Passes & Canyons Blog

Are you a camper? Is sleeping on the ground in a tent something you like to do? I know that for a lot of people the answer is no. Heck, even for the guys I’ve gone camping with for 30 years the answer lately is no.

That’s really too bad because motorcycle camping is a great, and incredibly inexpensive way to do some terrific traveling. It also allows you to be more flexible in your trip. With hotels and motels you usually need to have a reservation, which locks you in.

In the earlier days of the OFMC we didn’t plan. Before we left we picked a direction to head and we took off. Then we would just go until we decided to stop. Or we’d go in this direction until we decided to go in that direction. Two things made this possible: there were only three of us and we all carried tents, sleeping bags, and foam pads or air mattresses. On more than one occasion that gear was a life saver when we rolled into some town late at night and found no room at the inn. There’s always some place to set up your tent.

And it’s not like you need a lot of gear. We never carried things like stoves or cooking implements. We would just eat in town before riding on to the camping site we chose, or, if close enough, we would set up camp and ride back in for dinner. Then in the morning we’d get up in a pretty quick manner, load up, and head into town for that cup of coffee we all had foremost in our minds.

Some people do carry more than we did. I know some folks on the big rigs have room for cooking gear. And then there are people like Rider magazine’s Clement Salvadori who likes to travel alone and pull off somewhere in the wild and drink wine with his campfire dinner. Clem really knows how to do motorcycle camping.

If you’re even remotely interested in camping on your bike you really ought to give it a whirl. I’ve made a point on the website to help anyone so inclined to find good motorcycle-accessible campgrounds. There are a lot of campgrounds in Colorado that are not motorcycle-accessible and they’re not included. If I’ve included it you can be assured that a campground is accessible on two wheels. There’s no better way to really experience Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

The best alarm clock is sunshine on chrome.

We spent a long time going not very far on the second day of the OFMC’s yearly trip this year. As any experienced rider knows, that often implies an especially good ride. It was.

Here’s a map of the route. I’ll have to describe some of it to you since the map doesn’t give enough detail.

We started the trip by getting together in Cripple Creek. Most people reach Cripple Creek by coming down from the north, from U.S. 24 at Divide. Many don’t know there is a back way. We left Cripple Creek via the back way.

To find this road, you take the main drag all the way through town and then hook a right, followed by a quick left. You’re on your way. This is Teller County Road 1. It’s a nice, twisty two-lane that passes through some very pretty country. Go about 7 miles and then turn left on Teller County Road 11. More nice back road. You eventually reach Colorado 9 just a few miles north of where it intersects U.S. 50, a little west of Canon City.

So that’s one back road worthy of a ride. An alternative would be to turn off Teller 11 onto Teller County Road 112, which comes out to Colorado 9 at Guffey. That’s also a nice ride.

We headed on south to U.S. 50 and then turned west. In a short distance we reached Fremont County Road 3, which is the back route up to the Royal Gorge. This very old, very narrow, very twisty little strip of asphalt winds its way up and around to the bridge. You do have to pay to cross the bridge, and if you don’t you have to go back the way you came, but if you’ve never been to the Royal Gorge you really ought to spend the money to do it once. It’s worth it. Plus, we asked for a motorcycle discount and got it. And the road is great.

Once we crossed the bridge we rode back on out the main road and rejoined U.S. 50, and this time we turned east, to Canon City. As you near Canon City you want to keep an eye out for the road over Skyline Drive. This one-lane, one-way, 15-foot wide strip of pavement runs up and along the hogback that overlooks the city. This is a great ride. It’s only 1 mile but it’s a truly spectacular mile.

From Canon City we headed southeast to Florence and then turned south on Colorado 67. This becomes Colorado 96 and turns southwest and then intersects Colorado 165. We made the left turn onto 165 and rode down the 10 miles or so to Bishop Castle. I won’t spend time describing the castle here, just check out the link.

After climbing around in the castle we retraced our route to Colorado 96, headed on west, and reached Colorado 69 at Westcliffe. There we turned north and rejoined U.S. 50 one more time at Cotopaxi. U.S. 50 then carried us up the Arkansas River Valley to Salida, where we stopped for the night. We weren’t more than 50 miles from where we started but what a great day’s ride!

Biker Quote for Today

The twisties – not the superslabs – separate the riders from the squids.

I just did a four-part series on Examiner.com about what it’s like in Sturgis and the surrounding area during Bike Week. Rather than just copy all that stuff here I’m going to give you a synopsis and links so you can go there and read it if you’re interested.

