Passes & Canyons Blog

I got a notification from Jerry Pokorny of an event that might be interesting if you’d be inclined to head up to Steamboat Springs in a couple weeks. It’s called the Premier & Classic Weekend.

So what is this Premier & Classic Weekend? Well, for starters, the AHRMA is the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association. Which is to say, this is a group that stages vintage motorcycle races. You can fill in the rest.

This event will be held at the Jenny Ranch, outside Steamboat, at 37850 Routt County Road 45. It starts on Friday, June 4, and runs through the weekend. There will be a dual-sport ride on Friday, vintage trial racing on Saturday, and premier and classic scrambles on Sunday. If you just want to watch, admission is $10 per day. If you want to bring your old bike and participate, entry fees are $30 or $40 depending on the event. If you want to stay the weekend, there are local accommodations or you can camp on the ranch for $10 per night. A catered dinner is available on Saturday night for $15 per person.

So what’s actually going to be going on, besides the chance to see some very cool motorcycles in action? Let’s take trials. Per the AHRMA website:

Observed trials is a very significant part of historic motorcycle competition. It began as a wintertime sport for European enthusiasts, who tested themselves by tracing ancient Roman roads. These riders negotiated various obstacles along the way, all of which gave test to both man and machine. As the “gentleman’s sport” developed, such obstacles became more specific, and more challenging. From the 1980s until today, the obstacles presented to trials competitors have been inconceivable for most motorcycle riders.

AHRMA’s observed trials goal is to provide its members a safe, historically accurate environment to showcase and experience vintage machinery. The key to this enjoyment is the observed sections. From the 1950s into the ‘70s, sections were mainly composed of wide-open areas of challenging terrain, with the rider’s choice of line determining his/her success. Observed sections reminiscent of this era are critical in AHRMA’s representation of classic observed trials. With period-accurate sections, machines will remain true to their original concept, and the techniques required to ride them will do the same, enhancing the entire vintage trials scene. The trials-riding experience will undoubtedly result in good friends, good rides and good fun.

So. Could be a fun weekend. Will I be there? No, I’ll be in some state about a thousand miles to the east on that weekend. But you might consider it. If you do, and you want to send me some photos and a report I’ll be glad to publish them. Thanks.

Biker Quote for Today

I don’t ride my bike to win races, not do I ride to get places. I ride to escape this world. I ride to find peace with myself. I ride to feel free and I ride to feel strong.

I had reported back in December that the Progressive International Motorcycle Show for Denver had been moved to June but, with that move, would happen. Here’s the update: No, it won’t.

The promoters sent around word last week that with the rate of Covid vaccination not as rapid as hoped, they don’t feel it will yet be safe in June to hold this year’s event. Here’s their statement.

We wanted you to be the first to know that we have updated the 2021 schedule for the all-new Progressive IMS Outdoors series. Unfortunately, we had to make the tough decision to cancel the Denver event that was slated to kick off the tour in June. Considering the timing and vaccination progress across the country, we felt that it would be too soon to hold the event. We hope to put Denver back on the schedule in 2022 and look forward to serving you and your community again.

Another one bites the dust.

Sooner or later we’re going to be getting back to normal. But when? I know my listing of upcoming motorcycle events in Colorado is just as brief at this moment as it was all last year. Right now there are only three events on the listing, and they’re all competitions, i.e., racing.

Biker Quote for Today

Your world can fall down around you but as long as you’re in the wind it won’t make any difference.

As presumably all Colorado motorcyclists are aware, the end of January is normally the time for swap meet, or more recently, the Colorado Motorcycle Expo. However, as with all large, inside gatherings, that was canceled this year due to the coronavirus.

For businesses during this trying time, the adage “Adapt or Die” is absolutely the nature of the beast. The Expo is adapting; whether this will be sufficient for it to survive we can only wait to see.

The adaptation in this case is a move to monthly swap meets, the first of which will be Saturday this week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Dirty Dogs Roadhouse, at 17999 West Colfax in Golden. There is no admission fee.

The event is sponsored by Rider Justice, which is the activist arm of the O’Sullivan Personal Injury Law Firm. Here’s what they have to say about the event:

Join us for our 1st Biker Swap Meet hosted by the Colorado Motorcycle Expo and sponsor RiderJustice and Colorado Rider News
This will be a monthly swap meet for the purposes of giving our local motorcycle vendors a place to sell their stuff. Dirty Dogs Roadhouse will be hosting this in the lower and upper parking lot giving everyone ample space to sell.

