Passes & Canyons Blog

For our second day of day rides, Nick and I met up with Bill and Dennis and Bruce at the King Soopers in Conifer to head south toward Cripple Creek. But there was a good bit going on before we got there.

Nick had taken my suggestion that he get Gatorade seriously so he had that and water in his bag this day. But before we could head out to meet the guys I needed to get my Concours over to Rowdy Rocket Garage for work dealing with the overheating incident I had on the last day of the OFMC trip. Nick offered to load the Kawi on his trailer and run it over there but I had not yet ridden the bike in August and in order to keep my string going of riding all my bikes every month I wanted to ride it over there. No telling how soon I’d be getting it back. Plus, I was curious to see if it would trend toward overheating again, suggesting an issue with the thermostat or heat sensor. And sure enough, before we got there the heat gauge was climbing into the danger zone. Definitely need to get this addressed.

Back at home we geared up and headed out, me on the V-Strom. It was cool and I was glad to stop in Conifer as that gave me the chance to add another layer. After the day before I was wondering how Nick would deal with Bill’s idea of going to Cripple Creek for lunch, plus I wondered what there really was in Cripple Creek for lunch. Not much as far as I know. He and Dennis also had apparently been reconsidering so they suggested we just go down to Shining Mountain Golf Course a bit north of Woodland Park and have lunch there. Nick had said he wanted to stop more frequently for hydration so we made a quick stop in Pine Junction and then another in Deckers.

At the golf course we found that their restaurant is not open because they can’t find a chef. Everybody has staffing problems these days. So we rode on into Woodland Park. Even there it took some searching to find a place open but we did. The significant thing we learned, however, was that along the main drag, US 24, if you go north behind that row of shops there is a whole lot of free municipal parking. I can’t tell you how much trouble I’ve had trying to find parking previously so I’m really pleased to discover that this is there and happy to pass that info along to you.

Heading back we just backtracked for the most part. Stopping again at Deckers Nick said he was wiped out. I figured this just had to do with dehydration because this was not all that long a ride. Keep drinking that Gatorade.

Bruce peeled off from us there, heading home via the South Platte River Road route down to Sedalia. We continued backtracking until we got to Buffalo Creek where I led the group down the other end of South Platte River Road to Foxton Road, which comes up to Conifer on the west side of town. Dennis doesn’t live too far from there but I had a suspicion he had never been on that road. I’m certain Bill had never been on it. So it was a nice alternate route.

We came down 285 and each went our separate ways and then Nick and I once again roasted going east across Hampden. This is getting old.

The next day it was just Nick and me again and for a change I took us south, winding around a bit and finally reaching Daniels Park. We then went down Daniels Park Road to US 85, to Sedalia and south for lunch at O’Malley’s in Palmer Lake. Then home. Nick had expressed an interest in a shorter day and that fit the bill. A nice easy ride. Then the next day he was off to Grand Junction to hang out with my brother Rick.

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t know what the definition of freedom is, but it has two wheels.

While off on this year’s OFMC trip I got a text pretty much out of the blue from Nick, someone I’ve known since I was 16 but who I had only seen twice in the past 50 years. He is, however, a closer friend of my brother, who lives in Grand Junction, and Nick was considering coming out to see Rick. Rick, however, does not ride motorcycles and I do, so Nick thought it would be nice to bring his bike out (from Chicago) and go riding with me. Nick rides a BMW R1250 RS.

So he did. The plan was for him to come first to Denver, from where we would do a few day rides, then go to Junction to hang with Rick for a few days. Then he would come back here and he and I would do a three-day ride.

Nick got in on Sunday and we headed out on Monday. I didn’t want to do anything really long but I didn’t want to short-change him either so I figured it would be a good day’s ride to go up to the Peak-to-Peak and ride to Estes Park, then home down one of the canyons and back south on CO 93.

We headed out of town on Hampden/US 285 and up to Golden and then turned up Clear Creek Canyon. It was a beautiful day up on the Peak-to-Peak and we had a nice cruise. Stopping for lunch in Nederland Nick informed me for the first time that he was really feeling the dryness and that he would like to stop frequently to drink some water. I suggested he drink Gatorade rather than water. This would be a constant issue the whole time we spent riding together.

