Passes & Canyons Blog

You’ve probably already noticed. At least if you’ve ever been to this blog before.

After four years with the same basic design, we’re making a big change here. The blog has already changed, as you can see, but the Passes and Canyons, Motorcycle Touring in Colorado website will not get its make-over for another day or two.

This has been a lot of work for my brother and for me. He is a professional web designer and I guess he decided it was time for me to have a more professional-looking site. I built and have maintained this thing all by myself all this time. I don’t have the skills to do what he does. I’m a writer; he’s the designer.

Here’s an interesting example of what he’s done. You see this picture in the body of this post? And you see the image across the top of the screen. They are the same picture. It’s the second shot on the Hoosier Pass page.

What I saw as just a shot of the road at the top of Hoosier Pass he saw as a defining photo to make the theme of the whole site. Just crop a lot from the bottom and a lot from the top and you have a guy on a motorcycle with the mountains behind him . . .

When he asked me if I had a high resolution copy of that image I couldn’t understand what he wanted it for. I was impressed when I saw.

So anyway, I hope you think the change is good. There have been a few mishaps along the way and it has been a lot of work for both of us. I doubt you’ll see another major change for at least another four years.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Motomarathoners cruising some of the best Colorado has to offer

Biker Quote for Today

When you feel like playing hooky, play it. When the sun is shining, go for a ride. If you need a motorcycle, just buy it. Sooner is better than later.

Oh man, I’m blown away. I track unique visitors to this website each month and last month, May 2009, the traffic nearly hit 10,000. There were 9,754 unique visitors last month, to be exact.

Just to give you an idea of how big that is, the best month the site has ever had before was July 2008, where traffic hit 6,051 unique visitors. I was thrilled in May 2008 when it topped 4,000 for the first time, 4,024, and then it only went up to 4,504 in June 2008.

After four years I know the pattern here. Traffic climbs from December through July and then tapers off. What that means is that this 9,754 record is destined to fall, and soon. And the numbers show it. Already this month, only 3 days and 21 hours in, the total of unique visitors is 1,579. That works out to about 12,000.

This all just blows me away. I built this website out of passion and my own interest, and hoped that at least a few other people would like it and my work would be appreciated. Hitting these numbers leaves me in awe. Thank each and every one of you for your interest. This is so rewarding.

Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
A terrific motorcycle sidetrip in southwestern Utah

Biker Quote for Today

HEY! Let’s go ride our BIKES!!!!

Do what you love and the money will follow.

Have you ever heard those words? Do you believe them? Well, I’m putting them to the test. First some background.

I’ve been a writer all my life, and I’ve been riding motorcycles for more than 20 years. That doesn’t count the numerous times when I was a kid when I had the occasional chance to ride. By 20 years I mean since I bought my first bike. So what could be more natural than to put the two together?

OK, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve been in the newspaper business and various other lines of work but the one thing they all had in common was that I was a writer. Most recently I’ve been doing contract work as a technical writer. On my most recent gig I knew first of all that it would end. That’s the nature of the beast. I also knew the economy was in the toilet and that getting the next gig could be very difficult. So I put aside as much cash as I could while I had the income and when the end came I was ready.

I’ve been “unemployed” for a couple months now but I’m working harder than ever. But no, I’m not looking for a job. I’m working to make a living as a biker.

First off, I’ve turned my gig at Examiner.com into an almost full-time effort, and as of yesterday I’ve moved from Denver Motorcycle Examiner to National Motorcycle Examiner. Second, I’m doing what I can to make more money off this website. I’ve always had the Google ads, and they’ve always paid enough to support the website without me having to dip into my pocket just to pay the hosting fees. But now I’m actively trying to sell ads on the site, which has the potential to provide serious income. We’ll see.

Third, I’ve been talking with Dan Patino at Monkey Gripper Motorcycle Tours about working for him this summer as a motorcycle tour guide. Considering the focus of this website, that seems a perfect fit. Now all we need is for the economy not to totally crush the tourism industry and to get some people signed up for tours.

And fourth, I’m considering the possibility of becoming a motorcycle riding instructor. To that end, just this weekend I took the Beginning Rider Course from T3RG Motorcycle Schools. The possibility of becoming an instructor was really only one of four reasons I had for taking the course, but because the course is required if you want to be an instructor, it was fortuitous to be able to do so just at this time.

So we’ll see. I’m doing what I love and while I’m not making nearly enough to live on so far, things do seem to be moving in the right direction.

And doors do seem to be opening up. For instance, in my work with Examiner.com I have helped build a group of the motorcycle Examiners around the country. We try to coordinate our efforts and work together whenever the opportunity presents itself. Well, there is a new East Bay Motorcycle Examiner who just started, Gabe Ets-Hokin, who just today posted his second ever post, which is part two of his introduction. It turns out to my extreme interest that he has been a motojournalist since 2004 and is currently the Online Editor for Cycle World magazine. Holy smokes! I now have a contact with an outfit I’d love to become involved with. It may never happen but you never know.

