Passes & Canyons Blog

For the first time in quite a while I have added a new page to the Passes and Canyons: Motorcycle Touring in Colorado website. The new page focuses on the numerous good motorcycle roads that lead to Cripple Creek, and I have named it “Roads to Cripple Creek.”

I don’t add many pages to the site these days because I’ve basically got it built out. It’s not like the roads in Colorado change all that often. I did add a new page for Guanella Pass when they finally paved that road all the way. But that’s not a common occurrence.

I first started thinking about Cripple Creek when I read somewhere that the high point of the road coming into town from the north, from Divide, is considered Tenderfoot Pass. If it’s a pass, I figured, I ought to have it on the site. But it’s kind of iffy as a pass. There is some more or less official registry of geographic place names in the U.S. and Tenderfoot Pass is not included on this list. And as many times as I have been over that road I never thought of it as a pass.

But then I got to thinking. While the road out of the north does have some good twists and turns, and goes up and down, and has some terrific views in places, it’s really probably not the nicest motorcycle road to get to Cripple Creek. There are others I would rate higher. So how about a page focusing on all of them. That’s what I did.

The other paved road into town is generally considered the back way, coming up in a roundabout manner from U.S. 50 a bit to the west of the Royal Gorge. If you’ve never been on this road you really need to do it. It has some terrific twists and lots of changes in elevation. Definitely better than the main road.

Then there are two gravel roads, both along old railroad beds. One comes directly into Cripple Creek, and that’s the Shelf Road, which comes north out of Canon City. Then the Phantom Canyon Road comes north from U.S. 50 a little to the east of Canon City and runs up to Victor, which is just a few miles east of Cripple Creek. Both of these are really nice, scenic road and are ride-able on street bikes as long as your bike is OK on decent gravel. For instance, I would not hesitate to take my Honda CB750 on them, but I would never consider riding them on my Kawasaki Concours. And of course, my Suzuki V-Strom loves that kind of stuff.

The page is not yet complete; I still need to add photos of these four roads. I have some already and just need to add them. For the others I’m going to have to go ride these roads again and get some shots. Oh the horrible burdens I bear!

Biker Quote for Today

The ride keeps me sane. I would like to call it my church.

Coronavirus or not, the OFMC took its annual trip in 2020, and we’re all still alive and healthy. So you can bet we’re planning a trip for 2021.

As the designated trip planner I have asked the guys what they want to do and then worked out a route and itinerary. They guys are good with what I came up with and here it is.

Our destination for the first day is Scottsbluff, NE. The guys mainly wanted to go to the Black Hills this year and this is a good midway point. You can ride all the way in one day–I have–but it’s more leisurely to take it in two. Plus, if you’ve never been to Scottsbluff and gone to the top of the bluffs you should. The actual park is Scotts Bluff National Monument. So this short ride will give us plenty of time to do that.

The next day we’ll ride on up to Custer, SD, which will be our home base for three nights. The OFMC always likes to spend two days in one place in order to have a day for golf. It turns out there are very few places in the Black Hills where there are public courses, and Custer is one. On the other day we’ll just ride around in the Black Hills.

Then leaving Custer we’ll have a short day’s ride up to Spearfish, SD. That’s a really short ride but the OFMC also always wants to do some gambling, so we’ll take a very short ride to Deadwood, give the casinos some of our money, and then complete the leisurely run to Spearfish.

The next day’s run is also very short, so I had to figure a good way to extend it. We’ll run up from Spearfish to Belle Fourche, then west through Hulett and on to Devil’s Tower National Monument. We’ve been to Devil’s Tower before but never gone in and up to the monument, this time we will. And then we’ll ride on to Newcastle, WY, for the night.

Following that we’ll cruise on down the eastern side of Wyoming to Torrington. That’s another short day but when you look at the map there’s not a lot of places to go without going a long way. And in recent years we have made a deliberate effort to stay in towns we’ve never stayed in before. We’ve never stayed in Torrington. Who knows, maybe we never will again.