We got to Estes Park and turned down the road running down the North St. Vrain (US 36), stopping for about the third time this day for road construction. There was a lot of road construction going on. Down in Lyons we pulled over in the town park for a break. By now Nick was telling me he was getting pretty worn out. OK. I had had the impression he was used to going a lot of miles in a day; maybe not. And again, he was dying for water. Why wasn’t I drinking lots of water, was I just used to this climate? That would be a “Yep.”

And then of course we ran into more road construction on US 36 heading south from Lyons to Boulder. At this stop we were right by another guy on a bike and this guy was something to see. Wearing a shirt all open all the way down both sides, he was sun-burned in a major way. You can see the strip down his side in the photo. I wouldn’t have wanted to be him later when that started really hurting!

We went straight through Boulder on Broadway and that was an experience. The north end of Boulder has gone through incredible changes since the last time I was there. It used to be all light industrial and now it’s all condos and apartments. Huge change.

On south on 93 across Rocky Flats and back to Golden. Then back east on Hampden and oh man, it was a blazing hot day and we were going slow in late afternoon traffic and we just roasted–a recurring theme over the next few days. Back at our house Nick said he was just wiped out. OK, I really think you need to be drinking Gatorade. And we’ll see how tomorrow’s ride goes.

Biker Quote for Today

Put the love between your legs and enjoy the ride.

A little over a year ago Dennis traded in his Indian and got a BMW that he had long wanted but finally found lowered enough so he could ride it. Dennis is kind of short. One of the benefits of buying used is you get all the extras already in place as part of the package. One of the extras on this particular bike is really powerful lights that do one heck of a lot to make you visible.

On this recent OFMC trip I was in the lead most of the time and when Bill was second and Dennis third I never had any trouble checking my mirror to make sure they were behind me. One quick glance showed Dennis’s lights blazing like the sun. I think these things could be seen from outer space.

When Bill was in the rear it was a different matter. I’d glance back and see Dennis instantly but I would have to search to be sure Bill was visible behind him. Not a big deal, especially considering that I assumed Dennis was keeping his eye on Bill, but the difference between the two could not be more extreme.

Bill, on the other hand, appears to have a very weak headlight on his Harley. Or maybe it’s pointed more toward the ground so it’s not as visible further ahead. I really don’t know about that. But I do know Bill does not stand out against the background and I had to search for him.

On one day, however, Bill had a close call. We were in Idaho heading south from having crossed Lolo Pass and Bill was in the middle. A pick-up heading the other way did the usual thing, turning left right in front of him. Everything worked out fine but that got me to thinking.

I wonder if the driver saw Dennis’s lights (of course he did see them!) but failed to notice, closer to him, this much dimmer figure that was Bill. In that case you could make the argument that Dennis’s lights, which make him unmissable, render others (Bill) less visible. That could be a real safety issue.

What it definitely points out is that Bill really needs more lights on his bike. He just fades too readily into the background. Plus, his bike is black and he wears a black leather jacket and his helmet is black. Not exactly conspicuous.

I know I don’t necessarily stand out all that well either, and Roy had mentioned that to me more than once. He has urged me to get an orange vest to wear over my jacket as many riders do. I probably will at some point when I’m in a store and think about it.

Meanwhile, I need to bring this up with Bill. I’m sure he has no idea how low his visibility is. But knowing Bill I really don’t expect him to do much about it. Maybe he’ll surprise me.

Biker Quote for Today

My bike is more demanding than my lover, she wants me to ride her every day.

I had had the impression for some time that something was not right with the clutch on my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. At a stop, if I didn’t hold the brake on, the bike would creep forward, even with the clutch lever all the way in.

At first I thought if I just adjusted the tension using the little wheels up by the lever that that should do it. I tried that, though, and the adjustment helped but things didn’t seem right. Plus, I noticed that the cable at that end was badly frayed. Consulting with Roy, my local motorcycle repair guru, we agreed that I needed a new clutch cable. I found one online and soon had it in hand. Meanwhile I watched a few YouTube videos on replacing the thing.

When Roy could work it in to his schedule he came over and we got to work.

Roy thought I might need to lift the tank but in the best video I watched the guy said that would make it easier but it wasn’t really necessary. He and Roy both suggested connecting the end of one cable to the opposite end of the other and pulling the new one through as you extract the old one.

I had figured to just duct-tape the ends together but Roy’s approach was to wrap the two together with a bit of wire and then cover that with duct tape to streamline the connection and avoid having anything sticking out to catch on something. I pulled and Roy worked the other end and it came almost all the way but then got stuck. I found I could reach up under the tank and fiddle with the cable but just couldn’t find and undo the snag. So the tank would have to come off.

Here I actually knew more than Roy because I had watched the video. All I needed to do was remove the seat and then undo the bolt right at the back end the tank. I did and the back end lifted right up. I had expected to have to shut off the petcock and then disconnect the gas line but that wasn’t necessary.

Still Roy couldn’t find and fix the snag so he told me to just pull it toward me and then lift it up. Turns out at the front end of the tank two U-shaped seats slipped right onto–or off–two round pegs on the steering column. Pull back and then the tank is free to be completely removed. But I still didn’t have to disconnect the gas line. Now Roy was able to work through the snag.

Next, put the tank back in place, screw in the bolt, and get the new cable hooked up. Except removing that duct tape was killer. As Roy commented, and I agreed, this must be really good duct tape.

Roy did all the real work. He hooked up both ends of the cable and made all the adjustments and then had me get on, start the bike, put it in gear, and see how it feels. It felt great. He showed me the amount of free-play desired in the clutch and told me a new cable will stretch so I’ll need to adjust it in a while and this is what to aim for.

And now I have a functional bike again, plus I learned a whole bunch about working on my bike. That’s a good day.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if your Harley shirt has a collar.

I’ve only ever owned three motorcycles and I still have and ride all three of them. I approach my riding gear in a similar fashion, although sometimes that stuff really does just wear out.

Case in point: my very first motorcycle gloves, which to this day are my first choice to wear in warm weather. I’ve had them for more than 35 years. That’s them in the photo above.

Dang, they’re starting to wear out. I guess maybe if I had oiled them occasionally or done something else to take care of them they might have held up better. For sure they would look better. But you know what? They still work great. But it does look like that gauntlet on the right-hand glove will eventually just rip off. That hole is a lot bigger today than it was two months ago.

I’ve always thought that motorcycle gloves should have gauntlets, that is, those spreading funnel-like attachments to the main glove that allow your jacket sleeve to go inside and keep the wind and bugs from going up your sleeve. I have acquired gloves along the way that don’t have gauntlets but I seldom wear them.

Among these are a pair of fingerless gloves that I bought just in the last year or two. I had only worn them once or twice but I took them along on this year’s OFMC ride, and that led me to what should have been an obvious realization.

Near the end of the trip we were in Utah and stopped in Green River for gas and lunch. We gassed up and figured to go in the restaurant right there but it was crowded and we didn’t want to wait that long. So we decided to ride a little further into town and find another place. Because we were going such a short distance I didn’t bother putting my gloves back on.

Important to realize here is that much of this trip was through brutally hot weather. I was wearing a mesh jacket but it was still hot and didn’t really seem to afford as much circulation as I would have liked. Well, we cruised a half a mile or so into town and I was amazed to realize how much cooler I felt. Duh! The gauntlets on my gloves were preventing cooling air from going up my sleeves and through my jacket. I wore the fingerless gloves the rest of the trip.

Meanwhile, my summer gloves, as I call them, will continue to be my main gloves but I can see–as can you–that their days are numbered. I think I got my money’s worth.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 44. Half gloves.

On Saturday I rode out with other RMMRC members to a lunch down in Monument for Roy to celebrate his 92nd birthday. That’s right, Roy is 92 and he is still riding. Not just riding. In any given year he probably rides more miles than you do.

It’s no surprise that Roy is an inspiration an awful lot of us in the club. I know I want to be Roy some day. I always end these posts with a Biker Quote for Today and the most apropos of these would be “We don’t stop riding because we get old, we get old because we stop riding.”

This all ties in with an email exchange I’ve been having with Nick, who a couple weeks ago came out from Chicago with his BMW R1250RS. We did three day rides and then a three-day ride while he was here.

Nick had been reading this blog and saw that I was talking about maybe swapping my V-Strom and Concours for one bike that would be between them in size and capable of replacing them both. One bike I’ve identified as a possibility is the Yamaha Tracer. It seems that everyone who I mention this to is wildly enthusiastic about me making the swap. Which, frankly, makes me a little more hesitant.

