Passes & Canyons Blog

At the Grand Canyon on a different OFMC trip.

Sure any day on a motorcycle is better than just about anything else, but still, we all have had especially good days. So I got to thinking about what I would list as my best days riding.

The first one comes instantly and requires no consideration. This was the day Kevin and I rode a couple of his V-Stroms over Cinnamon Pass. This was a September day and if you have spent time in Colorado in the fall you know that there are some days in the fall when the sun, the air, and everything is so perfect it’s a true Rocky Mountain high. It was being here for a few of these days when I traveled for a year after college that persuaded me to come here when I decided it was time to put my roots down somewhere.

This day with Kevin on the V-Stroms on Cinnamon Pass was one of those incredible days. On top of that, Cinnamon Pass itself was beautiful. The fall colors were in full profusion and it’s a beautiful mountain location. The pass runs from Lake City over to the Silverton area, on US 550, the Million Dollar Highway. How could it not be an incredible ride? It was. I’ve never had a day on a bike I enjoyed more.

Another best day was really nothing special but circumstances made it special. This was in 1996 and the OFMC was heading out with Deadwood, SD, our destination for the first day.

The circumstances were this: I was married just a year at this point and, about six months in, my wife’s three kids became ungodly terrors. They hated me and made that utterly clear. And for the next seven years they made our lives a living hell, day after day after day. They finally all moved out, they’ve grown up now, and they are adults I actually like and even care about. But back then I was in shock.

John and Bill and I took off this day and as we rode north and I knew I would be away from it all for a week the anger and frustration melted away. I found myself riding along throwing my head back and screaming into the wind, “I love my motorcycle!!!” I will never forget that day. There haven’t been many days in my life when I felt that good. But for the next six years the situation with the kids made my one week on the bike trip something I longed for like crazy, and I was overjoyed each year when it finally came.

After that it gets harder to identify best days. I actually have to think about it.

I guess another best day was also one of the worst. It was at the end of the day when all the woes of the day were overcome that I felt absolutely wonderful.

This was on another OFMC trip, and I’ve told this story before. I had taken my bike in for some work and the shop promised me a dozen times it would be ready by the time we were set to leave. And it wasn’t. John and Bill left without me and we agreed to meet at the campground at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I finally got my bike and blasted off in that direction. After two days of very hard riding I got to the campground, found the campsite but no buddies, so I went looking for them.

Not finding them in any of the obvious places I considered the non-obvious. Perhaps they had ridden out to Sunset Point to watch the sunset. This point is about 25 miles out a narrow, winding road, max speed about 25 mph. I rode out there and they weren’t there so I turned around and headed back. Then my bike died. I was miles from nowhere and there was not another soul on the road. With all the other stress I’d been through up to this point this was where I broke.

Standing there next to my bike in the darkness on this deserted road I pounded on the seat of my bike screaming “God damn it!! God damn it!! God damn it!!”

Then it dawned on me that maybe I’d just run out of gas and I needed to go to Reserve. I flipped the lever down, hit the start button, it sputtered, and then fired up. Talk about exultation! I hurried on back to camp, John and Bill were there, I grabbed the last beer they had out of John’s hand and drank it down, and I felt great. I was with my buddies, all was well, and oh my god the horror was over. You don’t ever feel much better than I felt right then.

OK, that wasn’t quite what I had in mind when I started writing this but that’s where I ended up. Maybe I’ll come back to this topic if some good rides come to mind. Meanwhile, there surely must be some quote I could use that is appropriate to this piece.

Biker Quote for Today

The best moments are always unplanned.

Taking a back road in Utah.

