Passes & Canyons Blog

The Civilian Top Gun competition a couple years ago.

There are a couple things coming up very soon that I want to direct your attention to.

First is the 5th annual Civilian Top Gun Rider Competition. The non-civilian Top Gun competition is for motorcycle cops. That’s an annual exhibition that is really good, with those guys putting their big cruiser bikes through tight turns that most people can’t even do on a small bike.

So this other event is for the rest of us, but don’t think for a minute that that means the riding you’ll see is second-rate. You don’t have to be a cop to know how to ride really, really well.

This thing will be taking place this coming weekend, Sept. 20-21, at Fay Myers Motorcycle World, 9700 E. Arapahoe. And it’s free–no admission charge. Apparently it will be going on both days so cruise on down, and prepare to feel like you really aren’t that good a rider after all, no matter what your ego would like you to believe.

The other event is a week later, Saturday, Sept. 28. This is the Small Bike Ride.

Todd Wallis is the organizer of this event, which is in its fourth year. Todd is a guy who likes to restore old bikes, and he particularly likes the smaller ones. So he put together this event–it’s just a ride; go have fun–for old bikes with engines 250cc or smaller. Or, if you ride a pre-WWII bike of any size you’re welcome, too.

Riders will be starting out from a spot in Deer Creek Canyon, 9880 West Deer Creek Canyon Road, to be exact. The ride starts at 9 a.m. and will be cruising–rather slowly–through the hills, for about 100 miles.

So go have fun.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle wit and wisdom, #28

Biker Quote for Today

Think of your thumper as a big pump, happily sucking and blowing down the road.

The road as it descends to the north, toward Silt and New Castle.

OK now, before I was so rudely interrupted by this OFMC motorcycle trip I was going to tell you about the road to Silt from down around Vega State Park. Back to where we left off.

As I had described, we had turned off the McClure Pass road (CO 133) to cruise a gravel road that runs over to Collbran, with Vega State Park on the way. After camping overnight at the park we were planning to backtrack a few miles and take the road that runs north to Silt.

In the morning, though, before heading out, we went around Vega Lake and stopped at the Vega Lodge to check it out as a potential overnight destination for the OFMC. It was a nice place with good rates so I have since told John that he ought to consider adding it as a stop on some future trip.

While talking with the lady who runs the place we mentioned we were planning to go back east a bit and take the road to Silt.

“Oh, we hate that road,” she said. “We go to Collbran and take the Debeque cut-off.” She told us it was a bad road in good weather and in bad weather it gets “really greasy.”

But the weather was good and we were not planning on being in any kind of hurry so off we went.

For quite a ways the road was not bad at all. It climbed a bit and we got up fairly high, and then came over the crest and started down. (You can see what I mean in the photo.) That was where things got quite a bit worse. It was obvious that cars and trucks going the other way had had struggles getting up this hill in the wet. In places there were ruts in the road dug by four-wheel-drive tires in mud and the going was pretty rough. Still, there was plenty of smooth road surface if you took your time and avoided the ruts. I definitely would not want to be on this road going either direction is a rainstorm, though. You could really see what she meant by “greasy.” Slick road surface that would give no traction at all when wet. Bad news.

But the weather was good and we had a nice trip. The road went down quite a ways and then we started running into farmland. The road was paved as we got further north and we reached a T intersection. Go left and it took you to Silt. Go right and it took you to New Castle. It’s called the road to Silt but there’s really no reason to go to Silt unless you plan to head west on I-70. If you were going east, as we were, you might as well turn right. We did and it was a nice run to New Castle.

And then it was time to do some slabbing. All good things do come to an end.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
OFMC dips into New Mexico

Biker Quote for Today

The destination is not important, only the ride there…

The V-Strom on Phantom Canyon Road.

I’ve known about the Phantom Canyon road for years but had never been on it until Saturday. Chalk up one more first on the V-Strom.

There are two roads leading up from Canon City to the Cripple Creek/Victor area. One is the Shelf Road, which I have been on before, and the other is the Phantom Canyon road.

On the last night out of this year’s OFMC ride we stayed in Canon City. Brett and Randy got going early wanting to get home to Denver as quickly as possible. John was heading back to Montrose, and Dennis, Friggs, Bill, and I weren’t in such a hurry to get home and decided to get there via Cripple Creek. As John headed west, Dennis, Bill, and Friggs headed north, following the pavement. I headed east and then north on the gravel.

The Phantom Canyon road is an old narrow-gauge rail bed so it is narrow and twisty and goes through some gorgeous country. At first it was very smooth, the sort of thing a street bike could handle easily, but up close to Victor it got rougher, particularly where the water runs across the road and eats trenches. It was nothing the V-Strom couldn’t handle with ease but again, a street bike could have done it. In fact, as I went up the canyon I encountered several bikes going down. The first were two dirt bikes, so of course they were fine. Then there was Can-Am Spyder and two trikes. With three wheels they were fine. And then there was a couple on a Harley. I’m sure as long as they took it easy and picked their path along they did just fine, too.

The canyon is very tight with steep walls at first, opening out later into something a bit more spacious. While the road does not show any “improvements” over the basic rail bed there are a few bridges that are clearly much more recent. And there are a couple railroad tunnels that give you an idea just how small those old trains must have been, because they would have been tight for two bigger motorcycles passing in opposite directions. In fact, much of the road is one lane and while a car and a bike could pass, two cars could not have. My biggest concern was not the road surface so much as the thought that a car might come fast around a blind curve and we might have an encounter. But that didn’t happen. A few cars going the other way were moving a bit fast on the more open stretches but on the tight curves it seemed everyone recognized that taking it slow was mandatory.

So this was the third time on this trip that I took the gravel while the other guys stayed on the asphalt. That totally works for me. I’m not keen on riding in such a big group to start with, and the reason I bought this dual-sport bike was to go places I would never go on a bike before. My wishes are now coming true.

Biker Quote for Today

Where a motorcycle takes you is more important than where you take it.

V-Strom on Kebler Pass.

It’s not a challenge in any way but I’ve now ridden Kebler Pass on the V-Strom.

After spending the night at Powderhorn, at a ski condo, we ran over Grand Mesa and down to Cedaredge and turned east. At Hotchkiss all the other guys headed south through Crawford, to the north rim of the Black Canyon, over to Gunnison and up to Crested Butte. Me, I kept going at Hotchkiss, through Paonia, and turned off to ride Kebler Pass to CB.

I told these guys Kebler is a great gravel road but I had no idea just how great it would be at this time. My friend Kevin, in Gunnison, who I called once I got here, said they went hog wild with the mag chloride on Kebler this year and it’s practically paved. I would agree. Heck, there was even a guy on a bicycle. You don’t ride bicycles on really bad gravel roads.

Of course I’ve been on Kebler before, too, so the only thing noteworthy about this whole thing is that once again I’m getting out on unpaved roads–the reason I bought this dual-sport bike.

I did have a little trepidation heading for Kebler, however. Talking with a guy at a gas station at Cedaredge, he told me they had had a lot of rain lately and there had been mud slides and roads had been blocked. He thought Kebler Pass might be bad. He told me to take it easy because I might come around a curve to find a boulder lying in the road.

Then I pulled off at a station in Paonia and spoke to some guys there who were on dual-sports and they said they had just been over Kebler recently and it was the best they’d ever seen it. That was reassuring. And they were right.

So it wasn’t an adventure, but it was fun nevertheless. And of course it was gorgeous. Kebler Pass runs through some terrific country and if you haven’t been up there you owe yourself that treat. And if you’re on a Harley, do it anyway. You won’t find a gravel road in better condition.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you won’t ride down a gravel road.

The OFMC on the road last year.

OK, I know I intended to tell about the road to Silt here but that’s going to have to wait. It’s time for the annual OFMC trip.

We leave on Friday. That’s tomorrow as this is published. There will be nine this year, at least at times. Everyone is leaving at different times, and in some cases different days.

Most of us are heading up on Friday to Poudre Canyon, where we’ll be staying at a lodge in the canyon. The next day we’ll ride several passes to get to Dillon, where Johnathon will be joining us after his band plays a gig there.

We’ll head up through Kremmling and over Gore Pass and ultimately to Meeker. Next day our destination will be Powder Horn ski area. I don’t even know where Powder Horn is.

From there we head to Crested Butte, then to Pagosa Springs, and then into New Mexico to Eagle Nest. This will be our only night out of Colorado.

After that it’s back into Colorado, to Canon City, and on Saturday some will head home while others stay out one last night at Cripple Creek.

What we’re doing here is trying to vary things a bit. We’ve been riding all around Colorado for so many years that it’s hard to go some place new. If you leave Denver and ride a reasonable time that puts you in a fairly consistent arc of possible destinations. So let’s try this: Make the first day a really short one. Then your next day’s arc hits some very different places. Then pick out some place we’ve never stayed before and that’s that day’s destination.

