Passes & Canyons Blog

After our stupid joke Bill and I bought a round for the group in a bar in Medicine Bow.

If you ride in a group it’s the generally accepted practice that you are responsible for making sure the guy behind you is still there. And if he’s not you slow down to let him catch up, and if he still doesn’t show maybe you stop and wait. And if he still doesn’t show you go back.

My friend Jungle always says that if you stop you should wait five minutes before going back. If the guy behind is OK, five minutes won’t matter. If he’s dead it won’t matter either.

Now, that’s not to say that the OFMC has always followed this rule. I was heading west on I-70 behind Brett and Randy one time when I had a flat just east of Rifle. I pulled over but I couldn’t get off the bike because the road sloped away and if I put out my kickstand the bike was going to fall to the right. Fine, I’ll just wait here until they come back for me.

Well, they didn’t. After awhile I started waving at any bikers passing on the highway, hoping someone would stop to give me a hand. Several did pass, and seemed like they wanted to stop, but they were going fast and by the time they could have stopped they would have been a quarter mile down the road. But finally a couple did stop, and they started hoofing it back to where I was.

Just at that time a guy in a pick-up came along and he stopped. Do you need help? You bet I do. He helped me hoist the bike up onto the center stand, which is amazingly hard to do when you have a flat tire–not sure why. So by the time the biker couple got there all I could say was thanks a whole lot but I don’t need you any more. But thank you so much.

It turns out that Brett and Randy noticed I was not behind them so they pulled off at Rifle. But the exit goes downhill, to where you can’t see the vehicles passing by above on the highway. After sitting there a few minutes they decided I must have just gone on past them on the highway so they took off again. Wrong. Once I was finally able to rejoin the whole group the next day neither of them said one word, like “Oops” or “Sorry” or anything. Jungle told me, “You need new friends.”

Which brings me back to Bill and Ken’s really bad practical joke.

We were up in Wyoming one time coming down a highway in the middle of nowhere, me riding sweep and Bill just in front of me. We got to a fork and I don’t know how we knew this but we knew that if we took the fork to the right it would rejoin this same road a little further along. The other guys were going to the left. Presumably, considering when this was, Bill must have pulled over at the fork and when I pulled up next to him he suggested that we take this other road and ride fast and be waiting for them up ahead. A fun surprise.

So we peeled off and we got to where the roads rejoined and we sat and waited. And waited. And waited. Oops, you don’t suppose they noticed we weren’t there and are looking for us? Bill headed back on the road they were coming on while I sat at the intersection in case someone came the other way. And of course that’s what it was. They were looking all over for us, riding back the way we had all come and getting very concerned.

Considering how unorganized we were back then, the ploy might have worked except that just a quarter mile past the fork there was a rest area and the group pulled off. It was not hard to realize we were not there. Where are those guys? When did you see them last? They found out when Bill got all the way back to that spot.

They were not happy. They wouldn’t let us live that one down for a long time. What in the world made us think this would be a clever trick?

I do think that after my flat by Rifle everyone in the group really came to understand that you are responsible for keeping an eye on the guy behind you, so we’re not unteachable.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 20. We smell like leather and gasoline.

Brett with his trials bike loaded on behind. He had another bike inside.

A few weeks ago I got the sort of email I haven’t received in quite a long time: a request for accommodations from a member of the Motorcycle Travel Network. Judy and I have been members of the MTN for a long time but it has been years since we hosted another member or stayed with other members at their homes.

The MTN went through some rough times not so long ago. I would pay our annual dues each year and the year would go by with no one contacting us to stay. Finally I let it drop but a couple years ago now I heard they had been revitalized. I checked and was told that former members like us could rejoin with the first year’s fee waived. So of course I signed up again.

And then nothing for nearly a year. Until a few weeks ago when I got a note from Brett. Could we put him up?

Brett is from Cleveland and was headed to Utah with a small (150cc) street bike and a trials bike. He arrived two days ago, on Saturday.

