Passes & Canyons Blog

The official list of 2017 rides for the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club is out. If I go on even a couple of these I’m going to be racking up some good miles.

But that’s where the uncertainty comes in. I’m for sure going to do at least one of these group rides just to see what they’re like. However, I think it very likely that more often I will just go on these impromptu day rides like the two I’ve already been on. Here’s why.

One of the first rides of the season is down to Birmingham, Alabama, to visit the Barber Motorsports Museum. Plus a bunch of interesting stops and roads along the way. I heard about this one and said “Oh, yeah, I’m definitely in for that.” And I discussed it with Judy and she’s up for it, too.

So I RSVPed to the ride leader and he sent me the itinerary. Depending on how you choose to do it there could be as many as four days covering more than 400 miles. Yikes! I’ve done that, and I’m perfectly capable of doing it, but I don’t like that kind of riding. And Judy has only ever been on one day of more than 300 miles and she didn’t love that.

Now, I understand why it’s set up this way. Birmingham is a long way and if you only have a week off from work you’re going to have to blast to do it. But we’re not restricted to only a week and we don’t have much interest in that kind of hard riding.

That’s not to say we’re definitely not going to do it; we may decide to go just to really see just what it’s like. Who knows, maybe it would be more enjoyable than we fear. What better way to really find out than to just do it?

But I could do some other rides that are not as long and get my answer. For instance, there’s a North Central New Mexico ride that’s only four days, whereas the Birmingham ride is nine days. Or a three-day Mesa Verde ride. Of course the problem is that the Birmingham ride is coming up soon and the other rides are not till later. I’m going to have to decide without benefit of other experience.

You can bet I’ll be reporting here what my decision is.

Biker Quote for Today

The road isn’t long when you have the right company.

John has dubbed this year’s upcoming OFMC trip the “Pure Colorado” ride. With a name like that it’s not surprising that it will all be within Colorado.

Of course in all these years we’ve been all over the state, but recently we’ve made a point of staying in towns we have never stayed in before. Maybe we’ve been through them 50 times, but we’ve never stopped for the night. This trip continues that thrust.

Our first night out will be Kremmling. We have stayed there before. Heck, John’s mother and other relatives used to live there, so no surprise.

From there we’ll head to Leadville. This will be a new stop.

Next day it’s on to Gunnison for a two-night stay with a day of golf. This will be a repeat of something we did just a couple years ago. Staying at the Water Wheel Inn we’ll be directly adjacent to the Dos Rios Golf Course. This was a very good stop the last time so doing it again is fine with all of us.

The obligatory casino stop comes next, at Ignacio. Not a new stop.

We’ll head north after that, to Ridgway. This will be new and for the first time ever we will stay here two nights and have a second day of golf. Presuming I play both days it will be the first time I’ve played golf twice in one year since I can’t even remember. I enjoy the game, it just doesn’t rank as a priority for my time the way it does for most of these guys. Generally I only play once a year on the OFMC trip.

From Ridgway we’ll continue north and east over McClure Pass to Carbondale. We’ve stayed in nearby Aspen once or twice but never Carbondale. I’ll be interested to see what the town has to offer. It has always been a pass-through town for me.

And then home. All in all this is not going to be that many miles, so I guess it’s a good thing I’m planning on doing some riding with the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club. I want to put a lot of miles on my bikes this year.

Biker Quote for Today

Bikers don’t go gray, we turn chrome.

Summer will be here before you know it and it will be time to do some two-wheeled traveling. What follows is a piece I did for Examiner while out on a long OFMC trip.

Gear You’ve Gotta Have On The Road

Riding 2,000 miles over the course of eight or nine days is not like riding your motorcycle to the local watering hole. We’ve been on the road for five days now and there are four things I am especially glad I’ve got with me or on the bike.

Ear plugs
Most bikers are familiar with the overall feeling of well-being that comes over you when you ride. That’s one of the things that gets you hooked on riding. What a surprise then to add serenity to that good feeling. That’s what happens when you put in ear plugs.

Never mind that ear plugs help you preserve your hearing, although they do. And it’s not as if they block out all noise and you’re riding deaf. You hear all the same things you do normally, but the sounds are muffled. It’s peaceful. It’s serene. If you’ve never ridden with ear plugs you owe it to yourself to try it. You’ll be amazed.
And they don’t need to be form-fitted or anything. Just pick up a pack or six or eight at the local drug store, squeeze them into little cylinders, slip them in your ears, and let them expand back out to fill in the space. And just ride serenely on.

Highway pegs

You don’t want just any highway pegs, in any position. This is something I’ve learned from my two bikes. On the Honda I’ve always had highway pegs and they’ve been nice to shift my legs to a different position, but they’ve never really been comfortable enough for me to ride like that for very far.