We aren’t sure if rallys and events will be scheduled this year. This will be an outdoor event with everyone practicing safe social distancing. As the weather warms up, we will include music, food and beverage stations in the upper parking lots as well.

Dirty Dogs Roadhouse also had this to say:

Dirty Dogs Roadhouse is currently serving from 7am-11pm due to recent covid restrictions. We will update this information as it changes. We currently require guests to wear masks when moving about or standing, once sitting you are free to take it off.

So, what’s it going to be like? Will there be vendors? Will people show up? Will it be safe to show up? There are a bunch of questions but I guess the only way to get answers is to try it and see. Will I be going? Hard to say. Right now my inclination is to drop by and take a look, which perhaps staying at a distance. Judy and I have each gotten our first Covid shots but we’re still wary and I’m sure we will be for some time to come yet. But I’ll probably at least drive by and stop to shoot a picture or two.

Biker Quote for Today

If I was a short track racer I’d be an Indian. You could ride me around and ride me around again. — Mark Knopfler

Two more motorcycle events have been canceled due to Covid 19.

The Last Brass Monkey Run, the annual last-day-of-the-year event put on by ABATE of Colorado, has been canceled.

Larry Montgomery, ABATE state rep, said in the latest issue of the Spokesman, ABATE’s member newsletter, “At this time we are temporarily on hold for the Last Brass Monkey Run that was to be held on December 31, 2020, at the Rock Rest Bar & Grill in Golden. We are still going to make available to anyone that would renew at this event to be able to renew online December 31, 2020, and you will receive your Brass Nuts in the mail along with your membership card. For those that do not renew, but would still want or need the Brass Nuts for this year we will make arrangements to get them to you for a $5.00 donation to ABATE. We will need mailing info to send them to you.”

This would have been the 33rd Last Brass Monkey Run so once again, a long-standing tradition bites the dust thanks to the coronavirus.

Also canceled is the 2021 Colorado Motorcycle Expo, the event that takes the place of the old Colorado Motorcycle Show & Swap.

I also got word of this cancellation through the Spokesman, where Mike Cole, ABATE District 17 rep, said, “We talked to you last month about your interest in attending the Colorado Motorcycle Expo in 2021, while we did get a response from you and it appeared that many were not going to attend, the decision has been made for us, the 2021 Expo has been canceled and I believe you all know why, unless you have been living in a virus bubble?”

ABATE had been debating having its usual booth at the Expo and had asked members if they planned to attend the Expo. I had replied that I for one did not plan to go, and I listed my concerns in this post about the event. Man, the folks who bought out that event have got to be losing their shirts on this badly timed acquisition.

But we can take heart from the fact that vaccines appear to be on the way. Maybe by next summer my listing of upcoming events will once again be packed with rides and rallies.

In the meantime, we can all still ride alone, which I prefer anyway–most of the time. To set the mood, I pulled up some old biker quotes about riding alone:

• Riding faster than everyone else only guarantees you’ll ride alone.
• The road is only open when you ride alone.
• I can tell better stories when I ride alone, but I have better time when I ride with friends.
• He who rides alone can start today.
• If you cannot find a good companion to ride with, ride alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than to be with those who will hinder your progress.
• Motorcycles are better than men because your motorcycle never wants a night out alone with the other motorcycles.

Biker Quote for Today

I don’t know why they got mad. All I said was that in order to be a biker your motorcycle needs to leave your yard.

The Colorado Motorcycle Expo, formerly the Motorcycle Show and Swap, has had a rough few years. First there was a shooting that resulted in it closing early and then not happening the following year. Now it is stuck in the same conundrum facing so many venues in light of the coronavirus.

Obviously, the folks running it have to make some decisions about the 2021 show, presumably to be held in January. Here are some of the proposed changes.

