Future Motorcyclists?

May 11th, 2026

I was headed to the grocery store yesterday and saw these three kids on their ebikes. They were waiting for a green light and when it came they started across only to have a person in a car make a right turn on red right in front of them. Hey buddy, pay attention.

I went on to the store and was only there for a couple minutes, then headed home. I turned off this main street where I had seen them and proceeded down this cross street and they came into view again, turning onto the street I was now on. I followed them a ways till they turned off at a park. Pulling away from a stop sign you can see one of them doing a wheelie.

What I only thought about later was that all of this was being recorded on my dash camera. That’s the footage you see above. If you can zoom in definitely do so because I couldn’t get my video editing software to do that. And it’s only my second encounter with them that’s in the video.

Anyway, watching these guys I couldn’t help but think about other members of the now defunct OFMC. Our original group was John, Bill, and me. John and Bill have known each other since grade school. When they got into junior high the two of them, plus several other friends, all got scooters, like Cushmans, and they were a gang.

More than once I’ve heard how they would ride their scooters to school on cold days, all bundled up, and stop a block from school, take off hats and gloves, unzip their jackets and pull up at school being totally cool. Of course they had lots of fun on the scooters–who wouldn’t?

They didn’t go right on to motorcycles as they got older but at one point John got the urge. He bought a Yamaha 750 Virago, which prompted me to get my Honda CB750, and then Bill to get his Honda Shadow. And the OFMC was born.

So the gestation period took a while but it finally produced results. How can that not happen with so many of these young guys–and girls!–out there today on these ebikes? Don’t tell me those things are not motorcycles. They are cycles and they have motors. Surely at least some of these kids will get the bug. I hope a whole lot of them do.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you’ve ever stopped at a red light & forgot to put a foot down (sober).

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Posted in Biker Issues, Electric motorcycles, motorcycle video | No Comments »

Touring On The V-Strom

May 7th, 2026


Me on the V-Strom.

I used to have three motorcycles so when it came to riding I could choose the one that would be best for the particular ride. Now I’m down to just one, so that’s no longer a choice.

Apropos to that, Clif made this request: “Now that you’re down to only the Vstrom, I was wondering if you would consider doing a post about how that is working for you on longer trips. Thanks.”

Hey, happy to oblige. Here we go.

In the beginning I had only the 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. When the OFMC went on our annual week-long trips that was the bike I rode. But then in 1999 I bought a new 1999 Kawasaki Concours. That was a fine road bike and became my main touring bike for many years. Some years later I picked up the 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650 but I still favored the Concours for travel because it was just supreme on the highway.

It wasn’t the bike I always took, though. There were a number of years when, for a variety of reasons, I rode one of the others. Like when I was set to leave with the RMMRC on the Great River Road trip in 2022. I went to check my air pressure and found that the valve stem was totally rotted out and would surely have failed somewhere along the way. I quickly transferred all my gear to the V-Strom and headed out.

The thing is, there was never an occasion when I regretted being on the V-Strom. And at times I was really glad I was.

For instance, on the Great River Road trip we were going through some very hilly country in Missouri. Dave was leading and I was right behind him. Dave is a very good rider, on a very big bike. I figured my bike had to be more agile than his, and so anything he could do I should be able to do. So I made a decision to just stick right with him. And I did, and what a great day of riding that was! I don’t normally ride that aggressively, but I did this day. What fun.

Then there was a ride I did, also with the RMMRC, the next year, down into New Mexico and Arizona. I was on the V-Strom again and everyone else was on much bigger bikes. We did some hard riding and several people commented on how “that little bike just kept right up.” Well, yeah, it does just fine. But then there was a day when we were on a super twisty bit of two-lane and as I put it then, I watched all these guys wrestle their big machines through these turns and meanwhile I was dancing. That light, agile bike was a dream.

Now, I will say, the nice thing about the Concours was that I could go high speeds and it just cruised, so smoothly. Going that fast on the little 650 it just feels like the bike is really busy. I get the impression something just a bit bigger might be nice. That’s why I’ve been looking at a couple Yamahas, the FJ-09 and the Tracer 9. At 800cc, either of these bikes would be just enough bigger to be a little smoother without having all that weight that even bigger bikes have.