I’ve been drawing from this Adventure Rider thread when it’s this slow time of year for a long time but this may be the last time. The most recent entry was in April of 2023 so it seems to have died. So here are perhaps the last of the what is the strangest thing you’ve ever hit:

• I caught a pheasant in my left shoulder once while straightening the bike up after exiting from an aggressive S-curve. The subsequent explosion damn near took me off the bike. (Felt like a bowling ball.) Then I noticed I couldn’t see, and my face was very warm. Many feathers, and much blood, came into my full-face around my chin. I stopped and tried to figure some things out, and decided to proceed to a convenience store in the next town. When I walked in to find the bathroom the crowd stopped and stared at me. The lady behind the counter asked me if I was OK, and if I’d been shot. One look in the bathroom mirror and I understood why she asked that.
• Taking a trip across the US on a Suzuki T500 in the mid 70s, somewhere in the UT dez doing about 80mph and the road goes on forever, pretty much straight but lots of rollers. Come over a rise and see a buzzard in my lane feeding on something and he has the easy choice of going right or left to get away but he goes off in the direction I’m going. He’s taking off, so not going very fast, I’m doing 80, very fast and I hit him directly with the front of my fairing (he covers the whole thing), he rolls over to the right and glances off my shoulder. I didn’t go down or get hurt but it bent my fairing back so I pulled over to survey the damage. Looking back I saw him flying away, slowly with a great story to tell his friends.
• Hit by, as opposed to run into. An attacking Barn Owl. I don’t know why, but apparently it thought my white helmet was dinner. It was night, and I saw it half a second before it hit. The classic flared pose, talons out, wide spread.
• I was taking my soon to be wife on her second ever (at 46) motorcycle ride down a 2 lane road.As we met a square body pick up truck his hood flew off an sailed right over our heads with inches to spare.
• I had a Canada goose fly into the right side of my Super Tenere a couple of days ago. It didn’t kill him but literally knocked the @&%# out of him all over the right front panel of the bike.
• Was in middle-of-nowhere West Texas windmill country on my TW200 headed for Utah last spring. Doing about 35 on a gravel road at dusk and top a small rise to see a herd of 20 or so wild/feral pigs running across the road. Handful of drum brake slowed me down enough to tap the slowest one on the rump and send him into a barrel roll while thankfully barely altering my trajectory.
• My riding buddy on his way to Sturgis somehow missed a cinder block that was in the road with his front wheel but couldn’t/didn’t with his rear wheel. He blew out his tire and destroyed the wheel but managed to keep it upright.

There you have it. Just one more reminder to be careful out there.

Biker Quote for Today

You start with a full bag of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.

There’s a 15-day ride coming up and I’m definitely planning to go.

The year 2025 is already looking like much more of a riding year than 2024 was. Starting things off in grand fashion at the RMMRC is this West Coast & Death Valley Spring Ride 2025 that will be a 15-day trip out and back. I’m definitely planning to go.

What I really like about this trip is that Alan, who planned it, is more of my type of thinking about motorcycle trips. Rather than what is usually the standard RMMRC approach, this one does not consist of day after day of long miles, with few stops at interesting places along the way. There are no days with more than 300 miles and there are even some with fewer than 200 miles.

I’ll also note that Alan has made provisions in case someone can’t manage or doesn’t want to do the full 15-day trip. You’d just be riding home on your own, unless there are others who also don’t want to do the whole trip.

The group will be leaving on Tuesday, April 22, and returning on Tuesday, May 6. Stops for the night, in order, will be Fruita (CO), Loa (UT), St. George (UT), Las Vegas (NV), Stovepipe Wells (CA), Bakersfield (CA), Monterey (CA), San Simeon (CA), Victorville (CA), Lake Havasu City (AZ), Globe (AZ), Eagar (AZ), Cuba (NM), Red River (NM), and then home.

Overall the trip will be about 3,215 miles, split out over 15 days. My kind of trip. This means there will be no need for crawling out of bed at the crack of dawn because you can leave at 9 or 10 in the morning and still have plenty of time to go 250 miles. With stops.

You can do the trip, too. Just go to the RMMRC Meetup page and sign up. You’ll need to join the RMMRC but that’s only–I forget–$10 or $12 a year. Not a big deal. Specific hotels will be selected and you’ll need to make your own reservations, though if you want to share a room with someone you can post a note on the ride saying as much and if someone else is looking to share (usually the case) you just hook up with them and either split up making the reservations or maybe that guy already made the reservations and has done all the work.

