Rocky Mountain National Park

Looking for a fun ride from Denver, Matt and I decided to ride to Rocky Mountain National Park. His ZX-12 was still waiting on some parts, so he rode a Ducati 749. We started in Denver in the morning and headed for the mountains north and west of town.

We spent a few hours riding up and down twisty roads, stopping for lunch and gas in Nederland. From there we went to Rocky Mountain NP where we sat in tons of traffic because of the road construction. At the top visitors center we paused for a drink and cookie.

During our break, I looked over at the next bench and was certain I saw a guy I know from home named Gordon. I wasn’t quite sure since this venue was not a place where I’d expect to see other Floridians. So at Matt’s suggestion, I said Gordon, hoping he’d hear it and turn. That way if he wasn’t Gordon, we’d avoid the awkward "you look like someone I know moment." When he got up I was more convinced, so I tried again. This time he looked back, squinted, and said, "Ryan?" Like I’ve said before, even though I’ve had a number of occurences like this one, I’m always surprised when it happens. It turns out Gordon was taking a road trip with a few friends (Berry, Josh, plus a guy I don’t think I’ve met before) from Savannah up to Alaska. So I mentioned that I’d just come down from there and that there really wasn’t much going on in Hyder, so the ferry would probably be a more scenic way to see Alaska.

We continued on passing Grand Lake and Winter Park. The fresh pavement on Berthod Pass was definitely great. Just before the pass, I got a rush of excitement when I felt a big bug hit my face only to see a few minutes later a wasp or bee crawling up the inside of my helmet. I made a quick stop to let the stunned bug out. We rode I-70 out of the mountains and took US 6 from Golden back to Denver, finishing a good day’s ride.