Passes & Canyons Blog

After three nights in Espanola the OFMC, now augmented with Bruce, was ready to head out. Once again we weren’t going all that far so I had worked out a more roundabout route that was intended to keep us out of the metro mess of Albuquerque as we headed to Socorro. Going directly down I-25 that would have been only 160 miles. By the time we got there we had ridden about 280 miles.

First off there was no avoiding taking US 285 to Santa Fe and then we at least could avoid that busy town using the NM599 bypass. That brought us to I-25 and here’s where I missed a bet. We could have done a short jog over to NM14 and gone down through towns like Madrid, which is well known as the site of the “Wild Hogs” movie and is a nice route. But no, I had us routed down I-25 to Bernalillo and then east on NM165 so as to run to the east of the Sandia Mountains. Albuquerque is on the west of the hills.

The idea was to take NM165 to the road up to Sandia Crest, a view spot where all of Albuquerque and beyond are laid out below you. The problem was that NM165 is “unpaved and not maintained” from a few miles east of I-25 all the way up to where it meets the Sandia Crest road. We got to where the pavement ended and had to turn back.

That meant we needed to ride down I-25 through Albuquerque and then turn east on I-40 to where we could approach Sandia Crest from the south–a big detour. So we did that and it was exactly the kind of thing you try to avoid but it got us there. We got off I-40 at Tijeras, NM14, and turned north. We then turned west onto NM536 to get up to the crest. Of course, this NM14 is the same one that comes down through Madrid so if I had looked at the map a little harder this could have been our route all along. But oh man, if only NM165 was paved I’m sure we would have loved it. If only I’d known it wasn’t paved.

Sandia Crest is a place you really ought to go. The road is terrific, very twisty and full of great views and then there’s the crest. The signs say the city is a mile below you and yes it is spectacular.

We headed back down and retraced our route to Tijeras and then crossed I-40 to continue south along the eastern side of that next row of hills that run south of the Sandias. This is NM337 and it curves its way up some hills, down through some canyons, and is just generally a very good road to ride. Highly recommended.

NM337 runs a long way down until it hits a T intersection with NM55. We turned west and followed NM55 all the way down to Mountainair, through which US 60 passes. Along the way we felt it wise to stop in Tajique at Ray’s One Stop gas and convenience store for gas. I had intended for us to fill up in Tijeras but there was no gas there. So, as Bill noted, we paid probably the highest price for gas in all of New Mexico at Ray’s just to play it safe.

We made it down to Mountainair and turned west on US 60. This was a pretty nice road for a ways but eventually became an arrow-straight run toward I-25. As we headed that way we could see the sky getting threatening. We needed to reach I-25 and take it just a few miles south to Socorro, but as we got nearer it looked for all the world like Socorro was at that moment getting clobbered in a downpour.

Up ahead it didn’t look a lot better. My thinking at that time was to get to the interstate and take shelter in a gas station. Bruce had other ideas. He looked at that wall of water ahead and pulled off to suit up. Dennis did the same. Bill and I rode on until the drops started falling. We were not going to make it to the highway. Dennis and Bruce caught up with us as we suited up and by the time we were rolling the sky had opened up. We rode through a deluge and when we reached I-25 there was no gas station, no buildings at all. So we pulled over in the underpass beneath the highway.

After a while the guys were thinking that it was time to ride. I thought they were a bit premature but didn’t say anything and we took off. They were right. The rain was barely coming down and soon stopped entirely. Then it was just a few miles to Socorro and we found our motel for the night. A long day but a good day.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you don’t ride in the rain.

The OFMC has discovered that it is nice spend more than one night in a place. First we started staying two nights and playing golf the non-travel day. Then we found it was nice to spend three nights and play golf one day and do a day ride the other. This is what we continue to do.

So we got to Espanola and settled in for three nights. Our first full day there was the golf day. You might not guess it but they have an extremely nice municipal course there. We had a good day.

The next day was time for a day ride. I had a thought in mind but wondered about a connection I only hoped might exist.

