Passes & Canyons Blog

A rider on Squaw Pass.

When the temperatures are consistently in the high 90s there is one thing you can do to escape: take a motorcycle ride in the mountains. We did.

The Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) tries to have rides going on nearly every week. The week before we did the Peak-to-Peak and the canyons running down from it. This time we overlapped that route but tended more to the south.

Six of us met in Golden and headed up Golden Gate Canyon. The temps heading up weren’t cool but it sure wasn’t 95 either. One note, there is a stretch with quite a bit of sand on the road. Be careful.

We reached the Peak-to-Peak and headed south to Black Hawk, then turned up toward Central City. We passed through Central City and took Central City Parkway over to I-70. Now it was pretty darn comfortable.

At I-70 we hopped over to Idaho Springs where we stopped for lunch. The place we were heading for was no longer in business so we went downtown. The place we had in mind there had no indoor seating but had one big table with a big umbrella outside. The heat outside would have been intolerable but the umbrella made all the difference. A couple thousand feet of elevation helped a lot, too.

From Idaho Springs we headed up and over Squaw Pass. Now we got some real elevation and some cloud cover, too. Nice.

The Squaw Pass road is one of those that separates the aggressive riders from the not-so-much guys. It has a lot of twists and turns and a lot of very tight turns, often posted at 15 or 20 mph. I was perfectly having them blast ahead just as fast as they liked. I’m in no hurry.

Back down to Evergreen Parkway and a right toward Evergreen, and then we skirted around the town via Meadow Drive. If you aren’t familiar with avoiding downtown by using Meadow Drive you ought to look it up. I can’t believe I went so many years and never knew about it.

Then we headed down to Kittredge but turned up Myers Gulch Road, which becomes Parmalee Gulch Road, bringing us out onto US 285. That just allowed us to stay in the hills a little bit longer.

And then we came down out of the hills expecting to get hit by a blast of heat but instead, as soon as we rolled out onto the flatlands we hit a rain shower. Not enough to get soaked, just enough to cool things off. I was on the Concours, which has a great fairing, so I hardly got wet at all. And the rain kept up until we got nearly to Federal. From there it was just a short cruise the rest of the way home and what little wet I had picked up just had time to evaporate–read: cool me off–by the time I was home.

I love it when everything goes in your favor.

Biker Quote for Today

The joy of riding a motorcycle is out of this world. The thrill of riding in the hills and mountains is an opiatic addiction.

The sidecar boys show up to do the Elephant Ride in 2010.

We interrupt our regularly scheduled telling of the tale of the RMMRC Great River Road ride to alert you to an event that there was no other way to fit in: Rigs in the Rockies 2 2022 USCA National Rally.

In case you’re wondering, USCA stands for United Sidecar Association. And that’s what it is, a gathering of folks who ride sidecar rigs.

This event will be happening Thursday, July 7 to Sunday, July 10, at the Delta County Fairgrounds in Hotchkiss. I’ve looked on their website and Facebook page but can’t find any info about activities but I guess if you ride a sidecar rig the only thing that really matters is that these are your people and you want to go be with them.

And if that’s not your ride, but you’ll be in the vicinity, I would definitely stop by, just to see them all.

Have a good Fourth!

Biker Quote for Today

There are too many ways to lose your life besides dying.

The Pass Bagger patches.

The BMW Motorcycle Club of Colorado is a good place to go to meet folks to ride with, but their website is also a good resource even if you don’t want to join the club.

In particular, I’m looking at their Pass Bagger page. The Pass Bagger “quest,” as they call it, encourages members to earn patches for riding greater and greater numbers of passes in Colorado. First off, who knew there were so many?

There are three categories: paved passes, unpaved passes, and gaps and summits. If you click on the links to the lists you’ll see about 80 paved passes. OK, some of these have got to be just high spots that technically are passes but you would never realize it. And in some cases it’s a little confusing considering that, for instance, they list three Ute Passes. I’m not sure if this is all one pass or three separate ones. Each is listed in a different county. Doing a little digging it seems there really are three.

As for unpaved passes, there are probably something like 130 of them.

Where it really gets interesting is the gaps and summits. A sampling of these include Cat Creek Gap in Archuleta County, Limestone Gap in Moffat County, and Battle Mountain Summit in Eagle County. I have no idea what any of these are. That’s a pretty good reason to go find out, wouldn’t you say?

All of these also include the longitude and latitude so you can plug it into your GPS, as well as the elevation and the level of difficulty. A few are designated as favorites.

