Uraling in the aftermath of the High Park Fire

Today, I met with fellow Uralista Tim on the NW outskirts of Fort Collins, CO; at the junction of US287 and CO14.  The idea was to look over the aftermath of the big forest fire which had occurred earlier in the summer, and which had made the national news along with the fires down by Colorado Springs.

Here's a sight that caught my eye as I was passing by Buckley Air Force Base a little after 7:00AM:

I was a bit late in arriving for the 9:00AM rendezvous, it's a bit of a ride from my home to the start of the Cache La Poudre Scenic Byway, which is Colorado Highway 14.  After exchanging pleasantries, we geared back up and we set off with me in the lead westbound on C014.

Tim's Patrol

photo courtesy of Tim L

The road follows the Cache La Poudre River, and high rocky canyon walls meet one's eyes as one twists and turns through what used to be thickly forested hillsides.  The burned out areas were already visible from the start of the ride and from time to time we could still smell smoke in the air; though the fires had been put out weeks ago.

The river formed the northern fire barrier to the High Park Fire, to the south, we would see burned patches of forest right next to still green patches of trees.  We figure those green patches were where the fire fighting aircraft had managed to drop fire suppressant slurry?

Tim and I spent a lot of time craning our necks, observing how close the fires must have reached towards the houses by the side of the highway, which surprisingly were seemingly unburned.  We figured that since the houses were by the road, fire trucks were able to protect them as the fires neared and finally retreated.

 Note the browned pine trees in the far hillside, I first thought it was

pine beetle damage but that's the look of trees where the undergrowth

burned apparently.

 Note the now bare hillsides, mud slides are now the danger 

once the weather gets wetter.

 photo courtesy of Tim L

There were spots were the browned trees came right down to 

the side of the highway.
photo courtesy of Tim L.

Pretty soon we came upon the tunnel through the mountainside that is a feature of this scenic byway:

We motored onwards from the above tunnel and shortly afterwards were turning South onto Stove Prairie Road and deeper into the area where the fires had burned out of control for several days.  Again though, houses along the road appeared untouched, though as you'll see, the fire came pretty close to them.

We passed by and then turned back towards a wooded driveway where we'd spotted a short fence line made up of snow skis!

 The Skis Fence

photo courtesy of Tim L

Just a little farther along on Stove Prairie Road, we came upon a large ranch with several buildings.  The evidence of how close the fires came to this ranch is quite plain:

Close Call

Tim and I both commented how wild it would have been to have been riding on this road, with huge forest fires burning on both sides of the road....

We rode further South on Stove Prairie Road which opens up to a valley with large ranches on both sides.  We came up to the turn for Rist Canyon at the top of a small hill where Tim had spotted a couple of Harley Davidson riders taking a break.

Turning East now, we began a slow descent through Rist Canyon, very pretty ride with some nicely twisty sections and some tight descending turns to get one's attention.  Among the burned trees areas, there's also heavy Pine Beetle infestation as well, kind of sad but perhaps it'll be in the long run a good thing to kill off the beetles.

We also happened to ride by some demo being put together by the local firefighting outfits, featuring two Huey Helicopters lifting what appeared to be cargo on pallets.  Watch closely when you spot the big white party tent on the left side of the road.

The news had made it seemed like both sides of the Prairie Stove Road valley had been in the middle of the fires, I didn't see much evidence of burning from the road side.  The majority of the damage seems to have been to the west of the valley we rode through, which is good for the folks who live in  this valley.

The High Park fire burns in the foothills over Rist Canyon in Roosevelt National Forest near Bellvue, Colo., on June 10, the day the fire made its largest run and 10 years to the day after the Hayman fire had its most destructive run.  Source. 

At the end of Rist Canyon Road, we came to the small town of Bellvue which was threatened but apparently was saved from the High Park fires.  We had us a cold caffeinated drink as the day had turned out to be quite warm.  

 The two main buildings at the junction of Rist Canyon Road and County Rd 23

Coffee break location.

Tim and I turned our rigs south on County Road 23, now heading towards Horsetooth Reservoir.  I was in the lead and spotted what appeared to be an open road over the dam which forms the reservoir.  I turned onto the road on top of the dam, Tim right behind me, and made a quick stop in the middle for pictures.  Luckily, no police were nearby as it is apparently frowned upon, in these post 9-11 days, to park one's vehicle on dams.

Looking towards the North on the dam road

Getting back on County Road 23, we made several stops to take pictures and enjoyed the great views of the water and surrounding hillsides as we cruised southwards towards Loveland.

 Views along Horsetooth Reservoir

photo courtesy of Tim L

The day turned warmer and warmer as we rode along.  Tim led the way once we cleared the Horsetooth Reservoir area and we took back roads, moving closer and closer to the foothills as we moved south towards Longmont where he lives.

