Few Bends, but a Great Road Anyway....

I arrived in Canon (pronounced Canyon) City and struggled to find somewhere half-way decent to stay. I checked into a motel that was too cheap. It was okay but a little run down in a not very nice part of a not very nice town.

I went and checked out the Royal Gorge- I had heard it has a suspension bridge over a deep gorge. As I got within about 5 miles of the Gorge, the signs began. All sorts of promises of having a good time at the Gorge were displayed to tempt me. They didn’t - that sort of thing really puts me off – it is as if they are trying too hard to sell you something you don’t really want, or need.

When I arrived I asked how much to just go look at the bridge and Gorge without the amusement park, theme rides of other tourist trappings. $25 was the answer. “Thanks, but no thanks” was my reply. I wouldn’t mind paying that price if I was going to make a full day of it, but I had intended to be there for 10 mins at the most, and I don’t pay anybody the equivalent of $150 an hour.

I had heard about Skyline Drive and as it was in my gps / sat nav, I was able to easilly find it. I fixed on the GoPro camera, jumped on my bike and rode it. 3 times!

Skyline Drive is a nearly straight piece of road, with very few bends. It has a 15mph speed limit. It is one of the strangest roads I have ever ridden. But it is also one of the best short roads I have ridden. Want to know why? Watch the video....



The road runs along the top of a ridge, with steep drops to both sides! It was a lot of fun, in fact so much fun, the first time I did it, I wasn’t sure if the view from where I had put the camera would be good enough – it was probably too low, so I fixed it to the handlebars and did the road again. Then I went back and did it a third time to take photos....

Much of the road is like this. Narrow with a drop to at least one side....

The roadway below seems very small from up here....

Some parts of the road just seem to keep going up....

I love this section – drops to both sides!.....

More views....

Looking back....

The Leading Ladies, parked right be the edge....

It is a long way down.....

The houses and gardens below....

It is a great view from up here....

I resisted riding it for a fourth time!

A truly great short road, that really lifted my spirits! I think I am back to normal again now!!

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Completely changing the subject, can anybody leand me a gun?

I just heard a sports commentator use the term "Winningest" and I want to go shoot him for corrupting a beautiful language. Winningest IS NOT A WORD!

That is nearly as bad as calling the winner of the Super Bowl the "World Champions". And don't get me started on the "World Series"....!

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On Any Given Sunday....

One of the really good things about travelling on your own is you can stop for pictures, eat, sleep, drink and stay in whatever hotel you like, when you like. The same applies to leaving for your days ride in the morning. When you are ready, you go.

On the morning of day 82, I decided to get up early and go see the Garden of the Gods before too many people went there. I had found out the evening before that the park opened at 5am, so the earlier the better! This was very near to the hotel I stayed at the previous evening, so I ate breakfast early, packed and headed out before most other guests in the hotel had opened their peepers. It was Sunday morning after all.

I rode up to the main gate and found the park..... closed! There was a charity walk to raise money for cancer research and the Garden of the Gods wouldn’t be open until ..... 11am. Groan.

The trouble with doing a tour like this, is once you leave a place, you are gone, probably never to return, so should I just leave and never see the Garden of the Gods, or should I stick around, waste a few hours and come back at 11am. I had already checked out of the hotel, so I couldn’t go back there.

Hmmmm. “The Garden of the Gods”. Such a powerful name. Surely it meant it was worth sticking around for. I decided to go find something to do until 11am and then come back. There must be a Harley dealer in Colorado Springs, so I could go get a back-rest for my bike! No such luck as I was told by a Police officer the local H-D dealer wasn’t open on a Sunday.....

I had a coffee.... went shopping.... rode around for a while......

When I went back to the G of G I was certainly pleased I had waited. It was excellent. I rode around for a while looking at what was there, which doesn’t take long as it isn’t very big, parked the bike and walked. This is what I saw....

