Ride Re-Cap from Pete!
If you didn't go on the 7 June SOCODOG monthly ride to the Automezzi in Denver you missed some exciting stuff. Keith, Shannon, Mike Christy, Jeremy, Rachel, Phil, Dave, Holland, Pete and his son Marc all met at Starbucks at the Shops at Briargate. We had eight bikes and nine riders. Christy and Rachel drove the Subaru. (The Subaru would come in handy later.) It was time to kick the tires and light the fires at 9AM with us departing Starbucks pretty much at 9AM right on schedule. I told the group we had some other events to work around. The Fallen Peace Officers Ride was starting at 9AM. I25 at the North Gate of the Academy only had one lane open in each direction. Then the Elephant Rock Bicycle race was taking place in Castle Rock. We rode up highway 83 to Monument and unfortunately we ran into the bicycle riders at Palmer Lake on Colorado 105. We ran into a bunch of bicyclist that refused to move over or they decided to chat to each other while riding abreast. I don't think th ere was one SOCODOG that had one good thing to say about the bicyclists. Next year we will ride 83 to Franktown and maybe come back on 105. After the bicyclist turned toward Castle Rock we were able to open up the bikes a little. It was kind of cool humid going into Denver and you could see a large thunderhead over the city but not rain. I didn't check with the rest of the group but I caught a glimpse of something silver out of the corner of my eye. No it was not Holland on the GIXER but a World War II B17. Wow!
We arrived all together at the Automezzi. The Automezzi has been going on for 19 years. It celebrates the Italian Auto and Motorcycle industy. They have a collection of the finest cars and motorcycles. Some you know and some less well known. And then they have FIATS. The motorcycle collection was kind of small compared to previous years. The had a real pretty 750S and 750GT from the 1970s. But they also had a brand new Ducati Streetfighter and a Desmosedici. The Desmosedici was parked right next to a 1960s Ducati Scrambler. Right there you can see how far Ducati has come in 40 years. The Ferrari selction was very good. I'm glad Mike was there because there was a beautiful Ferrari with the engine in front. Mike said it was a Ferrari California. It even had two seats for passengers behind the pilot and copilot positons. Only thing is, if the seats were pushed back all the way for tall driver and copilot the only the two passengers could ride in the back two seats is if th ey had no legs. There were also three beautiful Maseratis. These were new cars! And as we were studying in the Ferrari California the hightlight of the show drove up. A man and woman drove up and got out of a Ferrai Enzo. If I didn't know better I would have said a Hollywood actor showed up but it was the car that got the star treatment. We all looked at each other in disbelief and saw the car after the crowds died down a little. The Enzo has Carbon Fibre Valve covers, Air cleaner assembly, inside door panels, etc etc. Mike said a brake job on an Enzo would be around 12K, carbon type brakes he said. You all missed something special with the Enzo.
Since Mike and Christy had never been to Casa Bonita we all had lunch at this famous Denver establishment. We stuffed all of our gear and helmets into the Subaru. I told them not to expect goumet food. We were all entertained by actors and divers. Holland was a diver in High School and he was thinking about working here for the summer. Just kidding Holland! When we got out of Casa Bonita it was hailing and raining. We thought it would pass and were prepared to wait it out but my son had report to work at 4PM so we had to get going. The rest of the group left after us. We left at 1PM which was about the time the tornadoes were dancing all over Denver. We only saw rain and real dark clouds. Marc and I headed south in the middle of a pretty good rain. Is it my imagination or are Colorado drivers afraid to drive in the rain? Colorado drivers will pass you in a snow storm going 60 on a snow packed road but when it rains they drive like retired people in Florida. About the time we got to I25 and 225, Marc and I were hearing what I thought were horns from the Metro. Wrongo! We had to stop at my oldest son's house to check on some carpet and painting which was near I25 and 225. It was then I realized what the horns were. They were sirens and we spotted a funnel cloud about 5 to 7 miles east of the I25/225 intersection. We also saw hail on the edges of the highway. But it stopped raining and the road was dry just further south. Unfortunately the funnel cloud went back into the clouds before we could get our own picture.
In all a great day. We had a great ride, great friends, a B17, a Street Fighter, a Desmosedic, a Ferrari California and Enzo topped off with a real live funnel cloud for this New Mexico boy. I got to spend some great quality time with my son. And Mike and Christy are no longer Casa Bonita virgins.
Pete Pino
Couple of pics:
More images are on the Facebook SoCO DOG site!!
p.s. Anyone interested in setting up the "official" ride for next month??
