Sunday Aug 26 ride to Royal Gorge vicinity

[denverbusa]

After speaking with a few friends we decided to set a longer ride and thought I would put out as much notice as possible.

The plan is to take the mountain route down through Deckers, cutting through the back roads around Cripple Creek to Hwy 9 to the Royal Gorge area. It will be a full day on the road but a lot of fun. I know that many don't like the real early rides but I think if we leave by 9:30 sharp it should be a good day with time to stop and rest without having to rush as that can take some of the fun away.

There a great deal of options for exact routes so post up your ideas and if you would be interested in going.

The total varies upon route but it varies from 335 to 375 miles. The map is just a general guide so you can look and see if you would be interested in going. Want a long ride, we can continue down to Bishops Castle but that is a really long haul.

Just throwing out there for those interested. Besides there's no MotoGP that Sunday what else ya gonna do? This is just to beat the doldrums of deciding to go Deckers or Squaw or Gilpin County alluding.

A few options below:

http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1 dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw--#mvt=m&q7=palmer%20lake,%20CO,%2080465&q6=colorado%20springs%20Colorado&q5=royal%20Gorge,%20Colorado&q4=Guffey%20Colorado&q3=Cripple%20Creek%20Colorado&q2=Deckers,%20Colorado&q1=Morrison%20Colorado&trf=0&lon=-105.207825&lat=39.200334&mag=10


http://maps.yahoo.com/#q7=Morrison,%20CO,%2080465&q6=fairplay%20Colorado&q5=Salida,%20Colorado&q4=Guffey%20Colorado&q3=Cripple%20Creek%20Colorado&q2=Deckers,%20Colorado&q1=Morrison%20Colorado&mvt=m&trf=0&lon=-105.592346&lat=39.008513&mag=10


http://maps.yahoo.com/#q7=Morrison,%20CO,%2080465&q6=fairplay%20Colorado&q5=Royal%20Gorge,%20Colorado&q4=Guffey%20Colorado&q3=Cripple%20Creek%20Colorado&q2=Deckers,%20Colorado&q1=Morrison%20Colorado&mvt=m&trf=0&lon=-105.531921&lat=39.046919&mag=10

[TomB]

I'm in for sure. It's some great riding down there. See you on Sunday morning. Looking forward at riding at the pace!

[Zanos]

I am interested. Need to see whats going on that Sunday. I have something with my family one of these upcoming Sundays.

[Banshee]

I'm game. Was planning on riding Saturday, but something came up... Damn responsibilities...

Where is everyone meeting up?

[Ghost]

9:30 beats 8:30, I guess. Where's the meet point?

I'm not 100%, but I'm interested.

[Jenny]

C'mon, be 100%. I'll let you ride rubber duckyyyyyy.....

[Banshee]

So what's the dealio, yo? Who's all going, and where are you guys meeting up?

[Ghost]

C'mon, be 100%. I'll let you ride rubber duckyyyyyy.....

Only if you re-shoe her first; as she sits she's more like rubber-less ducky. :p

Ok, I'm up to 93.233598%

Where's the meeting point and who's bringing breakfast?

[Jenny]

ok fine, I'll take the stupid H2s. :lol: :cry:

93.233598 is just not good enough. I can feed you in the morning.

Update us, denverbusa! It's been a dog's age since I've done a long street ride.

[denverbusa]

Great! Hoping for a good turnout. I can't make Saurday so if anyone is going down there Saturday AM, mention it to them since there are quite a few who don't read this regularly. Too often I here "Damn, I wish I would have known."

Meeting place is the usual Morrison Conoco since it's a good exit point for the ride. Planned depart at 9:30.

The pace will be "The Pace" so all are welcome. This is not going to be some kind of race. Plenty of stops to gather up and count heads. Lunch in Cripple Creek where we can decide the balance of the route if we didn't do so earlier.

See Ya!

[mayhem]

where and what time would be good for us springs ppl to join in?????

[Banshee]

From looking at the route, all the good stuff is in the beginning. I'm going to head up from the Springs about 8:00 and meet everyone in Morrison at 9:30.

I'll split off after they hit Canyon City and head back to the Springs, probably up Hwy 115.

I'm thinking the Springs people can meet somewhere by Academy and I-25 at 7:45-ish if we want to ride up together.

-Tim

[Zanos]

I wont be there. Have stuff this Sunday. Maybe another sunday!

