Passes & Canyons Blog

The OFMC–at least the three of us who remain–now have a route set for 2020.

Now that I’m the designated planner, this is a consensus thing. Last year it was agreed that everyone was fine with doing some longer days and going farther. This time around the guys say they would prefer shorter days and also like the idea of staying in one place for three nights. You got it.

We’ll be leaving Denver on a Friday and cruising down to Alamosa. On Saturday we’ll go further south, to Espanola, New Mexico. This will be our three-night stop. What does Espanola offer to make it worth three nights? Well, everything the OFMC looks for.

First off there is an Indian casino hotel where we will stay. A gambling stop is a must on OFMC trips. Second, Espanola has what appears to be a spectacular public golf course. A golf stop is also an OFMC must. And third, Espanola is in a spot where there are several very good options for day rides. So one of the two days we stay there will be for golfing and the other for riding. Arrive–night one; golf or ride–night two; golf or ride–night three; leave.

The OFMC started out with just Bill and John and me. Then it grew, and then it shrunk. We’re back to three now, and Dennis has replaced John. But John lives outside Montrose and he said he and his wife, Cheryl, will almost certainly be interested in coming down and joining us in Espanola for some golf and gambling. So that will be fun.

From there we’ll head up to Durango and the next day on to Monticello, Utah. The day after that a very scenic route will take us to Hotchkiss, Colorado, for a favorite stop at the Hotchkiss Inn. Then the last night will be in Leadville before heading on home.

So. No long days, gambling, golf, three nights in one place, lots of good riding. My job here is done.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: Unlike women FAT motorcycles aren’t cheap dates.

OK, this will be a shameless promo. Looking on Thursday at the seven-day forecast, the best day coming up should be Tuesday, December 31. How convenient. That’s the day of the Last Brass Monkey Run.

The Last Brass, as it is called for short, is an ABATE of Colorado event intended to be the last ride of the year. Although ABATE tried moving it to the last Saturday of the year, in order to get more people to come, that didn’t have much effect so it was moved back to the last day of the year.

This year the Last Brass will be held at the Rock Rest Lodge, 16005 Old Golden Road, out in Golden. If you haven’t ever been to the Rock Rest you might want to come just to see the place.

Back a long, long time ago I lived very near there with my girlfriend, Sue, and we used to go there on Saturday nights for the country swing dancing. I hadn’t been there in probably 40 years but it was one of the stops on the ABATE D-17 Dart Run this summer so I stopped in again. Holy smokes, has that place changed. Forty years ago it was basically a dive bar with a huge dance floor. Now it is still rustic but it has been updated in a way that retains and enhances the ambience. And it’s a lot more popular.

So the Last Brass used to be an event where you would come to some distant starting point, sign up, and ride to the location. For many years that location was always the Grizzly Rose. Years ago you would come to the Rose and the parking lot would be jammed with motorcycles of all kinds. Then, for reasons unclear to me, attendance started to drop. The Grizzly Rose was no longer a viable venue because it was much, much too big for the number of people showing up. So it started moving around. It was at Wrigley’s for a couple years and then last year was the first at the Rock Rest. (I didn’t make it last year.) This year it’s the Rock Rest.

There will be music, food, door prizes, “games of skill/chance.” Now there are no far-flung starting places, you just come on down. Registration starts at 11 a.m. For ABATE members it’s $15; for non-members $20. If you join or renew your membership it’s $10. I originally joined ABATE at the Last Brass and I always renew there if I go. I’ll definitely be going this year. I invite you to join me. And if you do come, be sure to find me and say hello.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you ever quit a job to go to Sturgis.

Saturday: “If it’s gonna be a beautiful day I’m gonna have to ride.”

It was, so I did.

Of course I had no idea where to. As so often, I headed across Cherry Creek Dam to Parker Road and then decided to go east on Hampden. Heading that direction I thought of how I have followed streets like Colorado and Quebec south to see where they go. What about the streets further east? I turned south on Buckley.

Buckley through here is a major thoroughfare–six lanes. What I didn’t know is that it ends at Arapahoe. You come to that intersection and on the south of Arapahoe the six lanes goes down to two, with no sidewalks. There’s a sign that says Foxfield. OK, this is somewhere I’ve never been before.

The street on this side of Arapahoe is Richfield. Foxfield appears to be an area of large, somewhat older homes with large lots. Horse properties. Richfield passes on through the development until it hits a T at Jamison. Now it’s looking familiar. I think I came through here once before, following Broncos Parkway after it crossed Parker Road into the Chenango development.

