Passes & Canyons Blog

It occurs to me that someone might be reading this blog and not know that it is, as the tagline says, “companion” to the motorcyclecolorado.com website. And it’s also possible that someone might know that, but never have looked at the website to see what it offers.

Now, as far as that goes, I’m only going to say that it features all the best motorcycle roads in Colorado. But it does more than that. It also lists some recommended motorcycle-friendly motels, hotels, B&Bs, what have you. It lists dealers and repair shops. If offers riding stories telling of people’s adventures in Colorado on motorcycles.

And it lists upcoming motorcycle events in Colorado. That’s what I want to talk about here.

On the “Colorado Motorcycle Rides, Runs, and Rallies” page I keep as current a list of upcoming events as I can. I may get a little behind in removing events that are past, and I know I don’t get everything listed, but I do what I can.

So here’s my pitch. If you have an event coming up, take a look at the Rides and Rallies page and if you’re not already on there, send me the info and I’ll get it up. You can see what kind of information I present, so it’s especially nice if you send it to me in that format.

One important note: The website only features events in Colorado. Please don’t send me something that is not in Colorado.

If you want to promote your event, having it listed here is a good move. It doesn’t cost anything and that particular page gets a lot of readership. In fact, it is always one of the top five pages on the entire site. Within the last year, it was visited 7,173 times.

And I guess there’s no better time or place than right now to thank all of you who have already made it a point to notify me of your events. I do appreciate it.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle wisdom, #16

Biker Quote for Today

The letters “MC” are stamped on your driver’s license right next to your sex and height as if “motorcycle” was just another of your physical characteristics, or maybe a mental condition.

Having fun and riding motorcycles is what life is all about, isn’t it? Cheers then to the guys on the Single Over-Head Cam 4 Forum for the little relay rally they’ve put together, which will be passing through Colorado probably some time in May. If you ride an SOHC 4 you may even want to join in, although even those of us on DOHC bikes and others are welcome.

It all started out with a post on the forum by a member with the handle of MyCB750K6, who wanted to get the group to organize rides as it had done in years past. The original idea was a 1,000-mile ride but it quickly grew to become a relay rally through all 48 continental states. And then to add some whimsy, someone came up with a little plastic Godzilla that will be the token passed along from rider to rider.

The first riders will be leaving Daytona on March 12. They’ve divided the country into regions and each region has its team. The initial Team Southeast Coastal will hand off to Team Southeast, to Team Southwest, to Team California, to Team Central Rockies, to Team Central, to Team Mid Atlantic . . . Dates are in place for part of this but not for the Central Rockies, yet, thus my lack of specificity.

The idea is taking off. Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum has signed on as a sponsor and the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club has pledged its support.

The guys at the forum make it clear this is NOT a race. Says the moderator of the group, “The premise here is to organize a ride where as many members as wish can be a part of a group effort to promote and take pride in SOHC4.com, to meet and interact with other members, to enjoy amazing riding and provide others with what they have accomplished, to benefit charitable organizations, to accomplish our goals, to ride as little or as much as they want and just have a safe and fun time doing so.”

The hope is that it will become an annual event and continue to expand. The plan has already expanded to now include Canada. Next the world? We’ll see.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Adventures for the Cures 2011 to ride Alaska, Yukon

Biker Quote for Today

There are old racers, and there are bold racers, but there are no old, bold racers who don’t walk funny.

We all have misconceptions about those things we know little of. Me, I don’t know a lot about Southern motorcyclists so I have what are probably a lot of wrong ideas. I seem to have cleared up one of them, though.

I’m down in South Carolina right now visiting my mother, and over the weekend I went to the Progressive International Motorcycle Show. The show itself was no big deal; kind of a disappointment actually. What surprised me was the parking lots.

Never having ridden a motorcycle in the South, or very much east of the Mississippi River, I had the idea that nearly all these old southern boys would be sitting astride Harleys. I’m not sure why I had that idea, but I did.

Well guess what? Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure there were a lot of Harleys in the parking lot of the show, but it was amazing how many other bikes there were. Unlike big events in Colorado where, unless it’s a brand event such as a BMW rally, Harleys outnumber everything else combined, it wasn’t so here. In fact, while I have no hard numbers, I’d estimate that there were no more than 20 percent Harleys and the rest was everything else.

For one, there were just a ton of sport bikes. Maybe this has to do with how popular racing is in the South. Not too many Harley baggers to be found in the races, except perhaps some Sportsters.

But even for the baggers I saw a lot of Gold Wings, Stars, BMWs, FJRs, you name it. Plus plenty of dual-sport bikes, which makes sense when you figure all the great unpaved roads there are around here. Kind of like in Colorado.

So I stand corrected. Now I wonder what other misconceptions I have about Southern riders. Probably what I need to do is spend a few weeks riding through this part of the country. That would be nice. I just need to fit it into my schedule; that’s always the hard part. Maybe next year.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
>More on helmets and visibility

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t die wondering, die wandering.