One thing that came back immediately is how with the MTN, the person or people you are hosting or staying with may be strangers but you immediately have things to talk about: motorcycles. What do you ride? Where have you been? Let’s have a look at your bikes. Lots to talk about.

And everyone we’ve met has been great; we’ve had no bad experiences. I know I was a little apprehensive my first time staying with someone, going to this stranger’s house in St. George, Utah, wondering what I would do if we had an immediate personality clash. But it went well and since then we have hosted and been hosted all over the country.

The MTN operates on a simple method. You join, build a profile on the website, and specify if you wish to host, visit, or both. When you stay with someone you pay them a small fee ($20) to cover expenses and they put you up. If you’re riding in that area you now have access to expert, in depth information about the best roads in the area, places you don’t want to miss, and lots more. As hosts you are not required to provide dinner but we always do and every place I’ve ever stayed they fed me as well.

And that’s it. And we have met some great people. There was a couple we stayed with in Fort Myers, Florida, who kept us in stitches with their unending tales of incredible adventures riding all over the world. We had a couple who stayed with us from Lethbridge, Alberta, who enjoyed so much and truly hated to see leave. It has all been good.

Maybe for some people, hosting or staying with strangers is not something you’re comfortable with. But maybe if you try it once or twice you’ll reconsider. If it sounds great you should definitely do it. And the more people who join the better the network gets.

Biker Quote for Today

Did you hear about the mute motorcycle gang? They don’t answer to nobody.

The RMMRC taking a break on a ride several years ago.

For the first 20-some years of my motorcycle riding the only “club” I rode with was the OFMC. And I put that in quotes because we weren’t really any kind of organized club, we were just a group of friends who liked to ride motorcycles. But over the years a lot of the guys gave up riding, and those who didn’t give it up just seemed less interested in doing much of it except for the annual trip.

That’s not me. I generally ride a lot and if I have someone to ride with that’s great, if I don’t I never hesitate to take off on my own.

But it is nice to have a group to ride with, if for no other reason than having group rides set up by numerous people gives you a lot of opportunities and also can take you places you didn’t know were there.

Enter the RMMRC, or Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club. I joined the RMMRC in 2016 and right from the start I suddenly had a lot of great riding opportunities and also was meeting a whole bunch of good guys. Also some women but mostly guys.

Now, I have been a member of ABATE of Colorado for more than 20 years and they do some rides and I’ve been on a few but those are almost entirely the large group, poker run type of rides. And I’m not interested in that kind of thing. So even though I attended monthly meetings for years I never really got to know most of those people and there were plenty who I know on sight but even now don’t know their names.

Not so with the RMMRC. All it takes is to go off on a four-day ride, eat meals together, share motel rooms, and just generally hang out and you learn people’s names and you do get to know them. So I’ve made a bunch of friends and had some really good times.

But things are changing. As opposed to every other summer since I’ve been a member, there have been precious few rides being planned. As a consequence, I haven’t been riding nearly as much as I usually do. And why is this?

I hate to say it but it’s age. The RMMRC has dwindled seriously since I joined. A number of the members have died. Others have just reached the point where they physically cannot ride any more. And now there are several of the really core members who are battling cancers and other serious–and deadly–illnesses and lord knows how long they’ll be with us.

And we’re not getting new members. The only new member I can think of in the last couple years was John. He was a great addition to the group, very enthusiastic and eager to ride a lot. And he is one of those now facing serious health issues.

When I joined I would go to meetings and there would be between 30 and 40 people attending. We would have special rooms of our own at restaurants to hold the meeting. At the August meeting this year there were 8 of us and we were at a couple tables out in the main restaurant. The restaurant was no longer willing to give us a separate room with a dedicated server; we’re just an eight-top.

So I’ve told myself a thousand times that if no one else is organizing rides then I should set some up. But it doesn’t happen. I beat myself over the head for it, saying just do it you idiot, but I don’t obey myself.

Recently we did a joint ride with the local BMW club, which is now headed by Sara and Sean, who used to be RMMRC members. I wondered if this was the beginning of a move to merge the two. But that was a big group on that ride, 30 or more, and again, I really don’t like riding in that big a group. So I soon peeled off on my own. If we do end up merging I’ll give it a shot but I’m not enthusiastic.

