Passes & Canyons Blog

With a near-record high temperature and forecasts for snow–finally–in just a couple days I wanted to get into the hills for perhaps the last time this year. And gosh, I never have to decide what bike to ride anymore, it’s always the V-Strom.

The quickest, most direct route is to get on Hampden (also known as US 285) just a couple blocks north of home and heat straight west. But I’ve been that route a thousand times so I often look for something else. I didn’t really know just where I was headed so I went south on Yosemite to Arapahoe and then west. Yeah, I’ve been that route plenty, too, but not as much as Hampden. Then Arapahoe ends at Broadway so I turned south on Broadway.

My thought was to get onto C-470 and go west but when I got to Mineral I realized that if I have ever been on that particular stretch of Mineral it was only once and I have forgotten it. So great! A new road to ride. And no, it did not look at all familiar. With a metropolitan area as large as Denver’s, you can be surprised to find how many roads you’ve never been on. You get to explore in town.

I got past Santa Fe and crossed the Platte and it was all undeveloped and really pretty. I guess this must be floodplain and will never get built on. We can hope. By the time I reached Kipling I was back on a portion of Mineral I have been on. I pushed on west all the way over to C-470 as it comes north now and expected to have to take it north or south but found that Mineral feeds directly into the mouth of a small canyon. Great, I’ll keep going.

Then I recognized it. This is part of Ken Caryl Ranch and we have family living out here. I took the road going south a little past C-470–South Valley Road–and realized I had accidentally done a great job of navigating. As I had been cruising along Mineral I had figured out a tentative route and that included going up Deer Creek Canyon Road. Well, South Valley Road goes south through a beautiful valley with lots of gorgeous rock formations and open space and meets up with Deer Creek Canyon Road. Couldn’t have done better if I’d planned it that way.

I turned up Deer Creek Canyon Road and a lot of other bikers had chosen this same road. No matter whether they were going the same direction I was or the other direction, they all blasted past me. I was just not in a hurry. I was interested in savoring this gorgeous day. Unlike when I’d been up this way last week, this time I did not take the turn onto South Deer Creek Road but kept going on Deer Creek Canyon Road up and over the top and down to South Turkey Creek Road. I went east a short distance till I made the turn onto North Turkey Creek Road, headed toward Evergreen.

Then again, unlike my other ride last week, I did not turn up High Drive but stayed on the Turkey Creek road, all the way up to CR 73, which runs between Conifer and Evergreen. At this point in the day, deep in the canyon there were a lot of places with bright sunshine followed by deep shade. You can’t see a thing in the shaded area so as you approach it you hope there is no sharp turn as soon as you get into what you cannot now see. On top of that, on the right-handers there is a lot of gravel thrown up onto the road by cars that cut the corner a bit too tight. So the real nightmare is plunging into the shadows and finding yourself faced with a sharp right turn and a lot of gravel on the road.

Fortunately that was not the case usually but in at least one spot that was exactly what I encountered, and this particular spot had more gravel than any other place I saw. It’s times like that when you really ought to be taking it easy. I was, but boy did I see a lot of guys–on sportbikes mostly–who were riding pretty aggressively. Not for me, thanks.

So I made it on up to Evergreen and turned down Bear Creek Canyon to Morrison. Then I cut over to US 285 and turned east for home. Wow, did I have a nice ride! And now the weather is already turning colder and we’ll see if this snow arrives as predicted.

Biker Quote for Today

Bikers don’t follow the crowd; they make their own path.

I’ve known ever since that crash occurred on June 29 that I was going to need to buy some new gear. A new helmet at the very least, considering that the one I was wearing had done its job and needed to be retired. To that end, I visited Performance Cycle on Wednesday. My initial intent was to look at riding suits but I ended up looking at a lot more.

I’ve got several particulars I’m looking for in a riding suit. First, I want something highly visible, so black is out. With what’s available in the stores now that seems to narrow it down to gray or gray with some neon yellow trim. OK, I can live with that. Besides, I’m figuring on wearing a high-viz mesh vest over it all so that should be the more important factor.

I also want pants and a jacket that can be connected as one unit, at least as much as possible. Apparently that means zipping them together just in the back. Fine, that will do. And I want something with an inner liner for winter warmth.

Waterproof is another criterion. Here’s where it starts getting tricky. I recently read about how suits that keep you dry can also end up trapping moisture inside and that doesn’t sound good at all. Gore-Tex looks like the answer because it supposedly keeps moisture out but “breathes” so sweat can get out. I need to find that stuff I read before to see what the issue was.

I also want zippers that will not fail. The Rev-It! riding pants I have now have silicone(?) zippers in the vents and one of them has completely failed. It is stuck open–not the best in winter. Also, the main zipper came undone a while ago and it was very hard to get it back together and functional. The Rev-It! pants I looked at no longer use that silicone zipper and I would hope the metal zippers are better. But that would be a reason I might go with a different brand.

All that said, I identified several possibilities: the Klim Carlsbad suit, the Alpinestars Bogota suit, and the Rev-It! Sand 5 H2O. They’re all roughly the same price, around $1,000 total for the two pieces. Now I want to investigate all three to see what reviewers and users have had to say about their plusses and minuses. If you have any experience or recommendations on any of these please pass your thoughts along.

I also looked at helmets, glove liners, and warm base layers. Stevie, the Performance Cycle guy who assisted me, was very helpful and gave me all kinds of things to consider and choose between. I’ll get into those items next time.

Biker Quote for Today

“Riding a motorcycle is a tribute, a tip of the helmet as it were, to our rugged ancestors who challenge us through the dust of centuries, proof that we have succumbed to the safety nets of civilization.” — Foster Kinn

I’ve told at length of the crash I had on June 29 and its aftermath, including that my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom was totaled in the crash. I’ve showed a couple photos of the bike in the yard where it was hauled and some folks have questioned my statement that it had been totaled. It doesn’t really look all that bad. So I figured I’d discuss that.

When I was much younger I took the word “totaled” to mean that a vehicle was beyond repair. Later I came to understand that it really means that while it could be repaired, the expense to do so is more than the vehicle is worth. In short, the latter is why I deemed it totaled.

Before I went to the yard to look at it I spoke with my mechanic and he said I should shoot some pictures and send them to him, and he would be able to tell by looking at it whether it could be repaired. I did so but never heard from him, so I was on my on in making the decision.

First off, salvage yards like that are running a huge racket. By the time I was able to go see it it had been there three days and the charge was $135 per day for storage. There was no way I could get it out of there that day so just to get my own bike back in my possession would have cost me four days storage, $540. Keep in mind I paid $800 for this bike 37 years ago.

Then what about repair? I have no good idea what that would cost but I’m sure the fork would need to be replaced because it was definitely bent badly. I had case guards on the lower portion so the engine was probably fine. And while the right side exhaust pipes were fine, the bike obviously went down on its left side and that pipe was mangled.

Now, I know that my mechanic had an identical bike sitting in his shop for a long time because the owner needed pipes and was finding it absolutely impossible to find any. So I’m looking at paying $540 to get it out of jail, an unknown cost for repair, and a certainty that I’d never find pipes. Add to that the fact that the bike leaks oil and then burns it like a smoke machine sometimes, and my inquiries into fixing that ran into estimates of $3,000 or more. My estimate, based on some searching, was that before the crash I could maybe have sold the bike for $3,000. I didn’t have the work done and boy am I glad I didn’t.

So I declared the bike “totaled.” And I walked away.

Here’s the funny thing. I loved that bike. It was the first bike I ever owned and after 37 years I was still riding it regularly. I thought I’d never part with it. But when the time came it didn’t affect me emotionally at all. It was kind of a relief because that meant I no longer needed to deal with the hassles that came with it.

I had had that very same sort of experience twice before. The first was when Judy and I decided to get married and we bought a house together. I had lived at my old place for 17 years and loved that place. I thought it would tear me up to leave it. But it didn’t. The new house is much nicer and has none of the hassles that old place had. Like pipes freezing every time it got really cold in winter. I’ve never missed it at all.

And then there was the time last year when I parted with my 1999 Kawasaki Concours. I had had that bike for 25 years and loved it. But lately it had been causing me trouble and when I sold it I felt relief.

Apparently it’s OK to love something and to part with it. A very interesting life lesson. I guess it’s called life.

Biker Quote for Today

Life may knock you down, but a bike will always lift you up.

I mentioned that we are looking at our latest first snow of the season ever–sooner or later–and here is an indication of what it’s like. I went riding Tuesday, November 4, starting out with a clean visor. By the time I got home I needed to clean the visor because it was all smeared with bug guts. That’s right. I hit not one but a whole bunch of bugs . . . in November. And the biggest and fattest one was less than a mile from the highest point I got to on this ride. Crazy.

Tuesday was supposed to be quite warm but cloudy, while Wednesday was to be a bit cooler but sunny and clear. I figured Wednesday might be the better day to ride but when my Tuesday appointment got canceled I figured I might as well ride both days. So I set out and got about half a block when I realized I had intended to clean my visor. Oh well, I’ll do that some time when I stop. But then I realized I also had intended to check my air pressure. Fine, I was just half a block from home, I turned around.

I definitely needed air, as I was sure I would, and it was nice to have a clean visor. Because I was heading straight on into the mountains, I blasted west on Hampden/US 285, and went up past the Tiny Town exit to the North Turkey Creek Road turn-off. The idea was to complete the ride I started the day before, the route I plan to lead an RMMRC ride on.

Only a short way up Turkey Creek I came to High Drive and made the right. With some very tight turns on the way up (10 mph recommended), this road goes up into an area of woods, lined with houses, many quite large. The road goes up and over and then comes down just outside of Evergreen, where it meets CR 73 coming up from Conifer. It was great. From the moment I got off US 285 till the time I came down into Evergreen I never had a single other vehicle in front or in back of me. And just a few going the other direction. Nice, leisurely riding.

So that completed my planned route, except that I’m figuring to take the group down from Evergreen to a restaurant in Kittredge for lunch. But I didn’t want to go that way this day so I hooked a left and took Evergreen Parkway over to Bergen Park and then went left on CR 45, which brings you out to I-70 up near the top of Floyd Hill. I didn’t want to get on the interstate so I stayed on old US 40, which is essentially a frontage road for the interstate along this stretch, and then down the steep back side of Floyd Hill into Clear Creek Canyon and US 6.

At the junction I went right, to go down Clear Creek to meet up with the Peak to Peak Highway. It had been quite warm all this while, with no sign of the clouds that had been predicted, but down in the bottom of this steep canyon it quickly got very cold. Time to flip on the electric vest.

At the Peak to Peak I went left, toward Black Hawk. Considered stopping for lunch but didn’t. Oh, and so, all this way I had periodically been wiping smeared bugs off my visor. Weird.

I cruised up through Black Hawk and kept going, on up to the turn-off from the Peak to Peak down Golden Gate Canyon. And it was along here I hit the big guy. Now I really needed to clean my visor. The ride down Golden Gate Canyon was pretty much as it always is. Some traffic but not a lot, and several nice stretches with lots of small curves that you can easily straighten out with a bike. That’s always fun.

Then I hit Golden, turned south on CO 93 down to 285 and then east to home. I’m loving this. After being off the bike for so long this is just sweet.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 74. Doubling the speed limit ain’t no thing.

With temps in the 70s there was no question of riding or not, it was just: Where to?

There comes a time each year when you can simply no longer go into the hills but at the moment Denver is a few days away from setting a new record for the latest first snow of the season. I figured I’d take advantage of it.

That only narrowed the question somewhat. But I guess I’m a bit stubborn. When I took off on my fateful ride on June 29 it was my intention to go over the route I intended to lead the RMMRC on soon after. On my first ride after the crash, but before surgery, I rode to the place on that planned route where the crash occurred. Now, on only my third ride since the crash I wanted to do what I set out to do that day. Who knows, if the weather holds I might yet lead that ride in the next week or two.

The day was warm, skies were blue, and I headed out. Great day to be on the bike. I went down to Belleview and turned west. When I came to Santa Fe, where the crash had occurred, I could have gone south on Santa Fe as I intended that day, but the thought of getting into that left turn lane and just sitting there again somehow did not appeal to me so I continued west on Belleview. At Lowell I turned south.

At Mineral I turned west again to Wadsworth and then south. Stopped at a red light at Ken Caryl Avenue I saw on the other side, headed north of Wadsworth, a guy on a Honda about as old as my bike. No jacket, no gloves, no helmet. OK, I hope you got home safely and do so again and again.

South of C-470 I made the right turn to go up Deer Creek Canyon. Lots of guys on bikes but many, many people on bicycles. That kind of day. I’m not a go-fast kind of guy so I took my time winding up the canyon on Deer Creek Canyon Road and then made the left onto South Deer Creek Road. This road winds around and climbs, ultimately coming out to US 285 at Conifer, changing names a couple times along the way.

After a short while I spotted three guys on Harleys behind me. I figured I was slowing them down but I had no inclination to speed up because, for one thing, this stretch was newly repaved and there was a good bit of loose gravel on the road, especially on the curves. They’re just going to have to be patient. They were, but the first open stretch we got to they blasted past. And in just another couple minutes two guys on Beemers came blasting past me too. Have fun; I’m just not in a hurry.

I wasn’t headed to Conifer; I turned north at Oehlmann Park Road. This road goes up and over a hill with a lot of homes, with terrific views in some places. Steep road going up and going down on the other side. Great riding. I’d hate to live there in the winter.

It comes out on the other side at South Turkey Creek Road, which runs parallel to US 285 between Tiny Town and just east of Conifer. I turned toward Tiny Town. A bit before Tiny Town there is a place where you can go left onto North Turkey Creek Road. That’s my route for this planned ride but for this day I decided I’d had enough and continued on to Tiny Town, got on US 285, and headed home. It’s supposed to cool off Monday but then be warm again all week. I figure I’ll just come back and do the second half in a few days.

You’ve got to love this weather. And considering that I missed the whole summer you can believe I am.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you try to act like a biker.

How great it was to take off on my V-Strom on Monday after getting the all-clear from my neurosurgeon! I had wondered if I would feel unsteady or uncertain but it was just like they say about riding a bicycle–you never forget and it just comes back naturally.

I didn’t have a whole lot of time because I have a piano lesson every Monday at 2:30 and it was nearly noon when we got home from the doc’s. I needed to have lunch and to put up that quick blog post announcing my return. I wanted to go somewhere where I could get a good photo to go with this post so I figured if I headed down to Daniels Park I could get the shot and get to Chad’s in time for my lesson.

The day was a little cooler, in the low 60s, so I dressed warmly and wore my electric vest. That was more than I needed as I headed south but I have found previously that Daniels is about 1,000 feet higher than home and that difference means several degrees cooler. I got near the park and there was a lot of road construction going on so I had to take a detour. No problem, I know my way around here quite well at this point.

Got to the park and stopped for a photo. Yeah, it was darn chilly. Up on this high point I could see to the west and there were storm clouds moving in and it looked like it might already be raining over the foothills. Not a problem, I had my rain suit with me. I also wondered if the chill might just be the cold front moving in.

Needing to get to Chad’s I now headed north and no, it’s not just the front, it still got warmer as I continued north. But I was darn glad to have my heated vest. Meanwhile, the bike was running great and I was feeling great. So good to be back on the bike!

Following my crash I had mentioned to Judy that I intended to spend some money on some new, really good (read: expensive) riding gear. Back in August, around my birthday, Judy asked me if I would like a new riding suit as a birthday gift. I told her let’s not do that just at this time. I really didn’t want her to ask why but she did so I told her how at that moment I was feeling some hesitation and uncertainty about getting back on the bike. I think that’s a fairly normal reaction after you go through what I did. That image of that car headed right at me sticks with me. Well, it occurred to me just recently that all that reluctance and hesitation had just vanished. When my neurosurgeon asked if I was giving up riding motorcycles I told him no way, as soon as I get home from here I’m taking off for a ride.

I got to Chad’s just a few minutes late but not much. After the lesson I came out to the bike and it was spitting rain. Now the front had made it all the way into town. I put on my rain jacket and took off. Even with the jacket stopping the wind it was chilly so I flipped on the vest again. I love that thing. I made it on home without really getting wet and that was my ride for Monday. Soon after I got home it poured. Now I’m going to be watching the weather closely and I plan to get out a lot in the next week or two. I missed the whole summer; I will not miss the fall.

Biker Quote for Today

“The man hunched over his motorcycle can focus only on the present instant of his flight; he is caught in a fragment of time cut off from both the past and the future; he is wrenched from the continuity of time; he is outside time; in other words he is in a state of ecstasy. In that state he is unaware of his age, his wife, his children, his worries, and so he has no fear, because the source of fear is in the future, and a person freed of the future has nothing to fear.” – Milan Kundera