Not sure where the bunnies were this morning, but perhaps I was a bit earlier than yesterday, and dawn was just making an appearance. Our people had been briefed and warned not to be late for the shuttle to Mile High Harley collect our bikes - even those with reputations for extreme tardiness were front and centre, bright and early. The paperwork required to hire a Harley is enough to excite any lawyer, waivers for this, indemnities for that, multiple documents, all pretty meaningless... That said, the staff were very efficient, and by 1030 we were out the gate, most slightly tentative about riding on the "wrong" side of the road, but off we went following Doc like a line of ducklings. I suspect technology may have got the better of Doc, and it appeared to be a rather circuitous route that found us out of Denver an hour later, 5 lanes becoming 3, then 2, and finally one - phew. Lunch in Leadville, where some of us bumped into another mob of 20 odd Kiwis on Harleys, freshly fed and just leaving, heading to whence we had just come, but also planning on being in Sturgis North Dakota at about the same time us. Very ominous rain clouds heading in our direction encouraged the donning of wet weather gear - quite a process over jackets and boots, but an effort deemed worthwhile - although later proven unnecessary. Before leaving Leadville, we gassed up- one of our crew normally rides a different marque, and managed to unscrew the second "decorative" fuel cap of the tank- pouring several litres of gas directly onto the engine before someone explained the error he'd made - could have been a different outcome. The famous town of Aspen, playground of the moneyed and celebrity was our next stop - a beautiful place. We rough Harley types were accosted by teenage girls fundraising for the Aspen Equestrian Team... The airport is a parking lot for literally hundreds of private aircraft, and we're not talking small Cessnas either - row after row of multi millon dollar toys - magnificent! We crossed the top of the Rockies today, over Independence Pass, and up to over 12000 ft - tough on those men and machines used to gulping air at sea level. A switch back road worthy of the Tour de France's Alp Huez was a highlight, steep gradient, no barriers' and a sheer drop of several thousand feet if you got it wrong. Doc nearly skittled a baby deer (a doe actually), and we saw another, much larger version, less lucky, lying dead and quite forelorn on the side of the road. We 21 hungry travellers wandered into a restaurant and nearly caused the manager to melt down - semi, and perhaps slightly understandably, Basil Fawlty-esque. He mentioned several times that they could not cope so eventually half of us went next door to a burger joint which was also quite hilarious - not to worry, all fed and ready for bed. So, a great first day, (except for the deer) pretty hot in places, pretty full on in traffic in others, but we're safe and happy in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, bound for Utah tomorrow. Comments are closed.
|
Don MalcolmA perfect day involves being on my Harley with a long ride ahead.
|