• The number of attendees inside the building at one time will be limited to 700. This will increase to 1000 if we use more space on the lower level and 3rd floor. The good news is vendors and employees are not counted as attendees. Our plan is to stagger admission times with 2 hour blocks so the overall attendance is not significantly impacted.
• All food and beverage consumption will be confined to designated areas. This means people cannot walk around eating or drinking.
• Facial coverings will be required at all times with the exception of designated food and beverage areas.
• Aisle sizes will increase and be designated for one way traffic only. Additionally, the spacing between vendors will be increased. Our plan is to spread the bike show out throughout the entire vendor areas in order to increase traffic throughout the expo and to fill the increased spaces between vendors.
• Plexiglas barriers will be required for all vendors where financial transactions take place. You can provide your own or the facility will rent these to you.
• A quick temperature scan will be included with daily vendor check in/screening.
• Proper social distancing will be expected and enforced with attendees.
• Concerts and entertainment are not allowed at the facility. Our plan is to have after hour parties that are relocated off-site for 2021.

All of this, by the way, is only if they’re able to proceed in the first place. That is not a given and at the moment the management is reaching out to the vendors to see whether they would even plan to come. If that comes up with a largely negative response the Expo may not happen at all, I would presume.

But also, you have to wonder a few things here. First, will people come to the Expo? I know Judy and I don’t get too bent out of shape by the coronavirus but we categorically do not go places where there are crowds. And they say facial coverings will be mandated at all times. Considering a significant portion of the biker community is made up of Trump-friendly anti-maskers, this could be hard to enforce. Who’s going to tell a group of 25 1%ers that they have to put masks on or leave? This could be tough.

More news will follow. I’ll update you when I hear anything more.

Biker Quote for Today

Top 10 signs that a computer is owned by a Harley rider:
And the Number 1 sign that a computer is owned by a Harley rider:
01. — A half-naked, big-breasted “warrior princess” and her tiger have been airbrushed onto the sides of the monitor.

I feel like I beat the same dead horse almost every year when I do this post promoting Ride to Work Day. Nobody cares. And yet, I have always thought it was a great idea.

You know, why not, once a year, have a day when everyone who rides motorcycles rides to work or wherever, just to show our numbers to the rest of the world? This year that day is Monday, June 15. A week from now.

For one, think of the shock to the non-riding public to see just how many bikes and riders there are. And if that strikes them then it is at least possible that they will think to themselves, “gosh, there are lots of motorcycles out there, maybe I ought to pay a little more attention when I change lanes to be sure there isn’t one in my blind spot.”

Or, as the official ride to work people say on their site:

Ride your motorcycle or scooter on this day to demonstrate:

• The number of motorcyclists to the general public and to politicians.
• That motorcyclists are from all occupations and all walks of life.
• That motorcyclists can reduce traffic and parking congestion in large cities.
• That motorcycles are for transportation as well as recreation.
• That motorcycling is a social good.

Come on–do it this year. I’ll be out riding somewhere. Join me.

Oh, and a quick, unrelated aside: did you experience that extreme weather that swept through on Saturday? I was at home and I looked at the sky and decided I should cover the bedding plants we had just bought and barely 30 seconds after I did the sky opened up with winds that the weather service said exceeded 80 mph and hail came pounding down. Then it blew right on past in about three minutes.

Can you imagine if you had been on your bike when that hit? If you didn’t get blown over the whole thing would have gone past before you even found a sheltered place to pull over. It was crazy.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you know what a grasshopper feels like at 100 miles per hour.

One of the fun things about being a member of a community of like-minded souls is that you run into old friends and acquaintances when you go to events. That was definitely the case for me recently at the Progressive International Motorcycle Show.

At one point I was just walking through the crowd, looking around for anything interesting, when suddenly I was face to face with Alisa Clickenger. I’ve know Alisa now for about 10 years and I hadn’t expected to see her there but I probably should have. I met Alisa during the Adventure for the Cures event put on up at Keystone by Sue Slate and Gin Shear. Alisa was one of the riders. Since then Alisa has ridden solo to the tip of South America and most recently organized the Sisters Centennial Motorcycle Ride, which came through here in 2016.

Alisa is now promoting her latest project, the Suffragists Centennial Ride, another coast to coast event tied in to the passage of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote. Basically all of Alisa’s endeavors are aimed at empowering women by getting them on motorcycles and realizing their ability to take charge of their own lives.

So Alisa was there. Then I saw a tall, long-haired guy I recognized but took a while to place. It didn’t take me long, though, to realize it was Dan Ballard, who runs Bitchin’ Stitchin’. I don’t really know Dan–I’ve only met him once–but he was one of my very earliest advertisers here on the Passes & Canyons website. I didn’t say hello but it was like, oh yeah, I know him.

