Just got in last night from a three-day ride through western Colorado. Never had one heart-pounding moment but I sure had to deal with heat and dehydration. And I paid for trying to walk somewhere in my motorcycle boots.
Keep your bike in good repair: Motorcycle boots are NOT comfortable for walking.
There are so many times I have gone west on I-70 out of Denver and looked longingly at the remnants of the old highway, U.S. 6, that you see in places, wishing I was out of the traffic and over on that nice, twisty piece of two-lane. So I decided to do it. I wanted to see just how much of Colorado’s mountains you could cross on the old highway.
And the answer is, quite a bit. I’ll save the details for another time but it was really nice to cruise along at an easy pace and not have to deal with the interstate traffic. The times when I did have to get on the superslab it was truly unpleasant feeling the need to ride faster and deal with all this even faster traffic whizzing by me. Returning to the two-lane was always a joy.
A portion of the artwork
Reaching Glenwood Canyon, I knew there were some remnants of the old road accessible from the exits. This canyon is so narrow, however, that they could barely get the interstate in there, much less preserve the old route. There is, however, a good-sized chunk of the old road that you get to off the No Name exit, near the west end of the canyon. There the road curves down alongside the river, but there is a barricade that now blocks motorized vehicles. You can walk or ride your bicycle down there, but no motorcycle.
The road went on around a bend and out of sight, and I wanted to walk down there, but I didn’t want to do that in my heavy boots. So I figured I’d walk just far enough to get a better camera angle. Along the way I met some folks coming back and they told me of an area with picnic tables, a sandy beach, and some clever natural-materials artwork that “some hippie probably smoked a joint and spent the whole day constructing.” Now I was interested.
The fellow told me it was about half a mile down (too far in boots!) but then he also mentioned it in terms of “about 10 minutes.” Ooh, I thought, I can walk 10 minutes in these boots, and 10 back. So off I went.
To make a long story short, I found the art, and it was indeed worth checking out. It’s the sort of thing that a photograph generally does not do justice to, but I’m including two detail shots that give a bit of the idea. Nothing at all like the real thing, unfortunately.
Another detail
Then it was time to head back. And I hadn’t gone far and I could feel a blister forming on my left heel. Pretty soon I knew it was going to be a very unpleasant walk unless I could do something about the blister. I had a notebook with me so I tore out a sheet, folded it, and stuck it inside my sock where the blister was. It was amazing. I could now walk without any discomfort at all.
About the time I was 40 feet from the bike, however, the sweat-soaked paper was no longer offering protection and another blister was forming on my right heel. I gritted it out and was really happy to get back on the bike. Then I stopped at the first place I could find in Glenwood Springs and bought Band-Aids and switched to my sneakers. The moral, don’t ever try to walk far in motorcycle boots.
Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
Sportbikers and ABATE: Can the twain meet?
Biker Quote for Today
The road is only open when you ride alone.
As you may know, for one year I was the Denver Motorcycle Examiner, and have now become 
On the other hand, when they can ride, how incredible must the riding be? There’s the Canadian Rockies and British Columbia. I’ve been there and it’s gorgeous. Then there are the Eastern Seaboard provinces, and everything I’ve read says they’ve got some great riding, too. Quebec and Ontario are also gorgeous.