Archive for November, 2018

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Lacking Part Of The Story

Monday, November 5th, 2018

Again, I didn’t know where I was headed. I’ll just have to find out.

Friday was nice so I needed to ride. I headed southeast on Parker Road. And I kept going.

By the time I reached Franktown I had a thought in mind. I would head over through Castle Rock, on over to U.S. 85 coming down from Sedalia. Then I’d turn up Happy Canyon Road and who knows where from there.

But as I cruised along I thought about Daniels Park Road. I’ve been up there numerous times and it was gravel north of the park. But I had read a while ago that they had paved that stretch of Daniels Park Road, so here was something new for me to explore. Decision made.

Turning off 85 onto Daniels Park Road it wasn’t long before I found myself coming up on a car that was stopped right in the road. What’s up? As I slowed down and drew near I saw the situation. There were three wild turkeys feeding almost right on the road on the left. The guy in the car had stopped to look at them, and who knows, shoot a few photos. He continued on when I came up behind him.

Then maybe just 100 feet further on I spotted a flock of about 12-15 more turkeys off on the right side of the road. Then a quarter mile further there were a bunch of deer lounging on the hillside next to the road. Who knew this was a nature preserve? Actually, I bet anyone who lives out there and tries to have a garden knows all too well. I live in the city and I have trouble with deer trashing my garden. These folks would have that problem in spades.

So I got on up to the park and immediately missed my left turn so I went just a little further and took advantage of a roundabout to make a U-turn. You know what’s amazing about this Rever map I’m embedding in this post? If you zoom in you can go all the way down and see my trip around that roundabout. GPS is amazing.

I got back on my intended route and quickly saw the changes since they paved, and it was not what I expected. For one thing, much of the newly paved stretch is one-lane divided. The northbound lane veers away to the right while the southbound lane veers away to the left. And man have they put up the fences. The whole stretch of road is flanked with what I think are commonly referred to as split-rail fences, except that instead of split rails they used round fence posts. And they put them in between the traffic lanes as well.

And then beyond those the whole area was lined with new six-foot wire fences, like someone wants really badly to keep deer or livestock off the road.

But then I got out of the park and hit Grigs Road, a T-intersection. To the right the road was paved but to the left–the way I wanted to go–it turns out it is still gravel.

Fortunately, I was on the CB750 and that old bike is a do anything, go anywhere sort of bike. Mostly the road was fine, though in places a bit dicey. I just took it slowly.

I got into the Highlands Ranch area, hooked up with Quebec, and headed north for home. Another nice November ride. And oh yeah, I had my winter gear on. It’s chilly out there most days now.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you never ride to work.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides | No Comments »

Demise Of District 10

Thursday, November 1st, 2018
ABATE D-10 patch

My ABATE D-10 patch.

District 10 of ABATE of Colorado is no more. This is the district I have been part of since I joined. I am now part of District 17.

It’s a sad situation. When I joined ABATE and District 10, D-10 was the largest, most active district in the state. What happened?

As usual, even though I was right there I was out of the loop. I’m never on the grapevine, never in touch with undercurrents. This is how it has been my whole life. I’m not sure why.

So I asked about this at the D-10 meeting in September. Why did membership drop off so precipitously?

The story, at least what I get from the folks who stayed with D-10, is that many of the old group were wedded to the Frontier Club, out on East Colfax, where we used to meet. Coming to ABATE on Sunday morning was just an opportunity to get an early start on Sunday’s drinking.

Meanwhile, there were other members who were uncomfortable with meeting at a bar, and drinking early in the day, when we were supposedly an organization that promoted responsible riding. There were enough of these to vote to move the meetings to a different place and the other folks stayed behind.

Again, this is what I get from the folks who stayed with D-10. If anyone from the other group wants to fill me in on their perspective, please do.

Additionally, there were conflicts about use of money raised through fund-raising efforts. When I joined ABATE, Randy Savely was the state rep for D-10. Randy had lost a leg when a car turned in front of him, and the Randy Ride had been created to raise money for other riders who had been hurt.

Now, the Randy Run was an ABATE function and so ABATE’s rules needed to apply to the money it raised. But, I am told, the core group focused on the Randy Run felt they should be able to use that money as they saw fit. Obviously this led to conflict and that group decided to go off on its own, taking the Randy Run with them.

And so D-10 shrank to where at most meetings there would be six people. The district had six officers so every one of us was an officer and at every meeting it was the same group of faces. More importantly, there were only those six to organize and carry off any events we chose to host. That’s a lot of work for just a few people. And to be honest, I was generally not one of those doing the work. I’ve never gotten into doing the grunt work, opting instead to do my part helping publicize the events the rest of them organized.

So when it came to vote on Sunday whether to fold the district or not, I was prepared to abstain because I felt they were the ones really carrying the load, who am I to vote to keep the district going for them to do the work? But the vote, without me, was 4 in favor of folding, with one abstention, so I added my vote to fold.

The upside is that I’ll be meeting new people and there are three districts in the state that are going to receive new members who are known to be active. That can only be a good thing for them. It will be interesting. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Biker Quote for Today

Teach your kids to count bikes on car journeys and they will automatically see us when they start to drive.

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Posted in ABATE | No Comments »

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