Passes & Canyons Blog

Tuesday was looking iffy. Sure the weather forecast said 60 degrees as a high, but it also said snow later and much colder on Wednesday. What if the cold weather came in early?

I was thinking about riding to work but we had just had a bunch of snow and I wasn’t even sure if our own street was clear or not. I intended to take a close look when I came home on Monday but forgot. Then at dinner I mentioned it and Judy said let’s go for a walk after dinner and we can check it out. But then we forgot that.

So Tuesday morning I got up and decided to give it a shot. Of course I wore all the warm gear.

Turned out our street was clear, so no problem getting out of the neighborhood. I knew the main roads would be clear so the only part I had any concern about was the last two miles to the office. While everything else is arterials, that last bit would probably be called a collector street, and not as likely to be clear. Plus, when I rode to work last week it was along there that I encountered a little ice.

I often compose these blog posts in my head as I’m riding and I was envisioning hitting some ice and going down, thinking about a title for the post along the lines of “Not A Good Day To Ride.” But I didn’t need to use that one. And it appeared I might get all the way to work without seeing one single other motorcycle. That’s very unusual, especially on a day with a predicted high of 60. But I did finally see one other bike eventually. Just that one.

I was also wondering about the parking lot. I knew I was likely to run into ice there. Oh well, if avoiding the ice meant I parked in a car space rather than in the motorcycle parking area, so be it. And yes, there was some ice–not a lot–but I just rolled across it safely.

So it was a good ride in. I love the idea of riding the motorcycle to work in February.

Heading home I knew there would be no problem. I still only saw two other bikes. Where were the rest of you guys on Tuesday?

And nobody tried to kill me. Although one person about three cars ahead did start to pull into my lane without looking to see if someone was there. But that was another car he almost hit, not me. Dude, you need to turn your head and look. And if a car can get swallowed up in someone’s blind spot what does that tell you about a motorcycle?

And now it’s cold and snowy again. But have hope: the weekend forecast looks very good. I will be seeing you out there on Saturday, won’t I? I’ll be there.

Biker Quote for Today

Am I the only one around here who doesn’t think twice about riding in the rain?

I guess they’ve gotten pounded out East but here in Colorado we’ve had some gorgeous, warm weather. Of course I had to ride to work on Tuesday.

There was no way I was going out without my electric vest, and was glad for that in the morning. At first I thought I might regret not wearing my heated gloves but my fingers stayed warm enough.

As beautiful a day as it was you might have expected to see a lot of bikes out but I only noticed three, plus two motorcycle cops. Coming home I saw six.

One of the best things of all was that nobody tried to kill me. That doesn’t mean I didn’t encounter stupid drivers. On the way in I was cruising along when a woman decided to change into my lane, which was the left lane. Of course then she didn’t go one bit faster than she had been going in the right-hand lane. Each time we approached a green traffic light she would–with no cars closer in front of her than 150 feet–hit her brakes. And I watched as the cars in front of her got further and further ahead and we missed green lights we should have made. Arrrgh!

Coming home it was warm enough I didn’t turn on the vest. Such a nice day in January!

At one point I came upon a piece of carpet lying in the road, and I thought about stories I’ve heard of guys on bikes going over something like that and having it go flying out under their wheels, kind of like riding on ice. I swerved around that.

And then there was the evening commute idiot–almost the same kind of thing as the morning idiot.

In this case, though, the guy in the right lane had his left turn signal on and so I gave him plenty of room to move over. But he didn’t. After giving way more time than warranted I decided to shoot past him. No way was I going to pass him at an easy pace; sure as I started to do something like that he would have decided that now was the time to change lanes.

As soon as I got ahead of him he did change lanes. And slowed down. I watched him fade away in my mirror. It occurred to me that I was glad he didn’t pull over when I offered to let him because if he had I would now be the guy behind him cursing.

Why are some people so stupid?

So anyway, I was off work on Wednesday and had some errands to run so I did them on the Suzuki. A bit cooler, definitely more windy, but still a really nice day to ride in January. I love Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

If I could fit them on my KLR, would I need to add auto-immune suppression meds to the tank with each fill up? (OK, I don’t quite get this one either but I still thought it was interesting.)

It was surprising that I only saw seven other motorcyclists out on Saturday. It was a great day to ride, in the 50s. I saw joggers in shorts and t-shirts and besides, Sunday was to be cooler with possible snow on Monday. You better believe I got out. Maybe everyone else was watching football.

The weather was fortuitous. Up until the day before there was still ice covering our street. Saturday morning I took a walk down our street to make sure I had a clear path and to figure out what that path was. I also busted up a few bits of ice just to be sure. Then I waited till around noon for the sun to help out a bit more.

This whole bit of icy streets has me wondering. Before Hickenlooper was mayor the city never plowed residential streets. Hickenlooper instituted a policy where they hired contractors with a wide variety of vehicles to make sure all streets got plowed at least once, and it made a huge difference. Has our current mayor Hancock countermanded that directive, feeling that the city can spend that money better elsewhere? I’m not sure I agree with that, but if that decision was made I think it should have at least been announced. Anybody know the answer?

So any time I’m just out riding for the sake of riding I like to try to come up with a theme for the day. Heading out on the Concours I didn’t have one so I headed east on Belleview and turned south on University, figuring to loop back via C-470 and I-25. I thought about staying on University as it arcs on south and east, becoming Lincoln Avenue, and then turning north on I-25 but then I got my theme.

I did take C-470 and I-25 and then I got on the Honda and went right back down I-25 and west on C-470 and got off at University. Then I headed south. When I reached I-25 down there I headed north again to home, got on the V-Strom, right back down I-25 and got off at Lincoln Avenue and took that over to Parker. Then I turned north on CO 83 all the way up to I-225 and then home. Just a bunch of consecutive loops. Sure I’d have rather taken one long ride somewhere further but when you want to squeeze in at least a quick ride on three different bikes you do what works. If the weather cooperates later in the month I can do more. For now at least, January is in the books and all three bikes have been out.

Biker Quote for Today

If you love your motorcycle and let it go… and it comes back… you’re in the middle of a crash.

Wednesday was quite cool, only in the low 40s, but I had the day off from my day job and I had three motorcycles that had not yet had a December ride. Of course I went out.

I knew it was time to break out the cold weather gear, but how much did I really need? One good thing about riding several bikes consecutively is that if you were cold on the first ride you can add more for the second. I definitely wore the electric vest; that was a no-brainer. I chose not to wear my heated gloves. The last couple times I’ve ridden it has been cool and my regular insulated gloves were plenty. I could have worn long underwear or my fleece-lined chaps, or both. I chose the chaps.

The first ride had to be on the V-Strom. When I had intended to take it out over the weekend I still hadn’t found my keys, so it didn’t go out then. This time it got first shot.

I didn’t turn the electric vest on at first but hadn’t gone far when I hit the switch. Yeah, it was definitely chilly. I also notice that my arms were getting chilly. The vest keeps the torso warm but the arms are on their own. And my feet felt a little cool. My legs were great, though. Those chaps have been a blessing every time I’ve ever worn them.

So it was chilly but still a nice day to be out, especially when you consider that most other people were working, while I was out riding my motorcycle. Totally works for me.

By the time I got back from that first ride, though, my fingers were little ice cubes, almost completely numb. Definitely adding the heated gloves for the next ride. I was also thinking about putting some of those chemical heat packs in my boots, though my feet were still only chilly, not cold like my hands.

Second bike out was the Concours. I figured I’d head southwest, over toward Sedalia and back up via Happy Canyon Road.

I forgot the chemical heat for my feet but they did OK. The heated gloves made all the difference in the world. I set them on the second-highest setting because I didn’t know how much charge they had and didn’t want to drain them before I rode the Honda. Plus, it’s OK to have slightly cool hands and that is probably better than having hot, sweaty hands. And either is better than ice cubes.

Another really nice ride. I do enjoy riding motorcycles. How is it that some people don’t understand what a wonderful thing this is?

I had let the day slip away, though, so by the time I was heading home the commuter traffic was already building and the temperature was already dropping. Plus, the gloves were running out of juice. I have charged them periodically over the warm months, just to be kind to the batteries, but had not done so in the last month or so. By the time I stopped to gas up one had died altogether and the other was flashing that it was on its way out.

So the Honda will have to wait for the weekend before it gets to go out. Darn, I’m going to have to ride one of my motorcycles again in a few days!

Biker Quote for Today

Two wheels take me faster than my stress can go.

Can you believe it’s November? This is the point where it often gets hard to squeeze in a ride. It seemed for a long time as though it snowed every year on Halloween, but not this year and not the last couple years. And once you got that cold blast in late October, winter would really set in in November.

