Passes & Canyons Blog

Judy and I had been married for three years when I bought the Concours. She had ridden with me numerous times on the CB750 but those had been mostly just short day rides of about 100 miles, plus one over-nighter we did just down to Manitou Springs.

After I bought the Concours it seemed the natural thing to do was join the Concours Owners Group (COG). And if you’re going to join a group you pretty much ought to figure on going on some of their rides. So when a day ride was announced we decided to go along.

What we did not know about this group was that the general approach for a day ride was to really take a ride, as in a long day. We got up early and jumped on I-25 down to Colorado Springs where the group was meeting up at a cafe. We didn’t know the route, we just figured we’d follow the leader.

From Colorado Springs we headed southwest to Penrose and then took CO 67 down to CO 165, down to I-25 again down by Colorado City. Along the way we stopped at Bishop Castle, which was our first visit there. This is why you join a riding group because they take you places you don’t even know are places.

Somewhere along this route–I don’t remember where–we stopped for lunch at the home of someone the ride organizer knew. This was pretty nice of them considering that there were probably about two dozen of us.

On I-25 we headed south to Walsenburg and then turned off onto CO 69, which heads up through Westcliffe. It was at this point, on a break, that Judy heard one of the other women riding behind that for the last hour all she had been able to think about was putting her knees together. Judy hadn’t been thinking about it but from this point on it was very much in her mind, too. At this point we had gone about 200 miles, which was the longest ride she had ever been on. And we were nowhere close to home.

We continued on CO 69 up to Cotopaxi and U.S. 50. We took 50 east to Penrose again, where we stopped for gas. Most everyone filled up but I figured we were fine so I didn’t get gas. We backtracked northeast to Colorado Springs and at this point people started peeling off, each going their own way. We got on CO 83 rather than take the interstate back to Denver. By this time we were on our own.

I knew we were low on gas but I figured on getting some at Franktown. But we didn’t reach Franktown. About five miles south the engine sputtered and we coasted to a stop in front of a farm house. Oh crap.

Fortunately someone was home, and they had gas to sell us, so with a gallon poured in we made it on to Franktown and a station. Then home. Altogether we did about 400 miles that day. I mean, to put that into perspective, in 30 years of doing the OFMC rides I’m not sure we have ever done a 400 mile day, and if we have we’ve only done it once or twice at most. Judy never did another COG ride with me, and I never did another COG ride of that length. I’m sorry, some people really enjoy that but not us.

Not that we don’t do long rides, we just break them up more. Two years ago we did 3,000 miles in about two weeks, up to British Columbia and back. But that comes out to just a little more than 200 miles a day, on average. Certainly we had longer and shorter days on that trip but only one of those was over 300.

Oh, but it’s all about the stories, right? If we hadn’t done this I wouldn’t have this story to tell.

Biker Quote for Today

She hugged me tight, burying her face into my back and the longer I drove the tighter she held and though her eyes were closed I knew she was smiling. I could just tell. — Atticus

The OFMC has been doing its thing for more than 30 years now in that time we have ridden most every road in the state, not counting the eastern plains–we don’t go out there all that much. So it was very interesting this year that we ended up on four different stretches of road we had never been on in a group before.

I mean, I personally had been on them all before, although not all on a motorcycle. But the OFMC had never ridden these roads. They’re indicated in the map above in colors. Unfortunately, to get them all on the map I had to zoom out so far that you can’t actually see the roads but if you look at your own map it should be pretty easy to figure out.

That yellow line across the upper right is U.S. 24 over Wilkerson Pass and across the south end of South Park. We actually ended up doing part of it twice on this trip. I guess the time for this one had really come.

In doing part of that a second time we had to get there and that is where that intersecting blue line comes in. That is Teller County Road 1 coming up from Cripple Creek. I had only just been on that road a week earlier with Judy in the car and before that I wasn’t really even aware of it.

Later that same day we went over Cottonwood Pass from Buena Vista to Gunnison, in green. This road was just paved so this was a real treat. It was also very interesting to see how the “improvements” resulted in many of the curves being straightened out. I knew this was going to be the case because Judy and I saw the same thing on the Sea to Sky Highway up in British Columbia, where they worked on the road in order to hold the Winter Olympics at Whistler.

Finally, there was that line in red, CO 69 coming up out of Walsenburg to just east of Cotopaxi in the Arkansas River Valley. This isn’t scenic like a mountain pass but it was pretty and it was a new road for the OFMC. Heck, I’ll gladly go down boring roads if I’ve never been on them before.

That’s the worst thing about living in Colorado for so long. There is hardly a road within 500 miles I haven’t ridden more than once. OK, I guess I’ll just suck it up and continue living the torture of riding all these familiar gorgeous roads we have in this state.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: You don’t have to be jealous of the guy that works on your motorcycle.

I’ve written before about the Rev’It! Vapor 2 riding pants I bought in November 2018, and I continue to like them a lot.

That said, I need to do an update of that review because there have been problems.

When Bill and Dennis and I met up a few weeks ago to head out on the 2020 OFMC trip we got together, as we often do, at the King Soopers in Conifer. As per usual, I went in the store to use the restroom one last time. As I zipped the pants up, however, the zipper just came right off.

Generally with zippers, there is something at the top that stops the zipper. However, in this case, something somehow got broken so right up at the top of the teeth there is now a gap between two teeth and the piece that joins the two sides of teeth just came right off. You can see this in the photo above, and on the right, two teeth from the top, you can see the gap.

I thought I might be able to get the zipper pull back on the teeth and then seal off the top but that was an exercise in futility. However, it was not all that big a deal because of that flap you see behind the zipper. This is intended to keep water out, I assume, but it also means I was not walking around with my pants open, just with the zipper unzipped. I could still fasten it at the top with that buckle.

So anyway, when I got home I contacted Rev’It! to see if it could be repaired. It’s more than a year since I bought them so I didn’t expect any warranty type of response but I hoped maybe I could send them to them and, for a small fee, they would repair and return.

Nah. All they could offer was a couple shops I can contact, one in California and the other in Washington, that might be able to do the job. I guess if I’m shipping them to one of those places it’s not any different than shipping them to Rev’It!. What I’d really prefer, though, would be if I can find some place locally where I don’t have to ship at all. If anyone has any recommendations I’d be happy to hear them.

Meanwhile, as I say, it’s not that big a deal–the pants still work just fine, and I do still like them a lot. But I did want to pass along this note about the problem in case you’re looking at buying some riding pants.

Update
OK, just since I wrote this earlier today I decided to take the pants to a dry cleaners that advertised repairs and alterations to see if they could fix the zipper. I went to Washington Park Cleaners, at 529 E Ohio Ave., and I want to mention them specifically because the lady who helped me was wonderful, and she seemed embarrassed to charge me the $5 I gave her for her efforts. And we got the zipper fixed! Yahoo! Here’s a photo of the zipper now. That shiny brass piece at the top on the right side makes all the difference.

Biker Quote for Today

Top 10 signs that a computer is owned by a Harley rider: 04. — There is a Skoal can mounted in the CD-ROM drive.

I did a ride Saturday with the RMMRC and just before we were about to head out one last rider showed up. When I saw who it was I groaned to myself–not him!

Let me explain. I wrote about this previously, at the time, so I’ll just recap. This particular rider came along on most of the earliest rides I did with the RMMRC and he consistently rode much too close, right on the tail of whoever was in front of him. I mean, to the extent of having to hit his brakes and run off onto the shoulder when that person in front touched their brakes. Dangerous!

I want to make mention that a guy who read that earlier post put up a response saying perhaps this guy has poor eye-sight. He said the same thing had happened to him once and it turned out the guy was nearly legally blind. So in order to see where he was going he stuck right on the tail of the person in front of him. That sounded pretty plausible to me.

Well, this guy had not shown up for quite some time and that was fine with me. But then Saturday, there he was. I just wanted to make sure I was not the one in front of him. Fortunately (for me, not Bob), he pulled right in behind Bob, who was leading the ride. So I was several bikes behind him.

I watched with interest as we headed out. Surprisingly, this guy stayed pretty much staggered away from Bob and it didn’t look like he was crowding him at all. Maybe it was because the roads we were on were pretty much straight and it was easy to stick with the white line on the side of the road. Who knows.

Anyway, we got out to Kiowa, to Patty Ann’s, and had lunch. Leaving there we had one group of five who were inclined to go home via one route while the other group of five wanted to take a different route. So we split up. The question arose, who is going to lead the group I was going with. Someone said, “How about Ken?” Fine, I’m perfectly happy taking the lead but of course the person in question was also going with this group. I tried to figure how I could make sure he was not right behind me but he was the first out along the road and the others lined up behind him. He was going to be right behind me. Dang!

Well, I don’t know what the deal is. Maybe he had cataract surgery and sees a whole lot better now. Maybe it’s just the straight roads out east of the city. Whatever the explanation, he stayed all the way to the right as I stayed all the way to the left, and he even rode a good ways behind me, not just 10 feet back. What a relief.

So now maybe next time he shows up I won’t cringe quite so much. But I’m still going to cringe a little.

Biker Quote for Today

“TAT” (aka Technical Anti-talent) referring to any student that despite every possible analogy, teaching method, or other, could not master even the most fundamental motor coordination needed to ride a motorcycle. These guys and gals we kindly failed as not to harm themselves or others. They were few and far between….but certainly out there.

Many people enjoy riding motorcycles as something that is part of your day. Then there are those for whom riding all day long is what it’s all about. Trust me, I’m not one of the latter.

When you take off on a week-long motorcycle trip you inevitably meet other bikers out on the road. You talk about where you’re coming from, where you’re headed, and all that. Sometimes the people you meet are really hard core.

We spent two nights in Gunnison on last month’s trip and there were a couple guys on bikes who were at the same motel. I flat cannot remember where they were from, maybe Ohio or Missouri, but they were a good ways from home.

One of these guys wasn’t really into really, really serious riding but his buddy was, and the first guy just did it because it’s what his friend wanted to do. “He’s just glued to the saddle.”

So what kind of day rides were they doing while in Gunnison? Oh, how about a day ride over to Arches National Park? That’s about 150 miles one way as the crow flies, and nearly double that on the ground. And then they figured to tour the park while they were there. Really?

Or how about something a little tamer: Gunnison to Lake City, to Creede, to South Fork, to Pagosa Springs, to Durango, to Montrose, and back to Gunnison. Heck, that’s child’s play, barely 350 miles. Of course they made the detour to do the rim ride and the East Portal Road down into Black Canyon of the Gunnison, so add another 50 miles.

By the way, the first guy told me that on the Million Dollar Highway he told his friend to just go on and not worry about him. That road freaked him out so much he wanted to take it very, very slowly.

In Gunnison we also met a couple who were riding their KLR 650. They were from Delaware. That’s a heck of a distance but they were not planning to ride the bike home. Instead, after they were done with their tour the were just planning to sell the bike and fly home.

Of course, the one group who really stand out in my memory was on a different trip, where Judy and I met three young guys on Sportsters who were making an eight day trip from Green Bay to the west coast and back. Now that is extreme.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you think God invented winter just as a good time to get your bike painted.

Not to put too fine a point on this but the OFMC should never let Bill lead.

OK, sure, if all we’re doing is following one highway in one direction and there is no way to go wrong, fine, he can take the lead. But if there are any turns involved someone else better be in front. And even then there can be problems.

We saw this a couple times on this last trip we took in July. On the first day we were heading south from Poncha Springs to Alamosa. There is a point along there where you need to get off U.S. 285, which veers southwest at this point, onto CO 17, which continues straight south to Alamosa.

Bill was in the lead and at this intersection he just stayed on 285. Dennis and I made the turn and pulled over to wait for him to return.

While we waited I told Dennis about the time up in Wyoming many years ago when we were coming down from Cokeville on U.S. 30, headed to Kemmerer. There is a point there where 30 bends east and if you go straight you get onto WY 89 headed into Utah. Bill blasted past the turn and so did John. I pulled over to wait. After a while John came back but then we waited longer for Bill. It seems he ran into a speed trap and was getting issued a ticket. Bill has never lived that one down.

So this time around he figured it out pretty quickly and came right back and on we rode to Alamosa.

A few days later we were headed to Durango, coming down through Ouray and Silverton. Leaving Silverton it looked like rain ahead so we were geared up, but it wasn’t long before the skies cleared and it started getting warm. Dennis did not want to be cruising slowly through Durango all rain-suited up so he turned on his right-turn signal and kept trying to attract Bill’s attention. But Bill wasn’t paying any attention. Finally Dennis and I pulled over on our own and stripped off the suits. When we encountered Bill a short way down the road he said he thought it was silly to stop when Durango was so close ahead. Later, however, he acknowledged the wisdom of shedding the suits before reaching town.

And then two days later we did it again. We were heading north out of Monticello, Utah, on U.S. 191 and needed to turn right at La Sal Junction onto UT 46. Bill was leading and once again he blasted right on by. Again Dennis and I made the turn and pulled over to wait for him to come back.

Back when John was still riding with us he often would take the lead. Queried about this once he said that he didn’t trust most of the guys to have any real sense of where we were going. He singled me out as the exception because, “Ken always has a map right in front of him on top of his tank bag.” And I prefer to bring up the rear, so that arrangement worked well.

But now it’s just the three of us and it looks like Dennis and I are going to have to more actively ensure that if the route is at all tricky, Bill is not in the lead. Sorry Bill, we love ya, but now that your brother Friggs is no longer coming on these trips you inherit his old title of Mr. Oblivious. I guess it runs in the family.

Biker Quote for Today

100 Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: You’ll have to park your new car outside because the garage is full of bikes.

I knew I was running low on gas the morning I set out with the RMMRC on a ride over Guanella Pass. That was not a problem. We planned to gas up in Morrison and I was on the Honda, and had not yet gone to Reserve. I had plenty of gas to get that far, although I fully expected to need to switch to Reserve before I got there.

As expected, about the time we crossed Broadway on Belleview the bike sputtered a bit and I turned the petcock. But it didn’t seem to make any difference. I struggled along maybe another mile and then the bike just died.

The first thing I did was to remove the gas cap and look inside. There was definitely still gas in there, though not a whole lot. I checked the petcock position and, as expected, it was on Reserve. It wouldn’t start in that position so I moved it back to On. It still wouldn’t start. Back to Reserve and still no dice.

Roy and Charley had come back to check on me and Roy had me try a few things. No dice. Roy, however, is one of those totally prepared guys and he pulled out a bottle that he carries all the time, containing half a gallon of gas. I poured it in, tried the starter a few times, and sure enough it finally fired up and kept running.

OK, what’s the deal here? They told me to go ahead and they would ride behind me just to be sure.

On my way out to Morrison I wondered about it. Had I only partially filled the tank last time I got gas? This bike usually needs to go to Reserve at about 180 miles and it had done so this time at 185. I have run out before when I have forgotten to move the petcock back to On, and if I had not filled it all the way it could have run dry at 185. But it definitely was not already on Reserve. ???

So at Morrison I filled the tank and guess what: This tank holds 5-1/2 gallons. Roy had given me half a gallon and then we had ridden about 10-15 miles. The tank reached full after only 4.07 gallons. That math does not add up.

I filled the tank there at Morrison and then we rode a bit more than 100 additional miles that day and all went just fine. But now I need to figure out what the situation is. It appears to be a blockage of some kind in the fuel line but how to confirm this?

I figure the first thing to do is simply to switch to Reserve with plenty of gas in the tank and see if it runs. That way I know I won’t be stranded out somewhere because I can just flip back to On. But what if that doesn’t do it?

I have wondered for a long time about how the Reserve setting functions physically. The tank straddles the frame so does one side (Reserve) stay full as the other side empties? With intakes on both sides? Or, I have wondered, is it all one feed with an intake at one elevation, with flipping the petcock simply lowering the intake?

OK, so I got answers. There are two intakes, side by side, at different levels. So even if I switch to Reserve, if there is enough gas in the tank it is going to be fed via the primary intake.

While I tend to have a mechanical aptitude, I’m not this much of a motorcycle mechanic, so this means it is time to call Joel, my mechanic.

Biker Quote for Today

Top 10 signs that a computer is owned by a Harley rider: 05. — The mouse is referred to as “the rat.”

I went riding with the RMMRC last week and Bob led us on an interesting ride. What made it particularly interesting for me was that it was almost exactly the ride I set out to lead the group on recently except in reverse.

On both rides we went over Guanella Pass. In the first instance we went out U.S. 285 to Grant and over to Georgetown. This time we went Georgetown to Grant. The first time, when we stopped on top of the pass I said I could lead the group back to Denver with barely a couple miles of interstate. Everyone liked that idea so I took the lead.

Then a funny thing happened at Idaho Springs: everyone else peeled off and went their own way. OK, not what I expected.

So there we were last week at Morrison. Apparently the plan to go over Guanella had been agreed upon and I was unaware of that. I just followed as Bob led us up past Red Rocks and then turned west on U.S. 40. Great, I like that road. We went up to Genesee, where you have to get on I-70, and a few miles later took the exit for Evergreen Parkway.

At this point I was thinking Bob was either doing my route in reverse or else we were headed up Squaw Pass. But he surprised me by turning right onto Soda Creek Road at Bergen Park. Interesting. I’d never been on that road.

It was a good road, although it turned to gravel after a few miles. Still, it was extremely good gravel and I was on the Honda CB750 and that’s a go-anywhere bike so that was fine. A few miles further and we went under the interstate and came out onto U.S. 40 again. So now I was wondering–and I still don’t know the answer–if he intended to come this way or if he missed the turn he intended, the one on my route, back at the Evergreen Parkway turnoff that would have put us back on 40 right away.

Doesn’t matter, I was glad to be shown a new road. And looking at the map I see there is another road just a mile farther along that also runs over to 40 from Evergreen Parkway. That’s Jefferson County Road 65 and it looks like it may be paved all the way. Now I want to go ride that and find out.

So we were back on U.S. 40, running alongside I-70 for the most part, and we took that up Floyd Hill and down to where it meets U.S. 6 coming up out of Clear Creek Canyon. We turned left and got onto I-70 just up to Idaho Springs. Now I was figuring again that we were doing Squaw Pass, only coming west to east rather than east to west.

But no, Bob led us back onto U.S. 6 at the west end of town and we followed that road all the way to Georgetown. Except for that jog over Soda Creek Road this was exactly my route in reverse, and we clearly were doing Guanella.

And we did. It was a clear, beautiful day up on top and then it was the same old ride from Grant back to town. My only complaint about living in Denver all these years is that so many of these roads we ride, such as U.S. 285, are roads I have done hundreds and hundreds of times. Fine, I’ll quit complaining. It could be so much worse. And I have not done Guanella hundreds of times. Only a couple dozen.

Did I ever mention I used to know Byron Guanella, the guy this pass is named for? That’s a story for another day, although not a particularly interesting one.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you encourage your kids to go to the Motorcycle Mechanic’s Institute instead of college.