No Transponders For Motorcycles In Colorado

October 17th, 2016
By law, motorcycles are free to use HOV lanes at no charge.

By law, motorcycles are free to use HOV lanes at no charge.

This email I got a few days ago says it all:

Some good news. ABATE worked hard to get this issue resolved. Not that we should have had to, after all CDOT and E470 broke federal Law when they originally started to charge on these highways. But without ABATE being on guard it would have been allowed.

Effective this weekend (October 15, 2016) motorcycles will no longer be charged tolls — with or without a transponder — for using Hwy 36 and the I-25 central and north corridor HOV/HOT lanes.

Humans will be reviewing the system for 90 days to ensure the system is recognizing motorcycles. If you (or anyone you know) gets a Notice of Violation while traveling on these roads via motorcycle beginning October 15th, please notify Bruce immediately so that he can let the E470 authority know of any glitches and get the fee removed.

Just to recap, federal law states that motorcycles use HOV lanes for free at all times. When Colorado set up the new HOV/HOT lane system the set it up so that motorcycles could use the HOV for free but you would still need to get a transponder. And any motorcycle using the lane without a transponder would be sent a bill. So not free, contrary to federal law.

This is why I’m a member of ABATE. Sure, the group has done a few things in recent years that I wasn’t very happy about. I even considered dropping my membership. But a change in leadership has put the group pretty much back on a steady keel now so I continue to belong. This HOV matter is a perfect example of why we need a motorcycle rights organization operating in this state.

Biker Quote for Today

On a motorcycle, happiness isn’t just around the corner, happiness IS the corner.

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Really Nice New Location for BMW of Denver

October 13th, 2016

BMW of Denver must be doing very well. It doesn’t seem like all that long ago that they moved into a new building on Havana not far from me and now they have already moved again into a much bigger, even nicer building.

I had the opportunity to see the new digs on Saturday when that was the ultimate destination for the RMMRC’s Roy’s Mystery Ride. It’s down in the Tech Center area at 10350 E. Easter, just half a block off Havana down there.

First off, the setting itself is much nicer than the old one on Havana. Looking away from the parking lot in one spot what you see is grass and trees and water (see photo). It’s almost like being out in the country while in the city.

And the design of the building is pretty cool. You walk in and overhead there are motorcycles on display on glass balconies. Again, see the photo.

Rather than tell any more, I’ll just show:

The new BMW of Denver

The new BMW of Denver.

BMW of Denver main showroom

The main showroom, not completely set up yet.

Glass balconies

The entryway with one of two glass balconies.

view from BMW of Denver parking lot

One view from the parking lot.

Biker Quote for Today

I believe the machine I sit on can tell the world exactly where I stand.

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Roy’s Mystery Ride

October 10th, 2016

OK, now this is my idea of a group ride.

On Saturday I went on “Roy’s Mystery Ride,” apparently a traditional thing for the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC), my first with the group. There were a number of things I liked very much about this ride.

directions for the ride

The directions show turns and points of interest to watch for.

First off, each rider was sent off individually, spaced a minute apart or more, so there was never a pack. I don’t like riding in a pack. The OFMC rides in a pack and I’ve never been thrilled with that since we grew to more than three or four guys.

The way it worked, each rider was given a sheet of directions (see photo). You follow the directions step by step until you reach the end. The focus of this ride was observation, so you weren’t just looking for the next turn, you were also looking for some odd stuff along the way.

Effectively, what this meant for a single rider was that you had to stop and consult the directions frequently. I was able to retain two or three–at most four–items ahead and then I had to stop again and look at the sheet. This resulted in a lot of leap-frogging as one rider would pass another who was stopped to look at the sheet, and even a small congregation at one particular spot where you needed to park and look off in the distance for the particular point of interest. So we were sort of a group but also very separate.

The ride itself was really fun. We went down so many roads I had never been on, through some beautiful country, and I loved it. Basically, we did a lot of miles through the Black Forest area each of I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs. This is mostly up on the Palmer Divide and I had no idea there was that much forest east of I-25. I want to look at a satellite photo of this area to really get an appreciation of how extensive it is. It’s like being in the mountains but you’re not in the mountains.

