Passes & Canyons Blog

I didn’t intend to ride in the Elephant Ride this year but we all know about the best laid plans.

I did head up to Grant Saturday evening to partake in the joviality around the campfire, and to identify the guys riding Rokons so I could do a story on those moto-tractors for RumBum.com.

It turned out there was only one Rokon in attendance this year, but that was enough for me to get a story. And then Psycho Steve, who hosts this shindig each year, asked me if I’d like to ride a Kawasaki quad he had. Cool. Sure. You bet.

So Sunday morning came and everyone headed out. I was one of the early starters but was quickly passed by the bat-out-of-hell riders who blasted past me like this was a racetrack, and then a few more, then the Ural sidecar guys, and everyone else. That quad’s not real fast.

I didn’t get very far on it either. The first spot I came to where the road was drifted I just turned around. The quad is only two-wheel-drive and with everyone in front of me I didn’t want to get stuck with no one following after to stop and help me out. Besides, I got the interview and the photos I needed.

Next time, though, I’m going to take all my gear with me even if I’m not planning to ride. I didn’t have a helmet so Steve got one for me. It didn’t fit very well but it fit better than the only other one he had. Plus, it didn’t have a visor and I didn’t have any glasses or goggles, and when that wind started blowing fine little ice crystals in my face it was pretty hard going. I held my hand over my face with just a crack separating two fingers, which is where I peeked through.

Once again, the Elephant Ride was a fun time. Doesn’t everybody go riding their motorcycles in the snow?

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Elephant Ride again tackles the snowy pass

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t mess with old bikers. They don’t just look crazy.

It’s that time of year again: time to go camping and ride motorcycles.

Yeah, I know. You’re looking at me like I’m crazy, but I’m serious. Next weekend, on Sunday Feb. 13 to exact, is the Elephant Ride.

I did the Elephant Ride last year and it was one heck of a lot of fun. (That’s a picture from last year up above.) This is an event put on through Adventure Riders and the objective is to ride up Guanella Pass from Grant over to Georgetown on motorcycles. Never mind that the pass is closed and choked with snow. That’s the adventure part!

And of course, nobody made it to Georgetown last year but again, who cares? We tried. And had a heck of a lot of fun in the process.

So here’s the scoop. To really enjoy this thing you need to go up to Grant the night before. Camp, sleep in your car or your camper, or whatever, but hang out around the campfire eating and drinking and having a great time the night before. Then get up in the morning and give it a go. Here’s the thread in case you want more info.

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Shining a light on goodness

Biker Quote for Today

Rode to hell and back and have the T-shirt to prove it!!! It’s not as bad as I thought and now I know why it’s in Michigan.

I’ve been up-front about my disinclination to even try doing an Iron Butt ride but Dan Leffert has managed to plant a seed. (That’s Dan in the picture. Notice that Iron Butt pin on his hat.)

The Iron Butt Association (IBA), of course, is a group of motorcyclists who have ridden 1,000 miles in 24 hours. Their slogan is “World’s Toughest Riders.”

The longest rides I’ve ever done have been around 500 miles, and I’ve done that three times. They were doable but I had no desire whatsoever to continue and cover that same distance again all in the same day.

I mentioned that fact in a recent post here, “What I Want to Do: Motorcycle Bucket Lists,” where Dan, an Iron Butt rider himself, read it. He tells me he made a note to contact me and see if he might change my mind. Then my editor at RumBum.com asked me to do a profile on an Iron Butt rider so, long story short, I posted a note on the IBA forum where Dan saw it and gave me a call.

Dan and I met on Saturday and talked. The story that will come out of that will presumably be posted on Rum Bum on Feb. 9, unless my editor does something unexpected, which happens. What I want to tell you now, though, is what that headline above suggests. Dan got to me, just a little. He’s made me start thinking about it.

Turns out Dan is helping organize an Iron Butt event here in Colorado in September. For beginners, they’ll be doing a three-pointed star ride that will start in Denver, go south to Trinidad, back to Denver, west to Grand Junction, back to Denver, then northeast to Brush, and back once again to Denver.