Rest assured, I’ll keep you up to date on how this progresses. I’m not saying you should be all that interested in how I make my living, but I would think just about anyone would be interested to see whether you really can do what you love and end up making it your job. Who knows, it might be the inspiration someone else needs to do so as well.

Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
Emotional day ends Run For The Wall

Biker Quote for Today

You can forget what you do for a living when your knees are in the breeze.

I’ve mentioned a number of times that I write for Examiner.com as their Denver Motorcycle Examiner and maybe you’ve checked it out and maybe you haven’t. Well, what exactly is Examiner.com?

We all know that newspapers are struggling. Here in Denver recently the Rocky Mountain News folded just two months shy of its 150th anniversary. The surviving Denver Post is not exactly raking in cash either, even with its main competition gone. But news is important, and if the old method of gathering and distributing it is falling away, something must replace it or we’ll all be in a world of hurt.

The internet appears to be the future, and part of that future may well be Examiner.com and other companies like it. Examiner.com is set up with home pages for cities across the country so that whatever city you choose, you’ll see local information. They bring on independent contractors, like me, to write on their topics of expertise and they pay us on page views. Then they sell ads related to the subject matter.

Because Examiner.com is headquartered here in Denver, Denver was one of the first local home pages to launch and as such, I was one of the first Examiners, as they call the writers. That meant that for a while I was the only Motorcycle Examiner in the country.

Examiners now number in the thousands, however, and when a new Motorcycle Examiner comes on board we make contact and invite them to join the group that we have created. There are 20 of us today, though that may change tomorrow.

The point is, there may be a Motorcycle Examiner in your city, or even two, and you may want to check them out. They’ll be bringing news of local motorcycle events, updates on local motorcycle-related issues, offering ideas on good rides in your area, and a lot more.

Here’s the list as of today:

• Atlanta Motorcycle Examiner http://wwww.examiner.com/x-7874-Atlanta-Motorcycle-Examiner
• Atlanta Motorcycle Lifestyle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8023-Atlanta-Motorcycle-Lifestyle-Examiner
• Atlanta Sport Bike Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-7271-Atlanta-Sport-Bike-Examiner
• Boomer Biker Examiner (Florida) http://www.examiner.com/x-1197-Boomer-Biker-Examiner
• Chicago Motorcycle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-2313-Chicago-Motorcycle-Examiner
• DC Motorcycle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8018-DC-Motorcycle-Examiner
• DC Motorcycle Travel Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-2294-DC-Motorcycle-Travel-Examiner
• Denver Motorcycle Examiner http://wwww.examiner.com/x-378-Denver-Motorcycle-Examiner
• Detroit Scooter Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-3223-Detroit-Scooter-Examiner
• Kansas City Motorcycle Examiner http://wwww.examiner.com/x-3640-Kansas-City-Motorcycle-Examiner
• LA Motorcycle Examiner http://wwww.examiner.com/x-7872-LA-Motorcycle-Examiner
• LA Motorcycle Travel Examiner http://wwww.examiner.com/x-7101-LA-Motorcycle-Travel-Examiner
• Louisville Motorcycle Travel Examiner http://wwww.examiner.com/x-4702-Louisville-Motorcycle-Travel-Examiner
• Houston Motorcycle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-9191-Houston-Motorcycle-Examiner
• Manchester Motorcycle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-6367-Manchester-Motorcycle-Examiner
• Miami Motorcycle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8272-Miami-Motorcycle-Examiner
• Phoenix Motorcycle Travel Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-9204-Phoenix-Motorcycle-Travel-Examiner
• Seattle Alternative Transportation Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-3227-Seattle-Motorcycle-Examiner
• Seattle Motorcycle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-5822-Seattle-Motorcycle-Examiner
• Tampa Motorcycle Lifestyle Examiner http://www.examiner.com/x-8142-Tampa-Motorcyle-Lifestyle-Examiner

Biker Quote for Today

If everything seems under control you’re just not going fast enough.

Would you like to be able to ride your motorcycle to work and find convenient, free parking by the curb? With a little luck we will have that here in Denver this summer. And you can probably make it happen in your town, too. Here’s what you can do.

Denver is fortunate in that we have a mayor who “gets it” and is willing to consider new ideas. He created an agency called Greenprint Denver that is charged with helping Denverites reduce pollution, congestion, and burning of motor fuel.

But you don’t need that degree of commitment; all you really need is a Public Works Department that is open to trying something new. In brief, here’s what needs to happen.

