Passes & Canyons Blog

With temperatures getting into the 80s it was inevitable that the RMMRC would be taking a ride. Sure enough, I got the call from Roy. We’d be heading up toward Woodland Park.

Now, at first I thought he had said Winter Park and I was thinking that was pretty ambitious this early in the year. Then it hit me that, oh no, he must have said Woodland Park. Sure enough.

So there were six of us who gathered Monday morning, four BMWs, a Honda, and me on my V-Strom. We took off out Parker Road and down to Colorado Springs on CO 83, a short jaunt on I-25 before getting off and cruising through Garden of the Gods, and then west on U.S. 24. I hoped we would stop at least briefly at Garden of the Gods because I really would have liked to have gotten a picture there of the rocks with the bikes in the foreground. But we didn’t.

The destination this day was not Woodland Park, as might have been expected, but Green Mountain Falls. So where the heck is Green Mountain Falls? Who has ever even heard of Green Mountain Falls?

Turns out, it is right off U.S. 24, along a road that runs parallel to the highway. If you’re on 24 and you see the Rocky Top Motel & Campground you’re passing by Green Mountain Falls right now.

It’s worth a stop. We ate at The Pantry and it’s a really nice place. They have a lot of outdoor seating, which on this gorgeous warm day was just what we wanted, and the food was darn good. I have a suspicion we’ll be going back to this place in the future.

After lunch we continued on to Woodland Park and turned north on CO 67 up through Deckers to Pine and caught U.S. 285 at Pine Junction, then turned toward home. Along the way there were two things of note.

First, I was very interested to see that there are finally young trees popping up all over where that big Hayman Fire burned such a large area some years ago. I was starting to wonder if the area would ever turn green again but the young trees are now finally getting big enough that you can see them from the road. Nice.

And second, no surprise at this time of year but something to be aware of, there was a lot of gravel on the road, particularly north of Deckers. Ride carefully.

One thing we did not encounter was snow. Not just not on the road but almost none to be seen anywhere except a little bit in some deeper shadows. Winter is over.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if your trailer has more miles on it than your bike.

Yes! It’s on! I finally have a top bag on my Kawasaki Concours.

Tom, who designed and built the rack for me to mount this bag on the bike, gave me a call a few days ago to say he had it ready. I rode out to his place and he put it on and voila! There she is!

I had been really naive in contacting Tom to do this for me. My mechanic, Joel, had mentioned that he had a friend with a Concours like mine who had built a rack for his own bike. Not really thinking it through, I figured he could just do the exact same thing again to help me out. What I didn’t consider was that the bags were different, and therefore required different mounting equipment. Essentially, Tom had to come up with an entirely new and different design than what he had used to mount his own bag.

Let’s just say that I was pretty generous in recompensing him for his time and effort. Plus I made sure to tell him sincerely how very much I appreciated what he did for me. Everyone likes to have their efforts appreciated and recognized, right? And I truly, truly appreciated Tom’s efforts.

If you look at the bracket it at first seems to be a simple four piece crosshatch design. What you don’t see is that he used different material on the back cross-member so it would elevate the back and give it just the right pitch. Also, for the same reason, the two pieces coming front to back were bent upward just the right amount. Really great work. Thank you so much, Tom.

So, as you can see, this design definitely puts the weight of the bag on the bikes rear fender bodywork. I had been concerned that doing this might be a bad thing, either because the bodywork might break under the weight or the shift in balance would affect the steering. That concern was mostly allayed after I spoke with two people–Tom being one of them–who had put racks on their Concoures with no ill effects. I just figure if it is usually mostly empty, leaving room for helmet and jacket when I stop, the only time there will be excessive weight is when the bike is not moving. That’s what I’m hoping, anyway.

So Yahoo! I can’t wait to show up at the next ride and have my buddies gather around saying, oh look what Ken put on his bike. I’m pleased.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if all your leathers match.

It appears I may yet need to get my carbs cleaned on the Concours.

The weather Monday was fabulous, high in the mid 70s, so I had to ride despite a considerable breeze. Besides, I had been wanting to get back out on the Concours to see if it really was that simple to get it running well again, i.e., just pour some carb cleaner in the gas tank.

It wasn’t. Yes, the bike fired up and ran well but it struggled as I tried to ride away, though not as much as before. And this time by the time I’d gone two blocks it was running pretty much OK. So that’s definitely better. On the other hand, while I was out it stalled three times when I came to stops.

In addition to that, when I would pull away from a stop I had to rev it a bit to get the rpm up so it wouldn’t stall out of me. That kind of hesitation can be dangerous, such as when you’re waiting for an opening in traffic to pull out, you get your opening, and you start to go but the bike falters and you’re suddenly looking at a car coming your way in a hurry. I don’t like that feeling.

So I may end up needing to call Joel to come take care of it but there is another option I want to explore. Roy is always billing himself as a top mechanic and while I have doubts that he’s as good as he claims, I figure he may well be fully qualified to clean some carbs. I wouldn’t hesitate to do it myself if I knew how; if he’s willing to help me do it I should hopefully learn how so next time I can just do it myself.

In the meantime, I’m going to fill the gas tank and put in more carb cleaner and at least give that a chance to do the job. Hey, it helped a lot the first time. Maybe a second time really will be the trick. But I’m not holding my breath.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: Motorcycles don’t care about how many other motorcycles you have.