Passes & Canyons Blog

The weather allowed me to ride to Scottsdale for Arizona Bike Week. Barely.

Sunday morning dawned warm and sunny–the weather gods were smiling. Apparently they were smiling because they knew the trick they were playing on me.

After writing about how I hoped I could keep my hands warm on this trip I got an email from Mike Landon suggesting that I get some of those thin, neoprene gloves that doctors and dentists use, and wear them under my regular motorcycle gloves. Like a “second skin” he said.

I also found that the glove liners I use for skiing would fit inside my motorcycle gloves–which themselves are Thinsulate-lined–so I had hopes that one or the other approach would suffice. Then for insurance I went to a sporting goods store and bought some chemical handwarmers to tuck inside the gloves if need be.

Always eager to experiment, I left home with one glove liner on, one mylar glove on, and not using the handwarmers for now. Twenty miles later, at Castle Rock, it was clear my fingers were getting cold on both hands equally. Then I hit nasty weather going over the Palmer Divide, with fog and light mist. Cars coming the other way had snow on them. Yikes!

I got to the south end of Colorado Springs and had to stop. My hands were in serious pain. While nursing my hot chocolate and getting warm at a convenience store I asked everyone who came in what they knew about the weather further south. The consensus was that I should be OK heading that direction. And when I was ready to leave I slipped a couple of those chemical handwarmers in my gloves, using both glove liners this time.

My take on using the mylar gloves is that they really did seem to do as well as the glove liners, which definitely counts. The ladies at my dentist’s office who had given them to me had mentioned that as your hands sweated the moisture would collect inside them and they were right, so I figured that since I had the glove liners it would be better to use them. Without the liners I would definitely have used the mylar gloves and been glad to have them.

The weather did improve as I continued south and my hands stayed comfortably warm. It must have been pretty cold as the pads never did feel particularly warm. Apparently every bit of heat they were giving off was needed. Stopping later and putting my gloves back on they seemed quite warm.

I paid $1.49 a pair for these chemical warmers at a sporting goods store but I’m told you can get them in bulk at WalMart for 50 cents a pair. And they’re supposed to be good for 7 hours of heat but after 9 hours these were still pumping it out. In other words, I will always have some of these tucked in my tank bag from now on. They’re a lifesaver.

So to make a long story short, I rode 530 miles Sunday to Grants, NM, and then on to Scottsdale the next day. That photo is of my bike at a rest stop along the highway in New Mexico. I’m ready for Bike Week to get revved up but right now I’m at a local Kawasaki dealership. Seems those tires I thought had enough rubber on them to get me here and home again were only up for half of that ride.

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Biker Quote for Today

“Adventure” is “Trouble” in the past tense.

Up till now, carrying your golf clubs on your motorcycle has been a bit of a challenge. Or how about loading your bicycle on? Well, rest easy, your problem is solved.

OK, I just came across this company website and I’m going to pass it along to you. The company is 2×2 Cycles and designing racks to carry these things is their business. I guess they’ve actually had the golf bag rack on the market for awhile. Their new product, which is how I came to learn about them, is the bicycle rack.

Now I’ve got to tell you, the idea of riding down the road on my Concours with a bicycle hanging in the air behind me makes me a bit skeptical. Especially since I was just reading recently about how loading bags high on the back of your bike unweights the front of the bike, making the bike less stable. And yet, I’ve got buddies who go on our annual OFMC trip with not just a rear trunk bag but a rack on top of it where they attach another fully loaded bag. Yikes!

So really, these racks for those guys. This is for you Brett. You’re such a big-time golfer anyway, now you can ride to the course on your Harley and just load the golf bag right on with no problem. Me, I guess I’ll stick to renting clubs when I go to the golf course on my bike.

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Biker Quote for Today

Adventure is taking inappropriate equipment to out-of-the-way places.

This may be embarrassing to Lorna Reed, the lady who runs Colorado Chaps, making fleece-lined motorcycle chaps for winter riding, and for others. Nevertheless, I’m going to tell you about it.

Because I have several Google Alerts set up to pick up on news items regarding motorcycles, I ran across a posting this morning in a riders of Honda 1000RRs. It seems one forum member from Australia had ordered some chaps from Lorna and sent payment. Of course, if you pay any attention to the news at all, you are aware there has been incredible flooding going on in Australia recently. Lorna filled the order but then sent this note:

I’m sorry that I was so unawares of the plight of your city/country. Our news has been engrossed in the slayings in Tucson Arizona.
My thoughts and my prayers go to you, your family, and your neighbors.
I just refunded $100. to your credit card ending in XXXX
When you are able, please contribute this to a family, your church, the Red Cross, whom ever needs it most there in Brisbane.
My heart is with you and your family and your country.
We are really all one, on a tiny earth……………..

