First Peak

On the road early, 6am, trying to get to Pikes Peak as soon as possible. Just a few miles down the road, I got distracted by Capulin Volcano. I decided I may as well go to the top of this one too, since it’s on the way.

Unfortunately, the rangers at this park are not nearly as ambitious as I, for they didn’t open for another two hours.

Just down the road, crossed into Colorful Colorado.

Much like the groundhog celebrates my second favorite holiday, I noticed my shadow and was very impressed. Bonus points of you know my favorite holiday…

I made it to Pikes Peak, and on the way up I decided I wanted a photo of me crossing the timber line. Here we are approaching it.

And then here’s me aiming wildly and managing to capture the actual Timberline sign.

It was a tense drive

But I made it!

I even had someone take my photo. Yes, I did check it, and yes, again, they had screwed it up. This pic is the third try. I figured this guy knew what he was doing, since he had a DSLR on him also. Oh well.

This is the end of the famous (or infamous?) cog wheel train at the top of Pikes Peak.

Now that I have the main objective done, it’s time to meet my father at his friends’ cabin. It’s a long drive, but very interesting. I even managed to find a Continental Divide marker along the way.

It’s hard to tell from the photo, but my rear tire is trying to roll to the Atlantic Ocean, while the front tire is trying to roll to the Pacific. Good thing I had the kickstand down.

As I said, the drive definitely kept you on your toes…

I missed the Buell, but this was still fun.

I passed several small towns that made me think of South Park, especially the way they describe it… how come trailers in NM or TX just look dumpy, but in CO they are acceptable?

The views were also great.

Finally made it to the cabin, it is really nice here. I am definitely tempted to extend my stay here.

Second Major Concern:

The bike is a little under-powered under normal conditions, then you add my fat ass and all my gear, and you feel lucky to keep up with traffic. But now I’m driving around at 10k, 11k, and 14k feet. The bike is even more winded than I. There were a few times when I was just hoping to make it to the top of the hill, and for about one hour I just had the throttle pegged at 100%. After a consultation with my home-base support crew (Thanks, Sam) I’ve decided to just live with it, since the rest of the trip is at more reasonable altitudes.

Fast Facts

Odometer Reading: 7,514

Elapsed Miles: 3,868

Bugs on windshield: 768

Bugs on visor: 247

Days without rain: 0