Passes & Canyons Blog

Our first stop on the trip, just a quick break.

The OFMC left on this year’s trip today and this post will go up tomorrow. For once it’s a real-time report.

It’s just the three of us again this year, Bill, Dennis, and me. Bruce considered coming for part of it but chose not to. Too bad. We really hoped he would come.

Having only a short ride today we were in no hurry. After meeting at a Starbucks near Bill at 10 we were rolling around 11. Golden Gate Canyon was our chosen route.

We always make a gambling stop but since we had such a short ride today we agreed to make an unplanned gambling and lunch stop in Black Hawk. We’re in no hurry. We sometimes will each put $20 in a machine and play it together. We did that this time, quickly losing half of it first on a machine Bill chose and then on one I chose. Time for lunch.

After lunch Dennis chose a machine and we quickly won all our money back plus $2.50 and we figured this was a good time to cash out and get rolling. A nice start for the trip.
We went up through Central City and over the Central City Parkway to I-70, I-70 to the US 40 exit at Empire, and then over Berthoud Pass and down to Winter Park.
Now we were looking for ice cream. This is how we travel. Lots of stop, no hurry.

We found ice cream in Granby and then it was a short hop to Hot Sulphur Springs. Still mid-afternoon. So we got our swimsuits and headed to the hot springs the town is named for. A good soak, relaxation, and now it was time for dinner.

And that was the first day. Very easy-going. Very relaxed. Tomorrow’s going to be a longer day.

Biker Quote for Today

Good time, good friend, good wheel.

We just didn’t see that many bikes over eight days in the area. Meanwhile, do you see that kiosk on the left? That’s a bus stop. On a busy highway. With no pull-off area for the buses. And there were Ubers picking people up and dropping them off along there not even at the bus stop. It was crazy, not to mention incredibly dangerous.

Judy and I just spent a week in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh area generally, and while we were not on a motorcycle you can bet I was taking it all in from the perspective of a motorcyclist.

My initial impression was pretty negative but it evolved over the time we were there. In case you don’t know, it’s really hilly around Pittsburgh, and you might think that would lead to great motorcycle roads. It does. Sorta.

The thing is, in the immediate metro area there are a lot of hills and they’re very steep. Translation: Going anywhere but along the drainages is unfeasible. And in a metro area of 2.3 million that means a lot of traffic on not so many roads. Roads that would be gorgeous to ride except that on both sides of the highway it’s one big strip mall, there are frequent traffic signals, and the roads are choked with traffic.

We got a bit further out of the city, and more importantly, we got off the main highways. Now it was sweet. The hills were not as steep so you could go up, over, and around them, and there was almost no other traffic. Very sweet for riding a bike. But there were two problems.

First off, as we’ve seen in some other parts of the country, it’s all trees. There’s nothing to see but trees. On these small roads, even when you get to the top of a hill you have no view of the surrounding area because all you can see is trees. We rode along a river at one point and could hardly see the river because of the trees. In fact, as we saw later, it was the big highways like the US highways and the interstates that were just cut through the topology where you actually had views from time to time. Trees are nice but after awhile they get very boring.

The other problem was that while these little roads are great motorcycle roads, if you actually want to get somewhere, taking these roads is going to take you a very long time. It’s rare that the speed limit even reaches 45 and with all the winding around you’ll cover at least 150 miles going 100 actual miles. Terrific if you just want to go out for a nice day ride; terrible if you’re traveling and want to stay off the big roads.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We really like the Pittsburgh area. When I told the guys we were going to spend a week in and around Pittsburgh John’s immediate response was “I’m sorry.” John, you don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s a lot to see and do in this area and we had a great trip.

But is southwest Pennsylvania a good place for motorcycling? I really don’t know what to say. If you do, if you’re familiar with riding in this area, by all means, please leave a note and clue me in.

One other thing. We really just didn’t see all that many bikes. In mid-week we were in Altoona and in that little town we saw more bikes than we had all the rest of the week up to that point. Who knows why. But we never really did see all that many motorcycles at all. Who knows. Not me.

Oh, and one more aside. We got home Sunday, unpacked, ate dinner, and were immediately faced with a plumbing emergency. Welcome home.

Biker Quote for Today

When the road ahead seems impossible, start the engine.

A switchback on the road up Pikes Peak.

I hadn’t been on a bike recently because about 10 days ago I had minor surgery that makes it very uncomfortable for me to sit down for too long. But I’m planning on doing a four-day RMMRC ride in a bit less than two weeks so I was feeling a bit uncertain. Figured I’d better go for a ride.

I plan to ride the V-Strom so that was the bike I went out on. I was figuring it has a nice broad, flat seat so maybe that will be OK. Well, I got about two blocks and was already uncomfortable. Not a good sign.

So I wanted to see, would the discomfort get worse, diminish, or what, and how quickly? I checked my watch before I left.

Certainly I did not want to go a long way away and find myself in pain and have a long way to return, so I headed out, went a ways, and made a right turn. Now just go straight until I’m feeling like I ought to do another right turn. One more right turn after that and I would be home.

The good news is that the discomfort did not increase. The not so good news is that it did not diminish either. And hitting bumps was not more uncomfortable as I thought it might be. It was just a stable level of discomfort, but I have the strong suspicion that if I were to do that all day it would get a lot worse and then maybe I wouldn’t even be able to walk the next day.

OK, that answered my question. And I was only out for 35 minutes. Now, I still have 10 days before we leave. Surely I’ll be feeling a lot better by then, right? I mean, heck, I did three weeks straight on the Concours just two months after having heart surgery. This will pass, won’t it?

It better. I’m set up to share motel rooms with Alberto on this ride and I don’t want to leave him holding the bag paying in full for rooms he had expected to split. But if we were leaving tomorrow and I was feeling like I do today there’s no way I’d be going. We all know about monkey butt. Well, this is monkey butt to the max. It’s got to be better in 10 days.

Biker Quote for Today

They say treat yourself right, so I bought myself a motorcycle.

The OFMC approaches Chadron, Nebraska, on a later trip.

Back in the very early days of the OFMC Bill and John and I headed to the northwestern, Yellowstone-Grand Teton, corner of Wyoming, across the Beartooth Pass, through the Bighorn Mountains, and made our way on east to the Black Hills. Leaving the Black Hills we came south into Nebraska and stopped soon after crossing the state line at a rest area.

We got a bit of a surprise then when a fellow we met at the rest area informed us that “Nebraska is a bucket state,” meaning helmets were required. And we had not been wearing ours. Oops.

Of course, this was back in the days when we often did not wear helmets. We were much younger and we were immortal and helmets were just too confining. But we also didn’t want to get tickets so for the rest of our time in the state we rode with helmets.

Well, this is not new news but that all changed on January 1 of this year. Last year a bill was passed unanimously through the state’s unicameral (one house) legislature and was signed that day by the governor. No more helmet requirement, provided you meet certain prerequisites.

First, you have to be 21 and, second, you have to wear eye protection. No problem.

And third, you have to have taken a basic motorcycle safety course. OK, that’s something you want to pay attention to.

First off, there are plenty of people who have been riding for years who have never taken a riding course. I personally know plenty of people who would scoff at the idea of doing that because they figure they know it all already. Well, you don’t. I have taken numerous riding courses and even the Basic Rider Course (BRC) can introduce you to ideas and riding techniques you’ve missed along the way. It’s worth it, and now if you want to ride helmetless in Nebraska it’s required.

Second, having taken that course is probably not going to do you a lot of good if you’re stopped unless you are carrying the card they give you upon completion. Oh, yeah. Maybe the cops aren’t just going to take your word for it. Good thing to take along. Stick it in with your driver’s license.

Now, this is no longer relevant for those of us in the OFMC. We long ago grew cautious enough that we no longer ride without helmets, ever. But back in 1992, when we took that trip, we would only have met two of the three criteria, age and eye protection. But if you want the wind in your hair just remember that you’ve got to take a class. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Biker Quote for Today

Wind therapy has always worked miracles for me. — Eric Trow

A portion of the RMMRC upcoming rides page.

If you’re like me and the your main riding group of buddies (in my case the OFMC) doesn’t do as many rides as you might like to do, joining a public group can solve that issue. For me, that came a number of years ago in the form of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC). Nowadays I ride a lot more with the RMMRC than I do with the OFMC.

Well, you can, too. At this moment the RMMRC has four multi-day rides planned and posted on the site. Club membership only costs $12 a year and all sign-up is handled through MeetUp.com. Here’s a quick run-through.

2024 BMW National Rally — While officially a BMW rally, in reality all makes are welcome. The RMMRC does this rally most years because so many club members do ride BMWs but it’s really just an excuse to go somewhere. The plan is only to spend about half a day at the actual rally.

The group going will be leaving Denver on Monday, June 10, and returning on Thursday, June 20. Each day’s ride will be in the 300 to 350 mile range.

