This is my first ever ride report. Lot's of text for a really short trip. Next time I'll have to take more pictures and have less text.

It was a hell of a long month waiting to take two days of vacation for a long weekend. A buddy, Switchback on here, and I have planned to head down to San Isabel Lake in the Colorado "wet mountains" for a ride and meet up with some friends who'd be camping there. Riding pretty much anywhere in Colorado in late summer you can expect afternoon thunderstorms to be in the forcast. We figured we would hit rain in what locals call the wet mountains for sure.

We'd been heading from Lafayette, CO down to just south west of Pueblo, CO. It'd be an easy short ride of about 190 miles to the park.

In the morning we brewed a pot of strong coffee and drank it waiting for Denver rush hour to end. Our bikes were loaded up with one bag each and a cooler. We'd be staying at the cabins at Lake Isabel where there is a little store and restaurant. So really the only thing we needed the coolers for was alcohol. Friends offerred to carry **** down for us to the park if needed so we would drop off chairs for lounging in.

My goal for the trip was to just ride, drink and rest. Almost definitely there would be a good heavy rain with some light hail thrown in during the afternoon or evening. I was just hoping the rain could be timed well enough for us to be under shelter with a beer and a comfortable chair.

On day one we rode about 170 miles straight to the state highway 165 exit to Rye/Colorado City on I25. There is some nice open highway once you get south of Colorado Springs and later south of Pueblo. One of my favorite types of riding is to get on a interstate where you can set the cruise control on 79 mph and just get in the zone. The engine, the wind, the sound of the screaming eagle pipes let you think about things you need to think about until you realize nothing really matters and you stop thinking about anything except the bike and the road.



At the exit of SH165 and I25 there was a gas station and liquor store. As it turns out there were more in Rye but we went a a head a filled up the bikes, bought some beer and ice there. After we filled up the bikes we pulled up to the liquor store. There was this kid sitting on top of a trash can, he seemed like he was stoned, he was just sitting there laughing at this yappy dog in a SUV. I thought you are more annoying than the dog. As I walked in the store he followed. It turns out he was the store attendant ... I chuckled a bit thinking he must be bored working out here and was probably just sitting on the trash can smoking grass. I bought a half case of fat tire and a six pack of pony budweiser beers. It's been 25 years since I've had pony buds -- they'd be good for a warm up to the real thing.

It was twenty miles or so from the SH165 exit off I25 to Lake Isabel and the cabin lodge. We got in around three in the afternoon. We had left home around 10:30 or so and stopped by Wendy's for some big bacon classics for a quick lunch on the way. Since it was to early to eat dinner we elected to get a cup of coffee and some pie. As we walked in the restaurant a young lady wearing an apron sat with a remote trying to find a music channel on the TV. She had on a tight white shirt and rather nice size personalities. I asked her if the rooms had satellite TV too and she said I don't know. I guessed she hadn't spent much time in the rooms watching TV. So we asked her if they had pie. All I wanted to hear was they had pecan pie, once she said that, thats what I asked for, she one up't it with a dip of icecream. We quickly downed our pie, ice cream, and weak coffee and headed to the room. The rest of the day we just sat on the porch of the cabin, drank beer and then went to visit with friends at the campsite and drank more beer.

On day two we woke and talked about riding. Neither one of us had brought a map on the trip, I kinda knew the area and didn't really care if we just rode, got lost, and didn't make it back to the prepaid state park cabin. I was pretty determined we would do some tour of the area at least one day. A buddy brought us a map and gave me some ideas of where to go. Originally, I figured we could just get lost and end up in the Great Sand Dunes, the Royal Gorge, or one of the big spots in south eastern Colorado. After looking at the map that all went out the window. We decided on a small route that would just take a few hours, about 140 miles, and get us back in our friends campsite for drinking and harassment. The plan was to head down I25 to 69, over to 96 and back to 165.



There is a town south of Pueblo off of I25 called Walsenburg that has a cool little restaurant on the main drag called the Alpine Rose. It is a good breakfast place, there are usually some big ole cowboy types jawin about nothing important ... fishing, and a few other friendly locals there. We headed there to get a breakfast. The owner and his wife were there, it's only the second time we had been there, just like before she gave us this "yeah your here what do you want" kind of attitude -- when you're in no hurry and looking for an interesting way to spend time it can be an intersting way to spend time.

After breakfast we headed for what would be our one local wet mountain ride of the trip. Just on the north side of Walsenburg we took highway 69 northwest along the front range of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains to Westcliff. The ride started in arid terrain near Walsenburg along a two lane highway. Gradually the terrain changes from sage brush and high desert to pinion pine. I had read a forum where bikers were posting pictures of bikes in front of podunk post offices. Well we found one in Gardener, Colorado. Not much in the town except the post office.



As you get closer to Westcliffe you start seeing the terrain change to include spruce trees. Closer to Westcliffe we started seeing signs warning about buffalo -- Buffalo are dangerous, beware! Kind of a bummer we didn't see any buffalo along the way.

Westcliffe, Colorado was a welcoming town. Right on the corner of 69 and 96 a liquor store was waiting for us. We loaded up on beer and walked out to be welcomed by a town Sheriff. He was sitting in his SUV on highway 69 just short of a stop sign. I noded at him and he just looked with no response. He had that king **** cop looking attitude, maybe he was having a bad day. We headed the opposite direction, rather than taking a left in front of him to the stop sign on 96, across a solid pair of yellow lines, we took a right and looped the block. Fortunately, the Westcliffe Sheriff was no where around.

Heading east on 96 and southeast on 165 we saw lots of nice green scenery.



That was about the extent of our wet mountain tour. We had our day of rest. The ride home was uneventful was great ... another 170 miles of highway home on I25.

 

Bulwer:

Thanks for the ride report... Nice little "vicarious vacation" while sitting in my office here in Houston, Texas thanks to you. Some of those roads are included in our annual pilgrimage to Colorado -- our favorite vacation spot(s) and ride routes for the past 15+ years.

I particularly liked your line: "The engine, the wind, the sound of the screaming eagle pipes let you think about things you need to think about until you realize nothing really matters and you stop thinking about anything except the bike and the road." Great observation!

Thanks again for the photos and description. Ride safe....

 

Thanks tphillips. Kind of a long sentence too. Thats my east Texas education shining through.

 

good post. that's how I feel when I ride really hungover.