Passes & Canyons Blog

I give Charlie big kudos for putting together a terrific two-day ride for the RMMRC. The weather was good, the roads were great, and with all the recent rain, everything was incredibly green. And the folks were pretty companionable, too.

We started out Tuesday morning from the Phillips 66 in Morrison, eight riders. Kicks stand up (KSU) was 9 and I got there about 8:50 and needed gas so I didn’t have time to get myself linked in on the Cardo communicators. But Gene was the last to arrive and it turned out somehow that he and I were linked to each other, so we did some chatting during the day.

We ran up past Red Rocks to get on old US 40 running up Mount Vernon Canyon. This road serves as a frontage road alongside I-70 for a ways but frequently bends away from the interstate. Onto I-70 briefly and then off again and back to 40. Here’s where we lucked out.

US 40 goes away from the interstate for a while but then comes back as you go up Floyd Hill. Then you go down the other side and get on old US 6 just long enough to get on I-70. As we headed down we could see the interstate totally stopped. They’re doing major work on the bend at the bottom of the hill and we must have passed about 500 stopped cars as we cruised on down. When we merged onto I-70 at the bottom it was starting to move and we had to go slow but never had to stop at all. Sweet.

We only stayed on I-70 a few miles to Idaho Springs and then got off and rode old US 6 up to the Empire turn-off onto US 40 and then headed that way toward Berthoud Pass. We made a quick stop just past Empire, by the Guanella Ranch, which was good for me because I was cold and this gave me a chance to put on more layers.

Then it was a lot of fun blasting up Berthoud Pass, cruising past all the other traffic. We were rockin’!

Down the other side into Winter Park and on to Granby where we made a brief stop, then on to Kremmling for lunch.

Next it was on to Rabbit Ears Pass and down into Steamboat Springs. It had been a long time since I’d been over Rabbit Ears because I do my best to avoid Steamboat, so it was nice to see the pass again. Everything is just so incredibly green at the moment.

Steamboat wasn’t as bad as it sometimes can be and then it was on to Hayden and then Craig. Four of the guys were stopping in Craig while the rest of us were continuing on, down CO13 to Meeker. Bob, who was staying in Craig, said he saw no reason to go to Meeker because there was nothing out there and it’s a boring ride. Bob is wrong. This is a really pretty ride and we had a good time.

We got to the Meeker Hotel and checked in and proceeded to kick back. Meeker is a really nice little town–unlike Craig, which is not much of anything. And the Meeker Hotel has been completely renovated just recently and is quite nice–but incredibly cheap! Only $80 a night for a single! Can’t beat that.

So it was a sweet day’s ride. And tomorrow we get to do more.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s what I love about fast motorcycles. Because when you find yourself balancing on that razor’s edge of mortality, all the rest becomes dust in the wind.

Today is June 23 and I have not ridden either of my bikes yet this month. What the hey?

June has been extreme. We’ve had a lot of spring this year, and that means a lot of rain. Then, in between the rain storms, we have had blistering heat. Neither one makes you yearn to get out on the road. But today was going to be different.

Today is cool with rain forecast for the afternoon. Fine. I’m getting on the Honda to go for a ride in the morning. The Suzuki will take care of itself; I’m taking off tomorrow–regardless of the weather–with the RMMRC on an overnight trip up into the hills.

So what happens? I geared up, rolled the Honda out, swung my leg over, and hit the start button. And the motor turned but didn’t quite catch. I kept trying, and it kept trying, but eventually it wore down. This bike is going nowhere until it has more juice in the battery.

I put the charge unit to work, which is where it is now, and will try to get it going in about an hour.

The thing is, I thought about exactly this yesterday but didn’t do anything about it. I had the thought that because it had been a while since I’ve run this bike, maybe the battery would be low. I could have tried starting it yesterday, or I could have just put the charger on figuring there was no downside to that. But I didn’t. And now here I sit.

And it’s not like I can give it three or four hours if need be and then ride. I have a standing engagement on Mondays at 2:30 p.m. I intended to be on the road before 10 a.m. and then be back in plenty of time. I can still do that if it starts an hour from now. If not . . .

Oh, and I checked my records. I just bought this battery in August 2023, so it should still be good. That should not be the problem. Apparently it just sat too long. Dang.