That’s a lot of riding in one day. I’ve ridden from Denver to Grand Junction and the reverse, but never both in the same day. That alone looks like a lot to me. But what makes this at least a tiny bit appealing is that I could try it and go to Trinidad and if, when I got back to Denver I didn’t want to go any further I could just stop.

One thing that has put me off in the past is the idea that if I started a ride, once I was a few hundred miles from home, if I wanted to chuck the idea, I’d be stuck riding at least another few hundred miles to get back home. The star route eliminates that issue.

Now suppose I went to Trinidad and back and then headed for Grand Junction. That would, all by itself, be the longest day’s ride I’ve ever done. But I have a brother who lives in Grand Junction so if I got there and just didn’t want to ride any further I would have a place to spend the night. And if I did go back to Denver, once again, I could call it off at that point.

But I suspect that if I made it that far it would be hard to resist the relatively short run out to Brush and back to Denver to make it complete.

So I don’t know. I’m still very skeptical, but Dan got the seed planted. We’ll see. I’ve got till September to make up my mind.

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Games motorcyclists play: Tag-O-Rama

Biker Quote for Today

It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end. — Ursula K. Le Guin

Just a heads-up here for anyone who might want to join in the fun. Tag-O-Rama has hit Colorado.

What the heck is Tag-O-Rama? I thought you’d never ask.

A game of Tag-O-Rama starts when someone goes out on their motorcycle to some place where there is a distinctive building or some other kind of landmark and then shoots a picture with their bike in the picture with the landmark. The photo is then posted with clues on an Internet forum, such as Adventure Riders, and the game is on. That photo above of the Spyder at Red Rocks would be a good example.

The first person who can identify the location, go get a shot of their bike with the landmark, and get that shot posted gets the tag. It is then up to them to pick another landmark, shoot a shot with their bike, and post it.

From what I read, Tag-O-Rama is very popular out east, although they don’t face some of the challenges we do out here. As one person noted, we have counties larger than some of their states.

So anyway, Charleetho on Adventure Riders got this game going on Dec. 24 with a photo of his Beemer outside Vintage Motos in Denver. The game has gone in spurts as cold weather and snow have created some delays, and most recently the place has centered on the Colorado Springs area. Denver metro area players are calling for someone to bring the tag back north so perhaps we’ll get some rivalry going on.

Check it out if you’d like to join in. Here’s the link:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=646566

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Biker Quote for Today

He who dies with the biggest gas tank–wins.

I keep saying it and I’m going to say it one more time: There are too many great roads in Colorado that I have never seen because I’ve only been riding a street bike all these years. I have got to get a dual-sport bike if I can just figure out a) where the money’s going to come from and b) where I’m going to store it.

I had the latest in a series of opportunities this past weekend to do some dual-sport riding. This time I went out with Ron Coleman, who runs Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures out of Boulder, on one of his V-Stroms. The last time I went out with Ron we went up Fourmile Canyon and through the Wall Street area that later was the epicenter for that big fire they had up there. We then continued along the Switzerland Trail, which used to be a rail line many years ago.

This time we headed out of Boulder on the road up Sunshine Canyon, which took us through another area hit by the fire. What was really surprising about that part of the ride was seeing how selective the fire was. Some houses stood unscathed while others were ash heaps. In the trees there were paths visible where the fire burned some but left others green and growing. Pretty dang interesting.

We reached the Peak to Peak Highway and jogged south on it a short distance and then turned off on another gravel road that winds past Caribou Ranch. The days when this ranch was a premier recording studio are long over, and I’ve known for years where it was generally, but this was the first time I’d ever seen it.

We took another job off the Peak to Peak, and then a side-trip that took us up to the old Caribou townsite, now a ghost town. That’s Ron in the picture riding past the only remaining structures in what was once a gold mining town with a population of 3,000. And yes, that’s snow falling. Summer is definitely past.

Back again on the Peak to Peak, we turned off on the Coal Creek Canyon road and made a side-trip–gravel roads again–to the site of the Lincoln Hills resort that was a major draw for Blacks at a time when they were excluded from other, segregated facilities.

