Passes & Canyons Blog

I headed out Tuesday morning on the V-Strom not knowing where to go–as usual. My inclination was to head down toward Daniels Park so I went west on Belleview and turned south on University. Along the way it occurred to me that I had not tried the V-Strom on gravel since I had new street tires put on it. I had had 80-20 street/dirt Shinko tires on before but they wore out ridiculously because I mostly ride on pavement, so I went to street tires. So great, I had a plan.

The problem came with approaching Daniels Park from this direction. Many years ago, before all that area was developed, you just headed south on University till, out in the middle of nothing, there was one gravel road branching off to the south. That was the road to Daniels Park. Nowadays I don’t think that road bed even exists. I think it got rerouted and moved around to accommodate the new houses and all. And the main thing is, there is not good signage to point you to the park from University (which becomes Lincoln Avenue along the line somewhere).

I had gone this route before and missed my turn, and another time I had spotted the sign–just barely. This time, if it is even still there, I missed it again. When I reached Quebec I knew I’d gone too far, but I also knew I could get to Castle Pines Parkway, run west about a tenth of a mile, and turn north through the park and hit that same patch of gravel from the other direction. And that way I could then follow the road back north and determine exactly where it meets University. And maybe remember this time.

That’s what I did. I have to say right here that it was only a semi-warm day. I had my electric vest on and that makes all the difference but by the time I got to the park I was up high and it was darn cold, and windy. My hands were getting numb. If not for that vest I would have been an ice cube.

I got to the park, got to the gravel, and had no issues whatsoever. This was not that much of a test because they use magnesium chloride on that road, which makes it almost paved, although they clearly had not put any on it recently. But the tires worked fine.

So I got back on the pavement continuing north. When it hits the pavement, Daniels Park Road becomes Grig’s Road. Grig’s Road hit McArthur Ranch Road and I knew I needed to go left, but I wasn’t sure what to do after that.

I hit Wildcat Reserve Parkway and crossed that and my road became Fairview Parkway. I took that a good ways and finally reached Highlands Ranch Parkway, turned right, and was back at University. So I turned right to try it again. At this point I was pretty sure the road I had wanted was Wildcat Reserve Parkway so as I approached it again I looked hard for a sign. I saw no sign at all. But I went ahead and turned south on Wildcat.

By now I had no idea what road I had been on when I crossed Wildcat Reserve a short while ago (McArthur Ranch Road) so I missed it and just followed Wildcat. And followed and followed and followed it. Highlands Ranch is really big. I wasn’t lost–I knew I could easily find my way to some place I knew, but I had no idea where this road was leading me. That’s OK, I like to explore.

After awhile it looked like I would be coming out on US 85, which was fine, but then Wildcat hit Highlands Ranch Parkway. Fine. I knew that road comes out on US 85, so I made that left.

Getting onto US 85, from there it was all familiar ground. I cruised past Sedalia, to the Daniels Park Road turn-off, went north to Castle Pines Parkway where I brought the two sides of this very squiggly figure-8 together, and from there made my way home.

It was a really nice ride, probably the best I’ve had yet this year. Yes it was cool but if you have the right gear you can do just about anything. And maybe next time I try to get to Daniels Park from University Boulevard I’ll be successful. Or not.

Biker Quote for Today

Straight roads never make skillful motorcycle riders.

I did a short ride with a small RMMRC group Saturday and we had an interesting encounter.

Val and Chris had invited everyone over to their house for breakfast before a ride down to Daniels Park. It was kind of nice because it offered a comfortable situation for a few of us who weren’t well acquainted to get to know each other better. Val is a relatively new rider who has a nice little KTM but thanks to Covid has not been able even to schedule a riding test to get her license. So she has to ride with someone who does have a license, such as all of us. From Daniels Park the group could decide to keep going, and they did, but I opted to head home–too much needing my attention at home.

So anyway, we headed out and were winding our way through Littleton and the south suburban area headed to the park when we came to a spot where we needed to turn right. There were seven bikes. I was riding sixth, behind Gene, who was behind I don’t know who.

Approaching this intersection the leaders passed a bicyclist in the bike lane. Not a problem, they were well ahead of him and they turned. One by one these motorcycles made the turn, but with each one the bicyclist drew closer. I was observing this with interest. It occurred to me that I wasn’t really sure who ought to yield the right of way when the cyclist got to the intersection, assuming he planned to go straight. But my thinking was that whatever was the “right” thing, he really ought to slow down and let these string of motorcycles make their turn as a group. I mean, how big a deal would that be?

But he didn’t. As he came to the intersection the rider in front of Gene turned in front of him, he hit his brakes and wobbled pretty fiercely, and as he then crossed ahead of Gene he angrily yelled at Gene. OK.

When we stopped I asked Gene what he had said but Gene had been listening to music so he didn’t catch the words but nobody could miss the anger. And I asked and everyone agreed that the right of way is supposed to be ceded to the bicyclist. But the guy in front of Gene, the offender, said he figured he had plenty of room to make the turn without interfering with the bicyclist. And apparently he thought he had done so and was surprised that there had been an incident.

