Passes & Canyons Blog

I got wind of this trip that is being planned just before I went to this month’s meeting of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club. I was very interested. Until I heard the dates. Count me out, guys.

As currently scheduled, the day after the guys and I leave on the annual OFMC trip, whichever of the RMMRC folks who end up going will board a plane and fly to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they will rent motorcycles and do a two-week trip around Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick. Does that sound like a killer trip? I sure thought so and I was definitely planning to go.

But we’ve already got the OFMC trip planned, scheduled, and reservations made. Sadly, I will not be going to Canada.

You could, though. You may not be an RMMRC member but you could be easily enough. You just join on Meetup for $12 a year and you’re in.

Make no mistake, this is going to be an expensive trip. The airfare is expected to run around $500–not bad. But plan on the bikes costing around $150 per day. Figure 12 days with the bikes and that comes to $1,800. Figure hotel rooms, double-occupancy, to run maybe half that, or $900. Then there’s food and gas and all the extras–maybe figure another $800. These are just rough figures but that rough figure comes to about $4,000. Still interested? Do it. I sure would. That money’s not going to do me any good when I’m dead. And what a trip.

Or This One
OK, maybe that trip doesn’t work for you. Here’s another one the group is planning, and I do hope to be able to do this one.

With dates not yet set, this trip would head northwest to Idaho and Oregon. Dubbed the Columbia River Gorge Tour, the western-most point of this 10-day ride is to be The Dalles, in Oregon. The stops each night, in order, will be Vernal, Utah; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Missoula, Montana; Enterprise, Idaho; The Dalles, Oregon; John Day, Oregon; Boise, Idaho; Ogden, Utah; Steamboat Springs, Colorado; and home.

Now there are a couple days there that would be a lot of riding, though none so long as several we did on last year’s Great River Road trip. But there is one–and only one–400-mile day. So it’s doable.

And presuming I do go on this ride I plan to very much ride my own ride. I learned on the Great River Road trip that many of these guys like to go long distances without stops, and that is not my style of riding. I’ll be starting out with them in the morning but as soon as I want to make a stop–to stretch my legs, get some photographs, visit an interesting spot–I will say “see you later” and be off on my own. Anyone else on the trip who is more into my kind of easy-going riding would be welcome to join me.

To that end, really, I’m thinking I need to set up my own RMMRC ride and offer it on the website to all who are interested, specifying that this is not a bust-your-butt ride, we’re going to be doing shorter days with plenty of stops. I just have to figure out where to go. Any suggestion?

Biker Quote for Today

Life is like a motorcycle ride. Sometimes it is high speed on the highways, and sometimes it is low speed on rural roads full of potholes. You have to complete it bumps and all.

February has given us some fine riding weather and I have kicked myself for not taking advantage of more of it. So on Monday I made it a point to get out and ride.

It was pretty cloudy so we didn’t have the benefit of the warmth from the sun but the temperature was in the 50s so how bad could it be? The only cold weather gear I wore was my electric vest. I never go anywhere at this time of year without that.

But I hadn’t gotten far at all when it became really obvious that it would have been really nice to at least have put on long underwear under my jeans. It was darn chilly! I could have turned back and layered up more but I don’t like doing that. Once I leave the house I’m gone. And then as it turned out, the sun came out and the sky was full of blue. Not bad at all.

A lot of times when I go for a ride I don’t have a destination–I just ride, following any impulse. But sometimes I have a destination–heck, sometimes I manufacture a destination, just to have a place to head for. This time I was headed to a couple places down just off South Broadway at about County Line Road. I wanted to go there but couldn’t justify driving all that way just to make these two stops. But I could totally justify it for a bike ride.

One was the Wilmore nursery (Wilmore Outdoor Living Center) where I wanted to buy seeds. It’s late February and that means planting will begin in my garden in the next month or so. I frequently buy seeds from mail-order places but looking in the Gurney’s catalog I was shocked to see that seed packets that used to sell for $3-$4 each are now listed for $8. Nope, I’ll go see what I can find at Wilmore. And that made the whole trip worthwhile because I paid between $2 and $3.50 apiece for seed packets there.

