Passes & Canyons Blog

I don’t usually use images this large but it was necessary to show this route.

On the second day of this year’s OFMC trip we had to break a mold or two to get from point A to point B. We were in Alamosa, after originally planning to head from there into New Mexico. But a coronavirus closure in New Mexico forced a change. Our destination was now Cripple Creek.

Unfortunately, the easiest way to Cripple Creek from Alamosa would have had us retracing our ride from the day before, all the way up to Poncha Springs. That’s basically a long, straight shot up the San Luis Valley. We didn’t want to do that. But with the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness in the way, we had to go around. So we took the southern route.

That consisted of a blast to the east on U.S. 160 to Walsenburg, a short jog north to CO 69, and then a ride up through Gardner and Westcliffe to hit U.S. 50 just east of Cotopaxi. From there it was just a little ways east to where Fremont County Road 9 heads north, then county roads 11 and 1 as the back way into Cripple Creek.

We got an early start, in the cool of the morning, and it was a beautiful ride across the valley and up over La Veta Pass. There’s something almost magical about riding through the countryside as the day is dawning, and it was like that this morning.

At Walsenburg we needed gas and were amazed to find every gas station in town packed with vehicles lined up waiting their turn at the pumps. So we joined the queue. Then we found the not very well marked CO 69 right there where we got gas. OK. We had been pretty puzzled.

Heading north on 69 I soon realized that I had been here only once before and that was in about 2000 when Judy and I came this way on a ride with the Concours Owners Group. We hadn’t known going in that this group liked to do fun, 400 to 500 mile day rides. We didn’t go on many COG rides after that.

The terrain running up 69 was very similar to the area between Buena Vista and Salida: a broad valley, hills on both sides, and a bit arid.

We stopped for a break in Westcliffe and what a surprise that was. That little town seemingly in the middle of nowhere was very, very busy, mostly with RVs and campers with Texas plates. Who knew? I thought Lake City was the Colorado capital of Texas.

North from Westcliffe to U.S. 50 was getting into the hills and when we got on 50 we were on fresh, totally smooth pavement that is always nice. Then the back way into Cripple Creek is beautiful and very hilly and twisty. If you’ve never gone that way, either coming or going, you owe it to yourself to do so. Besides, there’s a whole lot less traffic than coming down to Cripple Creek from Divide.

So we were there in Cripple Creek on a Saturday night. You have never seen this town so empty ever since they opened up gambling. But we got a really nice room really cheap.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you think that the Harley-Davidson plant should be one of the seven wonders of the world.

Overlooking South Park from Wilkerson Pass. That’s Dennis on the left with his Indian, Bill in the middle with his Harley, and me on the right with my Concours.

We’re back from the 2020 OFMC ride and despite initial uncertainty about the wisdom of the whole thing it went smoothly and I’m confident we avoided any serious threats of Covid 19 infection. I mean, we spent most of our time either on motorcycles or else with no one else around but each other. Restaurants were about the only place we could have run into the virus and every one we went to was taking serious precautions.

So we took off on a Friday morning, meeting up as we so often have before at the King Soopers in Conifer. Our destination for the day was Alamosa and Bill was interested in getting away from the standard ride down U.S. 285 over Kenosha Pass, through Fairplay, and then south from Buena Vista. Instead, we turned south at Pine Junction and went down through Deckers to Woodland Park and then west into South Park over Wilkerson Pass. That’s where that photo above was shot.

Continuing across South Park on U.S. 24 it occurred to me that although I had personally been on this road numerous times, it was actually the first time the OFMC has done this road as a group. So chalk up what turned out to be a number of firsts.

At Antero Junction we got back onto 285 and ran down to Buena Vista, where we stopped for lunch and a break. Rain was threatening but we didn’t think rain gear was needed so we headed south. We did run into a sprinkle or two but were fine. We made a stop at Poncha Springs to say hello to Bill’s daughter and other family members who were at her place for the weekend and then headed out again.

We had been looking at the sky in the direction we were headed and we each had geared up to some extent, but not fully. Coming up Poncha Pass the sky was black but looked like the worst was already to the east of us. Then it hit us hard. My riding pants are waterproof and I had my rain jacket on but my gloves were getting very wet and I could feel water soaking into my boots. Then it all cleared away and pretty soon everything was dry again.

If you’re headed down 285 going to Alamosa there is a point where you need to get off that road onto CO 17 and as is common for Bill, who was leading, he shot right past the turn. Dennis and I made the turn and pulled off to wait for his return. Fortunately, this particular time, we didn’t have long to wait.

Powerful winds hit us from the west as we came south past Great Sand Dunes National Park, which we could see to our east, and it occurred to me that these were the winds that had built those dunes.

