Passes & Canyons Blog

Stopped going up Molas Pass by some mishap apparently suffered by some other motorcyclists.

On day four of this year’s OFMC trip we were only riding from Montrose to Durango so there was no hurry. Had a leisurely breakfast and then made a couple short stops along the way to Ouray.

Now, the last time I had gone over Red Mountain Pass was with the RMMRC back in September 2021 and there was construction underway on the pass. That meant that the road was closed from about 8 a.m. to noon, then again from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. We got an early start and it was just frigid. By the time we reached Silverton and stopped to get coffee my hands were so numb I had to warm them up before I could open my gas tank to put gas in.

This was much warmer but still quite cool so you can bet I had my electric vest on and in use. And glad to have it.

We stopped at Silverton and walked around a bit. We were in the local Harley gear store—not bikes—when about 40 bikes rumbled in en masse. I don’t know if they had someone running ahead who secured parking but they all managed to park along one block of one of the side streets. We later watched them pull out and it was a seemingly endless procession, just ones and twos and threes and more and more and more. No idea where they were coming from or where they were headed.

Silverton of course is one terminus for the narrow-gauge train that runs a couple of times each day between Durango and Silverton. There are restaurants and shops strategically located right where the train comes in to draw in the folks getting off the train. We decided to have a light lunch at one of these restaurants, each of us wanting only soup.

We walked in and sat down and they were clearly way overstaffed. Presumably in anticipation of the train’s arrival. Although they had a sign promoting it, they had no soup that day so the three of us split an open-faced sandwich three ways and it was without a doubt one of the two worst meals of this trip. Then the train came in, the streets filled with people, and we departed.

As we headed up Molas Pass we soon came upon a blockage. We couldn’t see what was going on up ahead but there were flashing red lights. Once we started moving again we saw that there were a bunch of bikers pulled off along the guard-rail and they were looking pretty glum. No real idea what had happened but it would appear one of their group had a mishap. Our sympathies, guys.

One of the consequences of doing a trip like this one, where we keep the day’s miles low, is that we get into town at our next stop pretty early, and maybe don’t have anything to do. That was the case this day and we ended up sitting in the lobby of our motel waiting for our rooms to be ready.

It was at this time Bill confirmed the vibe I had been picking up from him that he just has lost interest in doing these trips. He said he did not want to go to Mesa Verde–which was our next planned destination–but ultimately he concluded it made sense to just cut out that night and move the rest up one day. If possible. And it was. I canceled at Mesa Verde and got a full refund and Dennis & I were able to move our other reservations up one day. But I strongly suspect now that this is the final OFMC trip.

Our motel was a moderate distance from downtown but Durango has a good free trolley that runs all over so we took it downtown. Had a good dinner, got some great ice cream, and also spent some time at the surprisingly well-done railroad museum they have at this other terminus to the narrow-gauge train. Once again playing the tourist on this Colorado adventure tour.

Day five of the trip was the obligatory golf day so we stayed two nights in Durango. The golf course is up by the college on a ridge high above the main part of town, offering a terrific view. So day five was fun and leisurely, too.

Biker Quote for Today

May every “empty” parking space you see in the distance actually contain a motorcycle.

This CSP video actually shows a rider in the left lane passing with oncoming traffic on his left. But gosh, I haven’t seen many traffic lanes that were more than three times wider than the cars in the lane.

OK, right as I was finished writing this and about to schedule it to post in the morning my wife came to me and showed me a text she had just received from a friend saying she had just seen me on the news. As it says below, I had been told the piece with the interview I did would run on the 5 o’clock news but now it had run on the 9 o’clock news. I did not see it and have no idea what part of the interview they used. So much of what is below is out of date, but I have no idea what parts. If anyone saw the piece and can help me out I’d greatly appreciate it. Meanwhile, here’s what I had intended to post. Hey Channel 9, if you can enable me to see what you ran I’ll gladly take this post down and totally rewrite it.

I thought I really had a chance to set things right when a reporter from Denver’s Channel 9, contacted me to say he would like to talk to me about lane-filtering as it was about to go into effect. I welcomed the opportunity to speak to a larger audience to clear up the misconceptions being put out by the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) as to what lane-filtering is about. Oh silly me.

First the guy who contacted me failed to get back in touch when he said he would to set up an interview, and then about the time I figured he had just blown me off I got a text from another guy who he had apparently handed the thing to. I replied, we spoke, and we set a time for him to come to my house so we could speak.

Ethan turned out to be a super nice guy, a young kid doing an internship and just looking to get his career started. I told him I had been in the news business myself for many years and we had a nice chat about how things have changed.

I rolled one of my bikes out and he set up his gear and we basically chatted. I talked about how it’s mostly going to be the smaller bikes and scooters that do the majority of the filtering, not the big cruisers, and I also talked about how the information the Colorado State Patrol is putting out is just flat wrong. Other things, too.

In addition to the conversation, Ethan did a number of long still shots of my bike and gear, which I figured he would use with my voice playing over the image. When we were done he packed up and he promised to text me to tell me when the piece would run. Now he was heading back to the studio to do the editing and put the piece together. In the following text he said it would be on the 5 p.m. news.

Five o’clock came and I had the TV on set to Channel 9. The third or fourth item came on and it was about lane-filtering and I was nowhere to be seen. Or heard. All it was was another recital of what the CSP had put out, accompanied with a graphic video depicting the same thing as depicted on the CSP website. Which is to say, a motorcycle passing entirely within the same lane as the car it is passing.

If you ride you know this is absurd. As I told Ethan, and as any rider knows, lane-filtering or lane-sharing is done by going up the middle between two lines of cars. And you intentionally ride the lane divider line, you don’t stay entirely within the lane of the car you’re passing.

Now, if all drivers always kept their cars all the way to the right of their lane, then passing within the lane might be possible. Does that happen. Of course not. Drivers naturally try to stay pretty much in the center of their lane. But that opens up space to the right-hand car’s left side and the left-hand car’s right side. That’s where bikes go.

But apparently not according to CSP.

And I have read and re-read the legislation and nowhere in that bill does it say anything about the rider passing on the left. That would be stupid. If you were in the left lane, passing on the left would mean potentially encroaching on the oncoming traffic lane, and while you are allowed to filter only if the cars going your direction are completely stopped, those oncoming cars may not be stopped at all. Dangerous much?! No, you go up the middle between the two lanes of traffic going your direction, no matter whether that means you are passing on the left or right. People, let’s get some sanity going here!

So I texted Ethan and he said he had thought he would be doing the editing but then found that “some people at the desk had already done so.” They just wanted him to get the interview. Which they then totally ignored.

Now, Judy raised the valid point about, who are they going to believe, the official governmental source or some blogger? My reply was that if there is differing information it is their job to dig in and find out what the truth is. That’s what I would do when I was a reporter.

Anyway, not being the type of person to just let this die, my next move will be to contact the public information officer at CSP and talk directly to that person and see what comes of it. I also sent emails to the two main sponsors of the bill in the legislature pointing out to them the erroneous nature of the info the CSP is putting out. I had hoped to hear back from them by now but Judy pointed out that they’re not in session so who knows when they’ll see my emails. But I’ll try again to reach both of them.

Next update when there’s something new to tell you.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding my motorcycle is like painting memories on the road’s canvas.

Whoever wrote this piece just doesn’t understand.

I’ll take a break from recounting the latest OFMC trip today because this is timely and really flagrant.

Lane filtering becomes legal in Colorado this week, on August 7. As a surprise to no one, I picked up several articles addressing this change and “informing” the readers of what it means. I put “informing” in quotes because all three pieces I saw, including one from the Colorado State Patrol (CSP), were clearly written by someone who does not ride motorcycles and who fails to understand the entire procedure. More importantly, they were just flat wrong.

Because the other articles seem to have been written based on what CSP put out I’ll go right to the source.

“The rider must pass on the left and not enter the oncoming traffic lane.”

What’s wrong here? Picture this. You have two lanes of traffic going each way and you are a rider in the left lane. You “must pass on the left”? I don’t think so. That would have you partially encroaching on the oncoming lane of traffic, which is strictly prohibited. Your only choice is to pass between the two lanes of traffic going your direction, which in this case would mean passing on the right. Either that or else if you’re in the left lane you are not permitted to filter. I’m pretty sure that’s not what is intended.

What the law actually says is this: A PERSON OVERTAKING OR PASSING PURSUANT TO THIS SUBSECTION (3)(b) SHALL NOT OVERTAKE OR PASS:
(A) ON THE RIGHT SHOULDER;
(B) To THE RIGHT OF A VEHICLE IN THE FARTHEST RIGHT-HAND LANE IF THE HIGHWAY IS NOT LIMITED ACCESS
(C) IN A LANE OF TRAFFIC MOVING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

So that pretty much stipulates that you have to filter between lanes going your direction.

The CSP piece also said this: “The lane must be wide enough to fit the vehicle and motorcycle while passing.”

Now, not very many lanes anywhere are wide enough to allow a car and a motorcycle to fit comfortably side by side. The motorcycle needs to ride down the stripe separating the lanes. The law states filtering is permitted if “THE DRIVER OF THE TWO-WHEELED MOTORCYCLE IS ON A ROAD WITH LANES WIDE ENOUGH TO PASS SAFELY.”

Notes the plural there: “lanes.” And nothing about staying in the same lane as the car you’re passing.

I think part of the confusion may come from the wording of the law where it says “THE DRIVER OF A TWO-WHEELED MOTORCYCLE MAY OVERTAKE OR
PASS ANOTHER MOTOR VEHICLE IN THE SAME LANE AS THE MOTORCYCLE IF . . .” Maybe whoever wrote this piece read it to mean you can pass another vehicle only if you stay in the same lane that it is in, when in fact it should be read that you can pass another vehicle THAT IS in the lane you are in but you don’t have to stay completely in that one lane in doing so. A significant difference of meaning. So the law could have been written a bit more clearly.

So anyway, reading through the law again I spotted one thing this time that I did not notice previously. This is item B in the list above. “SHALL NOT OVERTAKE OR PASS: (B) To THE RIGHT OF A VEHICLE IN THE FARTHEST RIGHT-HAND LANE IF THE HIGHWAY IS NOT LIMITED ACCESS.”

“If the highway is not limited access.” Does this mean that they are specifically allowing you to overtake or pass on the right of the vehicle in the farthest right lane if the highway IS limited access? As in, if you’re on the interstate you can pass on the shoulder? It had not been my understanding that that was the intention of the Legislature but that does seem to be the logical reading of that rule.

At the same time, it also says this: “(III) A PERSON OVERTAKING OR PASSING PURSUANT TO THIS SUBSECTION (3)(b) SHALL NOT OVERTAKE OR PASS: (A) ON THE RIGHT SHOULDER;”

This seems contradictory. If anyone can clarify this for me I would appreciate it.

I think there are some kinks here. I suspect that there are going to be some amendments needed. But get ready because filtering will be here this week.

Biker Quote for Today

I don’t love the people driving fast, that’s the reason why I overtake them.

Bill gets some pix on top of Cottonwood Pass.

We headed out of Buena Vista at a reasonable hour headed up over Cottonwood Pass. It wasn’t as cold as the day before but once again, late July or not, I was darn glad to have my electric vest on. Since they finally paved the other side of this pass it has become a very popular route for a lot of people but the crowd wasn’t too thick.

Heading down, though, we had options and I thought I had gotten it all worked out. Once we got past Gunnison we had the issue of a bridge across the Blue Mesa Reservoir being out of service . . . or not. There were two possible detours. One was to get to Almont coming down off Cottonwood Pass and turning north to Crested Butte and taking the unpaved Kebler Pass. They use a lot of magnesium chloride on that road so it’s really hard-packed, like really rough pavement. I’ve been over it and it’s not bad.

The other is to head out of Gunnison and take the road at the east end of the reservoir south toward Lake City and then, before coming to Lake City, take the Lake City Cutoff, which goes down to US 50 on the far side of the bridge. But the cutoff is not paved either.

The third alternative was that I thought I had found information saying that the bridge was actually open just one lane at a time for light traffic, such as motorcycles and passenger cars. We headed for the bridge.

At the turn-off to head for Lake City the road straight ahead had a sign that said it was closed. Not a good sign. We went past it. You could still go in because there were campgrounds and fishing areas you could get to on this side of the bridge. But we kept seeing signs saying the road ahead was closed. Not a good sign at all. We kept going.

Sure enough, we came to where the road really was closed. There was a guy there telling people what their alternatives were and he told us we should hurry back and take the Lake City road and then the cutoff. He said the cutoff opened for westbound traffic at 12:30 p.m. and if we didn’t make it there in time we would have to wait two hours for the next opening. We didn’t have much time so we hustled.

Until we got behind a couple really slow, large vehicles. Dang! Well, we got there in time and didn’t even have to stop, they just waved us on through. And then it was 15 miles of rough gravel. I was on my V-Strom so for me it was no issue. Dennis didn’t like it on his BMW but he just figured it had to be. Bill, on his Harley, absolutely hated it. He said later if he’d known what it was going to be he would have turned around and gone home or something. Anything but that 15 miles of gravel. He was not a happy camper.

I had actually been surprised they had gone for it. When I told them what the guy at the blockade had told me I was not expecting Dennis to just say simply, “Let’s do it.” But he did. He and Bill hate gravel. And Bill just followed us. Bill prefers to just follow. This time he wasn’t so glad he had done so.

The way I looked at it, this was supposed to be a Colorado adventure tour, where we stop for all the tourist attractions we typically just ride right past. Our first day was doing a hot springs. Our second day was zip-lining. Now our third day was getting off the pavement into the backcountry. Kinda.

One way or another we made it to Montrose, our stop for the night.

Biker Quote for today

The joy of riding a motorcycle is out of this world. The thrill of riding in the hills and mountains is an opiate addiction. — Avijeet Das

Bill comes in on a zipline.

Day two on the OFMC trip started out cold. I had my electric vest but had not thought to bring the liner for my mesh jacket because I figured if it rained I’d put on my rain jacket. But a liner would stop the wind, which a mesh jacket does not. We were headed from Hot Sulphur Springs over to Kremmling for breakfast so it was a really cold ride to Kremmling.

After breakfast we headed south and it was warmer but still quite cool. But we got to Silverthorne and it was warmer, then up to Copper Mountain and on over Fremont Pass. The really nice thing so far on this trip is how green everything is. It’s the end of July and everything is still green. Beautiful.

Not so beautiful, on our way down, was how we came around a curve at one point to find a car passing on a double-yellow line. In our lane. Fortunately there was a wide shoulder. Idiot. Do you not understand the concept of a double-yellow line?

We got over the pass and down to Buena Vista and it was too early to get into our motel. That’s the thing with these short riding days we’re doing this year, you get where you’re going early and then what do you do? So we got some lunch and then got into our rooms and waited for time to head back a bit to where we had a reservation to go ziplining.

Our zipline guides were two young guys, one a fairly typical-looking young guy and one who had multi-colored hair and about 20 piercings all over his face. A very capable couple of guys who really seem to enjoy their jobs. And very personable.

We got all geared up and up we went. Six runs. The first few were OK, nothing to write home about, really, but the fifth was a scorcher and a blast. Made the whole thing worthwhile. So it was something we all agreed we were glad we did but that none of us really has any interest in doing again.

Then there was nothing much to do but go back to the motel and go have dinner. We headed out to a pizza place, found it was a fancy restaurant that also served pizza, with a 45-minute wait to be seated. I ordered at the bar for take-out and told Bill and Dennis we didn’t need all three of us to carry a pizza back to the room.

They headed back and then the black clouds started coming in. Was I going to be walking back to the motel with a pizza in a pouring rainstorm? Turned out to only be a light drizzle and it was a good pizza.

And that was it for day two of this year’s OFMC trip.

Biker Quote for Today

Life is short, buy the motorcycle, have a ride, live your dreams.

Our first stop on the trip, just a quick break.

The OFMC left on this year’s trip today and this post will go up tomorrow. For once it’s a real-time report.

It’s just the three of us again this year, Bill, Dennis, and me. Bruce considered coming for part of it but chose not to. Too bad. We really hoped he would come.

Having only a short ride today we were in no hurry. After meeting at a Starbucks near Bill at 10 we were rolling around 11. Golden Gate Canyon was our chosen route.

We always make a gambling stop but since we had such a short ride today we agreed to make an unplanned gambling and lunch stop in Black Hawk. We’re in no hurry. We sometimes will each put $20 in a machine and play it together. We did that this time, quickly losing half of it first on a machine Bill chose and then on one I chose. Time for lunch.

After lunch Dennis chose a machine and we quickly won all our money back plus $2.50 and we figured this was a good time to cash out and get rolling. A nice start for the trip.
We went up through Central City and over the Central City Parkway to I-70, I-70 to the US 40 exit at Empire, and then over Berthoud Pass and down to Winter Park.
Now we were looking for ice cream. This is how we travel. Lots of stop, no hurry.

We found ice cream in Granby and then it was a short hop to Hot Sulphur Springs. Still mid-afternoon. So we got our swimsuits and headed to the hot springs the town is named for. A good soak, relaxation, and now it was time for dinner.

And that was the first day. Very easy-going. Very relaxed. Tomorrow’s going to be a longer day.

Biker Quote for Today

Good time, good friend, good wheel.

We just didn’t see that many bikes over eight days in the area. Meanwhile, do you see that kiosk on the left? That’s a bus stop. On a busy highway. With no pull-off area for the buses. And there were Ubers picking people up and dropping them off along there not even at the bus stop. It was crazy, not to mention incredibly dangerous.

Judy and I just spent a week in southwestern Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh area generally, and while we were not on a motorcycle you can bet I was taking it all in from the perspective of a motorcyclist.

My initial impression was pretty negative but it evolved over the time we were there. In case you don’t know, it’s really hilly around Pittsburgh, and you might think that would lead to great motorcycle roads. It does. Sorta.

The thing is, in the immediate metro area there are a lot of hills and they’re very steep. Translation: Going anywhere but along the drainages is unfeasible. And in a metro area of 2.3 million that means a lot of traffic on not so many roads. Roads that would be gorgeous to ride except that on both sides of the highway it’s one big strip mall, there are frequent traffic signals, and the roads are choked with traffic.

We got a bit further out of the city, and more importantly, we got off the main highways. Now it was sweet. The hills were not as steep so you could go up, over, and around them, and there was almost no other traffic. Very sweet for riding a bike. But there were two problems.

First off, as we’ve seen in some other parts of the country, it’s all trees. There’s nothing to see but trees. On these small roads, even when you get to the top of a hill you have no view of the surrounding area because all you can see is trees. We rode along a river at one point and could hardly see the river because of the trees. In fact, as we saw later, it was the big highways like the US highways and the interstates that were just cut through the topology where you actually had views from time to time. Trees are nice but after awhile they get very boring.

The other problem was that while these little roads are great motorcycle roads, if you actually want to get somewhere, taking these roads is going to take you a very long time. It’s rare that the speed limit even reaches 45 and with all the winding around you’ll cover at least 150 miles going 100 actual miles. Terrific if you just want to go out for a nice day ride; terrible if you’re traveling and want to stay off the big roads.

Now, don’t get me wrong. We really like the Pittsburgh area. When I told the guys we were going to spend a week in and around Pittsburgh John’s immediate response was “I’m sorry.” John, you don’t know what you’re talking about. There’s a lot to see and do in this area and we had a great trip.

But is southwest Pennsylvania a good place for motorcycling? I really don’t know what to say. If you do, if you’re familiar with riding in this area, by all means, please leave a note and clue me in.

One other thing. We really just didn’t see all that many bikes. In mid-week we were in Altoona and in that little town we saw more bikes than we had all the rest of the week up to that point. Who knows why. But we never really did see all that many motorcycles at all. Who knows. Not me.

Oh, and one more aside. We got home Sunday, unpacked, ate dinner, and were immediately faced with a plumbing emergency. Welcome home.

Biker Quote for Today

When the road ahead seems impossible, start the engine.

This cabin in Cooke City, Montana, was another on the low end. They didn’t usually rent it out but because there was no place else available in town they opened it up for us. Now they’ve been spruced up and are in regular use.

If you travel much you inevitably find yourself in some places that are really nice and other places that are not so nice at all. In the 30+ years the OFMC has been doing an annual trip we have certainly had our share of both.

Of course, when you find a really good place you want to go back there. However, life goes on and sometimes you can never go back.

One of the nicest places we ever stayed was in Taos, New Mexico. The El Monte Lodge was just a little to the east of downtown on the main road. The room we got in 1997 was a large suite with three or four beds, a kitchen, loads of room, and our own private fenced, shaded patio complete with barbecue grill. And it wasn’t very expensive. We knew a good thing when we saw it and decided to stay two nights.
This place was so nice we went back a few years later. Got the same room. Loved it.

Don’t go looking for the El Monte if you’re in Taos now. It’s gone. Replaced by some big new resort. It was just too good to last in a place where that location was too much a prime piece of real estate.

One of the worst places we ever stayed was in Gallup, New Mexico. We had just come from Laughlin, Nevada, in a brutal trek across the state, with fierce winds pounding us from due north that had us leaning hard to the left to keep from being blown off the road.

We got into Gallup ready to sit still somewhere. We grabbed one of the first motels we saw and were pleased that it was cheap. Yeah, there was a reason it was cheap. It was total crap. This was in the days when there were just the three of us and customarily we took turns in rooms with two beds of one person sleeping on the floor.

The problem was, there were insects running all around on the floor. Bill had the short straw that night and we heard about that place many times for a long time afterward.

On the other hand, one of the better places we have stayed is also in Gallup, and I highly recommend it. That’s the El Rancho. This is an old place where the movie people used to stay when they were shooting in Monument Valley, nearby. All the rooms are named for stars. And while it costs more than the numerous dumps in town, it is actually cheaper than the modern places in town. And it has a lot more character.

Then there was Jordan, Idaho. This, too, was back in the days of just the three original guys—Bill, John, and me—and in the time when we still camped sometimes. There was really nothing in Jordan but we did find a farmer’s field that doubled as a campground. We pitched our tents and went to sleep.

Only thing was, a hellacious rainstorm broke out overnight. Oh well, if you’ve got a good tent you just ignore it and go back to sleep. Not the case for Bill. His tent had a rain-fly that somehow came loose in the fierce winds and he woke up getting drenched. He had to get out in that rain to reattach the fly. John and I knew nothing of this but come morning we heard a lot about it.

Wow, now that I’ve gotten started I could just keep going but I won’t. Let’s just say our adventures in accommodations have gotten a lot tamer since we’ve all reached the point where we have enough money to stay in the nicer places.

Biker Quote for Today

I know I’m alive. When I ride even the familiar seems strange and glorious. The air has weight as I push through it, its touch is as intimate as water to a swimmer. — Dave Karlotski