Passes & Canyons Blog

You don’t have to have a ton of horsepower to have fun on a motorcycle. And you don’t have to have a huge cruising bike to get out on the road. And let’s not even get into the times we’ve watched someone struggling to keep a behemoth from falling over and thought to ourselves how that guy has got too much bike for his size.

In celebration then of smaller bikes, Todd Wallis has organized this Small Bike Ride, for this Saturday. Here’s what Todd has to say about his ride.

Small Bike Ride is coming out of the shadows and we are going to make it official. The event is open to all motorcycles but it is geared toward small, vintage machines and speeds will normally be down to about 35-40 mph which will make it a great opportunity for sidecar rigs and prewar motorcycles as well. We will be riding about 100 miles from the Deer Creek area up through Conifer and Pine and this year we have a chase vehicle in case anyone has trouble. We will be on paved roads and we’ll have a stop for lunch in the middle of the ride. We will meet on Deer Creek Canyon Rd near the intersection of C470 and S. Wadsworth Blvd. The ride starts at 10:00 so plan on getting there around 9:00 a.m.

We will have maps printed and available for everyone the morning of the ride. If you plan to attend please call me or send an email just so I know how many to expect.

Starting Location: 9880 West Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton, Colorado 80127

Hope to see you there.

So hey, time to get out that little guy you generally just zip around running errands on. Get your motor running!

Note: I mentioned awhile ago that I was turning commenting off on this blog due to the comment spammers. I have now added a new captcha feature that asks you to prove you’re not a computer in order to leave a comment. So please do leave comments whenever you please.

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Biker Quote for Today

Ural miles are kinda like dog years.

It was blazing hot on the prairie Tuesday but could not have been a more perfect day to be riding in the mountains. Fortunately, I was riding in the mountains.

Meeting up with Ron Coleman, of Western Dual Sport Motorcycles Adventures, we took off on a couple of the bikes he has for rent. Ron was on his BMW F800GS and I was on his Suzuki DR 650. Ron also rents out five Suzuki 650 V-Stroms and one 1000 V-Strom.

I’m still not the most experienced dual-sport rider so I was glad to have a decent gravel road, going up Sunshine Canyon, to get accustomed to the gravel. In the meantime, it was extremely interesting to see this area and how it has changed since the devastating fire that swept through here two years ago, especially in light of how hazy the sky was due to the High Park fire still burning a bit to the north.

About the time I felt reasonably comfortable on the gravel we turned off onto a segment of the Switzerland Trail and oh boy, I felt like a total beginner again. I didn’t push myself to keep right on Ron’s tail but I’d have to say I was pushing harder than I should have been. At one point I hit a patch of loose stones about the size of bricks and lost control. I careened to one side, certain I was going to crash, but corrected, only to over-correct, and careen off in the other direction, certain once again that I was going down.

After about five of those backs and forths I miraculously managed to get stabilized and was still upright. At about that time I was thinking how, as much as I want a dual-sport bike so I can explore the gravel roads that are so plentiful in Colorado, I really don’t have an interest in doing these really rough ones. It just wasn’t fun!

So we rode on and it was a beautiful day to be out in the woods, up in the hills, and I didn’t have any more close calls. After awhile we turned back and this time I was in the lead because I wanted to shoot some photos and wanted to be in a position to stop and get set up before Ron rode on into the shots. This was when I saw it really had been a ride-your-own-ride situation. Taking it nice and easy because I was focused on looking for a spot to shoot, I had no trouble at all on that rough road. And that was pleasant because that told me I can ride off onto these tougher roads as long as do it at my pace.

Back at the main road we crossed it and followed the trail on the other side to a place called Mt. Alto. This is a spot where a hotel once stood, though all that remains of it now is the stone fireplace. It’s a vary nice spot, though, and there are now picnic benches for people who want to come up and use the place.

