Archive for the ‘motorcycle touring’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Biker Encounters With People While On The Road

Monday, September 8th, 2025

The OFMC at the Grand Canyon.

People always want to talk to you when you’re out on motorcycles, have you noticed? Of course you have. They look at us wistfully and reminisce about when they had a bike, or how great it must be to just get out on the road and go, or whatever thoughts we stir. Bikers are so daring, so cute and lovable, right? How can you not strike up a conversation with them?

Usually those conversations go pleasantly and everyone parts with good feelings. Usually.

Then there was the time the OFMC was at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, in the parking lot by the lodge (burned down in summer 2025!) when a family on vacation struck up a conversation. Cool bikes. Hey, would it be OK if our son climbed on board one? Oh sure, what the heck, no harm.

Well, no. The boy climbed on, wearing shorts, and managed to let his bare leg press up against one of the exhaust pipes. Blazing hot exhaust pipe. Yow!!!

OK, that didn’t go so well.

Then there was the time in Aspen when we struck up a conversation with a couple cougars who seemed to think we were of interest. Things went pleasantly right up to the point where I asked one of them if, way back years ago, Hunter Thompson ever had any chance of winning his run for election as sheriff of Pitkin County.

This was a simple question based on my honest interest in whether the answer was yes or no. You would never know that from the response I got. She replied scornfully that no, he never had a chance, and did we think they were all stupid? Well, I never suggested that, I was asking a simple question.

I did reply that it would be nice to have a sheriff who wouldn’t arrest anyone for simple possession of marijuana. She then got quite nasty, pointing out that marijuana was illegal (back then), whereas her drug of choice was alcohol (which was legal by then but back in the 1920s this was not the case). And by this point she had certainly had plenty of her drug of choice. We didn’t stick around a lot longer.

Fortunately, these less than great encounters are vastly outnumbered by the good ones. But the not so good ones make better stories, don’t they?

Biker Quote for Today

If you are going faster than everything else you only have to worry about what is in front of you.

Tags:
Posted in motorcycle touring, Motorcycles, OFMC | No Comments »

SolidRide Offers A Different Twist On Adventure Touring

Monday, September 1st, 2025

The SolidRide website.

Back in May I got a note from Eric at SolidRide adventure tours making me aware of their existence and asking to be added to the Colorado Motorcycle Rentals And Tours page. I quickly made the addition and then engaged Eric in a conversation about getting together with him and doing a blog post about his outfit. We also talked about doing a ride together.

Then life got in the way and in late June I was in my crash. We haven’t been out on that ride. I figured I might as well go ahead and do this post introducing you to SolidRide.

To get the whole scoop you really ought to visit the SolidRide website. But I’ll give you a quick rundown.

SolidRide breaks their tours into three categories: Adventure Bike, Dual Sport, and Scenic Byways. They can plan and lead the ride or just lay out the route and plans and you can go on your own. Additional offerings include glamping arrangements where all meals are provided and you sleep in luxurious tents.

Much of the riding is centered around the Fairplay/Alma area, with Boreas Pass, Hoosier Pass, and Weston Pass included, although their offering of scenic byways tours currently includes:
Gold Belt Tour
Peak to Peak
Mount Blue Sky
Guanella Pass
Lariat Loop
Top of the Rockies
Collegiate Peaks
West Elk Loop
Silver Thread

Something of particular interest if you think you might like to see what SolidRide is all about is a series of self-guided tours through the Front Range that end the day at Nomad Taqueria and Beer Garden. The two upcoming events are scheduled for September 21 and October 3.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you’ve ever said “Isn’t it too cold/wet/hot/dry/dark to ride?”

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Day Rides, Dual sport bikes, motorcycle events, motorcycle touring | No Comments »

Communicators: The Biker’s Secret Weapon

Monday, July 21st, 2025

A different day’s ride with the RMMRC.

I’m sure some folks in cars reached their destinations with stories of crazy motorcyclists they had seen that day. That day being the day the other RMMRC riders and I made the trip home from Meeker/Craig.

As we headed up Tennessee Pass, toward Leadville, there were a lot of curves, but of the eight of us, seven were linked in on our Cardos. So you come up on some slow traffic and one or two guys are able to pass, but then there’s a blind curve . . . and these crazy bikers kept passing! We had eyes around the bend.

