Took a ride yesterday looking to traverse Trail Ridge Road while the rest of the Front Range baked in 90+ temps, only to be turned away by 12 miles of oiled gravel laid down in preparation of the Park Service resurfacing the classic 1920’s 12,000-foot-high scenic wonder. I even brought my winter gear.
So I turned back around to head back through Granby and down the slightly less scenic Berthoud Pass when I passed this curious camouflaged AMG Somethingorother. I can tell you a few things about it: it was definitely a Benz, the seats had AMG on ‘em, the two dudes that were walking out while I was taking these photos were not very happy with me, and that’s about the longest V10- or V12-hiding hood I’ve seen in… well… ever. Any ideas? Click pics for larger images of the MysteryBenz.
Took a little trickery and cutting a hole in my ceiling to route a cable over the top of one of the garage rafters, but I managed to get the DL650 up in the air enough to get both wheels off at once.
Now we’ve just got to drop the wheels off at a shop to get tires mounted…
I’d consider myself to be a careful bike rider. I’d also consider myself to be safety-conscious, in that I always gear up, I always wear a bright yellow jacket, I’ve got dual H4 headlights up front, and I assume that I’m pretty much invisible to anyone on the road. Still, it does not come as a surprise that anyone might pull out in front of me without yielding. And still doesn’t fail to surprise me that maybe the stock ’strom horn is a little weak for those times when it happens. So I’m upping the defenses in the arms race:
With the Stebel air horn, there’s no doubt that people can hear me. When I tried them outside of TwistedThrottle.com’s warehouse, everyone in the warehouse (as well as two of our neighbors) came outside to see what was going on. These horns are really freakin’ LOUD. Michael, our warehouse manager, affectionately calls these horns “People Deafeners”.
Also fits ATVs, scooters, cars, trucks, freight trains, airplanes, steamships, and any other vehicles equipped with 12-volt power.
There’s just no polite way to say hello using this horn. And that’s why I like it.
So last weekend I took off on Saturday morning, rode ~300 miles to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, camped overnight, and rode back while trying to stay off of any major highway I could find. Not much of a story to tell, but some incredibly beautiful (but hot!) riding through southwestern Colorado.
So, we’ve been watching Long Way Down (thank you, Internets). Being able to watch the original BBC broadcast is interesting – they’ll censor out “bollocks” but dropping an f-bomb left or right doesn’t seem to faze the censors… It’ll be fun to compare with the American broadcast coming up in a couple of months.
All I know is that I want to be back on the bike, road-tripping, camping. Like, um, now.
Spotted on Fox’s Reality TV (I’ll admit – I’m a little addicted to The Academy): interstitial commercials are showing very brief shots of Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman starring in Long Way Down. In case you haven’t heard what that series is, it’s the followup documentary to Long Way Round – a television miniseries that literally changed my life. And I don’t say that lightly, folks. While I rode around like an idiot when I was younger, I take the Wee very very seriously, realizing (in my advanced age) that enjoyment of the sport involves seriously buying into the responsibilities of the sport. Plus, I’m gettin’ 55mpg to and from work. Reliably.
If anyone ever wants to gain more understanding of why I bought a bike last year, they only need to watch – from start to finish – the 10-part series release in 2005. I’ve got a copy you can borrow any time.
Don’t bother calling on August 2nd of this year. I’ll be glued to the television set…
Just to be clear about how this strip started – it was supposed to be an overnight trip from Erie, CO to Raton, NM to camp overnight in Sugarite Canyon State Park. I just wanted to start understanding what camping on a bike would entail, just to cut my teeth on a short trip.
When I called Anna the next morning about heading back up to Denver, she told me all about the snow that was heading into the Front Range. So, with one change of clothes and no idea where to stay, I headed south to Santa Fe. Then to Flagstaff. Then up through Monument Valley to Moab. Finally, 6 days later, I made it home. 1500 miles of road trip, all of in the beautiful American southwest.
Click for larger image
