Passes & Canyons Blog

I find it pretty amazing how those container ships stack those things so high above the ship’s deck. It looks really top-heavy but clearly there has got to be a lot of ship below the water to keep it stable.

On dry land, the seemingly comparable situation is the way you sometimes see loads of hay stacked to tower way, way above the truck hauling it all. The difference being that there is no truck out of sight down below the road so that top-heavy load better be well stacked. Sometimes it is not.

Twice this past year, out on motorcycle trips, I encountered situations where those bales were not well stacked and secured.

The first was on the OFMC trip. We had been in Wyoming, having left Torrington, and were headed to Walden, back in Colorado. At Laramie we took US 230 southwest as it passes through just the southern edge of the Snowy Range.

Coming around a bend there was a warning cone in the road and a quick glance ahead showed why. A truck loaded to the sky with huge bales of hay was part-way off on the side of the road with its load leaning menacingly toward the highway. Oh my gosh, there’s a real mess trying to happen. We gave it all a wide berth.

At least that guy didn’t lose his load. He had folks there to help and they were doing whatever it would take to put it all back to right. But clearly somebody didn’t do their job all that well when that truck was loaded. Or maybe that driver was just going way too fast.

It was a very different case, however, when, on the Colorado Cruise with the RMMRC, we were crossing Grand Mesa on our first day out. As we came down CO 65 toward I-70 in Debeque Canyon there were warning cones in the road. And there ahead was another hay truck. But this one didn’t have any hay on it. It’s entire load was scattered on and around the highway. Somebody had a real mess to clean up. And somebody probably got seriously reamed out by their boss.

Gosh, the things some people will do just to keep life interesting for us traveling motorcyclists!

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you have a refrigerator in the garage just for beer.

Conspicuity: the quality or state of being conspicuous

One of the really big issues when you ride motorcycles is being seen. We all know how this goes. How many times have we heard drivers who caused, or nearly caused, crashes with motorcycles say “I didn’t see him.”

They’re not lying. I myself have twice been in situations where I nearly caused an accident with a biker because I did not see him. So there are two things we all need to do: make yourself as visible as possible and then ride as if you’re invisible.

In the RMMRC there are a good many people who make a point to wear the eye-catching bright yellow or orange vests that go on over your riding jacket. Roy, the club’s safety director, has spoken to me more than twice about my black helmet and black jacket. Roy always rides sweep and he has told me that as he looks ahead he can see this rider and that rider but that I frequently blend into the scenery. Now, I do have reflectors on the sidebags of my Concours and a couple of my helmets but I guess that really doesn’t amount to much. I put more focus on riding defensively, as if I were invisible, as I said.

And so far that has worked out pretty well for me. The closest encounters I have had have generally involved people changing lanes without turning to actually look to see if there was someone in the lane they wanted to shift to. If you’re–even just for an instant–in their blind spot, and they don’t look, nothing you wear will make them see you. I pay a lot of attention to that sort of thing.

So I found it interesting riding with the RMMRC on the Colorado Cruise, hanging out in the rear of the group, that many of these guys in their fluorescent vests were barely visible, at least from behind. Why? Because they had dark top bags and such rising up behind them that almost totally blocked my view of their bright vests.

And who was the most visible of all? It was Susan, a very short lady on a small bike whose white helmet and fluorescent-striped jacket stood out vividly. And the funny thing was that Susan told me she preferred to be in the middle of the pack because she was afraid, being so small, that it was too easy for people not to see her. But in fact, nobody was more visible than her. And of course, she didn’t have bags stacked up behind her.

So who knows, maybe I ought to get another jacket, this one with blazing yellow stripes or something. Like I don’t have enough jackets. We’ll see.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if your only three piece suit is a leather jacket, leather vest and chaps.

We were riding up on the Peak-to-Peak Saturday. Think about that. It was December 4 and we were up in the hills. That tells you everything you need to know about the weather we’ve had so far in this late fall. Generally by this time of year those roads are either icy or treacherous with sand and gravel.

