Saturday, May 28, 2011.  This ride was loosely organized on KLR650.net, ADVRider.com, and KLRWorld.com.

We had a dozen riders collect for breakfast at Rosie's Diner, in Monument, Colorado.  A few more riders showed up at the appointed start time, and we blasted down I-25 into Colorado Springs.  The rough knobbies I had recently put on the KLR did NOT like the highway speeds or the gusty cross winds, so I bailed off the highway and onto US24 where we met very heavy holiday weekend traffic.  After finally getting off the pavement behind the Broadmoor Hotel, we had a quick ride briefing and the group broke up into smaller, more agile groups to start Old Stage Road and Gold Camp Road.

I stayed with a few others to help Sue change out her flat rear tire, and we pulled a 3" nail out.  The tube had an 18" split in it, and the rim liner strip was destroyed.  She was lucky to pick up that spike right before we stopped for the briefing.

The washboarding on the ascent was very bad in spots, but that was typical.  Lots of cars and trucks for the first several miles, too.  The wind had died down, so the dust was just hanging in the air.  After we had put a few miles behind us, I dropped back to the rear to ride sweep for a while.  My turn to eat dust.

After the ascent, traffic eased up and the scenery got better.  Spring has had a very slow start in Colorado, so the aspens and scrub oak were just starting to leaf out.  Usually by this date, the wildflowers were fantastic, but nothing yet this year.

Some of us re-grouped at Victor, but many of the original fifteen riders had already gone their own way and we never saw them again that day.  They had a 30-40 minute lead on us due to the tire repair.

Several of us then headed south on Phantom Canyon Road, which was in good shape and not too much traffic.

When we collected again at US50, some riders headed home and the rest of us had a break in Canon City.  From there, StrayDog Dave and I zoomed up Shelf Road while Laurie, Sara, Sue, and John took the longer paved route homeward.  Our overall progress for the day was slower than I had anticipated, but the weather held very well and it never got too hot or too cold for me.

Since Dave and I were able to ride fast, we finished Shelf Road in 55 minutes.  This was the only time I have not encountered cattle on Shelf Road.  We gassed up in Cripple Creek before heading up to US24 and back to Colorado Springs where we parted.

It got pretty chilly on the Interstate back toward home, but at least it didn't rain on me.  I was surprised to see that I got home before Laurie, but she couldn't do a decent highway speed on her XT225.  Sara and Sue had gone their own way by then, but John accepted our offer to stay the night at our place.

On the lazy Sunday morning, John and I did some work on his bike, and he headed back north to Cheyenne.  I hope everyone else had a good day.