We returned to the canyon road, went up and over the ridge through Wondervu, and then turned off onto the gravel road that takes you past Gross Reservoir and eventually brings you out on the back side of Flagstaff Mountain. Then down Flagstaff Road into Boulder.

What a gorgeous ride! And sure, I’ve been on the Peak to Peak countless times, but I’ve never been on these other roads. Why? Because my Honda is barely tolerable on gravel and my Kawi detests gravel. In the meantime, the V-Strom is just every bit as comfortable on gravel as the Kawi is on the highway. But you know what? The V-Strom is also totally at home on the highway, and way more agile than the Kawi.

And there are a zillion more of those roads up there and all through the Colorado mountains. I don’t know how I’m going to make this work. I love my Honda. It’s the first bike I ever owned and I’ve been riding it for more than 20 years. I don’t want to part with it. And I love my Concours. I have to suspect that the V-Strom really is no match for it when it comes to serious touring. But I only have room in my garage for two motorcycles, not three. And I want a V-Strom in the worst way.

I’ve got to figure something out.

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Biker Quote for Today

Bounce like you’ve got hydraulics in your G-string.

Friday was one of the most incredible days I have ever spent on a motorcycle. I went dual-sport riding with Kevin Smith, who rents V-Stroms out of Gunnison, and it was a day I will never forget.

First off, we got extremely lucky in that it was one of those absolutely glorious days that we sometimes get here in the fall. Secondly, not only were we going to some gorgeous areas, the autumn leaf turn was at its peak. If the ride itself had been nothing at all it still would have been a breathtaking excursion.

Trust me, the ride was not “nothing at all.”

This was my first time really getting some seat time on a Suzuki V-Strom. I had a short ride earlier in the summer but this was all day and more than 200 miles. And it was challenging. We rode down to Lake City and took the road up Cinnamon Pass, over to Silverton.

After dumping the bike on the first really tight switchback, I concluded I had to attack these things with vigor and let the bike’s power carry me through. Just moments after the dump, I came to another tight switchback and I could see the general method in use was to power the bike well up the sloping rock wall, at a considerable lean angle. I goosed it and did exactly that and it went just fine. Now we’re having fun!

Up at the top of the pass Kevin told me that going down I should avoid the front brake, and use just the rear. He also said to put it in first and don’t worry if it stalls, don’t grab the clutch. It will jump start on its own if it dies. Good thing we had that discussion, because just about 100 feet past the sign at the top of the pass the road takes a sharp left and there is a completely straight plummet down about 50 yards or more. I’m talking steep, the kind of thing that, coming up, you would want to get as good a run at as possible and then hope you don’t lose all momentum before you reach the top.

As for not grabbing the front brake or the clutch, that was no problem as my hands were clamped to the grips for dear life. Down I went, standing on the rear brake, which only served to vaguely slow me down a tad. But I rode it out just fine and on we went.

We got down into Silverton and had lunch, then took the highway north through Ouray and Ridgway and then turned off to go back to Gunnison over Owl Creek Pass. This gravel road is very rideable, even on a bagger, provided you can deal with a bit of washboard. It heads east toward a rock formation called Courthouse Rock, crosses over, and then goes north through the Cimarron Valley, reaching US 50 just east of Cimarron.

It was gorgeous! I’m thinking this may be one of the best-kept secrets in Colorado.

Back on the highway and I saw again how well the V-Strom handles the pavement. It handled the dirt just fine. Most of my experience on gravel is of the I-hope-we-don’t-have-to-go-very-far-on-this variety. The V-Strom was very sure-footed and it was easy to ride on gravel all day, literally.

So I’m planning to do a lot more of this kind of riding. I may have to actually buy a dual-sport bike of my own. How amazing would that be? This was just too much fun.

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Biker Quote for Today

Motorcyclists and whiskey get better with age.

Here’s an out-of-the-ordinary sort of situation that just occurred.

