Uraling to the 2014 Colorado Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Ride for the Kids

Starting back with the 2010 event, I've been attending the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation's annual Ride for the Kids with my sidecar rigs.  During the first year, 2010, I was fortunate to have James Briggs, a polite young man as my monkey while riding Natasha, my '96 Ural Sportsman.

12 year old James Briggs and Natasha, 2010

Today, James (now 16 years old) would be riding with his dad, Terry on their new sidecar rig, an Enfield Motorcycle with sidecar:

James and his Dad Terry

Pretty good turnout for the event this year, even with an iffy weather forecast which would come back to haunt us later on during the ride.

 From the smallest sidecar above to 

the big rigs pulled by Goldwings below

Above is Marc L's GearUP in Battleship Blue, he'd recently added the

windshield and Harley Davidson solo seat to his rig.

 Here's Paul's rig, the one that got tipped on its side in Moab, fully repaired.

Members of the 501st Imperial Legion were on hand to help the PBTF

We left sharply at 10:00 AM, the weather closing in on us.  We were being escorted by motor officers from Jefferson County's Sheriff's department along with members of the Western Motorcycle Escort.service; so we didn't have to stop for lights or traffic signs.  Riding with me was Keith, a family member related in some way to the PBTF's efforts.

The route took us north of Golden, turning west onto Golden Gate Canyon Road to ascend into the foothills, it would bring us back after a transit of part of the Peak to Peak Highway and return us back to Golden via the Coal Creek Canyon Road.

Heading north on CO93 north of Golden

We made it to the junction with CO72, still dry and with temperatures in the 50s.  So far so good.  We transited past familiar sights, at least to me,  The skies got darker as we rode further up and it started raining and then hailing on us for about 20-30 minutes!  Yep, hail in June, you got to love Colorado and its weather sometimes.

There was also lightning and thunder of course.  A couple of the lightning strikes were so close that the interval between the lightning's flash and the bang of the thunder was almost non-existent.  It had all the riders looking about, wondering where the next bolt would land.  Good times.  We of course got soaked as we became coated with icy slush from the hail.

Things got a little better once we got neared the metro area once more along Coal Creek Canyon Road.  It almost felt balmy to me, as we left temperatures which had reached a low of 41°F and once again rode in temperatures in the low to mid 50s!

Everyone made it back OK, though I felt a bit sorry for the myriad of two-wheeled motorcycles which comprised the majority of the motorcycles that showed up for the event.  It must have been quite interesting for them to ride through the hail and rain.

Here's Keith, my passenger today, all smiles.

He sat through the hail and rain and cold like a trooper!

The folks of the PBTF then help closing ceremonies, speeches and talks by guest speakers along with the kids who are cancer survivors.  The highlight of the show was when the large ceremonial check was displayed by the kids, today's event garnered $50,200 in donations!  Not too shabby I would say.

In case you're wondering about the storm trooper, he and his companion

were helping with the raffle tickets.

Prizes were drawn, gift certificates and such, and the top prize of a Honda Rebel motorcycle was given away as the event came to a close.  It was time for lunch, provided by Nick's BBQ, but I elected to forgo it and started on home.

Made it home by 2:30 PM, almost dry and ready for a hot shower.  A good day's worth of riding for a very worth cause.  

Uraling to the Fourth Annual Vintage Motorcycle Show

Scarlett and I attended a great vintage motorcycle show today in Golden, Co.  All manner of marques and motorcycles vintage and some not so vintage gathered for the enjoyment of the show attendees and lucky passers-by who were enroute to the other venues at Heritage Square.

The event is hosted each year by the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club but this in no way means the show is composed solely of Japanese Vintage Iron.  I saw BMW, Ducati, Moto-Guzzi, Ariel, Puch, Norton, BSA, Triumph, Excelsior, Nimbus and even home made motorcycles sitting pretty along Japanese marques such as Honda, Yamaha and Kawasaki.

Bob Kelly is one of the organizers of this event and he greeted me warmly soon after I arrived.  He and his friend Ron were soon quite busy getting arriving riders and their motorcycles situated and organized; all this while crowds of people walked through the area.

Bob Kelly and his '67 Honda Super Hawk 305

The Excelsior Henderson Sidecar Rig that was such a hit at Bob Ohman's recent Old Bike Ride made an appearance at this event.  A crowd favorite, its rider: John would periodically fire up the engine so that folks could admire the functioning of the exposed valves and the manual spark advance mechanism.  Yours truly had never seen this manual spark advance, those riders of old sure had a lot of things to keep track of while riding!

