The Ulysses in West Creek and Pikes Peak Country

[sfarson]

Well, just for a little Buell Ulysses content here!, had a great exploring ride yesterday on the Uly finding the location of old ghost town structures that had been swept up and away by man and nature.  West Creek flared to life in 1896 with claims of gold in the area.  Fortune seekers swept in, erected a scattered town along the namesake creek, and within six months 2,000 people were there.  By late 1897 it was recognized there wasn't "gold in them thar hills", and the fade began.

Here's an excellent eight minute video from Douglas County on the history of what is now known as Westcreek (single word)... Landmark Series - All That Glitters, West Creek Colorado on Vimeo
West Creek around 1896-1897...


In two months (June 2002) will be the ten year anniversary of the massive Hayman wildfire, which consumed 138,000 acres and numerous scattered homes in the Westcreek area.  Today, it is a quiet place, but what a diff versus 1896-1897...


1896-1897...


Today, with a delightful power pole. There was a home behind me preventing a more elevated and precise "where the photographer stood then"...


So the Uly brings me about a mile south along West Creek where a few structures of West Creek "suburbia" were placed...


Guess it is fitting to have horses of the day stand in tribute to the past.  Could have hopped the fence and joined them for a slightly better "now" perspective...


Those horses of the day sure had an interest in this kind of horse riding past their pasture...


So I have some lunchtime chow in Woodland Park and then decide to ascend high to a not well-known vantage point of Pikes Peak.  The Uly is in its element, in a number of places, like on roads with bends, but it also thrives on roads like this.  Those fences help prevent blowing snow from drifting across the road.  This is from the southern end of the Rampart Range Road...


Well, there had to be a pic with the bike and the peak named after soldier and explorer Captain Zebulon Pike.  He and a collection of hardy soldiers tried climbing it on a November day but were turned back by the waist deep snow.  He declared it would probably never be climbed.  It probably would have helped if he didn't try making a November ascent!


See that zigzag in the snow at the upper right?  That's the now-paved-all-the way-to-the-top Pikes Peak Highway.  Would have been an adventure to ride it this day!  Rode it last November with temps at 15f at the top with 40mph winds!  Had the helmet cam recording the ascent while on the H-D...

Pikes Peak - YouTube

[mark61]

Thanks for the post. As always very interesting and entertaining!
How does that Uly do slow in first gear? Would you ride fire or walking trails with it? How many bikes do you have in your stables?
Ever have to walk home?

Everytime you post I think to myself "time to get ride of all this stuff and move to Colorado"!

mark61

[War Horse]

Cool post, thanks, I like the then and now pics, like the Stones said "time waits for no one"

[sfarson]

Thanks for the post. As always very interesting and entertaining!
How does that Uly do slow in first gear? Would you ride fire or walking trails with it? How many bikes do you have in your stables?
Ever have to walk home?

Everytime you post I think to myself "time to get ride of all this stuff and move to Colorado"!

mark61

Mark, I don't take the Ulysses down goat trails or really rocky stuff, there are better bikes for that, but for all the unpaved dirt roads, the Ulysses is fine.  And it is really fine as a sporting steed on paved, curving roads.  Eric Buell knows a thing or two about sporting geometry/chassis!  Have never been stranded by a Buell (Used to own/adore an M2 Cyclone) nor have I ever had a single reliability problem.

Steve

[Krash_K]

Thanks for that, Very interesting post, beautiful country!