Passes & Canyons Blog

The OFMC has gotten small again.

The OFMC started out in 1989 with just three of us: Bill, John, and me. Over the years we’ve been joined by brothers, sons, friends of sons, and a few other assorted relatives. Once or twice the group was as big as 11 or 12.

And now we’ve come full circle. There will three of us going on this year’s OFMC trip in July. Bill will be coming, as will I. John will not. Dennis will be. Actually, Brett would be coming with us this year–and presumably will be with us next year–but he recently changed jobs and has to work a full year until he can take vacation time.

So it’s going to be a lot like the old days, only not so much in at least a couple ways.

Back in the beginning we all carried tents, sleeping bags, and foam pads or air mattresses. We may have only used them one or two nights each trip but we had them in case we needed them and there were times we did, indeed, need them. Back then we made no plans or reservations, so it was inevitable that there were times when we would roll into some town and find no room at the inn. Time to find a campground.

We won’t be camping this year. Judy and I still love camping but all the guys have gotten old without us. They don’t camp. Of course, that frees up space on the bike, a whole lot of stuff you don’t need to carry.

What does get back a little to beginnings is that with only three of us we have been able to make arrangements to stay in only one room. In some cases we’ve secured rooms with accommodations for three or even four. In other cases it’s a matter of arranging for a roll-away or a futon. Whoever made the reservation made the decision and takes the roll-away. In the old days our approach was a little different. If we had only two beds, we would take turns with one sleeping on the floor. That’s not going to happen now. Did I mention the other guys have gotten old?

On the other hand, another way things are different is that we will be staying in some fairly expensive places. Back in the day, we were pretty poor and we would go out of the way to go cheap. Standard practice was to roll into town and each of us head to one motel and ask about rates and availability. We would meet back up and make our choice and go check in. Now we’re all retired and money just isn’t the issue it used to be.

And we definitely have made reservations all along the way. You might think (or I might suggest) that with only three we might go back to making it up as we go. You can’t do that when you needs beds for 8 or 10 people but with just 3 . . . Uh-uh. These guys don’t camp and they don’t go off without motel reservations. I told you, they’ve gotten old.

So where are we going? It’s going to be a good trip (when is it not a good trip!?). And I’ll go over the itinerary in my next post.

Biker Quote for Today

Anyone can go fast in a straight line: try going slow in a figure 8.

An evening tour getting prepped, despite a drizzle.

As we continued our European travels the motorcycle scene just got stranger. Through Hungary, western Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania there were very few motorcycles on the streets and not even very many scooters.

This was especially puzzling because we heard repeatedly how much lower salaries are there in Eastern Europe than they are in Western Europe, such that those countries are losing population as all their young people head to Western Europe and higher salaries. Plus, gas is very expensive. Isn’t this the perfect environment to encourage scooters?

We did see some two-wheel transport, although there really weren’t even many bicycles. One thing we saw first in Budapest were these stand-up scooters that you see all over American cities now, except these had much bigger, fatter tires that, I presume, provide greater stability and the ability to absorb bumps rather than throw you off head first. These mega scooters, it turns out, seem to be almost exclusively used for tours.

Then there were the standard delivery scooters for items such as pizza. They’re all over Europe.

And then there were a bunch of what looked like standard motorcycles in front with the rear chopped off and two-wheeled delivery boxes mounted on back. Very much like those old Harley service vehicles except these were a complete mish-mash, suggesting people were just taking any old bike and converting it.

Anyway, this was all very puzzling. Where were all the motorcycles? And for Pete’s sake, where were the scooters? I mean, this is Europe!

So I asked our guide in Bucharest and he cleared it all up. It turns out that the Eastern Europeans are exceedingly status conscious. And to them, two wheels means “poor.” The Eastern Europeans are poor compared to the Western Europeans and they’re still overcoming the effects of 50 years of Communism. And they’re sensitive about this.

So they drive expensive cars they can’t afford while barely being able to put food on the table. And there is no way on this planet they’re going to be seen on a scooter, no matter how sensible that might be.

Maybe this is going to change soon. Coming into Bucharest I noticed a shiny, new, four-story glass-sided Ducati dealership. OK, nobody is going to confuse “Ducati” with “poor.” Maybe once Ducati wedges its way into the market the connection between poor and two wheels will fade. It could be interesting to go back to Bucharest in about 10 years.

