Colorado, USA
Fort Collins, CO -- Our weather right now is darn near perfect for riding. What I mean by that is temps are mild and we are dry. When we rolled out of the driveway around noon we were thinking - mountain ride!
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That changed as soon as we had a look at the horizon. Smoke was boiling up over the ridge near the lakes we rode around just yesterday. It took a few minutes to pinpoint the location but the fire was just north and west of Carter Lake. That's about eight miles west of Loveland, CO. There are two other lakes in that area - Pinewood and Flat Irons. We passed on riding around them yesterday. That's too bad because that area will never look the same again. In my last post I pointed out how dry the area was in a photo near Carter Lake.Low humidity, no rain, lots of dry brush and timber and high winds all contributed to the fire danger. Our area has been under a fire ban for several days now. It is rumored the fire was started by someone who chose to ignore the fire ban. Not good. Two canyon fires near Boulder destroyed 169 homes, many outbuildings and scorched near 7000 acres last week.
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Reservoir Road Firea.jpg)
Reservoir Road Firea.jpg)
Reservoir Road Fire near Loveland, COWe rode some closer but not wanting to get caught up in the looky-loo traffic we backed off and travelled a different road to observe from a greater distance. Much of this fire was roaring on private land initially, rugged and not easily accessed. It was too hot to get the hot shot people in there. Multiple slurry planes and helicopters were working the fire. They didn't have to go far for water as the reservoirs were in the middle of the burn area. Still, it is scary to see them fly into smoke engulfing the mountainous terrain. The size of the fire probably tripled in size in the short time we were out. Update: The fire has destroyed about 750 acres.
It wasn't long before I noticed my eyes were burning, so even though it didn't seem like it - the smoke had travelled down to lower elevations. We moseyed on home to the patio and called it a day.
Vik - Beer:30
Tim - Beer:30
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