Next I ran into Mike Langello. Mike is a member of the RMMRC who I never quite met on a ride we took “together” a couple years ago. We were all headed out to Alabama to the Barber Motorsports Museum but Judy and I left separately from the group and then got snowbound in western Kansas for three days. We never did meet up with the group but I was in contact the whole time with Mike, who was leading the ride. I finally met him in person at an RMMRC meeting about a year later.

Finally, I was tired and wanted to sit so I chose a bench with space next to this other guy. We got to talking and of course asked what each other rode and when I said I have a 1999 Kawasaki Concours he replied that he had had two of them. He got the second after he “wadded up” the first. This guy, Phil, asked if I had been involved at all with the Concours Owners Group (COG) and I said I had just for one year, twice. Phil had been very active in that group and I realized he did look familiar and I must have meet him a time or two way back then.

Talking with Phil was fun. It was like we were part of a fraternity where we both knew the same things and could talk without needing to provide details or clarification. He said he had had two ’99 Connies and I asked, “The burgundy one?” He replied yes, but you know what some people call it, don’t you? Yes, the “Barney bike,” referencing Barney the purple dinosaur.

I told Phil the best thing I got out of COG membership was assistance at a Wrench & Retch where a couple guys helped me install some highway pegs I got from Murph after he came out with the design that allowed you to mount them without cutting holes in the body work. I’m betting there are at least three items in that statement that you don’t understand but Phil needed no explanation, he knew exactly what I was talking about.

The bottom line here is that it’s nice to go to these things and run into people you know. When I was working full time as a motorcycle journalist I used to go to lots of events and most of the time I was all by myself, didn’t know anyone, and I’ve never been really good at meeting people. I spent a lot of really solitary days in the thick of large crowds. That’s something I don’t miss.

Biker Quote for Today

Life is about finding out who you are while enjoying the journey to get there.

The Progressive International Motorcycle Show (PIMS) came to Denver this past weekend and of course I went down. PIMS doesn’t generally come to Denver but I had been to the show some years ago in Greenville, South Carolina, so I was interested to see how it compared. Somehow it didn’t seem as big and there didn’t seem to be as many people as in Greenville.

No matter. There was still a lot of interest.

One thing I had not seen before that seems to have become widespread is the use of rollers to allow someone to actually ride a running motorcycle right there on the spot. The motor is running, the drive wheel is turning, you’re just not going anywhere. What I didn’t understand was where the exhaust was going because I didn’t see any hoses hooked up to the exhausts, only fans presumably to disperse the fumes.

Of course exhaust was not an issue for one growing segment of the motorcycle world: electric bikes. One fairly large area of the exhibition hall was set aside as a riding track that was part of the Discover the Ride program. This program aims to introduce new riders to the world of motorcycling. There were a bunch of Zero bikes to be ridden but there were also some Yamaha power-assisted bicycles, actual mo-peds.

Then in the opposite corner of the hall was a much smaller track for kids on kid-sized electric bikes. Most of them seemed tentative but having fun, although there was one boy who truly knew his stuff. He was zipping past the others at full throttle, sliding his inside foot on the curves, clearly not doing this for the first time.

I was surprised to see that Moto Works Denver had a display. I did a blog post on Moto Works Denver in August of last year and their community garage program. I mean, this is a big deal show and there are plenty of small, independent shops around but they don’t have booths at PIMS. I talked to the guy, who was not King Browne, the guy I spoke with for the post in August, and he said PIMS had approached them because they wanted to promote the community garage concept. So, cool. I support the community garage concept, too.

Of course all the manufacturers had their large spaces, showcasing all their new bikes. Plus the folks selling helmets and other gear. Over in the Honda area I was particularly interested to see the new model CB1000. When Honda introduced this bike some years ago it was styled to evoke the old CBs and it didn’t look all that different from my own 1980 CB750 Custom. Well, the bike has apparently sold well enough but the styling has moved on. This latest CB1000 looks totally modern, no signs of retro. Still a nice bike, though.

I’ll be focusing on specific pieces of PIMS in my next few posts. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

He was a crazy biker in a motorcycle ridin’ daredevil show. — Nanci Griffith