After lunch in Nederland we got on the Peak-to-Peak Highway to Rollinsville and then headed up toward Rollins Pass. This dirt road we were on was one of the best I have ever seen. It goes up to the Moffett Tunnel, so maybe the railroad maintains it, I don’t know. But it was so good I wouldn’t hesitate to take my Concours on it and that’s really saying something.

About a mile from the tunnel, though, we took a sharp right turn and headed up the much rougher Rollins Pass road. I was over this road once, more than 30 years ago, in a jeep but had no recollection of it at all. It was kind of rough. But you know what, by this time I was feeling much more confident on the rough stuff so we just cruised along. Contrary to my thoughts from the morning, I was perfectly happy to be on some rough stuff. A challenge is a good thing, and when you meet that challenge successfully you feel good.

We didn’t go all the way to the top but it was a good ride and some good scenery. Then it was time to head back down and scoot back to Boulder.

Cool and comfortable as it had been up in the hills, it was blazing hot down in Boulder, really emphasizing how nice it had been to be riding up somewhere higher all day. Yeah, for Ron and me it was business. This is what we do. Dang, someone has to do it so I guess we’re both pretty happy that those someones are us.

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Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes wheelies happen.

This coming Monday, June 18, is a day you ought to plan to ride your motorcycle to work. Why? Because it is the 21st International Motorcycle & Scooter Ride To Work Day. It’s a day to demonstrate to everyone else–and even to ourselves–how many of us there are.

Along with demonstrating how many it also demonstrates that because there are so many of us, drivers need to be aware that we are there sharing the road with them and that they need to look for us.

Or, as the organizers say on their site:

Ride your motorcycle or scooter on this day to demonstrate:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.
• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.
• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.
• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.
• That motorcycling is a social good.

And if, like me, you can’t ride to work because you work at home, then ride wherever else you need to go that day. Or just go out for a cruise.

See you on the road.

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Women love men with big KTMs.

Motorcyclists are far more vulnerable than cagers and as often as riders go on poker runs to support other causes, it would seem that it should be a no-brainer to raise money to help other riders who have been hurt.

That’s what ABATE of Colorado’s Randy Run is all about, and it will take place this weekend on Saturday.

The Randy Run is named for Randy Savely, that fellow in the photo above, who lost his leg when a car turned left and hit him as he was passing through an intersection. Randy is the district rep for ABATE’s District 10 and the run was originally a D-10 event. Last year the decision was made to make it a state-wide event and the state organization took it over.

The Randy Run takes off from the Frontier Club, 18881 E. Colfax, with sign-up beginning at 9 a.m. The ride fee is $15 per poker hand and that includes admission to all events. There will be the poker run, a bike rodeo, door prizes, auction, live music, and more.

As the flyer says, “You don’t have to be a member of ABATE to apply for Randy Run funds. Pay it forward now and help fellow motorcyclists in their time of need.”

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Ride to lean.

I mentioned recently that I had entered the photo above in a contest EagleRider is having and now, of the 63 photos entered, they have selected 20 for the run-off. My photo is one of those 20 and I would appreciate your votes.

Here’s the scoop. EagleRider, the groundbreaking company that opened up the concept of motorcycle rentals, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. They ran this contest asking people to offer photos for their 20 Years on the Highway contest, with the winner to receive an all-expense-paid trip for two to Los Angeles for the celebration.

The winner will be decided by votes. The way I see it, at this point it becomes a matter of who can work their social network the best. Each person can vote once a day, every day from now until midnight on June 29. To see the finalist photos, go here and scroll through the entries. Whichever one you like the most, click the “Like” link. Of course, I’d be very pleased if you vote for my photo but if you like something else better you really should vote for it.

Then, bookmark the link and go back every day until June 29 and vote again. Please be advised that the page loads a bit slowly, so be patient. Thanks.

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Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re becoming addicted to riding when you almost crash your car in a turn because you were trying to counter-steer and lean rather than turn the wheel.

Judy wanted to do something different over the holiday weekend so I asked her what she had in mind. She said she wanted to take a motorcycle ride to somewhere where we could hike and have a picnic. Sounded good to me so I did some research.