Which just gets back to my original thinking. OK, the guy had a right to believe the right of way should have been yielded to him. (Nobody has the right of way, it’s a matter of who is supposed to yield the right of way. That’s a technicality but it’s good to keep that clear in your mind.) But in this case, wouldn’t it have been smart for the cyclist to have decided for his own safety to just defer to this string of motorcycles?

We motorcyclists know all too well that if someone violates our space that no matter how in the right we are, we’re still the ones who are going to get hurt. Clearly that applies even more to bicyclists.

And even if someone understands and accepts that the cyclist had the right of way, sometimes people make bad judgments. In this case that apparently happened. We follow the maxim of riding as if we’re invisible. Again, bicyclists should follow that concept even more since they’re even more vulnerable. I don’t think it’s any secret though that at least some bicyclists are overly self-righteous in asserting their right to their share of the road. And I think this guy was one of those. Fine, be that way, but I personally think my own safety and well-being take precedence over my rights on the road. I’d rather rant about some idiot later than wake up in the ER.

It all comes down to one over-riding principle: don’t be stupid. I think this guy was stupid.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if you’ve never ridden long enough to know that stock seats are never comfortable.

I was embarrassed a couple weeks ago when riding with some folks from the RMMRC. I had told Robert, who was leading, that the road north out of Daniels Park was paved all the way now. So he led the way along that road, turned left at the T intersection as I intended, and we soon found ourselves on gravel.

Mind you, it was very good gravel, probably drowned in magnesium chloride, making it practically paved, and we kept going. But I had been certain it was paved and I could not have been more wrong. How the heck did I make that mistake? Who knows.

So I studied an online map to see what the deal is down there and I found that if we had gone right at that T then we would have been able to get all the way back up to the city on paved roads. Yesterday was a gorgeous, warm early March day so I had to ride and it made sense to head down that way to cement this route into my memory.

I headed south on Quebec down, down, and further down to the south. Quebec became Monarch Boulevard and eventually I reached Castle Pines Parkway. I turned west until I reached Daniels Park and then followed the road we took that day that bent north and then I reached the T intersection. This is North Daniels Park Road and Grig’s Road. This time I turned right.

On a side note, while coming north through Daniels Park I passed a herd of bison. I didn’t know they had bison at Daniels Park.

I knew from the map that Grig’s Road was going to do some serious bending, and it did. It turns out that it has to jog around a good-sized arroyo. Homes backing onto that arroyo must have a really nice view and setting.

Heading straight south momentarily, I reached a roundabout, as expected, and turned due east again. This was Daniels Gate Road and it made a couple curves, then bent northeast and intersected . . . Monarch Boulevard. So I had made a loop.

OK. I really, truly have a clear idea of that area now.

Biker Quote for Today

An expert is a person who has made every mistake possible in a very narrow field ~ Neils Bohr

Again, I didn’t know where I was headed. I’ll just have to find out.

Friday was nice so I needed to ride. I headed southeast on Parker Road. And I kept going.

By the time I reached Franktown I had a thought in mind. I would head over through Castle Rock, on over to U.S. 85 coming down from Sedalia. Then I’d turn up Happy Canyon Road and who knows where from there.

But as I cruised along I thought about Daniels Park Road. I’ve been up there numerous times and it was gravel north of the park. But I had read a while ago that they had paved that stretch of Daniels Park Road, so here was something new for me to explore. Decision made.

Turning off 85 onto Daniels Park Road it wasn’t long before I found myself coming up on a car that was stopped right in the road. What’s up? As I slowed down and drew near I saw the situation. There were three wild turkeys feeding almost right on the road on the left. The guy in the car had stopped to look at them, and who knows, shoot a few photos. He continued on when I came up behind him.

Then maybe just 100 feet further on I spotted a flock of about 12-15 more turkeys off on the right side of the road. Then a quarter mile further there were a bunch of deer lounging on the hillside next to the road. Who knew this was a nature preserve? Actually, I bet anyone who lives out there and tries to have a garden knows all too well. I live in the city and I have trouble with deer trashing my garden. These folks would have that problem in spades.

So I got on up to the park and immediately missed my left turn so I went just a little further and took advantage of a roundabout to make a U-turn. You know what’s amazing about this Rever map I’m embedding in this post? If you zoom in you can go all the way down and see my trip around that roundabout. GPS is amazing.

I got back on my intended route and quickly saw the changes since they paved, and it was not what I expected. For one thing, much of the newly paved stretch is one-lane divided. The northbound lane veers away to the right while the southbound lane veers away to the left. And man have they put up the fences. The whole stretch of road is flanked with what I think are commonly referred to as split-rail fences, except that instead of split rails they used round fence posts. And they put them in between the traffic lanes as well.

And then beyond those the whole area was lined with new six-foot wire fences, like someone wants really badly to keep deer or livestock off the road.

But then I got out of the park and hit Grigs Road, a T-intersection. To the right the road was paved but to the left–the way I wanted to go–it turns out it is still gravel.

Fortunately, I was on the CB750 and that old bike is a do anything, go anywhere sort of bike. Mostly the road was fine, though in places a bit dicey. I just took it slowly.

I got into the Highlands Ranch area, hooked up with Quebec, and headed north for home. Another nice November ride. And oh yeah, I had my winter gear on. It’s chilly out there most days now.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you never ride to work.