Riding to Greenland

Nope, not the country of Greenland but Greenland, Colorado. A very small village centered apparently on a couple of railroad crossings and near the I-25 Superslab south of Larkspur, CO.

Today's objective had been to get the Family Christmas Pictures taken, with Brigitta in the foreground and something that said "Colorado" in the background. More on those pictures in a future posting.

Afterwards, we had lunch at a burger joint in Parker, CO. After lunch, I went South while my family went North back to the house for a playdate with a friend of my sons. I cruised on CO83 until I came to the junction with Douglas County 74. The secondary objective today had been to see how Brigitta, my 1987 R80 rides on county-maintained dirt roads.

I am happy to report that after some initial wariness, I realized that a little bit of speed is not a bad thing on dirt and that if one quits looking at the dirt road immediately to one's front and instead keep your eyes up and looking far ahead, it's a lot easier on ones nerves!

Douglas County 74 is also called Greenland Road since it leads you to Greenland. I cruised up this road, heading West, with speeds up to 35mph at times and I even used third gear in one particularly gravel-free packed dirt portion just East of where the road goes under I-25.

Flat top rock formation just off of Greenland Road

Greenland Road

The Western edge of Greenland Rd, just East of I-25

Once I went under the I-25 Slab, I came upon Greenland, a "populated place" by county definition. There's access to County Open Access areas where people can go hiking or mountain-biking.

Greenland, Colorado

Brigitta at the older of two rail crossings, note the buffalo in the background

Looking Northwards

After Greenland, I headed North briefly on the I-25 slab until I got to the Larkspur exit where I turned to get gas for Brigitta. Once I tanked up, I got on Perry Park Road which would take me to CO105, a favorite road for motorcyclists which you can take to either Palmer Lake or Sedalia.

Perry Park Road

Heading North on CO105, I turned West on Dakan Road, again seeking a bit more of dirt road experience for myself and Brigitta. There's a cool rocky formation a couple of miles inwards and though the rest of the road was closed for Winter, there was still some trails to explore.

These trails border the white fenced ranches in the area, no "no tresspassing" signs so I figured it was OK. I think the local property owners recognize that a cool rock formation is situated on their land and that people wish to take a closer look.

Rocky Formation off of Dakan Road

Then I saw wheel tracks barely marking a path up this grassy hillside to the West of the above rocky formation. I figured, why not? Up this grassy tracks I went, Brigitta and myself did fine and it was not a big deal for her and her street tires. I can assure you I would not have ridden Maria, my R1150RT up this hillside!

The Grassy Hill

I really like the way this shot came out

I backtracked my way back to the pavement on CO93 and continued North on it till I was able to turn back East onto Wolfenberger Road which I took to Castlerock.

Once I Castlerock, I made my way to Crowfoot Parkway and thence to Parker. From there it was the usual backroads back towards my home neighborhood in Centennial, CO. A very glorious riding day in terms of weather. Sunny and temps ranging from mid 60s to low 50s as the sun set.