What many people may not be aware of is that Jefferson Country has a sizeable number of open space parks in the mountains. We’ve been to a few but there are a lot of them we’ve never seen, so that seemed like the smart bet.

And it was. I ended up selecting Alderfer/Three Sisters Park, which is up by Evergreen. We headed out U.S. 285 and then north on C-470 to the Morrison exit, through Morrison and up to Evergreen. At Evergreen we took the County Road 73 fork south about half a mile and turned west on Buffalo Park Road. Then it was just over a mile to the park.

The three sisters are three knobs of rock sticking up from a ridge. There is a fourth set apart from the others and it is called the brother, so you’ve got three sisters and a brother. You can hike up and around them all of course the view is great. So we did. And up near the top of the sisters we ate our lunch.

Then we hiked back down, got on the bike and rejoined County Road 73, continuing south to the intersection of North Turkey Creek Road, which we took down to me U.S. 285, and then back down to the flatlands. Altogether, nothing spectacular but a really nice way to spend an afternoon.

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Biker Quote for Today

Never getting lost is fascist.

This is not the first time I’ve said this but I’ll repeat myself: I’ve got to get a dual-sport motorcycle.

The trigger this time is a ride I didn’t do, because I didn’t have a dual-sport. I was contacted on Monday by a guy named Milan, who heard of me through Ben at House of Motorrad. Milan told me he works as a ski guide in winter and wants to start doing Colorado motorcycle guiding in the summer. He asked if he could get a link to his site on my site and, by the way, wanna go for a ride?

Milan lives in Telluride and was headed back that way from Golden and proposed taking some dirt from Como to Salida. I said I’d love to, but not on one of my street bikes. He replied, “You could probably take a street bike on the Hartsel dirt- very easy.”

As for me, I replied, “I know better than to take my Concours on anything rougher than hard-packed gravel.”

Milan nudged, “I’ll be leaving Golden area about 9 am. It is a hardpacked gravel.”

I demurred. My Connie does not like gravel, even hard-packed, for very long. So I didn’t go.

Good choice. I heard from Milan today, saying, “You made the right choice by not coming, there was a stream crossing (about 6″ deep) and some ruts in another part of the ride.”

But I was curious what route he took. That’s it there on the map, although there’s no detail at this scale, though it gives you an idea. According to Milan, “I rode 285 to Como, took a right on Elkhorn Road (F.R. 15) to Hartsel. Then took County Road 53 to Forest Road 175 – that dropped me right into Salida.”

So OK, if I ever get that dual-sport I have another route to check out. Some day.

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Biker Quote for Today

After riding in the rain thru Bosnia, I think this newfangled front fender idea wasn’t so bad. I’m not as covered in mud as I usually am. That’s an idea that may just take off in popularity. My chopper still ain’t gonna get one tho.

I had the opportunity last week to get acquainted with Lisa Price Waltman, of Colorado Springs, who told me of a fun ride she has organized and will be holding for the second time this year. She calls it the 2nd Annual Running of the Deer Ride – “Get the Buck Off the Road” and, as you might suspect, there is a story behind it.

Lisa had grown up riding dirt bikes but had never had a street bike of her own, so she rode pillion for a number of years. Then, in 2009, the bike she was a passenger on hit a deer, they went down, and Lisa was badly injured.

Not one to give up, however, Lisa was back on a bike six months later, and though she says the first 10 minutes were terrifying, after that all was good. So good, in fact, that soon afterward she bought her own bike, a 2010 Harley Softail Deluxe.

Taking lemons and making lemonade, Lisa decided to put together a run on the anniversary of her crash along much of the same route. There’s no sign-up fee, no beneficiary charity. It’s just a ride for fun, and to make a statement of defiance. I’ve listed her run on my Rides and Rallies page; it’s in October, currently the last event listed. You might want to mark it on your calendar.

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Biker Quote for Today

Tuck in behind me, I’ll show you where to crash.