Sure enough, Jamison bends around until it hits Long and you have to east or west on Long. I went east. If I’m correct about all of this, I’m going to come out at a point where some road crosses C-470. Sure enough, I come over a rise and there’s C-470. The road that crosses it is Ireland Way.

Ireland becomes Travois Trail, winding through an Indian-name-themed older development, also with large lots but looking more middle class than the upscale Foxfield. Streets with names like Warbonnet, Bowstring, and Arrowshaft. Then it hits a T at Inspiration Drive. Now I really know where I am.

I go east on Inspiration and at some point reach an intersection that makes me wonder if this is a road I was on just a few weeks ago. Turn right and let’s see. Nope. About half a mile later the road, that is clearly intended to be extended at some point, dead ends. Head back the other way.

Not really sure where I am now, the road bends around and runs into Aurora Parkway. OK, I’ve been getting more and more acquainted with Aurora Parkway lately. Head north and I should hit Smokey Hill. Correct. On north to what becomes Gun Club Road and I’m following a pick-up with a load of trash that doesn’t look any too securely strapped on. He must be headed for the Waste Management landfill on Gun Club.

Sure enough, he turns east toward the landfill–having not lost anything while I was cautiously behind him–while I turn west, back once again on Hampden. And on home.

Not an eventful ride, but an exploration. Have I ever told you I love to explore?

Biker Quote for Today

That biker guy was passed out on the floor. We took his wallet and the keys to his Harley and now we doesn’t have them anymore. — Bowling for Soup

In all the previous articles about this data dump I have drawn from the tables, which had been extracted and sent to me. I went to look at the full report and found just a bit more info of interest. Then I promise I’m through with this discussion.

The first thing is location. Where in the state are bikers most at risk? A table on annual motorcycle fatalities from 2014 through 2018 shows a lot of interesting numbers. Adams County is always one of the high ones. Over that five-year span the count of fatalities has been 7, 7, 13, 13, 10. Alamosa County, on the other hand is usually very safe but 2015 was a terrible year: 0, 7, 0, 0, 0. What the heck happened in 2015?

Not surprisingly, the metro area counties–which have the greatest population–mostly have the highest fatality rates, although for some reason Douglas County usually trends a bit lower than the others.
Arapahoe County–3, 0, 11, 6, 9
Denver City/County–7, 14, 14, 13, 7
Douglas County–3, 5, 10, 5, 3
Jefferson County–11, 14, 15, 9, 12

Boulder County is also surprisingly low, considering how many people there are: 5, 5, 4, 5, 3.

El Paso, Gunnison, Larimer, Mesa, Pueblo, and Weld Counties are also higher, in conformity with their populations.

Of all Colorado counties, Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Costilla, Crowley, Dolores, Hinsdale, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Otero, Phillips, and Sedgewick Counties report zero motorcycle fatalities in this five-year span. That’s pretty impressive.

By age, the most fatalities occur among those who are 20-29 or 50-59. The five year totals for each age group are under 20–14; 20-29–125; 30-39–86; 40-49–87; 50-59–119; 60-69–74; over 70–25.

OK, that’s enough. I just thought that all these numbers in this whole series of posts were interesting and could hopefully be helpful to people in understanding what the greatest risks are. I hope I haven’t bored you too much.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if you think that a kick-starter is a mocha latte.

Old pictures of motorcyclists from, say, 50 years ago can be pretty amazing if you pay attention to the details. It’s not that most of the riders are not wearing helmets, though they’re not. It’s that in most cases they’re also not wearing eye protection. Of course, laws back then didn’t require either.

Here’s an example. Some time ago I got a copy of McQueen’s Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon. Flipping through it there are a variety of pictures of Steve McQueen on motorcycles and, in several of them he’s blasting along with no helmet or glasses. It is interesting to note, however, that in shots where he is racing he always wears goggles and a helmet. So it’s not like people back then didn’t understand the protection these things offered.

Nearly every state now has a motorcycle helmet law in one form or another, some requiring all riders to wear them, many only having restrictions on those under 18. These laws are a volatile topic year after year and are likely to remain so for a long time to come. At one extreme are non-riders who want to force all riders to wear helmets, and at the other end are riders who consider it insane to ride without a helmet but who adamantly oppose government mandates on the issue. And there’s a wide spectrum of positions in between the two.