Running the Passes and Canyons website as I do, I frequently receive emails from people with questions about routes or lodging or motorcycle rentals or whatever. But recently I got a totally different request. Here it is:

Hi Ken – I was reading through some of your site and was interested in knowing if you knew anyone in this area offers rides in this area? I drove up Mt. Evans with friends in the car the other day and noticed all the motor bikes heading up. It looked like a great way to see some of the magnificent drives around here. Thanks, Daphne

After ascertaining that Daphne was interested in finding someone to take her for a ride, not to rent her a motorcycle, I considered offering to do it myself. Hey, I’m self-employed, earning money any way I can, why not? Well, the why not was the thought that if I did arrange a business deal with her where she hired me to take her for a ride and something bad happened, I could be screwed.

So then I thought of Ron Coleman, who runs Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures. Ron is someone I know, who advertises on this site, and I figured he is set up with liability waivers and all that stuff, so he would be a good possibility, if he was interested.

Long story short, I got this follow-up email from Daphne just a few minutes ago:

Hi Ken – I just wanted to let you know that Ron Coleman did take me out for a scenic ride yesterday and it was wonderful! It goes without saying, what a nice guy Ron is, but I also found him quite interesting and fun to be with. I really enjoyed the opportunity to be able to take a ride while here in Colorado, the experience was great and the scenery incredible!

Thank you for your help in putting us together!

Sincerely, Daphne

So how cool is that? It’s one of the things I enjoy about doing this website: helping people in whatever way I can. Daphne, you made my day.

Biker Quote for Today

Everything looks better from the inside of a motorcycle helmet.

I have a recollection that I may have been up on Pikes Peak about 35 years ago. Otherwise, I know I was up there 50 years ago. Suffice it to say, when I rode my Concours up to the top on Friday it may as well have been the first time. Oh my god, what a road!

Last week was race week for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, a race with cars, trucks, motorcycles, quads, sidecars, and a few divisions that have peculiar names because, well, probably because no one knows what to call that vehicle. Tuesday was sign-in and tech inspection, followed by three days of practice, and then Saturday was free before the race on Sunday.

I ran down to Colorado Springs on Tuesday to meet up with the racers I had made contact with via the Adventure Riders forum, and to get my press credentials. I went down again on Friday to talk to my contacts about their experiences in practice and hopes for the race, and to go to the top of the mountain myself. Then Sunday I went down one more time for the race.

Let me tell you, you have to ride that mountain yourself to really understand how incredible it is what these racers do. From the starting line to the top is 12.2 miles, and it took me about 30 minutes to cover that distance. Granted I was behind a couple cars with tourists who thought the 10 mph posted speeds on some of the switchbacks were excessively high. I ended up shifting down to first gear a few times when I would rather have stayed in second.

But it’s not like I was grumbling about them holding me back. I would probably only have shaved a couple minutes off that time on my own. So consider this: The top racers were shooting to make this run in under 10 minutes for the first time ever. That is to say, they would have needed to average 73 miles an hour the whole way up. Yikes! There is no portion of that road I want to take at 73 mph period, much less average that speed the entire way up.

Now, the 10-minute barrier wasn’t broken, so the record remains all of 10:01.41. And the fastest time this year was 10:11.49. Oh yeah, that guy was going slow!

So the race was fun and very interesting but the real trip was the mountain. If you’re coming to ride in Colorado you have got to ride to the top of Pikes Peak. Yeah, there’s a $12 fee per person but it’s worth it. And while the road used to be only half paved, there are now just two remaining stretches of dirt and the rest is asphalt. Paving is to be completed in 2012. So if you want to ride it while there’s some dirt left you’d better come soon. Or if you’d rather avoid the dirt you only need wait a couple more years.

For myself, I would have welcomed a dual sport bike on that gravel, but I did it OK on the Connie. And I’ve ridden over high passes before many times but I wondered if going up on a bike with carbs would be an issue by the time I got to 14,110 feet. No problem. It ran just fine. Remember though, I’m tuned for Denver elevation already, so if you’re tuned for sea level it could be a different matter. But I didn’t see anyone who was having any trouble.

Of course I’ll be adding Pikes Peak to the Passes and Canyons website. Hey, I’ve got the photos and the info now, and all I need is the time to get it done. I’ll let you know when it’s up. Till then, you can check out these pictures.

Biker Quote for Today

Accelerate until you see God, then BRAKE! –Kevin Schwantz