Passes & Canyons Blog

This presentation on the 2012 Motorcycle Cannonball Run could have been better if the acoustics had been better. I mentioned to the guys afterward that I only heard about half of what was said, and Dan replied that I had done about 10 times better than he did. That’s too bad, because what I did hear was pretty interesting.

This thing was held up in Frederick at High Country Harley-Davidson, and there was a reason for that: Michael Lichter, the photographer who rode the entire ride sitting backward, was on a bike under the command of Dave Przygocki, whose card says he holds the title of Cycle Therapist and Sales Manager at High Country H-D. Lichter and Przygocki both shared in the telling, as did several others on hand who had made the ride.

Route guidance on this thing was pretty interesting for starters. Each bike had a scrolling sheet that the rider had to advance, telling them things like, “go 6 miles and turn left at the gas station.” One of the speakers–I forget who–told how there were times when he wondered if he had missed a turn, but would pull in to a gas station and see the oily drips and other detritus of this band of ancient motorcycles and be reassured he was on the right route.

And can you imagine riding 3,000 miles on a bike that is 75 years old? Those things broke down a lot when they were new; what do you thing they do now? There were tales of splitting the crankcase and doing entire engine rebuilds overnight, and we’re not talking about just one or two such instances. Another speaker noted that they had left a trail of irreplaceable parts across the country. You know, they’d be riding along and something would fall off, never to be found. Then the rider had to compensate in some way. Sometimes they had spares; other times they jury-rigged.

While some of the riders took advantage of modern riding gear, others went all the way and wore the kind of things that were available way back then. Things such as leather helmets.

Then there was the 5-foot, 1-inch woman whose bike had to be push started–that was how it worked when it was new. So she push started this bike the entire way across the U.S.

There was a lot more. You should have been there, if you weren’t. And there were a bunch of people there. I saw Linda and Russ McCartney, of Thunder Roads Colorado; Jerry Pokorny of the British Motorcycle Association of Colorado; and Todd Wallace, also of the BMAC and a restorer of old bikes. Alan ran into the guy he bought his current Harley from. It was old home week.

The word is that the next Cannonball should be in 2014. Just in case you want to join in.

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It takes less time to do things the hard way than to be too nervous to even start at all.

Here’s something on Saturday that sounds good. Dan and Alan and I will be there.

I frankly don’t remember all the details, but there was recently an event called the Motorcycle Cannonball Run, where a bunch of really old bikes rode from the East Coast to the West Coast. As I recall, you had to either be on a bike that was at least 75 years old or else you had to be 70 years old yourself. Or something like that.

That’s cool enough, but what if you did the entire ride facing backward? What better way to photograph the event–which is what this guy did–but can you imagine doing that? Of course, someone else was up front in control of the bike.

So here’s the scoop. This guy, Michael Lichter, will be at High Country Harley-Davidson on 1 p.m. on Saturday making a presentation about his experience. With pictures, of course. No charge. Also, Gary Wright, one of the contestants, will be there, too.

Here’s what the promo has to say about it:

• 23 days on the road
• 3,596 miles, if you didn’t miss a turn
• 78 motorcycles built from 1913 to 1929
• 78 riders ages from 20 to 70 years old
• entrants from Poland, Japan, New Zealand, England, South Africa, Germany, Italy, USA, France
• Excelsior, Indian, J.A.P., BSA, BMW, Triumph, Vellocette, Harley-Davidson, Henderson, Rudge
• and just one guy rode backwards the entire way!

Sounds like something worth giving up a weekend afternoon for.

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Biker Quote for Today

Just remember, once you’re over the hill, you begin to pick up speed.

You don’t have to have a ton of horsepower to have fun on a motorcycle. And you don’t have to have a huge cruising bike to get out on the road. And let’s not even get into the times we’ve watched someone struggling to keep a behemoth from falling over and thought to ourselves how that guy has got too much bike for his size.

In celebration then of smaller bikes, Todd Wallis has organized this Small Bike Ride, for this Saturday. Here’s what Todd has to say about his ride.

Small Bike Ride is coming out of the shadows and we are going to make it official. The event is open to all motorcycles but it is geared toward small, vintage machines and speeds will normally be down to about 35-40 mph which will make it a great opportunity for sidecar rigs and prewar motorcycles as well. We will be riding about 100 miles from the Deer Creek area up through Conifer and Pine and this year we have a chase vehicle in case anyone has trouble. We will be on paved roads and we’ll have a stop for lunch in the middle of the ride. We will meet on Deer Creek Canyon Rd near the intersection of C470 and S. Wadsworth Blvd. The ride starts at 10:00 so plan on getting there around 9:00 a.m.

We will have maps printed and available for everyone the morning of the ride. If you plan to attend please call me or send an email just so I know how many to expect.

Starting Location: 9880 West Deer Creek Canyon Road, Littleton, Colorado 80127

Hope to see you there.

So hey, time to get out that little guy you generally just zip around running errands on. Get your motor running!

Note: I mentioned awhile ago that I was turning commenting off on this blog due to the comment spammers. I have now added a new captcha feature that asks you to prove you’re not a computer in order to leave a comment. So please do leave comments whenever you please.

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Ural miles are kinda like dog years.

Just a heads-up here about something that could be fun. Go to Bandimere Speedway on Sunday for the 2012 All Bike Drags and you can run your motorcycle is some drag races. And it doesn’t matter what you’re riding, you can even enter on a scooter. I don’t know how they pair racers up, but presumably you won’t see a Vulcan 600 running against a Ninja 1000.

