Passes & Canyons Blog

Getting to here requires racking up some miles on the bike.

Once again last year my motorcycle mileage totally kicked the butt of my car mileage. I only drove my car 2,928 miles, while I put 7,230 miles on my three bikes. Heck, I put more miles on the Concours in one trip than I did on the car the whole year. In comparison, I put 5,043 miles on the bikes in 2017 and 3,004 on the car.

The lowest mileage–as usual–was on the Honda. That was just 469 miles, compared to 713 the year before. Every year I promise myself I will ride the Honda more and every year I prove myself a liar. Maybe this time at least I can claim that, “Oh, I would have ridden the Honda more if I weren’t off the bikes for two months due to heart surgery.” And that’s certainly true because minus the surgery I would have ridden the Honda in both those months at least a few miles. But that’s still not much of an excuse.

The V-Strom got quite a bit more riding. We went 2,425 miles together and that compares very favorably to the year before when we only went 1,588 miles.

The big boy, also as usual, was the Connie. I put 4,336 miles on that bike; the 2017 total was only 2,742. So once again, that one trip to British Columbia put more miles on this bike than it got all of the previous year.

In other words, if you really want to put some miles on your bike it pays big time to go somewhere–somewhere far away.

So what’s on the agenda for 2019? Of course the OFMC ride will happen, and that looks to be about 2,300 miles. And once again we’re hoping to join members of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club on one of their long trips, but that will all be determined by timing and conflicts.

And I’m not planning to be off the bikes for two months due to surgery. Of course I wasn’t planning that last year either but it happened. On the other hand, if I hadn’t had that surgery I might easily not be alive this year to do any riding at all.

Beyond all this we’ll just have to see. I do have an idea, however, that I might get out on at least a couple longer solo rides. You see, Judy is very preoccupied at this point and for the forseeable future playing grandma to her new–and first!–grandchild. There may just be times when I tell her I’m figuring to head out for a few days. I don’t want to leave her behind if she’s interested in going but if it’s a choice between Jack and a ride, I’m figuring she’ll choose Jack. Or I could be wrong; we’ll see.

Biker Quote for Today

Time on a motorcycle is unlike time spent anywhere else. There are moments lost in the landscape, seconds devoted solely to balance, and long stretches spent spiraling inward. — Barbara Schoichet

The Honda alongside Hess Road.

It wasn’t the first warm day in January but it was the first day when all the ice and snow were melted off our street so I could get out of the neighborhood on a motorcycle. I didn’t need a written invitation. I chose the Honda.

As is so often the case, I had no idea where I was going. I headed south and east but when I got to the road over Cherry Creek Dam my instincts rebelled. No! I go over the dam much too often! So I turned south on Dayton, alongside Cherry Creek High School.

At Belleview I turned east toward the park, and then south on Peoria down to Arapahoe. This is common ground, though usually in the other direction. So I continued south until Peoria became Broncos Parkway, then south on Potomac along the east side of Arapahoe County Airport, west on a disconnected section of County Line Road, then south again on Peoria to Lincoln Avenue.

Peoria then continues south across Lincoln Avenue, winds through a neighborhood, and comes out finally at Ridge Gate Parkway. Ridge Gate is quickly becoming a major road but it can’t be much more than two years ago that it was dirt. It runs from I-25 over to Parker. I headed east, in the direction of that once little town.

I was in explorer mode so when I came to a new housing development, called Stepping Stone, I turned south on Stepping Stone Circle and sure enough, it wound through the development but came back up to Ridge Gate. That’s fine, I was curious. Plus from that street I spied some other major road just a bit further east.

Ridge Gate, which was now Parker’s Main Street, took me quickly to what turned out to be Chambers, so again I turned south. At this point I could see the enormous earthen ridge of Rueter-Hess Reservoir so when I came to another new development, Heirloom, I figured it was likely that Heirloom Parkway would hook me up with Hess Road. It did, and I turned west on Hess.