Next I wanted to go to the Goodwill over on the west side of Broadway. I had been in there a week earlier when I was in the area for a doctor’s appointment and had time to kill. At that time I noticed some absolutely beautiful champagne flutes, for $2 apiece. These things were gorgeous and I would bet that new, at some fancy shop, they had cost at least $40 apiece. But I knew we had more glassware than we would ever need already so I was tempted but did not buy them.

Then after I left I thought about it and it occurred to me that I could buy them and we could get rid of some of our less nice glassware. But antique stores and thrift stores are places where if you see something you like you must buy it right then because if you come back for it it will be gone. I knew this, which was another reason I couldn’t justify driving down there, but in this case it worked to stop by again. Of course the flutes were gone. Something that gorgeous and worth so very much more is not going to stick around for long. And they didn’t.

No matter, it was a really nice day to be out riding. Then as I was headed home, I was coming north on University and as I was coming through an intersection a westbound car made the turn north onto University and — Surprise!! — started moving into my lane–with me right there. The lady did see me in time and scooted back into her lane but then she saw the lane she was in made a right turn just ahead, and she didn’t want to turn right. So she started moving back into my lane, and by now I was even closer.

I wasn’t going to get myself hurt but I made up my mind not to just cede the lane to her, and I did not drop back. She finally accepted that she needed to yield to the vehicle already in the lane she wanted–what a concept!–and just let me get past before changing lanes.

So I got on home, and by then it had clouded up and the temperature was dropping again. My timing was perfect. And I had a nice February ride.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if when you buy your bike you start calling everyone “bro.”

When I’m updating my Rides and Rallies page I often check in on various clubs to see what events they have planned.

One such club is Harry’s Roamers. While it is not the only thing they do, Harry’s Roamers is well known for putting on ice racing up at Rainbow Falls, down toward Woodland Park. Judy and I have been to the ice races a couple times and it’s a lot of fun.

But this year I was not finding anything about ice racing being scheduled. That was odd. Normally this would be about when the racing season was winding up. What I did find was an exchange on one site between someone asking if there was ice racing this year and a reply. What caught my eye was that one of the people exchanging notes was Joel Brown. Joel is my mechanic. Hah! I’ll just call Joel and ask him what the deal is.

So I did and Joel told me a whole lot. First off, I didn’t know it but Joel is the president of the club. OK, I guess I’ve really come to the right source. Another thing Joel told me was that Harry’s Roamers is the oldest chartered motorcycle club in Colorado, having been chartered by the American Motorcyclist Association in 1929 in operation continuously ever since. Joel said they’re really intent on making sure they hit the 100-year mark, whether ice racing is in the mix or not.

Oh yeah, ice racing. So what’s the deal?

Well, it seems the owner of the Rainbow Falls property decided he wasn’t being paid enough for hosting this series of events and so he asked for more this season. A lot more. Joel said they had been paying close to $2,000 per week between lease and percentage of the gate but this year he wanted $3,000 and 10 percent of the gate. And just as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs does not work to your advantage, this increase has been met with zero income. It just doesn’t work to operate at a loss, Joel noted, also pointing out that everyone doing all the work this thing requires are volunteers.

So they’re looking for another venue but so far have not found anything. They need either a lake or some large enough area that could be prepped and then flooded. But that latter would require a lot of water and where do you get that and for what price? As for lakes, anything that is part of the Denver water system is off limits.

There is a lake down at Lake George and that town seems interested in having the races move there but nothing much has happened so far on that possibility. At Georgetown Lake they already host four-wheeled ice racing but that means those folks already have dibs on the better part of the season and it is hard to know way back in October what condition the ice will be in come March. And you can’t just decide to hold races next week, you have to arrange for things like insurance, having an ambulance on the premises, providing porta-potties, and all that other stuff that you and I, just showing up for a day of fun, assume will be there.