Colorado Scenic Highways — I’m going to be going on this ride, which leaves on Thursday, June 27 and returns on Sunday, June 30. The three overnight destinations are Crested Butte, Grand Junction, and Durango. Then the only long day’s ride is coming home from Durango.

Glacier & Banff National Parks — This trip will run from Monday, August 5, to Friday, August 16. It’s kind of a skinny loop so that means no actual back-tracking, which is nice. Sometimes on these rides you have little choice but to return on at least some of the roads you went out on. I won’t be going on this ride, partly because it doesn’t work with my schedule and partly because I did a very similar ride a few years ago. About the only place we didn’t get to on that trip that this trip will hit is Calgary. I’m sure it’s going to be a really good ride.

Colorado 4-Corners Tour — This is a 4-day, 3-night tour starting from and returning to Morrison. Total tour is just over 1,000 miles with daily mileage between 250-340 miles. The stops are Walsenberg, Farmington, and Ridgway. Departure is Thursday, September 19, and return is Sunday, September 22.

So hey! Not getting in enough riding? Here’s your chance. You’d be very welcome. What are you waiting for?

Biker Quote for Today

You are not alone bro, your bike is with you.

The OFMC on the road in 2016.

I was late getting the plans for this year’s OFMC trip set but finally did. It’s actually harder to plan a trip with shorter days than with longer ones. We’ll be staying almost entirely in Colorado this year.

The mandate from the guys–primarily Bill–was no long hard days of riding. Dennis suggested we play tourist a bit more than we generally have. I came up with a plan.

First off, following last year’s hellacious trip home on I-70 on Sunday with all the horrendous traffic that always entails, I suggested that hey, we don’t need to leave and come home on weekends. We can go and return in the middle of the week. Everyone agreed to that.

So we’ll be leaving on a Wednesday and going up over Berthoud Pass, through Winter Park and Granby just on to Hot Sulphur Springs. And there we’ll partake of the hot springs for a good hot soak. Just in case we’re a bit sore from the first day’s ride.

Next we’ll hit Kremmling and turn south, catch I-70 briefly to Copper Mountain, and then take Fremont Pass over to Buena Vista. We’ll make sure to get there early enough for this day’s activity: zip-lining. I had looked at doing some river rafting but we have all done that before and none of us has done a zip line. I’m hoping it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Originally I planned it out that we would backtrack to Twin Lakes and take Independence Pass over to Aspen and Carbondale and then turn south toward McClure Pass to spend a night at the Redstone Inn in Redstone. Calling for reservations, though, it turned out they have a big wedding going on that weekend and there is not an available room in town. Searching further and further afield it finally worked out that the best alternative was Montrose, and if we’re heading to Montrose from Buena Vista it made sense to take an entirely different route. So we’ll go over Cottonwood Pass down to Almont, to Gunnison, and then take US 50 to Montrose.

The next day we’ll just head straight down US 550 to Durango, going over Red Mountain and Molas Passes on the way. Durango will be a two-day stop because the next day instead of riding we’ll play golf. Golf is an always kind of thing on the OFMC trips these days.

We’ll have a pretty short ride the day we leave Durango as we are just going to Mesa Verde National Park. More playing tourist. In the early days of the OFMC we always found the cheapest place to stay we could. Nowadays we all have more money and we’re spending it. We’ll be staying at the grand lodge–the Far View Lodge–in the park. That should be really nice.

We’ll ride around and see the park the day we get there but the next day’s ride is not a long one either: it’s time for the mandatory gambling stop. We’re heading on to Ignacio, to the Sky Ute Casino Resort. We’ve stayed at the Sky Ute before but they used to be in a much smaller place and it was inexpensive. The new place is fancy and the price reflects that. And that’s before you give them money at the tables and machines. But we like a little gambling.

The next day of this trip is the longest one. We’re heading for Fort Garland and there were two possible routes to get there. One would be to just get on US 160 all the way, over Wolf Creek Pass. That’s a little shorter, but only a little, than what we’re going to do. We’ll take 160 to Pagosa Springs but then turn south into New Mexico, to Chama, and then turn northeast over Cumbres and La Manga Passes to Antonito. Then some mostly straight roads to Fort Garland.

Our final day, coming home, we have choices. The direct shots would be either to go east on US 160 to I-25 and take it all the way home, or jog west and pick up US 285 north all the way home. If we feel like a more scenic route I was thinking go east to Walsenburg and then turn northwest on CO 69 to Westcliffe, and then a series of roads up to Penrose, to Colorado Springs, and then pick a route home from there. This would be an equally long day as the previous one, so we’ll see what we all fell like at that point.

