Wandering around Castle Rock's periphery

Got a late start on riding today, I had decided to reposition the two 15LED light clusters to form a "light triangle" with the headlamp on Natasha, my 1996 Ural Sportsman. Supposedly, this "light triangle" helps cagers notice you more as opposed to just a single headlamp.

Then again, I've read and seen some of the more idiotic and/or inattentive cagers not even see police cars with their emergency lights on, so really one should not depend on bright lights too much to help being seen. Yeah, I know, blasphemy! I've mentioned before though, I believe one has to ride like one is invisible and position yourself on the road accordingly. Oh, and headlights are not required to be on in daytime here in Colorado.

I headed south on Parker Road, past the town of Parker and further on, the town of Franktown. Pretty soon I went past the entrance to Castlewood Canyon State Park and stopped Natasha for pictures of her lights while she was facing into the sun:

Here's Natasha with her LED lights on, facing the sun, they're much more noticeable at night

Here's Natasha with her 60W bulb turned on, I use it in heavy city traffic and at night

Far off Pikes Peak

Now with the sun at her back, here's Natasha with only her LED lights on, they really are a bit brighter to the naked eye...my camera's light sensor was affected by shooting into the sun.

Finally, with her 60w light bulb turned on

Once I am gainfully employed again, I'll be replacing the 15LED lights with these: Bikevis Bullets with the modulator pod made for them.

I then headed back towards Franktown and turned west at it's main intersection for a little bit till I was able to turn south once again and enter Castlewood Canyon Park via it's back entrance. No real photo ops that weren't there the last time I was in this park: LINK.

Once I got to CO11, I headed north on this road till I got to the outskirts of Castle Rock. I bypassed the usual curvy parts of CO11 aka South Lake Gulch Rd by taking South Ridge Road instead. It turned into a dirt road pretty quickly past the water tank place but being on three wheels, I managed speeds in the mid-30s to 40s with no issues.

I came across the fairgrounds for Castle Rock and turned in to get a picture of Castle Rock's namesake with a bit of snow in the foreground:

At the Castle Rock Fairgrounds Parking Lot

I somehow found myself after a while on Plum Creek Parkway which I took across the I-25 super slab and onto the western outskirts of Castle Rock.

I followed this parkway to explore a couple of mesas I'd seen from the distance, got real close to both but both were protected by "no trespassing" signs. Oh well, at least I tried.

On Meadows Parkway, to the west of Castle Rock

I made my way back towards Founder's Parkway and took Crowfoot Parkway back towards the town of Parker. From there, it was the usual back roads back home. About 3.5hrs in the saddle under bright sunshine and temperatures in the 40s! It felt positively balmy!