A Ride On The Prairie

March 3rd, 2016
Patty Ann's Cafe

I strongly recommend Patty Ann's Cafe in Kiowa.

We’ve had such great weather that I suspect even people who normally put their bikes away for the winter have been out riding. I suspect riding is even possible in the mountains, whereas I normally don’t ever go up there at this time of year. Maybe I’ll give it a shot soon but so far I’ve stuck to the flatlands.

That means going out on the prairie if you’re going to go more than just around the neighborhood, so I headed out east on Jewell, which has become my go-to route out of town. It turns to gravel just east of Gun Club Road but it’s good, hard-packed gravel, and besides, I was on the Honda, which does OK on gravel.

I reached the T intersection at Watkins Road and turned south to Quincy, another T intersection. I had been at that point numerous times, going both directions, but had never gone further east on Quincy. It was time.

I didn’t know what to expect–I was just exploring. But I figured if I found a place to turn south I could work my way to Kiowa or Elizabeth. I just didn’t know how far I’d have to go before I would find that road south.

I came to Tom Bay Road (ever heard of that?) and it looked possible but after I made the turn I saw it went to dirt right away and the dirt didn’t look all that great. So I continued east on Quincy. Next came Brick-Center Road and I didn’t even try that one. Someday I suspect these will be as familiar–and paved–as Gun Club Road, Tower Road, and all those. But not yet.

Then I hit Kiowa-Bennett Road and I knew that was my baby. South I went. Not too much out here but a few clusters of mini-mansions and a lot of farming and grazing land. But pretty, in a prairie kind of way.

I got to Kiowa and was glad I was going the direction I was on this route. If I had come out on CO 86 looking to turn north I might have missed it. There’s no big intersection or anything; it just looks like any other street in this small town. But it does seem to be a somewhat common route for motorcycles. I passed a fair number going the other direction. I’m guessing they gather at the Stagecoach in Franktown and head east, then north, before turning back west to town. The opposite of what I was doing.

At this point I was ready for lunch and Kiowa had a selection of places to eat. Patty Ann’s Cafe had a sign saying “Bikers Welcome” so I went in there. What a good choice! It appears that all their food is prepared from scratch and it has real flavor. I just got a bowl of soup but it was no little bowl. It had to have been at least twice as much as most restaurants serve as a bowl. Plus, it came with fresh-baked biscuits. Yum!

From there it was back west through Elizabeth to Franktown. Then north on CO 83 through Parker and back to Denver. What a great day to be out on the bike.

Biker Quote for Today

She said “the bike or me.” Decision made.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides | No Comments »

HOV Lane Bill For Motorcycles Advancing

February 29th, 2016
HOV lane sign

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

Stump is the lobbyist at the state capitol for ABATE of Colorado and he has been busy. It looks as though this whole issue with motorcycles being required to have transponders to use HOV lanes will be resolved soon. I’m just going to paste in Stump’s latest email on the topic.
___________________________________

This week was another busy week down at the Capitol. HB16-123 (HOV / Transponders) is more involved than I originally thought. The part of concern to us, motorcycles needing transponders, is the easy part. Everyone involved, CDOT, HPTE, Senators, and even opponents of the bill at the Senate Transportation Committee Hearing, understand that motorcycles are HOV per Federal Regulations. The discussion now is, “How do we go about giving motorcycles “free access” to the HOV lanes?”

The rest of the bill about switchable transponders is a lot more complicated. The bill was scheduled for 2nd reading on the Senate floor on Tuesday, 2/23. It got laid over to Thursday, 2/25. I talked to a few Senators on Wednesday, 2/24, to get a feel for the bill. I’ve heard in the past that a bill is sometimes laid over if the sponsor feels he doesn’t have enough votes to carry the bill. That morning there was also a meeting with CDOT, HPTE, and a few Senators. After much discussion, a compromise was offered by CDOT, but not accepted by the sponsor. (I wasn’t at the meeting so I don’t know the exact offer). Wednesday afternoon, I did have a meeting with Senator Todd, Scott Spendlove (lobbyist for HPTE & E-470), and Andy K. (lobbyist for CDOT). While a lot of the discussion was about the bill, all of us agreed that motorcycles shouldn’t need transponders. Scott said he would take the issue directly to the Director of HPTE and work on a solution. Sen. Todd emphatically stated she wants this done ASAP and if it isn’t handled soon and SB16-123 gets killed, she would sponsor a bill specifically about motorcycles not needing transponders.