The day after that will be the most scenic of the whole trip, as well as one of the longest. We’ll head south to Cheyenne and then take the state roads between Cheyenne and Laramie. Most people take the interstate but the state road is much nicer. Then we’ll head southwest out of Laramie down through the Snowy Range and back into Colorado for a night at Walden. That’s our last night out and the next day we’ll head home. So that’s the trip this year. Only about 1,000 miles.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s your road and yours alone. Others may ride it with you but no one can ride it for you.

Getting you from one place to another is only a small part of what makes for a great motorcycle road. More importantly, a great motorcycle road twists and winds, climbs and descends, allows you to take your time, and offers a fresh experience that affords numerous interesting stops.

Check, check, and check. Add the High Road to Taos to your list of top two-wheel routes.

The “Low Road” to Taos is the main one, and it’s a busy highway that mostly follows the Rio Grande Valley. The High Road is small and quiet and offers a taste of Southwestern culture that can make you feel like you’re gone to another country. Unfortunately, until recently that culture also included the Third World mentality that “the world is my trash heap,” but an aggressive anti-litter campaign appears to have turned that attitude around.

Starting out from the general vicinity of Espanola, northwest of Santa Fe a few miles, the High Road at first passes through small communities that afford a glimpse of life in this region before the advent of electricity and technology. Homes are hidden deep in the shade of towering trees that keep the otherwise oppressive heat and vicious sunshine at bay, offering a coolness that is delicious in its relief.

The road then rises to the brown, arid hilltops, riding a ridge line that passes above the lush green farming valleys of towns with names such as Rio Chiquito and Cordova. The architecture gives a sense of place that is lost in the ticky-tacky sameness of modern housing developments.

Approaching the small community of Truchas a cemetery alongside the road displays a colorful aspect more common south of the border than north, including one grave site flanked on both sides by sheet metal cutouts of the V-twin hog the deceased once presumably loved.

On through Ojo Sarco, Las Trampas, and Chamisal, the road – NM 76 – winds until it ends at NM 75 near Rio Lucio. East through Penasco and beyond you follow a river canyon, and then at Rock Wall a left turn of about 160 degrees puts you on NM 518, where you start to climb and then climb some more.

Now the road earns its title of the High Road to Taos. Coursing high through the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the vegetation is dense pine and spruce forest and the vistas, when they present themselves, are of neighboring mountains and the deep valleys in between. Then you descend into one of those valleys and soon encounter the congestion and fast-food franchises that make the outskirts of Taos indistinguishable from any other American city.

Biker Quote for Today

I want to take you on a motorcycle ride through the sugar cane and the countryside — Michael Franti

Having taken many trips on the road with my biker buddies I’ve had a lot of time to observe and think. That happens when you’re out burning up mile after mile, alone in your own head.

One of the things I had a lot of time to ponder is how different members of the group fall into different categories as riders. I started thinking up names and characteristics for types and saw how each person falls into several of the types, and how they will sometimes switch from one extreme to the other, and then back.

Here then are the types I identified.

The Leader
The Leader is the guy who knows where he’s going. He may be the guy who planned out the route or he may just know the area and how to get from Point A to Point B. The Leader likes knowing that there is a plan and enjoys taking the responsibility of herding the rest of the group along.

The Follower
If you’re going to have a leader you also need followers. The Follower is not concerned with where the route is taking him, he’s just content letting someone else handle the organizational aspects of the trip. The Follower is just out to relax and enjoy the ride, wherever it goes.

The Explorer
While the Leader may have a specific route in mind, the Explorer may be inclined to try something different. If the Leader is inflexible he may come into conflict with the Explorer. If the Leader is flexible he may at times step aside and let the Explorer take over as Leader. If the two can’t reach agreement the Explorer may go off on his own, or with others who wish to, and rejoin the group at the day’s destination.

