Mothership

I was on furlough, today, along with most other State Employees in Colorado. So, I decided to test out the second version of my motorcycle-mounted bicycle carrier. I had decided I didn't like the first version, so I started from scratch, on Sunday, and built a completely different version.

I left the house a little after 7:00 A.M., and headed for Mt. Falcon.

By 7:45, I was in the parking lot at the East Trailhead. The motorcycle handled fine, with the load, and the bike never shifted on the rack. I'm pretty satisfied with this version. For one thing, once the bike is off, you can swing the rack in so that it no longer sticks out to the side.

Between five and ten minutes after I started removing the bike from the rack, it was ready to ride.

Forty one minutes after that, I was at the picnic shelter at the top of the trail. I love the view of the valley, from there.

I rode back down, and loaded up, then headed to the coffee shop. As I pulled up, Brad was walking in, with Noella.

"Man, if I had to rely on that to go mountain biking, I'd never go again," he said, looking at the rig.

Me, too, probably. But, I built this up for out-of-town, multi-day trips on which I will ride to a campsite, unload the bike, and ride for a few days before loading it back up. It is a bit inconvenient for short hops like Mt. Falcon or Apex.

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