Part 1 - MSR Motorcycle Ride.

Note: I have overcome the gigabyte gnomes and now have uploaded the pics I need for this post (yeaaa!!!). Some of you know that I couldn't get these photo's loaded a couple of days ago. So here we go....

My husband & I got up early Sunday, May 7th, to attend the Mountain Shadow Riders group motorcycle ride. It was a beautiful morning, but a little on the chilly side. I have on many layers. Thermal shirt, REI windless jacket, the winter liner in my motorcycle jacket, a neck gaiter and a hankerchief on my head under my helmet. It really helps keep my head warm and helps to hold in my earphones on my small MP3 player. I have to say small, as it only holds 2 1/2 albums (lol).

Everyone was to rondevous at a 7-11 Store in Colorado Springs at 9am. It was on the far end of town from us, but the roads really weren't busy that morning. Karla introduced everyone to everyone. Bill & I met quite a few very nice people we didn't know and it's great seeing the people we did know again. We are still pretty new in the group.

Here's the whole group. It was a group of about 14 motorcycles and 16 people. We left at about 9:15am, with Karla in the lead. It was a wonderful ride. We got on Highway 24 heading west towards Lake George, CO. After leaving Colorado Springs, we go up a twisty, mountainous pass. The high mountains on both sides makes a person feel dwarfed in comparison. There are mostly pine trees surrounding us.
Karla has us stop at a gas station in Divide. Some top of their tanks and she checks to make sure everyone is doing well. She's checking that everyone is comfortable with the pace she has been doing. We have a few riders who are really new to group riding. I've done a few group rides, but I'm pretty new at it myself. Everyone assures her she's doing a great job.

We then get back on Hwy 24 heading west. Just past Lake George we turn onto County Road 77 heading north toward Jefferson. Not long after being on this road we entered the Lost Creek National Forest. This road starts out deceptively nice. About 10 miles in the road gets pretty interesting. There are lots of pot holes and loose gravel to dodge. Parts of the edge of the road would desintegrate due to erosion. One of the riders described the person in front of them as spazing out, as the person was so busy trying to point out the hazards they were going by. You'd shot out a right leg at this, left leg at that, right arm...left arm... (and do the hokey pokey, lol) the hazards were everywhere!!!

Everyone did a great dodging it all. Karla had warned us about this and that we would want to make the spacing between us wider to allow for maneuvering. We didn't get much traffic on this road. We did see lots of farms and horses.

After all that we took a break to warm up and relax. We were about half way through CR 77. We all had a great time discussing the condition of CR 77. It is a challenge, but everyone seemed to enjoy the variety it gave. When I say people were chilly, that's putting it lightly. We had climbed up in elevation and the sun at this point was flurting with us. At one point I thought we would hit rain. I did get a few drops of rain on my shield, but nothing to be concerned with.
Here is a view just to the left of where we had parked. The rustic beauty was all around us. I can't say enough about the views we were seeing. You could even hear the birds singing.

Here we are again at our stop. It's a nice pull-off from the road.

Here I am enjoying the views on my motorcycle. Just look at the views behind me. The mountains just keep on going....