Passes & Canyons Blog

Sara goes over group riding protocols before we take off.

I joined with other members of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) Saturday on the Pie Ride. For those motorcyclists who live by the slogan, “Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride,” this is the perfect event.

We met at a bakery where the first pie of the day was quiche. I’m not sure very many of us actually got quiche but that was the theme setter. There were eight bikes plus we picked up another rider who just happened to be there having breakfast.

Getting underway, we ran up Bear Creek from Morrison to Evergreen but this was not a good thing. Evergreen was holding its annual rodeo and they had a parade through town and all traffic was shunted to the north around downtown. Then, when we came out on Evergreen Parkway, the road into town there was also blocked so we could not get to the road that runs from Evergreen to Conifer as we had intended.

Thank you Evergreen, I guess it wouldn’t have been possible to have posted a sign coming up the canyon that the road ahead was closed. We ended up taking Evergreen Parkway to I-70 back down to C-470 and finally took U.S. 285 into the hills toward Conifer.

At Pine Junction we turned south and made our first pit stop at Deckers. By this point we had lost three bikes so the group was smaller. The barest sprinkling of rain cooled us down nicely and it started coming down harder just as we pulled into Woodland Park, where we were stopping for lunch. The second pie of the day: pizza.

I’m sure not one of us needed to eat more after lunch but just 25 miles further heading west from Woodland Park we came to Florissant, to a very nicely converted old house that is now a restaurant. We had been pumped up by stories of how good the forest berry pie was, and Sara had called ahead to let them know we were coming so they would not have run out by the time we got there. Sadly, the lady said she had just pulled the latest pie out of the oven and it would need time to cool, so no forest berry pie for us.

I got the peach instead and the peaches were clearly fresh but not quite ripe and the pie had not been baked long enough to soften them up. So I was disappointed.

We continued west to Lake George where we turned up Highway 77 which runs up to Jefferson, in South Park. There we caught U.S. 285 and turned east back to town. I hadn’t expected it to be an all-day ride but it was nearly 6 o’clock by the time I was home. Ah well, a good ride. And more pie than you can shake a stick at.

Biker Quote for Today

The best way for guys to communicate is just don’t talk to each other for nine hours. That’s why I like long motorcycle rides. It’s a great way for guys to socialize and not socialize. — Justin Theroux

This is what we woke up to our first morning on the road.

Judy and I headed out on this Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) “Pilgrimage to Barber” but we never got there. Mother Nature intervened.

The group was planning to leave on Saturday but Judy and I didn’t want to do the 450-mile day entailed in going all the way to McPherson, Kansas. We decided to leave on Friday and make that stretch a two-day trip. I found what appeared to be a delightful BnB in Coolidge, Kansas, and made a reservation.

Meanwhile, weather reports were saying a big winter storm was blowing in. The rest of the group decided to leave on Friday, too, and book a second night at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, so as to get the rest of the trip (and motel reservations!) back on track. We figured fine, we’d meet up with them in Eureka Springs instead of McPherson. We figured we’d be fine, because we would stay ahead of the storm.

Wrong.

We rode to Coolidge that first day and the BnB was everything I hoped it would be. If you’re ever out there and need to stop for the night I strongly recommend the Trail City Bed & Breakfast. It’s clean and very attractive, exceedingly well maintained, comfortable, and Lori is a great cook. Plus, it’s dirt cheap.

In the morning we got up to what you see in that photo above. OK, let’s think about this.

First off, you’ll notice that the pavement is only wet. It was windy for sure but the roads appeared clear, and after vacillating all morning I finally said let’s go for it. The weather radar was telling us if we could get east of Garden City we would be out of the snow. Into rain probably, but not snow. And Garden City was only 69 miles away.

We didn’t get that far. We were happy to make it 42 miles to Lakin where we pulled in to the first motel we saw. The wind was blowing like a banshee and the roads were not as clear as they had been in Coolidge. I’ll tell you about that 42 miles in my next post.

We stayed in Lakin three days. We had no choice. We were snowed in and the following day the highway was officially closed.

In the morning we were clearly snowbound. There were eight inches on the ground, it was still coming down hard, and the wind was still blowing like a banshee. Also, the power was out, so there was no heat in the motel. The road was closed because the powerlines had fallen down all along the highway.

Long story short, it was two more days before we could leave. We got east of Garden City and we both immediately noticed that the temperature went up 10 degrees. And there was no snow anywhere to be seen. So if we only could have gotten past there . . .

Initially we figured we would catch up with the group even later, and eventually later stretched to after they had visited the Barber Motorsports Museum–the object of this pilgrimage–and were headed back. But after three days in Lakin we decided to just go on to Wichita and visit a cousin of mine who I hadn’t seen in 60 years. And after that we went down to Oklahoma City and visited a nephew of mine and met his wife for the first time.

Then we spent three days getting back to Denver, playing tourist, stopping at several national park units, and seeing new country. It was a good three days.

Nearing home, we ran into a downpour between Elizabeth and Franktown, suited up, immediately rode out of the rain, started to cook in the rain gear, but then got closer to town and saw dark clouds. Sure enough, the last five miles home was in another downpour. And that was our 10-day trip.

Biker Quote for Today

What if I told you you need to actually ride a motorcycle to be a biker?

The trip listing from the club website.

I did finally make up my mind to go on this “Pilgrimage to Barber” with others in the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC). Barber, just to be clear, is the Barber Motorsports Museum and racetrack outside of Birmingham, Alabama.

It’s going to be an interesting trip in a lot of ways. In fact, so interesting–at least in my conception–that I pitched it as a story idea to Mark Tuttle, editor-in-chief of Rider magazine. Mark sent me a quick acknowledgement email saying he’d get back to me ASAP on my idea.

I’m not totally sure why I’ve had such uncertainty about going on this trip. Presumably it has to do with a) taking a long trip with folks I either do not know or hardly know, b) at least one 400+ mile day, and c) doing so many miles in such a short time. But I routinely go on trips of this length with the OFMC in fewer days and I have taken at least one other long trip with strangers and had a great time. So what’s the big deal? Why was I hesitant?

Frankly, I still can’t answer that question. I just was. I finally concluded that the best approach would be to just do it and see how it goes. If we really don’t like it we won’t do it again in the future.

What I pitched to Mark correlates to those issues.

The core concept is that the RMMRC is a particularly active riding club and such groups offer an excellent opportunity to connect with others who share your passion, not to mention actually go riding. That core is then fleshed out in addressing the issues I mentioned. At least part of the idea is helping other people facing similar uncertainties to resolve their concerns.

A sidebar point I hope to address–perhaps in an actual sidebar, written by her–is that Judy has never been on an extended ride with a bunch of other people. This is something I’ve been doing with the OFMC every year for more than 25 years but she has never done it. I’m hoping her take on it all will be fresh and interesting.

Then there’s the basic idea of a “pilgrimage” to Barber. Visiting the holy shrine. If you’re into motorcycles, Barber is one of the premier places to see a vast array of different bikes through the decades. Plus, one RMMRC member on this trip is a member of the Barber Board of Directors and thus will be able to get us possibly onto the track for a lap or two and definitely into the catacombs where bikes are stored before being rebuilt and put on display. In other words, a true fanatic’s dream.

So we’ll see what Mark thinks of the story idea. Either way, we’re going and I’ll be writing about it here.

Biker Quote for Today

A hundred years from now my great grandkids will not recall my bank balance, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but they will remember I rode a motorcycle.

It’s the time of year to head for the hills.

Saturday was my first day on a bike up in the hills this year. I was not alone.

I headed out with a group of five others from the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club, three Gold Wings, two Kawis (including mine), and one Ducati. Pretty soon, though, Donnie got impatient with the traffic and blasted off on his own, leaving five of us.

We headed out on Parker Road, CO 83, all the way down to Colorado Springs. That part of the ride itself was pretty interesting because I realized it had been a long, long time since I’ve gone all the way to the Springs on that road. I had forgotten how beautifully Pikes Peak rises up in front of you as you get down south. I was seriously wishing I had my camera with me to get a shot of the rider in front of me set off against the mountain.

Oh, and I want to mention that by this point we had already seen many dozens of other riders. This was a day to be out on the bikes.

Reaching the Springs we jumped on I-25 briefly until we reached the exit for US 24, which goes up through Manitou Springs, past Pikes Peak, to Woodland Park. Here again I was struck with the realization that I had not been up this road in this direction in many years. I know I came down it somewhat recently but all roads look different when you’re going the other way. So it was almost like going down a road I’d never been on, especially coming into Woodland Park.

Normally my experience of Woodland Park is to come in on CO 67 from Deckers and turn west when I hit US 24. So there’s that whole portion of Woodland Park east of CO 67 that I almost never see. Holy smokes, there’s a whole town there.

The whole deal with these RMMRC impromptu rides is generally “Ride to eat, eat to ride,” so we stopped for lunch in Woodland Park. Ross, who was leading on his Ducati, pulled into a bank parking lot. I thought that was odd, that the bank might object, but he said he parks there all the time. And considering how huge this lot is, it’s hard to see how the bank could object too strenuously.

We had lunch at the Ute Inn. The service was slow but I still recommend it because the food was definitely good. I enjoyed what I had but I looked enviously at what some of the other guys had, too.

After lunch we headed up CO 67 through Deckers and on to Pine and US 285. Then back to Denver on that road. This was my first time in the hills this year and I guess I knew it could get chilly but I didn’t wear the electric vest. I could have used it, though it was not very chilly without it. Still, it was nice to get back to lower elevations and warmth.

And oh, everywhere we went in the hills there were hordes of bikers, too. Seemed like everyone was out. I guess winter is definitely over. Time to start putting some real miles on the bikes.

Biker Quote for Today

There exists a set of people who believe 2 > 4.

A quick stop in Kiowa.

How warm has it been this February? Well, for starters, riding across the Cherry Creek Dam I see that there is very little ice on the reservoir. It’s mostly open water. I’ve never seen that before. Not in February.

So I’m starting to get a feel for these impromptu RMMRC rides: Any time the forecast is for a gorgeous day (at least in the middle of winter) you can count on someone planning a ride. The forecast for Tuesday was 75 degrees. Sure enough, there was a group going out.

Five of us met up: Maynard on his Kawasaki ZRX 1200, Roy and Bob on their beemers, Pat on his Concours 14, and me on my V-Strom. We headed east out Quincy, which becomes County Road 30, to the Kiowa-Bennett Road and north to U.S. 36. Then east to Byers. We stopped for lunch at the Country Burger cafe.

This is apparently a frequent stop for these guys; the guy running the place said welcome, haven’t seen you for a couple months, and knew exactly what Roy takes in his coffee (honey). So we ate and talked about riding and upcoming rides. Roy is leading the ride to the Barber Motorcycle Museum, which I’m considering going on, and I voiced my concerns about several very long days.

Roy assured me it isn’t bad, that they start very early and then take several extended breaks during the day. I know that’s the best way to cover a lot of miles. I’m still undecided about going.

Meanwhile, the guy at the cafe was very gregarious and likes to talk about motorcycles. He doesn’t ride but he works the track out at High Plains Raceway just east of Byers. He told us about seeing a couple riders go down wearing these inflatable jackets that are triggered when you separate from the bike. Very effective, he said. High-speed get-offs and no injury.

The coolest thing, though, was while sitting there eating, facing toward the window, I happened to spot a bald eagle cruising by outside. Absolutely no question what it was, it was totally identifiable. Who knew they had bald eagles in Byers?

After lunch we backtracked as far as Quincy and the Kiowa-Bennett Road but then we continued south to Kiowa, then west to Franktown, and finally back into Denver. Just a nice ride-to-eat, eat-to-ride day out on a balmy February day.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you recognize your friends by the sound of their exhaust.

All the planned rides are listed with details on the RMMRC website.

Yes, I know I’ve written quite a lot recently about the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club but I’m doing so one more time. There should be other topics coming along after.

What I want to do, however, is go through the list of planned rides the group has coming up this year. I know I talked about potential rides awhile back but the list of actual rides was just released recently. Here it is.

Big Bend National Park, Texas Ride — departs April 6 and returns April 14

Forney Transportation Museum — day ride on April 15

Pilgrimage to Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, Via the Ozarks and Mississippi Delta! — departs April 29 and returns May 7

North Central New Mexico Ride — departs May 24 and returns May 28

Pie Ride — just what it sounds like, on June 3

Kit Carson Carousel / Burlington, CO — day ride on June 10 to see this very old-style carousel

Mesa Verde National Park — departs June 16 and returns June 18

45th BMW MOA International Rally – Salt Lake City, Utah — departs July 11 and returns July 16 — not just for BMW riders

Wind River Canyon / Beartooth Highway — departs July 21 and returns July 23

3rd Annual Mountains of Ice Cream Ride — again, just what it sounds like, a day ride on August 5

Gateway Auto Museum & Black Canyon — departs August 19 and returns August 21

Eastern Canada Tour — departs August 24 and returns September 4 — this is the big one; these dates are only for part of the trip

St. Francis Motorcycle Museum – First Annual Rally — a day ride to a new rally, on September 2

14th Annual KTM ADVENTURE Rider Rally – Crested Butte, CO — September 15 to September 17 — another not-just-for-KTM event

Roy’s Mystery Ride — a truly fun day ride on October 7

Fall Colors in the Ozarks — departs October 21 and returns October 27

So OK, I don’t know about you but there are a bunch of rides there that sound pretty darn good to me. We’ll see which ones I actually make it on. It’s going to be an interesting year of riding.

Biker Quote for Today

When life gets complicated, I ride.

Stopping for gas in Limon. It was 82 degrees there on this February 10.

And just that quickly I went on my second impromptu ride with members of the RMMCR. After a group of eight of us went out on Tuesday, a group of five headed out on Friday, which was even warmer, though much windier.

The plan this time was to meet “at the gas station” at C-470 and Santa Fe. Of course, there are two stations there, but for whatever reason I figured it was probably the Diamond Shamrock. I pulled in and only saw one bike but went ahead and got gas. Then I pulled over to that guy and asked if he was with the RMMRC and he said no, that I probably was looking for the large group over at the other station. Sure enough.

And it was a larger group. I parked and walked over to the one guy I recognized and was informed that actually, this was two groups, both meeting in the same place. After waiting awhile longer for more people to arrive we took off. There were five of us: Linda on a Beemer, Mark on a Beemer, Donny on a Gold Wing, Ric on a Harley, and me on my V-Strom. Destination: Limon, but by a very roundabout route.

We headed south on Santa Fe/U.S. 85 to Sedalia and then cut over to CO 105 down to Palmer Lake. I expected we would turn right into Palmer Lake and go on to Monument, then continuing east on 105. No, we turned left, with me thinking that doesn’t make sense because that road would just take us back north up to Larkspur and I-25 at a point where there are no paved roads east. Guess what? After going left just a few yards we turned right again, crossing the railroad tracks, and headed east on what the map now tells me is County Line Road, between Elbert and El Paso Counties. I’d never been on that road; didn’t know it existed.

That road is straight as can be, so no thrills there, but it turns out to be the most direct route from I-25 to Palmer Lake. Who knew? When we crossed I-25 I recognized where we were as I have been east from that interchange. This took us into the Black Forest area and through some zig-zagging we eventually came out on U.S. 24 heading east out of Colorado Springs. Once again, this was a new road for me.

U.S. 24 actually heads in a northeasterly direction, passing through Peyton, Calhan, Ramah, Simla, and Matheson, on to Limon. We stopped for lunch in Simla.

Along the way I had been confused. I was second in the order and looking back it seemed at times that there were six of us, not five. I couldn’t be sure. Pulling over in Simla, there were definitely six. Donny, who had been bringing up the rear, introduced us to Larry. Larry was late meeting some folks but knew they usually headed south on 105 so he blasted along hoping to catch up with them. He caught up with us and thought at first we were his group. By the time he realized we were not it was too late and Donny told him to join us. So he did. Larry was on a really nice, new Concours 14.

At lunch I had a chance to start getting acquainted with these folks. Mark is a semi-retired geologist. Donny pours concrete. Everyone else, including Larry, is pretty much retired. Ric and Linda are newly an item and were like a couple of teenagers in love. And as at breakfast on Tuesday, there was much talk about the upcoming RMMRC rides for the year. I’ll go into detail about those another time.

We headed on to Limon and stopped for gas and from here people started peeling off. Donny just jumped on the interstate to blast back to town. The rest of us headed north to pick up U.S. 36 and take the two-lane back west. Coming through Calhan earlier we had seen a lot of wind turbines but that was nothing compared to what we rode through heading north out of Limon. We rode for miles with turbines all around us; at one point you could look in any direction and see turbines as far as you could see. I’ve never seen a wind farm that big. Mark tells us the wind farm he is doing some consulting on is four times as big.

Hitting U.S. 36, Ric kept heading north on CO 71. I have no idea where he was going but that roads continues on to Brush at I-76. The rest of us headed west into Byers and stopped there briefly to stretch. Linda said she was getting on the interstate and took off. Mark, Larry, and I went into Byers and continued west on U.S. 36, which quickly crossed under I-70 and stayed north of the interstate from then on.

Due to some misunderstanding on my part, I left the threesome heading toward Bennett and found myself on the interstate. No problem, it would better for me to go to Watkins and south from there anyway. I passed under the Bennett overpass and shortly afterward glanced in my mirror to see Larry right there behind me. While Mark had headed south on the Bennett-Kiowa road, Larry had decided to take the interstate, too.

We went south on the Watkins road and turned east on Jewell. Larry headed south at Tower Road and I continued on to I-225 and home. Altogether I covered 250 miles that day. That’s a pretty good little jaunt, especially in February.

Biker Quote for Today

Here is the complete list of why you should not ride your motorcycle:

Ain’t it grand that February 7 can be a perfect day to ride!

February 7 and temps in the 60s. Clear and sunny. What a perfect day for a ride. I got a notice of an impromptu ride with some members of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) and I went.

While the RMMRC sponsors numerous planned rides during the year, for those who can head out on short notice in the middle of the week there are additional “hey, let’s go for a ride–now!” opportunities. If anything, I’ve figured these are more likely to be to my interest than some of the others. I have the availability and I have the inclination.

So we met up at Performance Cycle, just off Dry Creek Road, at 9:30. It surprised me how busy and unpleasant I-25 still was at that time of the morning. There were eight of us altogether, mounted on three Kawasakis and five beemers (I believe–not completely sure of the fifth).

The initial plan had been to head up toward Palmer Lake but a couple of us had things going on later that conflicted. We both said we’d just peel off when the time came but the guys organizing this ride put their heads together and came up with an alternate run. We headed out to Kiowa.

As I’ve learned, if you go south and east out of Denver you get into some really pretty country down along the Palmer Divide. Kiowa is south and east of Denver. And I had been out to Kiowa last year and found a really nice place to eat, Patty Ann’s. Turns out I’m not the only one who knows this place because Patty Ann’s was our destination.

Being as how this was my first group ride with the RMMRC I was interested to see what it would be like. I know the group puts a strong emphasis on safety but I also know some groups carry it a bit too far, at least by my estimation. That was not the case here; it was just a ride with a bunch of guys who rode intelligently, and safely. Totally comfortable.

I’m new to this group so I’m still getting acquainted and learning names. This late breakfast (early lunch, for me) was a really good time to get further acquainted with some folks and I have to say they seemed like a really nice bunch of guys. We ate and shot the bull and told riding stories. But mostly we talked about the upcoming RMMRC rides this year. Recruitment efforts were directed at the new guy. No problem, guys, I’m definitely going to be joining you on the rides I can.

The food was eaten but the talking was not done when I needed to leave to get home to meet with a contractor who was coming over to spec out some remodeling work we want done. I said my good-byes and headed out. And it was still a perfect day to ride.

You can sign me up for that kind of thing any time. In fact, there is another impromptu ride already planned for tomorrow. Supposed to be a high in the 70s. Hot diggety!

Biker Quote for Today

No one hates winter like someone who has a motorcycle sitting in the garage.