Passes & Canyons Blog

Making memories in the Black Hills.

I generally like to ride alone a lot but there is one thing that you lose when there’s no one else with you: swapping memories later. It’s only the times when you were together that you can say, “Oh hey, do you remember when we . . . .”

I’ve been riding with the OFMC for more than 30 years now and we’ve racked up a lot of memories. And isn’t it great to just sit and kick some of those times around now and then. Some of them were not fun when we were living them but we all know that some of the worst times present some of the best memories.

On this summer’s OFMC trip we were sitting around one night toward the end of the week and that’s the direction the discussion headed.

“Remember the last time we were here in the Black Hills and Steve and Johnathon and those other guys met us here, and we rode the Iron Mountain Road/Needles Highway loop and they liked it so much they went right back and did it again?”

“And it dumped rain on them so hard they thought the sun had gone down and were surprised when it passed that it was still daylight?”

“Oh, yeah. Man, I’m glad I didn’t go with them.”

That kind of thing.

“Or that other time we were here and Aaron Neville was giving a free concert on main street?”

“Right. And the young guys stayed out really late getting raging drunk and we had to stay another day so they could get over their hangovers!”

“Yeah, and do you remember how Todd just passed out sitting up in that chair, with his eyes open, just staring at me in my bed? That gave me the creeps. I had to get up and turn him so at least he wasn’t looking right at me.”

Yeah, that kind of thing.

Now, I have some pretty terrific memories from my rides alone, but there’s no one to share that knowing feeling like when someone was there with you. Still, they make good stories, and I do get to enjoy telling them. Come to think of it, that’s part of why I do this blog. You weren’t there so it’s all new to you. Did I ever tell you about the time . . .

Biker Quote for Today

During labor the pain is so great that a woman can almost imagine how a man feels when he can’t ride his motorcycle for a week.

Social distancing before it became a thing.

This thing has been spreading (kind of like a virus) so you may have already seen it. If not, you came to the right place.

In this time of coronavirus pandemic there is constant talk of “social distancing,” that is, not getting too close to other people because they may infect you or you may infect them. So hey, what’s the best possible way to socialize but keep your distance? Riding motorcycles, of course.

Here’s a thing I got from an ABATE member.

BE ADVISED

Avoid crowded spaces — ride motorcycles.

Do not use public transportation — ride motorcycles.

Well ventilated spaces are virus free — ride motorcycles.

Protect your nose and mouth — ride motorcycles.

Recommended use of gloves — ride motorcycles.

Try not to touch contaminated surfaces — don’t let anyone touch your motorcycle.

Avoid shaking hands — do not remove your gloves when getting off the motorcycle.

Keep a safe distance from people who sneeze or cough — ride motorcycles.

Maintain a positive and prudent attitude — Only way to ride a motorcycle.

FEEL FREE TO SHARE THIS IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Wow, I couldn’t have said it better.

Biker Quote for Today

I need some time off from reality. Just a few days away from people and all their bull crap.

Some people get off on writing about the poetry of motion.

I was casting about for a topic for this post and I thought about motorcycle poetry. Was there something like that out there?

Turns out there definitely is. In fact there is even a Wikipedia page titled “Biker poetry.” According to whoever put up this page, “Biker poetry is a movement of poetry that grew out of the predominantly American lifestyle of the Biker and Motorcycle clubs following World War II.” Turns out there are even “notable biker poets.” I’ll let you explore those on your own if you’re interested.

So I started out doing a search for “motorcycle poetry.” That returned only, oh, about 22.5 million links. Really?

The top of the pile was allpoetry.com. This very broad site breaks out into subject matter and https://allpoetry.com/poems/about/motorcycle is where I ended up. Here’s a sampling of the titles.

• 2 wheel death machine
• Two Wheels To Heaven
• The ride
• Parade of Dog Voices
• Well, that’s what I gave you a key for, isn’t it
• Wear A Helmet
• Motorcycle Madness

There are a lot more. Are they any good?

I will say this: If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I close each post with a “Biker Quote for Today.” Reading through these poems I picked up a few lines that will be gracing that feature sooner or later.

But is the poetry good? Well, I would have to say, in my opinion, not much of it. No Pulitzer Prize winners here. But some of it is interesting, and the variety of subject matter is interesting as well.