So on Thursday, 2/25, the bill was read on the Senate floor. Senators Lundberg, Jones, and Neville gave some very strong arguments in support of the bill. (The bill wants to get rid of the switchable transponders and go back to how the HOV / HOT lanes operated before July 22, 2015). Senators Todd and Heath opposed the bill. After much discussion and confusion about the ramifications of the bill, it was voted to lay over the bill till Tuesday, 3/1. There’s a meeting on Monday, 2/29, with the same people that met Wednesday morning. Since the motorcycle’s issue seems to be separate and already agreed upon, I wasn’t invited to the meeting. I’m sure there will be more compromises offered. FYI, I talked to Andy on Thursday and he said he’d send me an e-mail to the effect that CDOT is working on a solution to the motorcycle / transponder issue. (I haven’t gotten it yet).

There’s other bills happening but I just wanted to bring you up to date on SB16-123. I’ll let you know what happens next week and if we need to contact our Representatives.

Stump

Biker Quote for Today

The only date I need has two wheels, can be full on under $10, always goes all the way, and definitely screams on top.

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Posted in ABATE, Biker Issues, Motorcycle legislation | 1 Comment »

Give And Take On AMA Tilt To The Right

February 25th, 2016
Rob Dingman

Rob Dingman, president and CEO of the AMA.

I mentioned before that I had sent comments to the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) protesting the apparent rightward political tilt the organization has been taking lately. Specifically, I’m unhappy with their ongoing characterization of President Obama’s creation of national monuments, via the Antiquities Act, as “side-stepping Congress.” Congress passed that act specifically to give all presidents exactly that power. How is it side-stepping Congress if you follow the guidelines of a law created by Congress?

Twice I went to the web page on the AMA’s site where you can send the organization a message. And I sent messages. That page has a check box titled “I would like a reply.” Both times I checked it and neither time did I get a reply. And I kept watching the magazine to see if they would continue using that term.

When the latest issue arrived earlier this week it was there again, so this time I sent an email directly to Rob Dingman, president and CEO of the organization. Here’s that email.

Rob, I have two big bones to pick with you and the AMA, and I’m coming to you because no one else even replies to me.

And that’s the first one. I have sent two letters to the organization (http://www.americanmotorcyclist.com/contact) and in both cases I checked the box that says “I would like a reply.” I haven’t gotten any replies and neither of my letters made it into the magazine. If you’re going to have that checkbox there it seems to me at the very least that someone should reply to the member’s question. And I know for a fact that I’m not the only one who has not gotten replies.

The other issue is what I was writing about the other two times. I was writing in protest of your ongoing characterization in the pages of American Motorcyclist of President Obama’s use of the Congressionally created Antiquities Act as “sidestepping Congress.” I said then, and I say it now, that characterizing Obama’s actions, which are no different than that of many previous presidents, employing a law passed by Congress, as “sidestepping Congress,” smacks very strongly of right-wing partisanship, which has no place in a national organization whose membership spans the political spectrum.

In two consecutive issues that language was used three times. There was no such language in the February issue, but now the March issue has arrived and there you go again. On behalf of all of us in this organization who are not rabid right-wingers I implore you to STOP IT!

Now, I do see in the release sent out the other day that you are focusing more on the fact that establishing national monuments by executive fiat is legal based on the Antiquities Act, and you are now working to amend that legislation. So maybe our protests have been heard and at least sort of responded to. That’s a step forward. I want you to know right now that, as a member, I do not support this effort on the part of my organization. Just FYI. But I’m not going to quarrel over that. I do ask that you totally cease this ongoing use of the term “sidestepping Congress.” Let’s at least stick to the truth, OK?