The Loner
The Loner and the Explorer may often be the same person. The Loner isn’t necessarily sold on the idea of traveling in a group, and at times may wish to go his separate way until meeting up with the rest later.

The Family Man
The Family Man is the polar opposite of the Loner. He’s likely to say, “I can ride alone anytime I want to. I go on this trip to ride with my buddies.” The Family Man is generally opposed to breaking the group up, even if interests diverge. He would rather someone give in and keep the group together.

The Dawdler
The Dawdler is the guy everyone waits for every time you’re ready to roll. When everyone else is mounted up and ready to push the Starter button, the Dawdler is still standing next to his bike with his helmet off. Alternatively, many of the others will keep an eye on the Dawdler until he has his helmet on and is ready to mount his bike before they put their own helmets on and mount.

The Straggler
The Straggler is the guy who likes to be at the rear of the group and doesn’t care if he gets a long way back. When he’s in the middle of the group he may still lag far behind the rider ahead of him, causing the riders behind him to get frustrated and pass, eventually putting him in the rear. When passing through towns, rather than closing up ranks, he continues to lag and often will get stopped at a red light that the others got through on the green, necessitating that the group pull off to let him catch up.

The Tailgater
The opposite of the Straggler, the Tailgater seemingly gets target fixation on the rear of the rider in front of him and stays right behind, closely, no matter the speed. The Tailgater has no conception of riding in a staggered formation and makes the guy in front of him very nervous.

The Old Dog
The Old Dog has been riding for a long time, and while his riding habits may not adhere to safe riding protocols, he has no interest in learning new tricks.

The Safety Maven
The Safety Maven believes strongly in formal practices such as riding in staggered formation and using hand signals. He despairs at the failure of the Tailgater and the Old Dog to change their ways. He tries to lead by example but doubts that anyone else is even paying attention.

The Easy Rider
The Easy Rider is the one who is ready to go when everyone else is, keeps up with the group, follows safe riding practices, and is alert to the issues that arise on the ride. He doesn’t annoy anyone and he’s a welcome companion on the road. Significantly, every rider is a part of him, and no rider is entirely him.

Riding with a group means dealing with all these types and more, and accepting that we’re all human and no one is perfect. We all just share a passion for riding motorcycles.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s amazing the number of great people in my life who I wouldn’t have ever met if it wasn’t for motorcycles.

As a member of the American Motorcyclist Association I am on their email list, and in their emails they ask members to submit their answers to different questions. This month the question is “What is your motorcycling goal for the new year?”

Now, I actually addressed that question at least a bit in my last post but I’m wondering if I can take that a little further. Writing is a method I use to process my thinking–if I’m unsure about something I write to find out what I think. Let’s see where this goes.

First off, I want to take a long trip with Judy. A couple years ago we joined some friends on a 3,000-mile ride up to Banff and Jasper, reaching British Columbia and Alberta. In 2020 I’m not sure if Judy was on the bike at all. If she was I don’t remember it. We sure didn’t take any motorcycle trips.

In the last couple years we have both bought new helmets–the best helmets we’ve ever owned–and a new Sena communicator system that finally allows us to talk easily and actually hear each other clearly. Far better than the two systems we have used previously. There’s no point in having bought these things if we don’t actually use them. We bought them to use them. In 2021 I intend to make sure we use them.

I also want to ride more on my own. While I did put 5,049 miles on my three bikes in 2020, that’s nothing. There have been a few years when I put more than 10,000 miles on just the Concours, and then additional miles on the other two.

For some people, riding is a social thing, and if they’re not riding with friends they don’t ride. I like riding with friends but I love riding alone. I love being able to stop and go at my own pace and pleasure, to take any road that catches my eye at a moment’s notice, and to ride as much or as little as I wish. Load camping gear on and this becomes total freedom.