For instance, that one I listed above, Parade of Dog Voices. The idea is of a biker going down the road and dogs in the yards he/she passes barking at the passing bike. Parade of Dog Voices–get it?

So anyway, if you’re interested to see what else is out there here are a few more links.

Hello Poetry (https://hellopoetry.com/words/motorcycle/)
Poetry Soup (https://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/short/motorcycle)
Poetry By Chuck (https://www.charlesallenjohnson.com/motorcyclepoetry.htm)
Triumph Rat (https://www.triumphrat.net/biker-hang-out/179739-best-motorcycle-poetry.html)

Biker Quote for Today

A poem is a verbal artifact which must be as skillfully and solidly constructed as a table or a motorcycle. — W H Auden

Stopping can be one of the nicest things about riding.

Reach back in your memory to those blissful times driving along on that hot summer day smelling the fresh cut hay, enjoying the dips into the ravines for the coolness they bring, and . . . Stop! You don’t remember those things? No, of course not, what was I thinking? You were in a car. You don’t have those experiences in a car; those are motorcycle experiences.

People who spend their lives riding in cars have no idea of how very “in the world” motorcyclists are, or how much “out of the world” they are in their metal, glass, and plastic cages. Especially now that nearly every car has air conditioning, motorists are closed up in their containers and inhabit their own controlled environments, largely oblivious to whatever is outside.

So what is outside? Oh, just the entire world.

There are smells outside the cage. Sure, sometimes those smells are diesel fumes and the like, but there are also smells of food coming from restaurants, newly mown grass, lilacs in bloom, sagebrush in the wide-open West, and the salt and seaweed smell of the ocean.

Temperatures change outside the cage. Of course the temperature will drop as you go up over a mountain pass, but it’s startling for first-time riders how, over just a tenth of a mile, even dropping into a wash to cross a creek, how much cooler it is in that dip.

There are sounds both inside and outside the cage, but some sounds are better than others. You’ll never hear the cry of a hawk with your windows rolled up and the CD player blaring. And you’ll never see a biker going down the road with screaming kids arguing in the back seat.

The whole world is outside the cage. If the sun is shining, it shines on you. If it’s raining, it rains on you. You feel the heat, you feel the cold, and you feel the delicious, balmy breath of Spring. You don’t have just a rectangle view of the world around you, your view in every direction is completely unobstructed.

And very few bikers ever fill the tank and ride until it needs filling again. Wide spots in the road are made for stretching the legs. View points are perfect for taking breaks. If you didn’t have time to make these sorts of stops you probably wouldn’t be on a bike in the first place. And at every stop you have time to really see, and smell, and hear, and feel the world around you just that much more.

The word is “sensuous.” The biker is in the environment and his senses are attuned to that environment. The motorist is in his cage, locked away from all but his unchanging pre-programmed environment. That’s why they’re called cagers.

Biker Quote for Today

Addicted? Possessed is a better word.

The OFMC at a lunch stop.

Because, on a motorcycle, the journey is the destination, it’s common practice to look for whatever excuse you can find to ride. Happily, food can be that excuse. There aren’t many things better than an eatery with terrific food that also happens to entail a terrific ride getting to it. For many bikers, eating fast food on the bike is a blasphemy; excellent food is as important an element of the ride as the bike.

Admittedly, the OFMC is not hard core on this the way a lot of riders are. When we’re out on our summer trips we can generally expect to eat at McDonald’s at least once, despite the protests of a minority. On the other hand, we’ve had some extraordinary meals as well.

In the early days of the OFMC we rolled into Laughlin, NV, for a two-day stay. Not wishing to pay the price for the casino hotels, we crossed the river to the Arizona side and found an inexpensive motel. But of course the action was on the Nevada side, so we rode back and forth on the river taxis that shuttle people up and down the shoreline and across the Colorado River.

Come time for dinner that first night and we hit the restaurant in whatever casino we were in, and being a casino, the prices were outrageously cheap. We ordered the $3 prime rib and were absolutely blown away by the best prime rib any of us has ever eaten. That was such a high point it has officially become an OFMC legend.

The Local Specialty

On another trip we were in Utah cruising up past Bear Lake, which straddles the border between Utah and Idaho. The primary town in the area is Garden City, where a couple highways come together. It turns out that this place is renowned for its blackberry milkshakes. When in Rome . . .

It seemed pretty low-key that first time, no huge crowds or anything, but we’ve been back several times. What a change the next time. Garden City was packed with tourists of all kinds but especially the two-wheeled variety. Whole groups of bikers had run up from Salt Lake City or Logan or Ogden, with the objective being to have a great ride with a special treat at the end. Standing in line at one of the numerous spots selling the shakes we watched a constant parade of motorcycles rumbling up and down the strip, like a mini-Daytona.

Then there’s Jerome, AZ, which we discovered on one trip and came back to for a visit years later. This old mining town, built perilously clinging to the steep side of a mountain, was practically a ghost town when we first passed through but has since become an artist’s colony and gone very upscale. And it was here that we found a stunningly good French restaurant.

We had broken into groups to find dinner, but found there wasn’t much open, so we all ended up in the one place that was. I can’t remember details but I do recall raviolis with cheese sauces, pizzas like you’ve never seen before, and all of it out of this world. Some of the guys swore they had never had a better meal in their lives. A couple of the guys have since taken their wives back there; it was that good.

Sometimes it’s the Setting

Fancy food aside, under the right conditions, and prepared in the right way, even the most mundane meal can be a stand-out. This was the case one year at Lake Powell.

We had headed out of Blanding, UT, for the south shore of the lake, where we would take the ferry over to Bullfrog. The plan was to camp for the night and cross in the morning so we wisely decided to buy food in Blanding. Nothing special, just hot dogs and buns and maybe a can of beans.

What we hadn’t counted on was the total lack of fuel for a fire. This is desert country and it’s not like you can gather fallen limbs to burn. And we don’t exactly carry Coleman stoves on the bikes. We could eat the beans cold but we really wanted to cook the dogs. Scrounging around, we gathered some dried grasses and bits of sagebrush and managed to build the world’s smallest campfire. One by one, holding the hotdogs in our fingers and passing them patiently back and forth across the tiny flame we did cook them.

Now, any food tastes better when you’re hungry, but I’m guessing that in this case the bits of sage we burned played a role, too. One way or another, they were without question the best-tasting hot dogs we had ever eaten. And another OFMC legend was born.

“It’s all about the stories” is a common phrase among motorcyclists. Sometimes the stories are about the food, not the bikes.

Biker Quote for Today

Biker born, biker bred, when I die I’ll be biker dead.

by Matt Wessels

The Vintage movement is in full force and old motorcycles are finding their way back to daylight and backroads in record numbers. This year will mark the 5th annual Vintage Motorcycle Show in Golden, Colorado.

Heritage Square will host the event one last time before they close their doors at the end of 2015, and all of their facilities will be operational for the show. Those facilities include bathrooms, restaurants, and a bar.

Erico Motorsports, GrandPrix Motorsports Indian and Foothills Triumph/BMW will be there showcasing some of the factory retro motos. Last year they had a half-million dollar Vincent show up, by the name of the Black Prince. It might make a re-appearance at this year’s show.

The show (Sunday, June 7) is open to anybody with a vintage motorcycle following the structure of a controlled open floor. To enter, respond to the evite and drop a comment so that Bob can get an idea of how many bikes there will be. Being a part of the show is just as free as attending it. They are taking donations for Hospice care, so bring some stray bills to support a good cause!

Much like the show being a celebration of all that was good and right in the motorcycle world, the Hospice donations are a celebration of good people who make it their life’s work to increase the quality of life for those who can not completely provide it for themselves. The idea was started when a friend was immensely impressed with the Hospice workers who take care of his mom, and wanted to give back.

The VJMC is also giving back by footing the bill for the event and wants all motorcycles from all backgrounds, manufacturers, and styles to attend. This isn’t a profitable endeavor, this is simply two enthusiasts who want to bring like-minded people together and celebrate good bikes, good food, good talk, and good experiences.

If you missed the link up above, go HERE to register for attendance. IT’S FREE!

For any other questions or comments, please reach out to Bob @ superhawk65@gmail.com

Many of the same folks meet at the GB Fish and Chips on the first Thursday of every month for Old Bike Night. There are a few other Old Bike Night meetups around the front range area, but not all necessarily connected with this one.