Passes & Canyons Blog

An earlier RMMRC ride.

How hard is it to just throw warmer gear into the top bag just in case you need it? Too hard apparently as I did it again: opted not to wear or take my heated gloves because I didn’t think I’d need them.

The RMMRC was doing a breakfast run on Friday and I knew it was supposed to be cooler than the day before. But it still seemed like such a nice day. Hah! By the time I got to the gathering spot I was already wishing I had my heated gloves. Oh well.

There were seven of us and I thought we were heading to Elizabeth but I guess I was confused. We met on the south side of Parker and took Hilltop Road out to Singing Hills Road (County Road 166) and turned east to . . . somewhere. I’m not sure what road we went south on but we got to the edge of Kiowa and turned south on Elbert Road. Then south to and through Elbert on down to US 24. At this point we were down outside of Colorado Springs.

At Falcon we took Stapleton Road over to Meridian Road to Omelets Etc.

Man, was I cold! I had my electric vest on but even it wasn’t doing the job completely. And for the first time ever I was very conscious of a breeze coming through the zippers on my upper chest vents on my jacket. I wanted to make a point to stuff those vents with napkins while at the restaurant but of course I forgot.

But the food was good, as was the service, and the prices made you think this was five years ago.

Mercifully, by the time we were leaving it had gotten at least a little warmer. We headed north on a variety of roads through the Black Forest area up to CO 105, which we took over to Monument, and then north to Sedalia still on 105. At Sedalia it was time to scatter, each in his own direction. A good ride all in all but next time I really do need to throw my heated gloves into my tank bag. Of course, then I won’t need them.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you go down and the only thing you ask is how’s my bike.

I didn’t just shoot this picture but this is pretty much what it looked like just a few days ago.

The cold finally backed off a bit on Sunday and the mid-day high was around 60, so I went riding. I wasn’t the only one.

The thing that gets me about the guys who are adamantly opposed to wearing a helmet is that in the winter a helmet keeps your head warm. I mean, there was a time–years–when I rarely wore a helmet but I always wore one in winter. There were two reasons.

One, as I said, was to keep my head warm. Sure you can wear a stocking cap and that would be better than nothing but it doesn’t compare to a helmet. And I especially like my helmet that has a velcroed cloth that encloses my chin to keep my face warmer. It’s probably not my highest quality helmet but it sure as heck is my warmest one.

The other is that from the first snow and ice of the season you are guaranteed that in some spots on the road there is sand and gravel. And with sand and gravel lurking, the likelihood of going down is increased by a lot.

I guess in my younger days I told myself I was not going to go down so I didn’t need a helmet, but I couldn’t convince even my younger self of that in winter.

So I dressed warmly and wore my helmet and it was a darn nice day to be out on a motorcycle. First I ran some errands and then I went for a cruise. And yeah, let me tell you about one crazy move I witnessed.

I was westbound on Hampden and traffic was heavy. Coming up to an intersection the guy in the second lane from the right suddenly sped up and shot in front of the car next to him to make a right turn. Holy crap! Keep that in mind any time you find yourself losing your focus on riding safely and being aware of what the folks around you are doing.

There was nothing else eventful on my ride but coming home I got to where I turn south off Hampden onto Tamarac. I’ve made that turn a few dozen thousand times but this time I thought maybe I ought to take it a bit slower. There might be sand there.

So I slowed and what do you know? There was a bunch of sand. No problem for me.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: You can kick your motorcycle to wake it up.

This time of year makes for some fabulous rides.

Riding a motorcycle is not like driving a car. Have you noticed that?

For instance, no one ever mentions to you how they headed out in their car and discovered it was a lot warmer or cooler than they expected and therefore they were way too hot or way too cool. They just took care of it with the AC or the heater and didn’t give it another thought.

Not so those of us on two wheels. And there is no more likely time to get that surprise than at the changing of the seasons, like right now.

Until this week, the last several times I’ve been out on my bikes I have consistently underestimated how chilly it was going to be. I’m not stupid, though, and I have a few years of experience under my belt, so I was carrying along the warmer gear to compensate.

And riding in cool weather is pretty energizing. The term “cool, brisk fall days” speaks to a reality. It’s very cool (yes, double meaning) actually.

Then there was last Tuesday. The forecast was for one more warm day followed by serious, serious cold. As in a low of 14 degrees. That’s cold! I figured I’d better take advantage so off I went on the Concours. The thermometer said 75 so, after being surprised by the cool recently, I overdressed for the warmth. You can always remove layers.

Boy did I overdress. To the point where I was roasting. So I stopped and shed a layer, right? No, that would have been too easy, too intelligent.

