High Country Independence Ride

July 5, 2010
Colorado, USA

Fort Collins, CO -- It rained through the wee hours of the morning, so we were hoping, for once, the weather man would get it right. Blue skies and mild temps - that's what the weather man predicted. That was the sight out the window as we rose early this morning, day three of Independence weekend eager to get out and ride!

Riding out with temps in the low 50s had us pulling on leather jackets. The general idea was to eventually ride west and up in elevation today. Mild down here can be a bit chilly up there.

Enjoying the brisk morning ride, we rode for about an hour before stopping in the small town of Longmont at Aunt Alice's Kitchen for breakfast. Aunt Alice's is cafe style dining although it's a bit larger than a typical cafe. The decor is homey and somewhat dated, but nobody, including ourselves seems to mind. It is always packed with the locals and seniors and today was no exception. There was a good crowd present but we were seated immediately in a booth near the back and close to where the old farts club was holding court. This is our affectionate name for any group that has a designated table in any eating establishment - you know the ones I'm talking about, they sit with a proprietary air, observe all intrusions into their space warily, rarely look at menus and call the waitresses by their first names. We paid homage with a nod and a smile and ordered breakfast (chicken fried steak, hash browns and eggs for Tim, eggs and hash browns for me, pancakes for both of us and plenty of coffee). It was on the table in record time, hot, presented well with generous portions and tasty. The wait staff is friendly and efficient.

With such a good start to our day, we settled our new found plumpness on The Ride and steered it toward Denver. Tim wanted to check out a cycle gear shop. We found the shop, but they were closed for the holiday. We had figured as much, but at least we know where it is now.

Now, for the fun part. Before long we were riding in a westerly direction, passing through the small mountain towns of Morrison, Idledale, Kittredge and Evergreen, all bustling with post-holiday activity. Many Independence Day celebrations and fireworks shows were postponed yesterday because of heavy rains and rescheduled for today. We rode on through, remarking how many people were out and about. Both Morrison and Evergreen would be packed with motorcycles later in the day. I guarantee it. Bear Creek Canyon (Hwy 74) is always a fun, fair weather ride, twisting and turning under towering stone walls. It can be treacherous under other conditions. Our objective, since we were in the neighborhood, was to ride Mount Evans for the first time this year. The last time we visited Mount Evans was last Fall just as the Aspen were turning and the hills were awash with the unique color of Aspen gold. We rode the 2008 Heritage past clumps of new fallen snow that weekend.

The Mount Evans, (a fourteener, elevation 14,240) ride has two parts. You can ride all the way to the summit on the highest paved road in North America or ride on by past lovely Echo Lake and eventually down into Idaho Springs. One look at the crowd of cars, and motorcycles waiting to make the trip to the summit and we chose the latter route. We'll ride on up another time, on a weekday, when the road is less crowded. Echo Lake is usually a stop for us, but not today - too many people. Continuing along and mostly down, down, down scenic Hwy 103 we arrived to find Idaho Springs literally swarming with tourists. This is usually a stop for us as well, but we filled the tank with gas on the edge of town, stretched our legs and got the heck out of there! I guess we were feeling a bit anti-social today.

Peak-to-Peak was the question? Absolutely! The answer.

For the next leg of our journey, we would ride a couple of miles on I-70, temporarily breaking one of our Colorado riding rules. Never, ever, ever, ever, ride eastbound on I-70 on the back end of a holiday. True to form, the traffic was stacked up near the merge coming up on the Twin Tunnel. We could not get off of I-70 quick enough and were happy to see the sign for the Central City Parkway.

Central City Parkway is approximately 8.5 miles of pure riding pleasure. The road is a four lane and travels up in elevation fairly quick. It dumps you out right smack in the heart of the small, historic gambling town of Central City. The Central City/Blackhawk area is busy because of the casinos but the architecture and evidence of mining history is interesting as well. The hills and steep roads are dotted with structures (house, mines, mine tailings, businesses) that date back to the mid-to-late 1800s. We always think we will stop and put a quarter in the slot, but we never do. The roads have a stronger pull for us whether driving or riding. We figure one of these days we'll get stuck there and maybe - just maybe. Ha!

We rode part of the Peak-to-Peak on HOG Million Mile Monday in late June in short sleeve t-shirts. Today, even though we rode under sunny skies, we were comfortable in leather jackets.

The Peak-to-Peak Highway, a designated scenic by-way, basically runs between Blackhawk/Central City and Estes Park, CO. Along about 55 miles, you will travel canyons, mountain passes, through forests and high mountain valleys from I-70 to Hwy 119 to Hwy 72 and finally along Hwy 7. There are several rustic roadside restaurants and lodges along the way as well as small towns, Rollinsville, Ferncliff, Allenspark, Nederland, Meeker Park, all with unique histories. There are sights to see, towering mountains (Mount Meeker, the Twin Sisters, Longs Peak), Lily Lake and other lakes, wildlife, the Old Rock Church (aka Saint Catherine's Church) and did I mention mountains? Also, there are enough twisties, curves, inclines and descents to keep it interesting.

OK, enough with the travel log... Nederland is one of our favorite stops along this route. Today, it was just too crowded so we rode on, stopping once at the Mount Meeker pull off and again at the old rock church to stretch our legs and for a photo op. We met a nice man at the old rock church who offered to take our photo. He commented on The Ride and said he was sorry he didn't ride his motorcycle up there today.

The Ride - Peak-to-Peak - Mount Meeker

The Old Rock Church aka Saint Catherine's

The rest of the ride was down from Estes Park into the small town of Lyons, where we finally stopped and stripped off our leather jackets. Eventually we found our way home via a lazy, no rush route along country lanes we travel often.

After cleaning 275 miles of road grime off, we put a nice polish on the weekend with a great meal at Ruby Tuesdays and a couple of margaritas.

It took approximately 625 flag-flying miles and three days to celebrate 234 years of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness otherwise known as Independence - Harley-style. We had a blast doing it!

Along the way we passed 6000 miles on the odometer of The New Ride... before it is three months old... lots more riding to do this summer... stay tuned.

Photo slide show follow (86 pics). Again, my apologies for the quality of some of the pics. I didn't realize quick enough my trusty little Canon Power Shot camera was taking some of its last photos this weekend...