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.

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.

It’s pretty dang hard to beat motorcycle riding in Colorado.

Over the years I have received numerous requests from folks coming to Colorado to ride, asking me for recommendations on a route. I’m always happy to oblige and each one is different, with different parameters of what they want, how long they have . . . that kind of stuff.

The most recent is from Kevin in Indiana. He said he and a buddy have ridden many of the unpaved passes throughout the state by now they want to come on street bikes with their wives and do the pavement. Rather than the hub and spoke riding they have done out of Frisco and Crested Butte, Kevin asked for “an epic continuous trip” for his buddy’s 60th birthday.

Here’s what I sent him.

OK Kevin, I have something mapped out. A couple days are a bit over 250 but under 300. Obviously you can make any changes you see fit.

Figuring on you starting in Denver you can go north to Loveland, up the Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park, over Trail Ridge Road to Granby and then take US 40 on to Kremmling for the night. This is shorter than 250 but with Trail Ridge Road you’ll definitely want to be making stops. You will need to make a reservation to get into Rocky Mountain National Park. The less busy entrance is the Fall River Road entrance. Park entrance differs if you want to see the park or just go through. I believe they allow people passing through in without reservations both early and late. You’ll see plenty of the park just going through. If you don’t make a reservation you might want to spend the night in Estes so you’ll be right there to go through early. That’s what my wife and I did last year.

(As an alternative to Loveland and the Big Thompson you could go up any number of passes to the Peak-to-Peak Highway and take it north to Estes.)

From Kremmling take US 40 west a bit further and turn onto CO 134 over Gore Pass. At Toponas go south to Wolcott and I-70, then east to the Minturn exit and take Tennessee Pass to Leadville, then a bit further south to Twin Lakes and go over Independence Pass through Aspen and down to Carbondale. From Carbondale take CO 133 over McClure Pass down to Hotchkiss for the night.

From Hotchkiss go west on CO 133 to CO 65 through Cedaredge and over the Grand Mesa. When the road forks north of Mesa stay on 65 (left fork) on to I-70. Take I-70 to Fruita then take the road south through Colorado National Monument, on Rim Rock Drive. Exiting the south end of the monument find your way to US 50 south and go maybe 8 miles to Whitewater. Take CO 141 west toward Gateway, then south to Telluride. This is the Unaweep Tabeguache Scenic Byway. Spend the night in Telluride.

From Telluride go over Lizard Head Pass down to Cortez, US 160 east to Durango, then US 550 north over Red Mountain Pass (the Million Dollar Highway) to Montrose, then east on US 50 to Gunnison. Overnight in Gunnison.

From Gunnison, run back a few miles to the Blue Mesa Reservoir and turn south on CO 149 through Lake City over Slumgullion Pass, through Creede and down to South Fork. Take US 160 west over Wolf Creek Pass to Pagosa Springs, then turn south on US 84 down into New Mexico to Chama. Go northeast from Chama over Cumbres and La Manga Passes on CO 17 up to Antonito, then US 285 north to Alamosa. Spend the night in Alamosa.

From Alamosa you have several options to get back to Denver. You can just take CO 17 north to pick up US 285 and follow that all the way to Denver. Or you can take US 160 east over La Veta Pass to Walsenburg, then go right back west and north out of Walsenburg on CO 69 to Westcliffe, then east on CO 96 on to Pueblo or up to Florence, to Penrose, and on to Colorado Springs.Or make your way to Canon City and then, because you guys are comfortable on gravel, take Phantom Canyon Road (CR 67) up to Cripple Creek, CR 61 up to Divide, pick up US 24, and take that to Woodland Park. At Woodland Park you can either continue on US 24 to Colorado Springs or go north on CO 67 through Deckers to Pine to US 285 southwest of Conifer. Then take 285 on into Denver.

This would be a heck of a good ride. Pick and choose what you like.

Besides being a nice guy and mapping this out for Kevin and his crew, I’ve done myself a favor here. First off, I got this blog post out of it. At this time of year it is harder than during the summer to keep coming up with blog ideas. But I may make it a triple. I figure this might well be a good basis for planning the 2025 OFMC trip. The 2024 trip is already planned but I might incorporate a lot of this for 2025. Also, I’ve been thinking for a long time about putting a ride together for the RMMRC. This might also go a long way toward that plan. We’ll just have to see what develops.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if your only scoot has been a Knucklehead & you don’t even know what that is.

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

I love this old bike but I’m really glad it’s not my only motorcycle.

I have three motorcycles and I was just reflecting on the numerous times that as worked to my benefit. Sure, I have to spend a bunch more money on maintenance and insurance–not to mention purchase–but it’s worth it in my opinion.

Right now offers a perfect example. After getting my 1999 Kawasaki Concours back from the shop following my misadventure getting home from the latest OFMC trip I now had a throttle issue. I took it back to the shop to have that addressed and it has now been 50 days since I dropped it off and I am still waiting to get it back. If I only had one bike that would have been 50 days of no riding. Not acceptable.

There have also been several instances when I was leaving on a trip, planning on riding a particular bike, and had issues with that bike at the point when I was leaving. One time the bike just wasn’t running right and I made a detour to the shop, where they worked on it a bit but couldn’t guarantee for me the issue would not reappear. Another time I was checking the air in the tires and discovered that one valve stem was totally rotted out, so badly I couldn’t understand why the tire wasn’t flat already.

In both cases I just pulled all my things off the one bike and loaded it all on another and off I went.

On at least another couple occasions I wanted to take one bike but checking the tread on the tires there clearly wasn’t enough rubber to go a couple thousand miles. At the same time, there was plenty of rubber to go another 1,000 miles or so and I didn’t want to junk that tire prematurely. Not with motorcycle tires generally getting only 10,000 miles or less as it is. And paying to have the old tire replaced and then put back on later would be absurd. No problem–take a different bike.

Early on in the rides of the OFMC, back when I only had one bike, I had an issue and did not have this option. I needed some work done on my CB750 and took it to a shop well in advance of departure date, telling them I absolutely had to have it by a certain date, but expecting to get it back well in advance of that date. They said oh yeah, we’ll have it done well before then. They didn’t. They didn’t have it done until three days after Bill and John had already left. I ended up riding really hard for two days solid to meet up with them a long way from here. How nice a second bike would have been at that point.

Having more than one bike has also worked to the advantage of other people a couple times, too. Once the OFMC was heading out and Johnathon had problems with his bike. I loaned him my CB750; he got to go on the trip. Another time a member of the RMMRC who has moved away from Denver was back in town. The RMMRC was going on a ride. I offered to let him ride my V-Strom. He did. You’re welcome.

So yeah, I like have three motorcycles. I strongly recommend it. You have room for another, don’t you?

Biker Quote for Today

A motorcycle ride melts away the frustration of life in less than a mile.

The fact is, the OFMC has been pretty much everywhere in Colorado. Here we are at the Black Canyon.

I’m the official trip planner for the OFMC these days and yes, despite Bill’s expressed doubts last time about continuing to do this annual ride, there will be a 2024 OFMC ride. Now I just have to figure out where to.

Bill’s complaint was that the daily mileage was too much—he just doesn’t enjoy pounding out the miles any more. So the idea will be to stay mostly in Colorado, take it easy, and maybe actually visit some of these tourist destinations we have ridden past so many times but never stopped at. But what?

Let’s make a list of tourist attractions.

Hot springs. Yeah, OK, there are plenty of hot springs in Colorado. We could spend a couple days in Glenwood Springs or Pagosa Springs or even Hot Sulphur Springs. Or any of a number of others. But what? We roll into town, check in at our motel, and go to the hot springs for a few hours. We’re not really going to spend another day there are we, particularly in the really small towns like Hot Sulphur Springs. No one has ever expressed any serious interest in hitting hot springs before and I’m pretty sure we don’t want to get to town, not go to the springs that day, go the next day and spend another night there. Nope, the hot springs has just got to be a place we visit the day we arrive.

I suppose we could string together four or five places, all with hot springs, and make that the theme of this trip. Again, are any of us really all that into hot springs? I’m not.

One thing these guys are into is golf. We always do a golf stop on these trips. Maybe this should be a multi-golf-day trip. Play three different courses across the state. That actually could work for them, but ever since I injured my shoulder a few years ago I can no longer play because the pain is extreme. I’m fine with riding along and being ball spotter one day but three? Not so sure. I suppose depending on where we are I could go ride while they spank whitey.

There are steam locomotive trains. I can think of Georgetown, Durango, Chama, Leadville, the Royal Gorge, and a few more. That could work, although I know from experience that these things can also be deadly boring. That makes the route from Durango up to Silverton good because as I understand you can ride the train up and take a bus back—much quicker.

How about white water rafting? I hadn’t thought of that. Worth looking into.

Then beyond the categories are the one-off attractions. Places like Red Rocks, Garden of the Gods, Mount Blue Sky (nee Evans), Pikes Peak, the national parks, the Argo Mill in Idaho Springs, Skyline Drive, . . . the list goes on. Big problem: we’ve all been to nearly every one of those, many of them more than once. Plus, with places like Red Rocks, Idaho Springs, Garden of the Gods, you know, hey, we live in Denver. We can go to any of those places any day we want.

One place we haven’t been (as a group) is Mesa Verde. OK, that’s a two-day thing what with arriving and spending the next day seeing the place. That leaves six more days. We’ve also never stopped at Chimney Rock National Monument, primarily because it has only been designated such and open for visitors for a year or two. That would be just a stop of an hour or two on the way to Ignacio, I would assume.

Ignacio. Cortez. Cripple Creek. Black Hawk. Gambling. We could do a gambling ride. We all enjoy that and at least one night at a casino town is a mandatory part of our trips. Should we do more than one? These things can and sometimes do get expensive the longer you are there. Food for thought.

Well yeah, my way of thinking out loud is actually starting to give me some ideas. Maybe I’ll get something figured out soon.

Biker Quote for Today

Buying a bike costs money but time doesn’t.

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.