Passes & Canyons Blog

No connection. Just a photo I pulled up.

I hear from Stump, ABATE of Colorado’s legislative liaison, that there is a draft bill coming from Rep. Brandi Bradley, tentatively titled “Concerning a Requirement that a Minor have Written Permission to Obtain an Instruction Permit to Drive a Motorcycle.” The intent here would be to close a loophole in current law. According to Stump:

In CRS 42-2-108 it states that the application for an instructional permit for a minor under 18 years of age, must be accompanied by an affidavit of liability which can be signed by “a responsible adult”. So, hypothetically, if your parents don’t want you to get a motorcycle permit, you could get your biker neighbor to sign an affidavit and get a permit without your parents’ permission. This bill would change that, requiring written permission from a parent or legal guardian.

In a separate note Stump said he had spoken with a legislator he did not name, but who I presume to have been Bradley, saying she also “mentioned interest in creating legislation to increase training access.” That would be good. That’s what the MOST program used to do.

In other news related to ABATE, word went around that Terry Howard, long-time ABATE State Coordinator, has died. Terry was the state coordinator when I joined ABATE and we had worked together very closely on a lot of things. Then during some audit she was accused of theft regarding ABATE funds and went to trial. She was acquitted and the judge expressed considerable exasperation at the idea that this thing had ever come to court. But Terry was forced to leave her position at ABATE.

I had not kept touch with her in the years since so it was with some surprise that I read in this death announcement that she had since become mayor of Kiowa. Wow. Good for you Terry.

No information on cause of death. On Saturday, February 7, at 10:30 a.m., in the AG Building at Elbert County Fairgrounds there will be a memorial service for her.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you carry a camcorder instead of a knife.

An ABATE rider training course at Arapahoe Community College.

ABATE of Colorado has been forced out of the motorcycle rider training business. Once the largest training organization in the state, the future of the organization’s property and trainers remains unclear.

I first heard about this at the Last Brass Monkey Run on December 31 and had hoped to get more information about it but have not had the time. So I’ll give you what I can. Actually, I’ll quote you a bit of what ABATE State Coordinator Larry Montgomery had to say about it in the latest issue of ABATE’s newsletter, the Spokesman.

As most of you have heard by now, ABATE will no longer be allowed to provide motorcycle training in Colorado due to a supposed contract violation from MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) and CSP (Colorado State Patrol), this went into effect November 3rd, 2025. . . ABATE tried to respond in numerous ways to the concerns MSF had regarding our quality of training for citizens of Colorado. This process was only done by email from MSF and CSP. They have never discussed in person any problems with anyone associated with ABATE. . .

The whole process seems strange to me as there were many people that knew about the decertification before I or the ABATE board received the letter of suspension from MSF and CSP.

As we move forward ABATE will continue as a SMRO (state motorcycle rights organization) organization and will continue to fight for motorcycle rights.

I’ve heard a number of things. The one most people seem to subscribe to is that ABATE had been a thorn in the side of folks at the state level running the rider training system in the state and they decided to put a stop to it. I don’t claim to know what the motivation was. I certainly was not aware of ABATE’s training program being out of compliance with the rules.

What does it mean for ABATE to lose its certification? Can’t the organization offer training on its own? Yes, it can. The issue is that with state certification you can train someone and test them on the riding portion of the motorcyclist licensing process and they can then take that certificate to the DMV and all they need to do to finish getting motorcycle certified is to pass the written test. Without certification, ABATE trainees would need to take the written and driving tests. Because other organizations offer the certification, students would presumably be more inclined to sign up elsewhere.

The other thing it means is that Colorado is likely to be severely short of riding training programs, making it harder for those who want training to find someone nearby who offers it. ABATE was just about the only organization to offer training in several large portions of the state. Those people in particular will be hard hit by this situation.

It’s hard to say what happens from here. I’ll pass along what I hear.

Biker Quote for Today

Never breathe within forty yards of roadkill.

You couldn’t ask for a nicer day for a December 31 ride.