Biker Quote for Today

The wheels act as gyroscopes, so the faster you go the less likely you are to fall over.

There were a lot more bikes on the road in Budapest.

The most common motorcycles I saw in Stockholm, Sweden, a few weeks ago were Ducatis and the three-wheeled Piaggio MP3 scooters. They really like those scooters.

It may be that in late March and early April in Sweden, that third wheel makes all the difference. Nights were still getting down to freezing and if you are going to ride you’re much more confident on three wheels.

Now, as it turned out, the first bike I saw was a Gold Wing, then a scooter, a sportbike of unknown make, another scooter, then finally either a Harley or Harley wannabe. Then a BMW, another sportbike, a Ducati, a Triumph, an MP3, a V-Strom, and then another MP3.

So while there were four scooters in those first dozen, scooters were nowhere near as prevalent as they are in other European cities. And bikes in general were not as common.

Again, it may just be the season. Summer in Scandinavia may be very different.

Then we got to Copenhagen and I swear I didn’t see a single motorcycle or scooter in the first full day there. I was really starting to wonder.

At one point, though, we sat on a bench by a major street and then saw plenty of bikes. But this was rush hour and I hardly saw another bike the rest of the three days we were there.

It changed considerably when we got to Budapest. I saw more bikes in the ride from the airport to our hotel than I had the entire previous week. Of course Budapest is nearly 1,000 miles south of Stockholm, and 600 miles south of Copenhagen, so it’s full-blown spring here.

Which is where we are now, so I’ll end here. (But I actually wrote those words three weeks ago.)

Biker Quote for Today

To anyone commenting on my choice of riding in any kind of weather, “Beats driving a Prius”!

The Colorado House just blew an opportunity to make roads safer for motorcyclists and others.

After coming all the way through the Colorado Senate, the Colorado House has killed the bill that would have made it illegal for drivers to dial or text with their phones while driving. The vote, on Tuesday, was 11-0 in the House Judiciary Committee.

Senate sponsor, Lois Court, said she is not done with this measure and it will return next session.

The American Civil Liberties Union was one of the chief opponents of the bill. The ACLU argued that “all the studies tell us that banning their use or imposing high fines on their use doesn’t stop the use.” Denise Maes, Public Policy Director for the ACLU, also expressed concern that the law could be used as a cover for racial profiling.

No, banning and imposing fines would not stop people from using their phones but I have to believe it would at least reduce their use. Laws against murder do not stop all instances of murder but you better believe it happens a lot less frequently than it would if it were legal. As for racial profiling, Colorado is not known as having a high incidence of that, unlike some other cities we could name. But if a bad cop wants to do it he or she always knows some law they can use. It’s not like this would have been the only one they could turn to.

So this was a very sad day. Drivers need to hang up their damn phones and drive.

In the meantime, there is other activity of interest at the Capitol.

Per Stump: “SB19-144 (Motorcyclists and Malfunctioning Traffic Signals) passed through 2nd and 3rd readings in the House chambers this week with one small amendment at 3rd reading to correct a “grammatical” error. Of course, that meant it had to go back to the Senate for concurrence on the House amendment, which was easily handled this week also. So now it goes to the Governor for his signature.”

Biker Quote for Today

Fake bikers have an image to maintain. The real bikers just don’t give a damn.

Diva Amy doesn’t do “plain.”

I had seen this extremely exotic, crystal-encrusted custom Harley up in Keystone, CO, at the International Women & Motorcycling Conference in 2009. It was such an attraction that I ended up shooting pictures of the numerous people clustered around it taking pictures of it.

When I saw it again in Scottsdale at Arizona Bike Week I knew I had to meet this person. So I introduced myself to Diva Amy.

The first thing you need to know about Diva, as she is known familiarly, is that she rides. “I’m out here riding the bike in rain, and sleet, almost snow, whatever, because I love it that much.” Her tricked-out ’07 Harley-Davidson Road Glide had 46,000 miles on it in March so you can bet it has more on it now. This is no trailer queen.

