Passes & Canyons Blog

A rider coming to Winter Park, CO, from Louisiana asked a question about routes. Here is the answer I gave him. He will be coming into Colorado over Raton Pass.

Unless you need to make time, get off the interstate as soon as you can. You could get off at Trinidad and loop over Cuchara Pass, then go west on US 160 over La Veta Pass, swing up past the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, and then head north to Poncha Springs and Buena Vista. From Buena Vista you could either go to Fairplay and over Hoosier Pass or go through Leadville and over Fremont Pass, either way reaching I-70. Then go east on I-70 to where US 40 branches off and goes over Berthoud Pass and down into Winter Park.

If you want to get there more directly but still have time to get off the interstate a bit, leave I-25 at Colorado Springs and go up US 24 to South Park over Wilkerson Pass, then head toward Buena Vista and follow the previous directions.

Once you reach Winter Park there are all sorts of possibilities. Take a look at www.motorcyclecolorado.com for all sorts of options.

I had been tentative all along but always felt it would work out. But it didn’t. Today is the first day of the ADVRider West Fest 2006, a three day bike rally in Buena Vista. And I’m not there. And though I still hope I might make it there for at least part of a day it’s not looking good.

I’m bummed. There are several other rallies I’m hoping to make it to this summer but this is the only camping motorcycle rally I know of and there are hundreds of people coming from all over. I wanted to be one of them. Rats. I hope you guys all have a great time. Send me some photos, OK?

We just got back from a week’s vacation and of course it was a working vacation. As soon as possible I’ll be adding a lot of new information to the website, filling in a few of the blanks. I’ve got new info and pictures on Unaweep Canyon, Lizard Head Pass, and Cuchara Pass. And I’ll be adding info on a number of additional motorcycle-friendly campgrounds. Also have a few eateries to list as recommended and one or two motels. Anyone who wants to recommend (or pan) restaurants and motels/hotels just send the information along. The whole idea with www.motorcyclecolorado.com is to provide useful information for others around Colorado.

I got an email recently from someone in Vancouver, B.C., asking about how a bike runs in Colorado, particularly in places such as Mt. Evans, when they’re tuned for lower altitudes. It strikes me that that’s a question a lot of people planning to come here might have so I figured I would reprint here the reply I sent him. Here it is.

With the understanding that my bikes are tuned for the altitude in Denver (5,000 feet, more or less) I’m happy to say that I’ve never had any problems. They start, run, and act just like they do in the city. Also, I had a note from a guy who lives in Atlanta who came out to Colorado and he went to the top of Mt. Evans and didn’t have any problem either. I’ve been all over the state and seen people from many states stopping to enjoy the view at the top of passes and I’ve never seen anyone having trouble starting their bike or had anyone mention anything about a problem. Hopefully that means you won’t have anything to worry about.

So that’s what I told him. If any of you have had bad experiences please write and let me know about them and how you handled the problem. Thanks.

Reading the May issue of Cycle World magazine I came across a column by Peter Egan where he talks about how the best two days of boat ownership are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. He goes on to talk about a conversation he and his buddies had about why motorcycles are better than just about anything you could name. The list includes items such as “When the engine stops, you can pull over and put your foot down, instead of doing a dead-stick landing in a cornfield. Or getting towed to port.” Another is “During a big storm, you don’t have to lie awake at night and picture your motorcycle bashing itself to pieces on some rocks.” You get the picture.

I totally identify with what he’s talking about. In fact, that’s exactly how I came to buy my first motorcycle, back in 1987. I had been flying a hang glider but there were way too many days when I’d get up early, load the glider on the car, and drive a couple hours to the flying site, then set it up and haul it up to launch, only to sit there all day and never get good flying conditions. Then after sitting all day I’d break it down, load it back on the car, drive home, and the whole day was shot for nothing.

Finally I decided I would sell my hang glider and use the money to buy a motorcycle, because at least with a motorcycle, when I threw my leg over the bike I’d be doing what I came to do, right now. That was one of the best decisions of my life. And I still have that bike.

I had some trouble with my old Honda awhile back and I was less than thrilled at the response from the dealer where I had been taking the bike for years. They told me flat out that they didn’t want to work on my bike–it was too old. Mind you, this was just a couple months after they had been happy to take my money to put on a new rear tire. But do work on the carbs or whatever else might be causing the problem? No sir, buddy.

So I took it to another shop and they got it running again but not quickly. Seems this other shop prefers to specialize in racing bikes and only works on others to keep the mechanics busy and pay the bills. I had to wait six weeks for them to get around to doing my bike.

Then, just a couple months later, I had the same sort of problem I had had before. This time I took the recommendation of the guy with 2 Wheel Transport and took it to Mountain Thunder Motor Sports for work. What they found out was that it was not the simple problem with gummed up carbs that the other place found, it was the accelerator pump, something much more subtle that required some real investigation to uncover. So Mountain Thunder fixed it for me in a week and it has run just as smooth and sweet as can be ever since. In the meantime, I also needed a new front tire and I dropped in to Mountain Thunder one Saturday unannounced and they put on a new tire while I waited. That’s service.

So this is an unpaid, unsolicited plug for Mountain Thunder Motor Sports, at 2670 W. Hampden Avenue, in Denver. The phone is 303-806-5054. They work on old bikes. They’ll get my business from now on.

There is going to be a lot of two-wheeling going on in Colorado this year. Just looking at the Rides and Rallies page I see:

July 1 – Colorado VTX Ride-In
July 12 – InZane 6, Valkyrie World Summit
July 13 – 34th Annual Top O’ the Rockies Rally (BMW)
July 27 – Star Touring and Riding Association

Of course there’s the Four Corners Rally in the Rockies in Ignacio starting August 30, and then Thunder in the Rockies September 1.

I’m sure there are other things going on, too, but if you don’t tell me about them I can’t get them up on the list. So hey, it’s free publicity, as well as an extra link to your site. Let me know what’s happening and I’ll get it up on the site. Thanks.

I knew I didn’t have photos from Boulder Canyon yet but when I realized I didn’t have any from Coal Creek Canyon either that made it clear what I was going to do today. Headed up to Boulder on US 36 and then up Boulder Canyon on Colorado 119 to Nederland. Along the way, if you’re in the mood for a stop, you can pull over at Boulder Falls and hike up to the falls. Nearing Nederland you come upon Barker Dam, which forms the reservoir that is just downstream from the town.

A quick jaunt south on combined Colorado 119 and 72 and then they split. Highway 119 continues as the Peak-to-Peak Highway and 72 cuts back east toward Rocky Flats, down on the prairie. But first you pass through Pinecliffe and then climb steeply, with lots of tight switchbacks, to the crest at Wondervue. Over the top and then down you go through Coal Creek Canyon. Finally, bursting suddenly onto the flatlands, you see all of Denver laid out before you.

Of course I shot pictures. You can check them out on the Peak-to-Peak and Canyons page.

By the way, on the run I turned over 77,000 miles on my Honda. She just keeps on running.