Because we’re talking late April the weather will be a potential issue. A late snowstorm would make going to Fruita that first day more than a problem. We’ll just be keeping a close eye on the weather in the days leading up to departure.

I’m pretty stoked. This is gonna be a good ride.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle is like writing a beautiful story with every twist of the road.

Riding into town with a group this size and expecting to find rooms can be a very foolish thing to do.

There is a reason that in later years the OFMC planned out the year’s trip well in advance: try having 10 guys roll into town expecting to find enough rooms. Many times you’ll find them; sometimes you won’t. Make advance reservations.

In the early days of the group we didn’t even dream of such concerns. There were just the three of us–John, Bill, and me–and we carried camping gear. Good thing, because there were times we had to use it.

The earliest–and most famous and most clueless–time was 1991. We were headed for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There was a campground there. Not a problem. Right.

My bike was overdue from the shop so I did not leave with John and Bill. They got to the campground and told the person at the gate they wanted a campsite. What a joke! Do you not understand you need to make reservations a year in advance? Oh gosh, who do we do? And how do we get word to Ken, who was coming to meet them there. Then through a stroke of luck, someone called to cancel. The ranger called them over with the good news and all was fine. But in the days before cellphones, what would they have done to connect with me?

Then there was 1992. We decided to head north and got to Laramie. John and I had been there on an overnight the year before and had had a great time. What we didn’t factor in on this occasion was that Frontier Days was going on in Cheyenne and every motel room within any reasonable distance was booked. For the first and only time ever we rolled out our sleeping bags at a KOA. Not ideal but hey, it was late at night and all we did was sleep and roll out of there.

The next year Bill was unable to come so it was just John and me. At one point we rolled in to Pinedale, Wyoming, and surprise! The Pinedale Rendezvous was in progress. The place was swarming. Fortunately we found what we believed to be the last room in town.

After awhile we started thinking about festivals going on so we could avoid them. That didn’t help us the year we went up to Glacier National Park. This place is a major attraction at all times and we got into the little town of St. Mary, on the east side of the park, and once again we just lucked into the last room in town. Man, maybe we need to think ahead at least a little.

By 2000 we were thinking ahead. The group was now larger and as we headed out we planned to spend the night in Hot Sulphur Springs. John was supposed to have made a reservation but when he called to do so he had been told they always had plenty of rooms so no need for reservations. Wrong. We got there and the town was booked. There was a bicycle race going on that weekend and we were out of luck. We rode on to Kremmling and even there the motels were all full. The only place we could find was an old-style hotel in the middle of town, with bathrooms down the hall. At least they had beds.

We never went anywhere after that without reservations but sometimes things take an unexpected turn. In 2019 we were just down to three again, Bill, me, and Dennis. We were headed for Missoula but never got there. Dennis made a bone-headed mistake at a gas station and put diesel in his bike by accident. He was on an Indian and the nearest Indian dealer was in Idaho Falls. He got a U-Haul truck and we loaded the bike in. He spoke with the folks at the dealership and they said they would get to him right away the next morning, as long as we were there when they opened.

We got to Idaho Falls and for who knows what crazy reason there were no rooms to be had anywhere. But some local we spoke to suggested one other place we try, which the local Chamber of Commerce had not thought to suggest. We called and they had exactly one room. We got there and walked in and another couple came in right behind us. We got the room and they did not.

And that brings one other instance to mind. This was in 2015. We made reservations for our first night at Oak Creek, a bit south of Steamboat Springs. No problem. Well, we were comfortably ensconced when the skies opened up and the rain pounded down. Our cabin had eaves so we were enjoying sitting outside watching the rain. Then a motorcycle carrying a couple came slowly through the parking area, only to see the “No Vacancy” sign. And off they went through the downpour.

That’s how you learn, I guess. We sure did.

Biker Quote for Today

Been through a lot, my motorcycles and me. Heat, darkness, wind, rain, fences . . .

Weaving in and out won’t do you any good when there’s no chance you’ll ever get ahead of the guy in front–somewhere way up there.

Judy and I have a really nice shawl that was given to us as a wedding present by one of her nieces. Kate wove it herself. Thank you Kate.

