A Ride after the Snow Storm

The sun is out today for us here in the metro Denver area and temperatures have soared into the mid 20s farenheit!  Sadly for me, but surely welcomed by most, the snow has melted off the main plowed roads and is rapidly melting in the neighborhood streets.

This morning, I checked the valve clearances on Scarlett, she'd sounded a bit "noisy" after yesterday's riding. I found the left side valves slightly looser than .004 inches and the right side exhaust valve way loose!  All valves were tightened down to allow .004 gauge to clear with "slight resistance".

Scarlett and I went out during lunch to take a look around.

Blue skies, bright sun, balmy temperatures contributed to a rather mellow ride to the usual ranching neighborhood southeast of my home neighborhoods.

 views of Mount Evans....using telephoto lens to bring it in close

 and closer

 The tree-lined lane

A view of the Front Range...

Scarlett sounded much quieter and smoother than yesterday, glad I checked the valve clearances.

Snow Day Uraling

We got a pretty good amount of snow overnight here in the metro Denver area.  I spent a good 45 minutes or so clearing what looked like to be seven inches of snow from my driveway and sidewalk!

Days like today, I'm glad I don't have a work commute anymore.  Though I think it would have been a fun challenge to drive the rig to work in the deep soft snow!

Instead, after I got the driveway cleared off; I went for a short ride through the neighborhood streets and the nearby high school with Scarlett, my 2014 URAL Patrol Sidecar Rig.

A fun time was had by all!

The snow was pretty deep in the neighborhood streets which rarely see a snow plow from the city.  Scarlett's front wheel acted more as a rudder for steering than anything normal and I had to use 2WD on the uphill portions as well as the deeper stuff.

I had such a big grin on my face, I wonder if the folks out shoveling their own walks and driveways overhead my several joyful shouts of "Wheeeeeee!" as I motored on by having a grand old time.

Traction at the intersections proved iffy for some of the cagers that I saw out and about.  They'd come to a stop OK but getting started proved to be "interesting" for some of the cages.  Scarlett's 2WD ensured I always was able to get going from standing stops of course.

The main roads were pretty much snow-covered as well, the snow plows just weren't enough to keep up with the gently falling snow.

 At Eaglecrest High School's main parking lot

 Bare trees used as background in the high school's back parking lot

 The above shot had signs ruining the shot, so I photoshopped them out.

Hope you don't mine my manipulation of reality.

Next, Scarlett and I motored onto the Copperleaf neighborhood and got this shot of the power lines with Scarlett just a bit into a snow drift.

Then it was time to go towards the intersection of Picadilly Street and Arapahoe Road for the usual shot of the tree-lined street:

 The snow was almost deep enough to float the rig on its 

pontoon-like mufflers.

On the way back to the house, I made a quick stop by the Timberline Elementary school to get these shots:

Note how the snow had built up on the rims, cool huh?

One more fun circuit through the neighborhood, still with a big old grin on my face, and then it was time to go home and get to work.  What a great day for snow riding!

Back in the saddle again....

Back in Colorado after spending a week in Northern Virginia visiting friends of mine from my ROTC/college days.  Some hunting with no results, lots of good food and drink and recalling old and new memories.

Still, I had been (as suggested by RichardM on Facebook) feeling slight withdrawal symptoms from no riding.

Prescription: Snow Riding.  Mother Nature obliged by dumping about 1-2 inches of snow on the metro Denver area yesterday afternoon and overnight.  We woke to this thin blanket of snow and lots of ice this morning.

Traction conditions were marginal at best in the neighborhood roads as it seemed Scarlett and I were riding on a sheet of ice until we got to the main roads.  The temperature was 22ºF (-5.5 ºC) and it did feel a bit "brisk" at first.

There was practically no traffic as we motored along mostly icy slush covered main roads until we reached the suburb neighborhoods south of the junction of Smoky Hill Road and Inspiration Drive.

The weather forecast for today was for mostly cloudy conditions and as you can see below, they were right on the money in terms of cloud coverage.

As I was riding about, enjoying the cold crisp air and solitary road conditions, there might have been a song on my lips as I watched the morning light grow brighter and one could get a good look at distant Pikes Peak:

 "On my Cayuse, I will straddle my old saddle till I see a mountain rise"

Heading south on Inspiration Drive, we found ourselves once again posting Scarlett in the recently discovered "cul de sac" where once had been part of Inspiration Drive itself.

We stopped while close to the Saddlerock Golf Course for this view of Mount Evans.

The temperature was reported at 26ºF (-3ºC) as we neared home, Scarlett and I, and it felt positively balmy now that the sun was out.  A couple of hours of riding in snowy/icy conditions, with clear views of the nearby mountain peaks....just what the doctor ordered for my riding withdrawal symptoms!

Scarlett got published on Sidecar-Traveller Magazine

Back during late Spring/Early Summer of this year, I was contacted by Martin Franitza of Sidecar-Traveller.com asking to use a picture of Scarlett.

It was one of the early attempts to capture a good sunset picture.  Here's a link to the February posting: LINK

Here are scans of the magazine itself and the nice attribution page (a whole page!) written by Martin.

Front Cover

Link to Sidecar-traveller.com

Back Cover

Attribution Page

I am perusing the magazine as I type this, quite the quality production I must say!  The magazine is published in German but in the case of my page and the couple of pages written on Van Le a.k.a. Gobium (known Uralista and Wrench on SovietSteeds.com), there's English verbiage as well.

You can order your copy of this magazine issue and I believe archive copies as well at their website.