Passes & Canyons Blog

Well I did it. I’ve been talking for some time now about how, with activity and membership in the RMMRC declining, I needed to step up and take on some of the organizing. With the weather forecast for Thursday looking positively fabulous I set up a ride and posted it on the site. Nothing special, just an easy ride out to Kiowa for lunch at Patty Ann’s, an RMMRC favorite.

I did this on Wednesday so it meant that there was not a lot of lead time. It also meant that anyone with a day job was out of luck. But it couldn’t wait for the weekend; the weather was in for a huge change for the worse.

The first thing I did after posting the ride was to call Roy and give him the word. Roy is perhaps the only person in three states who does not use a computer these days so the only way to inform him was to call. Plus, I knew he would spread the word further.

Roy regretted to tell me that his bike is not in running order so he would not be coming, but he promised to pass the word along immediately. He noted that he had just talked with Bob not long ago and Bob was looking to do a ride on Thursday as well. Great. It might just be me and Bob but hey, we’re riding.

On Thursday I headed over to the meeting spot a little early with the intention of sticking around a while. Typically when RMMRC rides get posted they give a gathering time and a time 15 minutes later for kick stands up. I had not done that. Being a lunch ride I just said meet here at 11 a.m. I got there at 10:50.

There were no bikes there when I pulled in so I parked in a prominent spot and started scanning the roads for other bikes. Eleven o’clock came and went with nobody else arriving, and at 11:15 I was still the only one. I decided to give it five more minutes.

At 11:20 I concluded it was just me but by golly I was going for a ride. And it was a gorgeous, warm day!

I could have just gone anywhere since it was just me but I figured Patty Ann’s still sounded good. Plus, maybe Bob had found someone else to ride with and they had not wanted to start as late as 11 but perhaps they would also shoot to be at Patty Ann’s around noon. Or someone else could just show up there on their own. As I said, Patty Ann’s is a popular spot in the RMMRC.

So I headed out down Parker Road, picked up Hilltop Road, and continued south on Flintwood Road as Hilltop arced off to the east. I hit CO 86 and turned east. Coming into Kiowa I was eager to see if any other bikes were parked outside Patty Ann’s but there were none. Oh well. I’m going to have a good lunch.

And I did. It used to be, in many of our opinions, that the best things on the menu here were the Mexican items. Patty Ann’s had killer green chile. But for unknown reasons, awhile back they revised their menu and eliminated all the Mexican items. Dang. But they still have a bunch of other good things on the menu.

I ordered the chicken, apple, walnut salad and it was terrific. I’m no restaurant critic but that chicken was beautifully prepared and the whole thing was really good. I’ve thought for a long time I ought to ride out here with Judy for lunch some day, and when we do it’s pretty likely at least one of us will order this.

So I sat and ate and once my ears perked up at the sound of a bike but they must have just been going by because no one came in. And when I was leaving there were still no other bikes parked out front.

My ride home was 86 to Franktown, Parker Road (CO 83) north to Broncos Parkway and on in. By the time I was getting back into the metro area it was so warm I turned my electric vest off. That’s how nice a day it was. All along the way I saw six other bikers out but boy, there should have been a lot more. You people are missing out.

And now it’s 15 degrees out there with Monday forecast to have a high of 7. Yikes!

OK. My first time organizing an RMMRC ride went great for everyone who came. Maybe next time that won’t be just me.

Biker Quote for Today

Under my ass or in my garage. (Where I keep my motorcycle.)

You never know at this time of year when you’ll be able to ride so you take advantage when you can. That’s what I did on Wednesday.

Isn’t it funny how your tolerance of the weather adjusts with the weather. In September a day in the 40s seems really cold. Now here we are in January and I thought, “Wow, it’s in the 40s. What a great day to ride!”

I hadn’t been on the V-Strom in a while so it was time it had its turn. I had no plans to go far, just making sure to get in a ride on each bike in January.

Heading southeast I crossed the Cherry Creek Dam and the reservoir told a tale of the weather. Frequently, long before this time of winter the lake will be completely frozen. But it has been warm–until the last couple weeks–so while most of the lake had ice there were small portions that were open. Then I noticed that the freezing was very spotty with a lot of little bits of water amid big sections of ice. I’ve never seen it in this stage of near-freeze before. And with the temperature expected to take a serious plunge in just a couple days, by next week it could all be ice.

I headed out on Parker Road, all the way down to Parker and then turned west on Main Street. For some reason, as soon as I turned west it seemed the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Not at all sure why.

I was totally geared up, with one of my heated gloves set to the lowest setting and the other to the number 2 setting. I’m always experimenting to see what difference something like that makes. Well, in this case, my fingertips in the lowest setting glove were getting darn chilly, so when I stopped to shoot that photo above I bumped it up. That felt good.

It was a pretty uneventful ride but I did see one other rider out. Plus, I had seen another one earlier when I was out in my car. Some people know a good day to ride when they see it. Back at home I felt like the ride was too short. How nice to go out in the middle of winter and wish you had stayed out longer and ridden further. You gotta love Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycling is an endless opportunity to accessorize.

The Colorado legislature is now in session and there will be a few bills of interest to motorcyclists this session.

Perhaps the one most directly of interest to bikers is a recommendation to sunset the MOST program. But in the meantime the legislature wants to take the money we have paid in for rider safety training and direct it to the general fund. A little background is in order here.

The Motorcycle Operator Safety Training program was created quite a few years ago in part to deflect the desire of some groups to mandate helmet use in Colorado. The argument was, and continues to be, that greater overall road safety and fewer crashes are better than safer crashes. Which is to say, you can still die in a crash even if you’re wearing a helmet but nobody ever died from having a safe ride.

So motorcyclists in the state supported imposition of an extra fee added to our vehicle registrations each year to fund a rider safety program. Now here’s something I did not know. I only learned this just now as I was reading the 2023 MOST annual report.

The CO MOST program is funded by a $2 surcharge for motorcycle endorsements on a driver’s license or provisional driver’s license, and a $4 surcharge on a motorcycle registration.

I thought we paid $2 each for every motorcycle registration we filed, and that was all. So while I thought with two bikes I would be paying $4 per year to MOST, in fact I must pay $8, and then an additional $2 whenever I renew my driver’s license. OK, not going to break the bank, but definitely worth being aware of.

In the earlier years the MOST program provided a subsidy to rider safety training programs to lower the cost the rider paid for the training. Over the years, however, things got twisted a bit so that now the money is spent only on things like highway signs and program administration and I’m not sure what else but money does not go to defray the cost of rider training. Funny. Car drivers don’t pay extra with their registrations for road signs.

It seems the only true benefit new riders (and only new riders) get is that if you take the Basic Rider Course and pass, the riding test that is part of the training counts toward getting your motorcycle accreditation so you only need to go to the DMV to pay the fee and pass the written test.

So now, from what I hear from Stump, the ABATE of Colorado legislative liaison, the legislative committee involved with such things has recommended that MOST be sunsetted for nine years. Colorado has a sunset law whereby programs are periodically reviewed and recommended for continuance or termination. What surprised me about what Stump said was that apparently this sunsetting is not necessarily permanent, it is only for three years. Really? But in the case of MOST the recommendation is to sunset it for nine years.

Which is to say the committee apparently has serious reservations. Stump told me in the program’s accounting approximately $100,000 is unaccounted for, although it was not clear to me if he meant the program has failed to account for that much of its funding or the committee failed to account for it in its review. Whichever it is, they say let’s sunset MOST.

Considering that MOST no longer does what seems like it’s most important job–lowering the cost of rider safety training–my opinion is that it should be allowed to sunset. And the fees we pay should be suspended. Can you imagine if the program continues and we continue to pay into it and then that money gets turned over to the state general fund? That money is ours. We paid it in for one specific reason. Car drivers do not pay extra for highway safety. If we’re not getting what we’re paying for there is no justification for continuing to collect those fees. And meanwhile, any remaining balance in program funds ought to be spent, I don’t know, how about reducing the cost of rider training?

But no, the nearly $2 million balance looks mighty attractive to a legislature looking to fill a budget shortfall. Let’s steal it from the bikers.

It’s going to be an interesting process. You can bet I’ll be spending some time at the Capitol, and I’ll be telling you all about it. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafés. Non-racers. The emptiness of those lives shocks me.

I kind of outdid myself in the area of low mileage last year. Somewhat to my surprise, I did still put more miles on my motorcycles than I did on my car, but the total of all vehicles was substantially below what in some years I have put on a single bike.

To be specific, I put a total of 3,852 miles on my bikes and 3,102 miles on my car. That’s just a hair under 7,000 miles total. Heck, in 2011 I put 10,004 miles on my Kawasaki Concours. In 2013 I put 9,437 miles on that bike. As recently as 2023 I put 3,866 miles on my V-Strom.

Am I getting to be a big-time homebody? Well, maybe, maybe not. In recent years I had really leaned on the folks at the RMMRC to plan rides and then I’d go along. Those rides have dropped off a lot lately and I need to be the instigator at least on occasion rather than depending on someone else to do the work. I do have a couple day rides in mind for after the weather gets warmer and we can go up in the mountains again.

Also, I would have racked up a bunch more miles if I had been able to go on a multi-day RMMRC ride that I planned to go on, but physical issues just made that impossible. And then the OFMC opted in 2024 for a much shorter ride than in recent years, mostly just staying in Colorado.

Well, the OFMC appears to have run its course so now I also need to turn my planning efforts to a longer ride with the RMMRC. I do have thoughts about that, too–I just need to follow through.

The other thing I’d really like to do is get out for some two- or three-day rides with Judy on behind. The last trip we did together was up to British Columbia but that was years ago. I’m not sure she has even been on a bike in several years. My fault. She’s not going to plan something like that; I need to.

OK Ken, you have your assignment. Now get with it dude!

Biker Quote for Today

Is it time for our post-work motorcycle ride, yet?

Hands-free is now the law in Colorado. At last.

Using your phone–unless it is hands-free–is now prohibited, but the law could be better. It’s still only a secondary offense, meaning the cops can’t stop you just for using your phone but if they stop you for something else they can also fine you for the phone. And if they’re eager to make the point it’s usually not hard to find some primary offense to stop you for, then let you off on speeding (57 in a 55 zone) but give you the ticket for the phone. Be warned. Heck, just hang the damn thing up. Your call is not more important than my life.

Now, did I shoot those photos above while driving? Nope. I have a dash camera and I popped out the memory card when I got home and downloaded those images.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding a motorcycle is unique unto itself and unknowable to the outside world. — Jon Robertson

I looked at the outside thermometer on Tuesday morning (28) and asked myself what I was trying to prove to who? I drove my car to the Last Brass Monkey Run. I knew that on a sunny day with no ice on the road there would be a good number of hard-core folks heading to the Rock Rest on their bikes, but I was not going to be one of them. A final temperature check (36) as I was getting ready to leave made me reconsider but nope, I drove.

ABATE of Colorado’s Last Brass Monkey Run is always promoted as the last ride of the year, and is held on December 31, regardless of the weather. It is held these days at the Rock Rest Lodge in Golden, and I generally go.

So I got there, and yeah, there were bikes parked outside. Oh well. Some people are more hard-core than me. I have ridden some years.

The event used to be an actual poker run but nowadays the poker is set up inside, with games you play to receive your card. I’ve never had even a decent hand at a poker run so I never expect much. But this time was different. I drew three 2s. A pretty low three of a kind but still a three of a kind. Who knows, I might win something.

There are always door prizes as well and in recent years there have been enough door prizes for everyone there to get one. Of course, due to simple reality, someone is destined to be the one with the last ticket drawn. Last year that was me. And my prize was pretty much the dregs of what you might receive.

This year I was not last. When I arrived they were already calling numbers but very soon afterward announced there were stopping the drawing to have lunch. I got some lunch and was sitting with Kathy and Mike, holding ticket number 699. People finished eating and they announced a resumption of the door prize drawings and Mike said “OK Ken, get ready, it’s gonna be 699.” Larry looked at the ticket and called out “699.” No bull.

My prize was OK, nothing great, but really something we had no use for. I didn’t care, I was waiting for the best poker hand.

Larry got up to announce the winners and he said he had never seen such a lousy bunch of poker players. That gave me more hope.

And the top winner was . . . three of a kind 8s. Dang. Well, there is a second place prize as well. Second place was three of a kind 5s. Double dang. My 2s were just too low.

Meanwhile, another Kathy, Larry’s wife, had joined us at our table and remarked how she had hoped to get what I had gotten. I gave it to her.

So it was an enjoyable time, good to see a bunch of folks I don’t see all that often any more since I no longer go to ABATE meetings. Who knows, maybe next year I’ll ride. Maybe.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 51. We pay more for insurance than your car payment.

Judy put into words what I was thinking. “It’s going to be a great day to ride.”

We weren’t the only ones who thought so–I encountered my first other biker less than five blocks from home. And I saw a lot more before I got back.

In fact, with only three days left in 2024, this was likely to be the best of the three. But I’m still planning to ride on Tuesday, to the Rock Rest Lodge, for ABATE of Colorado’s Last Brass Monkey Run.

A couple things to note: Having had one battery in my heated gloves give out on me before I finished my ride last time, this time I set that one to the lowest setting while setting the other at the number 2 setting. Both gave me heat for the whole ride. Also, when I have started the Honda recently it has once again taken to pumping out a huge cloud of blue smoke. I took it in to get that fixed earlier this year but it refused to smoke for them so they didn’t know what to work on. And for a long time after I got it back it did not smoke. Now it’s smoking again. I’ll get a video next time I start it up so they’ll at least have something to go on.

I had gone southeast the last two times I’d been out so this time I figured I’d go southwest. I took Belleview west to University, then south to where, past C-470, it becomes Lincoln Avenue, and then turned south on Quebec. This is the road that leads south to Daniels Park. I continued on south on Daniels Park Road, to US 85 as it runs down toward Castle Rock. I headed northwest, toward Sedalia, finally deciding I wanted to go to Red Rocks.

A straight shot is no fun, though, so when I got to Titan Road I took it west and followed as it dipped south around the south end of Chatfield Reservoir. Then north on Wadsworth to C-470. I followed C-470 to the Morrison exit and got off, went into Morrison and took Mount Vernon Avenue/Hog Back Road up to the entrance to Red Rocks.

Red Rocks is always busy and there is no admission fee except on days when there are concerts scheduled. This day was no exception. I went all the way to the top, to the parking circle at the high end of the amphitheatre, where I recollected that there was primo motorcycle parking. Circling the area I figured there must not be motorcycle parking any more but then spotted it, not actually within the circle but just outside. Great. Time to get off, stretch my legs, and get some photos.

Heading out I went through the park to the south entrance, just west of Morrison, and then south to catch US 285 and follow it east and back home.

This was about my sixth ride in December. What great weather. In the meantime, the mountains have gotten pounded by snow. You’ve got to love living in Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 33. We’re covered in dead bugs. 34. You’re covered in dead bugs.

OK, I’m being lazy again this Christmas Day, just as I was at Thanksgiving this year. No full blown blog post; just best wishes to all for the season. I’ll be back on the job next week.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you really believe that there are bikes that come customized from the factory.