But then this gets back to riding more with Judy. If she and I have taken or are planning a big trip, she is not as likely to resent it if I then choose to go off for a several days ride alone. And it feels a lot less selfish to me.

These objectives, plus anything else I can think of boils down to this same basic idea: my goal for 2021 is simply to ride more. Why complicate things? I’ll just leave it at that.

Biker Quote for Today

Not sure if I want to ride to work or call in sick and ride all day.

I’m not sure why this has been on my mind lately, but it has so I figured I’d write about it.

I had an experience with airport security in Oakland, California, back in 2010 that still makes me shake my head. But some background is in order.

Back then I was writing for Examiner.com, a site that no longer exists, as their “National Motorcycle Examiner.” As such, a lot of terrific opportunities came my way. One was an invitation from EagleRider to go on a week-long, all expenses paid (except getting there and back) motorcycle tour of California, from L.A. up the coast, inland to Yosemite National Park, and then to San Francisco. You better believe I accepted.

Now, like most people, I hate to check bags when flying, preferring to squeeze everything I’ll need into a carry-on bag. That means I couldn’t take a lot and my bag was pretty full. No big deal.

So we did the tour and had a great time and I wrote a bunch about it for Examiner and other publications I wrote for back then, including of course this blog. We ended the tour in San Francisco and after saying my good-byes I went across the bay to visit a friend who lives in Oakland. To fly home I went to the Oakland airport.

By this time I had a problem, however. EagleRider and a bunch of the places we visited had loaded us up with a ton of swag. I had a mesh EagleRider motorcycle jacket, about a dozen t-shirts, eight jumbo bags of beef jerky, and I can’t remember what else. Recall that my small bag was already full when I came out here. Where was I going to put all this stuff?

I really didn’t want to pay to check a second bag but I had the idea to take clothes out of the bag, put everything else in, and whatever clothes didn’t fit in the bag I would wear. This meant I had on about six t-shirts and whatever else it took. This was summer so it was warm but over all this I put on the jacket. Yes I was warm but I got it all handled.

So I went to the airport and I guess security thought I was a bit odd. They didn’t say anything but they searched my bag thoroughly and ran the wand over me very deliberately. It was clear I was getting special treatment but not only that, they were being very hostile. I made some non-hostile remark and the woman basically told me to keep my mouth shut or things were going to get a lot worse.

Of course I was not a hijacker and I was no threat at all and finally they reluctantly allowed me on the plane. But the thing that has always bugged me was this: How about, maybe, they just ask me why I’m wearing all this stuff? I’m not saying take my explanation and just pass me on through. Go ahead and check me out thoroughly. But was the hostility really necessary? Just ask a simple question, hear my simple answer, and go ahead and do your job. No, I guess that’s too much to ask.

One amusing thing did happen immediately after this, however. As I got on the plane one of the other passengers saw my jacket and asked if I was with that group he saw two days earlier crossing the Richmond-San Rafael bridge. Yes! That was us, and he was there too, just at that moment. How funny.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycles make me happy. You, not so much.

I started building this motorcyclecolorado.com website in 2004 and at the time I figured it would be helpful to include a page on biker-friendly hotels and motels. So I did and I have added to it over the years.

Things change, though, and more recently I have had people ask me what the idea is. Which is to say, what with doctors, lawyers, and people from every walk of life taking up motorcycling, a lot of people have no understanding that there was a time not so long ago when bikers might find themselves turned away from lodging purely because they were on motorcycles.

Now, that’s great. It means we’ve come a long way. The image of the evil, dangerous outlaw biker has largely faded from the public consciousness.

That raises a question then. What today constitutes a biker-friendly hotel or motel? Are there criteria I should use when adding places to the page?

One criterion I’ve always used is that if the establishment contacts me asking to be added, I consider that biker-friendly and I add them. Also, if they buy ads on the website that’s a pretty clear indication they are actively seeking business from bikers, so obviously they are biker-friendly. That’s pretty simple.