Meanwhile, Harry’s Roamers is continuing to hold its meetings and plan a bunch of rides, and if someone has a lake they’d like to rent out for a few weekends in the middle of winter–something up in the hills where you can count of cold and the ice being solid–Joel or anybody in the club would love to hear from you.

Biker Quote for Today

“Riding a race bike is an art – a thing that you do because you feel something inside.” – Valentino Rossi

So Rep. Ron Weinberg decided not to kill his bill calling for a study of lane-splitting in Colorado.

In a report on Local Today, Weinberg said “Motorcycling is a contentious issue . . . People are afraid there will be more fatalities. I certainly don’t want that, but all the more reason to study it.” He stated further that “There is no arrogance or selfishness here. If it really comes back and says it’s harming Coloradans’ lives, I’ll kill it myself.”

What exactly does the bill call for? Here’s the current text.

43-1-131. Motorcycle lane splitting study – report – repeal.
(1) THE DEPARTMENT, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE COLORADO STATE PATROL, SHALL STUDY THE FEASIBILITY OF PERMITTING MOTORCYCLES TO PASS OR OVERTAKE A MOTOR VEHICLE BY DRIVING ALONGSIDE THE MOTOR VEHICLE IN THE SAME LANE OR DRIVING BETWEEN ROWS OF STOPPED OR MOVING MOTOR VEHICLES, REFERRED TO IN THIS SECTION AS “LANE SPLITTING.” THE STUDY MUST, AT A MINIMUM:
(a) IDENTIFY AND ANALYZE THE BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF PERMITTING MOTORCYCLE LANE SPLITTING; AND
(b) IDENTIFY POTENTIAL SAFETY ISSUES RELATED TO PERMITTING MOTORCYCLE LANE SPLITTING.
(2) NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 31, 2023, THE DEPARTMENT SHALL SUBMIT A REPORT ON THE STUDY TO THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSPORTATION, HOUSING, AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE AND THE SENATE TRANSPORTATION AND ENERGY COMMITTEE, OR THEIR SUCCESSOR COMMITTEES.
24-33.5-204. Departmental cooperation – repeal. (3) (a) THE COLORADO STATE PATROL SHALL COLLABORATE WITH THE DEPARTMENT HB23-1059-2-
OF TRANSPORTATION ON THE MOTORCYCLE LANE SPLITTING FEASIBILITY STUDY DESCRIBED IN SECTION 43-1-131.

A fiscal note has been produced, specifying how much the proposal would cost and where the funding would come from–a requirement for all bills. The study is expected to cost $75,000 and the money would come from the state highway fund. No special appropriation would be needed.

So that’s where it sits right now. Stay tuned for future twists and turns.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle is exactly like riding a bicycle except you have power between your legs.

OK, that didn’t go very far. The word from Stump, ABATE of Colorado‘s legislative liaison, is that Rep. Ron Weinberg is planning to kill his own bill that would have called for a study of lane filtering as a possibility for Colorado.

Here’s what Stump had to say:

HB23-1059 (Lane Splitting Study) is going to be PI’d or pulled by the sponsor of the bill. I met very briefly with Rep. Weinberg on Thursday. Prior to our meeting, he had been in contact with Tiffany Cipoletti, the On Highway Government Relations Manager for the AMA, who informed him that the AMA thinks HB1059 was “poorly written and wasn’t supported by CDOT and CSP.” She went on to say, “entering into a study with the DOT and CHP when you know they are opposed may be detrimental to any future efforts.” That seemed to be deciding point for Rep. Weinberg. He had also talked to Capt. Honn (CSP liaison to the Legislature) to confirm CSP’s stance on the bill. At our brief meeting (about 2 minutes), Rep. Weinberg said, “I heard from the AMA and I don’t want to do anything that would be detrimental to the relationship between the bikers and CSP, so I’m going to PI the bill. Meeting over.” But he also said maybe next year.

So OK, maybe next year. It’s taking time but this thing is slowly gaining momentum across the country, so maybe as more states try it, the ones that are reluctant will gain more confidence in the concept.

Biker Quote for Today

They say life is tough, but it’s a hell of a lot easier on a motorcycle.

February has been very compliant this year, offering us good riding days right away. Of course I took advantage.

Friday of last week was looking to be the best day so I got out on the Concours. There were plenty of other bikes out, too. People know a good thing when they see it.

Nothing eventful happened on that ride but I did notice that unlike its opposite number and its predecessor, my new left-hand mirror vibrates as if I were on a Harley. That’s never been the case before. Did I just not wrench the nuts down tight enough? Getting to them is way too complicated for me to just go in and see, so I guess I’ll be living with this for the foreseeable future.

It was a beautiful day and Saturday promised to be very nice, too, so I left the other two bikes for Saturday. But Saturday proved to be no way near as nice.

I took off first on the V-Strom. The temperature was about five degrees cooler than the day before but more importantly, there was a breeze, and it was a cold breeze. I immediately turned on the electric vest, which I had worn the day before but never turned on. That helped a lot.

Unlike the day before, there were not a lot of other bikes out; I only saw a couple. I did notice, though, going over Cherry Creek Dam, that there were ice fishermen all over the lake. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen ice fishermen out there before. I guess that is a testament to how much colder this winter has been than recent years past.

I kind of had a longer ride in mind but it wasn’t long before I was getting more than a little chilly. I altered my route and got in a good ride but a shorter one than planned. By the time I got home my hands were seriously cold and all of me was uncomfortable. Fine, I have warmer gear.

After lunch I headed out on the CB750, this time having added long underwear and my riding pants with liner, and my heated gloves. Absolute night and day. I took a much longer ride and could not have been more comfortable.

The other really nice thing, which I didn’t even think about for a while, was that whereas the Honda had seemed to run poorly the last time I rode it, now it ran absolutely beautifully. Not one thing wrong. I have no idea what that business was about last month but I’m quite pleased it didn’t turn out to be something I would have to contend with.

This time I headed west and then turned south down US 85 through Sedalia. Not surprisingly, I saw a lot more bikes out this time. You will never ride down by Sedalia on a decent day and not see lots of bikes, and this day was no exception. I turned north on the Daniels Park Road, stopped and took the obligatory ride photo, and worked my way on home. Now the weather can do its worst, I’ve ridden all three bikes in February.

Biker Quote for Today

I love the sensation of being out in the open air, far away from all the distractions of modern life. I will usually disappear for a couple of hours, and that time on my bike is quite sacred, as it’s when I do all my serious thinking.

You would be hard put to find any better place for people watching than the Colorado Motorcycle Expo, although I didn’t seem to get as many really good shots as I have in past years. Still, if you can’t come up with something you ought to hang up your camera. Let’s do some gawking.

Biker Quote for Today

You can’t scare me; my grandpa is a biker.

As promised, here are some shots of some of the show bikes on display at last weekend’s Colorado Motorcycle Expo.

Let’s start out with some of the seven or so mega-trikes (my term). They were the first thing you encountered so it seems like a good place to start. What I’m wondering about these is how you turn effectively. Is there gearing or something that you only rotate the handlebars a little and the wheel turns a lot more. Kind of like a car, I guess, now that I think about it. I’d be curious to know how it works.

Then there were some odd ones. See how low this is? Can you even ride this thing? It seems like you would scrape the bottom on the tiniest bumps.

Then there were the super good-looking show bikes.

Of course there were some really radical bikes. This one was especially cool. But it looks like you’d have a scraping problem with it, too, if you actually wanted to ride it.

And finally, it’s good to see the kids can get in on the action. All you need is a really cool Mom/Dad or maybe Grandpa.

So those are some of the bikes that were on display. Next I’ll focus on the people of the Expo.

Biker Quote for Today

If your grandpa doesn’t have a motorcycle you have two grandmas.