And yes, I would like a reply to this email. Thank you.

Well, I got a reply this time. Not from Rob, but from Pete TerHorst, who does public relations work for the AMA, and who I’ve known for a number of years and have always been on very good terms with.

I won’t paste in Pete’s entire reply as it is quite long. But here are two pertinent remarks:
– The AMA strives to be non-partisan and apolitical in its advocacy on behalf of motorcyclists. Certainly it does not help the cause to divide the relatively small number of riders in the U.S. (compared to automobile/SUV drivers) into even smaller groups when we are trying to persuade our legislators and regulators that the AMA represents all motorcyclists.

– We do indeed believe that the current administration, and others before it, has exercised inappropriate authority — in effect, sidestepping Congress — when designating national monuments.

I’d like to believe that there is no such intent as there appears to be–not just to me but to other AMA members. But then there’s this, from a comment on that previous blog post:

Adding to this is the recent hiring of one person directly from the Heritage Foundation and one from the House Select Committee on Benghazi (a GOP witch-hunt) into their government relations staff. Adding Wayne Allard alone should have sent a clear signal, though.

I want my organization to be non-partisan. I’m not a Republican or a Democrat. I’m an independent because I have a very low regard for both parties. But if nothing else, the AMA seems to be tone-deaf. This continual complaint about Obama’s “side-stepping Congress” is a pitch-perfect echo of what comes out of the Republicans on a daily basis. And those hires. If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck . . .

I suggest the AMA pay a lot more attention to that first bullet I pulled from Pete’s reply, the one about not dividing riders into even smaller groups. Because right now that’s exactly what they’re doing.

Biker Quote for Today

Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba — HST

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Ride Videos Up And Down Lookout Mountain

February 22nd, 2016

I’m still experimenting using my new GoPro camera, and with the great weather we’ve been having I’ve been out. The first test I did was a simple ride over the top of Cherry Creek Dam, with the camera mounted on my helmet. Next I decided I wanted to try it with the camera mounted on the fairing of my Concours.

I also wanted to try out the time-lapse function because I can’t believe many people are going to want to watch a 45-minute video going over some pass. But they might watch a 2-minute time-lapse version of that. What would that time-lapse be like? I wanted to find out.

I selected Lookout Mountain. With the camera on the fairing I shot time-lapse going up and regular video coming down. See here for yourself how it turned out:

Time Lapse Going Up

Regular Video Coming Down

So you can see, the time-lapse goes pretty fast. That was shot at one frame every half second and that’s the fastest rate possible. I’d like to have done in something like maybe eight frames per second so it would be a bit smoother and also not such a race to the top. But you work with the technology you’ve got.

I also wasn’t thrilled that much of what you might see in the mountainside view is blocked by the guard rail. I’m thinking the top of the helmet would have been better, to see over the rail. The view, in this case, is mostly down. Going through Glenwood Canyon the fairing might be good because there the view would be mostly up. That’s why I’m experimenting.

Ultimately I’d like to get video going over every pass in the state that I have included on the website, plus every canyon, and add them on those web pages. That means I’m going to have to ride all of them again! What a dirty job. But I’ll do it. That’s just the kind of guy I am.

Biker Quote for Today

Did you hear about the guy who got a motorcycle for his wife? Pretty good swap don’t you think? (OK, this one is going to get me in trouble with my wife. I don’t really agree with the idea but I still thought it was worth a chuckle.)

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides | No Comments »

HOV Lane Bill Advances

February 18th, 2016
Tiger Chandler testifies

Tiger Chandler speaks to the Senate Transportation Committee.

A 4-1 favorable vote bodes well for an effort to resolve the issue of motorcyclists being assessed fees and fines for using high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in Colorado. Federal law mandates that motorcycles are always considered HOV but current practice here requires that you have a transponder on your bike or else you will receive a bill in the mail.

