Taking advantage of the early hour, very light traffic and worried about deer on county roads; I took the E-470 Super Slab. I could not manage more that 55 mph as I am still breaking in the engine but the light traffic made it easy for cars to drive around me.
Dawn was breaking as I got off the US287 exit and headed North on it till I got to South Boulder Road which I took East to the junction with South Public Road. The meeting spot was the Cannon Mine Cafe which is located a few blocks North on South Public Road where it crosses Cannon Street.
I was second to arrive, shortly after Darrel and Nick on their dark green Ural Patrols, 2007 and 2005 year models respectively. The rigs continued arriving and it looked like an invasion of Lafayette was underway by Ural Sidecar Rigs! To keep things somewhat in balance, Greg showed up on his GS/Dauntless Sidecar Rig to join us for coffee. The remaining rigs were driven by Tim and John.
Six Rigs, five of them Urals....the UDF (Ural Delay Factor) effect on the town
of Lafayette's residents must have been striking!
Joining us on two-wheeled steeds were John and Cookie on their BMW GS motorcycles and Jeff on his Yamaha FJR (I think). The whole lot of us gathered at a couple of tables within the Cannon Mine Cafe and proceeded to get to know each other and tell tall tales to each other. Rides were discussed and planned, coffee was consumed along with pastries and a really good time was had by all!
A stalwart gathering of Uralisti, Sidecarist and Riders
Starting from Jeff in lower right corner and going counterclock-wise:
Jeff, Darrell, John S, Tim, Cookie, Spat, Greg and Nick.
We talked and socialized till about 10:30 or so then spent some time in the street outside chatting some more as we geared up for riding to our various destinations of the day. However, true to form, one of the Urals had "issues" getting the engine started. It was Nick's turn again to provide the centerpiece rig for the troubleshooting experience of the day.
Tim's rig decided she didn't want to start. Lots of kibitzing later, he found
what appeared to be wire grounding on the engine case that lead to his
ignition system. A little bit of electrical tape, and his rig once again started!
Crisis averted, the riders said their goodbyes and rolled on out of Lafayette. Here's pictures of the riders and their steeds:
Jeff and his Yamaha FJR, we'll see if we can convince him to come
over to the dark side and become a Uralista.
Smiling Tim, the youngest member of the informal group and his new
Ural Patrol. He's breaking the engine in same as me.
John S. and his 2007 Ural Gear-UP, he's planning to ride to
Alaska with this rig, promoting cancer awareness along the way.
More on that effort in future postings.
Here's Greg with his beauty of a GS Rig, he's really thinking hard
about a Ural of his own though....we shall see.
Spat and his lovely wife cookie astride their Beemers.
A thoroughly enjoyable gathering of individuals who've discovered a love for sidecar riding or in the case of Jeff, know someone who's hooked on sidecars. The day turned out nicely, with the sun coming out nice and warm as we left Lafayette.
1 comment:
Fun to see all the sidecar rigs together. And no snow! I'm not used to seeing no snow in your pics. I'm glad you had some good weather for a ride. Looks like a good time with good friends...even those with only two-wheels ;)
Post a Comment