The second thing you need to know about Diva is that “Plain is not in my vocabulary.” She adopted the Diva persona “Not because I act like one but because I love everything shiny and embellished.” She tells of meeting a fellow at a truck stop who asked her what a diva is, and “I said, a diva to me is a woman who gets what she wants. But I’m no Mariah Carey. I don’t need Evian water everywhere I turn. So that’s my name, and my credo of life is, ‘Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.'”

And what Diva does is make and sell hats and bandanas and belt buckles and various other items. None of them are plain. When I met her she had a booth set up in the vendor area at Arizona Bike Week, with her Road Glide parked for maximum visibility as a sure-fire way to draw crowds.

Diva Tells How She Got Into This Business
“It all started because all of us girls knew we needed to wear hats. I had some girlfriends who said, ‘I would wear a hat but they’re all so ugly.’ And I thought, ‘Let me go to work on that.’

“That’s what started it all. I primarily focus on the cowboy hat silhouette, but I’m also doing fedoras and cadets. And I come from a fashion and merchandise and sales background. For 29 years I sold and merchandised and promoted a line of ski and snowboard apparel out of Aspen, CO. It was so seasonal I needed something to do when I wasn’t doing that so I started my own company called Team Diva. I named it Team Diva for all the women I’ve known, and I know now, and I will meet in the future. Because we’re all a team, getting through everything here. I love to hang with the divas and people we can be with and promote and share the love of riding. And that became a whole new segment for me as far as things go.”

The Bret Michaels Connection
Then she got a big break.

“I have a girlfriend whose husband is Bon Jovi’s bass player. And she said to me, ‘Diva, I’m going to go see Bret Michaels (of the group Poison). Give me a couple hats. Let me see what I can do.’ This gal friend of mine delivered. And Bret put those hats on–I sent a couple–and then I heard from his camp and I sent about 10 more.”

Michaels wore Diva’s hats on “Celebrity Apprentice” and in his own reality show “Life As I Know It,” and then on tour with the Bret Michaels Band. Meanwhile, Diva’s work on customizing her Harley was tied in with the money she had coming in, and she wanted designer Paul Yaffe to do a high-roller wheel for it. She got the wheel.

“I actually call this the Bret Michaels wheel. Because I sold enough hats that I could finally write the check!”

Diva also teamed with Michaels to support breast cancer funding-raising.

“I just got done making a dozen hats for Susan B. Komen gals who are fund-raising. The top 12 fundraisers got pink hats made by me for him to sign.”

Diva Offers Strong Support To Women Considering Riding Motorcycles
“I call it pulling the trigger. If you’re thinking about doing it, go take a motorcycle class, see if it’s your thing. If you’re comfortable being a passenger, do it. If you’re thinking about doing this, take a class. Get out in one of the parking lots on a little 250 and see. A lot of women talk to me because I’m in my 50s and I’m riding. This bike has 46,000 miles on it. It’s never been in a trailer. And it’s only three years old. I ride it. I think the whole idea is, if it’s something you’re thinking of doing, pull the trigger and go try it. And then the bug bit me for touring and that’s all I love to do now. My god, I love it. I love it. I could pack a bag and be gone a different place every day. I love it so much. So that’s kind of my thing, you know?”

Look for Diva Amy at a motorcycle rally near you. You’ll know that bike the moment you see it.

Biker Quote for Today

Taking B12 is the price of getting to be vegan, the way wearing a helmet is the price of getting to ride a motorcycle and giving up alcohol for nine months is the price of getting to have a baby. — Victoria Moran

Riding with strangers calls for discussion so you’ll each know what to expect.

I’d never spent significant time riding with people I didn’t know, until I took part on a media tour put on by EagleRider, a major motorcycle rental outfit that also offers tours. When you ride with the usual bunch of guys you pretty much know what to expect. With strangers, I found, it’s a whole new ball game.

The EagleRider tour leaders made it clear that we were to ride in double-file staggered formation, which builds in extra space for safety and visibility. When I ride with the OFMC we are not the model of safety because only some of us adhere to the staggered formation concept. Doing demo rides, on the other hand, the ride leaders make it absolutely clear that you will ride in formation and not change the line-up or you will not be allowed any more demo rides.

The 18 media members on this tour consisted primarily of a variety of Europeans, one Canadian, one Australian, and three Americans. Considering that nearly all the riders on this tour were professional motorcycle writers or photographers, who understand the safety issues, I expected strict adherence to the formation. I was in for a surprise.

