Ride to Limon eventually cancelled due to winds

Gary Messick and I met at the McDonald's in Castle Rock this morning at 8:00 a.m. The winds were already blowing so hard it was difficult to stay in a lane. We waited until 8:15 and then the two of us headed out towards Elizabeth.

As we headed down the road towards Franktown, I really believed we were going to make it to Limon. As we came out of the trees at the intersection of 83/86, I watched as dirt blew across the road and we were fighting to stay in our lane.

We continued on thinking it would settle down. Because the winds were coming from the south, we were leaning and still heading into the oncoming lanes. As we entered Elizabeth, Gary signaled to head towards a gas station.

We entered the facility and started laughing because we knew there was no way we could continue to ride sideways down the road with the winds pushing us into the oncoming lanes. Every time we thought we had a handle on it, we were losing it. It had taken us over 45 minutes to go from Castle Rock to Elizabeth. We agreed we would not continue this path and decided to head down the side road back towards Parker.

Gary said I could lead, trusting man that he is, and we rode north. No problem there until we began to head west and the winds started pushing us around again. Once we got to Parker Road, we said good-bye and headed our separate ways.

We are hoping at the end of the ride on Sunday, we might head over to Invesco Field to see the Veterans Wall.

No pictures for this ride because the camera would have landed somewhere in Wyoming!

Riding the Rocky Mountain High!

Nancy Stern-Jude and Gary Messick

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