Which gets me to the title of this piece. Is this how a club dies? I know Judy is facing a similar situation in a club she belongs to. All the core members are getting old and there are few new, younger members to keep it going. I guess time will tell.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when your butt hurts, your back is killing you, you can t feel your hands or feet, and when your buddy asks you if you want to take a break you look him straight in the eyes and say HELL NO LET’S RIDE!!!!!

A portion of the RMMRC upcoming rides page.

If you’re like me and the your main riding group of buddies (in my case the OFMC) doesn’t do as many rides as you might like to do, joining a public group can solve that issue. For me, that came a number of years ago in the form of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC). Nowadays I ride a lot more with the RMMRC than I do with the OFMC.

Well, you can, too. At this moment the RMMRC has four multi-day rides planned and posted on the site. Club membership only costs $12 a year and all sign-up is handled through MeetUp.com. Here’s a quick run-through.

2024 BMW National Rally — While officially a BMW rally, in reality all makes are welcome. The RMMRC does this rally most years because so many club members do ride BMWs but it’s really just an excuse to go somewhere. The plan is only to spend about half a day at the actual rally.

The group going will be leaving Denver on Monday, June 10, and returning on Thursday, June 20. Each day’s ride will be in the 300 to 350 mile range.

Colorado Scenic Highways — I’m going to be going on this ride, which leaves on Thursday, June 27 and returns on Sunday, June 30. The three overnight destinations are Crested Butte, Grand Junction, and Durango. Then the only long day’s ride is coming home from Durango.

Glacier & Banff National Parks — This trip will run from Monday, August 5, to Friday, August 16. It’s kind of a skinny loop so that means no actual back-tracking, which is nice. Sometimes on these rides you have little choice but to return on at least some of the roads you went out on. I won’t be going on this ride, partly because it doesn’t work with my schedule and partly because I did a very similar ride a few years ago. About the only place we didn’t get to on that trip that this trip will hit is Calgary. I’m sure it’s going to be a really good ride.

Colorado 4-Corners Tour — This is a 4-day, 3-night tour starting from and returning to Morrison. Total tour is just over 1,000 miles with daily mileage between 250-340 miles. The stops are Walsenberg, Farmington, and Ridgway. Departure is Thursday, September 19, and return is Sunday, September 22.

So hey! Not getting in enough riding? Here’s your chance. You’d be very welcome. What are you waiting for?

Biker Quote for Today

You are not alone bro, your bike is with you.

The new Motorcycle Travel Network home page.

Long before the advent of this “sharing economy” as exemplified by AirBNB there was a website devoted to connecting motorcyclists to provide travelers with inexpensive places to stay with like-minded people. This was the Motorcycle Travel Network.

For $20 a night, as a gratuity, you had a place to stay with hosts who knew all the best local roads and places to visit. And in my own experience, it usually meant dinner and breakfast, although that is always up to the host.

Well, the Motorcycle Travel Network (MTN) kind of petered out in recent years and although we had stayed members, when a full year had passed and we had not used it and nobody had contacted us to stay with us we just let our membership slide. As did many others, I assume.

So–Announcing!–MTN is back.

Sometime earlier this year I received an email with this announcement in the subject line but the email was blank. I replied asking for more info but then forgot about it. Because this was via an email account I rarely use now I did not see the reply I got until just very recently. And yes, they are back, and if you are among the early folks to sign up they’re even waiving the annual registration fee for the first year.

I just signed up and I can certainly attest that the new website is significantly changed. Mainly it’s more up-to-date. The old one was pretty basic, reminding me of this website back before I got it modernized. (It really needs that again now; time marches on.)

I used MTN on my own and with Judy on our travels and we had some great times. Down in Fort Myers, Florida, we stayed with a couple who kept us regaled with stories of their rides. These were world travelers and she rides her own. We had a great time. We also hosted folks here and in particular there was a Canadian couple from Lethbridge, Alberta, who we had an absolutely fabulous time with. We really intended to return the visit but sadly have never made it to Lethbridge.

