Windy Saturday Canyon Ride

April 3, 2011
Colorado, USA

The weather man's forecast called for unseasonably high temps for today. He said we could hit the upper 70s, maybe even 80s with moderate winds. We were just happy to see mostly blue skies and temps climbing out of the 60s. We rolled out of the drive about 11 am and took a long, leisurely ride coming in to Johnson's Corner Truck Stop on I-25 from the back side just in time for a coffee break and a cinnamon roll. The day was warming nicely and so far the winds were not a problem. That didn't last long. By the time we walked out of the truck stop, the winds had kicked up enough to make a big fat liar out of the weather man. It is possible the winds contributed to a motorcycle accident we saw along I-25 not long after leaving the truck stop. We saw the bike and a highway patrol but not the rider so hopefully he is somewhere recovering from what appeared to be a nasty spill down a grassy enbankment.

We spent a good bit of our afternoon trying to find a road not bedeviled by the winds. The idea was to travel south, but the further south we rode, the worse the winds. So, we turned north and like a good many other riders, we hugged the foothills. About mid-afternoon, we returned to the house to shed leathers and switch to lighter jackets. We were not done riding. We finally decided to ride a canyon, Buckhorn Canyon to be exact (west of Horsetooth Reservoir and Masonville). We do not normally ride the canyons this early, mostly because of lingering snow pack, icy runoff and gravel. It has been an abnormally dry winter on the front range (I-25 corridor) of Colorado. While the mountains have had excessive snow, we've had little snow and no rain on the plains. Rather, we've had Chinook winds feeding a rash of wild fires in the area in recent weeks. There was some gravel on the road but otherwise the ride through the canyon was nice and easy and we were out of the wind.

We stopped once at Stove Prairie School for a cup of thermos coffee. It isn't unusual to see a knot of motorcycles pulled over here as it is a common stop for bikers who know the canyons. At this point one decides to finish riding Buckhorn Road, now Stove Prairie Road or turn into Rist Canyon. Stove Prairie Road (Hwy 27) if traveled to its end, lets out on Hwy 14 that follows the Poudre River. This was our choice today. The Poudre (pooder) is still running very low. It will be only a few weeks before it is raging with snow melt run off from the mountains. The canyons were busy today with lots of people riding, driving, bicycling, fishing, climbing, hiking and more -- all of us eager to take full advantage of the first really warm day of Spring.

After riding the canyons, we were still reluctant to call it a day so we rode the country lanes in the area, stopped for an A&W root beer and ice cream cone, and rode some more. We saw smoke from a large wild fire along the eastern horizon. That fire was not there this morning. We rolled into the drive about 5 pm, wind-blown, with sunburned noses, satisfied with spending the whole afternoon out on The Ride. Even a windy ride beats house work and lawn work and other domestic stuff. I guess there's time enough for that tomorrow as there is snow and rain in the forecast. The liar of a weather man will probably get that right - ha!

Here is a slide show (47 photos) of our ride today:

UPDATE: Sunday afternoon. No ride today... too windy, too cold, we have snow and rain. Saturday night I smelled smoke. We found out today that the Buckhorn (that's one of the canyons we rode Saturday afternoon) went up in smoke last night. It is called the Crystal Mountain Fire. it is about 15 miles west of Fort Collins. About 4500 acres and 15 homes are lost so far. Snow and rain have helped some but the fire is not yet contained. The blasted winds are not helping in that regard.