By the time the show officially started at 10:00AM, there were dozens and dozens of gorgeous vintage motorcycles to please any connoisseur.  I met friends, made new ones and had quite the enjoyable time wandering amongst these vintage motorcycle enthusiasts.  

 Back in the day, BMW's attempt at building a Superbike....

 Old Age and Treachery, a record setter on the salt flats of Utah

 Cool looking Nimbus, made by the Danish

 Todd Wallis, who runs the annual SBR: Small Bike Ride, brought his Sears Motorcycle

 Gorgeous 1930 Indian Chief with just the right patina

 1929 Harley Davidson, also owned by same rider who owned the Indian Chief

 Todd Wallis' motorcycles

 A fellow Uralista, Dave, brought his gorgeous Beemer to be admired

 Cool Cushman Scooter

Never sold in the US, these minibikes were apparently quite popular

in Europe before the onslaught of scooters.

The left one is a '64 CZ100 and the one on the right is the more 

collectible '67 C50M made for the French market.

Honda Quartet

The weather was almost perfect for the event, it did get a bit warm by 11:20AM when I had to leave for family duties.  Not all the beautiful iron was in the show however, I saw these in the parking lot along many modern motorcycles whose riders were inside taking in the show.

 I like the sand color on this URAL GearUP

Nice Airhead Beemer, almost as pretty as my Brigitta.

I am very glad I attended this show, my thanks to Bob and Ron for all the work they did to organize it and keep it going.  I look forward to next year's showing, mark you calendars, it's always held the first Sunday in June!

Uraling Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park

It was the last day of May and Trail Ridge Road had been declared open for the 2014 season, it was time to ride with Scarlett, my 2014 Ural Patrol Sidecar Rig and introduce her to the views of the Rocky Mountain National Park's (RMNP) mountain peaks.

I left the house shortly after 6:30 AM  and elected to slab it towards the RMNP.  There was however, heavy fog along the I-25 corridor, from I-170 to just north of Longmont, CO.  Visibility was crap and all I kept remembering is past news reports of massive car pileups in similar foggy conditions.

Finally breaking out of the fog, it was clear sailing to Lyons via Colorado State Rd 66.

Unlike the last time I was up by Lyons, US36 had active construction work going on, with signs warning of up to an hour delay.  I saw that the recommended detour from Lyons was to take Colorado State Rd 7, through Allenspark, and that's what Scarlett and I decided to do.

The weather over the RMNP turned out to be clear skies, sunny and temperatures in the low 60's....it was perfect timing on our part.  Weather would close in as I finished riding Trail Ridge Road and returned towards Estes Park.

 Near Allenspark, a nice view of Mount Meeker

 Long Peak Overlook, with a closer view of the peak below

 A view of the valley one transits before ascending onto Trail Ridge Road

Everything you see, I believe is part of the RMNP

 Mountain Peak views one can enjoy while riding Trail Ridge Road

 The coldest reading on Scarlett's onboard thermometer would be 44°F but

I was quite comfortable with just my windproof liner under my riding jacket.

Snippets of Trail Ridge Road in the Rocky Mountain National Park

 Final views of mountain peaks as I exited the park via the Beaver Meadows Station

As you can see, clouds and rain had moved in, but it wasn't bad at all.

Heading south of Estes Park and the RMNP, the weather once again turned sunny and clear and I was able to cruise on CO 72 to my usual stop:

Saint Malo Church.

Last year's massive floods had caused quite a bit of earth damage and erosion near the base of the small hill that the church was built on.  Still, there were folks visiting the church so I guess it wasn't damaged or has been repaired enough to be safe for folks to visit.

I chose US36 southbound out of Lyons and took it to the junction with CO 119 which took me east towards the I-25 Slab.  Temperatures soared from the 40's in the RMNP's Trail Ridge Road to low to mid-80s in the Denver Metro area.  Quite the temperature differential, wouldn't you say?

There were the usual slowdowns due to too many cars in the stretch between 144th and 84th Streets, but it wasn't too bad.  I made it home in just shy of four hours due to the traffic with no incidents or close calls.  

Scarlett did great!  Her EFI allowed her to idle smoothly from 5000 feet all the way to 11, 796 feet at the RMNP's Alpine Visitor Center.  Surprising even me, she got 71.9 kilometers per gallon on the way down from the mountains!  That's 42 MPG for you non-metric types, unheard of for a URAL sidecar rig!

Previously: The Last Eight Years