My buddy Don showed up during the work and helped out, not that there was much to do... RonC timed it perfectly and showed up just as we were finishing.
Don's KLR had gone wonky that morning, so he drove down. No problem; he brought his helmet and it's a good reason to take the DR200SE out for the ride. So just about noon, three of us on KLRs and Don on the Suzuki, we motored down to Palmer Lake where two of the bikes needed fuel.
A guy (whose name I didn't get) stopped to chat with us for a while. He was on a nice blue DR650 that he had just recently ridden to Ohio and back, all on secondary roads. He said that all had gone okay, and recommended some roads that he really enjoyed on his southern route back to Colorado. Highway 151 across the Mississippi river comes to mind. He was envious of the KLR's larger gas tank, and wanted to see what each of us had done for luggage. Since the KLR comes with a standard (if rudimentary) luggage rack, the Kaw had an advantage to start with. Still, the Suzuki looks nice for lighter on/off road trips.
We took a short cut through a rural housing area to get to Mt Herman Road, then headed up toward Rampart Range Road. On the way up, we got joined by a guy named Jurgen on an R1100GS and we chatted a while. He is an aeronautics engineering instructor at the Air Force Academy (which we could see from where we had stopped to chat). He rode with us a bit more, but separated when we stopped briefly on the trail.
I took a few shots at various places. I goofed and should have asked Jurgen to take a group photo of us, but nooooooo...
Taking one-handed shots on a street bike isn't hard, but it's a bee-atch when the road conditions change every second. I had the throttle lock on for a shot and almost rear-ended Sidawg once when he changed speed and I was trying to take a photo.
Hmmm... Note to self: BE CAREFUL!
The ascent on Mt Herman is always a hoot, especially when you are riding alone and can just pay attention to your own riding speed and challenge yourself to ride more *ahem* assertively. The conditions are always changing. The pot holes, rocks on the road, washboards, other vehicles, etc., are different every time.
We took turns leading the ascent, Sidawg and I took turns riding ahead to take photos of the otheres as they passed. Unfortunately, the most interesting bits of road are also the hardest to get photos of.
We joined up with Rampart Range Road and headed north, with Don and I switching bikes. The DR200 handled the ascent fine, but it's a hard seat to spend much time on. The KLR is perfect for a ride like this.
We didn't pass many other vehicles, which is odd on such a nice weekend. We did see some other bikes and a fair number of ATVs on the side trails. Don and I heard some shooting off the trail somewhere to the east. Once the road nears Devil's Head, the "No Shooting" signs appeared. Lots of campgrounds and trails in that area.
The fall colors were great, better than they appear in the photos I took. The temperature was perfect in the early afternoon. Wonderful.
Here's the pics I took. I confess to editing some of them to put two riders into the same shot on the same bit of road. They weren't really riding that closely together most of the time. I did manage to get all three in one shot as they went past some of the rock formations along the road.
Jurgen on his R1100GS
Don on my DR200SE
Sidawg and his more well-behaved KLR
Easy part of the Mt Herman ascent
Sidawg and Don going past (edited)
RonC, Don, Sidawg on Mt Herman Road
Sidawg going through the forest on Rampart Road
Don on my KLR after we switched bikes for a while, Sidawg following (edited)
RonC on the same road
RonC motoring toward Devil's head...
...closer...
... and there it is.
