Passes & Canyons Blog

Riding on gravel took me a while to get used to.

Motorcycles are inherently more unstable than cars. When a car comes to a stop it stops. Period. When a motorcycle comes to a stop you’d better put your foot down or you’re going to fall over. Something about two wheels versus four, you know?

Now magnify the instability by adding a curve in the rider’s trajectory. Motorcycles lean in order to go around curves, so you’re already cocked to one side. And then add gravel in the curve. There’s nothing quite as thrilling as feeling your rear tire break loose in gravel on a curve, and this is not the good kind of thrill such as what you get on a roller coaster.

Give credit to the people who design motorcycles and motorcycle tires that losing traction on gravel, or ice, or wet leaves doesn’t automatically mean you go down. All it takes is to hit a wee patch of pavement again and you’re back in control. You’ll probably want to take it easy for a while, though, and let your adrenaline subside.

Motorcyclists generally fall into two categories, those who learned to ride on dirt and those who didn’t. It’s a huge difference. Dirt riding is all about breaking traction, riding the slide, and keeping the bike up. Those who never rode in dirt are at a significant disadvantage.

I never rode in dirt. While I had the opportunity to ride several bikes from time to time over a lot of years, I never got good at it until I bought my first bike, my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. I learned to ride on the road and gravel was a particular nemesis. I hated gravel roads and gravel in a curve scared the bejeezus out of me.

The very first trip Bill and John and I took, before we even named our group the OFMC, we camped one night at Rifle Gap State Park, outside of Rifle, CO. It was probably 8 to 10 miles from the campground to town and we needed to ride in to have dinner. I had noticed when we first rode out to the park that there was a lot of gravel in some of the curves so I was already in high-caution mode. Heading into town the other guys left me way behind and I picked my way carefully along. Heading back to camp after dinner it was now dark, and thus even harder to pick out the hazards. They were back at camp long before I got there.

The difference, of course, was that they had had scooters and dirt bikes as kids.

“Didn’t you slide on some of that gravel in the curves?”

“Oh sure, but when you ride dirt bikes you learn how to stay in control.”

It took me a long time to get comfortable riding my street bikes on gravel roads, but I do it pretty well now. (Except for the Concours, which HATES gravel.) I still hate gravel in a curve. But I’ve been on the dirt more since I got my V-Strom. Maybe someday I’ll feel that rear wheel slide out and smile. But I’m not holding my breath.

Biker Quote for Today

I’m not the biggest motorcycle fan – they’re cool and a lot of fun, but they’re scary as well! — Taylor Lautner

I love having three bikes, partly because they’re so different and each has its own strength.

For a little more than two weeks Judy and I were on a ride to British Columbia on my 1999 Kawasaki Concours. We got home on a Thursday and on Friday I took off with the OFMC for another week, this time on my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650. After basically living on the Connie for two weeks, was it an adjustment to be on the V-Strom, alone? You better believe it.

First off, Judy and I have helmet-to-helmet communicators, and I was totally accustomed to just talking with someone (her) as I rode along. Heading off on the OFMC trip, several of the guys had left earlier but I headed out with Brett. I can’t tell you how often I started to just talk to him, only to be reminded that, oh yeah, he can’t hear me. It’s silly how many times I did that.

As for being on a different bike, that played out in a variety of ways. For one thing, wow, what a change to go from a 670-pound bike with a 110-pound passenger to a 420-pound bike and no passenger. Can you say “light” and “agile”? I thought you could. This was like night and day. Smaller, lighter bikes are just fun to ride. I love my Connie as a highway, let’s-do-some-traveling sort of bike, but the Wee Strom is made for other pleasures, although it does fine on the highway.

Now, the seat is less comfortable than the Connie. I know most people think the first thing you should do is get an aftermarket seat, but I’ve never found that necessary or even desirable. I like the seat, and it is definitely better than the one on the V-Strom.

A different consideration is that the V has chain drive, while the Connie has a shaft. Not a big deal, but I did pay attention to the chain on this trip, even stopping to buy some W-D 40 because I forget to bring chain lube along.

The other significant thing about the V is that it has a digital read-out, not dials the way all older bikes do. One option on this digital read-out is the odometer and two trip meters that you have to punch a button to select. Also, a fuel gauge with five bars: full is five and when you get to only one it starts flashing to warn you that you are low.

