Anyway, pulled onto I-80 at 7:00 a.m. for just a few miles, taking Hwy130 south at Walcott.
This goes through Saratoga where I stopped and donned the long johns and put the cold weather insert into my TourMaster jacket. Yep, it was that chilly. Plus I could see rain clouds in my future. Shortly outside of Saratoga I took Hwy230 through Riverside to Hwy125 just out of Northgate, CO. This is beautiful, desolate country...and you don't have to worry about being run down from the front or the back.
View behind the bike
View in front:
This is not a recommended journey for people with guilty consciences; entirely too much time to think clearly and rationally about things. Fortunately, I don't have a guilty conscience. It's not that I haven't done things I regret...boy have I done things I regret...but I did forgive myself. I discovered no one else was going to and if I was going to get past it I needed to do that. Give it some thought, it's the only way to move forward...you can't move back...and standing still is wholly unacceptable. As my daughter so succinctly puts it, "Build a bridge...get over it!"
Took Hwy125 down to Granby and then turned back north-northeast on Hwy34 into the Rocky Mountain National Park. This was my first trip to this area, and I've always heard it was a great ride. Wouldn't make much sense to make a not-so-great ride a national park, now would it? They didn't let us down. This was a nice ~60 mile ride rivaling, but not quite as spectacular as, Glacier Park's 'Ride To The Sun.' Of course, that only means it was absolutely great.
Some Pics:
This is very "Glacier NP-like" with the rock walls. They appear perfectly calibrated to stop a four-wheel while dumping a motorcycle rider
over the edge. (Okay Department of the Interior a little more thought might be applied here.)
And "up"
And "up"
And to prove I was actually there...me.
And "up"
And beyond the treeline. Also, as fate usually does, road repair, one-lane traffic was provided free of charge by the National Park Service. Fortunately, it was the "outside," or "drop-off side" that was being repaired so we were shuttled toward the hill, or terra firma as we two-wheeled charioteers like to call it. It's pretty neat stuff when the other option is thin air.Okay. Now it's time for my rail against Colorado road signs. It would be really, really nice to have some. I guess the tree-huggers and the nature-only lovers (bet they love my PETA tee shirt) got control of the DOT here in Colorado and decided that highway markers are ugly things. Well, they are folks...TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T NEED THEM!!! I pulled out of the park and wanted to take Hwy7 south. I did it! And Colorado DOT I did it without your stinkin' signs. I don't need no stinkin' signs! Well....maybe I do.
As noted, I found Hwy7 by looking at the map and guessing. I guessed correctly and headed south. Unfortunately, I missed the one (if it existed) for Hwy72 north of Raymond and ended up in Lyons. Now this wasn't all bad because it was a great ride through a long rocky canyon with a small creek running parallel for a lot of the ride. Lots of those fun left-right-left metronomic turns I love so much. Plus, it turns out, Lyons a beautiful little town with a great blues bar (Oskar Blues Bar & Grill). Stopped there for a late lunch (ala 3:30 pm). Believe it or not it was pork chili and it was damned good!
My original intent was to go down somewhere around Nederland (on Hwy72) and start looking for lodging. But...since I was in Lyons and didn't want to backtrack I decided I'd take Hwy36 into Boulder, connect to Hwy119 there and take it to Nederland. Ah, but as ol' Robbie Burns so aptly put it, " The best-laid schemes o' mice an men Gang aft agley." Oh, I found Hwy119 in Boulder all right; in fact I was riding on it for quite some time. I just didn't notice where it turned west toward Nederland. There may have been a sign, BUT I DON'T THINK SO, TIM! I was riding in the right lane anticipating a right turn the entire time, and looking for all signs, including those of the Zodiac. (Colorado and California are more similar than many know.) I believe it was a street named Canyon Blvd (appropriately). I remember seeing that street name and wondering if it was where Hwy119 turned west. It was, but the sign must have been covered up by the foliage. You know, those trees so zealously guarded by the tree-hugger police.
Okay, so that didn't work. I rode on down 36 and exited at the town of Superior. (For what, I just don't know.) There, spying Hwy170 I asked (NOTE: Male asked) a lady at an icehouse if 170 could take me to Nederland. She thought for a moment and then said, "Yes, it does. Just follow it due west." Big MISTAKE. Not asking for directions, but asking a woman for them. No offense ladies, but if you ask a man directions he'll tell you to go East on X, then turn North on Y. A lady will say, "Oh, yes, you go on X until you see the Piggly Wiggly, then turn left on Y by Jane's Wonderful World of Styling. Hwy170 ends about four to five miles further up in a subdivision called Eldorado Springs. Wrong question asked of the wrong source.
Totally frustrated now, I surrender and resign myself to an Interstate ride to get the hell out of Colorado in the morning. I go south on Hwy93 until I hit Hwy6, then Loop470, and I-25 to Castle Rock where I began this tome until their wireless proved useless and I lost about an hour's work. Gave up, went to bed.
Also, to top it all off, my motorcycle "bell" broke. This bodes ill.
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