Hey, this year (last year now) people actually got to ride to ABATE of Colorado‘s Last Brass Monkey Run. Always held on December 31 as the last ride of the year, it’s no surprise that many times riding is just not an option. But this year Denver came just one degree short of the record high and it was a warm, sunny day. Yahoo!

I headed west on the V-Strom and while it was warm and the streets were clear in east Denver, where I live, I wondered about out west by the foothills. Golden. But out there it was just as warm and the streets were just as clear. Considering we had a bit of snow just three days ago this had not been a certainty.

As always, it was good to see the folks. I used to attend my ABATE meetings each month but have not done so for a few years, so I only see folks at events like this. The Last Brass Monkey Run used to be an actual poker run but these days it is all held in one place so you get your sheet and then move from station to station picking up your cards. I did well. I got a full house, queens over nines. Could be good.

But no. It was best five of seven cards and both the first place winner and the second place winner had four of a kind. So much for my full house.

They also hand out door prizes. Last year my ticket was the absolute, very last one to be drawn. Think about it. Someone has to have the last ticket drawn, and last year that someone was me. You don’t get much to choose from when literally everyone else has already taken all the good stuff. This year I was still late in the draw but not the very last. I got a card game that we hope our seven-year-old grandson will like. That’s OK, you don’t go to these things looking to bring home a bounty. That’s just a bonus if you do.

Heading home I couldn’t help but notice as I pulled up at a red light that the guy to my left was on his phone. Illegal in Colorado these days. His lane moved faster than mine so I watched as he drifted out of his lane to the left. You dip. Hang up and drive!

But I got home safely and got out of 2025 alive. Obviously you did too. Congratulations to each of us. Here’s to an even better 2026.

Biker Quote for Today

Live Free and Ride

ABATE testimony at the most recent MOST hearing.

If you think the money you pay each year to enhance rider safety should be spent to defer costs for rider training the time to contact your legislative representatives is now. A hearing will be held Wednesday afternoon for the re-authorization of the Colorado MOST (Motorcycle Operator Safety Training) program. The hope is to have the simple re-authorization bill amended to mandate that the money–at least some of it–be used in that manner. I mean, come on, “Training” is in the name. Putting up road signs that say “Motorcyclists use extreme caution” does not constitute training in anybody’s book.

The word from Stump, ABATE of Colorado’s legislative liaison, is that there’s no good way to know when in the afternoon the bill will come up, but it would be good to have at least a few interested members of the public on hand to testify. ABATE members will presumably be there so that base is probably covered. The other thing that matters–what you can do, and should do if you care about this–is to immediately contact your reps to let them know what you want them to do.

This hearing is with the Senate Transportation and Energy committee. Here are the members who need to be contacted.
Faith Winter (Chair) — 303-866-4863 — faith.winter.senate@coleg.gov
Lisa Cutter — 303-866-4859 — lisa.cutter.senate@coleg.gov
Marc Catlin — 303-866-5292 — marc.catlin.senate@coleg.gov
Tony Exum — 303-866-6364 — tony.exum.senate@coleg.gov
Nick Hinrichsen — 303-866-4878 — nick.hinrichsen.senate@coleg.gov
Kyle Mullica — 303-866-4451 — kyle.mullica.senate@coleg.gov
Byron Pelton — 303-866-6360 — byron.pelton.senate@coleg.gov
Cleave Simpson — 303-866-4875 — cleave.simpson.senate@coleg.gov
Tom Sullivan — 303-866-4873 — tom.sullivan.senate@coleg.gov

Stump provided a little background on what’s going on. Here’s part of it:

Also related to our bill, Larry (Montgomery–ABATE’s state director) and I met with Chris Corbo (MOST Director) this week to express ABATE’s concerns with the program. He actually requested the meeting because he said he’s been getting inquiries from Legislators about the MOST Program. The hour and a half meeting was MOSTly good (excuse the pun) but a lot of his answers were, “You have to ask MSF about that.” He conceded that the 9 years till the next sunset review is too long and should be 5 years. He also gave reasons (excuses) why there shouldn’t be subsidies: too much paperwork, too much time to write checks, need another person to do the extra work, abuse by vendors, etc.