For instance, we’ve never stayed at Hot Sulphur Springs. We’re not staying there this time either, but some day we will. We’ll just make a point to. And as I said previously, I’m adding Vega State Park to the list of future destinations. As for this year, we’ve never stayed in Pagosa before. We’ve never stayed in Canon City, we’ve never stayed in Dillon, and we’ve sure never stayed at Powder Horn.

So it should be fun. I’ll tell you all about it.

Biker Quote for Today

People tell me I have a motorcycle problem. I tell them, I may have problems, but motorcycles are the solution.

The view going the other way.

Off onto some new gravel again this weekend. This time taking Pitkin County Road 265 from where is comes off CO 133 on the southern side of McClure Pass.

I’ve been over McClure many times and on occasion have noticed this road heading west, with the sign saying Collbran. I figured it was time to see what was out there.

Right away the road runs up a wide ranching valley, with what looked like a mix of working ranches and some rich-folk “ranches” that are more retreats than anyone’s way of making a living. The gravel in through here was pretty good, well-maintained. That changed pretty abruptly when the ranches ended; the road got a lot rougher. Still, it’s the sort of thing a dual-sport bike is built for so no reason to hesitate. And it was somewhere along through here where, looking back, we had that great view of that mountain in the photo above.

The road began to climb and at times it was hard to be sure which gravel road to take. They all looked inviting but if you stopped and read the small print on the signs you could tell which was which. We went up through forests and could see a lot of the mountains around us and while none of it was the kind of scenery that leaves you awestruck, it was all pretty darn beautiful. This is backcountry Colorado that you’ll never see if you stick to the pavement.

Passing into Delta County the road becomes 74.4 Road, the funny way they number things out in the western part of the state, and comes down another ranching valley before meeting up with Highway 330E. North from here takes you to Silt or New Castle, depending on which turns you make, while left leads soon to pavement and on to a turn-off–paved–to Vega State Park. That was where we headed, to camp for the night.

No, we’d never heard of Vega State Park before but it’s a very pretty place. The park itself has campgrounds and cabins for rent and there is also a private lodge on the lake that has cabins. I’m definitely going to be pushing for the OFMC to make a night’s stop here on one of our summer rides. If you come from the Collbran side it’s all paved. I’m the only one of the group who likes doing gravel so pavement is important.

So as I say, there was nothing spectacular here but there was sure nothing that was ugly either. This is beautiful country. And I’ll tell you about the road to Silt the next time.

Biker Quote for Today

Why do I ride? Because this is out there and it never ends . . . and about 50 other reasons.

The road winding through the area scorched by the Hayman Fire.

The whole point of getting a dual-sport bike was to explore parts of Colorado where the road is not paved. We did that this weekend.

The plan was to go down the road to Tarryall Reservoir and then loop back up to Bailey on a series of roads. We didn’t follow the agenda.

First off, we got off U.S. 285 about a mile and a half east of Jefferson, rather than at Jefferson as planned. That put us on Park County Road 56, Lost Park Road, rather than Park CR 77, which is Tarryall Road. That was fine because CR 56 was gravel whereas, as we learned, CR 77 has been paved all the way to Tarryall Reservoir. We ended going up through some beautiful country that we had never seen before, and that’s the whole point.

We met up with Tarryall Road a little north of the reservoir and cruised past and the pavement ended. But only for now. Turns out that the entire way from Jefferson down to Lake George, on U.S. 24 just west of Florrisant, is in the process of being paved. And what a nice route! Once they finish this will be a must-ride street bike route. It’s not very often that an entire new paved road becomes available. This will be a good one.

We didn’t go all the way to Lake George, however. I had been reading in Steve Farson’s terrific book, The Complete Guide to Motorcycling Colorado, about Matukat, a series of roads that runs from Bailey down past Wellington Lake and down through the heart of the area burned by the Hayman Fire a few years ago. This road meets up with Tarryall Road a few miles north of Lake George and we turned onto it, heading back north again.

As Steve describes it in the book, “From the roads you ride to the sights you see, this route delivers big time.”

