Much like every other workday, we depart the farmette long before twilight. But the advantage is ours, with light traffic. Soon enough we are landing in Denver. Despite a quick panic at baggage claim which has all of Bruce's ride kit from helmet to boots showing as "at baggage claim", we don't locate it.
Then, the ski and oversized carousel whirls to life. There, all by itself if Bruce's under packed duffel. I guess it's lack of a rigid exoskeleton relegated it odd. We Uber over to Great Western's warehouse and collect the bikes.
Bruce's bike is off the pallet, while mine sits still in her shipping straps. Bruce had called yesterday to let them know of our arrival, and there was a bit of scare. While both bikes were on the same waybill, my bike had been mislabeled and not findable. The manager had to stay late and review the security footage to locate my bike. He absolutely didn't want to make the call at 1830 to start the claim against the shipment insurance. Of note, the bike pallets at double pallet. Long term storage would be possible for about $50/month. Might have to think about that in future.
Bikes located, we began to ready ourselves, when a harley shows up for shipping on a rollback. Along with the bike is a man and women and literally 5 suitcases. The warehouse had a calm about it, which all but vanished with their arrival. First, they decree we need to move our bikes so they can offload their 'precious'. Mind you, this is a warehouse...there is an entire parking lot that you can back up tractor trailers, yet the 4 square feet that we occupy is in their way.
Soon enough, the story unfold--they were involved in an accident yesterday. I didn't look closely at their bike,but it definitely didn't look like a California Superbike S1000RR rental that missed the kink at straight at VIR and flew off into the grass. The pilot was temporarily admitted to the hospital, and now they want nothing to do with the bike. They are flying home. Despite the fact we had Uber drop us no less than 15 minutes prior, the women decrees Uber is not available. I even let her know that there should be something, if if a short wait.
She is a flurry of panic and nervousness. I pull out my phone to start a mock Uber ride and see Uber driver availability. Looks good to me. As the story unfolds, despite she is probably my age, has no idea how to use her phone. She has less ability to even fill in the 5 prompts to book her Uber ride. But soon enough, I get a ride booked. Sometimes your angel rides a BMW!
Shortly after, we leave. We filled up the bikes since they had to be less than 50% for the shipment. We air up for our superslab due east on the interstate before noon. We head over a few nice passes at 11,000 feet.
I love the signs. One sign "No Brakes, Do NOT Exit. 1 mile to Uphill". Apparently, this sign engineer knows nothing of humans. When panicked, vision become tunnel vision. I am not sure as I barrelling out of control, I am going to read a sign. And more or less, the sign is saying "You got this! There was a runaway truck ramp that was gravel, but you had a turn at the base of it. Judging by the ruts, the turn is optional.
We pass through Vail and Breckenridge. These are town marked by their use of all shades of brown paint for buildings, and the lack of any services with the exceptions of edge of town. And even then, signs are so low you nearly could run them over, lest they muck up the serenity of the views. The only mucking up of the view allowable is the 4 story tall netting used to contain errant golf balls.
Tomorrow, brings day 1 of the trail, starting at Colorado Track 5.
Then, the ski and oversized carousel whirls to life. There, all by itself if Bruce's under packed duffel. I guess it's lack of a rigid exoskeleton relegated it odd. We Uber over to Great Western's warehouse and collect the bikes.
Bruce's bike is off the pallet, while mine sits still in her shipping straps. Bruce had called yesterday to let them know of our arrival, and there was a bit of scare. While both bikes were on the same waybill, my bike had been mislabeled and not findable. The manager had to stay late and review the security footage to locate my bike. He absolutely didn't want to make the call at 1830 to start the claim against the shipment insurance. Of note, the bike pallets at double pallet. Long term storage would be possible for about $50/month. Might have to think about that in future.
Bikes located, we began to ready ourselves, when a harley shows up for shipping on a rollback. Along with the bike is a man and women and literally 5 suitcases. The warehouse had a calm about it, which all but vanished with their arrival. First, they decree we need to move our bikes so they can offload their 'precious'. Mind you, this is a warehouse...there is an entire parking lot that you can back up tractor trailers, yet the 4 square feet that we occupy is in their way.
Soon enough, the story unfold--they were involved in an accident yesterday. I didn't look closely at their bike,but it definitely didn't look like a California Superbike S1000RR rental that missed the kink at straight at VIR and flew off into the grass. The pilot was temporarily admitted to the hospital, and now they want nothing to do with the bike. They are flying home. Despite the fact we had Uber drop us no less than 15 minutes prior, the women decrees Uber is not available. I even let her know that there should be something, if if a short wait.
She is a flurry of panic and nervousness. I pull out my phone to start a mock Uber ride and see Uber driver availability. Looks good to me. As the story unfolds, despite she is probably my age, has no idea how to use her phone. She has less ability to even fill in the 5 prompts to book her Uber ride. But soon enough, I get a ride booked. Sometimes your angel rides a BMW!
Shortly after, we leave. We filled up the bikes since they had to be less than 50% for the shipment. We air up for our superslab due east on the interstate before noon. We head over a few nice passes at 11,000 feet.
I love the signs. One sign "No Brakes, Do NOT Exit. 1 mile to Uphill". Apparently, this sign engineer knows nothing of humans. When panicked, vision become tunnel vision. I am not sure as I barrelling out of control, I am going to read a sign. And more or less, the sign is saying "You got this! There was a runaway truck ramp that was gravel, but you had a turn at the base of it. Judging by the ruts, the turn is optional.
We pass through Vail and Breckenridge. These are town marked by their use of all shades of brown paint for buildings, and the lack of any services with the exceptions of edge of town. And even then, signs are so low you nearly could run them over, lest they muck up the serenity of the views. The only mucking up of the view allowable is the 4 story tall netting used to contain errant golf balls.
Tomorrow, brings day 1 of the trail, starting at Colorado Track 5.
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