Think about it this way: We’ve all been down I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs. And we’ve all been down CO 83 between them, too. Now go another set of roads to the east. They exist and they are sweet. Who knew?

The ride started at the pretty new Performance Cycle location ultimately ended up at the new BMW of Denver location. BMW of Denver just opened in their new location on Oct. 1 and they were having a blow-out intro on Saturday: food, band, showing the place off.

Once everyone had arrived and had time to get a bite to eat, Roy called us all together to hand out the door prizes. As it turned out, there were more prizes than there were participants. That meant everyone got something, and all the prizes were of greater value than the $10 registration fee we had each paid to participate. What’s not to like about something like that?

So far I’m definitely liking being a member of this group.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s ride o’clock somewhere.

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Ride Planning

October 6th, 2016
motorcycles on the road

Some trips really do require planning. Others you just get on the bike and go.

At my second meeting tonight of the the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) the discussion was about ride planning and the rides the group has planned for next year. This is a group that does some serious rides but sometimes they get even more serious.

Specifically, the word is that Roy, the group’s safety coordinator, has a professional background in tour planning and he is organizing a 35-day ride to Nova Scotia. Ooooh my goodness! I could do that. Of course there are all kinds of considerations.

Several of the folks were very clear that, hey, they’re not retired, and there is no way they can take that kind of time. Nevertheless, Sean and Sara plan to go; he’ll trailer the bike to Ontario so as to make good time and she’ll fly out and meet him, and then fly home. And other people have similar ideas to take part in at least some of that ride.

Someone else mentioned how a trip like that could be very costly. By the time you figure motels, food, and gas–not to mention any other incidental expenses–this will not be inexpensive. I mean, motels alone, if you figure sharing a room and each paying $50 per night, would be $1,750. Costs will vary depending on how high your standards are for accommodations. Mine are fairly low; I would prefer to do something like that and spend most nights camping. Then you might get down to around $600-$700 for accommodations, figuring at least a few nights in motels.

So we’ll see. The idea of doing something like that is very tempting but this sort of thing may be the true test for me as to what sort of involvement I’m going to have with this group. Spending 35 days with a possibly sizeable group in a fairly structured situation may not be what I’m up for. Now, if I could get several of these guys together to do a less formal four person ride or something like that, that would really get my attention. Especially if they like to camp, too.

But I’m not ruling anything out just yet. I’ll play it all by ear.

So because ride planning was the topic of discussion, Sara went over a slide presentation about the elements to consider if you are interested in planning a ride for the group. Or for any group. The RMMRC has a page on their website with some good info on ride planning. The presentation she used can be found there. Considerations such as, is this a day trip or a multi-day trip? Is the destination what’s important or is the ride itself the most important? (Heck, it’s always the ride, isn’t it?)

And of course, food. Noting that for her, food is always one of the very most important parts of the ride, she said she’s planning a food-day ride for next year. I’ll be interested to learn more about that one.

In the meantime, I’ll be joining the group on a ride for the first time on Saturday. More about that after it happens.

Biker Quote for Today

And then God said “Let there be beautiful, passionate, irresistable, crazy women who take no crap.” So he created biker chicks.

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Riding In The Boonies

October 3rd, 2016
Motorcycle at Gates of Lodore

One of the Beemers.

Judy and I just got back from a 10-day road trip (nope, by car) and we spent a lot of time in the boonies. The car has the serious dirt to confirm it.

And you know what? A lot of these way-out-there spots we were in we saw people on motorcycles.

For instance, we were up at the Gates of Lodore, which is in Dinosaur National Monument, up at the far northeast corner of the monument almost to Wyoming. The road to get there is not paved.

That didn’t discourage four guys from Colorado Springs who came rolling into the campground our second day there.

Leading the way was a guy on a KLR 650. Judy made note as he went by that he must be really tall because his knees were sticking way out to the side. The other three were on various Beemers, one of them so loaded you might have thought the guy was going around the world. They were a couple adventure-type bikes and what I took to be a GS 850.

So of course I had to go over and talk with them.

Judy was right. The guy on the KLR must have been 6-foot-4 at least and sitting on the bike with his feet on the ground he looked like I would look sitting on a scooter.