Part 1: The decision to go, getting there, swarms of bikes flood the highways, settling in at home base in Rapid City, partying in Rapid.

Part 2: The Black Hills are the reason bikers love the area, Iron Mountain Road, pig-tail bridges, bikers everywhere.

Part 3: Into the epicenter, the Sturgis scene, hitting the Full Throttle.

Part 4: The campgrounds, big-name entertainment, thoughts on a return trip.

I don’t claim to be an authoritative voice on the Sturgis experience; this is just one person’s description of one visit. But at least it should begin to answer the question, “What’s it really like?”. Feel free to offer your own experiences in a comment. I’d love to hear from you.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker wannabe if you put your pony-tail back in the drawer after you get home.

Man, have I got a lot of work ahead of me. If you have gone through the Passes and Canyons, Motorcycle Touring in Colorado website thoroughly you know that even three years in it is still weak in information on some roads. The simple fact is that although I’ve been all over this state numerous times, there were some places I had not been back to since I started the website. Therefore, although I could show a map and talk a little about the route, I did not have the photos and other information I routinely collect and post.

Well, that’s about to change. The OFMC trip last week could not have been better tailored to meet my needs if I had planned the route myself with that in mind–which I did not do. I had made a list some time ago of 27 places I needed to get to. On this trip I hit 15 of those spots. It’s going to take time to work through it all but in the next few weeks you can expect to see improvements on a lot of pages, including:

• Colorado 92 from Hotchkiss to the Blue Mesa Reservoir
• Colorado 65 across Grand Mesa
• McClure Pass
• Monarch Pass
• Red Mountain Pass
• Slumgullion and Spring Creek Passes
• Wolf Creek Pass

And more. Here’s a map showing our route. What a great ride we had.

Biker Quote for Today

The ride IS the destination.

The OFMC went on our summer trip last week and it was a great week of riding. We stayed primarily in Colorado and many people (not me) were surprised that we could see so much of interest and make so many nice rides without going far. I knew this. That’s what this website is all about. I know that people come from all over the world to ride in Colorado. So we live and learn.

Anyway, this isn’t about our trip except for a couple things that happened along the way.

One of our guys, Jason, was riding his very new Harley-Davidson Road King. It’s less than two months old. So guess whose bike was the only one that had problems. We were close to Durango when Jason decided he needed to visit a dealer so he checked and found that Durango Harley-Davidson opened at 9 a.m. He planned to be there at 9 a.m. so they could work on it right away and he could get back on the road.

Well, it turned out that they opened at 8 a.m., and when Jason got there at 9 a.m. he was told they couldn’t get to his bike until about 1 p.m. because six other traveling Harley riders had gotten there before him and they also needed priority service in order to get back on the road.

Now, in our group this year we had five Hondas and three Harleys, and as I said, Jason’s Harley was the only one to have problems. And six other traveling Harley riders also had problems that day? I’m sorry but we couldn’t help but conclude that does not reflect very favorably on the Milwaukee folks.

And then there was Dennis’s issue. Dennis has owned a lot of bikes in his day, including Harleys, but recently he has been riding Hondas. Part of the reason for that has to do with Harley salesmen. It would appear that with their product in such high demand, many of them have never had to learn to actually sell. They do a great job of handing you the papers to sign when you’ve made up your own mind, and they’re happy to sell you the extras, but working to close a deal is apparently a different matter.

Let’s back up a few years. Dennis was riding a Big Dog but decided to replace it with a Harley. He went to a dealership knowing they wouldn’t take the Big Dog as a trade-in but figuring he could arrange some consignment deal. The salesman was brief: “Get rid of your clone and come back and I’ll sell you a real motorcycle.”

More than a little annoyed, Dennis headed straight for a Honda shop and bought a Honda.

Dennis was equally put out in Durango. He and several others went with Jason to the dealership and, as he puts it, the four of them were a captive audience for half a day. Bill, Brett, and Jason all ended up spending money there but the thing that really caught Dennis’s eye was one particular bike. A salesman noticed this and approached him. Dennis explained that he rode in on a Gold Wing and would need to get the right amount out of it in order for a deal to work. And the salesman dropped the ball. All he could offer was that Dennis could buy this Harley now and fly back to pick it up, and what he did with the Honda was his issue.

For hours afterward Dennis went over again and again how it could have been handled. “All he had to do was say ‘toss me your key and I’ll go over to the local Honda dealer and see what they think you can get on consignment.’ Or he could have just picked up the phone and called the Honda dealer and asked what they thought they could get for the bike. But he didn’t do a thing! I’m not going to buy it and fly back here to pick it up!”

