Day Three, Colorado and Pike's Peak

This morning we headed south to Colorado Springs to go up Pike's Peak. Just as we were turning onto the Pike's Peak Highway off of Hwy 24 we saw an ambulance and several cops. There was an accident which involved a crushed motorcycle and a bloody guy laying on the road. I took this as a possible sign. Robby did not, so up we went. The first seven or so miles (of the total of 19) were paved and were really nice roads. Then we hit the dirt. We were told it was packed gravel, it was red dirt. We got behind some people in a mini van that thought the 15 MPH curves should be taken at 5 MPH, which destroys all momentum for your bike to stay upright. That was pretty bad when someone with four wheels couldn't make it around the corners any faster than that.

The road turned back to pavement at about mile marker 12 and then turned back to a sort of packed gravel around mile marker 14 or 15. We stayed in first and second gears most all the way up. The road got really really rough up near the top, the road was completely "washboarded" up near the top.

A little snow remained on the ground and it was a chilly 40 degrees up there. We stayed for a bit and had a famous Pike's Peak donut and then headed back down.

We cruised past Garden of the Gods and then off to meet my friend Jesse May that lives in Colorado Springs. We had a drink with him and then headed off to meet Jules and the kids for dinner with another friend of ours from the Postal days of flying, Erik Taylor.

It was a short mileage day, but still lots of riding and sightseeing. When we got home I took little Quinn for a Harley ride down the road, we have a great video of that I will try to post to Facebook.

We are still having fun. :-) Robby did have to help me get my bike upright from the kickstand when we parked on a weird incline today, he made sure to tell me to mention this. Since he is mentioning that though I think I should mention that he had to have help turning on the shower here at my friend's house. It is probably a good thing when we travel so far that we can't talk 90% of the time! :-)

Chris and Robby