We got into Alamosa, checked in our motel, and had a very good dinner at Nino’s, which I heartily recommend. And that was our first day. How great to be out on the road on the bikes again.

Biker Quote for Today

But she can hide, hide in the pouring rain. She rides the eye of the hurricane. — David Wilcox

The road up Cumberland Pass is rough but no problem at all on a dirt bike.

Judy and I wanted to go camping and we had not been over Cottonwood Pass since they finally paved the whole thing last year. I discussed that in this post.

So we got up on the east side of Cottonwood and found a campsite. The next day we went over the top and down to Taylor Park Reservoir. The day was still early so what do we do now?

Looking at the map we could see that another road ran from the reservoir up to Tin Cup, a so-called ghost town that I thought I would never get to because I thought the only way there was over a really difficult four-wheel-drive or dirt bike pass. That’s Tin Cup Pass. But the drive from the reservoir is easy on a gravel road treated heavily with magnesium chloride. So we went.

There really wasn’t much at Tin Cup but there was a crossroads where you could go straight or else turn left. Left was over Tin Cup Pass, down to St. Elmo on the other side. We were in Judy’s Subaru Forester. We weren’t going over Tin Cup. Straight ahead, however, was Cumberland Pass and the map showed it to be in better condition than Tin Cup Pass. OK, we figured, we’ll go as far as we can and if it gets too rough that will be the time to turn around.

It’s needless to say that the drive was beautiful. Basically what you’re seeing is how this part of the world looked long before the white man ever came on the scene. Except for the road, of course.

We took it slow, and the Subaru was up to it. Along the way, however, numerous dirt bikes and ATVs went blasting past us as we pulled over to let them by. Those are definitely the kind of vehicles you want out here. We were generally going about 7 or 8 miles an hour and they must easily have been doing 20 mph or more. Of course, on the other hand, most of them were eating dust or wearing masks and goggles to keep the dust out. We enjoyed our closed windows and AC.

It was not a bad road. There were a couple times when it got rough enough I started having doubts but those stretches passed and all was fine. We got up on top of the pass and there were a slew of ATVs and dirt bikes. One of the ATVs was having problems, and this is not a place where you want to be calling AAA to. They finally got it running and that guy headed down with another behind him for security.

Up on top there were several roads going off to the surrounding hilltops and there was a group of bikes and ATVs up on one of them. Heading on down the other side the road went into a deep valley that looked like more nice riding. That goes on to Pitkin, over near Gunnison. We didn’t want to push our luck and we really didn’t have time anyway but I have no doubt it would be a great ride.

So, bottom line here, if you’re into dirt biking, and especially if you’re not an expert dirt biker, Cumberland Pass definitely gets my recommendation. Would I do it on my V-Strom? Yeah, I would. I’ve been on rougher roads than this on the V. I wouldn’t touch it on my other two bikes, though.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if every magazine you subscribe to has the word “Biker” on it somewhere.

As expected, the “improvements” have diminished the fun of Cottonwood Pass. On the other hand, a lot more bikers will now ride this pass.

Ever since I heard last fall that they had finished paving Cottonwood Pass over on the west side I’ve been wanting to get up there and see it. Part of my eagerness, however, was trepidation about the “improvements.”

We’ve all seen how so-called improvements can often diminish the appeal of a road like this. They don’t just come in and lay asphalt over the existing road, with all its twists and turns. Whereas the old road was built to the contours of the land, the “improved” road reshapes the land to the contours of the road. And inevitably they straighten out a lot of the curves.

As you can see in the photo above, the inevitable happened here. Those bare streaks show clearly how the old road used to go, and you can see how the curves have been straightened. Don’t get me wrong, they’ve done a beautiful job on the road. It just can’t help but be a bit disappointing if you know what the road was like before.

And a lot of bikers did ride this road before. I’ve even seen Harleys on the old road, so while it was rough in places it was very doable. But there are plenty of riders who would never have taken it and now they will.

Of course what all this means is that I now need to revamp the Cottonwood Pass page on the website. I already had it on there because it had been paved on the east side for a long time and, as I said, some riders were doing it even then. But now revisions are in order.

So if you’re looking to get between Buena Vista and Gunnison, you really want to consider Cottonwood Pass now. I’m sure it’s shorter than heading south from Buenie to Poncha Springs and over Monarch Pass to Gunnison, and there’s much less traffic. Do be aware, however, that this is a summer only pass and is closed in winter.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if you’ve never seen a sunrise from two wheels.

A short stop in Monument.

How odd is it to say I was glad while riding Wednesday that I was dressed warmly enough? I mean, the daily highs the last week or more have been in the upper 90s and I’ve been riding with my mesh jacket and only a sleeveless t-shirt underneath.