We said our goodbys at the junction of 75th Street and CO66, Tim continuing South and me turned East towards the I-25 Super Slab.  CO66 took me to its junction with US85, along which I rode on frontage roads where I could until I got eventually to CO52 which I took towards Hudson and its junction with I-76.  Again taking frontage roads, I cruised south, in the heat, alongside I-76 till I reached 120th Street south of Brighton, CO. (I should have stayed on US85, oh well). 

120th got me eventually to Tower Road and from there it was familiar roads southbound to my home neighborhood.  Roughly 282 Kilometers covered today, in about 7 hrs of saddle time.  A nice sedate ride to close out the long weekend.  Thanks Tim for riding with me today!

Guest Rider: Alaska by Ural - Part 4

Here's part 4 of John Sharp's continuing journey on his Ural GEAR-UP, he's survived Alaska....loved it and last was seen in California.

Click here for part 4:  LINK

Uraling the Mountain Trails near the Ghost Town of Apex, Colorado

I rode out towards Rollinsville, CO to meet up with Dan K, a fellow Uralisti to do some mountain riding today.  I crossed the Denver Metro area using the I-225/I-25/US6 Freeways in moderate traffic.  Once I reached Golden and went past the Colorado School of Mines, it was a short distance to the turnoff for Golden Gate Canyon Road.

Golden Gate Canyon Road is a nicely curving and twisting two lane road that takes one to the Golden Gate Canyon State Park.  Valencia and I twisted our way through sharp curves, sweeping turns and tight hairpin turns.  Note: Be wary of the western side of Guy Hill, the curves are quite tight, don't go in too hot.

 An interesting building I cruised by and had to go back for a closer look.

Not sure why the clock and thermometer but it is eye-catching.

Yep, a bit chilly at this time in the morning in the mountains.

You could feel the cold seeping into your bones in the shady areas of the canyon road.

I got to the meeting point a bit early so I studied the maps of the surrounding area, finding an interesting looking route that would take one to the old ghost mining town of Apex, Colorado.

Dan was a no show, turned out to be an email issue apparently.  I waited a bit and decided to head down towards Black Hawk, CO on CO119 aka the Peak to Peak Highway,  to its junction with the Apex Valley Road.  This road is smoothly packed dirt with a few rocks here and there poking out of the ground.

Soon enough, I was at the remnants of the old mining town of Apex.  I saw the junction sign with Elk Park Road or Road 4-N but did I take that towards Tolland Road......no.  You see, I was missing the company of Dan K who lives in the area and he would have known that going past Apex and onto Road 4-S was not a good idea.  : )

So, blissfully unaware that I was now heading upwards in the wrong direction (oh sure, I could have looked at the map but where's the fun in that?), Valencia and I started steadily climbing a not too roughly covered with rocks trail, a couple of hairpins or so and we were at a small flat area where a shelter building stood, with a nice view of what I believe is Mount Evans in the distance:

 Near the highest point of Road 4-S.

I think that's Mount Evans in the distance.

I wonder what that cool looking promontory off in

the distance is called?

We started heading down the trail below and at first it wasn't too bad....sure, rocks all over the place, rutted areas and loose gravel areas.  Then, things got steeper, the rocks got bigger, the ruts got wider and deeper and then things got "interesting".

 A couple of pictures before the terrain got "interesting"

A closer view of that Promontory.

I was slowly working my way down some really long stretches of steep trail, covered in boulders and loose rocks, thinking perhaps I wasn't on the right trail.  Of course, did I check the map at the top of the ridge?  Nope.

Then I hit what turned out to be somewhat of a trap for myself and Valencia.

 This picture of the "trap" was taken later.  I somehow never spotted the trail

that went straight (I have no idea) and instead went down the very steep 

trail on the left side, ending up at the bottom of the V above.

 Here's the left side of the V that I just came down, managed to 

high-center the rig on a big rock but a bit of reverse and gunning the engine

got me free fortunately.

This is a view of the right side of the V.  Very steep, lots of loose gravel

and deeply rutted on the right side of the trail.

After Valencia's clutch cooled down for a bit, I attempted a run up the right side of the V.  I had, by now, consulted the map and I thought the road would lead me back to civilization.  I also didn't want to go back and retrace my steps on the left side of the V, that was rough stuff.

I made it almost to the stop but then the front wheel caught a big rock, and the front end of the Ural was pushed to the right.  I came to a sudden stop with the rig almost perpendicular to the damn trail, with the nose of the rig pointing slightly upwards.  Not good.

A couple of deep breaths, some reversing, turning the wheel downhill, managed to get the rig turned around and it started careening slightly out of control back down the way I'd just come.  I finally regained control almost at the bottom of the V, it was definitely a bit of a fast ride downwards, shall we say.

Another cool down period.  After some slight panic, I tried my phone and I found a spot where I got 1 bar of signal!  So glad I switched to Verizon!  I got hold of Dan K, gave him my GPS coordinates to give him an idea of where I was.  He confirmed that I really was on the wrong road, duh.  I asked him to give me about an hour, and if I didn't check back in, he'd come and see about effecting a rescue.