Part of the route is wooded; much of it shows the charred landscape of the fire, although things are starting to green up again. It will be many years before the forest comes back the way it used to be but that provides an opportunity. We couldn’t help but think about how different the view is with so many of the trees gone. There were many places where we could see forever and the whole landscape was visible. If there had been tall trees lining the road we would have been happy to find the occasional unobstructed view so we could see the area around us. In fact, it makes me think about going back and shooting a bunch of photos from specific spots and then doing so again every 5 years for the next 30 years or so. And then what an interesting exhibition I could put on!

So we diverged from the agenda again along here. There are a number of intersecting roads and they’re not all well marked, so we missed our turn that would have taken us up by Wellington Lake and out at Bailey. Instead, we came out onto CO 126 down near Deckers and followed it up through Pine to catch U.S. 285 at Pine Junction.

Oh well, that just leaves us with a piece of road we still have to get to. Next time! And next time we’ll reverse course and head south from Bailey. And then probably find some different road going somewhere else. I mean, we’ve already seen Tarryall Road now. Although I will be back there on my Concours or my CB750 when that road is finished.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Going two-wheel on Ride to Work Day

Biker Quote for Today

One day, I will take it easy. Today won’t be that day.

A tight space for my third bike to live in.

Of course I’ll start out with another picture of my new V-Strom. If you’ve seen the last one, this is obviously shot soon afterward because it’s now in the garage and the snow is still on it. I’m going to have to do some rearranging because that door beyond it in this photo is my access to where I keep the other two bikes. The door to the outside from there only opens from the inside so clearly I’m going to need to set things up so I can get in there.

So yeah, as I say, I do get mail. Most recently I got a note from Steve who asked for some assistance. I can’t offer him anything but maybe you can. Here’s his email:

I own a 2005 HD Softail that is fuel injected with a Powercommander. I had the engine bored out in 2009 to 95” and am running the same map that Dynojet recommended for break in. But now I’d like to find a good tuner to get the most out of the bike. I live in Silverthorne, but would go the distance for the right guy. I’m wondering if you could recommend anyone?

OK, I don’t know any Harley tuners. I don’t ride Harleys so it’s not something I pay attention to. But what about you? Any recommendations you have I’ll pass along to Steve. Thanks.

Then here’s another. A guy named Kevin (not my friend who brought my V-Strom) sent just a quick note asking, “How much is a computer for a 2005 big dog?” I replied I had no idea and wondered why he thought I might. He pointed me to a piece I wrote on Big Dog a couple years ago. So anyway, if anyone can answer the question let me know and I’ll pass the info along.

Also, I got a note from Todd, who is coming to Colorado with his brother and sister and their spouses to ride. He sent me a Google mapping of his proposed route and was asking for any suggestions I might have for tweaks. You can take a look at his route here.

It looks like a good trip. Starting out from Colorado Springs they’ll go down to New Mexico via Cuchara Pass, then do the Angel Fire loop out of Taos before coming back north. Out of Colorado City they’ll go up through San Isabel, stopping at Bishop Castle of course, and on to Canon City. From there they’ll hit Buena Vista and take Independence Pass over to Aspen and Glenwood Springs.

Then it’s east on I-70 to pick up US 40 and over Berthoud Pass, to Grand Lake and over Trail Ridge Road, and then to Denver on the Peak-to-Peak. From there it’s back to the Springs with a sidetrip up Pikes Peak.

Sounds pretty good to me but I did offer some suggestions:

Your southern leg will definitely be good. In Canon City be sure to ride Skyline Drive. You might also want to take a side trip to the Royal Gorge. It’s cool to ride across the bridge and the best thing is to keep going out the other way. Most people go in and double back, but the road on through is very narrow, twisty, and pretty.

Leaving Canon City, as an alternative, you might consider going out US 50 to Salida and then catching 285 to Buena Vista. Both routes have their attractions; US 50 takes you up the Arkansas River canyon.

Heading east on I-70 you really ought to go over Loveland Pass rather than through the Eisenhower Tunnel. The descent is breathtaking.

Coming from Denver it will depend on what you do there as to what makes sense. If you’re coming around the city take C-470 south from I-70 on the west. If you do go into town, then coming out by I-25 makes the most sense, but if you make your way over to CO 105 through Perry Park and Palmer Lake that’s much nicer than the interstate.

OK, for anyone who knows Colorado that’s not rocket science, but for someone who doesn’t know the area I hope those are some good ideas. I get these letters all the time and it’s one of the things I enjoy about running this website that I get to help people plan their trips. Sometimes I even get to meet them!

Biker Quote for Today

That road is fabulous, I wish to test it .