Passes & Canyons Blog

Looking at the north end of Golden from the parking lot of Buffalo Bill’s grave.

We’ve had some really nice weather the last couple days so I had to go ride. Normally, with Wednesday forecast for a high around 72 there is no question there would have been an RMMRC ride. However, with the coronavirus flaring up in a big way, the RMMRC sent out a note earlier this week that for the time being all rides and events are suspended. I guess I’ll have to do this on my own.

It’s times like this when I get antsy to move somewhere else. I’ve been out on the plains way too much lately but going to the hills means riding half an hour across town both ways. It makes me jealous of Bill, who lives right alongside CO 93 running up from Golden to Boulder. He gets on his bike and he’s in the hills in five minutes.

But I did head west. I took Hampden/US 285 to C-470 and got off at Morrison. I was going to run up that road to Kittredge on CO 74 but just like the last time I tried that the road was closed. I figured the work they had been doing several weeks ago would be finished, but no. Wonder what they’re doing?

So I took the Hogback Road that runs up past Red Rocks, under I-70, and turned left onto old US 6 up through Mount Vernon Canyon. I wasn’t sure yet where I was headed but about this time I decided I’d take the turn-off over to Lookout Mountain and the Buffalo Bill grave site. That’s a nice road and you get several stunning views of the plains laid out below.

I stopped at Buffalo Bill’s to get that photo above and then headed on down. What I was already surprised at was how many other people on motorcycles had the same idea. Also, not a surprise, there were at least as many people on bicycles.

I started heading down and came up on a guy on a bicycle. I could have passed him but I’ve seen these folks on hills like this. I figured he’d actually want to go faster than I did. I was right. We neared the first sharp curve and he started scorching. Within seconds he was gone. I was in no hurry.

So I cruised on down, waving to any number of other bikers coming up, and then suddenly two bicyclists went blasting past me. Holy crap! I hadn’t been looking in my mirrors because what was there to look for? And I got passed one more time before I got to the bottom.

A note: the lower end of the Lookout Mountain road has been newly paved and they have added four speed bumps in the area where there are houses around.

I got down to CO 93 and one of the first things I saw was a motorcycle cop, and this guy was wearing just a short-sleeve shirt. I had a tee shirt, a flannel shirt, a vest, and my leather jacket. That’s how warm it was. Beautiful day in November.

Then from there I just headed home.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you don’t go a day without wearing something that says “Harley Davidson.”

Coming down Squaw Pass toward Idaho Springs.

I got a different perspective on the concept of “ride your own ride” on the Old Bike Ride Sunday. Normally that idea is that you should ride in the manner you are comfortable and not try to keep up with someone going faster, especially if you are not comfortable with that speed.

Here’s a different take: Start off on the ride whenever you feel like it; you don’t need to start with the group. Then, do whatever section or sections of the ride you wish and blow off the others. This went on a lot on this ride.

It was a smaller group than I expected at the starting point in Golden. I’d guess there were about 35 people hanging around. Getting started, one person would take off, then maybe a group of three, then a few minutes later another single, another single, a group of two . . . OK, everyone knows where we’re going–just get there at your own pace. The first leg was up Lookout Mountain. Slow going with a lot of bicycles intermixed with the motorcycles and the cars.

Then we got to the first stop, up at Buffalo Bill’s grave site, and there were only about 20 people. Apparently a fair number of people just come to say hello and look at the bikes, but have no intention of actually doing the ride.

We took off from there but soon there was no group at all, just a bunch of bikes moving at different speeds and few in view either behind or in front of you. This leg was over to I-70, a short hop to Evergreen Parkway, and then a right onto CO 103 over Squaw Pass, past Echo Lake. We pulled in at the next stop, Echo Lake Lodge, with people straggling in over 10 or 15 minutes, even though we had all left the last stop at roughly the same time.

Then, just a few minutes after I got there, about half the group headed out again. The remainder had no intention of going anywhere for at least another 15 minutes.

We continued on CO 103 down to Idaho Springs, hopped on I-70 a few miles to U.S. 6 going down Clear Creek Canyon. The group was heading on up to Nederland for lunch but I had no inclination to go to Nederland so I went down the canyon, back to Golden and on home. So I joined in the ethic of riding my own ride.

But it was a really nice day to be out riding. This was my first ride into the hills of 2019 and boy, was I glad I wore my electric vest and my winter gloves. Going over Squaw Pass was cold! And the ground was still almost completely covered with snow, although the road itself was clear and dry, with not even the expected sand you usually see at the end of winter.

And finally, on my third try, I took part in the Old Bike Ride 17.

Biker Quote for Today

An old motorcycle is like an onion, the more layers you peel back the more your eyes water.