He told me that in the beginning they all had KLRs but one by one the other guys went to Beemers. He stuck with the KLR because it was light and he had no problem going lots of places where the other guys didn’t want to go. So he’ll sometimes take off and meet up with them again later, much as I like to do when I ride with the OFMC on my V-Strom and they don’t want to take their Harleys (and Indian) off pavement.

These guys had left Colorado Springs two days before and had spent one night at one guy’s condo in Frisco. The second night two of them got a motel in Meeker while the other two camped at Maybell. I’m guessing the heavily loaded guy was one of the campers.

The group was headed to the Flaming Gorge and I had not realized there were roads going through on up to Dutch John. Sort of. The road out of Maybell, CO 318, is paved to the state line and then Browns Park Road is gravel. You have to follow that all the way up into Wyoming to WY 373 coming down from Rock Springs along the east side of Flaming Gorge. Then go south to Dutch John on what becomes U.S. 191 once it gets into Utah. Probably about 30 miles on gravel.

And then they’d head home after a couple days at the gorge. Life is good when you and your buddies have motorcycles.

Biker Quote for Today

Never let your free spirit get trapped in a cage.

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Examiner Resurrection: Touring Utah Canyon Country On Motorcycle

September 29th, 2016

This is another Examiner.com resurrection, dating from June 2009.

motorcyclists at Red Canyon in Utah

Riders taking a break at Red Canyon.

“Spectacular” is the word to describe the canyon country of southern Utah, and the best of it is completely accessible on a motorcycle. And no, I’m not talking dual sport. I mean Harley/Honda luxotourers.

Get here via whatever route suits you, we’re just going to cover Utah 12 and Utah 63, which goes down into Bryce Canyon National Park.

Heading east from the junction with U.S. 89, Utah 12 very quickly enters Red Canyon. Here you get just an inkling of what you’ll find at Bryce Canyon, but Red Canyon is incredibly beautiful all on its own.

Continue east until you reach the turn-off for Utah 63, which heads south a few miles before entering the national park. There are a couple motels just north of the park and they have restaurants that are open until 10 p.m. If you’re the camping sort, there are campgrounds inside the park, and back at Red Canyon as well.

The entrance fee for the park is $12 for motorcycles, unless you’re a grey-hair and have your Golden Age Pass.

We found the best thing to do was to run all the way to the end of the road without stopping and then make all your stops on the way back north. The reason is, all the view areas are on the east side and this lets you avoid pulling in and out across oncoming traffic. Of course, the entire road through the park is well-maintained asphalt.

Taking this approach, your first stop will be Rainbow Point. The view, on a clear day, is more than 100 miles. You’re at a towering height and it’s like the whole world is laid out at your feet.

Working your way back to the north, there are small, unnamed view areas and bigger, named view areas. Not surprisingly, the views are more spectacular at the named spots. That’s not to say the smaller spots are not worth stopping at.

The further north you get the most the view becomes one of towering, multi-colored hoodoos, as they’re called. These are the pinnacles that stand tall as the areas around them erode away. Not a true canyon, Bryce Canyon has been formed primarily by water seeping into cracks in the rock, freezing, and forcing the crack wider and wider, while the chips that break off get washed away.

Finally, back near the north end of the park, is the ring of view areas named Sunset, Sunrise, Inspiration, and Bryce Points. This is the best spot to get off the bikes and actually hike down into the canyon. The shortest loop, six-tenths of a mile, is Navajo Trail Loop. For a bit longer hike, take the Queen’s Garden trail from Sunset Point over to Sunrise Point, about 1.6 miles. There’s a lot of down and then a lot of up, so be sure to wear decent walking shoes and carry water. Don’t be surprised if it rains a bit while you’re walking, but usually the coolness and wet is welcome.

Then you’re on your way again. Panguitch, about 7 miles north of Utah 12 on U.S. 89 is a nice place to stop for the night, with numerous attractive motels, a grocery store, gas stations, and restaurants.

Enjoy the ride, but enjoy the stops, too.

Biker Quote for Today

I love to ride. I hate to arrive.

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