The first situation that threw me was the two Dutch folks on the tour. An older fellow and a young woman, they work for the same outfit and he stayed on her tail the entire time. The ride leader would take the inside track, the young woman would follow to her right, and the guy would do whatever he wanted to do. Mostly he rode extremely close behind her, but on occasion he would move to the left where I would have expected him to be all the time.

So if you’re the person immediately behind him, what do you do? If you stay where you theoretically ought to be, you then have three bikes in a row in the right-hand track. If you stay to the left, what do you do at those times when he moves left? If you shift to the right, then everyone behind you has to shift as well to stay in formation and that alone can be hazardous.

I chose, those times I was immediately behind him, to stay left at all times. It just seemed to make the most sense. And I did eventually figure out that he had a video camera mounted on his bike and he was filming her. At least that helped to make some sense of his actions.

Squeezing From Behind
Then there was another of the Europeans who stayed in formation but was always close enough behind me that I could see him in my peripheral vision. I purposely kept a good distance between me and the bike ahead but he was always right there. Sometimes he would even pass me and soon after wave for me to repass him. I kept wondering why he didn’t back off and I figured he kept wondering why I didn’t close up.

I mentioned it at one point to another rider who told me that guy’s magazine is focused on speed and running in tight groups. OK, I get it. So I just did my best not to get right behind the Dutch or right in front of him. But sometimes it was unavoidable.

Another thing that threw me was the fellow who would on occasion just pass me and maybe one or two other riders. I finally asked him if there was something I was doing that troubled him, and should I be reading between the lines to recognize some mistake I was making. No, he responded, he just didn’t think it was smart for everyone to stay in the exact same formation all the time because that has a tendency to lull you into complacency. He liked to mix things up. And hey, thanks for asking rather than just getting angry or annoyed.

I can go with that reasoning, especially since it is focused on safety. As for the young woman being filmed, I don’t care, I don’t want anybody on my tail like that. I wouldn’t have wanted to be her. As for riding tight in general, I know the European countries have far more rigorous skill and training requirements for motorcyclists than we do. And they do ride close together, sometimes at amazingly high speeds.

Meanwhile, I guess I won’t be so hard on the OFMC. It’s not like they’re pros or anything.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re most likely to have an accident in the first year of riding because of inexperience, and after two years of riding because you think you know everything.

It’s entirely different riding with a passenger.

I read somewhere recently that the best passenger a motorcyclist can have is a girlfriend who has never been on a bike before. (This was obviously a guy talking.) The point being that she’ll get on and do exactly what you tell her to do because she doesn’t know to do anything else.

The worst passenger, this writer went on, was your buddy whose bike is broken down and to whom you’re giving a ride back to town. That guy is going to want to do his own leaning and all the things he normally does to control his own bike, but that throws your control efforts way off and makes for a hazardous ride. Backseat driving takes on a whole new meaning on a motorcycle, and it is not for the better.

Riding a motorcycle with a passenger is a whole new ball game for a variety of reasons. First off, you are now responsible for the safety of another person besides yourself. I know that I ride carefully at all times, but when my wife is on behind me I ride even more carefully. If I was responsible for something happening to her I’d never forgive myself. So I do everything in my power to ensure that nothing happens.

Second, adding all that weight makes a huge difference in how the bike handles. It’s a big difference if your 110-pound wife or girlfriend gets on; imagine the difference if your 210-pound buddy gets on.

Novice riders simply should not carry passengers. Until they have some real experience and skills with the bike it’s just too dangerous. I told the story recently how my friend Terry told me not to take some girls riding on his bike and never let me ride the bike again after I did so anyway. He was right to do so. I wasn’t ready.

After I got my own bike I waited awhile before taking a passenger but even then I was ill at ease. What finally made a difference was when the OFMC took its first extended trip and I rode around for days on end with a bunch of gear bungee-strapped on the back. I grew accustomed to the weight and from that point on I was comfortable with a passenger.