Anyway, Nick emailed me last week and offered this thought:

I was thinking about your process for potentially getting a new bike. It is understandable you take a lot of time to pull the trigger. My question is what is your “riding life expectancy”? At some point in the not-too-distant future you will likely stop for one reason or another. (This is obvious to you I am sure).

I for one would encourage you to do it sooner rather than later. I am not sure how much longer I will ride but although my bike is expensive to maintain, it is pretty satisfying to ride. If going lighter makes sense, that Tracer seems like a decent bet. I think the GT version runs about 485 lbs wet, vs my 550 lbs with bags.

My reply sums up my current thinking pretty well:

As for riding life expectancy, just yesterday I went out with a bunch of guys for a lunch celebrating birthday 92 of Roy, the RMMRC president. Roy still probably rides more than you and me put together in any given year. I aspire to be Roy, as do many others in the group.

Realistically, I see no reason for me to give up riding any time soon. Having had my heart surgery, without which I would probably already be dead, I’m in extremely good, robust health. If my largest bike–currently my Concours–ever gets to be just too big and heavy I will move to something smaller. I could be riding that V-Strom for a long, long time.

So I’m in no hurry to pull the trigger. And while I have plenty of money, in terms of cash on hand this has been an expensive year. On Tuesday of this week I finally got my final crown on a new implant–the end of about an 11-month process. That tooth cost as much as a new motorcycle.

No, I’m not going to rush into anything. In about a year, if I’m still even thinking about it I may get more serious. Meanwhile, looking at the possibility of getting rid of any of the bikes I have has got me thinking more deeply about what I like about these bikes and why I got them in the first place. In fact, I’m already thinking that heck, I may end up replacing the Concours but I’ll probably not let go of the V-Strom. Stay with three bikes rather than cutting back to two.

It’s that kind of evolution of my thinking that leads me to move slowly.

So don’t expect to be reading anything here anytime soon about me and a new bike. But someday . . .

Meanwhile, yeah, I want to be Roy. I intend to be Roy. And then all these younger guys in that future RMMRC can aspire to be Ken.

Biker Quote for Today

“If you end up with a boring miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest, or some guy on television telling you how to do your s—, then you deserve it.” — Frank Zappa

The OFMC took its first trip in 1989, and has done a trip every year since. The original three were me, John, and Bill. Other members have come and gone over the years but we three were regulars until just a few years ago when John could no longer ride due to health issues. Now Bill is talking about bowing out.

Dennis and I had a pretty good idea this was coming while we were out on our recent trip. We had decided to do Lolo Pass and that meant we needed to do some longer days and also an extra day. Several of these longer days were also blazing hot. Bill was not enjoying a lot of this and he was making comments such as “Remind me again why we do this.”

So it was no surprise the next to last night out when he said flatly that he doesn’t want to do it anymore. OK, let’s get into particulars. What exactly don’t you want to do anymore.

Well, he doesn’t want to do these long days. He also doesn’t want to be out for as long. And he really doesn’t like doing long days in 100+ degree weather.

Fair enough. What would you say to shorter days and fewer days? As for the heat, I’ve pushed for years to move the week of the trip later than the last full week of July. But you insist on doing it that week.

Dennis had the idea that we could do an all-Colorado trip where rather than ride past all the tourist attractions we actually stop and visit them. Take it easy.

Well, OK, something like that Bill said he could probably get into and enjoy. Fine, said I, the official trip organizer. Let me give this some thought.

The next day I had some ideas. A lot of ideas, actually, but the best–I thought–was to do this all-Colorado ride where we spend our last night some place like Estes Park–close to home–and all the wives carpool up and we stay at some fancy bed ‘n’ breakfast and have dinner at some really nice restaurant. Dennis liked the idea. Bill’s response was pure Bill.

“My wife will still be in Brazil.”

Bill’s wife is from Brazil and every summer she goes there to help her sisters care for their aged mother. She is a teacher so she comes back just before school starts, which is not the last full week of July.

But Bill, we don’t have to do the ride that same week in July every year, and if you don’t want the heat all the more reason to move it to something like the last week of August or first week of September. Or the second week of September, after the kids are back in school and the tourist crowds thin out.

No, no, that won’t do.