So it’s “too much trouble” to do what the program was set up to do. At least this shows that people have been contacting their reps and the reps are pursuing the matter. That’s good news.

Biker Quote for Today

Like dogs, motorcycles are social catalysts that attract a superior category of people.

CSP and ABATE testimony at the hearing. Thanks to Sen. Byron Pelton who came over to me and offered to get a shot from in front of the speakers. How nice!

Wow, did I ever get things wrong. I’m talking about this supposed bill to sunset Colorado’s MOST program and I just got home from the first hearing.

Just as the committee was getting going on another bill that preceded the MOST bill I was sitting with Larry, the state coordinator for ABATE of Colorado, and he handed me the text of the remarks he intended to make to the committee. I was struck by one sentence:

Per the Sunset Review for 2024 the MOST program has been recommended that this continues for 9 more years.

OK, there’s a little grammatical mix-up in there but you get the picture. I asked Larry if the recommendation was to continue MOST and he said yes.

Wow. Oh wow. That’s not what I’ve been telling you. Or anyone I talked to. What’s the deal?

I first got wind of this when I was talking with Stump on December 31 at the Last Brass Monkey Run. I would swear he told me the recommendation was to sunset MOST, but not altogether, just for nine years. And I asked him, for nine years? I thought when a program got sunset it was over, done with, fini. But he said no, it was usually for three years but in this case it’s for nine.

Clearly I misunderstood something Stump said and also as clearly he misheard something I said. My new understanding makes a whole heck of a lot more sense.

So the gist of it all is that they are recommending continuing MOST but ABATE is pushing to have changes made, to get it back more to its original configuration where the money we pay in on license renewals goes to reduce the cost of training for the students. And that issue was raised in the hearing. One senator asked if there was money stashed away for the program that could support this sort of subsidy and Larry told him absolutely yes, there’s more than $1 million sitting there in the account.

The bill was approved by the committee so now I believe it goes on to further development. As in, it does not appear there even is a bill yet, that remains to be written. And now the effort will be to make revisions in the program. That should be interesting.

Meanwhile, here’s another thing Larry told me that was news to me. I had told him that if the program can’t be redirected to subsidizing students taking riding courses then perhaps MOST should be killed. What he told me is that as of about five years ago, the Department of Motor Vehicles no longer administers driving tests when people come in for new licenses. Whether you want a license to drive a car or to ride a motorcycle, you have to go to a third organization to do the driving test. So if MOST went away there would be no system for those third-party trainers/testers to be certified to pass people on their driving tests.

Easy to see why the committee voted unanimously to continue MOST. Crazy that DMV no longer administers driving tests. Great for companies offering driver training.

So fine. Now we sit back and wait to see what in included in the bill when it gets written.

Biker Quote for Today

As addictive as cocaine and twice as expensive.

This is the stuff I’ve accumulated and I don’t even care for this kind of stuff.

You’ve seen them, I know. The guys with leather vests and jackets festooned with pins and patches. Biker paraphernalia. Some guys just love that stuff.

To each his own, I guess. I’m not that kind of guy. But I am a biker, so this stuff inevitably comes my way nevertheless.

That photo above is all the stuff I could find to pull out and display. There’s an AMA Life Member patch, an ABATE of Colorado District 10 (defunct) patch, a Ride with the 40 patch from when that crew came through some years ago, and an OFMC patch. I do actually have an OFMC patch on one of my leather jackets. That’s the only patch I have on anything.

Of course there are the brass nuts from attending ABATE’s Last Brass Monkey Run each December 31. I only found six but I’m sure I have more somewhere.

Then there are the pins. Time was when every year I would receive a pin each from ABATE and the AMA tallying my years of membership. Finally people got wise at both organizations and asked “Do you wish to receive a pin each year?” I said no. Great idea. Save yourselves money and save me accumulating junk I don’t want.

Some people really get into this stuff, I know. That’s great. For you. I’ll pass, thanks.

Biker Quote for Today

Weekend forecast: Motorcycling with no chance of house cleaning or cooking.