1. Identify unused or under-used spaces on city blocks
2. Have the traffic engineers and parking specialists select the ones they feel would be best suited to motorcycle parking
3. Get the program approved
4. Have crews stripe, sign, and otherwise prepare the spaces to be designated

Presto, you’re in business.

I’ll elaborate further. The spaces you’re looking for are called “end-caps” and they are generally spaces at the ends of blocks that are not long enough for cars. So they sit there empty but they could easily accommodate one or more motorcycles or scooters.

Because they’re sitting there empty, converting the end-caps to motorcycle parking would not cut city revenue as converting a metered space would do. So if your city wants to encourage motorcycle commuting, the only costs would be the time spent devising the program and then the striping and signing.

What more can you ask for? It’s green and it’s cheap. And it’s a way for your city to show that it has the concerns of its citizenry at heart. Your city councilperson might be interested in having themselves portrayed in that manner. Maybe if you sent them an email.

But really, I would start with the Public Works Department. They may already be thinking along these lines and your inquiry may be a helpful boost to get the idea in motion. I got involved in this because a reader of my Examiner.com site wrote urging me to lobby for dedicated parking. I started writing about it and several people stepped up to contribute to the effort and then I discovered that the city was already looking into it. So I don’t claim any influence in this at all, I just lucked into a great news story that no one else was covering.

What I have seen as I have delved into this story, however, is that it’s something that could easily be replicated just about anywhere. I really do think all you need to do is start talking to the right people and you can probably make it happen.

If you do, I’d love to hear from you about your efforts and problems and successes and whatever else. Get on it!

Biker Quote for Today

He who rides and keeps the beaten track studies the fences chiefly. — Henry David Thoreau

Nothing about motorcycles in this post. I just want to let anyone who has recently tried to reach me know that I didn’t receive your messages until today. If you emailed me via any of the motorcyclecolorado.com email addresses I use since about Feb. 15 I never received your email.

This is an issue I’ve had before. I have all my motorcyclecolorado.com email automatically forwarded to a Comcast account, and Comcast somehow decided to block anything coming from that domain. They unblocked it before, and I’ve contacted them to do the same again. Very annoying.

So If you emailed me you’ll be hearing from me soon–finally.

It’s not that Saturday was a milestone, because we’d already reached this point, but it was nevertheless a day worth noting. Charley and I went riding motorcycles together for the first time.

I know, there’s a lot of background that needs to be filled in here.

Charley is my wife’s son. Judy and I have been married for 13 years. Charley was 16 when we got married. Thanks to him and his sisters, the first 7 years of our marriage were utter hell. Are you starting to get the picture?

I’m not telling you anything Charley hasn’t heard directly from my lips when I tell you that there was a time when I hated him with every fiber of my being. I spoke those words, however, at a point where I was recommending that the authorities release him from the detention center where he had spent the last year, because I felt that he had grown and changed and was ready to be given another chance.

It didn’t start out like that. Shortly before Judy and I were married I took Charley with me on a camping trip my buddies and I used to go on every spring. At one point I pointed over to him and said to John, who I was standing with, that “He’s probably the closest thing to a son that I’ll ever have.” Things went to hell soon after that.

Charley was approved for release that day and he truly has turned his life around now. We eventually reached the point where I could tell Judy in all honesty that I truly have grown to like and care for Charley. We’ve had a good relationship for some years now. And Charley had a motorcycle of his own for awhile, although we were unaware of that until after he sold it.

So lately he has suggested that the two of us take my two bikes and ride together. That sounded like a fine idea to me and on Saturday we did it. I rode the Kawi and Charley was on the Honda. I showed him the Palmer Lake to Franktown loop that Judy and I have ridden many times, and the three biker-friendly bars along the way. Business was hopping on such a beautiful spring day. We didn’t drink but we did have some eats.

Altogether we spent about four hours riding and talking and enjoying our time together. The contrast with the bad old days could not have been sharper.

Charley is still the closest thing I’ll ever have to a son, and it’s nice that we’re a lot closer to that than we once were. And what dad doesn’t want to share his passion with his son? Charley wants to get another bike of his own, but he’s scraping financially these days so who knows how soon that will happen. In the meantime, I do have two bikes. No doubt we’ll be riding again.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride Safe, Ride Long, & Have Fun

This is so sixties. I just stumbled across this video from a 1968 movie called Girl on a Motorcycle. It starred Marianne Faithful and I hadn’t realized she was so cute.

I have no idea what the story line is but apparently riding bikes in the ’60s was psychedelic, at least if you were female. Enjoy.

OK, it looks like this may not show up if you’re using the FireFox browser, so here’s a link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUdiYOEsK-E&eurl=http://motorcyclecolorado.com/blog/&feature=player_embedded

Biker Quote for Today

Go Fast & Take Chances!!