Will we have more great times now? Man, I sure hope so. Of course the more people who sign up the better the chances are that this thing will work well again. With AirBNB and VRBO this business of sharing your home with strangers is much more in the mainstream, but those sites also offer competition. What they can’t offer is the price and the in with local riders. Go ahead–sign up. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

Biker Quote for Today

Drop a gear and disappear.

Getting ready to ride to Bennett.

The early part of this week has been great riding weather, with bad weather coming soon, so of course I was out taking advantage of it.

On Monday I took the V-Strom out and ran the regular errands I carry out each month. Not a lot of miles so I’ve got to get back out on this one again this month if I want to turn over the next 1,000 on the odometer. I’m still about 70 miles away. Maybe today after I finish this post. The weather is supposed to hit tomorrow.

On Tuesday I went out on the Concours for a longer run. I’m still waiting to get the bike in to Rowdy Rocket Garage to get this vacuum issue fixed so I’m still contending with the fact that the engine races like crazy every time I pull the clutch in to shift. I’ve started figuring out how to adapt to the problem at other times. For instance, if I’m coming to a stop I just let the bike slow down a lot before I finally pull in the clutch and downshift. Normally you would be concerned about stalling but this bike is not going to stall. In fact, much of the time I can let go of the throttle just as if I had cruise control on and the bike just keeps going.

This ride just strengthened my resolve that yes, I am going to sell this bike at some point and replace it with something newer and lighter. It just isn’t all that much fun to ride when I’m constantly having to pay attention to this problem. And yes, once I am finally able to have the problem addressed it will eliminate this negative condition but I’m past that. My mind is made up to move on. I was talking to Bruce yesterday and he was saying just go ahead and sell the bike as it is and take whatever you can get. But I don’t think I could find any buyer at this time of year so I’d like to have it fixed so I can enjoy riding it in the next few months before I sell it. At least if it’s not going to cost too much.

Then on Wednesday the RMMRC took a ride out to Bennett for lunch. I rode the CB750.

There were eight of us on this beautiful, warm, sunny day. We headed out down Parker Road, then east on Quincy and out into the country. There are not a lot of options on roads to take going out where we were headed so we just rode the straight out to where we turned north on County Road 129, jogged east and then north under I-70, and reached our destination, the High Plains Diner. We had never been there before and I was favorably impressed. The food was good–nothing spectacular–at very reasonable prices. I would not hesitate to go there again.

Heading out after the meal we didn’t have a lot of choices. We could go back the way we came or we could go east about a mile and take the Kiowa-Bennett Road south. Heading west without going south didn’t offer any attractive options, although I guess we could have gone east on US 30 to Watkins and then south on Watkins Road. We took the Kiowa-Bennett Road.

Two of us were inclined to go on all the way to Kiowa and then turn west but the other six decided just to go south as far as Quincy and then retrace our route there. So we did, then home. But man, it was a great day to be out on a bike.

Biker Quote for Today

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it’s worth watching.

Ice racing is a family sport–and a lot of fun.

When I’m updating my Rides and Rallies page I often check in on various clubs to see what events they have planned.

One such club is Harry’s Roamers. While it is not the only thing they do, Harry’s Roamers is well known for putting on ice racing up at Rainbow Falls, down toward Woodland Park. Judy and I have been to the ice races a couple times and it’s a lot of fun.

But this year I was not finding anything about ice racing being scheduled. That was odd. Normally this would be about when the racing season was winding up. What I did find was an exchange on one site between someone asking if there was ice racing this year and a reply. What caught my eye was that one of the people exchanging notes was Joel Brown. Joel is my mechanic. Hah! I’ll just call Joel and ask him what the deal is.

So I did and Joel told me a whole lot. First off, I didn’t know it but Joel is the president of the club. OK, I guess I’ve really come to the right source. Another thing Joel told me was that Harry’s Roamers is the oldest chartered motorcycle club in Colorado, having been chartered by the American Motorcyclist Association in 1929 in operation continuously ever since. Joel said they’re really intent on making sure they hit the 100-year mark, whether ice racing is in the mix or not.

