Passes & Canyons Blog

Just to wrap this up, I’m not going on this RMMRC ride I’ve been talking about. Healing is just taking too long.

But as part of my exploration as to what I am currently capable of, on Tuesday I decided it was time to do a real ride and I went out US 285 and then over Guanella Pass. A beautiful day to ride and if I couldn’t handle this 150-mile jaunt I sure couldn’t handle the longer days planned for the trip.

And it was good. I got all the way out of town before I felt even slight discomfort. Big, big improvement.

So there I am tooling up 285 and a couple on a Concours 14 rolled up behind me. Very shortly afterward another guy joined us. I was chuckling to myself about how anyone who saw us was almost certainly thinking we were a group of riders on a trip together. You don’t think that about three cars in a row but you do when it’s a bunch of motorcycles.

Then in a few more miles we were joined by two more guys on bikes. Now we’re a group of five bikes and six people, for all the world like we’re traveling together. We passed a bunch of bikes going the other way, everybody’s waving, and I’m just shaking my head at how I just know that even those bikers figured we were together.

The solo guy who had been the third member of the group turned off at Pine Junction so now there were only four bikes, and we got to Grant and I turned up the Guanella Pass road and the couple on the Concours went straight. They have a sign there at Grant that I liked. It read, “This is a mountain pass, not a raceway. Slow down and enjoy the scenery.” Words of wisdom.

The other two guys had dropped out of sight behind we got to Grant but then I stopped partway up the pass to put on a sweatshirt–it was getting chilly!–and they went by. Hey fellas, fun riding with you for awhile.

Just FYI there were a lot of tar snakes on the Grant side of this pass. I figured since it was cool they would be no issue but after my rear end slid out a couple times I concluded they were not to be ignored. On the Georgetown side, which is a different county, there were no tar snakes but there was a lot of gravel in the very high switchbacks and some in some of the lower ones. So take care riding this pass at this point.

And yeah, it was darn chilly up on top of the pass but dang if my butt didn’t still just feel fine. I like this. I’ll need to stop and take the sweatshirt off when I get lower but for now it’s very welcome.

So there was no obvious spot to stop once I got down lower so I kept riding but by the time I was getting off I-70 at the El Rancho exit I was cooking. The plan was to jump on the Evergreen Parkway just a couple miles and then turn off onto Kerr Gulch Road and take that very non-busy route down to Kittredge.

Up at the top Kerr Gulch is very steep but I finally came upon a driveway and that looked like a good spot to stop. I stopped, put the kick-stand down, and got off . . . and the bike just rolled forward and fell over. Dang! I didn’t need this. What happened next is a bit of a story and I’ll tell that next time. Suffice it to say I got going again.

So, down to Kittredge, to Morrison, to US 285, and home. A good long ride and by the time I got home I knew I’d be texting Alberto to say no way am I going on this trip. By this point I was hurting and this time a hot soak in the tub was not enough to make it all go away.

Not that it mattered as it turned out. I checked my email later and he had sent me a note the day before saying he had had to cancel out. And a couple other guys dropped out, too, and it was now just down to Alan, the organizer, and Bruce. I texted Bruce to ask if they were going to go nevertheless and he said yes. Good for them. Sorry I won’t be with you.

Biker Quote for Today

Does it get any better than motorcycling with your best friends?

The RMMRC planned a fall color ride last week so of course I went along. Gathering at the Phillips 66 in Morrison the group was huge. There were at least 14 bikes plus two cars. Wow. Big group, I mentioned to Dave. Yeah, he said, too big.

We headed up Bear Creek Canyon to Evergreen, through town and out the west side on Upper Bear Creek Road to the Witter Gulch Road, which is a really steep climb with super-tight switchbacks near the top. A fun motorcycle road, in other words. At the top you come to CO 103, the Squaw Pass road, which we took left, over the pass, past Echo Lake, and down to Idaho Springs.

It was a really nice day to be riding in the hills, a little cool but I had on full cold weather gear and could not have been more comfortable. But there was not much color to be seen on the way up. That was no surprise to me because Judy and I had just been up to Estes Park, over Trail Ridge Road, and down to Grand Lake the week before and we didn’t see much color then either, and now another week had passed. Mostly the green was just turning brown.

From Idaho Springs we took old US 6 up to Georgetown, where we had a lunch stop planned. Arriving, we found the restaurant closed. Someone had checked with the visitor center and they had pointed us to a brewpub on the east edge of town by the lake. Presumably that was where we were going to go.

Roy asked me to help him push back off this gravel parking area we were on and I did, so I was the very last to leave this first restaurant. I knew where this brew pub was, though, because I had seen it coming into town. As I headed back that way I soon started seeing members of our group coming back toward town, apparently having gone not far enough and thinking they had missed the place. I waved at them to go the way I was headed. Then at the roundabout off I-70 I saw others pulling into a restaurant right there. I waved to them as well but nobody seemed to be following me.

I rode on out to the brew pub and pulled out my phone. Meanwhile, a couple from the group did show up but did not stick around. The only phone number I had was Dave so I called him and told him where I was and that the place was open and there were people inside eating. He told me the place by the roundabout didn’t even open for another 15 minutes and he would tell some of the others but meanwhile he was coming out to join me. A few minutes later he did, no one else did, and we went in to eat. It turned out later that Dave is diabetic and he was nearing a blood sugar crisis so he just needed food, NOW!