Of course, I’m familiar with Lorna. She made me a pair of chaps awhile back and I put them through the paces and reported favorably on them. Lorna and I have since stayed in touch and I sent her the URL to that forum post.

So what can you say? I know Lorna never expected to get a lot of attention for what she did, she just did it because she felt it was the right thing to do. I think I speak for a lot of people when I say, “Lorna, you are a truly good person!”

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Biker Quote for Today

Many of us are irritable most of the time (unless we’re in love or just bought a motorcycle). — Carolyn See

OK, it may be too late to put this on your Christmas wish list so maybe you’ll just have to buy it for yourself.

Gerbing, the heated riding gear folks, have just announced a new heated jacket, the Hybrid LT, that plugs into the bike, but can also be hooked up to a battery so you can be warm even off the bike. The battery fits in the jacket pocket and is supposed to be good for keeping you warm up to three hours.

I don’t know if you’ve tried heated gear but I love it. As long as I’m riding, my electric vest keeps me nice and toasty. It’s when I get off that things get chilly. I’ve thought for a long time that it would be good to have a battery-powered vest so it would work away from the bike. Heck, you could wear it to football game or any other outdoor activity that doesn’t have anything to do with riding.

But what I particularly like about this idea is that you get all the heat you need while you’re riding and then only start using the battery after you’ve arrived. If you only had a battery and rode half an hour to get somewhere, you’ve only got two hours of power if you also intend to use it riding home. With both sources you ride however long it takes, stay warm off the bike three hours, and then ride home as long as it takes.

This goes on my list of good ideas. Plus, it’s an attractive-looking jacket.

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Biker Quote for Today

Keep the bike. Ditch the fiancee.

Apparently it doesn’t matter how long you live in Colorado, you never quite figure out that the weather can change on you in a flash. Here’s an example.

Bill and Dennis and I rode over to John’s, outside of Montrose, for a few days riding in southwest Colorado. The weather was beautiful, but you know, it’s September. That should have been the tip-off. And mind you, Bill has lived here his entire life. I’ve been here more than 30 years.

I was packing and I made the decision that I didn’t need to take my electric vest. What the hey, it’s hot right now! Bill was the same. He just bought a new bike and picked up a new half-helmet at the same time. This bike is his first with a fairing so he figured the fairing the the half-helmet would be all he would need. Yes, his new bagger had plenty of room where he could have just tossed in the full-face helmet, but he didn’t figure there was any need.

The weather was great on the way out and while we were there. Then it was time to head home. We woke up to rain, and unlike so often in Colorado, this was not a rain that was just going to pass over. Weather radar showed storm clouds over half the state, and all of the route to Denver. But hey, we had rain gear, so no problem.

Wrong.

First off, Bill had already figured out that the fairing only does so much to provide protection from the elements. Fortunately for him, John had an old full-face helmet that he no longer used and it fit Bill. That was a godsend.

For me, there was nothing to do but put on layers. Still, we got to Gunnison and the temperature was 40 degrees. We still had to go over Monarch Pass, and that was another 3,600 feet up. And a woman we spoke with who had just come over said it was snowing on top when she was there.

Long story short, it was a cold ride, and it didn’t have to have been. Will I ever learn? If Bill is any example, I guess not. I guess we all keep relearning the same lessons again and again. It just took longer to get home, what with all the stops to get warm. Could’ve been worse.

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Biker Quote for Today

People who wear full faced helmets with tinted visors are aliens and can’t scare teen aged girls at stop lights.

Camping on a motorcycle trip is a good way to go but if you’re riding two-up you might as well forget it. If you manage to get all of two people’s camping gear on the bike you’re not going to have room left for much else.

Unless you pull a trailer. Then it’s whole new ball game.

Ken and Janet Knox are motorcycle travelers who stayed with us recently, via the Motorcycle Travel Network, and behind their Ultra Classic they pull a trailer. It was custom-painted to match the bike and the pair look great together.

Asked about it, Janet initially responded that, “The only advantage for me is that I can pack more stuff.”

Ken made the point, however, that it enables them to carry camping gear with them. Of course, he points out, “If Janet would bet her license and ride her own bike we could camp without pulling a trailer.”

“That would mean work for me, and I’m not into working,” she retorted. “I’m on holiday.”

Turning serious, she continued that she likes that, “When we camp we pull in at 3-4 p.m. and look for a site, then interact with people. We meet more people that way. That aspect is nice, although the comforts of a motel are better.”

Ken added that “Campgrounds are generally in a beautiful spot, whereas motels are on the main drag.”

Still, if they get into town later, or if it is raining or looks like rain, they’re not likely to camp. But it’s nice to have the option.

