If you said, "The Beatles, 1970," you get 20 bonus points. If you said, "The one song that epitomises the sad end of the Beatles," you get an additional 30 bonus points for your feelings.
I got out on my bike today. Eventually. "Eventually?" you ask. It was 48º when I got up this morning - I am trying to get in every ride I can before we haul south... but 48º is a bit too nippy for this island boy. I made breakfast tortillas, took Rufus for a couple walks, then shortly after noon, I got the bike out, with a photographic plan. That plan was interrupted when the CTX wouldn't start. "Oh, crap!"
Joan said I could take her bike, but I took the time to check the battery, the starter, and the alternator... looks like it is a battery issue. I put a jumper battery on it, and it fired right up. Joan said, "You can't trust it - just put in a new battery." The day was slipping away; I wanted to go out on my bike. I checked the battery again, and it was holding a charge. I grabbed my camera gear and headed out.
When I got to the intersection of Spring Creek Road and Neck Yoke Road, there was a brown RAM pickup approaching from the right... and drifting into the oncoming lane. I stopped well short of the stop sign, and the woman driving that truck cut the corner extremely short (as in: her right front wheel went off the road, on the wrong side)... if I had pulled up to the stop sign, she would have run me down. Not sure if she was not paying attention, stupid, or just an incredibly bad driver. As she passed close by me, she had a demented look on her face. Not a great way to star my ride.
I looked in my mirror to make sure she wasn't coming back for another shot at me, made my left turn, and hustled myself down the road.
My photographic plan for today: get some good road shots. These roads are so much fun to ride, I want something to look back at if we don't get this way again. I had a 360 camera mounted on the mirror stalk, but I was shooting these with my Nikon.
By the time I got to the intersection of Neck Yoke Road and South Rockerville Road, two UTVs came by. I found myself caught behind these incredibly slow vehicles. With no place to pass them. Really, there were going about 20 mph on a road with a 45 mph speed limit. And some great curves. Which would have made for some good photos, but these damn UTVs were filling up the road. I stopped to give them time to get ahead of me, but with 20 seconds of getting back on the road, I caught up to them. Several times.
My hopes for getting good photos were dashed when they turned ahead of me on Playhouse Road. I stopped again, because this road is particularly photogenic... and I didn't want the UTVs in my images. I caught up to them before we all got to Iron Mountain Road. Of course, they turned (slowly) the direction I would be going. I sat behind them for a mile or so, then pulled off and did a U-turn. Too frustrating.
The title of this post: all these curvy roads are big fun to ride... but these UTV drivers turned it into a long (and frustrating) and winding road. In spite of them, I was able to get what I was after, from the other direction.
I may be the only one who looks longingly at roads like this...
The ride back was a lot more satisfying than the ride out. When I got back, Joan and I ran into Rapid City and picked up a new battery. I put it in when we got home, and Joan said, "Well, since you're into this mode, here's an engine air filter for the Equinox." OK.
Then, another walk for Rufus, and the day was about done. Well, except for working up the photos you see above. I don't have any road photos of Iron Mountain Road, so I may try for that tomorrow. Getting out earlier.
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I pulled some snapshots off the 360 camera I had going during some of today's ride. Here's how I got the road shots...
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