On my Concours, on the other hand, I only got highway pegs in the last couple years, once Murph finally figured out how to make it work without having to cut through the plastic bodywork. And what a difference. These things are so comfortable I can hang my feet out there, even both at the same time, and just cruise. I’ve seen my buddies do that but that was never me. Now it is.

You’ve got to be able to move your legs around on a long ride. A variety of pegs enables that. If the ones you have don’t do a good enough job it’s time to go shopping. All highway pegs are not alike.

Throttle lock

Some guys have cruise control on their bikes; for the rest of us there are throttle locks.

The difference, in case you don’t know, is that cruise control allows you to maintain a particular speed, just as in a car. A throttle lock just keeps the throttle set at a particular level and you slow down going up hills and speed up coming down them. It’s not perfect but it’s far better than gripping that grip hour after hour after hour on a long trip.

Ideally, when the lock is secured it will still have enough play that you can reach over and move it one way or the other to compensate for hills. Otherwise you might find yourself slowing down to 40 mph on the uphill and speeding up to 80 going down. That’s definitely not ideal.

But even if you have to tweak the setting every minute or two, how much better is that than constantly holding on to that grip? Let’s see, 2 seconds of adjustment with 58 seconds of relaxed hand and wrist. Compared to 60 seconds of gripping. Yeah, give me a throttle lock.

Tank bag

A tank bag with a map display on top, of course. Trying to fuss with a map while stopped on a motorcycle, especially with the wind blowing, is hopeless. The tank bag is a very convenient holder for things you want quick access to, and the map display is the ultimate in simple. Stop. Look down. Determine your route. Go.

Being the only one in the OFMC to have a tank bag, my bike often becomes the gathering point when we’re about to take off. Guys gather around my bike, we examine the map, and they head back to their bikes. And I pretty much always know where we are and where we’re going.

These four things go a long way toward making me a happy camper when I’m out on the road eating up the miles. But don’t take my word for it, try them yourself and see. I’m sure glad I did.

Biker Quote for Today

Matching all your gear to your bike? You’re not a biker, you sir are a Power Ranger.

This 2016 has actually been a pretty disappointing year for me in terms of riding. I haven’t totaled my motorcycle miles for the year yet but I know when I do the number is going to be a lot lower than last year. And lower than what I had intended. A lot of it has to do with this thing they call a “job.” But that’s going to end at the end of January; I’ll be leaving the National Park Service for the fourth time. And this time if they call me to come back the answer is going to be “No.”

So what riding plans do I have for 2017? Good question.

Of course I’ll be doing a ride with the OFMC. That’s a given. We’ve been doing these summer trips for more than 25 years now.

And I want to take at least a couple trips just on my own. I like riding alone. I like going where and when I want and stopping when I want for as long or as short as I want. I don’t have any definite plans yet but I’m doing some thinking.

The really big question for me is what rides the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club will have and which ones I’ll go on. At the November meeting the whole meeting was focused on next year’s rides and there were a lot of ideas thrown out for consideration. Being new to the group I’m not sure how this all works with the winnowing down of ideas and the decision-making that determines which ones actually happen. But there were quite a few that sounded pretty darn good to me.

Some of the proposals are pretty local; others are not at all local–we’re talking some serious rides. I’m interested in both, and I’m figuring some of these would be really good for Judy and me to do together. Here’s the list that was sent out.

• Bear Tooth Pass (3 Days)
• Wind River Canyon (TBD Days)
• Gateway Auto Museum (2 Days)
• Capulin Volcano (2 days)
• Guanella Pass (1 day)
• Gore Pass (1 Day)
• Chama, NM / Pagosa Springs / Gunnison (2 days)
• Saratoga, WY / Snowy Range (2 Days)
• Red River, NM (3 Days)
• Vermillion Cliffs, UT (3 Days)
• Pie Ride (1 Day)
• Ice Cream Ride (1 Day)
• Carousel Ride Burlington (1 Day)
• Yellowstone / Jackson (9 Days)
• Fall Colors / Ozarks (8 Days)
• Nova Scotia / New Brunswick / Newfoundland (35 Days)
• Roy’s Mystery Ride (1 Day)
• Texas Hill Country (TBD days)
• Louisiana / Cajun Ride (TBD days)
• Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum (TBD days)
• St. Francis Motorcycle Museum – First Annual Motorcycle Rally (1 day)

Anything there sound good to you? Maybe you ought to consider joining the group. Come on summer!

Biker Quote for Today

Friends will bail you out a jail. Biker friends can’t because they are sitting in the cell next to you.

