It was a brisk 38°F this past Saturday morning as I headed away from home to ride/cover the 4th Annual Small Bike Ride.
Basically, its an organized ride of vintage motorcycles, to include scooters this year, with an engine displacement of 250cc or less. The event does not strictly enforce this, more of a guideline, the main thing is to have folks ride with their vintage iron and have a good safe time.
I showed up at the start point first and soon was greeting Mike, who showed up on his '82 Honda MB5 50cc Motorcycle. This model was only imported into the US for one year apparently, and Mike set a record with his on the Salt Flats of Utah with a speed of 60.757 MPH!
The rest of the riders and participants started tricking in soon afterwards. Time was spent in greetings, viewing of motorcycles and scooters and the taking of pictures.
The route covered twisty curves and turns that led the riders from the start at Deer Creek Canyon Road, onto North Turkey Creek Road, crossing under US285 and from there to the junction with CO73 near Conifer. The riders would then wind their way into Conifer, then after fueling up and a brief rest, a ride south down Foxton Road towards South Platte River Road.
After meandering by the river, the riders would end up heading north on CO126, transiting through Sphinx Park and by the Bucksnort Saloon. From there it is twisty narrow roads all the way back to US285 and a short hop westward to Pine Junction and a lunch at the Crossroads Cafe. For reasons unknown to me, the cafe only had one person working as wait staff. Our little group of riders basically overwhelmed the place and one of our riders, Kelly, took on the job of waiter for our group!
I left about 20 minutes ahead of the group, wanting to get some time to position myself for the last video capture of the day and to take pictures of Valencia.
The return route would take us back along South Platte River road, up Foxton Road and through a rural neighborhood. We would eventually surface on Pleasant Park road which we would take to where it becomes High Grade Road. It was downhill twists and turns back to Deer Creek Canyon road and to the location where we'd started riding in the morning.
Everyone made it back, no one broke down and fun was had by all, a successful ride to be sure.
As folks bade each other goodbye, I took my own leave and rode home via the C470 Super Slab. Quite a different experience, riding with a group of Vintage bikes of small engine displacements. For once, Valencia was one of the faster motorcycles! A novel experience for both of us.
Here's a link to last year's SBR: LINK.
Ride Safe. Ride Aware.
