Hang gilding over Buffalo Bill's grave on a motorcycle

While Nick of 5wonderfulthings has started his bicycle trip through England and Scotland, and Jack of 2wheels2alaska is on his 10,000 mile motorcycle trip to Alaska, I prefer the shorter half day rides.

I took the motorcycle out for a short easy ride up to Lookout Mountain in the Windy Saddle Open Space Park east of Golden. I stopped at Buffalo Bill's grave and took pictures and shot some video.

I took US40 up to Lookout Mountain then rode Lookout Mountain Road back down into Golden. While Lookout Mountain Road is in good repair it is narrow with a lot of very sharp turns and there were 100's of bicyclists on the road. The ride down was challenging but a lot of fun.

Looking through the pictures I took, I noticed that I didn't snap a picture of myself or the motorcycle, and it didn't occur to me to put my helmet camera on. Darn! That's what I bought it for! I should make the ride again with the helmet camera.

One of the highlights of the morning was seeing the Hang Gliders taking off and soaring high in the sky. I snapped some pictures and posted some video of them.


Buffalo Bill's grave



Lookout Mountain Road. That's the road I'm about to ride down on.



Rocky Mountains



Hang gliders



More photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/bicyclefeathers

All photos by bicyclefeathers (myself), Creative Commons, 2009, some rights reserved.

Pompey's Pillar National Monument

Pompey's Pillar National Monument, Montana USA, September 5, 1999

Gravity and wind

I took the motorcycle out on the highway a couple of weeks ago and opened it up. I really took a lot of wind buffeting so I ordered a windscreen for it. I installed it today. It looks good and cuts down the wind buffeting a lot and the glove bag is really nice to have.




2008 Suzuki Boulevard C50 (VL800) with National Cycle Switch Blade 2-up windscreen,
Baron Custom Accessories Chrome Engine Guard, Fatboy Saddlebags, and me.

I took the ABATE Experienced Rider Class Saturday afternoon. I got some good practice in and learned a couple of things. I dumped the bike once during the U-turn exercise - odd thing was I had gone through the U-turn box (on both sides) twice before I dumped it on the third time; I think I may have looked down at the ground (never look down at the ground.) I also learned It helps to lean forward a little when going through tight turns. On a cruiser, leaning forward moves the center of gravity forward causing the suspension to raise a little and that makes the turn easier to take.

Even though "Motorman" said his "Ride Like A Pro V" course isn't the same as the ABATE course, I still went to the ABATE course expecting it to be like the Ride Like A Pro course - it defiantly is not. The ABATE course puts you through many of the same drills that are in the Foundations class but you're on your own bike, the pace is a lot faster, and there is less classroom time.

The bike and I got a couple of bruises yesterday but we still got a good workout.


I passed! I passed!

Cruise Against AIDS (updated)

Neither cold nor rain stopped the 24th annual Cruise Against AIDS motorcycle run and picnic to raise funds for the Colorado AIDS Project.

Members and friends of the Rocky Mountaineers Motorcycle Club and the Denver Dykes on Bikes gathered at Charlie's of Denver where we turned in our pledge forms and registration fees. Charlie's served us a continental breakfast.

After breakfast we set out on our cruise. It was still cold with a wet mist in the air. We received a short briefing on the riding rules and the route. Todd was the Road Captain and Ken was the Tail Gunner. This was the first time I've ridden in a group so I road behind Todd. I did well but may have left too much space between myself and Todd.

We road west to Red Rocks where we had a group photo taken. Sixth Avenue was still wet so we got some misting and splash back from other traffic, but it wasn't too bad. From Red Rocks we road to Berkley Park in north Denver for a picnic. Carlos fixed Beer Bratwurst that was really good. It had stopped raining by then.

It was a small group this year; there were only 8 riders this year. Most riders are "far weather" riders unfortunately the last 2 years have been cold and wet for the annual cruise. Two years ago they had 50 riders! It isn't necessary to ride a motorcycle to participate; the picnic is open to anyone regardless of mode of transportation. I counted 19 people at the picnic. There would have been more people and more riders had the weather been nice.

I don't know how much money we raised but I heard it was over $8,000.00. I had a good time in spite of the cold and wet. Now I need to figure out how to keep my chaps from falling down when I stand up; suspenders would ruin the tough leather biker look.


Red Rocks. I'm in the yellow on far left.


Red Rocks


Berkley Park. Todd (Road Captain) is on the left (red); I'm on the right (yellow).


Berkley Park


Carlos fixed Beer Bratwurst

See more photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/RMMCofColorado

My camera has a BUG in it

I saw this spider crawling up the window and tried to take a picture of it but the camera couldn't focus on it. When I looked at the picture I said "Look! My camera has a BUG in it!"



Ha! Ha! Ha! I'm so easily amused.