Dennis had been extremely close to spending quite a few thousands of dollars but once again the Harley salesman blew it. So what if your dealership doesn’t take trade-ins. If you want to make a sale, and the sale is contingent on unloading the current bike, doesn’t it make sense for you to go an extra mile to try to grease those wheels?

Biker Quote for Today

When you look down the road, it seems to never end – but you better believe it does.

Ride Your Motorcycle to Work Day has arrived again and once again I’m not riding my bike to work. That’s not to say I’m not riding, I am. However, since I don’t have a job at the moment I would not have one to ride to. Last year I had a job but I worked at home two days a week and one of those was Wednesday, the day this event is always held. The year before that I was also out of work. And I think the year before that I had a job but I was on vacation, off on the OFMC summer trip. Some day I will ride my bike to work on this day, but who knows when that will be.

Nevertheless, as I said, that doesn’t mean I’m not riding. In fact, once again it is the week of the OFMC trip and on this particular day you’ll find me scooting around Taos. Yesterday we cruised on down from South Fork, the little town on the east side of Wolf Creek Pass, and tomorrow we head off for Ignacio. There are eight in the group this year. After I get home I’ll tell you more about the trip and include some pictures.

Meanwhile, I hope you ride (or rode, depending on the time of day you read this) to work today. Let’s amaze people with how numerous we are.

Biker Quote for Today

Work to ride and ride to work.

Hot ziggety, it’s almost time for our summer trip!

It looks like eight members of the Old Farts Motorcycle Club (OFMC) will be making the ride this year. I, myself, was uncertain for the longest time. I’ve been out of work and feared I’d be offered a job and then not be able to immediately turn around and take a week off. Long story short, I worked it out.

It’s a good thing because this is the year we’re doing the trip I’ve been pushing for for several years. We’re mostly staying in Colorado, with a couple days in New Mexico. Lots of times we’ve taken these long rides, across numerous states. I love those trips but I have also wanted to spend some time just riding, not traveling. That is, check into a motel and stay there for a couple days doing day rides. Then move on and do it again. And let’s really do Colorado.

Well, with eight guys no one gets everything they want, but I got a lot of what I wanted. Most of us will head out on Friday and gather in Cripple Creek. On Saturday we’ll mosey along to Salida, stopping to see Bishop Castle along the way. Most of these guys have never seen Bishop Castle so this will be a real treat for them.

On Sunday we’ll continue west and cross Independence Pass, with Snowmass the destination. The next day we’ll cross McClure Pass and we’ll take CO 92 to the Blue Mesa Reservoir. Then we’ll head to Lake City and Slumgullion Pass, finally ending the day’s ride at South Fork.

The following day it will be on over Wolf Creek Pass and down to Taos, NM. We’ll spend two days in Taos and play some golf.

Next it’s back to Colorado, to Ignacio and from there to Montrose, where John lives these days. We’ll spend a couple days there, either playing golf or doing day rides. And then home.

Of course, one of the good things about these rides is that they will enable me to finally get some photos of some of these passes. There are a number of these roads I have not been on since I started this website, and thus have not gotten any photos of them yet. That’s about to change, and you’ll see the results on the various pages for these passes.

So hot dang! Got some bikin’ to do soon!

Biker Quote for Today

Riding faster than everyone else only guarantees you’ll ride alone.

All right, now this is great!

I’ve talked before about the group of guys I ride with and how we call ourselves, with tongue in cheek, the Old Farts Motorcycle Club. That’s tongue in cheek because, for one thing, several of these guys are pretty dang young.

Well anyway, John did a design a couple years ago of a logo for the group, forming a motorcycle from the letters OFMC. A very ingenious design. Zoom ahead a couple years, and now as we’re getting ready for this summer’s trip John has had the design turned into a sew-on patch and it looks great. Here, see for yourself:

I can’t wait to get my hands on these. He had enough made so we each get six, and I have three spots picked out already. One will go on my leather jacket, and one will go on a baseball-type cap. The third will go on a denim shirt that already has a patch on it that I want to cover up. It’s a really nice shirt but the patch is for a company where I used to work that I would describe as a bunch of jerks who know nothing about treating people with decency and respect. I haven’t been able to cut it off so I’m just going to cover it up. Then I can start wearing the shirt!

So, oh boy! The bike trip’s coming soon!

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes the best communication happens when you’re on separate bikes.