Spring is here ride

March 20, 2011
Colorado, USA

Spring arrives sometime this evening so the experts say, but it is close enough to call today's outing a Spring is here ride.

We rode about 120 miles or so yesterday. We finished up today's ride at just over 130 miles. The Ride's odometer rolled over 16,500 miles today, a month and a few days shy of its first birthday. More clouds hovered in hazy skies today and the winds were up. At one point we both had itchy, burning eyes. We would find out later that the haze was actually smoke from a wildfire burning in a canyon near Boulder. With way below average snowfall and minimal rainfall during the winter months, it is extremely dry in northern Colorado as well as the rest of the front range (running along the I-25 corridor). Fire danger is high.

Smoke haze in the foothills

Today we travelled west and south, around the south end of Horsetooth Reservoir and another small lake. We stopped and wandered through High Country H-D and admired the new bikes on the showroom floor. Otherwise, this was a mostly ride until our butts complained afternoon, but it's nothing a beer at the end of the day has not cured.

Rounding a corner near Chasteen Grove

Little canyon near Chasteen Grove - Loveland, CO

Peacocks along the side of the road

Obligatory mountain shot