These amazing rock structures are made of limestone and these were originally layered horizontally and built up over many millions of years. When the nearby Pikes Peak mountain was formed, this changed the geology in the local area and these horizontal layers were pushed up and turned through 90 degrees and now they stand vertically. Can you imagine the forces needed to cause this monumental shift in the earth’s surface?

Due to their steepness, the rocks are very popular with climbers and I spotted this one on a very steep part.....

I went to the bottom of where he was climbing and talked to his buddy on the ground and of course, took a few pictures.... the rock goes almost straight up and I was getting tired just watching this!....

Finally I walked around part of the road system to get some distant shots....

When taking these sorts of landscape shots, I try if possible to make sure there are no people in the pictures, as this often distracts from the overall scene.

As I rode out of the park, I saw “Balanced Rock" And there were so many people around I gave up waiting for nobody to be there. As it turns out, I think the woman being in the picture helps give an idea of the size of the rock....

Marks out of ten for the Garden of the Gods = a heavenly 9. And thanks to its original owner who gave the land to the city of Colorado Springs in 1908, going to the park is free!

Soon after, I called in at Seven Falls, said to be the most beautiful canyon in Colorado. Don’t bother going. It isn’t and for the $9.75 fee you pay, it is somewhat disappointing as the ride takes all of about 30 seconds. Mark out of ten for Seven Falls = a lowly 3. I didn’t even take a photograph!

I decided to crack on and get some miles in. The route I had planned didn’t have many things to stop and look at along the way, that is until I found something I hadn’t heard about during my tour planning stage. Freemont County Airport. This is what I saw at the side of the road that tempted me to turn around and go back....

I parked and took more pictures of the various aircraft on display....

But, while it was the aircraft that attracted my attention initially, it was something much more powerful and moving that I will remember. I didn’t realise it at first, but the aircraft were there to support a memorial to the war dead, which was a simple wall commemorating those that had lived in Fremont County. It was made of simple bricks inscribed with the person’s name and where they died. There were conflicts going back to World War 2, Vietnam, Korea and the Bay of Pigs, but I was shocked by the number of more recently killed military personnel from Afghanistan, Iraq and the Persian Gulf.

It would not be right for me to comment on the rights or wrongs of these current conflicts, but I felt very sorry for those brave people that had given their lives for their country, and of course I felt for their families....

I was pleased I saw the memorial. After a while I rode on and saw a building that looked just like an English church....

This is Holy Cross Abbey and I liked it. Churches always look better if built from stone. I walked around the side....

I wanted to go in to see the interior, but for some unknown reason, the Abbey was closed. On a Sunday! Maybe it was because the Abbey was a monastery, but I thought all places of worship were open on a Sunday. Obviously not!

So, on any given Sunday, you can see a Garden of the Gods, remember the war dead at a Wall, but not go inside this church. Life can take strange turns sometimes. No problem, but if the inside had been half as nice as the outside.....

Instead, I rode on and found something closer to the clouds – Skyline Drive. Yeeehah!!!

By the way, I am feeling much better today!!!

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Can A Road Be Beautiful,,,,?

I felt a bit down today, but I am not sure why.

Maybe I am getting tired. Maybe I am missing my wife and family. Maybe I am getting a little road-weary. This was day 80 of my tour, so it could be that.

It should have been a great day today as I went to a car show this morning, rode Pikes Peak and then went to see Cripple Creek. But it wasn’t. It was an okay day that just felt odd.

The car show was good, with a few gorgeous cars on display. Riding Pikes Peak was very good and the views spectacular, but I didn’t feel like making a video of the ride and I didn’t take many pictures. On the way back down we had to wait while an ambulance was called for a couple that had an accident on their bike. They simply ran off the road and hit a bank of earth. The rider said he had been going just 25mph and skidded on the yellow centre stripe. No way. He was obviously going faster than his and just lost control. Too bad they had an accident, and I am sure they will be OK. He wasn’t badly hurt, but the lady had lost the feeling in her legs, but it was coming back.

