sfarson
Registered user
Haven't left a ride report since November's brisk scoot up Pikes Peak. Sooooo, the Peak to Peak Scenic Byway is a 50 mile up high road and ride skirting the eastern slopes of the U.S's Continental Divide. Historic towns, twisting riding between them, and scenery all around them, are the attractions. Still chilly up high. This ride two days ago was under mostly overcast skies, with temps in the 40's, which made things a bit brisk for my middle aged bones. Hey, cold is when the temperature is below your age!
Anyway, here's the interactive Google map link of the ride and content below...
Central City, CO to CO-72 W - Google Maps
Anchoring the southern end are the historic twin communities of Central City and Blackhawk. This is where the Colorado gold rush started. A rich lode found in a nearby gulch in 1859 had 10,000 people moving to the area in two years, bringing their tents, their wares, their tools, and their hopes for fortunes. Henry Teller, Colorado's first U.S. Senator built a hotel in 1872, and at the time, it was considered the finest hotel west of the Mississippi.
Can see the Teller House in this recent image of Central City. Can also see scattered mines dotting the hills...
In 1936 an artist/painter was hired to freshen the Teller House up a bit. There was some tension and disagreement with the project manager, and the painter was asked to quit or resign. Sneaking in late at night before he departed, he painted the face of a women on the floor of the bar. Supposedly, this woman was of the temperance movement and would have found it quite disagreeable to have her image grace such a place as a bar! If ever in Central City, can still see the image...
Anyway, with the above as background, found this old image of the Teller House...
Today...
Along the way, a pause below the Indian Peaks. Those Aspen trees at this altitude have yet to clothe themselves with fine green and leafy clothes, but come autumn they switch to on-fire garments of gold and this spot is usually jammed with vehicles of camera toting leaf peepers...
So later on near the vicinity of Ward (see map), you know how you're riding along and your peripheral vision catches movement off to the side? Well, there is this bird of prey, with prey in its clutches, dropping off some rocks to the left side, trying to accelerate and swoop before me. Well, either I'm cruising along faster than the bird's brain calculated, or his lunch is weighing more than anticipated, or a combination of both, so he decides to drop his load on the road right in front of me. Good thing it wasn't a big load!
Here's the sequence from the video camera. After the swoop, trying to gain altitude...
Dropping the meal to help gain altitude...
Enough altitude gained...
Here's a short Hi-Def video clip of the encounter (first ten seconds), with a minute of the following road/ride...
Peak to Peak: Bird Drop - YouTube
Later on a stop is made above Peaceful Valley. Always a postcard kind of place to pause, with the peaks just south of Rocky Mountain National Park standing guard below the western sky. That's Sawtooth Peak in the middle of the above timberline terrain...
So as I walk around at the spot above with blissfully dull senses and awareness, waiting for the right moment for the pic, I look across the road. What the...
I think the property owner has this hay out for this purpose. But regardless, not seen everyday. A fine ride.
Anyway, here's the interactive Google map link of the ride and content below...
Central City, CO to CO-72 W - Google Maps
Anchoring the southern end are the historic twin communities of Central City and Blackhawk. This is where the Colorado gold rush started. A rich lode found in a nearby gulch in 1859 had 10,000 people moving to the area in two years, bringing their tents, their wares, their tools, and their hopes for fortunes. Henry Teller, Colorado's first U.S. Senator built a hotel in 1872, and at the time, it was considered the finest hotel west of the Mississippi.
Can see the Teller House in this recent image of Central City. Can also see scattered mines dotting the hills...
In 1936 an artist/painter was hired to freshen the Teller House up a bit. There was some tension and disagreement with the project manager, and the painter was asked to quit or resign. Sneaking in late at night before he departed, he painted the face of a women on the floor of the bar. Supposedly, this woman was of the temperance movement and would have found it quite disagreeable to have her image grace such a place as a bar! If ever in Central City, can still see the image...
Anyway, with the above as background, found this old image of the Teller House...
Today...
Along the way, a pause below the Indian Peaks. Those Aspen trees at this altitude have yet to clothe themselves with fine green and leafy clothes, but come autumn they switch to on-fire garments of gold and this spot is usually jammed with vehicles of camera toting leaf peepers...
So later on near the vicinity of Ward (see map), you know how you're riding along and your peripheral vision catches movement off to the side? Well, there is this bird of prey, with prey in its clutches, dropping off some rocks to the left side, trying to accelerate and swoop before me. Well, either I'm cruising along faster than the bird's brain calculated, or his lunch is weighing more than anticipated, or a combination of both, so he decides to drop his load on the road right in front of me. Good thing it wasn't a big load!
Here's the sequence from the video camera. After the swoop, trying to gain altitude...
Dropping the meal to help gain altitude...
Enough altitude gained...
Here's a short Hi-Def video clip of the encounter (first ten seconds), with a minute of the following road/ride...
Peak to Peak: Bird Drop - YouTube
Later on a stop is made above Peaceful Valley. Always a postcard kind of place to pause, with the peaks just south of Rocky Mountain National Park standing guard below the western sky. That's Sawtooth Peak in the middle of the above timberline terrain...
So as I walk around at the spot above with blissfully dull senses and awareness, waiting for the right moment for the pic, I look across the road. What the...
I think the property owner has this hay out for this purpose. But regardless, not seen everyday. A fine ride.
It isn't a clamshell or Nazi styled thing. I don't look like a pirate. But the lower face is exposed, mostly to frighten women and children with my appearance. 