Or if you don’t want to race, you can go watch. Admission is $15 and kids 12 and under get in free. If you want to enter to race, that will cost you:
Street Bike Racer: $35
Pro Bike Racer: $50
Jr Comp Racer: $35
ATV Racer: $35

If you want to compete they do require that you have a SNELL-approved helmet.

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Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycle racing: Because basketball, football, soccer, baseball, and tennis only require one ball.

Racing has a long history of pushing motorcycle development forward, as solutions to punishing conditions on the track migrate to street bikes to make them better and better.

What is less well known is how some areas of motorcycle development have been blocked by the rules promulgated by the powers that be in racing. Specifically, today’s motorcycles would probably be a lot more aerodynamic were it not for limitations imposed by racing.

Craig Vetter is renowned for his fairing designs as well as a lot of other work on motorcycles. As Grand Marshal at the American Motorcyclist Association’s Vintage Motorcycle Days a few weeks ago, he also hosted the Craig Vetter Fuel Economy Challenge. The Challenge solicits entries of bikes that can move at highway speed while getting the greater mileage based on fuel cost, all the while serving as a viable alternative to a car. As the key to meeting that last demand, the bikes are required to be able to carry four bags of groceries.

In the presentation he gave on the purposes of the challenge, Vetter also covered some history that had much to do with why motorcycles look the way they do today. Following World War II, he said, German, Italian, and Japanese designers worked to make motorcycles more aerodynamic, and therefore more economical. The designs they were coming up with looked a lot like the designed used today on the bikes that go to the Bonneville Salt Flats to set land speed records. That is to say, they have a rounded nose and come to a point in the rear, with smooth body paneling over the rest of the bike.

Said Vetter, “They were looking . . . not like what you could buy. Remember the old adage, ‘Win Sunday, Sell Monday’? That’s what motorcycle dealers said. Well, these motorcycles didn’t look like anything you could buy on Monday. And so the FIM, which was the world sanctioning body for racing at that time, was under pressure from the people with money–motorcycle manufacturers–to eliminate streamlining. Now, they could have said, ‘You motorcycle manufacturers, you should change your ways,’ but they didn’t. They bowed to the pressure of the motorcycle industry of the time, and this is what they did. This is why the motorcycles on the track out here today look like they do and do not look like real streamliners, which is very significant.

“We already know that this is real streamlining (showing slide of round-nosed, pointed tail, enclosed body bike). It only takes 3 horse power to take you 60 miles an hour. Here’s what the FIM did with their rules. In one sweep at the end of 1956 they said, ‘Oh, you’ve got to see the front wheel. Oh, you’ve got to cut it all off in front of the axle. You can’t have anything sticking in front of the front axle. Oh, you can’t have anything sticking behind the rear wheel either, behind the rear axle. This is now illegal. Plus, you’ve got to see the rider from the side, everything, you can’t cover him up. You’ve got to see the rider totally from the side. The back end can’t be high either. You’ve got to cut it off 5 inches high. You can’t have anything on the back. The fairing can’t slope any more than 30 degrees.’

“And that’s what we have on the track today. They intentionally gave us dumb streamlining. They could have said, ‘No, we want technology to advance. We’re gonna require tracks to be better, to handle faster speeds.’ They could have said, ‘Hey you guys have got to come up with better brakes. You guys gotta come up with better cooling.’ But they didn’t. They intentionally slowed motorcycles down and made them . . . made it hard to go fast.”

Now you know.

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Biker Quote for Today

What in the wide, wide world of sports is a-goin’ on here?

I was thinking I’d like to go to the Iron Butt Association’s “InterNational Meet” in Denver next week but I may be late to be getting press credentials. Just too busy these last few weeks. We’ll see.

Regardless, the IBA is going to be meeting here. They came to Denver a couple years ago and apparently liked it so much they’re coming back. I have several friends who are IBA members and I suspect they may be going.

So what do they do at an IBA gathering? Well, since you asked, here’s a listing of at least some of the event:

• Ride the Rockies & Informal Lunch at BeauJeau’s in Idaho Springs
• Route & Ride with the Big Dawgs – Win a paid spot in the 2013 IBR – Routing Competition for the first 50 riders with multiday rally experience – Wednesday August 15th
• Rallying 101 – 3 part seminar for Rally Rookies. Learn rally basics in a real world format hosted by Iron Butt Rally Veterans. Open to 50 first time rallyists. Wednesday August 15th
• — Rally Basics: Routing seminar with IBR Vet Brian Roberts & Rally Photo Tips with IBA Photographer Steve Hobart; Wednesday August 15
• — 10 hour rally with Rallymasters Terry & Lynda Lahman and 1999 IBR winner George Barnes; Thursday August 16, 4am – 1pm
• — Scoring Table Survival Techniques – real world scoring using IBR scorers Thursday August 16, 1-4pm
• Iron Butt Association Scorer Certification Class – Thursday, August 16 9:00 – 11:30 am
• Cop Cones Competition – Friday, August 17, 4:30pm
• Fix A Flat Class – A hands on seminar taught by Brian Roberts, Thursday, August 16, 1-4 pm

Back by popular demand – Great program of spouse activities hosted by Paula Behm

Now, if that all sounds interesting but you’re not registered you may be out of luck. The website says slots are limited and they sell out quickly. Still, if you’re interested in becoming an Iron Butt rider, I’d be willing to be that if you hang out at the Denver Marriott Tech Center you’ll find lots of people more than happy to answer any questions you might have. Heck, maybe I’ll just do that myself. Who needs a press pass?

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Biker Quote for Today

Ride for the soul!