So I’d say that’s a pretty good resource. Of course the club has a whole lot of other rides and events to participate in. Yeah, I know I mentioned these guys in my post just a couple weeks ago about riding clubs in Colorado but I felt they have so much going on it was worth it to bring the club up again. And despite the BMW in the name they welcome all makes.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: You only need to get a new chain or belt for your Motorcycle when the old one is worn.

Meet-Up is a good place to find groups of motorcyclists to ride with.

Some people just simply have friends with motorcycles and they get together and ride. But not everyone. I know when I got my first bike, my CB750, John had already bought his Virago. A little while later Bill bought his Shadow. And we went out riding together. The OFMC was born and more friends and relatives joined and soon we had a big group. Easy.

As time has gone by, however, the OFMC has gotten a lot smaller and those few who are left really don’t care to go riding as much as I want to. So I looked around. I was an ABATE of Colorado member but I never got to where I would have called any of them “friends,” rather, simply acquaintances. And the majority of ABATE rides are poker runs and such, which I’m not much into.

Eventually I found the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) and that has filled the bill. This is a good-sized group that does a lot of rides and I’ve gotten on much more actually friend-like terms with a bunch of these folks than I ever have at ABATE.

But there are a number of other groups, too, and often it could be the physical location that leads you to join one group or another. The RMMRC usually has its meetings here in southeast Denver where I live so it’s convenient. I know the BMW Motorcycle Club of Colorado is very active and they are open to all bikes, regardless of the name. They meet way out west, if that’s more convenient for you.

The British Motorcycle Association of Colorado is out of Colorado Springs, although it appears they do have affiliated chapters in Denver and the Fort Collins/Loveland area. They also are welcoming to other bikes but do ask that you have an affinity for the older British bikes.

There are also a number of groups that have formed through Meet-Up, including the Highlands Ranch Motorcycle Riders. As the name implies, they are centered out of Highlands Ranch.

Also the Front Range Dual Sport Riders, of which I am technically a member but have never attended one of their events. I don’t think they have meetings so it’s just a matter of getting together at a starting point to do a ride.

And now the latest one that Meet-Up informed me of, Colorado Inclusive Meetup 20s-40s. OK, this one is interesting. First off, as the name implies, they state up front that they are looking for people in their 20s through 40s. As in, I’m too old, sorry. And I get the impression that it may be pitched to gays, which is what the “inclusive” part of the name is about. OK, I’m not gay but that wouldn’t stop me from riding with you guys if I wasn’t too old.

And lastly, they have this sentence at the end of their Who We Are page: Who the group isn’t for: honestly, trump supporters.

I found that especially amusing, especially since the first time I looked at their page that statement was a bit more blunt and off-color. I like a little honesty like that. This group definitely does not seem to lean toward Harley-Davidson and as we all know, the guys and gals on the Harleys tend to skew heavily toward Trump. So if you’re getting a group together why not be clear up front what sort of crowd you’re looking for?

Obviously there are other groups, too–you just need to look for them. I know that since I hooked up with the RMMRC I’ve had a really good time doing a whole lot of rides and meeting and getting acquainted with a whole new bunch of people. If you’re looking for someone to ride with, they’re out there.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you fainted when you met Willie G.

Val hams it up for the camera at Daniels Park.

I did a short ride with a small RMMRC group Saturday and we had an interesting encounter.

Val and Chris had invited everyone over to their house for breakfast before a ride down to Daniels Park. It was kind of nice because it offered a comfortable situation for a few of us who weren’t well acquainted to get to know each other better. Val is a relatively new rider who has a nice little KTM but thanks to Covid has not been able even to schedule a riding test to get her license. So she has to ride with someone who does have a license, such as all of us. From Daniels Park the group could decide to keep going, and they did, but I opted to head home–too much needing my attention at home.

So anyway, we headed out and were winding our way through Littleton and the south suburban area headed to the park when we came to a spot where we needed to turn right. There were seven bikes. I was riding sixth, behind Gene, who was behind I don’t know who.

Approaching this intersection the leaders passed a bicyclist in the bike lane. Not a problem, they were well ahead of him and they turned. One by one these motorcycles made the turn, but with each one the bicyclist drew closer. I was observing this with interest. It occurred to me that I wasn’t really sure who ought to yield the right of way when the cyclist got to the intersection, assuming he planned to go straight. But my thinking was that whatever was the “right” thing, he really ought to slow down and let these string of motorcycles make their turn as a group. I mean, how big a deal would that be?