[Ghost]

ok fine, I'll take the stupid H2s. :lol: :cry:

93.233598 is just not good enough. I can feed you in the morning.

Update us, denverbusa! It's been a dog's age since I've done a long street ride.

H2s are yours ;)

Long street rides tend to wear my ass out, but it's been too long and hopefully will be a lot of fun.

[Jenny]

If I put those things on the Duc and we don't go ride, your ass is grass...or something equally bad. :lol:

[Jenny]

Oh and thanks. http://media.funsmileys.com/smileys/love010.gif

[DARK ANGEL]

i will try to be there if im not too tired.

[Banshee]

I guarantee I'm going to be hung over, but I should still be there.

[Ghost]

So only 3-5 of us?

With one of those hung over?:drink::p

Everyone else just doing the usual Conoco ride?

[Banshee]

Okay, so a little late to ask... But where exactly is this Conoco we're meeting at?

Feel free to give me a call on my cell with directions (321-271-9520), otherwise I'll check this board before I leave.

[Bueller]

Okay, so a little late to ask... But where exactly is this Conoco we're meeting at?

Feel free to give me a call on my cell with directions (321-271-9520), otherwise I'll check this board before I leave.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?latlongtype=internal&addtohistory=&latitude=hZibdrFambourFQriZmA%2fA%3d%3d&longitude=y22lp9jEbhDTY64nOxkzKw%3d%3d&name=Conoco%2006471&country=US&address=16283%20Morrison%20Rd&city=Morrison&state=CO&zipcode=80465&phone=303%2d697%2d8186&spurl=0&&q=conoco&qc=Gas%20Stations

[Giraffe]

Could we please try this again?!

[Banshee]

Just got back, was good meeting and riding with you all. Hope everyone made it home safe.

-Tim

[-=LiQuiD=-]

Mark, Thanks for setting this up. I've never been down pine valley road before. The couple of miles were great. Hopefully the rest of the road is like that. Too bad we didn't make it very far. ERiC

[Jenny]

Damn. Ghost and I pulled up at the gas station this morning as a big group was leaving. I didn't expect such a large group to be headed on this ride, so we hung back with Matt (forget his handle). At around 10, we figured that that was probably "our group" so we took off, just the three of us. Matt was smart enough to have one of the routes printed out so we took off down 285 and made our way to Deckers, figuring we'd meet up with the group at some point. We hung out in Deckers for a little bit and as we were leaving, MileHighGSXR pulled up and told me that with the group ride, there was a wreck, an incident with the police, and that maybe it was a good thing we were riding ourselves. :P

No longer concerned with catching up to a group, we knew we could have a nice, leisurely day. We headed into Woodland Park and made our way to Cripple Creek. It's the first time that any of us had been there. We got a bit mixed up about directions and ended up in Victor. Nice ride from CC to Victor, but NO other roads go out of that town except for a dirt road that goes into Canon City. Confused, we pull over and then Ghost remembers that the route doubled back on itself out of CC. *lightbulb*

So back into CC and we had a nice lunch. We get back out to 24, head umm, left, and then down 9. Great riding, very little traffic, tons of fun! Just before Guffey, Ghost and I trade bikes. So he gets to ride the sweet Ducky and I *gasp* rode his Honda. We almost missed Guffey (not riding through, but actually seeing it) by blinking!

We get confused again (heh, pattern maybe?) at our next intersection, but a nice gentleman from Illinois points us in the direction of a gas station. We come to a T-intersection and across the street in front of a llama farm (there were the cutest little llama babies!!) was a sign stating that Cripple Creek was to the right and Florissant was to the left. Just as Mr. Illinois said, there was a gas station. I don't know if it was in a town or not, but it was apparently called "Evergreen Station" (it was nowhere near Evergreen) and they had a little body shop that was named "The Bloody Nuckle." Tee hee.

So the boys are trying to figure out how we get home and decide we should just head back through Cripple Creek. I, by this time, am COMPLETELY over Cripple Creek and veto this. Something in me knew that Florissant would be the right direction to head. I couldn't place the town relative to anything except maybe the Mississippi, but I knew it was right. So I google mapped directions from Florissant to Denver, and (yes, I actually had cell service - yay Sprint!) it listed 3 turns (east on 24, north on 25 and some random turn onto Colfax to get inside "denver").

