Sunday, August 30, 2009

Part 1 of Riding Colorado at the AMA Women And Motorcycling Conference


Day 1- Novato CA in route to Keystone CO

As I awoke to the blaring sound of my alarm at 3:00AM in the morning in the attempt to make a 6:15 AM flight, I thought about how full my day was going to be. In the realization of what little sleep I managed to get, I was worried and excited all at the same time, I better be up for it, because I was going to be riding the Rockies in just a few hours!

I arrived at the Oakland airport right on schedule, schlepping all my "stuff", but proud of the fact I managed to pack all my motorcycle gear and clothes for a week into two small bags. I was to meet Jane from Connecticut at the gate and fly out to Denver together. I waited and waited for her, but no Jane. They called our flight for the second time, still no Jane. I went ahead and boarded thinking maybe we got our wires crossed and she wasn't taking this flight at all, but another one. It's funny how the mind can dream up crazy crap at 6 AM in the morning!

Still, as I sat in my seat, I watched every person who boarded, looking for the familiar face that I had not seen in two years time. Finally, there she was looking frazzled and relieved all at the same time. Seems her hotel shuttle was late. Thankfully, my mind wasn't playing tricks on me after all and soon Jane and I where off to Denver to rendezvous with Cathy from Michigan.
Jane and I found Cathy in baggage claim after a cell call, collected our gear and just as soon as we united, we found ourselves parting again. This time Cathy and I on one shuttle to Tourbikes on one side of Denver and Jane on another shuttle to Eagleriders, on the other side of town. We planned to meet at the junction where hwy 70 and hwy 6 meet.

We arrived at Tourbike rentals, Bill, the owner approached us with a perplexed look on his face, this made Cathy and I nervous. When we announced who we were, he explained he wasn't expecting us until the next day. Cathy and I found this odd, since we both separately confirmed out dates online. Fortunately, the bikes we requested, the BMW F800GS and the Honda VFR were there, so the only inconvenience was a time delay with paperwork that hadn't been filled out in advance.
Now the challenge at hand, loading the bikes with all our gear and making it fit! Some how we did it, but in the mean time, the sky was looking more and more threatening. Big black clouds were forming, then the thunder and lightening came, being from California, this was not something I was used to. And down came the rain to follow, I did not need this!! A motorcycle I was not familiar with, along with being loaded down by all my gear with a vague idea of where we were going to meet up with Jane.

As Cathy and I pulled away from the garage, I could hear Bill, the owner of the Tourbikes voice echoing in my head "it's not our fault if you kill yourself!" I would have taken this personally, if I hadn't already heard him say it minutes prior to the guy that left before us!

As the rain came down and temporarily turned to hail, I was struggling to see, even after I had made sure to rain guard my visor in preparation for such a situation. What a waste of time that was! I did manage to see Cathy's BMW tail light and for the most part, everything else. With every stop light we hit, we would look at each other, with this look of what the hell did we get ourselves into? No words were necessary, we both were on the same page!

Through fighting the elements, struggling with the unsteadiness of a motorcycle that was a little too tall, in addition to the weight of my gear and now the stop and go traffic on hwy 25, we managed to make our way to Jane. Finding her Harley Davidson Softtail parked outside a biker bar called Susies off of hwy 70. How she managed to track down a biker bar outside of Denver in a matter of minutes is still a mystery to Cathy and I! There must be some kind of universal homing device on all Harley's that we were unaware of???

Susie's was a typical funky biker bar where everyone was friendly, even though we did get some stares as Cathy and I pulled up on our BMW and Honda, not your typical motorcycle fan fair, I would suspect around these parts. Or the fact that we were girls riding bikes. Either way, we had fun, chitchatting with the locals, having a much needed bite to eat and went on our way, climbing up hwy 70 making our way to Keystone.
The gods must have been with us, or that we had a chaplain in our midst, but the rain stopped as we headed up the mountainous horizon, feeling much better about the ride to come. After about 60 miles, passing through the 2 mile Eisenhower tunnel, the weather definitely took a turn from one end of the tunnel to the other. Maybe it was the Continental Divide marked by a bright yellow sign half way through the tunnel that hastened the shift in weather? Regardless, coming down the steep grade into the Silverthorne Valley, we were feeling the difference with the drop in temperature and the strong headwinds.

Ignoring the change in conditions, my attentions quickly diverted to the magnificent views I witnessed with each sweeping turn I took on the bright red Honda. Jagged , rocky peaked mountains that seemed to reach out and touch the sky, giving an enveloping feeling to the small city of Silverthorne, below. Breathing in all the beauty as we came upon our exit all too quickly.
Minutes later, arriving at what I would come to affectionately call the "funky" house, that was to be our home for the week, we were greeted by Ellen , her husband, John, Laura, Ted and Jon, all of which rode up from Huston Texas. It was a multi level styled 5 bedroom 5 bath house that was odd in it's design, but perfect for our "roommate" needs. Cathy, Jane and I shared a room with two sets of bunk beds, me being mandated to sleep on the bottom bunk, below Cathy. And Jane getting a bunk bed all to herself. It worked out perfect, with plenty of room for our gear and a sitting room off the bunk room to sit and relax, when given a chance.
The rest of the afternoon was spent with the girls playing "catch up" and the guys sitting outside smoking cigars.

