Passes & Canyons Blog

Getting ready to ride.

ABATE of Colorado is a motorcycle rights organization, and one of the strongest voices on motorcycle-related issues that we have down at the state capitol.

Of course a lot of what ABATE deals with at the capitol is dictated by what bills are introduced each session. Nevertheless, it is useful to also set priorities as to which issues we want to push to have addressed. Stump is our legislative liaison down there and he has asked the group what we think the priorities should be for the next session, which will start in January. He offered six and would like to hear how we would rank them, plus I’m sure if someone offered another one that made everyone say, “Well, of course!”, then that would be welcome, too.

So I figured, why not throw this out there for anyone I can reach to offer their thoughts, too. I’m going to list the six, with a bit of explanation, and would love it if you would leave a comment with your thoughts. Thanks.

Lane-splitting: Although it has been allowed there for years, California just became the first state to officially make lane-splitting legal. This allows you to go up the middle between cars when traffic is either stopped or going extremely slow. I don’t really need to explain this further, do I?

The MOST program: The Motorcycle Operator Safety Training program was originally set up as a way to encourage riders, or especially prospective riders, to take training courses so they can become better, more competent, and presumably safer motorcyclist. The idea is that we all pay a couple bucks extra when we renew our plates and licenses each year and that money goes to reduce the cost for the trainee.

The Colorado Department of Transportation, which administers MOST, may argue differently among riders it is generally considered that MOST has strayed far from its mission and needs to either be revamped or eliminated. This is especially pertinent this year because it is up for sunset review. Is the riding community going to support keeping the program alive or will we push our elected representatives to kill it?

Autocycles: These are this proliferating group of three-wheeled vehicles that, because legislation does not keep up with society, are now classified as motorcycles. This classification creates a number of problems. When crashes occur, even though the factors involved may be completely unique to the three-wheelers, they get counted in motorcycling statistics. Plus, to ride one you might need a motorcycle rider designation on your driver’s license, which hardly seems appropriate if you’re riding one of those little Polaris Slingshot things.

There is movement all across the country to create a new classification of vehicle, the autocycle. Certainly this is something we should support here, but how much of a legislative priority is it considering that so far none of our legislators seems to be pushing it on their own.

Red light bill: Not all traffic signals that require triggering by vehicles to make the light turn are capable of detecting motorcycles. You can sit there for a long time waiting for it to turn. At some point you really ought to be able to go through the red without fear of being ticketed.

Right-of-way enhanced penalties: I posted on Monday about this Michigan legislator who was killed on his motorcycle when a car turned in front of him. He had the right-of-way and that driver violated his right-of-way. We all know this happens to us way too often, and it is often due to inattention or distraction. Should those people face extra harsh penalties for their negligence that led to a rider being killed? As it is, reports are all too common about these drivers getting fined $50 or some other such minor slap on the wrist.

Motorcycle-only checkpoints: Some states like to set up checkpoints where all they do is pull over motorcyclists to see if they have a valid motorcycle operator’s license and perhaps to do equipment safety checks on the bikes. They only pull over bikers. And they don’t always take motorcyclists’ special needs for stable footing and such when they select the places they’re going to do this. There is pressure to have these profiling events banned; some states have already done so.

That’s the list. What are your priorities?

Biker Quote for Today

It’s not a phase, it’s my life. It’s not a hobby, it’s my passion. It’s not for everyone, it is for me.

It's soon going to be time to head for the hills for some color.

Judy was gone all last week which meant her car was not in the garage. That allowed me to park my V-Strom right next to my car, rather than perpendicular to both our cars at the head of the garage. That in turn made it so much easier to get the bike out and ride it.

Guess what: I rode it a lot more than I otherwise would have.

Normally, to get it out I need to move one of the cars out and then to get it back in I have to muscle it backward into position, with all the typical jockeying that that entails, although I’ve gotten pretty good at it so there’s usually not a lot of jockeying. The point is that while I might opt to hop on the bike to make a quick run to the grocery store, it’s just not worth it when getting it out and in is such a hassle. When there was no hassle I did use it for those sorts of quick trips. It was so nice!

Getting either of my other bikes out is equally as involved. They are stored next to the garage in a workshop/storage area. I have to go in there from the garage and open the door, then roll a bike out, then go back in and pull the door shut and lock it, then exit through the garage. And if I want to ride the bike that is in front, that means I have to roll the back bike out, roll the front bike out, then roll the back bike back in. Again, it’s just not worth it for a quick run to the store.

This is one reason I’ve thought for a long time that I’d like to have a scooter. I figure with a scooter I could figure out some place and manner for parking it that would make it a lot more quickly and easily accessible, so I could take it on these quick runs.

Now, though, I see that the real answer is just to get Judy to agree to park her car on the driveway all the time. And really not even all the time; she could park in the garage when it’s snowy because I don’t ride when there is snow on the streets. I’m sure she’ll be happy to do that for me, don’t you think?

Right, me neither. Oh well, it was nice for a few days.