Female intuition FTMFW!

So the last leg (up 25) was a bore, but it was a FANTASTIC day. I tend to shy away from group rides and people I don't know, but though I had never rode with Matt before (or even met him before today) I was completely comfortable with him, he was a good, safe, fun rider.

The only thing that sucked is that I did not actually see the Royal Gorge. :P

Matt & John, thanks for a spectacular Sunday!

[N1KSS1KS1x]

was that you with duck with the little scatch on the good side

[Ghost]

Yeah, our 3 bike "group" didn't have anything but fun. Which is how I like it. Set our own pace, stopped when we wanted, got off the planned route but no one cared since there was only us, Llamas and a glowing 'E' light. :p

It was a good day and a great ride, something I guess the main group didn't quite have.
I'll definitely come out for another day like that. ;)



was that you with duck with the little scatch on the good side

Yellow 749S? Probably my new bike....er....probably Jenny's. ;)

I'm too tired to elaborate on Jenny's post, but she left out the old man backing into her baby @ Conoco.
Which put a scratch on the side, as you noticed. So, in short, (answering for her) yes, it was 99.99% hers.

It's a fun bike, and compared to what I'm riding, it's effortless.
Thanks again Jenny!!

And next time, screw 25, I'm taking 24/67 back. Stick in the twists where it's cooler and less ass-roasting and wrist numbing.

After 384 miles roundtrip from my house, I understand why it's called Cripple Creek. :cry:

And we never saw the gorge...

[Jenny]

Holy shit I forgot to post that. I think I even forgot to tell Notto about it! oops. The poor old guy. He was so sweet.

[N1KSS1KS1x]

how did the other side get efed up

[InlineSIX24]

Damn. Ghost and I pulled up at the gas station this morning as a big group was leaving. I didn't expect such a large group to be headed on this ride, so we hung back with Matt....

Good to meet you and John - had a blast. I was looking forward to seeing the gorge too, but can't complain w/ such a good day. Nobody ran out of gas or got hurt and conditions were good (minus it being a little hot).

http://www.jimwikso.com/photos/nature/animals-bugs/llama_8X10_3440.jpg

[denverbusa]

This ride was not without difficulties. A fast group that was ahead of the group ride got pulled over on Parmelee Gulch :cry: , the rest of us waited for a little bit then got the go ahead from the "victims" to proceed. Since about half had turned around to go another way we waited at Pine Junction for any who might catch up. After about 30 minutes we headed down to Woodland Park. In Pine too few bikes came around the corner, so we turned around to find out what happened only to find that we had a bike down, no injuries what so ever except for the bike. A local that was on our ride lived about a mile away so he got his truck, we loaded the bike and we were out of there. Thanks Tom that saved a lot of grief for someone!:rock:

There was only about 7 of us left at this point as I advised others to proceed carefully and to make the best of the rest of their day.

I want to thank the Colorado Springs guys for coming up to join us. :up: I apologize for it getting so Fragged up. I would love to come down and enjoy one of your rides. Bishop Castle is one I have wanted to do for a while.

[denverbusa]

Do not take this as trying to justify myself as I do not feel that I need to, but this may help others should they plan a ride in the public forum which is something I do not believe I will ever do again. Lessons learned.




In general this is not what a normal group ride is like. I know there are others that will not ride with groups because of this exact thing and I can certainly respect that. I enjoy riding with the group as I feel safer when there are others there to watch my back.
LESSON: The regulars at the MoCo are my group, others are welcome to earn their stripes but it will take a while. I like to think I have earned mine. We know each other, we all know where we should be in the pack, we have nothing to prove to each other. When new faces show up they are welcomed but the ride pace is established by each rider for themselves and that is the way it should be. There are days when I can and do lead there are days when I will sweep it just depends.

A lead group of 4-5 experienced riders took off in front of us, which I offered to those who wanted to join so they wouldn't be in the main group. We left right after them and caught up with them at the light leaving Morrison. I think there were too many there and the pack mentality took over about.... oh... downtown Morrison. By the time I got to the second Red Rocks Gate 10-12 bikes passed me (I was in the right lane going the speed limit). This left about 10 bikes behind me but my head count was useless.
Lesson: Let each group leave at least 5 minutes apart so that each group stays together.