Wednesday was different. I didn’t know how different until I stepped out to get the bike ready. It was chilly–Chilly!–and looked like rain to the west. I opted to wear a sweatshirt under the jacket along with the t-shirt.

That proved to be the perfect combination. It was quite cool riding but very comfortable. After such beastly heat it was a wonderful day to ride.

So this was one of the usual Wednesday RMMRC rides. I met the group over at the pancake house. Several of the regulars were there but not going on the ride. Of those riding, only Dave was familiar to me. One other was a long-time member who I’m not familiar with and the rest were new folks, brought in by the Meetup.org posting. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: Meetup is a great way to bring new members to your club. Once the RMMRC switched from its old website to Meetup there has been an explosion of new members.

The ride was nothing special, just the standard loop through Monument. South through Sedalia to Palmer Lake and Monument and then over east to CO 83 and back north to the city. All the socializing was beforehand in the pancake house. But the riding was sweet, so cool, after such heat. And we never got rained on.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you buy bikes as investments.

The OFMC will not be going to New Mexico this year as we had planned.

With departure for this year’s OFMC trip drawing near, we were through into confusion when Dennis got word that New Mexico has issued an order that anyone coming into the state must quarantine for either two weeks or the length of their stay, whichever is shorter.

So, right. We were going to be in New Mexico for three days and they’re saying we should quarantine for that entire time. Plus, the Indian casino hotel we had booked in Espanola told Bill when he called that all their restaurants are closed, with only their snack bar open. Short notice but revisions were clearly in order.

There are two things that are givens on any OFMC trip: golf and gambling. Frequently we combine the two. That didn’t look possible now, so we figured out a new plan. Our first night will be in Alamosa and we agreed to head from to Gunnison for two nights, including a day of golf, and then go for one night to the Sky Ute Casino Resort to get in the gambling segment. Everyone had their assignment as to who to call.

Text messages started flying quickly. Bill found out the Sky Ute was closed. And I found out that the motel we like to stay at in Gunnison, which is directly adjacent to the golf course, had changed hands and names and their prices had about doubled. Yikes. Let’s go to Plan C.

Dennis called Cripple Creek and made us reservations at the Double Eagle Hotel & Casino. We’ll go there from Alamosa. Bill was able to get us a tee time in Gunnison so I had to look around a bit, finally finding a different motel with rates that are not sky high. We just won’t be able to walk out the back door directly onto the golf course.

After that the trip will get back on track as planned so long ago.

I have to admit, I was starting to have reservations about the whole trip. Infections rates across the country are now reaching record levels, although not where we’re headed. Plus, what better social distancing can you do than riding a motorcycle? The one issue will be eating. Restaurants are open, and we’ll have our masks with us, and at worst we can go to grocery stores for food. At motels it will just be us in our rooms and obviously we all accept that we’ll be exposed to each other, but none of us has had any exposure we know of.

Some people might argue that we should cancel the trip, but some people made the same argument when Judy and I went to New Orleans in early March (after Mardi Gras, not during). We decided to go and we don’t regret it. We had a good trip, we didn’t get sick, and it proved to be the only trip we’ll probably get to do this year. We did cut it short by one day, however, when we found the world closing down around us.

If this turns out to be a bad idea I guarantee I’ll be telling you about it. But I’m optimistic.

Biker Quote for Today

I can see Elvis
Throned like a king astride a golden Harley
Smoking a reefer he just rolled
Full of Acapulco gold
With Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley — The Waterboys

A larger OFMC in 2013.

The OFMC started off as just three of us, John, Bill, and me. Over time it grew to where we once had about 11 guys on our annual ride. Now we’re back to three: Bill, Dennis, and me. As this year’s trip nears I’ve been thinking about all those guys who came and left.

The big number one is John. John got this thing started. He was the first of us to buy a motorcycle, and after riding behind him for a while I figured I had to buy my own bike. When Bill saw us having so much fun he decided he needed one, too, and the OFMC was born.

So why is John out? Age and health. He’s suffering from macular degeneration as well as a number of other health issues. He has finally grown into the original name of the group, Old Farts Motorcycle Club. We weren’t old farts when the name was chosen with tongue in cheek but he has definitely gotten old now. We’re sorry to lose you John.

Not everyone ages at the same rate, however, and Bill and I are both much younger than our years.

Johnathon, John’s son, was the fourth member of the group. John bought a new Honda Shadow and gave his old Yamaha Virago to Johnathon. So Johnathon started coming along. After a number of years though, he felt the pressures a lot of dads of young families feel: his kids need a dad and motorcycling is too hazardous. So he gave it up, and has not come back.