Knowing how this has worked so often in the past, and also that the forecast for Monday said snow was possible, I figured Saturday was my golden opportunity. Although a bit overcast, it was warm and very pleasant–a good day to ride. And as anyone who knows me is aware, I make it a point to ride each of my bikes every single month, and if I didn’t take advantage of such a nice day in November, and things then turned ugly, I would be kicking myself.

First I climbed on the V-Strom. Another thing that happens every month is that it is time to pick up wine. For a wedding gift all these years ago someone gave us a membership in the Wine of the Month Club at the Vineyard, a nice little wine store in Cherry Creek. We have kept renewing ever since and it makes the Vineyard a natural destination. I’m sure I show up there on one of the bikes at least six months out of every year. I did it again on Saturday.

That trip took me to the north and a bit west. Getting on the Concours next I turned southeast. I like to ride across the top of Cherry Creek Dam because the view up there is so nice. I cruised on out on Parker Road as far as Arapahoe Road and then went west, then north on Peoria because I wanted to come up alongside Cherry Creek State Park on the south. I was hoping to get a good photo of fall coloration and the result–not as good as I hoped–can be seen above.

Home again, and then it was time for the CB750. I headed south this time, thinking southwest but not sure where.

Going south on DTC Boulevard I came to Orchard. Unlike Belleview and Arapahoe, the major streets to the north and south, Orchard does not go through from I-25 to points west, even though it is a major street east of I-25. I’ve known this for a long time and so I’ve avoided that stretch of Orchard for many, many years. So many, in fact, that I had forgotten where exactly Orchard does go, and why it is impassable. What better time than when you’re just out cruising and exploring to find out. I went west on Orchard.

At first it fooled me because it was at least a straight, through street, although it did narrow down to two lanes west of Holly. But it was a pleasant ride through Greenwood Village, one of the ritzier enclaves for the folks with more money than the rest of us. It was the kind of place that made me think, “Gosh, this could be a nice place to live if I had about eight times as much money as I do have.”

Then it started twisting. I don’t mean that in terms of “the twisties” that motorcyclists love. I mean that in terms of Orchard coming to an end and forcing a turn north on South Jackson and then west again on Long Road, followed by a T-intersection where going right said “No exit” so it had to be a left. Now I was totally on residential streets and shortly I was back on Orchard again, where it again looked like a major street. I know, though, that if I had turned east there on Orchard it would have very quickly dissolved into residential streets again. So now I remember why you don’t ever take Orchard when you want to get through that area. They don’t want you to, so they made it as impractical as they possibly could. You get to do that when you’re designing residential neighborhoods for the upper crust.

So I headed west on Orchard the short distance to University and then north on University to Belleview, east on Belleview, and on home. Not a particularly long ride but an interesting, enjoyable one nonetheless, and all three bikes had been ridden in November. OK, bring it on Mom Nature–I plan to ride more in November but even if you make it impossible for me I’ve already got you beat this month. December will be a whole other issue. (But you just wait; I’ll beat you then, too. I always do.)

Biker Quote for Today

Ever get lost? You know, that good kind of lost — come to a dirt road intersection and you have no idea where you are or which way to turn? I like when that happens!

Is there anything sweeter as a motorcyclist than getting turned on to a really nice new road? Friggs did me that favor this past weekend.

Friggs has a brand new Harley Road King and he understandably has an urge to get out and ride it. He called and asked if I was interested in a ride and of course I said yes.

I thought the plan was to head up Deer Creek Canyon, on over to Conifer and to Evergreen and somewhere from there. However, we headed up Deer Creek Canyon and about half way up we made a left turn. This was–apparently–Deer Creek Road, although it curves around and later becomes Pleasant Park Road. So call it what you will.

We cruised along up this canyon–or gulch, or whatever you want to call it, a drainage–and it showed once again what someone who flies a plane told me once: There are people living all over up in the hills. It doesn’t matter where you go, there are a lot of houses up there.

As you might expect, at one point we left the canyon floor and started climbing the wall. Switchbacks, of course, steep slopes, and no, nobody living along this stretch of the road. And then we were getting up high and the view was getting pretty nice. What a sweet road.

We finally did get up on top, though I’m not sure what we were on top of. A ridge? A hill? A plateau? All I knew was that now the road straightened out and leveled off.

Not for long, though. We soon started down and the road got curvy again. At this point I was assuming we were going to hit U.S. 285 at some point, but where? I didn’t care, I was just enjoying the ride, but I had to be curious.

On and on we went and then there we were. We came out at the old former Safeway store up in the Conifer area. This was that road you see when you’re going toward Bailey on U.S. 285 that goes left from that little shopping center, and that maybe you’ve thought at times about following. Now I know.

So the rest of the ride was pretty nice, too. I mean, it’s Indian summer in Colorado so the weather was gorgeous. How could it not be a good ride? We headed over to Evergreen, on to Bergen Park, took County Road 65 to hit I-70 just east of Floyd Hill, and then east on the interstate. Not for long, though. We got off at Genesee and ran over to the top of Lookout Mountain.

This is where things sometimes got dicey. Everybody on two wheels was out this day and that means there were a lot of bicyclists. That had been true on Pleasant Park Road, too, but there wasn’t much other traffic. Here there was a lot of everything. On more than one occasion I moved to the center to pass someone on a bicycle only to find that a car coming the other way was straddling the center line to pass a bicyclist going the other way. Time to get a little close to the bicycle.

You just had to pay attention, though, and all was fine. The view coming down Lookout Mountain was typically spectacular and then we were in Golden. Friggs headed north, I headed south, and that was it for a sweet late season ride in the hills.

Biker Quote for Today

Go that way really fast and if something gets in your way, turn.

I wanted to see if the road through Dinosaur National Monument was rideable on a dual sport bike and found that indeed it was. Of course, just a couple weeks before we went there Dom Chang rode that route on his Ural sidecar rig but OK, he had three wheels, plus, Dom goes anywhere Dom wants to go. There’s no one more hard core.

So I’m here to tell you what the road is like. We started where County Road 14 takes off from U.S. 40 at Elk Creek, went along the Yampa Bench Road to get to the Echo Park campground, and later went up the Echo Park Road to the rim where we rejoined the pavement. I was hoping to embed a Google map showing the route but for some reason, although after much hassle I finally got the route mapped, whenever I click the embed button it changes the route. So here’s the link that will take you to see the true route.

Heading in it’s your basic gravel road. Washboard in some spots, loose gravel here and there, and even a bit of sand occasionally. But no big deal. You wind around through some private land on the county road and then pass a sign and fence telling you you’re entering the monument. You’re climbing as you go and then come over a ridge and see the Yampa canyon laid out before you. As you descend and near the river–still out of sight–there are some wonderful views.

By this time you’re on the Yampa Bench Road. It runs along the so-called bench below the mountains to the south and the gorge of the river to the north. At times you can see the river but much of the time you can’t. There are three viewpoints, however, that you can turn off and go down, and then hike the rest of the way to the cliff above the river. These are worth it. Particularly the first you reach coming this direction, Wagon Wheel Point overlook, is so incredible that if you came to this park and only saw this one thing your trip would be worthwhile. Ride out to the point as far as the road goes and then walk all the way out to the point. You won’t be sorry.

Other than the overlooks there is nothing else remarkable about the Yampa Bench Road. It seems certain that it would be impassable in wet weather because you would get into some of the gummy red dirt that this part of the country is famous for. But if you have a cloudburst, just wait it out, give the road a little time to dry out, and you can go on. Plus there was one mudhole we encountered. Not big but messy.

After 42 miles you come to the intersection where the road to the top of the canyon goes off to the left. Stay on the other road and another 4 miles brings you to Echo Park. This is just a short walk from the confluence of the Yampa and Green Rivers. And yes, the echoes are amazing. Plus, the campground is surrounded by cliffs rising straight up about 1,000 feet or more. Gorgeous and awe-inspiring. And incredibly peaceful. Stay a night or two if you can, walk out to the confluence, and relax. We did.

Leaving a couple days later we took the Echo Park Road to the rim. This road they tell you straight out that it is impassable in the rain. I assumed that meant mud but in fact it is quite a good gravel road. What makes it impassable is that there are a dozen or more washes where, if it had been raining for awhile and the water had time to run and collect, these washes will be flooded. You wouldn’t even consider taking your motorcycle through that water, although some idiots would probably think their SUV would make it.

I emailed the park superintendent before we went–I work for the National Park Service so I have all this information at my fingertips–and I asked him about this road. His response was simple: Yes, the road is impassable when it’s raining. Just wait for the rain to pass and for things to dry out and you’ll be fine. Have a great trip.

It didn’t rain while we were there, in fact the weather could not have been more perfect. The road up to the rim gets steep and the view back into the canyon is superb. We went out as far as the road in the rim goes and saw spectacular scenery. We had a fabulous time. And it’s funny because when Dom was there just two weeks before he was unimpressed.