I knew there were people that were not going to stay with the group mixed in with the group. They had just met up at the same place or didn't have the time to go the whole distance, turning around at Deckers or what ever...
Lesson: If planning a group ride, verify who is on the ride and who is not. Be specific about counting heads and split up into groups if it is too many. I confess this lack of judgment.
Lesson: I recommend if planning a public forum ride, meet at a different location than the MoCo or other normal meeting place. This will prevent mixing of groups, riders and possible skill sets

There were those in the main group that passed the main group on the first stretch.
Lesson: Don't be afraid to tell people that if you plan on breaking off right away take off now to avid the impression that they are part of the group, good bad or indifferent.The individual issues that occurred were not out of the ordinary.


Someone got a ticket... gee that never happens.
a NOOB (not meant as a derogatory term) put his bike down at a relatively slow speed Luckily. Probably not the last one of those.
The group split up and thinned out due to these factors compiling up not any one eventBut unfortunately they happened on a ride I set up. I did the pre-ride meeting and thought I covered things very carefully. I was setting up a ride also not a nursery system. Some said they heard Safety lound and clear apparently some did not. I believe the riders still behind me and with us would have been able to have an excellent day. It was nice and cool up in the hills. After the downed rider was taken care of I did continue on with the ride to Cripple Creek for lunch and turned around for a great uneventful second half of the day.

[denverbusa]

Mark, Thanks for setting this up. I've never been down pine valley road before. The couple of miles were great. Hopefully the rest of the road is like that. Too bad we didn't make it very far. ERiC

I believe it is the best road of all the roads LOCALLY. Some tight stuff, some sweepers, some great views. Do make it back out and join us another day that ride is NOT the norm.

[denverbusa]

Damn. Ghost and I pulled up at {snip}Matt & John, thanks for a spectacular Sunday!

I certainly wish we all would have made it down to the Gorge. I am very glad you all had a good ride and enjoyed yourselves. That exploring is kind of what I had in mind in working our way through the back roads of CC ~ Guffey and what ever..

Next time.

[Jenny]

how did the other side get efed up
For a bike that has never been dropped, it is annoying that she's got scratches on both sides of her tail...there was a trailer incident on the way to the track. She pulled herself off of a tie down and rubbed her goods all over the MV. The dirty slut. :(

Denverbusa, I REALLY want to see Bishop's Castle at some point so if it is a (much) smaller group, I'd definitely be interested.

What color is your 'busa? I saw one with a Mille and something else parked on the side of the road in CC that was a cinnamon color.

[TomB]

Jenny Tom here. Yes that was us in CC. Denver busa has a rust colored busa. I have the mille (black red) , Diago has the green bandit. Thats what was left of the huge group as usual. Iwished we had saw you guys we could have teamed upand made another huge group.

[denverbusa]

Jenny Tom here {snip} Iwished we had saw you guys we could have teamed upand made another huge group.

:yay:... :think:... :banghead:... :slap:... JK

[InlineSIX24]

It's a good thing John ran over and beat on that guy's window as he backed into the Duc.. I don't think he would have even realized what was going on even after the bike would have tipped over. Just think if we were all in the gas station at the time.

[GSXRJOHNNY]