What goes undebated, however, is the fact that requirements for riders and passengers on motorcycles to have some sort of eye protection are widely mandated now as well. Glasses or goggles, per se, are not specifically required; a number of states demand eye protection on your face only if you do not have a windshield. Alaska is more specific: your windshield must reach at least 15 inches above your handlebars. Alabama, California, and others don’t require anything. Indiana only requires eye protection for riders under 18.

It’s a non-issue. Why? Because people by and large are not stupid. I’ve been riding for more than 30 years and I’ve gone down on my bike once. I didn’t always wear a helmet, although now I always do. I was that day but it didn’t matter, my head never touched the ground or anything else.

On the other hand, I cannot count the number of bugs that have died on my visor or on the lenses of my glasses. And then there are the bits of grit and sand and tiny pebbles that my eye protection has deflected. I know that many years ago, just like Steve McQueen, I used to ride without glasses or any kind of eye protection. I find it hard to believe now.

What I also find kind of hard to believe is the number of states that have no requirements or only require a windshield. Both my bikes have windshields and trust me, they don’t block all the airborne debris. I don’t care what the law is, or what state I’m in, I’m not going riding without eye protection.

And I think that’s why it’s a non-issue. I know that in my experience, and I suspect in yours, too, if you go to a state that has no requirements for eye protection, you’ll nevertheless be hard put to spot anyone who doesn’t have it. It would just be stupid not to.

Wow, what a concept: People are not stupid.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you have ever had to borrow a helmet for your date.

I believe this will be the last post about this Colorado MOST 2018 report on motorcycle crashes. The only tables left that I haven’t discussed have to do with what parts of the road riders were on when they crashed and what the conditions were.

With 1,247 crashes counted, the number one location was essentially anywhere except at an intersection. The table lists it as “Non-intersection.” Were they going straight, was the road curvy? No way to know. But then number two was “At intersection,” with 688 crashes counted. The lesson here should be obvious: be extra careful when you’re approaching an intersection.

Number three is “Intersection related” but it’s not obvious what that implies. There were 278 of those.

“Driveway access related” is next, with 127. So yeah, be alert at driveways, too. Heck, be alert all the time. It’s your skin we’re talking about here.

The remaining tallies are “Ramp” with 85; “Roudabout” with 24; “Alley related” with 15; and “Unknown” with 6.

And then we come to road condition. Here the preponderance is overwhelming: “Dry” with 2,341 crashes tallied. “Wet” is in second place with just 83. So OK, it seems that road condition not anywhere near the factor I would have expected it to be. That’s why you study data.

Barely one crash in 100 involved “Foreign matter.” To be specific, 24. “Wet w/visible icy road treatment” tallied only 5.

The rest were “Icy” with 3; “Snowy” with 2; “Muddy” with 1; “Slushy” with 1; and “Unknown” with 10.

Not a lot of surprises there. Not too many of us get out on our bikes when the roads are icy, snowy, muddy, or slushy. If we did I’m sure those numbers would be a lot higher.

Just to wrap up, here are some overall stats that the report broke out.

Motorcyclist Fatalities
• 103 motorcyclists were killed in motorcycle crashes in 2018, 94 were male and nine were female. Ninety-nine were motorcycle operators and four were motorcycle passengers.
• Motorcyclist fatalities represented 16.3% of Colorado’s total traffic fatalities (103 of 632).
• The number of motorcyclist fatalities remained the same in 2018 compared to 2017.
• 77 motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes were determined to be “at fault.”
• 39 of the fatal motorcycle crashes involved only the motorcycle and no other vehicle.
• In 2018, 54 motorcycle operators killed in a fatal crash tested positive for alcohol or drugs. Fourteen of the motorcycle operators tested positive alcohol (BAC >=0.08) only, 28 operators tested positive for drugs only, and 12 motorcycle operators tested positive for both alcohol and drugs.
• 54 motorcycle operators killed were not wearing a helmet.

If you’re reading this you weren’t one of these folks. Please don’t be one of them next year, either.

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes the road you travel doesn’t lead to the destination you had hoped for. But if you can look back on it and still smile, then it was worth it.

The roads are clear and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all really nice days. So I rode my motorcycles on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Friday was a little cool but I wore all my winter gear and was perfectly warm. I did run into one problem, and that was with my heated gloves. These are battery powered and while one came on immediately when I hit the button, the other did not. So I got to see how much it mattered on this particular day. Not much. The gloves themselves are very good and warm even when they’re not turned on.