I wanted a convenient place to stop. And it’s amazing how when you want something specific you never seem to find it. At any time I could have turned off onto a side street, stopped and de-layered, and turned around and gotten back on the main road. But that would not have been convenient.

I finally remembered that my jacket has vents so I opened the ones in front, and that helped some. I groped in back but could not locate the rear vents or that would have helped even more.

So finally I ended up back home and oh golly, how glad I was to rip some layers off.

As I said, you never hear stories like this from people driving cars, do you. But I’ll bet that nearly every one of you could tell some similar story about riding your motorcycle. Riding a motorcycle is not like driving a car.

Biker Quote for Today

Riding motorcycles helps clear the cobwebs from my mind; if I ride long enough I get to kill some of the spiders.

Some people ride even in this kind of conditions. You’ve got no excuse at all not to be riding in this warm weather we’ve been having.

I was out riding Wednesday on that warm February afternoon. Is Colorado a great place to live or what?

As always at this time of the year, I was being opportunistic. It was warm; I rode. I make a point to ride each of my bikes at least once every calendar month and I can check February off the list.

But even if I didn’t have that incentive I would have been out. It’s just too nice not to. It has been quite cold in the morning but by 11 o’clock it has been in the 50s and that’s good riding weather. And there’s no snow or ice on the ground, unlike in that photo above. (I shot that photo at the Elephant Ride a few years ago. Yeah, there was plenty of snow then.)

Riding the fully faired Concours and then the unfaired CB750, back to back, it was pretty dang obvious how much benefit that fairing offers. I was perfectly warm on the Connie but definitely felt a chill on the CB. But I turned on my electric vest and all was just fine. Didn’t even need the electric gloves.

Now, I would hope that this is not the last of my February riding. I see nothing in the forecast that suggests we’ll be snowed in the rest of the month, but you never know. Assuming that doesn’t happen I should be out a bunch more times. I’m really counting on getting a lot of miles under me this year. And I’m not waiting till May to get started.

Biker Quote for Today

Whether rain or sunshine, heat or cold, my bike and I are on the road.

Out along south Santa Fe/US 85 on Wednesday.

Wednesday was quite cool, only in the low 40s, but I had the day off from my day job and I had three motorcycles that had not yet had a December ride. Of course I went out.

I knew it was time to break out the cold weather gear, but how much did I really need? One good thing about riding several bikes consecutively is that if you were cold on the first ride you can add more for the second. I definitely wore the electric vest; that was a no-brainer. I chose not to wear my heated gloves. The last couple times I’ve ridden it has been cool and my regular insulated gloves were plenty. I could have worn long underwear or my fleece-lined chaps, or both. I chose the chaps.

The first ride had to be on the V-Strom. When I had intended to take it out over the weekend I still hadn’t found my keys, so it didn’t go out then. This time it got first shot.

I didn’t turn the electric vest on at first but hadn’t gone far when I hit the switch. Yeah, it was definitely chilly. I also notice that my arms were getting chilly. The vest keeps the torso warm but the arms are on their own. And my feet felt a little cool. My legs were great, though. Those chaps have been a blessing every time I’ve ever worn them.

So it was chilly but still a nice day to be out, especially when you consider that most other people were working, while I was out riding my motorcycle. Totally works for me.

By the time I got back from that first ride, though, my fingers were little ice cubes, almost completely numb. Definitely adding the heated gloves for the next ride. I was also thinking about putting some of those chemical heat packs in my boots, though my feet were still only chilly, not cold like my hands.

Second bike out was the Concours. I figured I’d head southwest, over toward Sedalia and back up via Happy Canyon Road.

I forgot the chemical heat for my feet but they did OK. The heated gloves made all the difference in the world. I set them on the second-highest setting because I didn’t know how much charge they had and didn’t want to drain them before I rode the Honda. Plus, it’s OK to have slightly cool hands and that is probably better than having hot, sweaty hands. And either is better than ice cubes.

Another really nice ride. I do enjoy riding motorcycles. How is it that some people don’t understand what a wonderful thing this is?

I had let the day slip away, though, so by the time I was heading home the commuter traffic was already building and the temperature was already dropping. Plus, the gloves were running out of juice. I have charged them periodically over the warm months, just to be kind to the batteries, but had not done so in the last month or so. By the time I stopped to gas up one had died altogether and the other was flashing that it was on its way out.

So the Honda will have to wait for the weekend before it gets to go out. Darn, I’m going to have to ride one of my motorcycles again in a few days!

Biker Quote for Today

Two wheels take me faster than my stress can go.