We all called it an early night around 9PM. It had been a long, but exciting day. It was comforting to know we all made it safe and sound. I remember falling asleep thinking how this trip had finally arrived after months of planning and waiting, it was truly an amazing day!


Day 2- Keystone CO

Arising to a beautiful crisp day, I decided to take a run/hike around the existing area of the "funky" house. I found a fantastic view at the top of a hill over looking the Keystone Golf course, I remember thinking, what a wonderful way to start the day!

After breakfast, Jane, Cathy and I decided we wanted to our money's worth out of your rental bikes, so we passed on the seminar that was to kick off today and head out hwy 9, south off of hwy 70. We passed through Breckenridge, a small quaint town I had been to several year before, spending the a week skiing every day. It looked so different without snow!
Winding up into Pike National Forest at the 11,000 ft level and back down into a very small, old town by the name of Alma and then on to our final destination of Fairplay CO. When we first arrived in Fairplay, it looked hauntingly like a ghost town, there was no one around at first glance. As we dismounted off the bikes and started to walk up the sunny narrow street, we then started to notice people milling about. We discovered a little sandwich shop called Milloni's, and had lunch overlooking a picturesque creek nestled in the hills.

After lunch, we walked up to the end of the street where Fairplay had an exhibit of what the town looked like from days gone by, called The South Park City Museum. For a small fee, you could walk through, getting the feel of what it must have felt like in the mid 1800's.

Fairplay takes it's name from gold prospectors who settled in 1859. They had staked more claims than they could work, hence giving the small town the name "Fairplay", giving every man an equal chance at staking his claim.

We headed back to Keystone, hoping to catch some portion of the seminar we were most likely missing! In my 2 days here, I had heard from several locals about how frequent motorcycle accidents occurred when riders drift off the road or into on coming traffic from being distracted by the awesome scenery. As I rode back, I could completely understand why this could happen and made sure to pay close attention to what was in front of me.
I was getting more comfortable with the VFR, we came into some twisties and felt confident enough to pass Jane and take the turns more at my own pace. It was nice to break away for a brief moment!
We caught the last 45 minutes of Carla King's talk about her solo travels, she and I met a month prior after she consented to doing a review on my Style Saver Scarf. We instantly hit it off and I wanted to make a special effort attend her class and personally say "hi" to her afterwards. She greeted me with a friendly hug and we talked, catching up on her recent trip to the big island of Hawaii.

From there, Jane, Cathy and I rode down the road to catch the AMA's president Rob Dingman and his cocktail party he was hosting. I had heard that Rob Dingman had been receiving a lot of bad press about his "my way or the highway" method of doing things, since taking his presidential position two years ago. So, I was a little predisposed on his reputation and found his reticent speaking abilities less than entertaining. It was like listening to latex paint dry!
Cathy found one of her Free Spirit chapter sisters, Joy from Michigan sitting with two women from Dallas Texas. Much more entertaining than Rob! We munched on quesadillas and sipped margarita's talking shop and learning more about motorcycles and the diverse women who ride them, it was fun and I enjoyed the experience.

At 7 PM we rode back down the road, to the conference hall for the opening ceremony to listen to some of the most awe inspiring women motorcyclists to date. Ashley Fiolek, a teenage motocross rider who was recently signed professionally representing Honda. As she stood to the right of the podium "signing" as her mother translated from the podium. It was clear this talented, determined young women was not going to let being deaf stop her in any way from accomplishing her dreams of being one of the first female professional motocross racers.
Leslie Prevish, Harley Davidson's women's outreach manager was full of energy and it emulated across the auditorium infeciously. She was an entertaining speaker, who's main focus is to create a vibrant community of female riders. She talking about some of the pioneer women riders of the early 20th century, such as Vivian Bales and Adeline and her sister Augusta Van Buren.
Leslie Porterfield, a very attractive young woman with long golden hair, that holds 3 land speed records and a member of the Bonneville 200 mile club. She also owns High Five Cycles in Dallas Texas, where she resides.
Feeling a little "small" after listening to all the incredible stories, we went back to the "funky" house and promptly crashed in my lower bunk bed!

Cindi


To be continued.......

3 comments:

  1. Great pictures :) I could never rent a bike, I'm too short...as you can understand having gotten a bike that was a little too tall. But any bike for me would be too tall.

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  2. Hi Maria, Thanks for the comment! It's really more about your inseam as you probably know!! But, I hear ya, I'm 5"4 with a 31 inch inseam.

    Cindi

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  3. Hi Cindi :) Oh yes, I always remember my inseam when thinking about what bike I want to get. But my inseam is also short....only 26-27" and I'm 4'10" :) So any bike I get will definitely have to be lowered! Ah, the things we do for the things we love! ;)

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