Uraling to Estes Park and watching others train....

Beautifully sunny day here in Colorado, though it would increasingly cloud up and eventually dump rain on us riders later in the afternoon.

I rode up to Firestone, CO to watch a couple of fellow Uralisti, John and his lovely wife Cookie along with a third student: Teresa.  Abdullah, the instructor-candidate was the primary instructor this time and he smoothly went through the lessons and demos as Bob Ucman, the instructor-trainer looked on.

I hung out there about an hour or so, hoping perhaps the plows at the Rocky Mountain National Park would have a chance to open Trail Ridge Road.  It was closed due to snowy conditions when I first check this morning.

I left around 9:30 AM, leaving the instructors and students to do their training.  I rode up I-25's frontage road to the CO66 exit and I headed west on this road for about 20 miles till I got to the town of Lyons.  This was the town that was hard hit and mostly isolated during last September's massive flooding of the Big Thompson River.

You can still see vestiges of uprooted trees, branches and flood debris along parts of the highway.  In fact, the highway turns to dirt shortly after leaving Lyons and one can see raw patches of earth and rocks piled up on the banks as repairs are underway still.

Using US36, I made it to Estes Park with no issues and found the town chock full of tourists and sightseers. I rode up to the Rocky Mountain National Park's Fall River Entrance and saw the sign saying that Trail Ridge Road was closed 12 miles ahead.  Bummer.

I elected not to go into the park as I wanted to transit Trail Ridge Road all the way to the other end of the park.

The clouds had basically swallowed the RMNP mountain tops

Making my way back along US36, I took a slight detour on Meadow Lake Road and noted how swiftly the waters in the creek along the road were running.

The Spring Melt is in full force along Meadow Lake Road

I made it back to Firestone in plenty of time to watch the students go through the final exercises for the day's training.  The culmination exercise would be the Rodeo, where the instructors set up a series of exercises designed to utilize all the skills and techniques that had been taught and practiced by the students.  First, the offset cone weave, then the snow man formation consisting of two circles: 26 ft and 24 ft.  After the snowman came a modified iron cross (only 1/2 of the cross was used) and finally the brake and evade obstacle box.  

Bob and Abdullah, the instructors, demo the Rodeo

John, "Mr Smooth", does the Rodeo

Cookie makes her way through the Rodeo just fine.

Teresa also executes the Rodeo nicely.

As you can see, the students learned and demonstrated great turning skills after going through the excellent training put out by Abdullah and Bob.  Such skills, are obtainable by anyone with a bit of time on their motorcycle and a willingness to learn.  My thanks to Bob and Colleen of T3RG Motorcycle Schools for having provided this great training opportunity to myself and fellow riders.

Finally, a short clip of Abdullah and his first ride on a sidecar rig, just look at that big smile on his face!

Abdullah goes home in a couple of days, back to Saudi Arabia to help start a motorcycle riding school with a friend of his.  Safe travels!

A little help from the URAL to pick up the cones

Last two photos courtesy of Spat.

previously: Memorial Day Posting