Day 6 – June 15, 2009
We had reserved tickets for the cog railroad at Pikes Peak for noon so the plan was to have a nice breakfast and leave the hotel by 9. I turned the key on Abigail and she started but then quit and no amount of sweet talk could get her started again. This bike has only left me stranded one other time in almost 3 years. Glenn, Don and Roger decided to push the bike with Bernie on it and let him pop the clutch to start it but that was a real circus. Bernie said they were pushing him over and he wouldn’t even try to start it. After that little trial and error I pressed the starter button and she kicked off. Later in the day she again hesitated. It sounds as if she is not getting enough gas on start up. I’m wondering if the high elevation has anything to do with it. I know I’m finding it harder to breath today. We still made it to Pikes Peak depot in plenty of time to get our tickets and shop before boarding the train. A cog railroad can climb grades of 25% and I felt as if I was going to slide out of the seat. The view was magnificent and as we neared the top and cleared the tree line the air was much thinner and I began to feel the effects; dizziness, difficulty breathing and headache. I thought it was just me but everyone in our group was feeling the same. The top was covered with snow and the temps were in the mid 20’s. This was well worth the $30 each to visit this beautiful mountain. Leaving Pikes Peak we took CO 115 to Canon City where we have gotten a room at the Super 8. As we were riding I noticed the mountains were on my left, right and straight ahead. The ground around the highway is a desert with some type of ragged ground cover and brush. The Rocky Mountains are not like any mountains I’ve ever seen. They don’t appear to have rolling hills but rather sharp edges jutting up at various heights. The color changes depending on the direction of the sun. Little towns dot the base of the mountains but you don’t see houses up the mountain sides as you do on the mountains in the east. Tomorrow we plan to visit Royal Gorge and then cover a lot of miles in order to get close to the Canyonlands National Park.
We had reserved tickets for the cog railroad at Pikes Peak for noon so the plan was to have a nice breakfast and leave the hotel by 9. I turned the key on Abigail and she started but then quit and no amount of sweet talk could get her started again. This bike has only left me stranded one other time in almost 3 years. Glenn, Don and Roger decided to push the bike with Bernie on it and let him pop the clutch to start it but that was a real circus. Bernie said they were pushing him over and he wouldn’t even try to start it. After that little trial and error I pressed the starter button and she kicked off. Later in the day she again hesitated. It sounds as if she is not getting enough gas on start up. I’m wondering if the high elevation has anything to do with it. I know I’m finding it harder to breath today. We still made it to Pikes Peak depot in plenty of time to get our tickets and shop before boarding the train. A cog railroad can climb grades of 25% and I felt as if I was going to slide out of the seat. The view was magnificent and as we neared the top and cleared the tree line the air was much thinner and I began to feel the effects; dizziness, difficulty breathing and headache. I thought it was just me but everyone in our group was feeling the same. The top was covered with snow and the temps were in the mid 20’s. This was well worth the $30 each to visit this beautiful mountain. Leaving Pikes Peak we took CO 115 to Canon City where we have gotten a room at the Super 8. As we were riding I noticed the mountains were on my left, right and straight ahead. The ground around the highway is a desert with some type of ragged ground cover and brush. The Rocky Mountains are not like any mountains I’ve ever seen. They don’t appear to have rolling hills but rather sharp edges jutting up at various heights. The color changes depending on the direction of the sun. Little towns dot the base of the mountains but you don’t see houses up the mountain sides as you do on the mountains in the east. Tomorrow we plan to visit Royal Gorge and then cover a lot of miles in order to get close to the Canyonlands National Park.
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