Odds And Ends On A Sunday Ride
Up on Squaw Pass. I would normally have used my photo editing app to add some snap to this gray photo but this really shows more what it was like–darn chilly.
The forecast in a couple days is for freezing weather but Sunday was very nice. I was not the only motorcyclist out on the road. Not by a long shot.
I fired up the Honda and headed out. First thing I needed gas so I stopped at my usual nearby station. I did the thing with the credit card and selected the grade of gas I wanted and as I lifted the hose out of the slot gas started pouring out. The trigger thing you squeeze to get the gas flowing had been left in the locked-on position when it was put back in the slot. I don’t know if this was just chance–it has never happened before–or it was some jerk’s malicious trick. But there was gas splashed across the ground and over a good bit of my bike.
Heading west on Hampden I soon passed another bike going the other way, with the guy doing big swerves, slaloming. I thought, he has a new tire and is scuffing it up. That reminded me that, oh yeah, I have a new tire and I need to be scuffing it up. (If you read my previous post just stay with me.) So I started doing that a little, too.
I turned north on C-470, just to the Morrison exit, went into Morrison and then north again on Hog Back Road (CO 93), which runs up past Red Rocks. Then just past I-70 I turned west on old US 40, which runs alongside I-70 into the mountains. So nice not to be on the slab.
On this stretch of road you have two stop signs, at I-70 intersections, to accommodate people getting on or off the highway. Then there’s a third stop and if you keep going you have to get onto I-70 briefly. I got on I-70 and then off again quickly at Evergreen Parkway, then made the right to head back to I-70 and across it to resume US 40.
US 40 wanders further away from I-70 here but you can sometimes see it up above and to the left. As I started drawing near again I was surprised to see three feed lots alongside 40. These may have been there and I just haven’t noticed but they presumably never had livestock in them. This day two of them were full — of bison. Wow. OK. Didn’t expect that.
There are a couple more stop signs along this stretch, except there weren’t. I got to the first one and it was gone, replaced by a roundabout. This is very new, and I do approve. It has always been an annoyance to have to stop when there was usually nobody to stop for.
And then as I reached the top of Floyd Hill, where there has always been one more stop sign, it was gone, too, replaced by a very large and more complex roundabout and bypass around the whole mess if you’re staying on 40. I definitely like that!
Heading down the back side of Floyd Hill I could see some of the work they’re doing to straighten out I-70 at the bottom where it bends into Clear Creek Canyon. But even yet there doesn’t seem to be much to see other than some widening. I met US 6 at the bottom of the hill and turned left to get on westbound I-70 again and then the construction really became evident. The entire stretch between the junction and Idaho Springs is one big construction zone. There are interstate lanes you have known forever that are closed and new ones that didn’t exist before. And all kinds of lane shifts. Good to get past all this.
I stopped at the park in Idaho Springs to use the facilities and the dangling cord of my electric vest reminded me that I had forgotten to plug it in before leaving home. I had noticed it right away and when I stopped at a red light I put the bike in neutral in order to use both hands to plug it in but there was nothing to plug it into. Has it been like this ever since I had this bike in for service back in the spring? Is the plug there, just tucked under the seat? I’d have to check on this later.
Well, this stop at the park was later and I looked and could not see the plug anywhere. If it’s under the seat that’s no problem except on this old bike removing the seat is a major pain, not like the modern key release seats of motorcycles today. That was an answer I would have to come up with later. I hoped it would not be too chilly up on top of Squaw Pass, where I was headed.
From Idaho Springs I headed up toward Squaw Pass, on what I guess is now called Mount Blue Sky Highway rather than Squaw Pass Road. The road runs up Chicago Creek and then makes a sharp left and starts climbing. It was at that point that I was at about 50 miles on this new tire, so that meant the center was well scuffed but the edges not so much. That was about to change. I passed a sign that read “Steep grades and sharp curves next 7 miles.” Oh, please don’t throw me in that briar patch.
And then it dawned on me, hey you idiot, you’re on the Honda, not the V-Strom. You got the new tire on the V-Strom. Heck, the rear tire on this bike is probably going to need to be replaced soon. That scuffing you’ve been doing was pointless. Doh.
Fine. So I headed up Squaw Pass and yeah, it got darn chilly up there. How chilly? There was snow on the ground, the first I’ve seen this fall. That’s how chilly. If I’d had the option of turning on the electric vest you can bet I would have. Oh well, better to figure this out today than some really cold day later when I’ll really need the warmth.
Over the pass and heading down the other side I came up behind a couple on bikes. She was in the lead and they were not riding at all aggressively. I just tucked in behind. Then we came to a blind right-hand turn that surprised in how sharp it suddenly became. I know I had to grab a bit of brake unexpectedly.
I had the impression that this was a couple, him an experienced rider, her just learning. This curve may have alarmed her because just a short ways ahead she spotted a place to pull over and did. Or maybe she was just being courteous, figuring I wanted to go faster. I’ll never know.
From there it was just down to Evergreen Parkway, the leftward jog to pick up Kerr Gulch Road, to Kittredge, and then down to Morrison and on home. What a nice day’s ride! Big cold coming on Tuesday.
Biker Quote for Today
All a gal needs is a little black dress and a big bad bike.
Tags: old US 40, Squaw Pass
