/11 - Remembering

9 years ago today, I was driving (the motorcycling bug had not hit me yet) to work listening to the radio when the announcer said a plane had flown into one of the towers of the World Trade Center.

First thing that popped into my mind was that it was something similar to when a military aircraft had flown into the Empire State Building back in 1945.  The announcer and I really had no idea it was but the first of two  airliners crashing into the World Trade Center buildings; a third plane flew into the Pentagon Building in Washington, D.C and what would have been a fourth airliner probably onto the White House or Congress were it not for the bravery of the passengers of United Airlines flight 93.

A good short narrative here on history.com:  Attack on America.

Image source: google.com

The History Channel recently debuted a film showing a compilation of video and stories of some of the people who survived this cowardly attack and of the heroic first responders who risked their lives to save them.  Over four hundred firefighters and police officers died doing their job....remember them today.

Nearly 3000 people, most probably not involved with the stated terrorist rationale for the attack, died in this cowardly attack....their only crime was being Americans, working in buildings that had come to symbolize America's greatness or symbols that focused the hate of the cowards who hide behind a perverted version of Islam.   Remember those victims today.

Today I ride in support of a foundation that works to provide "Service Dogs" to help wounded Veterans recover from injuries sustained in the ongoing wars.  More on that later.

Link to this image's source site

To the above statement I also add:  

NEVER FORGIVE

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.