These controls may be simple but it took me a while to figure out how they worked. As long as I’ve had the V-Strom I have had it just set to the odometer. That means that if you want to know what kind of gas mileage you’re getting you have to remember what the mileage was when you last filled up. I usually didn’t.

So on this trip I started using the trip meter for the first time. I wanted to understand how many miles each of those five bars represented. I quickly found that the first one did not go away until I had ridden at least 100 miles. The second one would generally disappear about 40 miles later. But I was riding with the guys, and none of their bikes can go as far on a tank of gas as my V-Strom so we were always stopping for gas before I got far into the third bar. I’ll have to figure out what the others represent sometime when I’ve riding alone.

But even the little I do know now has come in useful. As long as I’ve had the bike I’ve noticed that when I start it up after it’s been sitting for a while I smell gas. Once I saw gas dripping and I took it in for work that seems to have addressed the issue for the most part. But after I got home, with about 50 miles on the tank, I let the bike sit for a few weeks. Next time I got on it I was already down to the third bar. Whoa! Clearly I have a leak. Something is wrong. I’m hoping it will just require replacement of some rubber fuel lines. That’s going to be up to Joel to figure out.

Biker Quote for Today

If you need me I’ll be riding.

I’ve wondered about that smell of gas for a long time.

Don’t you love it when you solve a mystery that has puzzled you for ages?

I’ve had my 650 V-Strom for what, three years now? And from about as far back as I can remember I have noticed this smell of gasoline when starting off on a ride. It has gone away after awhile and there has never been a problem so I’ve just lived with it.

Now, I did ask Ron Coleman to check it out once when he was doing some other work on the bike for me, but he couldn’t find any problems. And of course because by the time he was looking at it it had been ridden awhile, he couldn’t even detect the odor of gas.

So Judy and I were just about to take off on this four-day ride with Willie and Jungle and friends a couple weeks ago and I decided to do something that, frankly, I don’t do often enough: check the oil. First I had to figure out how to check the oil. That’s how negligent I am.

I pulled out the owner’s manual and it said to rock the bike up on the center stand, start it up and let it warm up, then shut it down, wait about three minutes, and then check the sight glass on the side. So I rocked it up, fired it up, and then started looking around to find the sight glass. Not on the left side so I moved around to the right side.

The engine was still running, still warming up, as I crouched down to look for the sight glass. That was when I spotted a rapid drip of what was clearly gasoline coming from directly underneath the gas tank. Whoa, golly! I shut it off and told Judy we had a sudden change of plans and she needed to shift her gear from the V-Strom bag to the Concours bag. And off we went on the Concours.

Now it occurred to me that it would probably have been OK to ride the V-Strom, considering I’ve been riding it for years with this odor of gas, but I didn’t want to take any chances. So this past Tuesday I took it over to Joel at Mountain Thunder Motorsports and gave him the low-down. I explained that he needed to let it sit and then fire it up and look for the drip.

He called me a couple days later to say he had found the problem, a gasket getting old that would allow gas to pass out when dry, but would then soak up fuel and seal better. The bad news was that the gasket is an integral part of a larger part and that part is only available from Suzuki for $230. With labor the fix will cost me $500. Oh well, it’s only money, right?

Biker Quote for Today

Just bought bike parts . . . let’s see if I have enough money to eat.

First one beam, then two, and then two separated by a few feet.

After we rode Mike’s maze up to the house I needed to catch my breath. It’s a lot of work whipping a motorcycle around in an extended series of tight, extreme turns. Mike was ready to keep going. “What do you want to do next?” he asked.

I was loath to call it a day. I don’t get this kind of opportunity often enough. But just to ride the trail back to the track and then ride it to the house again felt like not enough. But Mike had an idea. We took the trail back to the track, this time with me in the lead.

So once again, tight turns where you have to turn your head absolutely as far as it can go in order to see the exit of the turn. Multiple times where the only thing to do to keep from falling over was to goose the throttle. Getting to be fun.

And then back at the track Mike set up the beams I had ridden straight over before into a couple end-to-end balance beams. The idea was to get up on the first beam, ride the length of it, and continue on the second one. This looked interesting!

It also turned out not to be too hard. I had a lot of times to work at it, too. It didn’t take long before I had made my first run the length of both of them. Most of the time I went off before I got to the end but that was no big deal. It wasn’t as if going off meant falling over; the bike just kept going but now I was on the ground. And sometimes I was hardly aware when I went off.

But of course Mike wanted to challenge me. So he separated the two beams by about two or three feet. Now the idea was to ride the length of the first one, come off, and then get up on the second one. This was a lot harder. Although I took my shot at it quite a few times, there was only one time when I was able to get down off the first and then up on the second. The rest of the time I just couldn’t get off the first and redirect quickly enough to get up on the second. But it was fun trying.

Then it was time to ride the maze/trail back up to the house to drop the bike I was using at the garage. Once again, riding the tight twists and turns, standing as much as I could, sitting as much as I needed to. And I was getting better and better. Which set me up for the real test. My own bike, my 650cc V-Strom, was down at the track. Kathy drove me back down to it and Mike came on his bike. I had two choices: just ride straight back to the house or take my V-Strom on Mike’s trail. We’re talking here a much heavier and less agile bike than these little dirt bikes I’d been on all day.

No one who knows me will be surprised I chose to take the trail. I mean, the whole point of getting some dirt bike training is so I will be more comfortable and more skilled at riding the V-Strom off pavement.

I was really glad Mike had suggested earlier that I put the bike in one gear and leave it there, avoiding having to even think about the clutch or shifting gears. You can do that on these bikes that rev really low. So off I went, whipping my bike hard around these turns that had seemed tight on a much smaller bike. And doing it. Wahoo! And then there were the times when it became suddenly very evident that this was not a dirt bike, and–most importantly–didn’t have dirt bike tires on it. My V-Strom has tires that are a compromise between full dirt and full street. They lean more heavily toward dirt but they’re not all-out dirt tires.

I counted three times in that run where that rear tire just came totally loose and started spinning out. In each case I dabbed, putting my foot down to keep the lean angle from going too far, and at the same time I goosed the throttle to make it stand up more. Was I thinking this all through in my head? Of course not, it was all just instinct coupled with experience. At times I ran way wide of the trail but no big deal, just head back to it as quickly as possible.

And then we were back at the house. Mike, ever the serious instructor, took another 10 minutes to discuss dirt riding etiquette with me and then I was headed home. And you know, their gravel road was just as simple and non-challenging as it could possibly be. That’s my objective right there.

Biker Quote for Today

A bike makes you a motorcyclist. Attitude makes you a biker.

Along the Peak-to-Peak.

Friday was hazy so the temperature never got up to what had been forecast but it was still nice enough I decided it was time to head for the hills.

I make it a point to just stay out of the hills all winter because even when it’s nice down here on the flatlands it can be cold and icy up there. Of course, if you ride on three wheels like Dom Chang then it doesn’t matter. I don’t, so it does.

I took the V-Strom up Clear Creek Canyon and it was a great day to be out. I didn’t wear any electrics because I figured it was warm enough I wouldn’t need them. That has been a mistake at times in the past but I was confident this time. Traffic was light and I didn’t have anybody behind me. I like not having anybody behind me on roads like that. And the people in front of me were making good time, no laggards.

Reaching Black Hawk it was still warm and I had not even seen snow in the shady areas. A little past Black Hawk and that all changed. Now the shady areas on the north-facing slopes had a lot of snow and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. My legs were getting chilly because all I had there was jeans; on top I had layers.

All the way up Clear Creek Canyon and along the Peak-to-Peak the road was completely clear–no ice, no sand. But by the time I got to where the road down through Golden Gate Canyon peels off from the Peak-to-Peak there was snow everywhere (except on the road) and even cooler temps. I was looking forward to heading down.

And then there was sand in several places on the Golden Gate Canyon road. You’re definitely going to want to take it easy if you go up that road any time soon.

But what a great day it was to be riding up in the hills, nevertheless. Did you know the roads up there have a lot of curves? I’ve been riding down on the prairie the last few months and you don’t see near as many of those down here. Wonder why?

It was especially fun, too, being on the V-Strom. That bike is light and agile and you just zip around those curves. My other bikes are both heavier and just don’t have that feel to them. If I was in a place where I could only have one bike I could have the V and be plenty happy. But I’m glad I’m not in that place.

And then I was getting back near out of the canyon and I passed a guy on a Ural sidecar rig going the other way. I can’t help but wonder, was that you, Dom?

Biker Quote for Today

Meditation doesn’t mean you have to sit still.

Sure there's still snow on the ground but that's no reason not to ride.

OK, I was wrong about our street being clear enough to ride on Tuesday. So I went down the sidewalk again. I’ve got motorcycles that need to be ridden, you know.

I took the Kawi out first, then the Honda, then the Suzuki. There’s more snow predicted for Thursday night and you never know when you’re going to get trapped at home again, and bikes need to run. So I ran them.

It was a warm day but I bundled up and put on my electric gear. The Kawi has good wind protection so I never turned the vest on and while the heated gloves were only set on the lowest setting, I considered turning them off.

The Honda has a lot less protection, just a windshield. Now I was wishing the gloves were set warmer.

Finally, the Suzuki was just about right, enough protection and enough electric warmth.

I also had all the other gear on. While I agree with ATGATT for the most part, the fact is I rarely wear my chaps. But I had them on on Tuesday, along with helmet, gloves, jacket, and boots. ATG. At this time of year you never know when you’re going to hit a bit of ice or gravel or something that is going to put you down. And that was almost exactly what happened.

I was coming north on University Boulevard past DU and was amazed how much new construction is going on along that stretch. It seems every old building for several blocks on the east side of University, south of Evans, has been removed and new multi-story buildings are going up. So there is a good bit of mud on the street from the construction vehicles. No problem, though.

Then I went to turn east on Evans and ran across what I took to be just a wet spot on the street. Wrong. It was a thin layer of mud and my back end swung way, way out to the side. I’m sure the guy behind me was wondering if this guy on this bike was going to fall right in front of him. I was wondering, too.

But the tire caught dry pavement and found traction and then, as I knew it was going to do, it stood up straight and shook the way a bike will do when you high-side. But I was going slowly and did not give it any throttle so I was able to ride it out. That definitely gets your attention, though.

By the time I got back from the third ride more of the street was clear and I only needed the sidewalk for a short distance, but even on Wednesday when I went out again the sidewalk was necessarily part of my route. We’ll see what happens with snow on Thursday.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycles are like girls: It’s always better to have two.

The dirtiest this bike has ever been since I've owned it.

I was out 10 days on this last ride and on almost every single one of them there was at least some dirt to ride. I expected this and that was part of the reason I took the V-Strom.

Now, Kevin has tons of experience on dirt and gravel and Jeff, although he was on a Moto Guzzi Le Mans, “is not allergic to gravel.” Jeff could never be allergic to gravel because he lives up a small side canyon in Idaho where the road goes to gravel long before you get to his driveway and then his driveway itself is much worse gravel than the road. I’m not in a league with either of them, though I hope I’m getting better and it is experiences like this trip that are making me better.

The first time we got off the pavement was when we got a campsite between Alpine Junction and Jackson, up in Wyoming. This was alongside the Snake River in a narrow and steep canyon. It was loose gravel and, as I said, steep, so I was intimidated. But I was also determined and I took it very slowly and carefully and was relieved when we got parked. Then I worried about getting down the next morning.

Getting down, however, turned out to be no problem. Kevin had told me the first time we rode together to keep my hand off the front brake going downhill on loose gravel and I had learned the hard way riding once with Ron Coleman what can happen if you do touch that brake. So I just took things nice and slow while using the rear brake and it was far easier than going up.

Later, after we had been up on the Beartooth, we turned north out of Red Lodge, Montana, headed toward Helena. It was blazing hot so it was no surprise when Jeff, who was in the lead, braked suddenly and turned off down a fishing access road. He has one of these vests that soak up and hold water that evaporates as you ride to keep you cool. He wanted to soak it in the river. Kevin wanted to soak his t-shirt. And being on the V-Strom I just went right along, not the slightest issue at all. It would not have been that way on my Concours. The Connie hates gravel. And there were other pull-offs like this that were too small and numerous to mention.

A couple days later we arrived at Jeff’s so I got to ride up to his house and yes, I had a little apprehension, but made it fine. I also had some apprehension about leaving the next day but that went smoothly, too. I do think I am getting better.

Two days after that Kevin and I were heading back to Colorado and we camped up a side canyon in Utah. The road turned to gravel–no problem–and after we set up camp we wanted to run up the road to see more of this gorgeous canyon and where the road went. Where the road ended in a turnaround loop it was the roughest piece of dirt we encountered the whole trip. This was stuff that threw you around harshly and we also rode through some water and some mud. I’ve been through water before but never mud. So I didn’t know what to expect.

I just hit it with some speed and tried to keep the front straight and rode it through. No big deal. And I got the bike dirtier than it has ever been since I’ve owned it. In fact Kevin’s bike didn’t get anywhere near as dirty as mine did and we’re not quite sure why that was. But I’m a little proud of that mud and haven’t gotten around to washing it off yet.

Riding out of that canyon was our last run off the pavement. Out of my 3,053 miles on this trip it all added up to less than 53 miles but whatever it was it was more miles than the OFMC ever rides off pavement. I like having a chance to ride with other guys as well as with the OFMC. This was a good trip.

Biker Quote for Today

A bike in the dirt is worth two on the pavement.

Kevin coming down into the Flaming Gorge area.

I left to go on a motorcycle trip with Kevin very suddenly. Kevin has a way of calling and making me offers I can’t refuse. One time he called out of the blue and asked, “Do you want to buy a V-Strom?” So I did.

Last week Kevin called and told me he was meeting a friend from Boise at the Flaming Gorge and they were just going somewhere north. Would I like to join them? Well here I am in Cooke City, Montana, so you guess what my answer was.

The whole idea just thrilled me. It would be just like the early days of the OFMC: three guys, no plans, frequent camping. I have missed those trips for as long as it has been that we’ve had way too many guys on the OFMC trip to be able to just roll into some small town and expect to find enough motel rooms.

I rode to Grand Junction on Friday to spend the night at my brother’s, and then Kevin and I met up at the City Market in Fruita on Saturday morning. We rode on up over Douglas Pass, caught US 40 west at Dinosaur, turned north at Vernal, Utah, and cruised to the Flaming Gorge.

Kevin and I are both on our 650 V-Stroms and Jeff showed up later on his Moto Guzzi Le Mans. It was old home week for those guys, having known each other for 40 years, and I soon found myself looking closely for opportunities to get a word in myself.

Up the next morning and we came up with a general idea of heading to the Beartooth Pass. Planning beyond today was forbidden but as a general goal that’s a starting point. We’ll head in that direction. We cruised north into Wyoming, crossed over into Idaho, and ran up some roads none of us had ever been on. Heading back into Wyoming, to the Star Valley, there was the sweetest campground on this pass and we were all tempted. But we didn’t have any food so we needed to press on, even if we came back.

We reached a store and got food and beverages but decided to push on past Alpine Junction to some campgrounds the map showed along the Snake River. We ended up high up the canyon wall on a road of loose gravel that our V-Stroms are made for. As for Jeff’s Guzzi, as Kevin told me early on, “he’s not allergic to gravel.” He’s actually a heck of a lot better on gravel than I am.

So that made it Monday. We cruised on up to Estes Park, passed through Grand Teton and on into Yellowstone. We weren’t really there to see the park but both of those guys had to pay $25 to get in so we might as well do some touristing. (Of course, my senior pass got me in free. Jeff now has something to look forward to when he turns 62 next year.)

We exited the northeast entrance to the to Silver Gate and Cooke City and found a sign telling us that none of the campgrounds in the area allowed tent camping. The girl at the store in Cooke City told us someone got messed up by a bear several years ago and they still haven’t gotten past that. So it was time for a motel. Which is why I now have wi-fi.

Tomorrow we ride the Beartooth. From there the plan is to go north heading toward Missoula and Lolo Pass. We don’t know how long it will take us to get there or where we’ll be staying, but it’s a direction. The OFMC used to be like this. Now I get to be here and in another three weeks after I get home I’ll go out with the OFMC boys on that trip. The summer is shaping up very nicely.

Biker Quote for Today

Adventure is what happens when you thought you were going to have a good time.