Colorado, USA
All I wanted for Mother's Day was a sunburn, helmet head and weather nice enough for a long ride. Good Ol' Tim, The Ride and Mother Nature delivered on all counts!First thing you do on Mother's Day is call your Mom. So, after a great chat with my Mom (aka Nezzie), I was ready to hit the road with Tim for a Mother's Day Ride. Man, was I happy to ride out at 9 am under blue skies in a light denim jacket (no leathers, no chaps, no long underwear).
Tim ready to ride Mother's Day 2011
We didn't ride far before deciding where to have breakfast. We stopped in Loveland at Fatso's Diner for the breakfast special. Biscuits and gravy for $2.99. It was warm enough to sit on the patio!
Tim Fatso's Diner, Mother's Day 2011
Vik having coffee on the patio at Fatso's Diner, Mother's Day 2011Like I said, we had a loose plan to ride south, maybe to the Springs (Colorado Springs), avoid major highways and soak up as much of the day as possible. We found ourselves riding up on the back side of Morrison (which was already busy with motorcycles and other toys lining the crowded streets) along Hog Back Road (Hwy 93) admiring Red Rocks Park along the way. We travelled scenic Bear Creek Canyon Road (Hwy 74) through the small (and bustling) mountain towns of Idledale, Kittredge and Evergreen (bikes everywhere here as well), In Conifer, we stopped for a stretch of the leg and a cup of thermos coffee at a convenience store. Next up was a short jaunt on Hwy 285 before turning south at Pine Junction on South Platte River Road (Hwy 67). There was smoke at the turnoff and we thought there might be a fire of some sort in the Bailey/Crow Hill area (northwest of our location). We rode out of the smoke soon enough and eventually the traffic thinned.
We always stop at the Long Scraggy Peak Scenic overlook. It's just a pleasant place to stop for a stretch and a cup of thermos coffee and more often than not, interesting conversation. Today was no exception. We met a nice couple who rode up on what he called a Road King Custom (an 05 RK nicely outfitted with a fairing and other touring accessories). Tim peeled out of his jacket in Conifer. I made a similar wardrobe adjustment at this stop.
Vik - Long Scraggy Peak OverlookThis road winds through the communities of Deckers, Pine and the old resort town of Buffalo Creek, established in the late 1800s and reportedly destroyed by fire several times. With that said, the road also winds alongside the Platte River (Gold Medal fishing waters) through the Hayman Burn area. Colorado's largest wildfire destroyed over 138,000 acres in June/July 2002. It took almost a month for firefighters to contain the fire. We count ourselves lucky to have seen the area prior to the fire that destroyed over 130 homes and decimated what was once a lovely forest. Still the route is a favorite with us and many others if the parking lots of the small restaurants in both Pine and Deckers are any sign of popularity. Both were overflowing with primarily motorcycles.
We travelled on and soon arrived in Woodland Park. Here again, the streets were lined with motorcycles and weekend tourists. We remember (back in the 1980s) when Woodland Park was a sleepy little town. We stayed in peaceful cabins here and used Woodland Park as our base camp when we travelled up from Texas on vacation. That was before Cripple Creek turned into a gambling town. Suffice it to say, both towns defy the descriptive term sleepy these days.
This is a view of still snowy Pikes Peak as we rolled into Woodland Park.Hwy 24 between Woodland Park and Colorado Springs is another great ride through a canyon. It was such a gorgeous day, we decided the perfect idea for lunch would be a picnic in the park. And what better park than one of our favorites? We chose Popeye's Fried Chicken takeout and a picnic table at Bancroft Park in Old Colorado City. It's a small park with an old log cabin, a few historical markers and, great access to the shops of the area. We like to sit for a spell, have a bite to eat and watch the traffic and people go by.
Vik at Bancroft Park in Old Colorado City, working on that sunburn and helmet head and lovin' every minute of it.Although we were in no particular hurry, a look at the time indicated we'd better get started on the trip back home. Neither one of us could summon enough interest to ride the interstate (I-25) or go near Denver (Hwy 83) so we turned around and headed back the way we came, deviating only after passing through Morrison again. The roads home were Hwy 93 through Golden, jogging over to Hwy 287 (northern suburbs of Denver), rambling in finally via Road #7 about dark-thirty (9 pm). My Mother's Day Sunburn and Helmet Head Ride lasted 12 hours and covered over 350 miles. What a great day!
The Ride at Long Scraggy Peak Scenic Overlook on the way down.
The Ride at Scenic Overlook with Long Scraggy Peak in the background.
Hole in the sky sunset as we were nearing home.The following is a slide show of the day (105 photos):
Beautiful photos, what a lovely riding area! I think it would take me a while to get used to riding on the wrong side of the road though!!! I liked the look of that meal "biscuits and gravy", that's a hot meal right? We don't have anything like that here, our biscuits are small bites like cheese and biscuits, tea and biscuits etc., I would love to eat at an American diner! Best wishes.
ReplyDeleteYep - we would have trouble riding on the wrong side of the road in your neck of the woods, too... ha!
ReplyDeleteBiscuits and gravy = our biscuits are more soft white bread (and hardly bite-size) and the gravy is a heavy white sauce flavored with pork sausage...this particular gravy has both ground and slice pork... yum! Served hot! it's a good way to start the day.
Riding season is here (hopefully we've seen the last snow) and we're ready to hit the road...
HOPE YOU ARE RIDING, TOO - RIDE SAFE!