Uraling in the 2013 Ural National Rally Day

Today, September 7, 2013 was the day for all registered URAL riders to go out and ride, and to try and collect as many points for the National Rally Day.  Basically, a sort of scavenger hunt of sorts, with some tasks/events thrown in for points.  All very informal, on your honor for the most part, and mainly a way to get riders to go riding and have some fun.

More information here on URAL's website for the rally:  LINK, you can download and look at the rally score sheet at this site.  Below, I've added snips from the score sheet that I managed to collect for points.

I was rider number CO-777, there were 26 other Colorado-based riders registered according to the rally website.

At 8:00 AM, I headed out with Miles, my youngest son, as my monkey (which by the way earned me 50 points), this was after doing the pre-ride check (50 points) and a starting mileage of 43114 km on the odometer.

Miles and I stopped at a local McDonald's for a quick breakfast and the resulting points:

Breakfast was soon consumed and we headed down to Arapahoe Road to find the County Courthouse on Potomac Street:

The Arapahoe County Courthouse on Potomac, 8:35 AM

You'll note the "flag" held by Miles showing my rider number for the rally.  Photos were supposed to be taken showing the number with the objective achieved.

After the courthouse, it was time to take Miles to a local gun club for his first formal Firearms Safety Course. It's called "First Shots" and it's a combination of education, safety, advertisement for the local gun programs offered by the gun club and includes some very basic firearm safety training.  It was very informative and Miles paid great attention throughout.

The instructor, John G., oversees Miles actions as he

takes his first shots with a .22 caliber bolt action rifle.

All the other students were interested in the handguns offered for training, so the instructor let me fire ten rounds of .22 Long Rifle as well.  Bonus!  Miles did pretty good for second time with firearms!

The class ended at noon and so we motored on home as Miles had other things to do.  Before we got home though, it was time for lunch and some more points:

Lunch at Sonic's 12:35 PM

After I dropped off Miles, I donned a water-soaked evaporative vest as temperatures had risen to the mid 90s by this time.  It was hot!  The vest helped with the heat, though you could still feel it at times.

I rode over to the Fairmount Cemetery where I had recently taken some then and now pictures.  There were of course, more points to be had for the rally:

Built in 1920, this mausoleum qualifies as a historic building.

Guarding the entrance to the military section of the Fairmount Cemetery

was this Model 1885 3.2" Field Artillery Cannon.

I left the cemetery and headed over to the Wings over the Rockies Air Museum nearby.  It's located on the previous site of the Lowry Air Force Base and is a very nice museum worth a visit if you're in the area:

I'm sure the URAL Rally folks will agree this B-52 Stratofortress

qualifies as a historic and interesting vehicle!

Now it was time to head south, still in the heat of the day, still bearing up nicely under it thanks to a freshly wet down evaporative vest and some water in the helmet for good measure!

At a stop light, just before the light turned green, this couple in the car next to me UDF'ed me long enough that we delayed traffic slightly when the light turned green, still, it was more points for me:

It was time to stop by a friend's house and get a picture of the second monkey of the day for me: Meet Levi, who was quite at home in the sidecar I must say!

Levi didn't actually ride with me as we didn't have the right 

restraints for him to do so safely, so not sure I'll be given the points by URAL.

Bonus for my readers: Oscar and Janet's lovely children: Cassie and Stevie, posing on my Valencia:

After saying goodbye to Levi and his family, I headed on home.  My ending mileage was 43231 Km so I rode 117 Km for the rally:

I also had to adjust my tug's rear brake once I got home at 5:00 PM:

I know, not the right tool, but all it needed was a

half turn counterclockwise.

So, my grand total is 567 which I'll be recording onto the rally site after I post this report.  Even if they disallow my Canine Monkey shot since we didn't actually ride together, I made the minimum of 350 points (432) to qualify as a rally finisher.  

Great, though hot, day of riding.  Had a good time with Miles and later Levi and his family.  Great Rally Day!

 

Update: I finished in the 110th position from the list of riders who qualified as finishers.

Reflections

Here's some photos I took sometime last week I think, as I wandered around the Republic Plaza Building, the building in which I work now, in Downtown Denver.

I really like how the building's image was reflected in adjoining buildings and their glass windows.

Bonus picture, the reflection of the TIAA-CREF/UMB building where I park my motorcycle:

Red Dawn and a Storm

We had us a beautifully red dawn today as I opened the garage door in preparation to ride to work.

The view in my cul-de-sac

The rest of the day was sunny, bright and hot, though in the late afternoon, a rain storm brewed up from the west.

The view from the way home

Fairmount Cemetery - Then and Now

It's Labor Day today, so as most of the folks in the USA, I had the day off.

The morning started in the cool mid-60s and I figured it was a good day to visit a local cemetery with a rather imposing gatehouse.  A gatehouse which catches one's eye as one rides on busy Alameda Avenue near the intersection of Quebec Street.

Fairmount Cemetery Gatehouse

2013

Fairmount Cemetery Gatehouse

circa 1890-1910

source: DPL: c-123

Being a cemetery, which are places not known to change a lot, it's not surprising that the gatehouse is pretty much the way it was over a hundred years ago.  The steeple tower missing is a shame, in my opinion.  

The gatehouse no longer serves as the main entry point to the cemetery, there's now a driveway to the east of the gatehouse for that purpose.  I rode in with Valencia, my 2011 URAL Patrol Sidecar and parked in the back of the gatehouse to soak in the historic atmosphere.

Driving a little further into the cemetery, one comes upon the Little Ivy Chapel, a very picturesque structure overlooking the older section of the cemetery.

Little Ivy Chapel 

2013

Little Ivy Chapel

circa 1893-1900

source: DPL: z2830

A closeup view of the chapel's towering adornments.

The Chapel stands as proudly as it did over 100 years ago, a testament to its builders, wouldn't you say?

I motored about the older sections of the cemetery, rolling slowing past large and small mausoleum sites engraved with common names and also famous names.  There was even a section designated as the Military Graves section where Colorado's military members rest in peace.

The World War II Section

The early morning sunlight precluded much shooting of the other interesting points in the cemetery, another day at another hour perhaps.  I left the cemetery to the few bicyclists I saw slowly meandering the lanes between the cemetery's sections.

Here's some more information about the Fairmount Cemetery, along with a list of notables buried there: LINK

Here's a link to a series of pictures of the gravestones found in the Fairmount Cemetery: LINK

Update:  Added then and now pics of the Fairmount Mausoleum Building on the southern end of the cemetery:

Fairmount Mausoleum

2013

circa 1920-1930

source: DPL RH-370