My thanks to Alan for giving me a heads-up on this: An outfit called City on the Side is now offering motorcycle sidecar tours in Colorado. They offer predefined tours or you are free to tell them where you want to go and what you want to see. They will take up to two passengers on their Ural sidecar rigs, one in the sidecar and the other riding pillion behind the “sidecarist.”

From the City on the Side website homepage:

side-car (sid’kar) n.
1. An extraordinary form of transportation that brings diverse people together for a multitude of reasons, the most prominent being sheer enjoyment!

Colorado can be discovered in many ways; however, none are as exhilarating and adventurous as on a classic Russian sidecar motorcycle! Our original and unique concept of tour operations delivers safe, unforgettable excursions creating memorable instances of excitement for all of our passengers.

City on the Side provides an exceptional sight-seeing journey, a different look, authentic and genuine, allowing passengers to experience Colorado from a completely unique perspective. An exhilarating, personal and private tour on a classic and glamorous Ural cT sidecar motorcycle. We are the premium sight-seeing tour experience, not available anywhere else in North America. Our passengers discover Colorado in the open-air, unconfined and free with 360° views of its breathtaking landscapes and magnificent beauty.

Four set tours are offered:

• 1.5 Hour: Essential Denver City Tour — Various Attractions, Landmarks, Points of Interest in and around Downtown Denver
• 4.0 Hour: North Mountain Exploration — Morrison, Idledale, Kittredge, Evergreen, Idaho Springs, Clear Creek Canyon & Golden
• 4.0 Hour: South Mountain Exploration — Clear Creek Canyon, Central City, Golden Gate Canyon & Golden
• 8.0 Hour: Peak to Peak / Estes Park — Clear Creek Canyon, Blackhawk, Nederland, Estes Park, Lyons, Golden Gate Canyon & Golden

Five extra services are also available:

• Custom “Tailor-Made” Tours
• We Do Weddings and Special Events
• Give a Sidecar Motorcycle Tour as a Gift
• Picnic Lunch in the Rocky Mountains
• HD Quality Video of Your Experience

A guy named Scott Kirkwood is running this outfit, and while I haven’t had a chance to speak with him yet, I hope to do so soon. I’m always interested in these new companies that open up and offer motorcycle touring and/or rental opportunities. And you can bet I’ll be adding them to my Colorado Motorcycle Rentals and Tours page; in fact, by the time you read this I probably will have already done so.

Finally, I would personally like to offer my best wishes to these folks to make a terrific success of this endeavor. It sounds like something a lot of people might really go for.

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes people around you won’t understand your journey. They don’t need to, it’s not for them.

OK, this is the last of these Examiner Resurrections to focus on great roads in Utah; I’ll move on to other things next time.

I told you about Kolob Road, the best motorcycle road in Utah that nobody knows exists. Here’s one more that everyone knows, with a twist.

Utah 9 crosses through Zion National Park from just east of Springdale. As soon as you enter the park you reach Zion Canyon Road, which goes up Zion Canyon. This is the main part of the park that all the tourists go to. And you should, too. It’s worth it. This is the Zion that most people know.

During peak season you can’t drive this road any more. It’s a deadend and there used to be hordes of traffic and it was not pretty. Now they put you on free shuttle buses that run frequently, making the the canyon a lot more enjoyable. I’ve got some pictures in the slide show below (sorry, no slide show carried over from Examiner) that gives you an idea of some of what you’ll see.

But that’s not the road I have in mind. What you’re really interested in is Utah 9. If you look at the map you’ll see a bunch of switchbacks followed by broken lines for a bit. This doesn’t mean the road is gravel, it shows that you’re going through a tunnel. A long tunnel. With windows cut out of the rock.

It’s at the east end of the tunnel when things really get interesting, not that the switchbacks weren’t. You come out of the tunnel and there’s a ranger shack and a parking area. Park here.

Then cross to the north side of the road and take the trail you’ll see there. It’s a steep climb right at first, but you don’t climb more than 100 feet or so and then it levels out the rest of the way. This trail takes you back over the saddle of the hill you just came through in the tunnel and the view back into the canyon is spectacular. Again, check the photos in the slide show. It’s awesome. And I mean that in the original sense of that overused word.

Once you’re back to the road, the run on out of the park is still pretty darn scenic. There’s a reason there are so many parks in such a small area. Southern Utah is fabulous. So many roads, so little time.

Biker Quote for Today

Freedom: Getting lost on your motorcycle and enjoying every minute of it.

At my second meeting tonight of the the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) the discussion was about ride planning and the rides the group has planned for next year. This is a group that does some serious rides but sometimes they get even more serious.

Specifically, the word is that Roy, the group’s safety coordinator, has a professional background in tour planning and he is organizing a 35-day ride to Nova Scotia. Ooooh my goodness! I could do that. Of course there are all kinds of considerations.