Most of the others I have added are places we have stayed where they have been very nice to us. And seeking to be helpful beyond pointing riders to one place or another, I have even listed a place or two that I would not recommend and explained why. The example that comes immediately to my mind is one place where the bed was absolutely horrid. But I’ve grown concerned about that. We stayed in that place a long time ago now. I have to believe they have gotten rid of that terrible bed by now; is it fair that I have not changed that listing in all these years? We haven’t been back so I can’t revise the rating upward; should I just delete it now?

What about the design/layout of the place? Planning this year’s OFMC trip the guys told me they really like the places where you can park your bike right outside the door. That makes it an easy schlep of your gear and the bike is right there in case someone tries to mess with it. Does that make a place biker-friendly? I know I prefer that because I hate carrying all my gear through a hallway, up a stairway, and down another hallway. Still, if they have carts that you can load it all onto, and an elevator, and you can easily roll it all then it’s really not that bad. Do carts and an elevator make a place biker-friendly?

What else? Some places make a point to offer rags for cleaning your bike. Now, certainly many of them do this for their own interests because too many bikers have been jerks and used good towels and washcloths for that purpose, and those towels and washcloths are then ruined. Still, it’s always nice when at check-in the clerk tells you where to find rags to clean your bike. That definitely seems biker-friendly.

But what else? I’d really like to hear your thoughts because if it makes sense I want to revise this page. But in what way? Should I include a checklist: rags–check; actively seeking biker business–check; preferred motorcycle parking–check. You get the picture. Or what? Let me know what you think.

Biker Quote for Today

100 Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: We have grease under our fingernails.

A regular ride for the RMMRC is out to Kiowa to Patty Ann’s Cafe, where the folks are friendly and the food is very good. Such a regular ride that we really have to work to find different ways to get there and come back.

Sure, we could always ride down Parker Road to Franktown and take CO 86 east to Kiowa but what fun would that be? Fortunately there are a lot of different routes.

The one we took out there on Wednesday was another really basic one: out east on Quincy to the Bennett-Kiowa Road and then south. If you just took those two routes you would soon be bored out of your mind. But there are numerous north-south roads, intersecting numerous east-west roads and you can pretty much zig-zag your way and vary the route any number of ways. You end up in the same place.

This, of course, is the curse of living in one place too long. There’s not a road anywhere near you that you haven’t ridden several hundred times.

Years ago I used to be pretty footloose. I moved around. And even when I stayed in the same place I would go away frequently, for extended excursions. I was known for this. When some friends moved to Buffalo, New York, the wife told me she wasn’t saying good-bye to me because she knew I’d be showing up at their door at some point. That was 40 years ago and I have never seen those folks again.

As it turned out, I settled down. I bought a house. That meant staying in one place and having mortgage payments that had to be made or else. That meant jobs where they expect you to show up every day. Dang, footloose was fun.

So I started going on all these week-long summer trips with the OFMC, which we’ve been doing for 31 years now. But even that started getting repetitive. In 31 years you cover a lot of roads anywhere you can get to and back in a week and a day or two.

For a while I pushed the guys to try something like shipping the bikes a long way away and flying out and then riding home. Or renting a truck to haul the bikes one way and having a marathon drive out somewhere distant and then riding home. I never could get anyone to go along on that with me. I’ve given up on that, plus the OFMC is down to just three again and in 2019, as I was mapping out a route, they told me they were game for some big miles in order to reach some places we don’t generally go. Afterward, planning the 2020 trip, they told me “let’s not do such long rides this time.” OK guys, whatever you wish.

And you end up riding the same roads over and over again. Sometimes I want to move to another city just so I can ride different roads. That’s not going to happen. I’ll keep riding these same roads, and ultimately they all lead to Patty Ann’s. Heck, it’s not a bad destination.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if people have nearly died of starvation looking at all of your bike/run pictures.