Update:
Now 11:10 a.m. and I had a thought. It occurred to me that the mileage on the tripmeter was right at the point where I need to go to Reserve. Maybe it would have caught if it had been getting gas. So I flipped to Reserve before pushing the start button. The motor turned over strongly but still did not catch, like it needed gas but the line was dry. It takes a moment in this kind of case to get gas flowing again, so I’m hoping the next time I try it will catch. We’ll see.

Biker Quote for Today

If I was interested in dying, I wouldn’t dress up like a neon green clown before every ride.

Following the let-down of my recent aborted California trip with the RMMRC I’m definitely pleased that we have another ride coming right up. Nothing like the California trip but hey, you take what you can get.

This is just going to be a two-day trip, up to either Craig or Meeker and back the next day. Craig or Meeker is dependent on where you want to go. Some guys will stay in Craig while others go on to Meeker. Then in the morning the Meeker contingent will return to Craig and we’ll ride home together.

Why the split? In one case it’s a matter of someone who is recovery from surgery not being sure what he can endure, and the shorter ride to Craig is preferable. Others just don’t see any point of going to Meeker and backtracking.

But for those of us going to Meeker–and I am–it’s because Craig is really nothing special and Meeker is a cool little town. Plus we’ll be staying at the Meeker Hotel, which is a very cool and newly remodeled old hotel on the town plaza. Plus, if you’re dollar-conscious, the Meeker Hotel is cheap–$80 a night.

Wherever each person stays, the real thing is going to be the route coming and going. You can get to Meeker quickly by taking I-70 to Rifle and turning north, but who wants to ride the slab? So we’ll leave Parker in the morning and take some smaller roads up to Empire–with a few miles of unavoidable I-70–and then take some meandering routes home. It’ll be fun. Now we can just hope this heat wave is done by then but at least if not we’ll be up in the high country where it’s cooler.

And we’ll be on motorcycles. What else really matters?

Biker Quote for Today

I’ll linger here as long as I can . . . but there’s a curve approaching, so I let off the gas, take a deep breath and let out a sign of relief. I think I found what I was looking for. It’s time to head back home.

We get less extreme, and we like to think smarter, as we get older. At least everybody I know has.

Do you ever drink and ride your motorcycle? I never do now but I sure can’t say that about years ago.

Take for example one night John and I spent in Laramie. He and I had taken just a two-day ride, up through North Park and the Snowy Range to Laramie, motel, home down I-25 the next day.

This was in the really early days, maybe our second overnight trip ever. The first had been a three-night thing with Bill along. Bill couldn’t get free for this so it was just John and me.

We were young and out for a good time. And what is there to do in Laramie on a Saturday night but hit the bars? So that’s what we did. This bar. That bar. That bar. And how about that bar.

As you might assume, we drank quite a bit. But no problem, we were only about two miles from our motel. And we weren’t drunk. No, I’m sure of that. Absolutely. I think.

Either way, we were not going especially slow heading back to the motel, and with John in the lead, we got to the turn into the motel and he just whipped right into that turn . . . and I’ve never seen a bike go from upright to on the ground so quickly in my life.

John was just scraped up a little and his bike just dinged up a little–worst thing was his windshield was smashed–but he was thinking about other things. Like the cops coming along and stopping and then having him do a breathalyzer test. He yelled at me to help him get the bike back up quickly and then he pulled on into the safety of the motel parking lot. Fun night.

Then there was another time, when the OFMC was in Idaho and we pulled over at this bar in Arco. We had a good time with the locals in that bar, even bought a round for the house, and then we were on our way again. We weren’t drunk. No, I’m sure we weren’t. But we sure did find that going really fast was a lot of fun. Who knew it could be that much fun? And nothing happened. We reached our destination OK.

There were plenty of other times when we had a drink or two along the way, and that doesn’t even address the many times we would do a joint or a pipe at a stop along the road.

We don’t do any of those things anymore. But man, we sure used to. And we’re still alive and in one piece. It’s nice living charmed lives.

Biker Quote for Today

The turbulence of the mind begins to calm, and all the noise of modern life becomes quiet. Regrets of the past, worries of the future, anxieties, loneliness and the fear of death. Those demons . . . they all fade into the background in a cloud of dust as your body tunes into the present. It’s like that momentary state of enlightenment that monks and mystics spend a lifetime chasing.

We’ve all run out of gas at some point. On this Adventure Riders thread some folks tell their stories. I’m just passing along the most interesting or amusing.

