Weekend Rides

August 15, 2010
Colorado, USA

Fort Collins, CO -- Our weekend rides:

SATURDAY - The forecast for Saturday & Sunday called for a cold front that would drop temps below seasonal norms and bring rain. We rolled out of here Saturday about 11am under mostly clear skies. Temps were in the low 70s.

We did not have an agenda or a destination. The idea was to get out and ride. It was either that or yard work. Ha! No contest what would win out there. Doing yard work on a weekend makes Tim break out in a rash. We found ourselves wandering in a southerly direction along Hwy 1. On the outskirts of Boulder we had our towers buzzed by a red MIG. A small airport was having some sort of an air show, possibly associated with a nearby county fair.

Next we headed in a westerly direction toward the Flatirons and the foothills near Golden. Tim said we might as well ride up Lookout Mountain to Buffalo Bill's Grave. OK, says I. We haven't been up that mountain in several years and never on a motorcycle. The climb up Lookout Mountain from Golden is a steep ride with lots of twists and turns and several 15 mph switchbacks. The mountain, which is technically a foothill was used as a lookout by the Ute Indians. The Denver metropolitan area spreads out below the mountain just beyond the city of Golden. The Coors Brewery can be seen from the main viewing platform. The mountain is popular with paragliders, hikers and cyclists. There was also a group of people flying model gliders over one of the ridges.

At the top is Buffalo Bill's Grave, museum, gift shop and a viewing platform overlooking the valley below. By his request, Buffalo Bill was buried on Lookout Mountain in 1917, overlooking the Great Plains and the Rockies. His wife, Louisa is buried by his side.

We spent some time near the grave site picking out points we recognized on the Denver skyline, then roamed around in the gift shop, finally finding our way to the snack bar where we ordered a couple of Duffy's Old-Fashioned Root Beer Floats. We enjoyed the floats at a table on a small deck area. Then we snapped some photos at the overlook and Tim parked the bike near another overlook for another photo op.


The Ride - Lookout Mountain, CO near Buffalo Bill's Grave

Vik - Lookout Mountain, CO near Buffalo Bill's Grave

Tim - Lookout Mountain, CO near Buffalo Bill's Grave

Riding down the mountain on the other side is not as steep. The road winds down to the small town of Genesee. The town is small. Most of the houses are not. Along Hwy 40 (runs parallel to I-70 for a few miles) part of which we did not remember traveling before, we took a quick detour up the hill to the Mother Cabrini Shrine Mother Cabrini was the first American citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. She purchased the land of the shrine in the early 1900s as a summer camp for the children housed in an orphanage in Denver. The history of Mother Cabrini and the development of the land is quite interesting. It remains a popular tourist attraction as well as a pilgrimage destination for many. There are several chapels, a rose garden and a grotto as well as a pathway of 373 steps that lead to the 22 foot Sacred Heart of Jesus statue that can be seen from I-70 and I-40 from miles away.

Our visit to the shrine was a ride-by. We continued on Hwy 40 for short while, then followed the road that runs beside Red Rocks and down into Morrison where we rode by just ahead of the traffic leaving Bandimere Speedway. In no particular hurry, we ambled our way home through the northern suburbs of Denver before riding the country lanes home. The temp of the day never exceeded 81 degrees. We could see storms over the mountains, but they did not make it to Fort Collins. We put the perfect finish on the day with a beer or two or three and a fire in the chiminea on the patio.

A slide show of today's ride (60 photos):

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SUNDAY - Sunday afternoon, we rode out after noon - again, with no particular destination in mind. We rode out hungry so the first stop was for a McDonald's $1 burger and fries in a small town on the eastern plains called Eaton. Then we rode north for a while on Hwy 85 before circling back to another small town called Johnstown where we stopped for a $1 ice cream cone at yet another McDonald's.

Vik - No more pics - let's ride

All we did was ride and eat today. After tucking The Ride away for the day, we delivered a birthday gift to the neighbor kid. Then, we broke out the beer and decided we would try to get some catfish blackened on the grill before the clouds gave us rain. Mission accomplished. Desert was compliments of the birthday boy.

Tim & Vik - Sunday Ride Smiles