As for how the trailer affects the ride, Ken said, “You don’t even know the trailer is there. It does increase gas consumption, and on long, steep uphills you have to upgear, at least on a Harley.”

There’s one other advantage: Their trailer has a 12-volt plug so they can charge their cell phones while riding. Hey, what else do you need?

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if your longest road trip this year was to Hooter’s for bike night.

You need to understand that I’m very hard on maps. As far as I’m concerned, they’re disposable, and ripping is just part of the gig.

Enter Butler Motorcycle Maps. These guys are riders who decided to make motorcycle-specific maps, by motorcyclists, for motorcyclists. So far they have released maps for Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho.

There are two things that make these maps attractive to motorcyclists. First, they highlight the best roads in each state based on what they know we like, i.e., scenery, twisty roads, two-lane, and all that. Second, they’re durable. They’re not printed on paper. It’s probably some kind of plastic, but whatever it is, they are waterproof and tear-resistant. Good things to have out on a bike.

Of course this is where my style of usage comes into play. I have a tank bag that has a map display on top. The problem with the map display is that it is not sized to fit any map conveniently. Conveniently, in my mind, would be something that allowed you to use the basic folds of the map and show two panels. The display on my bag is too short and too narrow, so I end up folding maps every which way to make them fit. (See the photo above.) The consequence of that is that they tend to rip along the folds and fall to pieces quickly.

I was in Sturgis last week, and on Thursday I left and went to Yellowstone. The Butler guys had a booth in Sturgis that I just happened to stumble upon. I was already familiar with them because they had comped me a couple maps and had taken out an ad on the Passes and Canyons website. I stopped in to say hi and they gave me the two latest maps, Wyoming and Idaho.

I then proceeded to use the Wyoming map as I made my way to Yellowstone and then home to Denver. It didn’t fit any better than any other map in my display so I manhandled it the way I do all maps.

The result? When I got home I opened it out, smoothed it off, and refolded it along the original folds and it’s good to go. Now, it looks a bit rough. You’d never mistake it for new. It has wrinkles and creases, and it didn’t want to fold back perfectly and probably won’t ever again. But it’s absolutely usable, it’s not torn, and I suspect it will hold up to that same treatment many more times.

What’s more, it is also good in its other function of highlighting the best routes. I’ve ridden all over Wyoming, so there are almost no roads highlighted on the map that I’m not familiar with. There is one, a bit of two-lane between Laramie and Cheyenne. So I know the roads they’ve marked and I agree with them. These are the best roads in Wyoming.

If this sounds like the sort of thing you’d be interested in, you can buy these maps for $14.95 either through their website or from selected dealers. Tell them Ken sent you.

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Biker Quote for Today

A bend in the road is not the end of the road . . . unless you fail to make the turn.

It’s bitter cold and snow is on the ground (and the roads!) and Dom Chang is reveling in his Ural sidecar rig that allows him to ride even in these conditions. This is the time of year for heated motorcycle gear. Fortuitously, I recently had the opportunity to test some electrics.

Mind you, I’m a firm believer in this stuff. I’ve had a Widder (company defunct now) electric vest for years and you’d better believe it’s been in use recently. What I tested was the StormRider body warmer, which is essentially a vest, and the StormShield gloves, which (surprise!) are heated gloves. They’re produced and sold by exo2 The Heat Inside.

Long story short, they worked great. The body warmer was very similar to my Widder vest, although it has more insulating power on its own, without the electrics turned on, and I appreciated the ability to adjust the heating level. My Widder is either off or on, unless you have a control unit, which I don’t.

The gloves were something new for me. First off, they’re heavy duty motorcycle gloves in their own right. They’ve got strategic padding and reinforcement, little wiper blades sewn onto the thumbs for wiping your visor and also provide significant insulation. Turn them on and you feel the heat instantly on the back of your hands. Very nice.

Rigging all this up was a bit of a challenge. You need to connect to your battery, then run the controller cable up to somewhere around the handlebars and instruments. There was nowhere for me to easily connect on my Concours so I just jerry-rigged it since I was only going to have it for a couple months to test. The cable splits coming off the battery and the other end runs to the vest. Another cable connects at the vest and that goes to the gloves. That cable itself splits and you run them up your back and down your sleeves.

Would I buy this gear? If I didn’t already have an electric vest I would definitely have purchased this one rather than returning it to the manufacturer. Of course, they would have given me a discount, so that would have helped make the decision easy. And I would definitely like to have those gloves, but rigging everything up for just the gloves, while still needing to rig up my Widder vest, would have been a bit much. Using the vest and gloves together just makes more sense.

If you don’t have electrics you don’t know what you’re missing. Don’t park that bike for the winter. Ride it. But stay warm in the process–it’s a lot more enjoyable.

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Biker Quote for Today

So how long did it take you to push your bike 4k thru the snow?