Now, Dennis and I are of a different mind. Earlier in the trip we had discussed what we saw coming and Dennis had said that if he didn’t have his wife at home he’d be saying let’s take a month. We’re retired, for Pete’s sake. I totally agreed.

So the thought arises, if Bill dropped out would Dennis and I continue and maybe finally do some of the longer rides I’ve been wanting to do for a long, long time? Apparently not. Dennis didn’t elaborate on his thinking but he did say at one point that if it got down to only two he would not be inclined to go on. So that would mean the end of the OFMC. Wow.

I don’t think that’s going to happen next year. I do think Bill will be interested in a shorter trip. But things continue until they don’t. And then they end.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 32. You’ll have a burn mark or two from the exhaust.

We got an early start out of Spanish Fork on the next to last day of this year’s OFMC trip and I figured we’d be climbing into the hills east of the extended Salt Lake City metropolitan area but in fact we plunged down a canyon. We were on US 89, which led in a short while to US 6.

Another surprise was that at the mouth of this canyon there were about 10 wind turbines. You normally think about those things being out in the open where they catch a lot of free-flowing wind. I figure it must be that the wind blows in across the salt flats and then hits these hills and gets channeled into this canyon.

So we went down and down and finally started climbing. Very pretty along this part. Then we started down again, a long way, and finally came out on the desert floor at Price. Now it’s going to get hot and boring. It did. We got lunch and gas at Green River and then just blasted the rest of the way to Grand Junction, our stop for the night. Not an eventful day.

Leaving Junction early in the morning we were figuring on getting down the hill on I-70 before the inevitable crush of traffic that happens every Sunday afternoon. Wrong. We started getting into heavy traffic at about Vail. But before I get into that, something else happened just west of Vail.

As I said, traffic was getting thick and we got behind someone going too slow in the right lane, so Bill and Dennis moved over to the left and when I had the chance I did, too. I looked back and was about 50 feet ahead of the guy coming up in that lane so, as I always do, I threw my left arm straight out to clearly signal my intent and simultaneously moved into the left lane. Totally normal move.

About five seconds later I heard the familiar sound of a car coming around me on the left . . . but I was in the left lane. I turned to look and there was the guy I had pulled in front of, now about even with my rear fender, going past me half way on the shoulder. I moved right to give him more room and threw up my hand in a “what the heck” sort of motion. He threw up his left hand in a sort of “oops, sorry” kind of motion. And we rolled on.

The way I figure it, he must have been looking at his phone and looked up only just in time to realize he was about to murder a motorcyclist.

Back to the story. I told the rest of this story here but there was a lot that I left out in that account. For one thing, I was not alone sitting there by the highway broken down. I could see, in the space of about a quarter mile, five other vehicles all pulled over with problems. I walked back and spoke with the two women in the car behind me, and they had also overheated. But for them it was normal. They had a bottle of coolant and once they could safely remove the radiator cap they poured some in and took off. The couple in front of me had overheated and had called for a tow. I didn’t walk up to the three vehicles ahead of them.

All this time the interstate was a parking lot. Three lanes full of traffic stopping and starting. Then about 500 feet down the hill there was a bang and a lot of smoke or steam or something and within a few minutes there was not a single vehicle on the road in front of me. I learned later from the tow truck driver who picked me up that there was a truck on fire back there.

Obviously, when this truck erupted in flames everyone behind him stopped. Then, after maybe five minutes cars started filtering past and one by one they would go speeding past me. And gradually there were more and more as they all got bolder.

What impressed me was how quickly the emergency folks handled the situation. It took a while for them to get to the scene but once they did they had the truck moved and whole road open again within 15 minutes. And then it was the same old parking lot again.

I did eventually get home that day, at 10 p.m., and that was finally the end of this year’s OFMC trip for me–though not yet the end of my hassles getting the bike home. But it could have been a lot worse. What if I had overheated out in the middle of the salt flats, in blazing heat with no shade? What if it had happened at any of the other times we were stuck in 100-degree-plus weather with no shade? At least when I broke down up on the mountain my actual concern was the oncoming rain storm. And I had rain gear.

Meanwhile, the Kawi is now in the shop for service and to find out if the overheating was due to a bad thermostat or heat sensor. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

If I were to die from riding a dirt bike my crash better look awesome.