The next 30 minutes or so was a series of headlong power charges up the hilly slopes that I'd just come down.  I managed to "loosen" my left side mirror by getting too close to a small tree; and for the first time in my Ural-riding career, popped a wheelie while trying to maintain forward momentum on the trail!  That was kind of scary, didn't realize the Ural had that kind of torque.  One more cool down period while on a sloping portion, and it was more hard charging up the slope!

Suddenly, the sound of the engine/exhaust got very loud.  I looked down and damn if I'd apparently managed to hit a boulder hard enough to knock the left muffler out of the catalytic converter pipe!  Damn.  Found a flat-ish spot and stopped to make repairs.

 The spot I stopped at for the muffler repairs.

Big dent on the muffler, not pictured, but you can see how the 

impact pushed the muffler rearward and away from its connection

point with the tube that contains the catalytic converter material.

I got my tools out, even got to use the gloves that come with the toolkit to handle the still hot muffler.  Loosened the clamps and pounded the muffler back into place.  Easy Peasy.  By this time, the clutch had had a chance to cool down once more and off we went towards the second to last hairpin before the top of the road.  We had to stop here as I lost momentum making the turn, so it was time to cool the clutch once again.

 The last cool down spot for the clutch.

It is from here that I got that shot of the V Trap section of the trail

movie here

The movie shows the last few hundred meters of running up the rocky and steep trail to the top of the road.  Man, I was so glad to make it up there, and with a still working clutch!

I returned to Apex, put the GoPro camera away, and headed back towards the end of Apex Valley Road, soon ending up in a parking lot in nearby Black Hawk, CO.  I called up Dan K and checked in.  We made plans to meet at the Last Shot Cafe located south of Rollinsville, about 13 miles away for me for a late lunch.

Lunch took about two hours as we chatted about work, my recent misadventure and escape, motorcycles and stuff we were planning to do on our respective rigs.  It was a bit after 3:00 PM, after a short rain storm, that we exited the cafe and said our goodbyes.  Dan, pictured below, was having trouble with his rig's electric start so he just showed off by using one small kick to crank the engine!

I used Golden Gate Canyon Road again to return back to the Denver Metro Area.  Traffic remained light, the road was still delightfully twisty but this time I found a spot to take a picture:

A spot on Golden Gate Canyon Road

Temperatures, which had started nice and cool up near Rollinsville, climbed progressively as I descended down into the Denver Metro Area.  It was quite warm as I retraced my route along the freeways, traffic was as crazy as ever but at least it was moving.  I was home by 5:00 PM, no fuss, no muss.  A bit over 130 miles or so of riding and surviving a "bugger" of a goat trail, a good day of riding don't you think?

Book Review: Jack Riepe's Conversations with a Motorcycle

Sitting here, having just finished reading a preview digital version of Jack Riepe's second book:  Conversations with a Motorcycle, I am inundated with the vivid mental imagery painted before my eyes by Jack's writing.

Click here to order yours today!

This book, written to describe his ascent and transformation from a self-described douche to fulfilling the very image he'd imagined possible through the acquisition of a motorcycle is a fast-paced and deeply entertaining read.

Quite the evolution I must say, from callow young man fixated on trying to not be the last virgin in New Jersey at 18 years old.  The trials and tribulations of learning to survive riding a known widow maker of a motorcycle; his coarse friends and their environment forging his development are laid out in front of your eyes, as if you'd been fortunate to sit on the bar stool next to Jack.  I swear I smelled stale cigarette smoke as he wrote of the times he spent in the many bars his motorcycle took him to.

His motorcycle is his companion, it is his worst enemy and best friend in one speeding package.  The motorcycle is his transportation and his destination is the ride.  The women he sought and failed to impress, the ones he won over and then lost, the woman he regained only to lose again are grand reflections of what all males have experienced at one time or another; though for some of us, only in our dreams.

The experience of riding in the elements, at speed, something known only to a motorcycle rider are described in this book and one is reminded of why one rides.  The trials and tribulations of riding are recounted and true riders will chuckle in the shared misery and the shared elation of these experiences.

Remember your "great moments" on your motorcycle?  Perhaps the first close call while riding, or the first night ride in a full moon's light, or maybe finding that special spot where fleetingly, all was right in your world?

Relive those moments as Jack finds them for himself and then refreshes your memory of those moments through his writing.

If you're a regular reader of his moto-blog, Twisted Roads, you'll find echoes of tales told but now with the enriching back story details which make said tales that much more real and engrossing.  Jack also writes the humor column in the monthly publication for BMW Motorcycle Owner's Association where he has a huge following as well.

In sum, the book is Jack and his motorcycle's journey, initially to get laid by trying to assume the rough and dangerous image of a biker, to his eventual piercing of said mythos and the reality behind the illusion. It is, perhaps, a journey all real riders have shared.

If you're a motorcycle rider, aspire to be one, wonder what makes a motorcyclist "tick", or enjoy reading well written motorcycling adventure content....get this book!  It'll be out September 15, 2012 and I can't wait to get my own hard copy of the book!