Harley-Davidson Worldwide RIDE weekend!

We rode with a group out of Pikes Peak H-D, here in Colorado Springs on a "Conservation Ride" on Saturday! For $10, H-D corporate is buying "trees" to plant to maintain forest areas so we payed up and go a nice 100 mile ride, free pancake breakfast and then their was a "live" band and a after party back at the dealership after the ride!

Rest stop for the group in Salida, CO. The flag is on a local eatery!

The BAND was jam'in! :)

Just a view from our chairs in the shade!

On Sunday we added to our "Worldwide RIDE" mileage count by putting on 180 miles in the Southern CO. mountains. We headed down  to Florence to pick up CO. Hwy. 67 S. and then headed west on CO. Hwy. 69 W. on some excellent twisty roads over "Hardscrabble Pass" and into the hamlet of Westcliffe, CO. for one of the best "mountain views" you'll see and a great plate of "Chili-cheese fries" at the cafe inside the local bowling alley/Meeting hall!

This is at the end of the main drag in Westcliffe, CO. just across from the cafe, the view is almost 180 degree peaks of the San Juan Mountain Range! After lunch we headed back South on CO. Hwy. 69 (not 96!!) to Texas Creek and CO. Hwy. 50 E. for a great run through the "Big Horn Sheep Canyon" along the fast flowing Arkansas River. As we glided on the road, we watched rafters challenging the river, personally I'd rather be on the road as the water is bit mean looking this year! :O Into Canon City and back to CO. Hwy. 115 N. into Colorado Springs and home and NO RAIN!!! YEA!! We did a total of 300 miles to add to the Harley-Davidson Worldwide RIDE total for the USA riders, it was excellent ! :)

Finally a ride the local "mountains" and NO RAIN!! :)

Jo and I got the Sporty out on Father's Day and finally got a day without RAIN and headed west up Ute Pass into Woodland Park to pick up CO. Hwy. 67 to Deckers, CO. It's a excellent twisty road for 25 miles and ends up at Deckers, which is only "one building"! It's got a good little country store and the Deckers Corner Cafe and to our surprise and joy, they FINALLY paved their parking lot and even added "Motorcycle ONLY Parking slots"!! YEA!! :)

We did a bit of check'in out other riders machines and then headed into the cafe for a great cheese burger, baked beans and chips and Root Beer as it was HOT, around 80+ even in the lower mountains. We decided not to head up to Pine or Pine Junction (CO. 67 and CO. 285) but just head back and enjoy riding the twisty's again and getting to check out the fast flowing creek along the roadway! We headed back down the pass and the wife fixed up Homestyle Beef Ribs with "Baby Rays" Honey BBQ sauce for dinner! I'm lucky guy a great ride and fed like a KING a excellent way to do Father's Day! :)

The Breakfast Ride Club

LOL, the title of the post is what we've been limited to for "RIDES" as of late! It's just been POURING down rain every weekend afternoon here in Southern Colorado so we've just been getting up early and getting in a 100 mile "breakfast ride" to keep the battery charged and at least get out on the bike!  We have 3 main loops, a north a south and east ride that all are just a little over 100 miles, there a nice run and have varied types of roads so their never boring, no matter how many times you are forced by weather to repeat them ;)

Looks like we might just get some decent weather this up coming weekend, sure WISH we had the funds for a "overnight run"! Oh well at least we might be able to actually ride in the "Mountain's" outside of Woodland Park, CO. this weekend, it will be a Sweet Change! :)

Can-AM Demo ride, May 2015

That's ME, taking a demo ride on a Can-Am Spyder RT, 3 wheeled touring machine!

I took a demo ride on a Can-Am Spyder RT, 3 wheeler as we are seriously considering that our next machine will be a "TRIKE"! I have arthritic knees and at 60 years old, don't think they will get any better. The Can-Am demo team showed up at Pikes Peak Motorsports here in town so I took the demo. The Can-Am RT is NOT a motorcycle, it's a 3 wheeled touring machine and it's very different in the way it handles, etc.

Once you got use to "not leaning" thru the corners and only having a "FOOT" brake, (it operates the brakes on all three wheels), it was a overall FUN machine to ride. Now we've got to get a demo ride on the two Harley-Davidson trikes, "Freewheeler and Tri-Glide", for a comparison! Although I'd like to stay with H-D, I'll admit that the Can-Am RT would be a great machine to "put on the miles"! :)

Overnighter to Taos, NM.

On May 20th. we did a overnight run to Taos, NM., the ride was cold and wet and gray all the way thru CO. but as we headed over the pass on I-25 S. into NM. The sun came out and we got to Raton and took off all the "rain gear" and rain covers! We had a great ride on NM. 64 W., thru the Cimmaron National Forest, the first part of the road was wide sweepers but soon turned to "serious 20mph twisties! :) This kept up all the way to Eagles Nest, NM. where we stopped for a lunch and talked about the way the water was coming up all the way to the road in places!! We continued on 64 into Taos with more twisty roads and entered the mass of slow traffic that is always a part of "down town" Taos! We got to the motel and unpacked and the weather was excellent!

We spent the afternoon walking around Taos, artys mid-town, getting dinner and enjoying the warm and sunny weahter that has not been seen in So. Colorado for the last 2 weeks!!! Once it got dark we just hung around the motel by the fireplace and watched the sun go down. Woke up the next morning and it was pretty chilly but still sunny. The had a great free breakfast at the motel so we chowed down and headed back on a different route. We took NM. 552 N. and that turned into CO. 159 N. into Fort Garland.

The last bit of WARM weather at Ft. Garland, CO. 

 This is a huge open area with lot's of Mesa's and excellent wide open sky views but there's NOTHING on this road till Fort Garland! We picked up CO. 160 E. into Walsenburg but just as we were going on the down side of La Veta Pass (9,000+ ft.), it turned "COLD"!!! It was like someone shoved us in a freezer! Back to the gray, cold and solid clouds, aruugh!!! We stopped in Walsenburg for Hot Chocolate and to warm up, then added the "rain gear" for another layer against the cold. We didn't get a drop of rain till 20 miles outside of Colorado Springs, then it opened up and poured on us all the way home. The ride was good even with the cold, we had very good time! :)