Bottom line: The monument is okay, perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the sights in other parts of Colorado, with majestic mountains in the distance and towering rock formations to pose my motorcycles in front of.

We thought of Dom a hundred times while we were there. We couldn’t have disagreed more.
He concludes saying, “Now that I’ve seen the canyon portion of this monument, I probably won’t be coming back. I guess that’s the criteria for a location isn’t it? Would you return willingly?”

Yes!!! We absolutely would! We loved Dinosaur. And yes you definitely can do it on a motorcycle. Just don’t try it on your Harley bagger. Although I am acquainted with a certain old BMW street bike that has made this trip.

Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
Adventure riders have unique lodging option in northwest Colorado

Biker Quote for Today

There is nothing I won’t ride on your bike.

We went to Dinosaur National Monument this past weekend for three days and loved it. Besides seeing the place, I wanted to see how the roads would be if you were on a bike–a dual sport bike of course. I already had a pretty good idea you wouldn’t want to take those roads on a street bike.

We came in at the east end of the park, turning off U.S. 40 at Elk Springs onto the Bear Valley Road or County Road 14. From here to the Echo Park campground, where we were headed, it’s about 46 miles of gravel–some of it quite rough. This road later becomes the Yampa Bench Road, which runs alongside–but way above–the Yampa River.

I’ll tell you about the road some other time; it’s definitely doable on a bike as long as it’s not rainy.

What I want to tell you about now is the guys who showed up in the campsite next to ours our second night there. We had gone up on the rim for the day and when we came back in the evening there were four motorcycles right next to us. Judy headed back to our site and I plunged right in, having a good time shooting the bull with these guys for half an hour or so.

They were out of Texas and they connect with each other for these rides through ADV, the Adventure Rider forum. They had trailered up to Oak Creek, Colorado, and took off riding from there. Between them there was a smaller KTM–not one of those big new Adventures–plus a Kawi KLR 650, I believe a Suzuki DR650, and another bike I thought he told me was a BMW but the guy is a big Triumph fanatic so I’m not so sure. It definitely wasn’t one of the big, newer BMW adventure bikes. I don’t know; I just don’t know every bike on sight.

They’re on a 2,800-mile ride with no time constraints. They’ll take it day by day. One guy told me he’s got the whole month set aside but expects they’ll do it in about two weeks. Their route was prepared for them by a fellow in Utah who sells these sorts of plans. That’s an interesting concept. Heck, I map out Colorado rides for people frequently and I don’t charge a dime. I don’t plan to start charging, either.

Taking off from Oak Creek, which is south of Steamboat Springs on CO 131, their route guy did get them off to a good start by sending them over Dunckley Pass and Ripple Creek Pass. They were heading into Utah, then up into Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and then back to Colorado. And they’re doing most of it on the dirt.

These are not a bunch of young guys, either. They all have grey hair. The first one we encountered was heading to the outhouse just after they arrived and he said hello and “I’m getting too old for this.” Apparently not too, too old, though.

Their trip got off to an inauspicious start when one of them improperly engaged his clutch right at the start and before he had rolled eight inches, he told me, he dropped the bike. And then, they said, the guy we had met hadn’t gone a quarter mile on the dirt when he went down. Some people were starting to have reservations.

They got rolling though and things smoothed out. Coming over Dunckley and Ripple Creek, one said, it was gorgeous but the road was so rough you couldn’t look at the scenery, you had to keep watching the road. Bill and John and I rode over that pass once about 25 years ago and I do remember it being so rough that I didn’t remember much about the scenery. It’s truly is gorgeous, by the way. I’ve been over it in cars a number of times so I’ve had a chance to look.

Not sure quite what their route was from Meeker, where they came out, but they came into Dinosaur the same way we did, on the Yampa Bench Road. I believe they said one or two more bikes went down along this stretch. I remember there was one really muddy spot and that gave someone some trouble.

They made it in, though, and were thrilled to be out on the first night of this great trip. The next morning we all packed up around the same time and Judy and I left first. We were all going out via the road up to the rim so I was pleased to be ahead of them so we could stop and I could get some shots looking down on them as they came up the road. I picked a good vantage point, got shots of them below, then more shots of them as they passed us and went on up. We waved and they waved and that was the last we saw of them.

Biker Quote for Today

A good rider can overcome marginal equipment. However, even the best equipment can’t overcome a marginal rider.