Sure, that'll be fun! (says the noob)
And thus we started out on our weekend adventure on Sunday afternoon. Saturday had been filled with removing the rear tire of Bob's bike, getting the flat repaired, and reinstalling the wheel (and adjusting the chain tension... about 4 times.) It was fun to turn wrenches again, but ... its not what I really want to do with my spare time.
[pre-ride check]Sunday looked like a real wash out but finally around 2pm, the weather looked clear enough for a ride. We decided to go south because ... the weather looked better and we'd never ridden those roads before.
So off we go, and its cold. Like mid-50's. I'm cold before we even get 15 miles down the road for the turn off for Golden Gate Park. OK, I'll warm up as we go to lower elevations. I worry that Bob will be cold in his mesh jacket, but he's not complaining so I don't worry about it. Besides, there's some major riding to do.
[the route]
This is a wonderful road. The scenery, what I saw of it, is spectacular. And the glimpses of the plains were amazing. The road is moderately twisty with some real gotchas. [add g-map clip] Our friend Kevin is a wonderful front rider; he's extremely smooth and on his huge Harley, he made the gnarliest turns look like a piece of cake. At the same time, he carefully slowed to good entrance speeds which gave me (us) plenty of time to go even slower - the signs that say 15 mph and show a U-shape turn really mean it. OK, I'll admit that there were a few turns where I'm going at a snail's pace as I'm making a hard right turn AND going downhill (mentally screaming, SLOW - LOOK [sh*t! where the h*LL is this curve going,I keep turning my head further and further ] - NOW PRESS, PRESS, PRESS, thank you for engine braking - PRESS PRESS, ok, you're good). And then, mmm, how would I do that turn better next time?
As we descended towards Golden, I kept wondering when it would warm up. In fact, the cloud bottom kept lowering with us. At once point I could feel mashed bits of hail ping my helmet and jacket and could see flashes in the distance below us. It turns out that a few funnel clouds were spotted about the same time as our ride on the plains.
Someday I'll figure out how to mount a camera onto the bike. Just imagine being completely surrounded by walls of sandstone and then suddenly you are spit out onto a seemingly perfectly flat surface. Welcome to Golden. It suddenly occurs to me that I have to ride north on RT 93 - the connector route between Golden and Boulder - at some insane speed limit.
I tell our front runner to pull over so I can get more gear on. The clouds are barely above us at 6500 feet, the winds are starting to kick up, spits of rain are pinging us, and I have a mesh jacket on. I offer my rain jacket to Bob, thinking he's only got mesh on too and knowing he gets cold faster than I do. He, very intelligently, had installed his liner. Huh, fine, I pull on my rain gear under my main jacket and immediately feel warmer.
Off we go towards Boulder and Rt 72, Coal Creek Canyon. Did I mention that I've never ridden above 60mph and then only momentarily on the only paved straight-away on our local highway? And the speed limit here is ... 65 (ok, some areas are 45, but do think that's what folks are driving? ha! So... off we go towards Boulder. Its a blast. I feel really solid, no shimmying, no whining of engine, gusts are no problem.
We turn back to the west on RT 72 and can see virga and sheets of rain cloaking the mountains ahead of us. We're just waiting to be soaked and surprisingly most of the trip upward is clear.
Again, lots of smooth curves with a few special twisties thrown in; I can see why this is a favorite with many riders. Near the top we finally hit some weather - slight rain and really strong gusts, enough to slow us down by 5-10mph.
The ride back through Ned is like a triumph; I think we're the last bikes for the day, especially after the storm had come through. To celebrate, about a mile from our house, I stop at an intersection to let a zoomer go by, and tip over. [Thank you Erica for your help!] sigh. still much to learn about reverse sloped roads. I can't wait to lower the bike a little more. To prove to myself that all is OK, we do another lap and go through the same intersection - all is fine. All in all, yes, this is for me, the most challenging ride yet, and in many ways the most fun. We're looking forward to doing Trail Ridge Road across the Divide through Rocky Mountain National Park - just hoping that the road stays clear of snow and ice. It is mid-June after all!
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