The idea was first to go north on the High Road to Taos, which we had planned to ride but took a wrong turn two days earlier. No getting on the wrong road this time. So up the High Road to the south end of Taos, then east on US 64 over to Angel Fire, then south on NM434 all the way down to the little town of Mora. My question: might there be a road connecting Mora back to Espanola so that we would not need to go all the way down to Las Vegas and then take I-25 around to Santa Fe before completing the loop back to Espanola?

Yes there is. Nice!

The road you hit at Mora is NM518 and if you go west out of Mora it brings you back to the High Road at Penasco. That leaves you backtracking on the High Road from Penasco back to Espanola but that’s fine. So our route was set.

We headed up the High Road (NM76) and just before we got to Truchas I spotted something I had been thinking about: a cemetery with a motorcycle-themed grave marker. I had seen this marker as we rode past years ago and really wanted to stop and shoot some pictures but I was with the group and it’s just not easy to decide to halt the entire group so you can shoot a picture. So with deep regrets I rode on past. This time I was determined to stop, and we did. That’s that picture up above.

We continued on our route, to Taos, then over to Angel Fire, and I pulled into a tourist information center so we could have a pit stop. When we were leaving I needed to either roll back or I could pull forward and do a U-turn. I’m a pretty competent rider so I figured I’d just do the U-turn. Bad choice.

It was a tight turn and I dropped the bike. Dang, I hate when I do that!! I suffered some inconsequential bruises, and two weeks later I still have a knot below my right knee where I believe my leg hit the end of the handle bar on my way over, but basically I was OK. Can’t say the same for the bike. The left mirror was busted so it just hung limply to the side, as you can see below.

So we headed on south out of Angel Fire. The last time we had ridden down NM434 it was this tiny little road, not even two full lanes wide in many spots. Back then they were doing some “improvements” but it was a really sweet little road that I wished could just stay as is. Nope. Now they are engaged in fully expanding it into a full-blown two-lane highway, complete with shoulders. This means carving big chunks out of the hillside and things like that. So sad.

It also means we got stopped for nearly half an hour by construction. During that time we were joined by a young guy on an Aprilia who was on a lengthy tour alone. To say his bike was in rough shape would be putting it mildly. But he was out there loving it and we all wished him a great trip. Then another guy on a Gold Wing came up. When they let us go the two of them took off ahead of us and within seconds they were out of sight and we never saw them again.

We got to Mora and it was time for lunch. We sat on the patio at this place and also on the patio were two people who obviously belonged to the two bikes we had seen in the parking lot. They were an older couple and the really odd thing was that the guy ate his entire meal without taking off his helmet. And this was not a half helmet. Bizarre.

We watched them as they left and the guy loaded their two little dogs into a carrier that he strapped onto his passenger seat and the woman got on her bike, putting on a helmet but otherwise in shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers. Away they went. To each his own.

We headed west on NM518 and were just getting out of town when we saw a blockade up ahead. The New Mexico State Patrol was conducting a stop-all drunken driver check. The lady trooper asked me nicely if I’d been drinking, I said no, and she smiled and said “Have a nice day.” I had been stopped at a similar blockade in New Mexico years ago and it had been really creepy with a bunch of dudes skulking all around my car, peering in the windows to see if they could see anything to harass me about. Maybe this kind of stop is just something New Mexico does.

On we went and this was a very nice road, except that it clearly had been the scene of a forest fire not long ago. But it was a really nice road and a road we had never been on before so that made it really cool.

Just a little ways before we got back to Penasco to rejoin the High Road and started backtracking I kicked my right leg up to rest it on my highway peg . . . and the peg fell away out of sight. What the heck?

I couldn’t stop right there but as soon as I found a space where three bikes could pull off I did. Miraculously, my highway peg was hanging suspended from the fairing and it hadn’t even lost the bolt or washer. Apparently the last time my mechanic had had to remove it to work on the bike he had not tightened it securely. Or maybe he has never removed it and it just worked loose after all these years. Either way, it truly was a miracle that I didn’t lose it or the bolt and washer. But putting it back on would be a hassle because that would entail removing the body work. Not something to be done on the spot.

We made it back to Espanola much later than originally expected and by that time the fourth and final member of our party had arrived. Bruce is someone I have met through the RMMRC and I had invited him along on this trip. The three of us had agreed long ago that four would be a better number than three so we were glad to have Bruce join us. Welcome to the group.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you feel like every car is out to get you.

On our second day of the OFMC trip we were looking at a short ride, just 96 miles south on US 285 from Alamosa to Espanola, New Mexico. That was just not going to happen.

So we headed east on US 160 to Fort Garland and then turned south on CO159. Besides being more scenic, it was a much less busy road and it led us down to even more good riding. I had suggested we go down to Questa, in New Mexico, on what became NM522 when we crossed the state line, and then go east around the mountain to Red River, Eagle Nest, Angel Fire, and west to pick up the High Road to Taos, which goes to Espanola. That was a bit more riding than Bill wanted so we nixed that but did continue on 522 to Taos, where we intended to catch the High Road.

But things got interesting before that happened. Looking at the map I saw that if we took a right turn onto US 64 where it intersects 522, and then very quickly take a left onto what I now see listed as Blueberry Hill Road, we could bypass Taos entirely. We’ve been to Taos plenty of times and we know the traffic it entails. Plus, there were signs warning of road construction in Taos, so all the more reason to bypass.

And Blueberry Hill Road was really nice. It follows the ridge line through a very pretty area and at the southern end ties into NM240, which continues on down to NM68. Sweet road. Terrific to completely avoid Taos.

At NM68 I was set to go left when Dennis pulled up next to me and told me his GPS said go right to get to Espanola. Because of some unexpected turns in the road I was not totally sure of our location so I figured to trust his GPS. It turned out this road did indeed go to Espanola but it was not the High Road.

What it was was a road we had never ridden before. So with Blueberry Hill Road this was two new roads for us in one day. And it was a nice road, too. It runs through a gorge on the Rio Grande much of the way and then the terrain opens out into a valley with a lot of wineries. And then it does get down to Espanola and is considerably shorter than the High Road.

We still got into Espanola way too early and had to wait about three hours before we could even check into our hotel. Imagine if we’d gone straight down US 285! But now we were set for the next three days because this was our customary gambling and golf stop that we always make on this trip.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if your leathers still have creases.

It was a very auspicious beginning to this year’s OFMC trip. The day before the temperature had hit 100, but this morning it was about 60 and I put on a couple extra layers, and was glad I did.

We planned to meet up in Conifer so I headed out of town on US 285. Over the foothills there were clouds that seemed to promise rain right off the bat. I was ready to stop at any moment to put on rain gear but the drops never fell. Then, as I came down the hill into Conifer it was suddenly sunshine and blue sky, with not a single cloud ahead of me in the west. Sweet!

Bill and Dennis were there and we quickly got rolling. On out 285, over Kenosha Pass and down to Fairplay. West of Fairplay they’re replacing a bridge, so a detour sends everyone south on CO9 to Hartsel, where we turned onto US 24 and then west to Antero Junction to rejoin 285.

Then it was 285 nearly all the way. Through Buena Vista, Poncha Springs (with a stop at Bill’s daughter Jenna’s), over Poncha Pass, and down to CO17, which goes straight to Alamosa whereas 285 gets there but only by detouring over to Saguache and Monte Vista.

All in all an easy-going day with great weather and no problems or surprises.

Really, it’s such a different feel on the first day out on a trip vs. taking a day ride. There’s an energy and an anticipation you just don’t have on a day ride. We’re off!! We’re out for a week! Yahoo! And if the heavens are smiling on you, so much the better.

Biker Quote for Today

“On a motorcycle, you can’t really think about more than where you are. There’s a freedom that comes with that – from stress, worry, sweating the small stuff.” ? Laurence Fishburne

I’ve discussed the camaraderie of riding motorcycles a number of times recently and then events prompt additional thoughts.

As I’ve said, I was struck on this recent RMMRC Great River Road ride by how little social interaction there was among the group once we got to out stop for the night. That surprised me and initially I thought it was just the contrast with the OFMC, where we spend all the time doing stuff together till it’s time to turn in.

But then the morning we took the ride up Coal Creek and then over Douglas Mountain Drive we got together beforehand for breakfast. And at breakfast it occurred to me that this is where there is always a lot of camaraderie–before the ride. Then, a week later when we did the ride up Golden Gate Canyon and then over Squaw Pass Roy called me to tell me several guys were meeting at his house to ride out to Golden. The plan was kickstands up at 9:45 but they were leaving Roy’s at 8:30. Why so early?

It dawned on me that getting there early and hanging out is . . . drumroll . . . camaraderie.

So there’s plenty of camaraderie in the RMMRC–at least on the day rides. Either before the ride or in the middle if we stop for lunch. But it’s a whole different dynamic on long runs, or at least on the one long run I’ve done with the group.

The key came to me at lunch on this day when talk turned to a long ride some of the guys are thinking about for August. They want to do a trip to Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge. There and all the way home in eight days. Eight days. Oh my gosh, that’s a lot of hard riding. And that’s the key.

If you get up early each morning so you can burn up hundreds and hundreds of miles, you get to your day’s destination, have dinner, and people are ready to go to bed. With the OFMC we don’t do these long days, we often reach our destination as early as 2 or 3 p.m. and we’re not exhausted. This gives us time and energy to swim in the motel pool, stroll around and find an ice cream shop, have a beer or two, then have dinner, and kick back with another beer.

Now, Judy and I are planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest in the next few weeks so I definitely won’t be going along on a ride right back to Oregon soon after we get home. But I can just see how this whole thing will play out. They’ll get up early, ride hard and long, and hang it up early. On the whole trip. All the camaraderie will come at the meals–not in the evening.

Now I’m totally convinced that if I want to do any RMMRC rides on the terms I prefer I’m going to have to be the one to organize them, and I’m going to have to make the point to anyone interested that this is a different kind of ride. And in the meantime I’ll just stick to doing day rides. We have a really good time on the day rides.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you complained about the “smell and fumes” near the back of your last group ride.

I’ve been riding with the OFMC for more than 30 years and I’ve seen it grow from Bill and John and me and then shrink to just Bill and Dennis and me. All the guys who are no longer riding with us are still around, they just don’t ride anymore.

That may change soon.

Speaking frankly, I’ve wondered for some time how much longer John will be with us. He has a list of health issues so long I won’t even begin to list it all.

So it was a surprise a couple weeks ago to get a text from Bill about his brother Friggs. Friggs was one of the first additions to the OFMC and was with us for many years. Finally, about four years ago, he went down in a mysterious crash that he still can’t understand. That shook him up enough that once we got home from that trip he sold the bike and that was it.

Anyway, the text from Bill was passing along a text from his niece, Friggs’s daughter, telling the family about the latest news on her dad’s cancer. This was the first the rest of us had heard about it. The cancer was found in his colon, his liver, and in his lymph nodes. From what I have heard about lymph nodes especially, that seems to be a death sentence.

Friggs has been a snow bird for some years now, living with a daughter and her family in Florida in the winter and coming to Colorado in the summer. He was in Denver this past weekend so several of us got together. I went wondering if this would be the last time I would ever see him.

If Friggs thinks he’s facing a death sentence he sure doesn’t show it. He’s getting chemo every two weeks now so that allows him to run out here for a few days. He talked about how the chemo messes with the nerves in his finger tips so when he touches something cold it’s like he has touched a burning coal. Other than that, you’d never know there was a thing wrong.

Maybe it’s just early days but one thing he was doing while here is getting his condo ready to sell because he is planning on buying a house in Florida. Who looks death in the face by buying a house, for pete’s sake!

He had surgery and the doctors say the cancer was caught fairly early so maybe I’m being alarmist here. But as I say, lymph nodes. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you buddy. I’m not looking forward to putting a black border around any OFMC member’s photo on the website.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 7. It’s perfectly natural to have a motorcycle parked in the living room.

It’s already April 21 and I still hadn’t ridden the V-Strom this month so that was a sure bet for today with an RMMRC ride planned. This was going to be a little different; we were just heading up to Black Hawk for lunch at one of the casinos. That’s actually more like an OFMC outing than the RMMRC.

My first order of business when I got to the gas station in Morrison where we meet was to get gas. And, I believe, for the first time in my life I paid more than $4 per gallon for gas. $4.05.9 to be exact. Yow! But you know, I’d happily pay more if that meant that Russian oil was unwanted and that would help stop Russian aggression in Ukraine.

I know some people claim Joe Biden is responsible for the hike in gas prices, not Vladimir Putin, but I call BS on that. I’m a registered Independent voter, not a Republican or a Democrat, so I call BS on anyone who deserves it. If gas prices were stable around the world but soaring in the U.S. that would be one thing, but they’re not. They’re up everywhere. Is Joe responsible for higher gas prices in Australia? In France? In Japan? OK, that’s way more politics than I normally get into here.

So there were only five of us riding this day. Bob was leading and he said he would figure out some side roads to take. I had some thoughts about his route but he proved me completely wrong. We headed up Bear Creek to Kittredge and took Kerr Gulch over to meet up with Evergreen Parkway just on the south side of I-70, cut across the highway and then followed old U.S. 40 on up Floyd Hill and down to where we hit U.S. 6 heading down Clear Creek Canyon. Then we caught the Peak to Peak Highway to Black Hawk.

Bob’s plan was the buffet at this casino but when we saw that it cost $20 there were three of us who demurred. I personally never like buffets because as a fairly small person I can usually fill up easily at any restaurant for far less than the buffet cost. Plus, I really wasn’t hungry. So I went and played some slot machines while Roy and Bruce went to the casino’s other eatery and Bob and Maynard did the buffet. Yes I gave the casino the same $20 I would have paid for the buffet but at least I had the chance to go home with more than I came with and besides, I wasn’t hungry.

The predicted high for today was in the high 70s but I had been cautious and had worn a sweatshirt and my electric vest. I had been glad to have them on the ride up as it was still cool in the morning. Leaving Black Hawk I was thinking more about getting back into town and it being hot, so I just put on the vest but stashed the sweatshirt. That proved a wise move, as even later in the day it was still darn chilly up on the Peak to Peak and even coming down Golden Gate Canyon.

When we reached the flatlands, however, it was definitely warm and I was really glad not to be wearing the sweatshirt.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a ride and we were all glad we had taken advantage of it. In a perfectly fitting coincidence, as I made my way home across Hampden I found myself behind a car with a sticker on the back that read “Never let a nice day go to waste.” Perfect. We didn’t.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you use your dishwasher to clean bike parts.

Judy and I had a candlelight dinner the other night and she wondered aloud if eating a baloney sandwich by candlelight would make it special.

That brought to mind a meal John and Bill and I had years ago on one of the early OFMC trips. We were in Utah, planning to spend the night camped at Hall’s Crossing, across from the Bullfrog Marina, on the north shore. In the morning we would take the ferry across and be on our way.

We knew better than to count on food at the marina so we stopped in Blanding at a grocery store and picked up a few things.

We cruised on then to Hall’s Crossing but upon arrival we encountered a problem we hadn’t anticipated. There was a campground and we had no trouble getting a campsite. There was a little store there but by the time we got there it was closed for the day–good for us for foresight. But there was no wood for a fire. None, as in no trees. And no firewood to be bought because the store was closed.

I don’t remember what else we bought but we had hot dogs. How are we going to cook these things?

One thing on hand was sagebrush. But green, growing things don’t generally burn well. So we scrounged around and found just a few dead twigs and some dry grass. We put it all together and had enough to make a fire about the size of your palm.

There were no sticks to impale the hot dogs on so we took turns, holding each end of the dog in our fingers, passing them back and forth over the tiny flame, turning it to cook all sides, and then there was dinner.

Maybe it was cooking over burning sage. Maybe it was just the situation. I mean, everyone knows food cooked over a campfire tastes better than the same thing cooked at home.

Whatever it was, those hot dogs were absolutely delicious. Those were unquestionably the best dogs I have ever eaten.

Thanks for calling that memory to mind, Judy.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 14. If the weather is nice, we’re not home.