Oh yeah, ice racing. So what’s the deal?

Well, it seems the owner of the Rainbow Falls property decided he wasn’t being paid enough for hosting this series of events and so he asked for more this season. A lot more. Joel said they had been paying close to $2,000 per week between lease and percentage of the gate but this year he wanted $3,000 and 10 percent of the gate. And just as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs does not work to your advantage, this increase has been met with zero income. It just doesn’t work to operate at a loss, Joel noted, also pointing out that everyone doing all the work this thing requires are volunteers.

So they’re looking for another venue but so far have not found anything. They need either a lake or some large enough area that could be prepped and then flooded. But that latter would require a lot of water and where do you get that and for what price? As for lakes, anything that is part of the Denver water system is off limits.

There is a lake down at Lake George and that town seems interested in having the races move there but nothing much has happened so far on that possibility. At Georgetown Lake they already host four-wheeled ice racing but that means those folks already have dibs on the better part of the season and it is hard to know way back in October what condition the ice will be in come March. And you can’t just decide to hold races next week, you have to arrange for things like insurance, having an ambulance on the premises, providing porta-potties, and all that other stuff that you and I, just showing up for a day of fun, assume will be there.

Meanwhile, Harry’s Roamers is continuing to hold its meetings and plan a bunch of rides, and if someone has a lake they’d like to rent out for a few weekends in the middle of winter–something up in the hills where you can count of cold and the ice being solid–Joel or anybody in the club would love to hear from you.

Biker Quote for Today

“Riding a race bike is an art – a thing that you do because you feel something inside.” – Valentino Rossi

With the RMMRC on top of Independence Pass.

I’ve discussed the camaraderie of riding motorcycles a number of times recently and then events prompt additional thoughts.

As I’ve said, I was struck on this recent RMMRC Great River Road ride by how little social interaction there was among the group once we got to out stop for the night. That surprised me and initially I thought it was just the contrast with the OFMC, where we spend all the time doing stuff together till it’s time to turn in.

But then the morning we took the ride up Coal Creek and then over Douglas Mountain Drive we got together beforehand for breakfast. And at breakfast it occurred to me that this is where there is always a lot of camaraderie–before the ride. Then, a week later when we did the ride up Golden Gate Canyon and then over Squaw Pass Roy called me to tell me several guys were meeting at his house to ride out to Golden. The plan was kickstands up at 9:45 but they were leaving Roy’s at 8:30. Why so early?

It dawned on me that getting there early and hanging out is . . . drumroll . . . camaraderie.

So there’s plenty of camaraderie in the RMMRC–at least on the day rides. Either before the ride or in the middle if we stop for lunch. But it’s a whole different dynamic on long runs, or at least on the one long run I’ve done with the group.

The key came to me at lunch on this day when talk turned to a long ride some of the guys are thinking about for August. They want to do a trip to Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge. There and all the way home in eight days. Eight days. Oh my gosh, that’s a lot of hard riding. And that’s the key.

If you get up early each morning so you can burn up hundreds and hundreds of miles, you get to your day’s destination, have dinner, and people are ready to go to bed. With the OFMC we don’t do these long days, we often reach our destination as early as 2 or 3 p.m. and we’re not exhausted. This gives us time and energy to swim in the motel pool, stroll around and find an ice cream shop, have a beer or two, then have dinner, and kick back with another beer.

Now, Judy and I are planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest in the next few weeks so I definitely won’t be going along on a ride right back to Oregon soon after we get home. But I can just see how this whole thing will play out. They’ll get up early, ride hard and long, and hang it up early. On the whole trip. All the camaraderie will come at the meals–not in the evening.

Now I’m totally convinced that if I want to do any RMMRC rides on the terms I prefer I’m going to have to be the one to organize them, and I’m going to have to make the point to anyone interested that this is a different kind of ride. And in the meantime I’ll just stick to doing day rides. We have a really good time on the day rides.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you complained about the “smell and fumes” near the back of your last group ride.