Day 25: Manitou Springs, CO to Denver, CO

146.1 Miles | 3:09 Riding Time

Today is Sunday, May 5, 2024, and it’s Day 25 of my cross country motorcycle trip.

The day started with a ride up Pikes Peak on the Cog Railway. Last time I rode it was 1983, and I was with my boy scout troop on our way to Philmont High Adventure Camp. It wasn’t like I remembered. These trains were brand new, so were the tracks, and the train cars had climate controls and huge windows.

The views on the railway are amazing. Unfortunately, the summit is not open, because of the snow at the higher elevations. The road was only open up to 16 of the 19 miles, and the train only was able to go up to about 11,500 ft, which they call Inspiration Point (they only charged half the normal ticket price). There’s no place to get out and enjoy the view, but we were able to walk around the train and get some pictures, like that selfie through the massive front window. It was still very cool.

I spent the afternoon riding up RT 24 to Lake George, CO, and took RT 77 to RT 285 over the mountains to Denver. It was a beautiful ride. On 77, it started to get very windy, and by the time I was at the junction of 77 and 285, the winds were gusting hard, which is just…unpleasant…on a motorcycle. Here’s some video of the “light winds” (volume up).

In Denver, I met up with my old high school friend, Paul and his girlfriend, Christine. I say, he’s an “old,” because he got old, but somehow I haven’t. Not sure how that happened. Paul. Great to see you!

A couple people have asked about how hard all that riding is physically. I’ll give away one secret, bicycle shorts—that padding is so nice. The thing that hurts the most right now are my hands. When it’s super-windy, it’s hard not to hold on to the bars a little tighter than one should. When a gust hits, you lean into it, and hold on. Sometimes you forget to loosen up afterwards. Other than that, I’m feeling good.

The Route

Elevation Profile - Doesn’t include the train ride that went up to 11,500 ft.

Check out this ride on Rever.