Thanks for the warm welcome on your ride. I was a little surprised at the size of the group and wondered at the start how to find my place in such a large group. In my experience (40 years) I've learned that large groups are hard to deal with in the twisties, they are better on I25 type drones. The pace was also a little surpirsing to me with all the traffic on that road. Not only a lot of cars, but cyclists to. I decided to back it down and be safe. My SoCo mini group probably had never been on this road before and we rode it at the pace and never passed when there was not a really good place for it, so yeah, maybe we were going a little slow for a few that got stuck behind us. I could see DenverBusa's group behind me most of the way untill we missed the turn off. One rider came up on me from nowhere, passed me on the right cutting it pretty close to a cyclist and then threw up his arms in disgust when my SoCo partner would not risk death to pass. That guy may not make through the summer. So, after reading all here decided that I also have $.02 worth to add. I've ridden with fast guys and slow guys, AMA guys and club racers, Harley guys and girls, all have their moments. A lot of new riders these days get bikes that are just too much for them, some survive, some don't. On a ride like this when the group is so large and the road is so busy something always happens. I thought the pre-ride speech was well done and if you listened and did what was said you were going to have a great day. Sometimes stuff happens and it's just what happens, no ones fault, we crash, we get tickets, and sometimes much worse. In all my years I've crashed once, and gotten one ticket on the bike. I didn't make it to FOG status being foolhardy or stupid. We can have a lot of fun going slow where we need to go slow and we can go faster where it's ok to go faster. Don't go fast if you don't know the roads or are going faster than your comfortable with, common sense stuff. The crash was a bummer for sure. Probably a lot of factors lead to it, I didn't see it, I was back in a slower group I guess. I'm very thankful he was unhurt. To bad about that nice bike though. What I heard was pretty classic lack of experience mistake kind of thing, an expensive lesson. I hope he gets a smaller bike that is more forgiving next time around. You really have to work your way up or take a performance school session or two to advance faster, it's worth the money. Well, after the crash I felt like taking it real slow going home, actually to work. I don't think I went over the limit but a few times to get around slower traffic. It was still a nice day that had a few low points. Everybody I met was really nice and most looked like pretty good riders from my vantage point. If you think this was a big group you should ride up to Laguna Seca for the MotoGP with a 1000 other riders!!!! That's a story in itself. Now if you guys want to come down to ride to Bishops Castle, just let us know, I'd be happy to get you there. I know the roads well from my cycling days. Thanks again and hope to see you in our neck of the woods. I hope everybody has a nice end of summer and good safe rides until winter cuts us off for the year. Anybody ski?

[GSXRJOHNNY]

sorry for the book. I had a lot of time on my hands at work...:scream1:

[mayhem]

yea, what he said...i thought it was well organized and i had a great time while it lasted. shit happens, what more can u say............

[InlineSIX24]

Thanks for the warm welcome on your ride.......... Anybody ski?

Used to ski. Just board now. The Winter Park Pass is all lined up and ready to go.

[Jenny]

It's a good thing John ran over and beat on that guy's window as he backed into the Duc.. I don't think he would have even realized what was going on even after the bike would have tipped over. Just think if we were all in the gas station at the time.

No shit!!

[GSXRJOHNNY]

No shit!!

Jenny, I had a lady (very old) backup her motorhome and hit my Honda cvic on the side and pushed up on two wheels and 5 feet to the edge of a cliff in Montana. If I had not run out of building and almost bust her window beating on it the civic would have gone over a 200 foot drop to the raging river below. I would have never known where the hell my car went to. It's kinda funny to think back to it now but man was I pissed off! She needed to surender her license, she was maybe 70+. She had no clue until we all showed her what she almost did. The police insisted she not drive the motorhome anymore, so her more elderly husband did! YIKES!!!:crazy::banghead:

[Jenny]

Oh man would that suck! Glad you caught her though. :O

[Ghost]

No shit!!

Yeah, I hit the window harder than I'd meant to and terrified the two grandkids in the back but he was simply *not* stopping.

I was afraid the window would break but I had to get his attention before he simply continued to back and run the bike over completely.

Luckily, I'm wimpy, so the window held up.:oops:

Still, how the F* you cannot see a BRIGHT YELLOW DUCATI boggles the mind.

[Jenny]

OMG! I just now told JT, my coworker, about the incident and he said "that was you?!"

Apparently the guy called here asking for pricing for the piece, told James about how he felt so bad that he backed up against this girl's bike (but didn't knock it down) and how he was gonna get it fixed. He didn't know that I worked here and JT didn't know it was for me.

Awww seriously, he's the sweetest guy in the world!

John, dear, (hahahah John deere...sorry) thank you for getting him to stop! Cuz I would NOT have got out from behind the Duc and when he kept going, I would have broken its fall and probably be hurting. :lol:

[-=LiQuiD=-]

Anybody ski?

Yup. You can find me @ Mary Jane every weekend (when there's snow).

[GSXRJOHNNY]

I'm doin the buddy pass or whatever it's called now, so Breck, Keystone (when I've gotten bored with Breck) and A-Basin. I did the Colorado pass a few times and never got more than one or two trips in to vail, so it was a waste for me. Thankfully I am still finding new stuff at Breck, so haven't gotten to bored there. Winter park is a bit far for me. How long have you been ski/ boarding?

[Ghost]

Labor Day Weekend, tons of LEOs will be out and about (and perusing this forum looking for good 'fishing spots' no doubt) BUT with that in mind, anyone want to try another long SUNDAY ride like last week's?

Maybe a slightly different route, but same general idea?