Not comfortable with just any passenger, however. We had a friend, Al, who was a super nice guy but not always the most prudent person. Al didn’t ride. (This is all in the past tense; Al died a number of years ago.) One night John and I rode over to Al’s and at some point Al wanted to go for a ride. He climbed on behind me first and I was aghast. Al was not fat, but he was solid muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat. On my 750cc Honda it was just too much and I suggested he ride with John. So Al got on with John, whose 1100cc Shadow was bigger than my CB750, and we took off.

But Al was not content to just sit there quietly on the bike. He was moving around and doing all kinds of stuff that kept throwing John off balance, so before we went more than half a mile John stopped and said “No more, we’re going back. This is too dangerous.”

Another time, John and Bill and I had gone over to Grand Junction to see our friend Christopher. Like Al, Christopher is not known for prudence. He wanted to take us to see the 20-foot dragon he was building so we got on the bikes, with Christopher riding with Bill. Turning in the driveway to the place where the dragon was under construction, Christopher was flailing around in much the way Al had done and he threw Bill’s balance off so badly that they went down. Fortunately, it was at a slow speed and the dirt was soft, so nobody got hurt.

The bottom line here is that, for a capable rider, and a passenger who knows how to be a passenger, riding two-up can be a terrific shared experience. But tell your own Al or Christopher “No” when they ask for a ride.

Biker Quote for Today

There is a delicate ridge one must ride between fear and reason on a motorcycle—lean too far in either direction and there will be consequences. — Lily Brooks-Dalton

This is going to be an Examiner Resurrection with a twist. After putting in this brief Examiner post I’m going to add a bit to the discussion. Look for that below.

Most motorcycles get better gas mileage than most cars.

“When you add it all up, there is no question: If everyone rode motorcycles, the planet would be a greener place.”

That’s Rob Dingman, the president and CEO of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), in an Earth Day statement on environmental benefits of commuting and traveling on a motorcycle.

And Dingman adds, “Just as important, more of us would experience the thrill and freedom that motorcycles provide. Riding is not just easy on your bank account and the planet, riding is a fun, and often a social activity that simply makes life more enjoyable.

“Regardless of how you use your motorcycle or scooter — commuting to work, riding down the block, across town, traveling across the country — your choice to ride instead of drive has a positive impact on the environment and results in a more enjoyable, less-congested experience for you as well as your fellow road userS. For motorcyclists, every day is Earth Day.”

The AMA notes that a typical motorcycle generally gets better gas mileage than all but the most fuel-efficient cars, often 50 miles per gallon or more, and that many scooters can deliver nearly twice that. Motorcycles also require less oil and other chemicals to operate. And then there are the growing number of electric motorcycles that are even greener than the gas-powered models.

Other benefits that motorcycles offer, says the AMA, is that:

• Motorcycles take up less space than cars and trucks both during operation, and when parked. They reduce traffic congestion and, in so doing, help increase the efficiency of traffic flow on the road.
• Significantly fewer raw materials are utilized to produce motorcycles and scooters compared to cars and trucks. By some measures, it requires thousands of pounds less metal and plastic per vehicle to produce a motorcycle. The environmental benefits are realized both during production, as well as at the end of the vehicle’s useful life.
• Because motorcycles and scooters are so much more compact and lighter than cars and trucks, they cause far less wear and tear on the highways, reducing the cost and environmental impact of infrastructure repairs. In addition, because of their size, many more motorcycles can be transported from factory to consumer using the same or less energy.

OK, back to 2019. So after I put this piece up on Examiner I did some deeper digging. I wanted real answers to the question of whether bikes really are greener, and what I found was inconclusive. I wrote to Pete terHorst at the AMA for what he had to offer but the information he sent me didn’t seem to resolve my questions. I never did run the piece I envisioned and Pete later put out an AMA release on it rather than let his own efforts go to waste.

The thing that I found was that yes, motorcycles use less gas. However, because we don’t have all the antipollution devices that cars do, we actually put out more emissions. So what’s greener, using less gas and doing less road damage or putting out less emissions? How do you make that kind of determination?

Of course, much of the future appears that it will be powered by electricity. Once you put electric motorcycles into this equation there will be no question. Yes there is environmental damage associated with generating that electricity but if you have an electric bike and a solar panel powering it I don’t think you’ll ever get much greener.

Biker Quote for Today

Caution, twisting the right side hand grip of this vehicle may tend to alter the rotation of the Earth.