I wrote about pre-riding a route you plan to lead a group ride on just a few weeks ago. Well, it seems there’s a very good reason not to do that pre-ride too far in advance. Conditions change.

We just got back from two weeks in Alaska. We flew from Juneau to Seattle and needed to change planes in Seattle. We found right away that our flight was delayed a bit more than an hour. As it turned out, the plane to Denver was coming from Denver and they were delayed more than an hour from taking off. It seems there was a bit of a weather event. We never did learn much about it because it was all over by the time we did get home.

We’ve been home a week now and it occurred to me that if I intend to lead this ride that I’ve been planning since before I got hit head-on exactly one year ago, this is really when I should do it. I was leaning toward posting the ride on the RMMRC site Saturday and meanwhile I was catching up on all the emails that piled up while I was gone.

Surprise, surprise! I came across a new item saying there was extensive flooding in Evergreen and Kittredge, connected to the tornado that shut down the airport. Roads were completely blocked. And my route for this ride goes right through Evergreen and Kittredge. I figured Sunday I’d better take a ride up there and check it out before posting the ride.

So I did. As I headed up Colorado 74 out of Morrison I thought I ought to see a warning sign if the road was closed ahead, and there was no such sign. That’s positive. You go through Idledale before you reach Kittredge and there was a sign just outside of Idledale but I didn’t see it in time to read it, so no help. But that said to be cautious.

I got into Kittredge and the first thing I noticed was that the restaurant I planned to stop at for lunch on this ride seemed to be closed. It is right beside the creek so that was foreboding. I’d have to check on that. Then I got to the west end of Kittredge and where the creek crosses under the road it was obvious what had happened. There was an area to the side where a lot of logs and stumps were piled up, obviously from a clean-up effort, and the bridge abutment still had a lot of the same packed against it. But the road was open, albeit with a good bit of gravel remaining.

On to Evergreen. Everything looked pretty good in Evergreen, though when I reached the fork where one way goes north and the other south, my route being south, I made that turn and it was clear they were not done cleaning up from flooding right there. But it was not bad. On south about a tenth of a mile and you get to the turn-off up Little Cub Creek Road–my route–and then the flooding became extremely evident.

Mostly it was where the stream had come out of its banks and left gravel–a lot of gravel–on the road. Then a little further along I came to a spot where at first I thought the road had been carried away altogether. I turned around and stopped to shoot that picture above. On closer inspection I could see that the adjoining road had been nearly washed away and all that rock and soil was covering the road I was on. It’s all passable but don’t try screaming down this road on a motorcycle. No problem as long as you know what to expect.

At this point I headed back the way I came and in Kittredge I stopped to check out the restaurant. They had a sign on the door saying that due to the flooding they were closed over the weekend but would reopen right away.

OK, I guess I can lead this ride. Now I just have to get it posted.

Biker Quote for Today

Cause one day you are gonna say that today was bumping. We’re living on the edge and my motorcycle’s speeding. It is what it is and this is how I’m feeling. — Charles Smith