Mini Road Trip #2 - Day 3 - Tejon Street Bike Fest and More

June 26, 2011
Colorado, USA

Day 3 of 3 - Sunday - Tejon Street Bike Fest

After another restful night at our charming B&B, we rose a little earlier and packed The Ride for the trip home by way of Tejon Bike Fest in Colorado Springs. That accomplished, we sat on a bench in front of the B&B with a cup of coffee enjoying the view of the town and the mountains beyond on what was a beautiful, sunny morning. We were eager to ride and any other time, we would have already been rolling but no way were we leaving before breakfast. Ha!

Breakfast today was croissant french toast, stuffed with cream cheese and smothered with a caramelized banana sauce, egg bake (sort of like quiche only better) with a southwestern flair today and a fresh fruit cup. Oh my goodness! Again, no pics (didn't even think of the camera before lifting a fork.) Do you ever have a meal that's so delicious, it makes you wonder if you could get away with kidnapping and keeping the cook? Well, I was sore tempted to test that very idea with our host and most excellent cook, Kathy. Ha! We found ourselves dining with a couple from Oregon, the woman from Oklahoma setting up the casino, the director of the play, Calamity Jane, Lysa Fox and much to our delight one of the stars (and Tim's favorite) of the play, Rebecca Myers. Once again, we lingered over breakfast and coffee enjoying the company of such a diverse group.

After saying goodbye to our hosts, we rode out of Cripple Creek and took the short ride over to Victor. We love the history and the architecture of Victor, but the winter was not kind to the roads in the area, especially the streets of town. What a rutted, dusty, gravely, bumpy mess they were - hardly any pavement left. Nothing much appeared to be open, so we rode in and out of Victor in a matter of minutes and continued on our way to Colorado Springs.

The ride down the scenic, but busy canyon on Hwy 24 from Woodland Park to the Springs went well. Lots of bikers were merging in all along the way. The spectacular weather must have contributed to the number of motorcycles present at the Tejon Street Bike Fest this year. The streets were lined solid with motorcycles and parking was hard to find. Knowing we would likely not be staying the whole day, we finally settled on a quiet spot beside a bank with a few parking spots on the side of the building about half a block from all the action. We had full sun, no wind and temps in the high 80s or perhaps low 90s. Hot! (Don't laugh, Texas.) We strolled the streets, looking at bikes, people watching, checked out the food vendors and the street vendors. The beer garden was already doing a brisk business and all the bars were overflowing with people hanging off balconies all along the street. One of the bands scheduled to entertain was just getting started.

Tejon Street Bike Fest - Pikes Peak in the background

Tejon Street Bike Fest

Tejon Street Bike Fest

Tejon Street Bike Fest - just a sampling of the bikes that lined the streets of downtown Colorado Springs today

The best thing about Tejon Bike Fest is people/bike watching. Lots of patchers walked the streets today. There is always a constant flow of bikes cruising the main drag. One of the fun things to watch was John Deere farmer/biker guy making the rounds of the street again and again. At least one time through, he had picked up a female passenger, probably not his last hitchhiker of the day. At one point, we heard a distinct rumble and along with the rest of the crowd, turned to watch four custom Harleys roll in. They were all very nice rides, but that is not what makes them worth mentioning. No, it was definitely the passengers on the rides that turned heads all along the street. We were standing directly across from the place they chose to park. Perched on the fender (I said fender) of each of the rides was a scantily clad woman with a rag (I said rag - as in 12x12 piece of terry cloth) under their bare (I said bare - as in buck-naked) butts. Think baby-doll pajamas/hot pants/g-string meets Harley. Good grief! What a spectacle, that had some wagging their heads, some dropping their jaws and some grinning from ear-to-ear. LOL! Sorry - no pics of bare butts here. Ha!

Tim - Tejon Street Bike Fest

Vik - Tejon Street Bike Fest

Before long, we were both thinking there is not much different from last year's Bike Fest. Tim said, let's get the heck out of here and ride. He did not get argument from me. We rode west and up... traveling home through Deckers, pretty much the way we had ridden Friday. We stopped once again at the overlook at Long Scraggy Peak, talked to a couple from Idaho who had tried to ride Pikes Peak today but found it was closed for a race. This was their first time along the Deckers route and they were enjoying it. We explained about the Hayman burn area and pointed out Long Scraggy Peak.

As we neared home, we saw smoke billowing out of the forest west of Boulder/Longmont. This turned out to be yet another forest fire in Four Mile Canyon. We hoped they would get this one contained quickly.

This road trip was 431 miles and three days of perfect weather and fun...

Slide show of the day's ride (85 photos):