But he didn’t. As he came to the intersection the rider in front of Gene turned in front of him, he hit his brakes and wobbled pretty fiercely, and as he then crossed ahead of Gene he angrily yelled at Gene. OK.

When we stopped I asked Gene what he had said but Gene had been listening to music so he didn’t catch the words but nobody could miss the anger. And I asked and everyone agreed that the right of way is supposed to be ceded to the bicyclist. But the guy in front of Gene, the offender, said he figured he had plenty of room to make the turn without interfering with the bicyclist. And apparently he thought he had done so and was surprised that there had been an incident.

Which just gets back to my original thinking. OK, the guy had a right to believe the right of way should have been yielded to him. (Nobody has the right of way, it’s a matter of who is supposed to yield the right of way. That’s a technicality but it’s good to keep that clear in your mind.) But in this case, wouldn’t it have been smart for the cyclist to have decided for his own safety to just defer to this string of motorcycles?

We motorcyclists know all too well that if someone violates our space that no matter how in the right we are, we’re still the ones who are going to get hurt. Clearly that applies even more to bicyclists.

And even if someone understands and accepts that the cyclist had the right of way, sometimes people make bad judgments. In this case that apparently happened. We follow the maxim of riding as if we’re invisible. Again, bicyclists should follow that concept even more since they’re even more vulnerable. I don’t think it’s any secret though that at least some bicyclists are overly self-righteous in asserting their right to their share of the road. And I think this guy was one of those. Fine, be that way, but I personally think my own safety and well-being take precedence over my rights on the road. I’d rather rant about some idiot later than wake up in the ER.

It all comes down to one over-riding principle: don’t be stupid. I think this guy was stupid.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if you’ve never ridden long enough to know that stock seats are never comfortable.

Lunch at Green Mountain Reservoir.

If anyone pays attention to the time of day when these posts generally go up you’ll be aware that this is much later in the day than usual. That’s because I only just got back from an all-day ride with the RMMRC. Roy called last night and told me to be at his place just before 8, so I was. So were Charley and Tim. We headed on out to Morrison to meet up with the rest, and there were a bunch today, about 12 of us.

Essentially this was a fall color ride. This is the time of year when the mountainsides are covered in yellow and gold and it’s always the sort of thing you want to take pictures of. Happily for us, it was also one of these incredibly beautiful October days that Colorado is know for. Let’s ride!

We headed up past Red Rocks to US 40 where it runs alongside I-70 going up Mount Vernon Canyon. Right away we lost Roy, who rides sweep. No one had any idea what happened to him and we hoped he didn’t break down but the plan from the start was that if we got separated just regather at the Subway in Granby.

We took US 40 and then US 6 as much as possible, just getting onto I-70 briefly when we had to, and then followed 40 up over Berthoud Pass. Bob, who I consider one of the fast guys, suggested that the guys like Mike, who Bob considers a fast guy, might want to blast on ahead. Mike said he would stay with the group until we hit the pass but then look out, he’d be gone.

So we were totally splintered by the time we got to Granby, and who should I see first but Roy. Seems as sweep, he saw two bikes behind him so he waved them ahead and then followed them. They were not part of our group. Oops. So he went up Lookout Mountain and caught US 40 that way and ended up ahead of us.

The Subway in Granby was not going to open for another 15 minutes so some elected to stay and wait while the others went on to the Subway in Kremmling, with the others to catch up with us there. The idea was to get lunch to go and then go have a picnic down by Green Mountain Reservoir south of Kremmling.

I took off with the group heading to the Kremmling Subway and what happened then was like much of the day. Everyone else was on newer, powerful bikes. I was on my very old, decidedly less powerful Honda CB750 and I just can’t keep up with these guys. No matter, we all knew where we were headed.

Food in hand, we turned south. CO 9 runs along the east edge of the reservoir but we turned onto the road that runs along the west shore and finally found the only campground still open. Time for lunch.

I wrote last week about differences in the OFMC and the RMMRC and here’s another one. The road down into the campground was gravel and none of us were on dual-sport bikes, but we all went down it anyway. The OFMC–other than me–flat out refuses to do any gravel. They would not have done this.

After lunch we continued south on CO 9 with the plan to get gas at Silverthorne. Some people were more antsy to ride so even while a few were not ready to roll yet, a bunch took off. I was the tail end of that group. We were going to go over Loveland Pass rather than through the tunnel. Once again, they left me in the dust.

I was not unhappy with that. I like to ride at my own pace and blasting over a high mountain pass at excessive speed is not my thing. I figured at this point we were all totally scattered and that was really the end of the group ride but to my surprise, as I got down to I-70 they were waiting. And not just for me. Did I know where the others were? No, I hadn’t seen them since the gas station but in less than a minute there they were and they passed us and we pulled in behind them.

Bob, in the lead, was still following the practice of avoiding the slab so we got off at Bakerville and onto US 6 again, down to Silver Plume. This old road running alongside but away from the interstate is such a nicer ride than the slab. We had to get back on I-70 at Silver Plume, just to get down to Georgetown, and then we were off again, although we lost one rider who didn’t realize we would do this and was stuck in the left lane going past the exit.

So it was US 6 on down to Idaho Springs and two people, I’m not sure who, headed up Squaw Pass. For the rest of us, once we were back on the interstate this time it was all over. I quickly found myself riding just with Roy. But I didn’t figure I wanted to do the slab all the way home so I got off at El Rancho and turned down Kerr Gulch Road, angling down to CO 74 at Kittredge. Much nicer ride.

And there I was, heading east on US 285/Hampden when who pulls up alongside me but Tim. He had been way out in front of me. How the heck did I get ahead of him? Was my shortcut that much faster? Or was Tim one of the ones who took Squaw Pass, and he did it so fast that he barely ended up behind me? I have no idea.

Whatever. Bottom line was, this was a terrific day of riding. The weather was great, the colors were good, most especially down CO 9 from Kremmling to Silverthorne. Of course it totally disrupted everything else I had had in mind to do today but that’s the price you pay when you’re (deep, rumbling voice) a biker.

Extra: In my earlier post comparing the OFMC and the RMMRC I forgot one really big thing, which I have since added into that post. But rather than make you go look for it I’ll paste it in here.
In the OFMC, if we get cold, we’ll stop and put on more gear. If our legs are getting stiff, we’ll stop and take a break. With the RMMRC it seems that once we get rolling we are going to continue rolling. These guys like to ride, not stop. Of course, with a group of any size, stopping requires time. One or two people can stop quickly and get going again, but with eight people it takes about four times as long. And you don’t cover lots of miles in a day if you’re stopping all the time.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if taking your wife on a cruise means a putt down the interstate.

The RMMRC heads down Independence Pass.

After five years riding with the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) I recently went on my first extended ride. All the others have just been day rides. Meanwhile, I’ve been going on week-long rides with the OFMC for more than 30 years. I figure a comparison of the two groups might be in order.

Some sharp contrasts come readily to mind. For one, the OFMC has gotten to be just one long ride and at best two day rides each year. Meanwhile, I can’t even count the number of rides I’ve been on with the RMMRC just this year. A lot. That’s why I joined the RMMRC.

Concern about safety is another sharp difference. To come on an RMMRC ride you must wear a helmet, and we always ride in staggered formation. In the OFMC no one is going to tell you you have to wear a helmet, although in later years none of us would even consider riding without one. The early years were a very different story.

As for staggered formation, the OFMC response to that would be “What’s that?” This had been a bit of an issue for awhile, with some of us lobbying for it while others responded with “don’t tell me how to ride.” I resolved the issue for myself by primarily riding sweep. Otherwise, I would try to make sure not to have Randy riding right behind me. Randy seemed to get target fixated on the rear tire of whoever was in front of him, and you’d check your mirror and there he was barely 25 feet right behind you. I was not grief-stricken when Randy chose to stop riding with us.

I have to say, though, that for awhile there was a guy like Randy in the RMMRC. And he was actually worse than Randy, a lot worse. It was suggested to me that maybe he had poor vision and that made sense. And maybe he had Lasik or cataract surgery because he no longer does that. What a relief.

Going on longer rides with the two groups has one very big difference. With the OFMC we know for sure how many will be coming and we divide motel reservations so each of us only needs to make one or two. Then we reserve rooms for the whole group. In the RMMRC it’s every man for himself. So if you’re going to be out for four nights, that’s four reservations each person has to make (unless you’re doubling up with someone else, which only a few people do). The difference here is probably that with the OFMC we’re friends outside of riding and I know that Bill or Dennis is not going to stiff me. With the RMMRC, these are people I see only for rides and with many of them I don’t even know their last names, much less where they live. Not that I would expect to get stiffed if someone decided at the last minute not to come, but it’s the difference between friends and folks you are friendly with.

One thing that seems to be true for both groups is that we mostly avoid talk of politics. There are people of differing opinions in both groups and there is no better way these days to tear a group apart than to get into pointless political arguments.