Later I plugged them both in to charge and once I knew both were fully charged I tried again. The one that didn’t work before didn’t work again. Dang! What’s wrong? But I kept pressing the button, holding it, not holding it, and finally it did come on. Not sure what to make of this. I’ll have to see what happens next time.

I didn’t see any other bikes out on Friday and was not surprised. Definitely saw other bikes on Saturday and Sunday. If you weren’t out you should have been.

Saturday was decidedly warmer so while I wore all the rest of the warm gear I did not wear the heated gloves and did not need them. In fact, there were times when I was almost too warm. What a great day in December to ride.

At one point I was on the Concours and I noticed that my front brake was a bit squishy. The bike was stopping OK but it just didn’t feel right. If I pumped it, it would firm up and that’s generally an indication you have a problem. I checked the sight gauge and sure enough, the fluid level was low. Now the question is, is there a leak in the brakeline somewhere? I would just fill it but all I’ve ever heard, and it states it plainly in the shop manual, says do not mix different brake fluids. If you have to add more and don’t know what kind/brand is in there, drain it all and replace it all with one consistent fluid. So I guess I have something to add to my to-do list.

Sunday was a bit cooler but I wore less warm gear and was still perfectly comfortable. I didn’t go for any long rides, just was out running some errands. And just like clockwork, I encountered my Sunday problem. It was no big deal but I noticed one of the zip ties keeping my bag attached to the rear of my sissy bar backrest on the CB750 had broken and the bag was hanging half loose. I have extra zip ties; I fixed it.

So yeah, maintenance. Entropy is a universal law. Everything breaks down eventually. Every fix is a temporary fix but temporary works.

Biker Quote for Today

The older I get the more I understand how important it is to live a life most people don’t understand.

Now we come to what I consider a particularly interesting portion of the 2018 report on motorcycle crashes put together by the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program. I’m talking helmet usage and rider legality, i.e., having motorcycle accreditation on your driver’s license.

Unlike the other tables in this report, where they list the top 10 items, there are only 7 choices here. There are 2,470 crashes counted.

“Helmet properly used” was ticked off for 1,223, or 49.5% of all motorcycle operators, and 66.7% for all riders trained through MOST. “No helmet” comes second at 882, for 35.7% of all riders and 18.0% of MOST-trained riders. So far rider training is looking pretty good, although we again have the unanswerable question of, did they get the training before or after the crash?

Number three on the list (109) is “not applicable.” These 177 are explained as “(Cars/Trucks).” Which seems odd. If these were people in cars and trucks, why were they included in this listing of motorcyclists? Then, with 54, is “Helmet improperly used.” Gosh guys, if you’re going to bother wearing a helmet maybe you should at least strap it on properly.

Then there is “Available, not used” at 20 and then “Bicycle helmet” at 5. Really? You think a bicycle helmet is going to do much good in a motorcycle crash? Heck, I don’t see how bicycle helmets do much good even in bicycle crashes. They sure haven’t helped my sister-in-law in the two crashes she has had on her bicycle.

That’s the list. What we are told elsewhere in the report is that there were 103 fatalities in 2018 and of them, 54, or 52%, were not wearing helmets. Which means 48% were wearing helmets, which, as always, gives the lie to those who seem to think the answer to motorcycle fatalities is to make everyone wear a helmet. Helmets help but it’s going to take more than just helmets.

Then we come to licensing. Out of 2,470 riders, there were 1,393 total listed as “Endorsement required & complied with.” For MOST-trained riders it was 64.0%. Again, that’s looking good for training though it also is particularly muddy regarding training before or after the crash.

A total of 563 riders had no endorsement, and then we have 371 with “Endorsement required & not complied with.” I’m really not at all sure what that is supposed to mean. How does that differ from no endorsement?

Then there are 51 listed as “Endorsement required & compliance unknown” and another 92 with “Unknown.”

I don’t know about you but I tend to suspect that riders who have MC endorsements are more likely to be safe riders. At the very least it presents a certainty that you have at least a minimum of ability to control the machine. No it doesn’t say a thing about the ability to maneuver a tight curve at a high speed but at least it’s a start. That’s where further rider training is a good thing. I’ve taken five rider training courses and done one track day and I can tell you pretty confidently that I’m a better rider than my friends who have done none of these.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you can identify bugs by taste.