Not that there was no sand–we encountered a fair bit of that coming down through Golden Gate Canyon. But that was the only sand we ever saw and there was no ice at all. How could there by ice? The day-time highs have continued to be in the 60s.

The only thing that surprised me when I received the notice of the ride, an RMMRC ride, was that it hadn’t come sooner. You can’t have this kind of great weather and not have rides getting planned.

There were nine of us who took off from a 7-Eleven in Golden. We headed north on CO 93 toward Boulder but then skirted around the city to the east, following Marshall Drive to Cherryvale Road and north, then Baseline Road further east to 75th St. and north on 75th to Niwot. Then Niwot Road and Neva Road took us west to US 36, which took us north to Lyons. Time for lunch.

After lunch we tried to go up South St. Vrain Drive (CO 7) to the Peak-to-Peak but it was closed for construction. So we headed back south on US 36 to Lefthand Canyon Drive. That road brought us to the Peak-to-Peak at Ward.

It had been warm down in front of the foothills but now up higher I was very glad to have my electric vest. I had dressed warmly because I didn’t trust it would be warm the whole ride and that was a good thing on my part.

We headed south on the Peak-to-Peak, through Nederland, and on to CO 46, down Golden Gate Canyon. This was where we encountered the only sand of the whole ride. Most of the time it was right in the middle of our lane, although sometimes there would be two lines of it and you’d need to be careful to stay in between them. The worst was in a really tight turn but again, if you stayed in the track you were OK. So be advised if you head up that way. This is not the road that hot-shots on sport bikes should go blasting down any time soon.

Once we were back at CO 93 in Golden it was every man for himself and we scattered quickly. Great day for a ride.

Biker Quote for Today

Whenever I ride my motorcycle I always keep an excess of hay with me. I use hay to increase the horsepower of my bike!

In the early days of the OFMC we were notorious for the lateness of our starts. We’d sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, and maybe get on the road by 10. Or 11.

Not any more. First of all, none of us sleep that late these days. My normal time to get up is in the 7 to 7:30 range. Dennis and Bill are both early risers who are up long before me. Now about the latest we get going is 9. But that’s still not really what you could call morning riding–that’s already mid-day riding.

When I went with the RMMRC on the Colorado Cruise we had to get an actual early start one day because the road south out of Ouray was going to be closed for construction at 7:30 up near the top of Red Mountain Pass, and would not reopen until lunch time. To play it safe we were rolling out of Ouray about 6:45. That’s early morning riding.

And it’s so nice! Now, in this case it was cold, and I could have done without that. But it was so beautiful! We all see the sunset most days but many people–including me–rarely see the sunrise.

The world at sunrise can be an enchanted place. The colors, perhaps the sparkling of dew, the smells, and more.

I’ve ridden all over Colorado many times and I don’t have many specific memories of particular stretches of road–except a few morning rides.

I was heading to Arizona Bike Week one year and I camped for the night somewhere east of Mesa Verde along US 160. I woke up with the sun and got going and enchanting really is the right word. Cool, fresh, delicious, and a wide open road with almost no traffic.

Another time we spent the night in Monticello, Utah, and it rained early in the morning. We got an early start very soon after the rain stopped and again, enchantment. And this time the color was really brought out by the wet, as were the smells. Have you really smelled sagebrush? You generally won’t on a hot, dusty afternoon but on a cool, wet morning it’s overwhelming.

Then there was another time, also on US 160, between Fort Garland and La Veta, going over La Veta Pass. You don’t want to hurry; you just want to cruise and savor it all. And with almost no traffic you can.

I’m just not that much of a morning person to do this sort of thing all the time, but when circumstances put me into that situation I’m never sorry. Try it. You might find that you love it.

Biker Quote for Today

In the motorcycle safety course they tell you that target fixation is bad, where your eyes are looking is where you usually end up. Must be why I keep running over female joggers.

“Discovering” here is a sorta, kinda thing. I’m pretty sure I rode at least part of this road once before but could not have taken you back there and only stumbled on it then.

I’m talking about Lake Gulch Road, which runs south out of Castle Rock and meets up with CO 83 south of Franktown.

I’ll make an aside here, telling you that I’m playing with Google Maps to show you the entire route we took last week when the RMMRC rode down to Colorado Springs to visit the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum. I’ve never delved deeply into Google Maps so I’m not real sure how to make it do what you want but as you can see I had some success, although there are two spots (probably obvious) where the software added bits I didn’t want and I can’t figure out how to get ride of them.

So anyway, we headed out from Performance Cycle over to Sedalia where we were meeting up with a few more riders. We headed south on CO 105 to west of Castle Rock, where we turned east on Wolfensberger Road. I had been on this before but had gone straight on into Castle Rock. This time we turned southeast on Plum Creek Parkway, under I-25, and on to where we turned right onto Lake Gulch Road.

At this point I was extremely interested. I’m always interested in finding new roads. This one was great. We quickly were out of town and going along a very pretty highway with very little traffic, winding and climbing and just generally being the kind of road motorcyclists always like.

I could tell it was angling southeast so after awhile I figured we would eventually meet up with CO 83, but where? And then we did reach 83 and I now knew that I had taken this road going the other way once. Even now, though, I don’t know if I came out where we got on it or if maybe I got off onto South Ridge Road, which would have taken me into Castle Rock at a different place. I suspect I did.

Regardless, what a nice alternative route this road is. And so far it is still undeveloped, although with Castle Rock exploding that probably won’t be the case for long. So go ride it now while you can.

Biker Quote for Today

I was hit by a moose driving my motorcycle yesterday. How he managed to drive it is a mystery to me.

I am not a go-fast guy. I’m not an aggressive rider or driver. But I know that many people who ride have a particular enjoyment of speed. I get it. I have ridden fast plenty of times, I just don’t make it a regular part of my ride. There are just moments.

The rest of the time I’m generally happiest just tootling along at an easy pace. That’s one reason why I enjoy riding alone so much, I get to go exactly as fast as I choose, stop exactly when I want to, and get going again exactly when I’m ready to do so.

But when you’re riding with a group you have to make compromises on a lot of these things. And I do, although within limits. I’m very much a “Ride your own ride” kind of guy, and if the guys in front of me are going a lot faster than I’m comfortable with I don’t hesitate to drop back. I know where we’re going. I’ll get there in my own time.

And that’s very much what it’s all about on a lot of the RMMRC rides I go on. I used to refer to Bob and Robert as the Go-Fast Boys. The two of them on matching Gold Wings would often take the lead and if you were going to keep up with them you had better be comfortable cranking up some speed. I generally didn’t.

Robert has moved to Panama now so now it’s Dave and Bob who I think of as the Go-Fast Boys. But there are others. This came very clear on the recent Colorado Cruise, where Ralf led much of the time. Let’s put it this way: Dave considers Ralf a Go-Fast Boy.

Fortunately, there were enough of us on this ride that it was easy to break up into two groups, the fast ones and the others. I generally stuck with the slower group. But not always.

The first day out we covered 400 miles getting from Denver to Grand Junction, so by the time we were crossing Grand Mesa it was late in the day and getting a lot cooler. This didn’t seem like a time to dawdle and we didn’t. The speed limit over Grand Mesa is something like 45 but there was no traffic and we raced over at about 70 mph. Usually I’d have preferred to take my time and enjoy the scenery but this time I was OK going fast.

And while I prefer not to ride someone else’s ride, there can be benefits to pushing yourself at times. I mean, how do you improve your skills if you never challenge yourself?

So on the third day, when we rode from Ouray down to Durango, east to South Fork, and then north to Gunnison, I spent a lot of time at the tail end of the fast boys. And you know what? I did really well and felt very comfortable. For one thing, if everyone in front of you is taking this curve at this speed there’s really no reason to think you need to slow down. Just get in a groove behind the guy in front of you and follow his lead. And for the most part I did. Not entirely, but most of the time.

I can do it. I think I have a lot of skill as a rider. I’m just not an aggressive kind of person. I like going at my own pace.

Biker Quote for Today

What kind of motorcycle has the best sense of humor? Yamahahaha.