“Keep coming; all clear.” That’s all you need to know until you hear “Traffic coming!” Then you wait while a car or two goes by the other direction and then there’s the “All clear.”

If you don’t understand what is happening you’re certain these guys are nuts.

So let’s get back to the start. Gene and I were the last to arrive at the launch point the day before so we did not have time to get our Cardos linked to the group, but we ended up linked to each other. Just a residual effect from a previous trip, I presume. Come the second morning, however, we all had time and we got everyone linked in one group. This was a first for this group, to have so many on at once.

And it was kind of fun. I like the solitude of being just me in my head while riding as much as anyone but this is a bunch of guys I know well and we could just chat. It was nice. Plus it makes it a lot easier if you need a pit stop.

I’m still not especially familiar with the operation of this thing. The first day I could talk to Gene but I was also getting music and a lot of static. We stopped in Granby for a break and gas and then the music was really coming in loud and clear. What the hey? I started fiddling around with my unit and finally figured out the music Gene was playing was not slopping over to me, this was my own music, some radio station. And all the static I had been hearing was from the radio being set on a frequency where there was no signal. Pretty basic, but if you haven’t read the instruction manual . . .

Then on the second day, leaving Craig, I could only hear the other guys faintly and they couldn’t hear me at all. So I started fiddling with things again, which is pretty hit and miss when you’re riding. But I hit on the right combination and suddenly I was part of the conversation. Nice.

We got down to Wolcott, made the run on I-70 to Meeker, and started up Tennessee Pass. And you already know what happened on that stretch.

It was good, too because we could point things out to each other, such as side roads. As we came past State Bridge I pointed out the Trough Road, which is very good gravel and goes up to Kremmling. Things like that.

I have wondered if I would find the chatter intrusive, because I do like spending time just in my head while riding. But I think I’m going to be just fine with these communicators.

Biker Quote for Today

Some people will tell you that slow is good–but I’m here to tell you that fast is better. I’ve always believed this, in spite of the trouble it’s caused me.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, motorcycle clubs, Motorcycle Gear, motorcycle touring, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club | No Comments »

Where Were We? Oh Yeah, Meeker

Thursday, July 10th, 2025


The Twenty-Mile Road. If you’ve never ridden it you should.

Before all this mess with the crash came up I was in the middle of telling about our overnight ride to Meeker. Let’s rejoin this story.

As you may recall, four guys only went as far as Craig while the other four of us went on to Meeker. Bob, who stayed in Craig, had said the run to Meeker was uninteresting and not worth it. As I said in the previous post, he is wrong. I knew from doing it in 2023 with Nick that the road from Meeker to Craig, especially in the early morning, is enchanting.

This year was no disappointment. Bob is just wrong. We got to Craig then, I got gas, and the other guys were about ready to roll. We headed east on US 40 to Hayden and then took the Twenty-Mile Road from right by the power station down to Oak Creek. What a beautiful ride, and still so green at this point. Some of the guys had never been on it and they were blown away.

Riding CO 131 we cruised south through Toponas and State Bridge to the interstate is Wolcott. We made a short hop on I-70 to Edwards for gas and then another short hop to the Minturn exit. From there we headed up Tennessee Pass to Leadville. Lunch in Leadville.

As we were parking it looked like rain, and indeed it did rain while we were in the restaurant. Just a very light dripping when we came out but we all suited up. The sky still looked threatening. On south to Buena Vista we avoided rain, then turned east on US 285.

We stopped again in Fairplay for gas for some, and after that it became pretty much every man for himself, the rush to the stable. We didn’t hit rain but did have wet pavement, with splashing. Then at Bailey we turned up Crow Hill and it had all been roto-milled, with only a little pavement. Kind of nasty. Then pavement again but now some rain.

I was constantly wiping my visor but after awhile I could not get it clear and I thought I was getting mud kicked up onto it. Then I realized it was fogging on the inside so I cracked it and the fog was gone. But now I was getting spray up under the visor. I alternated opening and closing it.

We were all separated at this point and I was only with Alan and Gene as we came into Conifer and it was raining harder. I bailed there and sat at the King Soopers until it cleared, then headed on again. Just a very short time later I came to dry pavement, suggesting we had been at the front of the storm and if I had kept going I would have been out of it in just another mile or two. No matter, I enjoyed the break and then rode all the way home—after that couple miles—on dry pavement with no rain.

