Passes & Canyons Blog

Nobody tried to kill me this week.

I rode the Concours to work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and every ride was uneventful. In thick rush-hour traffic. And not once did some idiot on their cell phone try to pull into my lane without looking. Or anything else. Amazing.

What was perhaps just as amazing was how I was able to observe a number of people really paying attention. Coming home on Wednesday, for example, I was headed south on Kipling and someone in the right-hand lane put on their turn signal to pull left. They were ahead of me and there was room for them to pull in but I backed off the throttle a bit to give them even more room. But this person knew I was there, and they were being very careful not to endanger me. They hesitated.

So I backed off even more to make it totally obvious that I was giving them space, and they finally did pull over. Hey, I’m glad to make room for you. You’re my friend. You looked, you saw me, and you were serious about not creating a hazard. I like you.

And there were other times as well. None quite as obvious as that one, but people really were paying attention. And nobody tried to kill me.

Oh yeah, it was also gorgeous weather to be riding. It’s hard to make going to work any nicer than this. Thursday was not a day to ride, for various reasons, but Friday may be. I just hope I can keep the string intact.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle with and wisdom, #34

Biker Quote for Today

“Do one thing every day that scares you.” — Kurt Caselli

My friend Alan, whose Harley got wrecked when a deer ran him down, has replaced that ride with a sidecar rig. I had put him in contact with another sidecar rider I know, Dom Chang, and I presume Dom provided Alan with some good information on the subject.

Alan sent along a report of a recent multi-day trip he and his wife, Cheryl, took in the new rig and I’m taking the liberty of passing that along. Alan reads this blog so hey Alan, if you object, just let me know. But I’m guessing you won’t.

The ride was a blast! Cheryl loved it. Some things we learned about the rig that we will make some minor additions and modifications but overall we are pleased. We purchased an oscillating fan in Moab and used it. Although the sidecar has ventilation, there are times when it is hot outside but you don’t want to lower the top and remove the windows. Having a fan to move air even when you are stopped helped a lot. We will mount the fan inside the sidecar and put in a switch so you can use it when needed. Have a very tight window to snap shut on the left side and I will have to do a little stretching of the window to make it easier to snap shut. Also, I am going to add two plastic labels to the switches on the left side so you can tell which one opens the top and which one is the PTT for the CB radio. We brought a blanket along and found it helpful when the temps got to 39 degrees one night in Gunnison but it was also helpful generally. That is about it. Really some minor items in the whole scheme of things.

Was it comfy? Yes, very. So much so that Cheryl fell asleep many times just like when she rides in a car.

How did it handle? Well this is definitely not the rig to do canyon carving but it did well. Handles similar to a Harley trike but with differences. Pulls to the right on acceleration and little to the left when braking. Noticeable? Yes? Anticipated? Yes. Problematic? Not really.

I think we gave the rig a thorough workout. I really like the power and stability of the Goldwing. Also, having reverse without having to pay $2,000+ is definitely worth it. We traveled Denver to Moab (took the river road and overnight), then to Naturita, to Lizard Head Pass, to Telluride, to Montrose (overnight), to Durango, to South Fork, to Lake City, to Gunnison (overnight), to Fairplay, to Denver. We put 1,000+ miles on the rig, went over 10 10,000 foot mountain passes, had Interstate, 4 lane and 2 lane roads, highway speeds 75mph+ and 2 lane mountain pass roads of 15-40mph. The rig did everything we asked of it and yes, we like it!!!

Sounds good, Alan. Enjoy the ride. And now I guess Cheryl gets to enjoy the ride, too. That definitely works.

Biker Quote for Today

A shot of espresso is worth another 100 miles.

I was looking around on Adventure Rider and ran across a thread titled “Stupid questions people ask you when stopped.” Some of them were pretty good so I figured I’d pass a few along here.

The guy starting the thread rides a BMW and he offered several:
Sir, is that a real BMW or it’s just the badge?
Duuuuude, does your bike has two engines?! (asked a number of times, I usually try to explain the boxer design, but if all fails I tell them the right one is the turbocharger)
Since when does BMW make motorcycles?

Then this one is from a woman rider:
Is that your motorcycle? Did you ride that here all by yourself?

How about this:
I stopped at an intersection and a teenager walked up to me and said, “Can I take it around the block?”
My response.” What?? No way.”
His response, “Hey, I’m not playin”
I just laughed and rode off. People are insane.

Here is, as the fellow says, a Ural specific one:
Is that real?

And in the category of “you just don’t get it”:
As I was pulling my helmet on a dude walked up and asked ‘What kind of bike is that?’ I looked down at the tank on my Commando that has large gold letters saying ‘Norton’ and said, ‘it’s a Norton.’ He looked it over once again and asked ‘Is that made by Harley or Honda?’

And this:
The dumbest thing I ever got asked is, “Can you pull a wheelie on that thing or are you too scared?”

This hasn’t happened to me, at least not yet, but I guess it could:
I had a 9 or 10 year old boy ask me if I “get a lot of chicks with that.” This while on my Vstrom with my wife on the back!

Of course we’ve all heard this one:
Aren’t motorcycles dangerous?

Sometimes it’s the responses that are good:
I walk into Starbucks (my regular one) this afternoon, helmet in hand.
“Do you ride a bike?” asks the fine young man.
“No, I’m just very clumsy” I reply.

And this:
I suppose this is a somewhat reasonable question, but someone once asked me what kept me from flying off the bike when I hit a bump. My reply?
“Gravity.”

On another note:
When are you getting some pipes? I could barely hear ya pull up.

And another in the response category:
My new response when I get to school wearing ATGATT:
“You ride today?”
“No, I took the jet.

OK, enough for today. We’ll come back for some more some other time.

Biker Quote for Today

“That’s all the motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel.” — Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance