Passes & Canyons Blog

Riding up Pikes Peak.

Mark Buckner, a long-time motorcycling advocate in Colorado, recently emailed around a synopsis of his efforts to connect with members of Congress from Colorado in regard to their support of motorcycling connected legislation. I’m not going to just copy the whole thing here, but I will do the Reader’s Digest version. If the people representing you don’t support your positions you might want to contact them. Sometimes they just need to be educated as to why they ought to take a specific position.

Starting with the Senate:

Senator Michael Bennet: Stump (ABATE of Colorado legislative liaison) tried unsuccessfully to schedule a meeting. He left materials addressing issues and also a business card.

Senator John Hickenlooper: Ditto

Congresswoman Diana DeGette, 1st Congressional District: General Notes: Has not been supportive in the past. We had a meeting scheduled with Congresswoman DeGette’s aide Nicholas Anozis but were unable to attend due to travel complications in getting to the House Office buildings.

Congressman Joe Neguse, 2nd Congressional District: General Notes: Has been friendly and supportive in the past. Has signed on to prior Right-to-Repair legislation. Interested but non-committal on a number of other issues.

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, 3rd Congressional District: General Notes: Friendly; supportive of motorcyclists’ issues. Congresswoman Boebert rides; so does her (ex-) husband. Generally supportive of most motorcycle-related issues.

Congressman Ken Buck, 4th Congressional District: General Notes: Friendly; As always, supportive of motorcyclists’ issues.

Congressman Doug Lamborn, 5th Congressional District: General Notes: Friendly; As always, supportive of motorcyclists’ issues. Congressman Lamborn rides, and some of his aides ride as well.

Congressman Jason Crow, 6th Congressional District: General Notes: Not particularly supportive of motorcyclists’ issues; mainly interested in veteran issues.

Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, 7th Congressional District: General Notes: Possibly 60% favorable toward motorcyclists’ issues? On the fence on many of our issues but is approachable.

Congresswoman Yadira Caraveo, 8th Congressional District: General Notes: Newly elected; first term in Congress; not supportive of our issues when she served in the Colorado state legislature.

That’s the run-down. I wonder what it would take to get some of these Democrats to take an interest in motorcycling issues the way that the Republicans do. These people are missing a bet.

Biker Quote for Today

The road less traveled can cause inner peace.

This blog is for real riders and written by a real rider.

For many years after I built this website I solicited paid advertising and was also open to having specific blog posts “sponsored” by some business wishing to drive traffic their way. In later years I have done away with all that so now when I get emails asking to sponsor posts–easy money to be sure–I just delete them.

A different thing I tried several times was to accept guest posts. I figured that if someone could write a good piece that I felt my readers would find interesting and relevant, sure, I’m open.

That really did not work out. I would receive a contact, I would reply specifying what I was looking for, I would receive assurances that yes, the piece I would be sent would be highly professional and very much of interest to my readers. And then I would receive dreck. Absolute garbage.

If you read this blog you know the kinds of things I write. I write very specifically about rides I’ve done, issues I’ve encountered, gear I’ve tried out, trips planned, and a lot more. What do these so-called professional writers send me? The kind of stuff that would be common knowledge even amongst the newest beginning riders. I wish I could think of a specific example–I’m drawing a blank right now.

But the point is, I write for people who have themselves ridden for a long time. They (you) are not interested in how to pick a helmet that fits, why you should always carry rain gear, how to check out your bike before a long trip. You already know those things. And if you don’t, there are a thousand sites across the internet where they have articles that go into those things in great detail. I don’t get into that stuff.

And those are only somewhat relevant topics. If I could remember some of the things I’ve been sent I could give you examples of some truly irrelevant topics these people pitch me.

OK, great! I love it! After I wrote this I checked my email and found this request for a guest post. Here’s part of it:

I’ve been writing about Fashion, Style for 5 years and I’m confident that I can write a high-quality, informative, and engaging guest post that would be of interest to your readers. As you can see I have a few ideas for guest posts that I think would be a good fit for your blog.

Yeah, right, that’s exactly what this blog is about.

Of course, these pieces come larded up with links to various products or websites where the writer would get a payment for any traffic that followed the link.

Now I do have to say, over the years I actually have published, I think, three guest posts. But isolating those three good pieces from the mountain of dreck is just not worth the effort.

So I just started marking everything that comes in asking to do a guest post as Spam. I don’t even open them. I know I get some follow-up emails saying “hey, at least do me the courtesy of replying and saying no thanks,” but while that would be courteous, if you knew how many such requests I get you would understand why I’m just not going to give of my time for that. Am I discourteous? Fine, I’m discourteous.

And that’s the point of this post. I want it up there so maybe some of these people who are planning to approach me will see it and reconsider. Let me make things absolutely clear:

I DO NOT ACCEPT GUEST POSTS.

Can I make that any clearer?

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 15. We are depressed from November to March.

The OFMC gets out of the rain in New Mexico last year.

The RMMRC is leaving in a few days on this New Mexico ride and at last week’s meeting someone asked me which bike I’ll be riding. Gosh, I hadn’t even thought about that. I guess I ought to.

The Honda CB750 was out right away because its tires are too thin and would not be enough for a 1,500-mile trip. That left the Concours and the V-Strom.

I figured what I really ought to do is take both of them out for runs and see which seems to be most ready, or else figure out what each of them might need.

I checked the tires on the V-Strom and the air was good. Check. Tires are good. Check. My top bag has suffered some damage in a couple times dropping the bike but I pulled out a strap that secures it well so no worries there. Check.

How is the oil? I just got the oil changed in my car the day before because I realized I had pretty much forgotten about paying it any attention. And I couldn’t remember the last time I changed the oil in the V.

I checked, which first meant figuring out how. That’s how bad an owner I am. So there’s a sight glass and you’re supposed to hold it level and check the level in the sight glass. Well, I didn’t see anything in the sight glass. I figured it would be good to take it for a ride over to Vickery to get some oil. That way I would also get a chance to see how it’s running.

It ran great. One thing I like about this bike is that it always runs great. I’ve had my troubles periodically with the Concours and the CB but the V-Strom, as they say, is bullet-proof.

I got home, put in some oil, checked the sight glass, put in some more, and it looked fine. So this bike is ready to go. I guess I’ll be riding the V-Strom. But now I really ought to check the air and oil in the Concours, just because they need to be checked. And if I do that before I leave, and I take it for a ride, maybe I’ll change my mind about which bike to ride. After all, the Concours is a really fine highway bike . . .

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you hate the fact that you were in front of your computer long enough to read this and not on your scoot.