Hess goes south and west until it hits I-25 at Castle Pines Parkway. I crossed the highway and continued west on the parkway but I knew it would take me to Daniels Park and I didn’t want to go there. I knew there was some road going north before the park if I could find it.

That turned out to be Monarch Boulevard and I headed north. Getting into the McArthur Ranch area the road becomes Quebec and I followed it all the way across C-470 and on up to Belleview, east on Belleview, and back home.

It was only about 38 miles and one hour’s riding but oh what a nice day to be out on a bike! The morning had been clear and warmer but I was busy, so once I was ready to ride it was clouding over and getting cooler. Nevertheless, my electric vest was all the extra warmth I needed and it was just delightful to be out.

Now I have two more bikes to ride in January but the weather is looking good all of the next week. I think I’ll get it done.

Biker Quote for Today

They say life is a highway and we all travel our own roads, some good, some bad, yet each is a blessing of its own. — Jess “Chief” Brynjulson

A day on that California trip.

I knew things had gone too far when my 86-year-old mother told me she won’t be flying any more if it means they’re going to pat her down all over, as in everywhere. Which, of course, is exactly what they did to me when I flew home from California a few weeks ago. Using profiling to decide who to search may not be the best idea, but can’t we at least agree that there are some people who we can reverse-profile out of being searched?

So what does this have to do with motorcycles? It’s all about transportation choices. I want to say right up front that I owe the idea for this piece in part to Bruce Arnold, who runs http://www.ldrlongdistancerider.com/, and his recent post, Motorcycle Touring Mathematics 102: X-Raying Your Junk vs. X-Treme Riding Pleasure. In this post, Bruce compares the example of flying from Miami to Atlanta to riding there on a motorcycle. He looks at time, cost, and dignity. By his calculations, riding would take about 3 hours longer but cost a little less. He goes on:

The trade-offs to consider, however, go beyond time and money. Given the choice, for instance, how would you rather spend an entire day: Subjecting yourself to the pains of being processed, inspected, stamped and transported like so much meat? Or enjoying the pleasures of the wind in your face, a thundering engine beneath you, and the open road ahead of you? And what about privacy and practicality? Would you rather pack what you really wanted and needed to take with you, or worry about whether your shaving cream, pocket knife or party favors will make it through security? And last but not least, just how much individual freedom and personal dignity are you willing to sacrifice in return for a questionable promise of protection from some ethereal “terrorist threat” that may or may not exist?

On that recent trip to California that I mentioned my first intention was to ride out there. Time was not an issue. This is what I do for a living. I don’t have to take time off to ride my motorcycle, it’s my job. And riding to Southern California would be a great road trip. Why would I not ride?

Well, the answer, as it turned out, was money. I was able to get tickets from Denver to LA and from Oakland to Denver for such incredibly low fares that it was the only logical thing to do. I would have spent more on gas than I did for plane fare, and that doesn’t even include motels for three nights out and three nights back. So I flew and I got groped. And make no mistake about it, the security folks will deny it, but if you fly one-way rather than round-trip you will always get pulled aside for extra screening.

I couldn’t agree more on the idea of riding as your first choice, though I’m also well aware, as is Bruce, of the factors that time, distance, and weather often play in determining whether this option is really an option. Those caveats acknowledged, Bruce’s math does makes sense when riding is a possibility, and more and more people are figuring this out. Even some people opting for cars instead of motorcycles. As security increases and the time you waste in airports increases, the numbers will only favor ground transportation even more.

Hey, here’s a thought: Let’s build some high-speed passenger railroads. Then while most other folks are blasting across the country at near-warp speed, I’ll be putting down the highway on my motorcycle. Maybe you’d like to join me from time to time.

Biker Quote for Today

And I to my motorcycle Parked like the soul of the junkyard Restored, a bicycle fleshed With power, and tore off Up Highway 106 continually Drunk on the wind in my mouth Wringing the handlebar for speed Wild to be wreckage forever. — James Dickey