# Double "Fourteener" Ride



## parallel (Jul 29, 2018)

The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Especially when Mother Nature seems to be against ya. This was the worst of Mother Nature's tantrum while I was visiting. I've dubbed this storm Hailnado...   






I had decided that this summer's ride was gong to be up Pike's Peak on my torque monster Triumph. While asking for some advise, a guy said that he had always wanted to ride Pike's Peak (Elevation 14,115) in the morning then ride North to Mount Evans (Elevation 14,270) and ride that mountain in the afternoon. I decided to adopt his goal as my own. The only problem is that Colorado choose the week I was there to break out of their recent drought. The weather would be brilliant in the mornings... but by early afternoon thunderstorms would roll in. I was warned to take take mountain thunderstorms very seriously due to dangerous lightening and the threat of flash flooding and landslides, so I was usually back at the motel by the time the weather got bad. It was so frustrating that I ended up cutting my trip short a day even though I had paid for the room already.

I did SORT of complete the mission though. I rode Pike's Peak twice, once on Saturday and again on Sunday. The reason? Well... the week before this trip we were in Fort Walton Beach because my daughter's team played in the USSSA Fast Pitch National Championship Tournament and my GoPro cameras were full of videos of my kids from that. As such... they ran out of space halfway up the mountain the first day so I went again the next day after making sure my cameras were all set.  After figuring out that there would be about a six hour window of good weather for Mount Evans on Tuesday, I made the trip and rode to the summit. That ride was pretty gnarly road to ride on a big bike. The narrowness of the road, particularly near the top meant one had to maintain focus at all times or pay a disastrous price. Beyond that though... in many places the pavement reminded me of New Orleans Streets. The pavement was broken and uneven with many sinking areas which made it a challenge to ride a behemoth like my Rocket.

Even so, the lack of crowds of people, and overbearing regulation makes Mount Evens MUCH more enjoyable to travel. The view is nothing short of spectacular and there's even abundant wildlife.



























I decided to add this one because it was like these goats were posing for me... LOL.


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## Gunz (Jul 29, 2018)

Very cool, Bro. 


(Ps I was at Little Creek in 72)


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## parallel (Aug 1, 2018)

Ocoka said:


> Very cool, Bro.
> 
> 
> (Ps I was at Little Creek in 72)


Thanks brother. It was significantly later when I got to NAB Little Creek. About 17 years later...


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## Gunz (Aug 2, 2018)

parallel said:


> Thanks brother. It was significantly later when I got to NAB Little Creek. About 17 years later...




Did they still have the quonset huts?


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## parallel (Aug 5, 2018)

Ocoka said:


> Did they still have the quonset huts?


I'm not sure if they're the same ones that you're talking about but I'm pretty sure the amphibious assault craft units had them.


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## BlackSmokeRisinG (Aug 5, 2018)

That's awesome.

Always wanted to see the Pikes Peak rally (hill climb). Someday I want to get a rally car up there.


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## parallel (Aug 6, 2018)

BlackSmokeRisinG said:


> That's awesome.
> 
> Always wanted to see the Pikes Peak rally (hill climb). Someday I want to get a rally car up there.


I could have went during the week of the race, but I decided against it when warned how chaotic it is with the crush of humanity. I'm glad I made that decision as the first time I went it took 45 minutes of bumper to bumper traffic to get to the gates. Mount Evans was far better mostly because there were far fewer people to deal with.

That said; now that I've been on the summit and all that, I wouldn't mind braving the mobs of people to attend the race. I've even considered registering for the race. Of course I wouldn't win... but it would be cool to ride that road as fast as I can.


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