DonOhlin
05-01-2006, 11:41 AM
A group of 22 bikes and 31 people got together at the last minute and took a ride Sunday. We left the Eagle's nest a little after 10 AM. We took Happy Jack over to Laramie and the wind sure felt stronger than the 20 MPH that had been forecasted, but we just joked about it.
We topped off the tanks before leaving Laramie (I think my VTX1800C had the shortest range of any of them) and continued on to Woods Landing. It started sprinkling just before we got to woods landing, but that's OK, it was literally only a couple of miles. We stopped and ate. That took a couple of hours (they weren't prepared for a group of that size). But we had fun shooting the breeze. We'd pushed every table but one into a long L-shape.
Here's where it gets fun. It was still raining and we looked at the sky and 4 bikes decided to go back the way we'd come. The rest thought the weather south looked better. So we headed towards Waldon. It was wet most of the way there, but not too bad. We topped of in Waldon and headed East through Poudre Canyon (the real reason everyone wanted to head South).
It was still raining most of the way and when we hit the top. We stopped at 10,269 feet and joked about the ice hanging from the road signs and the snow that surrounded us. The snowboarder that came down the hill right there sure seemed to stare at us. lol
Well as we were sitting there the rain turned into a sleety snow, so we jumped on the bikes and took off. We got out of the snow and back into the rain (one of those rare occasions where a nice cold rain is welcomed) when one of the bikes broke down (yep, an H-D). The skies were clear at that moment, so the mechanics in the group tried to fix it.
Eventually we left two other bikes with this guy and road down the canyon to find cell service or a pay phone. We called Cheyenne for a truck to come get him. The group was breaking up by then. We were already several hours overdue and the single parents wanted to press on, etc.
The wife and I got home about 10 PM. We had rain suits, but we were pretty cold. The last of the group didn't get in until 12:30 AM.
Oh well, Wyoming (Northern CO) can have some nice surprises. All in all, we had a good time.
We topped off the tanks before leaving Laramie (I think my VTX1800C had the shortest range of any of them) and continued on to Woods Landing. It started sprinkling just before we got to woods landing, but that's OK, it was literally only a couple of miles. We stopped and ate. That took a couple of hours (they weren't prepared for a group of that size). But we had fun shooting the breeze. We'd pushed every table but one into a long L-shape.
Here's where it gets fun. It was still raining and we looked at the sky and 4 bikes decided to go back the way we'd come. The rest thought the weather south looked better. So we headed towards Waldon. It was wet most of the way there, but not too bad. We topped of in Waldon and headed East through Poudre Canyon (the real reason everyone wanted to head South).
It was still raining most of the way and when we hit the top. We stopped at 10,269 feet and joked about the ice hanging from the road signs and the snow that surrounded us. The snowboarder that came down the hill right there sure seemed to stare at us. lol
Well as we were sitting there the rain turned into a sleety snow, so we jumped on the bikes and took off. We got out of the snow and back into the rain (one of those rare occasions where a nice cold rain is welcomed) when one of the bikes broke down (yep, an H-D). The skies were clear at that moment, so the mechanics in the group tried to fix it.
Eventually we left two other bikes with this guy and road down the canyon to find cell service or a pay phone. We called Cheyenne for a truck to come get him. The group was breaking up by then. We were already several hours overdue and the single parents wanted to press on, etc.
The wife and I got home about 10 PM. We had rain suits, but we were pretty cold. The last of the group didn't get in until 12:30 AM.
Oh well, Wyoming (Northern CO) can have some nice surprises. All in all, we had a good time.