Gett'in out for a bit of twisty road! :)

Finally it's starting to get some good riding weather, last Sunday it was 70 degrees F and sunny! Yes, it was also WINDY, that's just normal for spring in Southern Colorado, headed out to ride CO 50W thru the Big Horn Sheep Canyon and to stop at a good little cafe at the hamlet of Texas Creek, CO.  The Canyon rides right next to the Arkansas River and it a really beautiful ride, heading west outside of Canon City, (pronounced Canyon), CO. There's lot's of pull off's due to it's being a BIG rafting river but most of them are dirt so it's not real safe for a motorcycle!!

The photo's below are at 5 points pull off and campground, bad thing is that it's a "CO. State" area and they charge to use the picnic tables but I only used it for a rest room stop and a photo op so I just breezed thru. I don't mind the cost, IF, I'm having a picnic lunch with Jo but I ain't paying $7 to use a porta-potty, jmho!!

This is the picnic grounds and right on the River, across the highway is the campground.

It's a nice place to lunch, I've never been to the campground, I passed this on the way to TX. Creek and the cafe, only to find, their "closing" it down again, RATS! :(  Just not enough business to keep it open, sadly, it's had quite a few owners over the years. Hopefully someone will give it a go again soon! Did a turn around and headed back to Canon City and then took Hwy. 115 into Florence, CO., hoping to stop at a favorite little diner, called the Rosebud Cafe but being Easter Sunday it was closed. Had to settle for a Carl's Jr. but the hamburger was good and the mike shake better! After the munch, I headed back home via CO. 115N back into the Springs. Gassed up and headed for the barn, 150 miles round trip and great day in the So. Colorado Sunshine!! :)

WINTER IS THE PITTS!!!

Well for most of the winter we've been able to get out for at least a "battery charging" run but since Thursday last week all it's done is SNOW!!  Now we've got more snow tonight, and then Sat. thru Monday, ARRUGH!! :(  With the old style water battries you could get 2 or 3 weeks and the bike would still start but with these new fangle gel battries, I have no idea if the Sporty is going to start up when the snow finally melts and the roads clear.

It's been pretty dull around here, not being able to at least get in a short ride but you really need to get the scoot up to "highway" speed for a couple of hours to actually do any real battery charging!  That's the one BAD thing about having the bike in a heated storage area, there's no electrical plug so you could run a trickle charger to keep the battery up, BUMMER!! Oh well, we might be putting out $100 for a new battery if Mother Nature doesn't give us a break! Awaiting our income tax refunds so we can get upgraded suspension front and rear and a new seat, sure will be a improvement over the stock stuff!  Hope you get to ride, put in a few extra miles for us!!! :)

A couple of warmer days

This week has had a couple of warmer days so I got to take the Sporty out and do a couple of "Battery Charge" runs, in the middle of lot's of COLD, snowy days so far her in Jan.  Sunday the wife and I just hauled down South on I-25 to Colorado City and had tested out the pulled pork BBQ at Obies, BBQ and Bar. It's a nice set up with the cafe on one side and the bar on the other, so since we don't drink booze we enjoyed the 50's style diner and enjoyed a cold root beer and some decent BBQ! :) Tuesday was EXCELLENT, weather wise, close to 70 degrees (F) with little breeze and lot's of sun so I put on 150 miles and just enjoyed myself! :)

Weds. was fun too but the weather wasn't near as good, 50 F, partly sunny and VERY WINDY! Still the fun part was getting in a ride with my best friend Ed Wing. He's gota sweet Kawi Vulcan cruiser that looks like a Road Glide but it's only 900cc's so we are pretty compatiable on our 883 Sporty. We took the backroads behind the Pueblo Resivour and LOL, had to hold on for dear life as the WIND was kick'in hard! Stopped for a burger in Florence and then rode back to the Springs. He doesn't ride a lot anymore, in the old days we rode almost every weekend. Still it felt great to ride with him again, hopefully he'll decide to get out more often as the weather warms up! :)

My friend Ed Wing , his wife Diane and their Vulcan Cruiser! :)

Today is cloudy and chilly and their talking that damn 4-letter word, SNOW for Friday late into Saturday so it's not look'in like we will be able to ride for several days. Feb. and March aren't good weather months in So. Colorado but hopefully we can get in some runs to keep the battey alive and kick'in, LOL!! Hope your getting, "On the Road"! :)

10,000 miles of SMILES!

The weather has been the pitts lately but we got break last Sunday and put on 153 miles in mostly Sunny and 50 degree we finally managed to get the odometer to click over to 10,000 miles! Not a lot for some but it's a good total for the 1st. year and all the miles were, "double up" on our 2014 H-D 883 Sportster Super Low! Since we don't have a lot of income alot of our rides are 100-150 miles in length so it's not easy to get 10,000 in 12 months, (actually 11 months!).  We've found we need to upgrade some things, ie: 1 inch longer shocks with heavier springs, progressive hd fork springs, the H-D Sporster Touring Seat and some smaller items.

Just those 3 items are about $700 dollars and that's not including the "labor" to have them installed, OUCH. Oh well we will work on getting them on as soon as we can! :)  I'd love to add a "oil cooler" and forward controls but that's another $500 dollars+ labor so it's gona take us 2 to 3 years to get the Sporty upgraded like we want.  LOL, we really need to hit a Lotto or even the Colorado Cash5 ($20,000) but even though we PLAY, I don't see it coming our way, RATS! ;)  Sure hope this weather get's a bit better soon, we need to get a new rear tire put on so we can keep adding the miles of smiles! :)

Crazy Winter Weather and leaving HOG

Well yesterday, (Tuesday), I put on 106 miles of interstate and highway for a "battery charge run" in the 50's (F) with a lot of sunshine.  Today it started out with "freezing drizzle" and now is lightly snowing, arrugh! :(  We've had a LOT of quick snow stroms for the new year and very few days decent enough to ride semi-comforably so far!  I rode what we call the Loop Run, South on I-25 to Pueblo, then West to Hwy. 115 N and the tiny hamlet of Penrose, and head back to Colorado Springs.

This gives us 80% riding time at 60 to 75 mph. so it's a good battery charge run of which I try to accomplish a minimum of once every two weeks. We don't have an eletrical source we can plug in a trickle charger to at the storeage area so we NEED the weather to give us a "two day clearing" and that get's a bit dicey from Dec. to April.  Usually we can get a couple of days a month or so that can be ridden if I BUNDLE UP, sadly can't afford "electric gear" (vest, chaps, gloves, etc.) so I have to turn into a winter mummy with LOTS of layers.  We need 45 degrees (F) and sunny and that's usually max temp in Jan. and Feb. here in Southern CO.

It sure did feel good to get out on the scoot and LOL, I did get a lot of looks from the drivers on the Interstate! ;)  Well Midnight, (our H-D Sporty) is now tucked back into the "heated" storage area untill I can get a weather break and let her out of the barn again! :)   We've decided to "not" renew our national and local chapter Harley Owners Group (HOG) membership. We are very low income (under $35,000 a year) and HOG is really for folks with "MONEY" to go to all the rallies and event's so that's reason #1. we  are not staying with HOG. Pikes Peak HOG chapter #405 is a real good bunch of people but, we don't really care for "Group Riding", we like to ride our speed, stop when WE want and since we are riding "2 up" on 883 Sportster, we can't stay as comfortable as long as the "Glide" riders, (LOL, we call them Mobile Couches).  So weighing all the facts we are going "Independent".  We really enjoy riding a Harley-Davidson but HOG just isn't for us, jmho, ymmv. Stay Warm, Ride when you can! :)