Being a motorcyclist living in Colorado has lots of positives and only a few negatives. The great roads in the western half of the state are among the strongest positives. Winter and snow on those roads is one of the biggest negatives. April is always a struggle with late storms getting in the way of clear roads and riding. I work for a high tech company with offices in Fort Collins and also Colorado Springs. I actually work in FC but my boss is in the Springs. It was late last month when she called and asked if I could make it down for a meeting. I was in the midst of a big project and told her it wasn't convenient. She was okay with that and decided to postpone the meeting. A couple of days passed and the project came together better than I planned. And the weather looked great for the day of the meeting. I called and told her I could make the trip down if she still wanted to do the meeting. Her first question was "oh, I suppose you want to ride your motorcycle down?" She knows me too well... Traffic in Denver always sucks and is at its worst for morning commutes. Thursday morning dawned clear and beautiful. A bit chilly, but that's what Widders are for. I jumped on my ZX9R at 6 AM and headed down I-25. Traffic in Denver always sucks and is at its worst for morning commutes. I took C470 to avoid downtown and at least have some decent scenery along the foothills. South of Denver, I took US 85 down to Castle Rock. It's a nice two lane highway, but this morning has a fair amount of traffic. It's wanders through relatively open country west of the Interstate, and was a nice change of pace. I stop for coffee at Castle Rock, then jump back on I-25 for the rest of the trip to the Springs. It is a nice stretch of road (for the "slab") and traffic has tapered off nicely. I get into the office about 9:15, ready for work. The two meetings go relatively smoothly, and I'm able to leave around 3:30 for home. No Interstate this time. It's close to 80 degrees, so the cold weather gear goes into the tankbag. I fill up and calculate that I got 50 mpg on the trip down. Most of the time on the interstate was at an indicated 90, so I can't complain.
and even impacts what would normally be a nice ride. County Road 73 is pretty, but heavily populated and congested. In Evergreen, the cutoff to Mount Evans is closed. Squaw Pass Road past Echo Lake is a very nice road, heading up to the cutoff to Mount Evans, one of the "Fourteeners." A Fourteener is one of Colorado's 14,000' peaks. It's a great road, but I'll have to do it later in the year. I head out to I-70 for a brief stint west before catching the US 6 back to CO 119. The fine State of Colorado even posted a warning sign for motorcyclists CO 119, along with a couple of other two lanes, is known locally as the "Peak to Peak." It basically runs between Longs Peak, another Fourteener, and Mount Evans. The section from I-25 north is a great road and one of the most heavily ridden in the state. It is in good shape in most places and is made up mostly of good sweepers and short straights. Visibility is good, too. The road to Blackhawk is choked with people heading up to gamble and is heavily patrolled almost all the time. Once past Blackhawk, it gets nice though. I can cook most places. Open Alpine meadows are flanked with pine forests. Roads in these higher areas, particularly near small towns, are gravelly. At Nederland, 119 heads downhill into Boulder, so I take CO 72 north to stay up in the hills. The road down to Boulder is nice, but will be crowded this time of night. CO 72 climbs out of town into more nice road. All the way to CO 7, where I'll head down, the road is wide two lane with great sweepers, moderate elevation changes, and good visibility. It is still pretty gravelly in spots, so I maintain a moderate pace. At Ward, a turnoff heads down into Left Hand Canyon, another nice leg, but steep and hellaciously sandy when I was on it a week ago. North of Ward, there are lots of tar snakes on the road. Not a problem with the cool temps and my moderate pace, but it can be disastrous if you don't know about it. The fine State of Colorado even posted a warning sign for motorcyclists, but really needs to properly repair the road. At CO 7, I head down to Lyons. The road surface is not as nice, narrower, but twistier and cleaner. I can pick up the pace a bit. Not much traffic, as there aren't many folks living up this stretch of road. As the road descends, the pines thin and are replaced with scrubbier junipers and cottonwoods in the creek bottom that parallels the road. In Lyons, I'm through with the good part of the trip. I'm in the rectilinear part of the state, where roads follow section lines. It's about 40 minutes home, where I pull in just before dark. It's still warm as I doff my gear, grab Nancy (my significant other), and head to our favorite Thai restaurant to put the finish on a pretty good day. |