And Other Doings
Having this website and this blog mean that I get a lot of email from a lot of different people about a lot of different things. One thing I’m always getting is proposals from people who want a link from my site to theirs. Some of them really make me scratch my head. A recent one was from a guy with a site where they say they will buy your motorcycle from you. “We buy any bike,” they say. Now, that could be something of real interest to many of you except for one thing: these guys are in the UK. It’s true, of course, that some of my readers are just about anywhere you can name. The traffic to the site comes from all over the world. But the majority of traffic is from the U.S. Doesn’t matter. I get a lot of these sorts of requests from the UK. Go figure.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding motorcycles is like taking drugs . . . bikes should come with a warning label that reads “Warning: Riding a motorcycle is addictive. It will change your life forever.”

John at least knows I stop at the state line and understands why.

I was riding west on I-70 a few years ago with Bret and Randy and I had a flat just east of Rifle. I was in the rear so it was not immediately apparent to them that I was not with them any more. To make a long story short, they made all the wrong decisions and ended up leaving me stranded. When I was able to rejoin them and the rest of the guys very late the next day, neither of them had a word of apology to offer and I was a bit miffed.

If you ride with a bunch of guys for a while you get to where you know who you can trust and who you can’t. While an apology was not received but would have been appreciated, Bret has nevertheless had several opportunities to demonstrate that he took the lesson to heart and has changed his ways. I feel like I can trust Bret now.

Not so Randy.

On this recent OFMC trip there were three times when common biker etiquette was called for and did not come. I’ve spoken many times about how the OFMC is a group that seriously lacks the discipline many who ride insist on. There are guys who do not ride in staggered formation, or even stay in any one position in the road, and there is one guy who target fixates on the rear bumper of the guy in front of him, getting way too close. For those reasons, I prefer to ride last. I can leave as much room ahead of me as I desire and don’t have to worry about anyone behind me doing something stupid. The downside is that if anything happens to me, I’m dependent on the guy in front of me noticing my absence.

One day of this trip I was riding sweep with Friggs right in front of me. We were nearing Cortez when something metallic fell off his bike, without his notice. I stopped to pick it up; it was the rear shifter off his Harley. I stuck it in my jacket and took off. According to normal biker etiquette, Friggs should have been paying attention behind him, and if he had been he would have noticed I was not there. Then he should have slowed down a bit to see if he could spot me, and if not, he should have pulled over and waited, going back ultimately if I never showed up. And that should have started a similar chain reaction ahead of him.

Have I ever mentioned that Friggs is Mr. Oblivious? Friggs truly seems to live in his own world, a world that only occasionally intersects with the one the rest of us live in. It’s like he turns off his brain and just becomes a sheep. You lead, I’ll follow. Don’t ask any more of me than that.

So they reached Cortez and John and Bill decided to pull into a gas station. At this particular station, if you pull in and take a hard hook to the right you can find some welcome shade. Friggs, who had never noticed I was not behind him, did not stop at the turn-in to make sure I saw that they were turning–another violation of etiquette. Fortunately, I was anticipating they might pull off somewhere so I was looking carefully and I did spot them. But I could easily have ridden right by. Thanks Friggs.

We left there and headed into Utah, toward Monticello. I stopped at the state line to shoot photos for the website, thus dropping back again. Randy was right in front of me. It only took a minute but I never caught up with the group until Monticello, where I found them pulled over by a park in the shade. They didn’t stop for me, they had stopped for lunch. If I had broken down I would have been 16 miles behind them before they noticed.

We went on to Moab that day and the next we backtracked a bit to Utah 46/Colorado 90 over the shoulder of the Manti-La Sal range and again I stopped to shoot pictures at the state line. Randy was in front of me again. This time I flashed my high beam off and on but, again, he didn’t notice I was not there. It was 19 miles before they came to a bridge under reconstruction with a traffic signal controlling the single lane. It was only when they stopped at the red light that they noticed there was no Ken. So they waited and I showed up.

So yes, I bring some of this on myself by stopping the way I do, but hey guys, this is just not acceptable. But I know who in this group I can trust and who I can’t, and I don’t see the bad apples changing any time soon. At least I’m forewarned.

Biker Quote for Today

A long ride is the answer to a question you will soon forget.

Going up I-25 on your bike? Go ahead and use the HOV lane.

I got a bit more information on the push to exempt motorcycles from needing transponders to ride in HOV lanes without paying fees or having to get a transponder. The intent is clear and undisputed but the problem stems from not getting input from the public when the system was designed.

Carol Downs went with her husband, Bruce, and Stump to see how the systems of cameras and tracking works that enables the new system of toll lanes. Everyone had assumed up to that time that it would be simple to just recognize a motorcycle and send that file to the trash, with no dunning notice sent to the owner of that license plate.

Not so easy, Carol told me. While it easy enough to recognize a motorcycle from the photos, the photos feed through to the people charged with issuing the fee statements from the entire system with no way for them to tell if this rider is in the HOV lane on I-25 or on the E-470 toll road. If you’re on the toll road you have to pay a toll, no matter what kind of vehicle you’re in/on. If you’re in an HOV lane you don’t. But if they can’t tell what road you’re on they can’t just trash your file, unless they are willing to let some riders use the toll lanes for free. And maybe until they get this fixed that is exactly what they should do.

Funny how easy it could have been if there had been public input. ABATE would surely have gone to any hearing and raised the very same issue that was raised after the fact. And the software could have been designed from the very beginning to deal with this situation.

In the meantime, ABATE has been assured that any rider who wrongly receives notice of a fee to be paid can have that fee canceled. And in fact, one rider, who is not an ABATE member, contacted ABATE about this very thing and when ABATE spoke to the tracking company that fee was dropped. Not that the person who called decided to join ABATE to show their support for this kind of action, or even bothered to say thanks, but the group was looking for just that sort of situation in order to push the matter.

And then Larry Montgomery, the ABATE metro region coordinator, told me he deliberately rode his bike in the HOV lane its full length up I-25 just to see if he would get a letter in the mail. To date he has not.

In the meantime, the High-Performance Transportation Enterprise, which operates the tolling system, can’t get started on redesigning their software until they get the go-ahead from the Colorado Department of Transportation. And CDOT is entangled in all sorts of bureaucratic issues so there’s no telling when that will happen. But go ahead, ride in the HOV lanes. And if they send you a fee statement, give them a call and tell them to cancel it.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcyclist: A person willing to take a container of flammable liquid, place it on top of a hot moving engine, and then put the whole lot between their legs.

You still need a transponder to ride free in the HOV lane. How quickly will CDOT fix that problem?

You may be wondering why the whole issue of motorcycles currently needing transponders to ride free in HOV lanes has slipped from sight. I certainly was. The last I had heard (and passed along) was that various legislators had taken a big interest in the subject and were applying big pressure on the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to rectify the situation, now.

So when I have a question I ask. I emailed Stump, the legislative liaison for ABATE of Colorado, with this query:

Hey Stump, I’m wondering whatever became of the effort to get this HOV lane thing changed. Last I heard the rep or senator–can’t remember which–was pressing CDOT and/or the company to make immediate changes. Where has that gone? Thanks for the update.

And I promptly received this reply:

Hi Ken,

Bruce and I have been in contact with E470, the agency that monitors the tolls and must make the changes. We actually had a tour of the facility to better understand the entire process. E470 is waiting for the “OK – Go Ahead” from CDOT before they can make the changes. Then it should only take a couple of weeks, per the person who will actually make the computer changes. It’s actually a pretty involved process as we learned form our tour. Bruce has been in contact with the executive director of CDOT inquiring what’s taking so long and we expect another update shortly. I’ll keep you updated. Thanks for your concern.

Stump

Now you know as much as I do. I’m sure we’re all curious how quickly CDOT will move.

Biker Quote for Today

Happiness keeps you sweet, long rides keep you strong, sorrow keeps you human, life keeps you humble, riding keeps you growing. But motorcycles keep you going.

A bunch of people tried to shame the mother who let her little girl ride.

I happened to see this and thought it was kind of interesting.

It seems a girl of seven was filmed riding on the back of a motorcycle and someone posted the video. Then the stuff hit the fan.

While many people gave it a thumbs-up, others said the mother should be charged with child abuse or something for putting her child at risk like that. They tried to shame her on social media. The mother has responded by organizing a biker parents rally this weekend to promote the idea that “Kids Are Bikers Too.”

We are having a day of fun with our family: blood, bikers, and supporters to spread awareness that KIDS are bikers too. Everyone is welcome to come out and share the love of riding.

The mom, Mallory Torres, initially responded to the attempted shaming with this comment.

Some of you may have seen this picture on Facebook, and some of you may have even seen this in person…This is my 7 year old daughter riding home from school on a motorcycle. Yes. She’s 7, and she’s on a motorcycle. ‘Why?’ Some of you may ask… Because I love my daughter. That’s right… I LOVE MY DAUGHTER and she loves to ride, so I allow her to ride on the back of a motorcycle in full gear with my boyfriend who has 20+ years of experience.

So what do you think of the whole thing? I know that I would have been totally thrilled to get to ride on a motorcycle when I was that age.

At the same time, that image of the two of them on that sportbike makes me a little edgy. If there was a sissy bar of some kind, a backrest, to help keep her on I’d feel a little better about it. I know Judy has not been comfortable on any of my bikes until I got something on there behind her. Or if there were something substantial for the girl to grip, rather than just putting her arms around the boyfriend’s waist.

Clearly I disagree with the folks who would say no child should be allowed on a motorcycle at all. Heck, I think having a kid riding their own bike at five is a great thing at the dirt track or somewhere else where that is appropriate.

Anyway, I just thought the whole thing was interesting and thought you might think so, too.

Biker Quote for Today

If you don’t like motorcycles then you probably won’t like me, and I’m OK with that.