• Last year my brother in law was riding my 1989 NX650 which had recently had the petcock replaced because it would not shut off. The new replacement petcock came from Amazon.com. (You know where this is going) He went on reserve with 5 miles to the gas station. He coasted in, had to push it the last 50 yards. Got a replacement petcock that now gives me a measured 15 miles on reserve, but had to splice an extra shutoff valve into the petcock-to-carb line to actually shut off all fuel flow as the OFF position on the current petcock still dribbles.
• 3 months ago. On my way from home in Sacramento to Moraga to watch a rugby match. I thought there was a litre of fuel in the tube behind the pannier and decided I would try to see exactly how far this new-to-me ST would go before she ran out. Well, the answer was two miles before the next exit/fuel station.
• When my Ford failed to start at a family picnic (and appeared to not be getting gas) I immediately switched out the fuel pump. To no avail. Fortunately, a much more mechanically savvy relative pointed out that even hot rod Fords needed gas to run. Yep, tank was empty. Lesson learned. First and only time I’ve run out of fuel.
• 2015, the one and only time. I was completing a 40K-mile round the world trip and was a day from home on my 2008 12gs. Since filling up in the morning I was averaging about 50 mph on old US highways. I recall looking at the fuel gage, which read a quarter tank and at the odometer, which said 245 miles and I thought I was going to break my record of 270 miles between fill ups! A minute later it died.
• I ran out on the 101 coming into Santa Barbara once on the KLR. It died just as I made the exit for my planned stop. The freeway was elevated at that point, so the exit was downhill… I made a right turn without stopping & just about rolled in front of the pump!
• My son ran out of gas on the freeway. I had to drive up there about 45 miles to give him some gas. Turned out he didn’t realize he had a reserve position on the petcock.
• 2 years ago riding along the Wisconsin river. My new bike had a low gas light that was impossible to see in the daytime so I used the trip meter as my gas gauge. Of course I forgot to reset it. I puttered to a stop in a turn out. To far to walk to the next town so I stuck my thumb out. Young guy pulled over and gave me a ride to the next town where I got a gas can and he returned me to my bike. Of course I left my action cam in his car so I had to chase him down as he was returning the gas can to the station.

Running out of gas. What fun. I know none of us will make those mistakes again. We’ll just make new ones.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycles are a solitary endeavor, and the experience enhances life and death in a singular way. — Jon Robertson

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) is to the national scene what the state-level ABATEs are to the state scenes. A motorcycle rights organization working to protect our rights and shape legislation in ways beneficial to, or at least not detrimental to, riding motorcycles.

I generally tend to support what the MRF works for but in the most recent case I personally feel the group has gone a bit off the deep end. Specifically, in a letter to Sean Duffy, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, it said:

The MRF strongly opposes the Biden Administration’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards finalized in June 2024, which require automakers’ new vehicle fleets to reach an average of 53.5 miles per gallon by model year 2032.

Now wait. The CAFE standards relate only to cars. What does this have to do with motorcycles?

OK, the letter continues and explains the concern:

The CAFE standards drive automakers to increase production of electric vehicles and phase out
internal combustion (ICE) engines. As these manufacturers pivot resources toward electric
vehicle (EV) compliance, we expect reduced investment and innovation in ICE technology, which
powers most motorcycles. This shift could lead to:
• Reduced availability of affordable support technologies and fuels for motorcycle riders
• Distorted market dynamics and limited consumer choice
• Decreased relevance and impact of the aftermarket parts industry
• Rural motorcyclists being disproportionately impacted due to insufficient infrastructure

Yeah, OK, so you’re saying let’s nullify technological advancements for cars in order to insure that motorcycles won’t be orphaned. Guys, that’s a really weak argument. First off, there are a gazillion cars pumping out megatons of air pollution while there are–to be generous–significantly fewer motorcycles. Gosh, I don’t know. I kind of like breathing clean air and while theoretically the technological advancement of motorcycles might be negatively impacted, I really don’t believe it will grind to a halt.

I also don’t understand what they’re saying about rural motorcyclists being disproportionately impacted. I guess the build-out of charging stations in rural areas will be slower than in metro areas but at the same time I suspect the phasing out of the gasoline supply industry will also be slower in rural areas, especially as long as farmers use gas- or diesel-powered farm implements.

Nope. This is a case where I definitely break with the MRF. You guys do good work but we all screw up some times.

Biker Quote for Today

Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing. — Hunter S. Thompson