Yeah, weaving on a loom is a great thing. On the road, in and out of traffic, not so much. This is one of the things people in cars hate about motorcyclists, the way some people blast along in and out, in and out.

When I first got my first bike I was pretty much a novice. My friend John was much more experienced. John had one particularly good piece of advice for me. He told me the more you change lanes the greater your risk of bad results. Just pick a lane and stay there, he told me. That way the guy in front of you becomes aware there is a motorcycle behind him and the guy behind you becomes aware there is a motorcycle in front of him. Your chances of something bad happening diminish substantially.

The other thing is that all that weaving and trying to get some advantage usually amounts to little or nothing at all. I’m not an aggressive driver so I have watched other people over the years and I see one thing again and again. Some guy blasts past me–car or bike–weaving in and out and then when we come to the next red light there he is right next to or immediately in front of me. You accomplished nothing, dude.

I saw this sort of thing in action just recently, on this latest RMMRC ride. After lunch at Rosie’s in Monument, Tom and I headed east to catch CO 83 back into town. As traffic got heavier closer to town it became pointless to try to stay together, especially since we were headed home and Tom and I do not live together.

But then Tom started doing some weaving, racing ahead, trying to get some advantage over the rest of the traffic. I was unconcerned and just said to myself, “See you later Tom.” And then there we were at Parker Road and Orchard and I rolled right up behind Tom. Just as if we had never gotten separated.

How utterly pointless. The way I see it, the only thing these folks gain is more time to sit idling at a red light. No thanks, I’ll just take it easy and I’ll bet I’ll get there just as quickly as you do.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycling is like sex. When it’s great it’s great. When it’s bad it’s still great.

Eating at Rosie’s on a different ride.

If projected temperatures of the 60s in early February are not an outright invitation to ride I don’t know what is. The RMMRC made plans.

We met up Sunday at 10 a.m. at Performance Cycle with our destination Rosie’s Diner in Monument. A lunch ride.

There’s one trick to fabulous weather in Colorado, however. If it’s not sunny it can be quite a bit different. Saturday also had a warm forecast but it was cloudy and was not nearly as comfortable as it might have been. Sunday at least started out sunny.

I was smart enough this to bring my heated gloves with me. I didn’t think I’d need them so I just stashed them but at least I had them if I needed them. Too many times I have not done this and regretted it.

We started off heading down Quebec to Daniels Park and on to pick up US 85 south of the park. It was only at that point that I turned on my electric vest. I wasn’t cold yet but it was getting cooler and I knew once we were up on the Palmer Divide the temperature would drop.

We scooted over to Sedalia and then resumed going south on Perry Park Road (CO 105). We started seeing a lot of bikes. You always do on that road.

And it got cooler. Still, the road was clear of ice and snow so that’s what matters. Then we got into Palmer Lake and the main road through town was extremely wet from snow melt. I had to wonder if we had come this way a couple hours sooner it would have been ice.

On through Palmer Lake to Monument and lunch. There were four of us on bikes but also three in a car. Two of those are overcoming health issues and could not ride so the third, Roy, drove them all so they wouldn’t entirely miss out. Good. We like these guys and we’re glad they came.

Heading out we split into two twosomes. Bob and Steve retraced the route while Tom and I headed east to pick up CO 83, to head north that way. We were pleased that the wind that had kicked up just as we had arrived at Rosie’s seemed to have abated. Wrong. We reached CO 83 and made a left turn and were instantly blasted by the powerful wind that had until then been at our backs. And a cold wind at that.

We worked our way north and as Parker Road got busier north of Parker we inevitably got separated. No matter. This always happens on the way home. We’re all going to split off somewhere, it doesn’t matter if it happens sooner.

Of course we were by now coming down from the Palmer Divide heights and as we did it got warmer and warmer. Before I got home I had turned my vest off–too warm.

So it was a good day to ride but nowhere near as nice as we had hoped. Oh well, it is February, after all. Be thankful for what you get.

Biker Quote for Today

What’s a motorcyclist’s favorite movie? Gone with the Wind!

