Passes & Canyons Blog

I received an offer of a free pair of fancy ear plugs to review and all I needed to do was come out to Avalanche Harley-Davidson for their May Bike Night and connect with the vendor at their booth. Just to be sure, I googled Avalanche before I headed out and good thing! They moved.

While I was set to head out to Colfax and . . . what? Simms? . . . but instead it turns out Avalanche has moved to a huge new site out on what the map tells me is officially U.S. 40, but what I would think of as CO93, just north of I-70. If you remember where Heritage Square used to be, it’s right there. Heritage Square was set back up off the road and Avalanche and a bunch of other new shops are right there but right up along the road.

So OK, I didn’t waste my time going to the wrong place.

And what a huge, fancy new place it is. They have got to have at least 120 bikes on site ready for sale, and it’s not at all unusual to see bikes being ridden right in and out the front doors to/from the display floor.

Now, when someone buys a bike things really let loose. They fire up some loud music and then the buyer steps up and rings this big bell, announcing to everyone that they are now the proud owner of a new Harley. Then all the floor staff line up to shake the new owner’s hand. They make a big deal out of it.

So it makes me wonder. I’ve been reading for some time how motorcycle sales are dropping, and Harley especially is having trouble because the big cruisers they make don’t appeal to the young riders all the brands are looking for. This big new facility cannot have been cheap, and it is pretty much the standard for all the Harley shops across the country. Is somebody getting ready to take a big financial fall, or are these places going to continue to thrive? I have no idea. It will be interesting to see in the next few years.

Biker Quote for Today

Gawd’s honest truth, never give up the asphalt…The bike wants to turn more than you do, at least try to help it do so…

Riding season is getting into full gear now so it’s good to remember that sometimes there are things coming at you on the road that you do not expect. And why should you? They’re so weird nobody would ever expect them. Here are some experiences other riders have had.

• A snake and a bird. At the same time. I was cruising down a country road and a bird with a snake in his clutches flew into my path, made a quick swoop away from me and was gone. I don’t know who was shocked the most. Me, the bird or the snake. I actually had to look back a few times to reassure myself that he didn’t drop it on me.
• BIG dead possum. Didn’t see it coming (even though quite dead and stationary) I was too fixated on the car in front of me, who seemed to be under the impression that brakes must be applied at every intersection, driveway, mailbox, and manhole. So I had already backed off to about 2 car lengths in a 30 MPH residential area. The next thing I know the KLR and I are airborne, landed the unexpected jump, and went around the block to see what the ramp was made of. Big ugly dead possum.
• Caught the tail end of a cat once. We were staring at each other seconds before I thought the cat would not move and the cat thought he could beat me accross the street before I came by. We both were wrong. Think I just bumped it with my front wheel. Felt something but not like going over anything.
• Elephant in northern Thailand, near Burma. Coming out of a corner still leaning, nearly smacked into this giant grey backside half across the road.
• I charged a huge grizzly bear a long time ago on my KLX250. Usually the bears run away. This one stood its ground. I think it moved at the last minute, I was too scared to look. I bent the license plate hitting a bump way too hard. I was too scared to get off and fix it.
• A swarm of (I believe they are called…) blind mosquitoes in FL. It was so thick that I had to pull over afterwards because my visor was completely blacked out…100% blacked out.
• I saw a dozen bikes crash on one corner was a swarm of locusts crossing the road on the second sweepback of a fast, fast technical section. Huge grasshoppers that do not fly. They crawl. There was a mass migration on Lake Lowery Road one morning. A group ride of Buellers was smokin’ along and when they hit the swarm, down they went.
• A coupla days ago I was on I-78 at the start of evening rush hour; thickening traffic but moving along OK. Saw a car ahead swerve slightly, then noticed what I thought at first was a piece of fruit or something, lying in the road. Or was it an animal? Bright green… a lizard? No… Then I saw another, of a totally different but equally bright color. As I passed the first two, I saw at least a dozen more, scattered across a few hundred feet of highway. What were they? Beanie Babies.
• Some drunk on the wrong side of the road in a long curved tunnel.

OK, that’s it for now. This could be you next time. Ride like your life depends on it, because it does.

Biker Quote for Today

It wasn’t until I went to college and I got my first motorcycle that I understood the thrill of speed. — Vin Diesel

With John no longer riding, I have taken over planning the OFMC trips. I’m using the license that gives me to push the boundaries a little. On this year’s trip we’re going to be covering a bit more distance than we typically have and we’re going to be out one additional day. And I’m still pushing to make it two.

We’ll be heading northwest so our first night will be in Rawlins. We’ll head up through Walden and Encampment and Saratoga. An easy 250 miles.

From there we’ll cross Wyoming to reach Cody. I’m looking forward to staying in Buffalo Bill’s Irma Hotel, the historic old hotel in town. Those kind of places have become a theme with me so I look specifically for these old places. And this is still only about 260 miles.

Our third day out we will be heading for Chico Hot Springs. We’ll pass through Yellowstone on the way and then out the north gate to Chico. This is one of those places we would never have stayed before because it would have been too expensive. However, traveling with Willie and Jungle has keyed me in on the idea that you want to pick your spots based on interest, amenities, and food. Worry about the cost in your next life. So Chico it is. A short day’s ride at 160 miles.

Then on to Missoula; 265 miles. And this will be the northernmost point on this ride. More importantly, it sets us up for Lolo Pass.

The next day is getting longer: 290 miles. We’ll head out of Missoula, over Lolo, and down along the Lochsa River. Then we’ll do some lefts and rights and find ourselves on roads none of us has ever been on, going places we’ve never been. This is what this trip is all about. We’ll end up in Cascade, Idaho.

From Cascade we have a long day–320 miles, all the way to Jackpot, Nevada. Jackpot is a favorite stop for the OFMC and will be this year’s obligatory gambling stop. We’ll be here two nights because it is also the obligatory golfing stop. They have a nice little course here and we have played it several times.

Then it will be on to Heber City, Utah, a 290-mile day. We’ll be crossing the salt flats and passing through Salt Lake City. Probably not our most favorite day of the trip.

Finally, from Heber City it will be on to Rangely–just 180 miles. Here, John and Friggs, who no longer ride, will drive out to join us for our last night out. Plus, I have suggested that if anyone were interested, we could stay a second night here and play golf again, this time with John and Friggs joining us. Dennis and Bill have said they would be interested, provided that John and Friggs were playing with us, so I asked John what his inclination was.

“I don’t see why Friggs and I have to decide on what we’re doing this far ahead,” he replied. Well, gosh John, no, I guess not, at least not unless it might be good to know whether to make motel reservations for two nights rather than one. And arrange a tee time.

Whatever. Then the trip home will be about 280 miles.

Biker Quote for Today

“I had a girlfriend in college… good to look at, exotic and foreign, sometimes fun, and a lot of fun to ride when she was up for it, but generally, she was a bit of a bitch, with a few fatal flaws that I tried to fix for years until I finally got fed up and called it quits. She was apparently reincarnated into my ’99 Triumph Tiger.” — MapBoy