Fort Collins, CO
As usual, we headed out of the drive about noon. We were happy to see blue skies after a foggy start to the day especially after the soggy, gray start to our weekend. We spent yesterday afternoon at the movies and while that was fun, we consider movies a Winter pastime. We are done with Winter. We would much rather be riding.
We headed east for a while, roaming country roads and lanes we haven't travelled much since last year. We call this flat landing it. Most people think riding Colorado means mountains. While that is certainly true and we have some of the best mountain rides in the USA, not all our roads are mountainous. Almost the entire eastern side of the state (anything east of I-25) is flat grass, farm and ranch lands with miles and miles of crisscrossing country roads that stretch out straight and easy or creep over low undulating hills when you get closer to the Palmer Divide and New Mexico. Plus, there's a bonus to riding the plains - the view of the Rockies, especially at this time of year is spectacular.
What we started out doing was taking the slow, easy long way over to Thunder Mountain Harley-Davidson. I have been looking for a set of motorcycle sunglasses for my prescription and had pretty much settled on the 7-Eye brand. I wanted to try on a pair with my helmet before ordering them at Sportsrx online. Harley-Davidson dealers that carry 7-Eye and Wiley can process the order if you have a current prescription in hand, but placing the order yourself through Sportsrx will save a few bucks. I saved about $100 bucks. That's about ten tanks of gas for the Harley.Afterwards, along with most of the rest of the motorcycle population in Colorado, we rambled up and down roads aimlessly for hours. We stopped for a coffee break in Platteville where we watched a caravan of classic muscle cars roll by. We ran up on a dirt bike track we didn't know about. That place was humming with dozens of motorcycles. I'm trying to remember what road that was. No luck. Eventually we turned west with the repulsive idea that we had to turn back toward home sometime. We rode to Lyons first, knowing the place would be packed with motorcycles. It was.
Tim - Lyons, CO - talking about a fish in the mural - Tim's other hobby - fishing - has sort of taken a back seat to motorcycle riding - go figger.
Vickie - Lyons, CO - just enjoying the ride and the day
Then we rode north and turned west again for a lazy ride around Carter Lake, north again around another (we call it No Name) lake. In the valley between the lakes we saw several herd of Elk feeding in the grassy areas around homes and mini-ranches. Any time you ride up on a section of highway in Colorado, with cars parked helter skelter along the roadside or where people are milling about - first) use caution, because they are distracted and second) take a harder look. It usually means Elk have been sighted and people are fanatical about photographing the beasts.
We moseyed on home through Masonville and around the south end of Horsetooth Reservoir, fired up the BBQ pit and tilted a couple of beers. Today's ride, reports my numbers man - was 144 lazy, mind-clearing miles. I highly recommend it.
Neat - Shadow Riders! Enjoyed the pictures and the stories! Thanks for sharing.
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