CSP and ABATE testimony at the hearing. Thanks to Sen. Byron Pelton who came over to me and offered to get a shot from in front of the speakers. How nice!

Wow, did I ever get things wrong. I’m talking about this supposed bill to sunset Colorado’s MOST program and I just got home from the first hearing.

Just as the committee was getting going on another bill that preceded the MOST bill I was sitting with Larry, the state coordinator for ABATE of Colorado, and he handed me the text of the remarks he intended to make to the committee. I was struck by one sentence:

Per the Sunset Review for 2024 the MOST program has been recommended that this continues for 9 more years.

OK, there’s a little grammatical mix-up in there but you get the picture. I asked Larry if the recommendation was to continue MOST and he said yes.

Wow. Oh wow. That’s not what I’ve been telling you. Or anyone I talked to. What’s the deal?

I first got wind of this when I was talking with Stump on December 31 at the Last Brass Monkey Run. I would swear he told me the recommendation was to sunset MOST, but not altogether, just for nine years. And I asked him, for nine years? I thought when a program got sunset it was over, done with, fini. But he said no, it was usually for three years but in this case it’s for nine.

Clearly I misunderstood something Stump said and also as clearly he misheard something I said. My new understanding makes a whole heck of a lot more sense.

So the gist of it all is that they are recommending continuing MOST but ABATE is pushing to have changes made, to get it back more to its original configuration where the money we pay in on license renewals goes to reduce the cost of training for the students. And that issue was raised in the hearing. One senator asked if there was money stashed away for the program that could support this sort of subsidy and Larry told him absolutely yes, there’s more than $1 million sitting there in the account.

The bill was approved by the committee so now I believe it goes on to further development. As in, it does not appear there even is a bill yet, that remains to be written. And now the effort will be to make revisions in the program. That should be interesting.

Meanwhile, here’s another thing Larry told me that was news to me. I had told him that if the program can’t be redirected to subsidizing students taking riding courses then perhaps MOST should be killed. What he told me is that as of about five years ago, the Department of Motor Vehicles no longer administers driving tests when people come in for new licenses. Whether you want a license to drive a car or to ride a motorcycle, you have to go to a third organization to do the driving test. So if MOST went away there would be no system for those third-party trainers/testers to be certified to pass people on their driving tests.

Easy to see why the committee voted unanimously to continue MOST. Crazy that DMV no longer administers driving tests. Great for companies offering driver training.

So fine. Now we sit back and wait to see what in included in the bill when it gets written.

Biker Quote for Today

As addictive as cocaine and twice as expensive.

The legislature is back in session and it is time once again to protect what is ours. In this case it’s rider safety training money we pay in.

And the 2025 legislative session begins. The first order of business of interest to motorcyclists is the bill calling for the Colorado MOST (Motorcycle Operator Safety Training) program to be sunset.

This bill will be discussed on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. in the Senate Transportation & Energy Committee. If you wish to contact any committee members here are their names and email addresses:
Sen. Winter (Chair)–faith.winter.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. Cutter (Vice Chair)–lisa.cutter.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. Catlin–marc.catlin.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. Exum–tony.exum.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. Hinrichsen–nick.hinrichsen.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. Mullica–kyle.mullica.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. B. Pelton–byron.pelton.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. Simpson–cleave.simpson.senate@coleg.gov
Sen. Sullivan–tom.sullivan.senate@coleg.gov

This bill would shut down the MOST program for nine years. Meanwhile, the money we–nobody but us motorcyclists–paid in would be dumped into the state’s general fund. No way, dude. That’s our money. I say go ahead and shut down MOST if you feel it out to be shut down, but before it goes spend that money as intended. And call a halt to the extra fees we pay each year with our motorcycle registrations and any time we renew our driver’s licenses.

Clearly the worst-case scenario would be that they take our money, end the program, but continue the fees. If you’re interested in seeing to it that that doesn’t happen maybe you ought to show up for this hearing. I’ll be there. And of course afterward I’ll let you know what happened, in case you’re not there.

Biker Quote for Today

No matter how slow you go you’re still lapping everyone on the couch.