First Ride - 2009 New Year's Day

The first day of the New Year dawned with some clouds, some sun and temps predicted to be in the low 50s. Good start.

Spent most of the morning cleaning up both Maria and Brigitta, my motorcycles, so they'd start off looking nice for the new year.

After an early lunch, I left the house at around 1230 PM and headed through Denver using the I-225 to I-25 slabs, taking them North to I-70 and from there west to US40. I took US40 aka Colfax Avenue to the Mother Cabrini Shrine which is the next exit after the exit for Lookout Mountain.

Traffic conditions were pretty good, not too heavy in terms of cagers. It was in the high 40s in the mountains once I got past the foothills, so the weather was just right for riding. I got to the Mother Cabrini Shrine, twisted my way up the narrow hillside road that had lots of gravel spread for traction when it last snowed.

Quite a crowd at the shrine, must be a New Year's thing to do I guess. I did not hike up to the Statue of Mother Cabrini, just a few shots and then onwards:

That's the Mother Cabrini Shrine statue on the top of the next hill

A couple of shots of Downtown Denver

I next headed westward on US40 to the exit before the Chief Hosa exit. It's also where there's a Buffalo Herd overlook but no buffalo in evidence today. There was a solid cloud cover on the tops of the mountains though, still here's a view of them:


I then sped along I-70 for a bit and got off at the Evergreen/Bergen Park exit. Once I got to Bergen Park on the Evergreen Parkway aka CO74, I was hit several times by some pretty gusty winds, causing me some concern as the bike wobbled and I was pushed towards the left unexpectedly. It was a couple of scary moments I'll admit.

I was glad to clear the windy parts of Bergen Park and soon arrive at Evergreen where I spotted the townsfolk out on their frozen lake, frolicking.

Evergreen and it's frozen lake

I proceeded along the lake and came upon the dam which created the lake. Here's a couple of shots of it.

Top of the Dam

A view of the Dam at Evergreen

I left Evergreen, heading East on CO74 towards the towns of Kittredge, Idledale and eventually Morrison. This is a nicely twisting road with high canyon rock walls and when conditions are right, quite a lot of fun.

I only had one "disconcerting" moment, I must have hit some gravel or something while leaned over negotiating a turn and the rear tire went squiggly on me for a half second. Got my heart rate for sure! Here's some shots I took along the way to Morrison:

On a hillside road, overlooking Kittredge

At Morrison I turned south towards the US285 junction. Using US285, I transited through the Denver metro area as the highway became a city road, aka Hampden Road. No issues, traffic was still pretty light and Brigitta was running sweetly.

I then used I-25 from Hampden to go south to I-225 to the Parker Road exit. From there it was just a few short miles till I got home. A pretty good ride, all in all, and a pretty good way to start off 2009.

Here's hoping your New Year Holiday celebrations were all you hoped they'd be, mine were. Hope you have a safe and happy New Year, with lots of riding adventures as well.

Mileage Notes:
Brigitta starts with 66,807 miles
Maria starts with 64,315 Miles
Liesl, my cage, starts with 153,314