I had heard a lot of good things about Cripple Creek, but there must be two towns near each other with that name as the one I went to was sadly disappointing.

I even realised at one stage I had been riding in the wrong direction for about 10 miles, so convinced I was that I knew the way to Cripple Creek. I was not happy when I eventually turned on my GPS / Sat Nav to be told by she-that-must-be-obeyed to make a U-turn. Hmmph!

With the delay for the accident, I was running a bit later than I would have liked, so I skipped lunch and by the time I got to my hotel for the night I went straight out and ate dinner. All I wanted to do when I got back was to sleep, but I was running low on clean clothes, so I am laundering my clothes in the hotels guest laundry as I type this. I may have said it before, but Holiday Inn Express hotels are not too expensive and every single one has a guest laundry.

My back is still aching a little, but only at the end of a day’s riding. My wife’s sister’s husband suggested a backrest for the bike today and the timing of his suggestion passed onto me by my wife was good. Maybe I will try one. I wonder if there is a H-D dealer in Colorado Springs. I will look in a little while.

Okay, snap out of it France and sort your pictures from today out, go get your clothes out of the dryer, publish this post and get to bed!

A few pictures from the Cruise Above The Clouds car show....

These three similar coloured cars seems to be saying “feed me”.... They reminded me of hungry pelicans....

I have never seen this car before but I loved it.... just look at that retracting roof!....

I was really happy the way this picture came out....

Hmmmn. This looks familiar!....

Yes, please. I would like one of these....

It seems a bit silly to have to pull a trailer just because the restorer chopped the trunk....

Drool....

Terrific paintwork....

For a long time, I have wanted to own a 1957 Chevy Bel Air. Today I changed my mind, because I now want a 1957 Chevy Bel Air Nomad. What a wonderful car!.... but I would want it in red....

On the way to my next destination, I saw this sign. Can you guess which place I went to?..... (hint – the only workshop I like must have a bike or car in it)....

I posted something recently saying taking pictures of mountains is really difficult as they either are washed-out or do not portray the scale of what your eyes actually saw. I think this picture shows the scale....

With the road shown, this picture equally demonstrates the size of what is there....

I love this picture....

One of the Rangers stopped and offered to take my picture. I don’t know why I usually decline when someone offers to do this, but today I said yes....

I chatted to the Ranger for a while and learned that just about every day, somebody gets too scared to continue to drive their car on the road going up/down the mountain. These just freeze and a Ranger has to drive their car down for them. It did make me wonder why they ever started to drive up in the first place!

What curves.... Can a road be beautiful? I think so.....

The road to the top of Pikes Peak is 18 miles long from the pay booth ($12 per person). All but about 3 miles are paved and are some of the best roads you can possibly hope to find. The 3 unpaved miles are easy to ride if you take it slowly. I kept to about 20mph and had no problems at all.

The top is at just over 14,000 feet. You can park quite close to the edge....

To get an idea of scale, click on this next picture to enlarge it and look at the people standing on the peak on the left hand side....

Stunning views....

I had noticed signs at the bottom of the mountain proclaiming “Pikes Peak Challenge”. I had seen people walking up the mountain and when I walked around the summit, I saw that it was an organised event for walkers and runners(!) to reach the top.....wow, I am full of admiration for these people.....

The mountain has a cog railway and I wondered if the train was running today....

I didn’t need to wait long for the answer....

Riding back down, I saw this classic car being driven up. I like it when special cars like this are driven and not locked away only to be bought out to be polished or taken to a show. I waved at the driver in appreciation as he went passed....

I stopped, parked the bike and climbed some rocks to take a picture with my Point and Shoot camera. While I was up there I use it to take a short video....




This is the only picture I took of Cripple Creek.... I just couldn’t sum up enough enthusiasm to take any more.....

The one really bright spot of my day, was bumping into Charlie6 at a gas station. I had stopped to make a phone call and in he rode on Natasha. It is a small world!....

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