Rush hour traffic was really bad so getting across Hampden took a long time. Then I was home. The next day the RMMRC had its monthly meeting and those of us who had been on the ride who attended agreed all around that it was an exceptionally good trip. We need more of those.

Biker Quote for Today

Melancholy is incompatible with motorcycling.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, motorcycle clubs, motorcycle touring, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club | 1 Comment »

Hot Dog! Ride Coming Up

Thursday, June 19th, 2025

I believe Loveland Pass is on the return route.

Following the let-down of my recent aborted California trip with the RMMRC I’m definitely pleased that we have another ride coming right up. Nothing like the California trip but hey, you take what you can get.

This is just going to be a two-day trip, up to either Craig or Meeker and back the next day. Craig or Meeker is dependent on where you want to go. Some guys will stay in Craig while others go on to Meeker. Then in the morning the Meeker contingent will return to Craig and we’ll ride home together.

Why the split? In one case it’s a matter of someone who is recovery from surgery not being sure what he can endure, and the shorter ride to Craig is preferable. Others just don’t see any point of going to Meeker and backtracking.

But for those of us going to Meeker–and I am–it’s because Craig is really nothing special and Meeker is a cool little town. Plus we’ll be staying at the Meeker Hotel, which is a very cool and newly remodeled old hotel on the town plaza. Plus, if you’re dollar-conscious, the Meeker Hotel is cheap–$80 a night.

Wherever each person stays, the real thing is going to be the route coming and going. You can get to Meeker quickly by taking I-70 to Rifle and turning north, but who wants to ride the slab? So we’ll leave Parker in the morning and take some smaller roads up to Empire–with a few miles of unavoidable I-70–and then take some meandering routes home. It’ll be fun. Now we can just hope this heat wave is done by then but at least if not we’ll be up in the high country where it’s cooler.

And we’ll be on motorcycles. What else really matters?

Biker Quote for Today

I’ll linger here as long as I can . . . but there’s a curve approaching, so I let off the gas, take a deep breath and let out a sign of relief. I think I found what I was looking for. It’s time to head back home.

Tags:,
Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Motorcycle Accommodations, motorcycle touring, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club | No Comments »

Getting Sick Of The Guys

Thursday, June 5th, 2025

When you have a group of bikers out on a road trip you end up with some group shots.

Do you ever just really want to get away from the guys you’re hanging out with? Like your riding buddies? Like you’ve been on a trip and while you love the trip you’re really looking forward to getting home so you won’t have to be with these guys for awhile?

I keep a journal and I’ve been reading back through it and there have been a number of times when I have remarked that I was really sick of being with the guys. Now, these are my best and closest friends–excluding my very closest friend, my wife–here in town. (I do have really close friends in other towns.) These are the guys I go camping with, play poker with, meet out for coffee. And after a week on the road with them I’m really sick of them.

Here are some remarks from my journal, circa 1992:

So I got really tired of being with XXXX but it wasn’t like last year when I came home with an active dislike for him. Our relationship really is shallow, to the point where we ran out of things to talk about and sat around bars at night not saying a word. This was a good trip but clearly I would rather have been on one bike with a lady friend.

Wow. Yeah, I guess just because you hang out with someone for a lot of years that doesn’t necessarily mean you are close to them. Doesn’t mean they’re not your friends. They are.

My good friend Jungle told me emphatically a few years ago that I need to get some new friends. But that’s the thing. When it’s these guys who you discovered the wonderfulness of motorcycles with, and they like to ride, you kind of go with the guys who like to ride.

Anyway, I know just from memory–I haven’t gotten that far reading my journal–that on most OFMC trips by the time I got home I was really glad to get away from the others. I always presumed they were equally glad to get away from me. It’s a test of any relationship to be together that much. In the early days we always, the three of us, shared one motel room. We were together all day, and all night.

So it was the desire to find some new riding buddies, people interested in riding more often, that led me to join the RMMRC. I do feel like I’m making friends in this group and like I’m a core member of the group. It’s good to have riding buddies. And maybe in 20 years I won’t personally be any closer to any of these new friends than to my old ones, but I will have been on a whole bunch of really good rides. With people I enjoy being with.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s a dangerous game we’re playing here. Walking the tightrope between nirvana and disaster, with no margin for error. But that’s when things really start to get interesting.

Tags:,
Posted in motorcycle clubs, motorcycle touring, OFMC, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »