Bishop's Castle Ride Is Regal!

Some of you might remember when Don Zink would put together the annual Bishop's Castle ride several years ago. I always heard about it and wanted to do it, but just never got the chance.

Keith Gray came up with the idea for the ride on Sunday, May 25. Doug Jackson volunteered to lead the ride (coutesy of Mapquest) while yours truly brought up the rear. We all agreed to meet at Safeway's on Parker Road in Parker at 9:30. Len and Evelyn Childers, Rick Bouwser, Keith Gray, Chalres Chandler and Doug Jackson were waiting for me when I rode in. We headed on down Parker Road taking a detour through Colorado Springs which avoided a lot of stoplights and traffic.

From there, I really can't tell you what roads we were on because all I knew was to follow and make sure no one got left behind. I can tell you we accidentally turned off a road that ended up with us taking the scenic view of Pikes Peak Community College parking lot. We needed the break anyway so it was a good thing. From there we headed out down two lane roads and beautiful views.

As we came to a t-intersection, I could see by Doug's shoulders, he didn't know which way to turn. I saw him lean towards Len and ask something. I kept thinking we should turn right but then I am directionally impaired. We turned left only to discover we would start the U-turn thing. As we pulled on to the road where the castle stands, I realized there was no real parking - just gravel and dirt on the side of the road. I was smart enough to ask for help.

The castle is spectacular! I have never seen anything like it. All of us wandered around, climbing up stairs and hanging over railings yelling at others below. We even rang the bell - the lower one - not the one at the very top. The winds were picking up as we stood out on the landings but we smiled and hung on.

We headed for the bikes and headed towards Colorado City where we gassed up and Doug led us to a restaurant across the street from the station. We were the only ones in there and we had good food and great service. Good job on the food, Doug. Doug did take a lot of ribbing about getting us lost and everyone decided that because I was along, that meant we had to get lost at least once.

We all decided because of the time, we would head north on I-25 with some droppping off at Monument. Three of us headed up I-25 in search of ice cream. As we neared Castle Rock, I broke loose from the back and lead the others to The Rockyard where we had ice cream treats and lots of laughs.

From there, we three split up to head home. Doug did a great job of stepping up to the plate to lead the ride. We all agreed we had a blast and got to see some parts of Colorado we hadn't seen before. Thank you, Keith, for coming up with the ride idea.

Riding the Rocky Mountain High!

Nancy

By the way, check out the pics Keith has on a website - http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/As5Dx2Uc - its really cool!

Click the thumbnails to enlarge. Mouseover for caption.

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