When it comes to hard riding, the RMMRC is definitely the high-miler club. There are members who are Iron Butt riders and it’s pretty much the norm to blast out 500 miles on the first day of a long ride in order to keep the days within the needs of people who have jobs. All OFMC riders are now retired and nobody is much into long days. A couple years ago I told the guys I could come up with a really nice route if they were willing to do a few long days. They said OK, and we had a nice ride, but afterward they told me they really don’t want to do long (350 miles in this case) days any more. Heck, with the RMMRC just recently we covered 400 miles going from Denver to Grand Junction via a wandering — and extremely scenic — route.

Inserted later: Now that points out one other important difference in the two groups. In the OFMC, if we get cold, we’ll stop and put on more gear. If our legs are getting stiff, we’ll stop and take a break. With the RMMRC it seems that once we get rolling we are going to continue rolling. These guys like to ride, not stop. Of course, with a group of any size, stopping requires time. One or two people can stop quickly and get going again, but with eight people it takes about four times as long. And you don’t cover lots of miles in a day if you’re stopping all the time.

Also, in later years the OFMC has decided we like to take it easy and have at least one non-riding day in the middle of the week. That has become our golf day. So we get to stay two nights in one spot and not have to pack up and head out every single day. I don’t think the RMMRC does anything like that. Maybe I’m wrong; I’ve only been on one long ride and that was just a four-day ride.

And then there’s this difference between the groups: the OFMC is and always has been just guys, while the RMMRC has women members. Not that it makes any noticeable difference.

Of course, the RMMRC has meetings and officers and all that. The OFMC is just a bunch of guys with motorcycles.

What else? That’s all I can think of right now. I enjoy riding with both and I’m glad I have both to ride with.

Biker Quote for Today

Sons of Alzheimer’s: Where’s my bike?

A gas stop on the ride.

There was no rush leaving Gunnison on our last day out. It was a short ride home and we might as well let it warm up a bit. Except for Mark, who slipped out on his own early, just wanting to get home.

Now that Cottonwood Pass has been paved all the way it makes a really good alternative to Monarch Pass. Not only is it shorter, there are still plenty of people who have never been over the new road yet. That was true of at least a couple of our folks so that was the obvious route.

Despite our later start it was still darn chilly heading up Taylor Canyon but oh boy was it beautiful in the morning light and there was almost no traffic. Just nice for a cruise. Still, the further we went, and the higher we went, the colder I got. Thank goodness I had my electric vest.

Just below Taylor Reservoir we stopped because Ralf again wanted to talk about hydro-geological issues. He pulled over right below the dam and talked about the Colorado River Compact. At this point the wind was whipping a good bit so it was very cold standing there. I had the idea to pull out my rain jacket to use as a windbreaker and as I turned back to my bike I saw that Susan had already had the same idea and was pulling on her rain jacket. That made a lot of difference and I kicked myself for not thinking of this a couple days earlier.

We continued on past the reservoir and up the pass. The new road is very nice but I still miss some of the twisting and turning that they straightened out when they redid this road. I guess that’s what they call “progress.”

We stopped at the top and this was in fact our time for good-byes. Heading on down, Susan planned to make a stop in Buena Vista, Ralf was going to be heading down toward Salida, and Charley and Karen had no intention of trying to keep up with the fast guys–Bob and Dave–on US 285 on their double-loaded 650 BMW scooter. That left Bruce and me to play it how we saw it.

Down to Buena Vista, to US 24, to US 285, and east. At first the four of us were together but it didn’t take long for traffic to separate us. But then, thanks to passing lanes, we were back together. This continued until we reached Fairplay and then somewhere between Fairplay and Jefferson Bruce dropped off. Now it was just me, sort of trying to keep with Bob and Dave but not really expecting it to last.

But somehow I did stay with them all the way to Bailey. Making the bend and heading up Crow Hill I figured this would be where the final split occurred. We started up the hill together but soon cars had moved between us and that was the last of it. I would occasionally catch a glimpse of them up ahead but by the time I got to Conifer they were lost in the distance.

Not a problem. After four days in a group I was enjoying being on my own. Rain was threatening, and even dripping a little here and there, but it finally really came down around Conifer. I already had my rain jacket on so I just rode through it and sure enough, it stopped soon. Then on down the hill and into town.

Now of course, I was hot. There’s just no way to avoid hitting one extreme or the other when you’re on a motorcycle. So I got home as quickly as I could and eagerly peeled everything off. Ah! Time to relax. Good ride. Nice trip. Nice to be home.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 31. You’ll have to help us with bike projects, because sometimes it takes three hands.