What has stopped me so far from getting either bike is that I hate buying without actually riding a bike to see how it actually feels for real. I had plans to go up to Cheyenne last fall to test a Tracer but then I got hit on the Honda and was prohibited by my neurosurgeon from driving–much less riding a motorcycle–for 12 weeks. Of course that demo days event was during that 12-week period. Now this year I’m looking at making a road trip out of going to some demo days event somewhere, maybe in Boise. We’ll see.

Meanwhile, I’m quite happy with the V-Strom. It’s a really good little bike.

Biker Quote for Today

“A motorcycle is a bicycle with a pandemonium attachment and is designed for the especial use of mechanical geniuses, daredevils and lunatics.” — George Fitch

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Posted in Honda motorcycles, Kawasaki, motorcycle clubs, motorcycle problems, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club, Suzuki motorcycles, Tales of the OFMC, V-Strom | 2 Comments »

The Wisdom Of Pre-Riding

May 4th, 2026


Riding in the hills.

I’ve had this particular day ride in mind for the RMMRC since before my year’s riding got disrupted last year by my crash on the CB750. Now with the weather getting better and better I figured it’s time. But I also figured it would be a good idea to do the ride myself again first in case any of the roads are torn up or who knows what.

Sunday was warm but cloudy, while the forecast for the coming week was for cooler with rain (we should hope!). Sunday would be my day.

As I usually do when I’m heading this direction I went west on Belleview with thoughts of turning south on Santa Fe. But this was exactly what I was doing when I got hit head-on so I’m still a bit shy of that intersection. Instead, I went under Santa Fe, on to Lowell and then south on Lowell. South of Bowles, Lowell becomes South Platte Canyon Road and that would take me down to C-470. Lowell/South Platte Canyon is a much nicer, far less busy road than Santa Fe anyway so why not?

At C-470 I got on the slab just to the next exit, Wadsworth, and then off and south to the first right turn, Deer Creek Canyon Road. I headed on west into the foothills and was soon being followed by two other riders, none of us with the other. But I turned off Deer Creek Canyon Road onto South Deer Creek Road while they went straight.

South Deer Creek Road goes up that canyon about as far as it can and then starts climbing the side of the canyon, up and over. Lots of switchbacks and slow going. For me at least. Up in the switchbacks I encountered a group of sportbike riders blasting down the other direction. Hey guys, there’s a bit of gravel in the corners here–really? They were followed, at varying gaps, by four more guys who weren’t so gung-ho to scream down this particular bit of road.

I got on up and over and started down, then came to Oehlmann Park Road, which goes up and over another big hill. That was my route and here the turns were tighter, calling for a lot of simultaneous braking and throttle, and there was more sand and gravel. Just take it easy.

Up and over that one and then down to South Turkey Creek Road. I turned right, toward Tiny Town, but then went left at Twin Forks, under US 285, and just a short distance up Turkey Creek Canyon before my next right turn.

Here was why it was good to pre-ride this route: I screwed up. While my brain was saying don’t take the first right, pass it by and take the next one, I went ahead and turned at the first one. Idiot. This was Starlight Drive and all it is is a loop up into a residential area. So that put me right back on Turkey Creek Canyon Road. I went a quarter mile further and made the correct turn, onto High Drive. I won’t make that mistake when I’m leading the group, thanks to having made it now.

Once again it was up and over, along the way passing a deer standing right next to the road. Good reminder; this is deer country. Be aware.

This brought me down into the outskirts of Evergreen, I passed through Evergreen, on down to Kittredge, where I stopped at the place I’m figuring on taking the group for lunch. I needed to make sure what days and what hours it is open and it’s good to have that nailed down. On the last RMMRC ride I went on, up to Estes Park, our destination was a restaurant that is not open on the day of the week that we were there. Oops. I’m not making that mistake.

So I headed on down Bear Creek Canyon to Morrison, south to pick up US 285 going east, and this would be where I normally say “and from there on home” but in this case the story is not finished.

I came across on 285 and was approaching Lowell and smelled burning rubber. Of course my first thought was, is that me? In just an instant I knew it was not, as there was a car pulled over right ahead with smoke pouring out of a wheel well. And then I spotted the tread from that tire, which obviously had come off, still rolling until it rammed into the back end of the stopped car. Like, this just happened a few seconds ago! That was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen in a long time.

And with that, I then cruised on home.

Biker Quote for Today

If you start thinking about a shortcut, you’ll end up taking it. — Walter Colebatch

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club | No Comments »

Wow. Blogging For 20 Years!?

April 30th, 2026


I got a lot of blog posts from my trip to Arizona Bike Week.

I was just scrolling down the home page for this blog to get to the Login link and noticed that I launched this blog in April of 2006. It has been 20 years that I’ve been doing this. Wow.

I didn’t do it regularly back then. Looking at that first month I published on April 8, 11, 12, 13, 18, and 25. Then I read that to be well regarded you needed to publish regularly and the best was three times a week. So I did that for a while but I was also posting then to Examiner.com at least three times a week as well as twice a week to RumBum.com. It was a bit much and I cut back to twice a week and that is what I have done ever since, posting on Monday and Thursday.

You might wonder how many posts that comes out to. I have the answer. This post will be number 1,973. Which means I will soon be celebrating number 2,000. In about 14 weeks to be exact. Of course, that is not as exact as it seems. There have been just a very few posts I have removed for whatever reason. But that’s close enough.

People ask me “How in the world do you keep coming up with ideas of things to write about?” Sometimes it’s really easy and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes I really scrape to find something. My wife has suggested at times that I just skip it and she thinks it’s a little silly that I take posting twice a week, every single week, so seriously. And yeah, I have missed a few. Like when I got hit head-on on my Honda CB750 Custom last year. I was still in the emergency room on Monday.

Most of the time, though, blog topics come easily. I go for a ride and I constantly observe. Many, many times I make an observation that ends up being a post, in addition to a post about the ride itself. When I go on long rides, multi-day rides, I get so many blog post ideas I have to write them down at my first opportunity to keep from forgetting them. And then there are the times, especially in winter, when I fall back on a few standards, such as the thread on Adventure Rider that asks what crazy things you have hit or almost hit while riding.

So what was the first post about back on April 8, 2006? The title was “Passes and Canyons Enters the Blogosphere” and it was pretty much an introduction. I had launched the main website in November 2005 and it had been well received so I was expanding the reach. And I ended it saying, “Thanks for visiting. Come again. Tell your friends. And ride, ride, ride.” That’s just as good an ending now as it was back then. So hey, thanks for visiting. Come again. Tell your friends. And ride, ride, ride.

Biker Quote for Today

I have rarely taken a direct path or a shortcut. Instead, I methodically wander. I explore with enthusiasm. — Eric Trow

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Posted in Honda motorcycles, Miscellaneous | 2 Comments »

This Is What We Face Out There

April 27th, 2026


You know, if you really have to go super fast they have racetracks for that kind of thing.

I’ve heard from a number of sources that the situation out on the streets took a definite turn during Covid. People–especially younger men–decided that with the streets nearly empty they could race at very high speeds and commit all sorts of other violations that would have been unthinkable before. The big problem is that they apparently didn’t give up these new practices when the traffic came back.

Just a week ago I was headed out Parker Road on my bike and this guy came scorching along in the merge lane on the right. It’s a more or less continuous lane, serving as an acceleration lane past intersections and deceleration lane approaching intersections. Only this guy was blasting past all the much slower traffic in the actual traffic lanes and not even slowing down approaching intersections. Imagine if you had been just pulling onto the road as he came along.

In fact, when I told Judy about this later she told me that some friends of our had been hit in exactly that situation just a few weeks ago. Though their car was badly damaged they were unhurt, which is probably why I had not heard of it sooner. But what a jerk!

On Thursday a few days ago I decided to go up to the north side of town to visit my friend John. On this one trip I witnessed a whole series of these sorts of stupid acts. Getting onto I-25 some buffoon in a hot car floored it and blasted past every other car he possibly could on the on ramp. Then a short while later, in heavy traffic moving about 30 miles an hour, some guy on a motorcycle came lane-splitting right up alongside me and whole lot of other people. Yes, Colorado allows lane filtering, when the traffic around you is at a complete stop. This was not that situation. And yes, I know this sort of lane-splitting is permitted in some places, and presumably can be done safely.

But it’s not legal here and after we worked so hard to get filtering approved it would be an incredible shame if the legislators, reviewing the results in a couple years as mandated, decide to rescind that OK because a few riders pull stunts like this guy.

Later on my trip north I spotted another guy on a bike behind me and I watched him to see what he would do but he just cruised along behind me for a pretty good ways. That was smart because, while he didn’t know it, I had his front and kept him in mind the whole way.

On my trip home I was going west on 136th to get to I-25 and was stopped at a light. Again to my surprise, a guy on a bike came right up the middle beside me to take his place at the front. A totally legal, well-executed filtering move. Good for you, fella.

Then as I went south on I-25 there were at least three different cars in three different instances that went screaming by everyone, weaving in and out of traffic with inches to spare. What is with these people? I was glad I was at least in my car, not on my bike so I would have had some protection if these antics had led to disaster.

But after a serious crash in my car in 2024, a serious crash on my bike in 2025–both totally the other guys’ fault–I really don’t want a three-peat now in 2026.

Biker Quote for Today

If it were illegal to kill insects, I’d be in the clink for three million years. — Foster Kinn

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Posted in Motorcycle legislation, motorcycle racing, Motorcycle Safety | No Comments »

Impressing Babes With Your Bike–Or Not

April 24th, 2026


I don’t have to try to impress Judy. And no, she does not ride her own.

I’m digging back in my memory now because Judy and I have been married for 30 years. Before that, however, one tool in my kit that I used to try to win the attentions of a fair young lass was my motorcycle. You never did that, did you? Or course not.

Yeah, how cool to suggest you take a ride on the motorcycle. Only, sometimes it doesn’t work out the way you planned.

Early on I had designs on Donna, a friend I had wanted to be more than friends with for a long time. I thought I might finally get my chance. She was going to be at some camp for a few days up in the Red Feather Lakes area, northwest from Fort Collins. We arranged that rather than coming back with whoever she rode up there with, I would come up on my bike–the CB750 Custom being my only bike at that time–and we would go for a ride and just generally have a nice time. And hopefully more.

I figured how long I thought it should take to get there and headed up her way. It took longer than I expected, though. By the time I reached the camp there was not a soul around. Certainly no Donna. Rats! So I headed on back ended up at the intersection where the road up the Poudre Canyon meets US 287, Ted’s Place. I paused for a minute before turning south on 287.

If I had looked in my mirror–I learned later–I might have seen Donna running toward me. She had gotten a ride to there but now was waiting for someone she called to pick her up. With me being late to the camp she had feared being stuck there alone and me not showing up, so she had not taken the chance of assuming I was just late, but definitely coming. And now there I was but I didn’t see her and I went on alone. Rats.

Then there was the time I was riding with Shelley. It was our first–and only–time on the bike. We were just out cruising around when the bike sputtered to a stop. I reached to flip the petcock to go to Reserve only to find it was already in that position. Oops. We ended up walking a mile and a half to a station and then that same mile and a half back. Shelley was not all bent out of shape about it but suffice it to say we never rode again and nothing ever happened between us.

And then there was that time when I was riding with a different Donna down by Deckers. Also our first time riding–and also our last.

I didn’t know the roads up there as well as I do now so it was unexpected when we found ourselves on gravel. No problem, I’ll just take it slow.

Good thing. We were passing a couple parked cars on the left side of the road, going maybe 5 miles an hour, when a big dog walked out from between them right into our path. I hit the brakes hard and instantly we went down. (This is the only time I have ever gone down while in motion; I have dropped the bike in parking lots and such numerous times.)

The dog was unhurt, we never touched him. And fortunately, other than some small bruises, neither were we. But we were both shaken and the fact that we had no recourse but to run several more miles on gravel didn’t give either of us a lot of confidence. And Donna never rode with me again, though we did connect romantically for a period. At least there was that.

Oh, and by the way, the owner of the dog, who was totally apologetic, promised to pay for any damage and proceeded to give me completely fake contact information. Nice guy.

Later on there have been a couple times I ran out of gas with Judy riding with me but we were married by then so it was OK. Besides, by then I wasn’t trying to impress her, we were just out having a good time. She tolerates me making mistakes now and then.

Biker Quote for Today

“It’s the ride of life the journey from here to there living and loving every moment like we have none to spare.” — Jess “Chief” Brynjulson

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Posted in Day Rides, Honda motorcycles, motorcycle humor, motorcycle memories | No Comments »

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