Bill’s son Jason followed a similar arc. His dad gave him the old bike when he bought a new one and he rode with us for a few years. Then he decided he needed to do the dad thing and choose his kids over the bike. Jason, however, was recently given another bike and is riding again. But he’s still not coming on the trip; too much of a time commitment for someone with a family and not a lot of vacation time.

Friggs was the fifth member of the group. Friggs is Bill’s older brother and while he is in good health, he took a spill down in New Mexico a couple years ago and that convinced him to give up riding. He’s not the first to make that decision.

Back in 2004 we were joined by Todd, who was the friend of Jason. We figured Todd would become a regular but a couple months after the trip he got in a very serious crash and that was it for Todd. No more riding.

Along the way Dennis joined us. Dennis is married to Friggs and Bill’s sister Janice. And Dennis is still with us.

Randy was a friend of Johnathon’s and he came with us for a good number of years, even after Johnathon dropped out. But now he has just faded away. Didn’t come a couple years ago and not since; no real explanation.

Brett was a friend of Jason’s as well, and he came along for plenty of years. He doesn’t have any kids but following a divorce and a new wife he seems to have concluded he would rather spend vacation time with her than with us. So he has faded as well.

Brett has a brother, Matt, who came with us one year, but I think he felt he was a bit young to be hanging with the geezers so he never came back.

Ray is the cousin of John’s wife, Cheryl. Ray is a hard-core biker and he joined us on a couple occasions but with John out I doubt we’ll be seeing Ray again, although he definitely still rides with his own group.

That’s where we stand today. I expect the three of us to continue riding for many years yet. Maybe Jason will rejoin us in a few. Who knows, maybe Johnathon, too. Or maybe someone else–you never know.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if when you plan a vacation you set up time to visit the bike shops first.

Scooters are harder to break than motorcycles.

At this point I’ve been riding motorcycles for so long it’s all become so second nature. I remember at first when it was new and I always was fully alert and focused just because I had to be. I thought back then that the idea that I would ever find myself struggling to stay awake while riding, as often happens in a car on a long drive, was totally absurd. Not true these days.

Thinking back even further, though, I go to a trip my lady friend and I made to Mazatlan. This was the only time I’ve ever ridden a bike in Mexico. It’s not a tale of glory, though; it’s a tale of ignominy.

Although I’d ridden motorcycles every chance I got since the time I was 15, I never had that many opportunities in those early years so the skills never had a chance to solidify and settle permanently in my brain. That only happened when, at 37, I finally bought my first bike and started riding a lot.

I was probably about 30 when Sue, my girlfriend at the time, and I took a week’s vacation to Mazatlan. Unlike me, Sue had owned motorcycles and ridden a great deal. One entire year in college her only transportation had been her motorcycle and she had even managed to ride it when there was snow on the streets, using her feet as outriggers.

It was only natural then, when we saw a place in Mazatlan renting motorcycles and scooters by the hour, that we decided to go for it. It turned out that the place only had one motorcycle available at that moment, plus some scooters. This being Mexico, of course the guy in charge set me up on the cycle and picked out a scooter for Sue. No self-respecting man would want to be seen on a scooter while his woman rode a cycle, would they? No way.

Never mind that Sue was the experienced one and ought to have been the one on the bike. We could swap once we had gotten away from the rental place.

Scooters, of course, have no gears; you just twist the throttle. Motorcycles have gears and you flip the toe lever down to get into first, and then flip it up for all other gears. Surely I must have understood this other times I had ridden but it was one of those bits of knowledge that had not stuck. Sue probably mentioned it to me before we took off but in the excitement of the moment that didn’t stick either.

We blasted away from the rental place and as the revs went up I pulled in the clutch and toed the lever down to get into second. Down. Letting out the clutch, the engine revved very high and I was clearly not in a higher gear. Again I clutched and toed the lever down. Again the engine raced and things were not right.

Maybe I was doing something wrong, I thought. Maybe I needed to be going faster before I shifted. I cranked the throttle harder, the engine really screaming now, and pulled in the clutch, flicked down on the shift lever. Releasing the clutch it was just like before.

It was about this time that the rental guy came racing up on a scooter waving us over. “Stop! Stop!” he yelled. “You break the bike!” Not allowing any protest he informed us he was taking the bike and giving me his scooter. And he kept muttering about “You break the bike.” Sue told me again after he left that second and higher gears are up, not down, not that it mattered any more.

So we scooted around Mazatlan for awhile and had a fun time anyway. Hey, scooters are fun. And they’re a lot harder for idiots to break.

Biker Quote for Today

I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning difficult.