And that will do it. I’m thinking it’s going to be a good trip.

Biker Quote for Today

“I’m a decent sprinter and I can gun a motorcycle from zero to suicidal in less than ten seconds.” ? Mira Grant

The new Motorcycle Travel Network home page.

Long before the advent of this “sharing economy” as exemplified by AirBNB there was a website devoted to connecting motorcyclists to provide travelers with inexpensive places to stay with like-minded people. This was the Motorcycle Travel Network.

For $20 a night, as a gratuity, you had a place to stay with hosts who knew all the best local roads and places to visit. And in my own experience, it usually meant dinner and breakfast, although that is always up to the host.

Well, the Motorcycle Travel Network (MTN) kind of petered out in recent years and although we had stayed members, when a full year had passed and we had not used it and nobody had contacted us to stay with us we just let our membership slide. As did many others, I assume.

So–Announcing!–MTN is back.

Sometime earlier this year I received an email with this announcement in the subject line but the email was blank. I replied asking for more info but then forgot about it. Because this was via an email account I rarely use now I did not see the reply I got until just very recently. And yes, they are back, and if you are among the early folks to sign up they’re even waiving the annual registration fee for the first year.

I just signed up and I can certainly attest that the new website is significantly changed. Mainly it’s more up-to-date. The old one was pretty basic, reminding me of this website back before I got it modernized. (It really needs that again now; time marches on.)

I used MTN on my own and with Judy on our travels and we had some great times. Down in Fort Myers, Florida, we stayed with a couple who kept us regaled with stories of their rides. These were world travelers and she rides her own. We had a great time. We also hosted folks here and in particular there was a Canadian couple from Lethbridge, Alberta, who we had an absolutely fabulous time with. We really intended to return the visit but sadly have never made it to Lethbridge.

Will we have more great times now? Man, I sure hope so. Of course the more people who sign up the better the chances are that this thing will work well again. With AirBNB and VRBO this business of sharing your home with strangers is much more in the mainstream, but those sites also offer competition. What they can’t offer is the price and the in with local riders. Go ahead–sign up. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

Biker Quote for Today

Drop a gear and disappear.

I always have maps in that case on top of my tank bag when I travel–unless I forget my maps.

I had a very odd experience this summer when the RMMRC took a ride down into Arizona and New Mexico in that for perhaps the first time in my motorcycling life I had no maps with me. I just forgot them, though how you do that I’m not sure. But I managed to, somehow.

I have tank bags on all my bikes and typically I bring maps and have them in the map case on top so that I can refer to them at a glance at any time. Back when there were a lot more guys in the OFMC and John was usually the leader it was not at all unusual for several of them to have no idea which way we were going. They just got in the group and followed whoever was in front of them. John remarked at one point that the only person he trusted to know where they were going was me, because he knew I had a map in front of me at all times. And I generally rode sweep so the other guys could just play dumb and it didn’t matter.

So there I was with no map. It was weird. And uncomfortable. Sure, I would pull out my phone and call up Google Maps before the day’s ride and check out the route. But it’s not the same.

The time it mattered the most was the day we stopped for gas–and tried to get lunch, but didn’t–in Alpine, Arizona and there was confusion about which way we were going. First the group decided to go one way, then we had to wait because one guy was missing, and by the time he showed up a few guys a bit away from the rest of us decided to go a different direction and just took off that way. So the rest of us followed but I was distressed because I knew the way we had intended to go was really nice and I didn’t now anything about this alternate route except that it was a good bit longer.

Well, if I’d had a map in front of me, especially a Butler map, I would have seen that the road we did take was one of the best in Arizona. Heck, I probably would have been pushing that route as the clear best choice. If I’d had a map.

The other time it would have come in handy we were leaving Grants and needed to head west a bit so we could go north and then east. As it was, we went west on I-40 a good ways to Thoreau and went north from there. But before we got to Thoreau we pulled off at Milan to regroup. It turns out, we could have taken the road north out of Milan and gotten where we wanted to go and saved about 60 miles of flat, straight road. I think whoever planned this day’s ride used GPS and GPS does not always give you the best route. I would have seen it on the map and I would have pointed it out. If I’d had a map.

Then later that day we planned to go one route but the guy in the lead went a different way and I knew we had varied from the planned route but I had no idea where he was headed or where we would come out. Nothing would have changed by my knowing but at least I would have been able to see where we were, and where we were headed, and I like to know.

I don’t know about you, but I love maps. I hope I don’t ever forget mine again.

Biker Quote for Today

I do believe it’s time for another adventure.