Senate Bill 16-123 was passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee Thursday and will move to the Senate Committee of the Whole. The only no vote, from Sen. Nancy Todd, was cast with the statement that if the bill had only addressed the motorcycle issue it would also have been a yes. As it is, the bill, introduced by Sen. Kevin Lundberg, calls for any vehicle that is permitted in an HOV lane be permitted without being required to have a transponder.

Testimony opposing this bill was based primarily on the practical challenges of using a single lane for HOV, rapid transit (buses), and tolled traffic (HOT). Representatives from the Denver Regional Council of Governments, Boulder/Boulder County, and the High-Performance Transportation Enterprise, which operates the tolling system, expressed concern about loss of revenues to pay for the new lanes on US 36 and suggested if the bill passes the ultimate result will be the elimination of HOV lanes entirely.

Alone among them, Matthew Applebaum, representing the interests of Boulder, suggested that the issue might be resolved by not requiring people signing up for transponders who express no intention of using the toll lanes to make the current $35 deposit to cover any fees incurred. He said the $15 for the transponder would be saved in one trip on the Boulder Turnpike and so did not suggest offering the transponders for free.

Motorcycles already can get transponders for free but they still have to give a credit card or bank account and have the $35 deposit drawn.

Bruce Downs, state coordinator for ABATE of Colorado, argued that even free transponders for motorcycles is not sufficient because it does not eliminate the situation where, for instance, an out-of-state rider might use the HOV lane and find an unpleasant surprise in their mailbox afterward. He said Virginia has addressed this issue by installing cameras that are capable of distinguishing motorcycles and ignoring them.

Deb “Tiger” Chandler, who represents the US Defenders and the Coalition of Independent Riders, asked why the motorcycling community had not been included in discussions leading up to this new system long before it was put into place.

Sen. Lundberg acknowledged that as the bill continues its path through the legislature it is likely that amendments will be made and those amendments could resolve some of the valid concerns of those currently opposing the bill.

This bill is still a long way from becoming a law but the response in the Senate Transportation Committee suggests that motorcyclists can reasonably hope for resolution of the issue that concerns them, even if that resolution is not found in this particular bill.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride as though you are invisible, not invincible.

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Posted in Motorcycle legislation | 1 Comment »

Lane-Splitting Bill Killed

February 17th, 2016
Hearing on lane-splitting

ABATE State Coordinator Bruce Downs speaks to the committee in support of the bill.

Lane-splitting in Colorado met with defeat on Wednesday, though in a way that possibly bodes well for future attempts.

Dying on a 5-8 vote in the Transportation and Energy Committee, House Bill 16-1205, which would have legalized lane-splitting, was noted to be a non-partisan bill but the vote was on party lines just the same. One Republican joined the Democrats in defeating it. But sponsor Gordon Klingenschmitt was please afterward that it had received as many votes as it did. We just have to keep working at it.

Reservations expressed by several of the representatives focused largely on a lack of comprehensive data to back up the existing data that seem to show that lane-splitting is safer than sitting in traffic because it reduces the likelihood of motorcyclists getting rear-ended.

Max Tyler, the committee chairman, argued that California experience with lane-splitting does not equate to Colorado because California has a mandatory helmet law. Another representative, Daneya Esgar, noted that she is “constantly worried” when her mother and the mother’s husband ride, not for what they might do but for what other drivers might do. Faith Winter expressed her concern that lane-splitting would be permitted on roads other than major highways. None of the opponents expressed any willingness to be the first state to officially legalize lane-splitting. Although it is not illegal in California, neither is it officially permitted and a bill to do that has been stalled for a long time.

Dave Hall, of the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), expressed that agency’s opposition to the bill. He, too, suggested CSP would be amenable to the possibility if further evidence could be developed that authoritatively supported the safety claim.

Rep. Klingenschmitt summed up his argument saying this is one of those rare times when liberty and safety are not in conflict. Allowing riders this freedom would also help make them safer, he said. However, this time at least, his argument was not enough.

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Posted in Motorcycle legislation | No Comments »

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