Several of the folks were very clear that, hey, they’re not retired, and there is no way they can take that kind of time. Nevertheless, Sean and Sara plan to go; he’ll trailer the bike to Ontario so as to make good time and she’ll fly out and meet him, and then fly home. And other people have similar ideas to take part in at least some of that ride.

Someone else mentioned how a trip like that could be very costly. By the time you figure motels, food, and gas–not to mention any other incidental expenses–this will not be inexpensive. I mean, motels alone, if you figure sharing a room and each paying $50 per night, would be $1,750. Costs will vary depending on how high your standards are for accommodations. Mine are fairly low; I would prefer to do something like that and spend most nights camping. Then you might get down to around $600-$700 for accommodations, figuring at least a few nights in motels.

So we’ll see. The idea of doing something like that is very tempting but this sort of thing may be the true test for me as to what sort of involvement I’m going to have with this group. Spending 35 days with a possibly sizeable group in a fairly structured situation may not be what I’m up for. Now, if I could get several of these guys together to do a less formal four person ride or something like that, that would really get my attention. Especially if they like to camp, too.

But I’m not ruling anything out just yet. I’ll play it all by ear.

So because ride planning was the topic of discussion, Sara went over a slide presentation about the elements to consider if you are interested in planning a ride for the group. Or for any group. The RMMRC has a page on their website with some good info on ride planning. The presentation she used can be found there. Considerations such as, is this a day trip or a multi-day trip? Is the destination what’s important or is the ride itself the most important? (Heck, it’s always the ride, isn’t it?)

And of course, food. Noting that for her, food is always one of the very most important parts of the ride, she said she’s planning a food-day ride for next year. I’ll be interested to learn more about that one.

In the meantime, I’ll be joining the group on a ride for the first time on Saturday. More about that after it happens.

Biker Quote for Today

And then God said “Let there be beautiful, passionate, irresistable, crazy women who take no crap.” So he created biker chicks.

This is another Examiner.com resurrection, dating from June 2009.

“Spectacular” is the word to describe the canyon country of southern Utah, and the best of it is completely accessible on a motorcycle. And no, I’m not talking dual sport. I mean Harley/Honda luxotourers.

Get here via whatever route suits you, we’re just going to cover Utah 12 and Utah 63, which goes down into Bryce Canyon National Park.

Heading east from the junction with U.S. 89, Utah 12 very quickly enters Red Canyon. Here you get just an inkling of what you’ll find at Bryce Canyon, but Red Canyon is incredibly beautiful all on its own.

Continue east until you reach the turn-off for Utah 63, which heads south a few miles before entering the national park. There are a couple motels just north of the park and they have restaurants that are open until 10 p.m. If you’re the camping sort, there are campgrounds inside the park, and back at Red Canyon as well.

The entrance fee for the park is $12 for motorcycles, unless you’re a grey-hair and have your Golden Age Pass.

We found the best thing to do was to run all the way to the end of the road without stopping and then make all your stops on the way back north. The reason is, all the view areas are on the east side and this lets you avoid pulling in and out across oncoming traffic. Of course, the entire road through the park is well-maintained asphalt.

Taking this approach, your first stop will be Rainbow Point. The view, on a clear day, is more than 100 miles. You’re at a towering height and it’s like the whole world is laid out at your feet.

Working your way back to the north, there are small, unnamed view areas and bigger, named view areas. Not surprisingly, the views are more spectacular at the named spots. That’s not to say the smaller spots are not worth stopping at.

The further north you get the most the view becomes one of towering, multi-colored hoodoos, as they’re called. These are the pinnacles that stand tall as the areas around them erode away. Not a true canyon, Bryce Canyon has been formed primarily by water seeping into cracks in the rock, freezing, and forcing the crack wider and wider, while the chips that break off get washed away.

Finally, back near the north end of the park, is the ring of view areas named Sunset, Sunrise, Inspiration, and Bryce Points. This is the best spot to get off the bikes and actually hike down into the canyon. The shortest loop, six-tenths of a mile, is Navajo Trail Loop. For a bit longer hike, take the Queen’s Garden trail from Sunset Point over to Sunrise Point, about 1.6 miles. There’s a lot of down and then a lot of up, so be sure to wear decent walking shoes and carry water. Don’t be surprised if it rains a bit while you’re walking, but usually the coolness and wet is welcome.

Then you’re on your way again. Panguitch, about 7 miles north of Utah 12 on U.S. 89 is a nice place to stop for the night, with numerous attractive motels, a grocery store, gas stations, and restaurants.

Enjoy the ride, but enjoy the stops, too.

Biker Quote for Today

I love to ride. I hate to arrive.