Fort Collins to Brush, Colorado Loop

More pictures and route map can be found here.

A sermon I heard once advised us not to “despise the trivial.” In other words, not to discount those little moments in life. Good advice I think. So it will be with most of the rides I talk about here. My time for epic rides like the ones we dream about is not now. Instead I content myself with an afternoon here, perhaps and overnight there. So it was with my ride yesterday. Made even more mundane as a result of the season and my being scared of ice and gravel and temperature extremes. I headed out towards the plains east of me instead of the mountains to the west. But if I apologize too much for my destination, I would be insincere. Truth is I like the empty hauntingness of our grasslands. I like it a lot. Not that its the only scenery I enjoy but it certainly is amongst them. The problem though with riding through it is there isn't much variation. Just vast empty stretches of (mostly good) roads.

Yesterday, I headed out a little after noon and took I25 to Highway 34 all the way to Brush, Colorado. Nothing too much to say about the actual road except to warn you to watch out for the interchanges. Seems maybe that Colorado seeks to make up for the monotony by breaking it up with weird interchanges every so often. The first one I ran across I know well. Its with highway 34, highway 85 and 8^th Avenue meet in Greeley. Next couple involve getting on and off interstate I76 for a brief stretch. Get through those and the rest is clear sailing.

I stop in Brush for gas and food deliberately avoiding Fort Morgan as too big a metropolis for the scenery. The Crane Cafe there serves breakfast the whole time they're open. Its an excellent rendition of it at that. The only hitch is I've got to wait for the cook to get back from the bank but I guess that's what I get for coming during off peak hours. I cross the street to the Duckwalls (A hardware, five and dime sort of place from another age.) looking for a bungy cord and ear plugs. They have neither but the cashier is pleasant and very sorry. I miss the turn north on Highway 71 because its the block immediately after Crane's Cafe. Thirteen miles and a ways past Hillrose, I finally pull over to consult a map feeling as though I've finally arrived as a “real” tourer. Feeling sheepish because I'm within a hundred miles from home. I backtrack and head uneventfully up highway 71 until it tbones into highway 14. I won't lie, I found it impossible to keep it down to a reasonable facsimile of the 55 mile per hour speed limit. In my defense, I bet I didn't break it nearly as badly as I imagine some farm kid in an 80s muscle car before me. I pull off highway 14 to go into Briggsdale. Why Briggsdale? Probably because I have a connection to it through distant relatives and family stories. Barring that sort of rationale, there really isn't any reason for anyone else to follow suit. I pull up of the gravelled main street in front of what appears to be the only store. It appears to be closed. However, while I'm fumbling to dig into my pocket past my chaps for some coins to feed the pop machine, (Still only fifty cents.) a tall, thin, middle aged lady pokes her head out the door and asks if I want anything before she closes up. I try to engage her in conversation asking whether she knew my departed relatives. She replies to the negative but seems more intent on getting home than remembering. Can't say as I blame her. Now its back on highway 14 headed straight into the setting sun. Lesson learned here: If you have the option, plan your routes to avoid this. Between scratches, dust and road grime through two layers of plastic lens, its nearly impossible to see much of anything. The sun is too low now for lowering my head enough to block the direct sun with my helmet to be of any good. But mercifully, about the time I'm ready to pull over and wait out sunset, there is a turn in the road to the southwest for a brief stretch. Just enough for the sun to drop behind the mountains. Last road note I'd like to pass along is that highway 14 gets really rough going west between Ault and Fort Collins. Came as a surprise to me as I've been on it going the other way and its been fine. Anyway, watch out for that stretch... especially if you're on one of those retro hip custom hardtails.

So what can I say in summary of this particular trip? For me, it was a decent little loop that fit into the time available. It did for me what I hoped for... got me home both tired and refreshed. My weekend draws to a close with me at once sated from a decent amount of riding and whetted for rides to come.