So it was kind of pleasant just the two of us. It gave us a chance to talk and get a little better acquainted. I’ve known Dave for about five years now but in a group setting you often don’t have a chance to really get to know people. One on one you do.

After lunch Dave asked if I intended to rejoin the group. I had planned to but he noted that what with finding a place to eat and then getting such a big group served they were not likely to be ready to ride for maybe another hour. He was just going to go on over Guanella Pass without them. Besides, Dave is a go-fast guy and he had not enjoyed the sedate pace you have to take with such a large group.

I went with Dave. At first there was a lot of traffic going up Guanella but apparently a lot of people were planning to hike and every time we passed a trailhead the numbers thinned so soon we were cruising along comfortably. And what a beautiful day! But not much color. Oh well, I’ve seen yellow leaves before.

Over the top and then we pulled out at a view area to get a few photos, such as the one above. Just then in pulled John, another RMMRC member, in his car with his wife, out to see the leaves. Fun. Oh, and there was a bit more color over on the south side of the pass.

So we cruised on down to Grant, picked up US 40 back to town and split up when the time came. It really was a much more pleasant ride just the two of us. I hope the rest of those folks found a good place to eat.

Biker Quote for Today

You are not alone when your bike is with you.

I went riding with the RMMRC last week and Bob led us on an interesting ride. What made it particularly interesting for me was that it was almost exactly the ride I set out to lead the group on recently except in reverse.

On both rides we went over Guanella Pass. In the first instance we went out U.S. 285 to Grant and over to Georgetown. This time we went Georgetown to Grant. The first time, when we stopped on top of the pass I said I could lead the group back to Denver with barely a couple miles of interstate. Everyone liked that idea so I took the lead.

Then a funny thing happened at Idaho Springs: everyone else peeled off and went their own way. OK, not what I expected.

So there we were last week at Morrison. Apparently the plan to go over Guanella had been agreed upon and I was unaware of that. I just followed as Bob led us up past Red Rocks and then turned west on U.S. 40. Great, I like that road. We went up to Genesee, where you have to get on I-70, and a few miles later took the exit for Evergreen Parkway.

At this point I was thinking Bob was either doing my route in reverse or else we were headed up Squaw Pass. But he surprised me by turning right onto Soda Creek Road at Bergen Park. Interesting. I’d never been on that road.

It was a good road, although it turned to gravel after a few miles. Still, it was extremely good gravel and I was on the Honda CB750 and that’s a go-anywhere bike so that was fine. A few miles further and we went under the interstate and came out onto U.S. 40 again. So now I was wondering–and I still don’t know the answer–if he intended to come this way or if he missed the turn he intended, the one on my route, back at the Evergreen Parkway turnoff that would have put us back on 40 right away.

Doesn’t matter, I was glad to be shown a new road. And looking at the map I see there is another road just a mile farther along that also runs over to 40 from Evergreen Parkway. That’s Jefferson County Road 65 and it looks like it may be paved all the way. Now I want to go ride that and find out.

So we were back on U.S. 40, running alongside I-70 for the most part, and we took that up Floyd Hill and down to where it meets U.S. 6 coming up out of Clear Creek Canyon. We turned left and got onto I-70 just up to Idaho Springs. Now I was figuring again that we were doing Squaw Pass, only coming west to east rather than east to west.

But no, Bob led us back onto U.S. 6 at the west end of town and we followed that road all the way to Georgetown. Except for that jog over Soda Creek Road this was exactly my route in reverse, and we clearly were doing Guanella.

And we did. It was a clear, beautiful day up on top and then it was the same old ride from Grant back to town. My only complaint about living in Denver all these years is that so many of these roads we ride, such as U.S. 285, are roads I have done hundreds and hundreds of times. Fine, I’ll quit complaining. It could be so much worse. And I have not done Guanella hundreds of times. Only a couple dozen.

Did I ever mention I used to know Byron Guanella, the guy this pass is named for? That’s a story for another day, although not a particularly interesting one.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you encourage your kids to go to the Motorcycle Mechanic’s Institute instead of college.

There were nine of us who showed up last week for the first breakfast-then-ride RMMRC outing in quite some time. The decision was made and we headed out for Guanella Pass.

I had missed a previous ride that was supposed to go over Guanella where I learned the next day that the pass was not yet open. These were some of the same folks and they told me that the time before they had gone as far as the barrier and had had to turn back. This time we knew the pass was open.

We crossed town on the newly opened/newly expanded C-470. For years this road was too crowded to bother with, and then for the last four years it has been under construction. Finally it was wide open and a fast run. We’ll see how long that lasts.

The direct way to go would have been out U.S. 285 but we took the nicer, narrow two-lane of the Deer Creek Canyon up to Turkey Creek Road and west to pick up 285 just down from Conifer. Then west on 285 to Grant, and a right turn up Guanella Pass Road (Park County 62 on this side).

It had been quite hot down low but as we climbed it cooled off. I was hoping it wouldn’t be too cold up on top. It was also breezy and I was hoping we would not encounter howling winds up on top. No problem either way; up on top it was calm and just pleasantly cool. Before heading down Robert even removed his jacket and rode in just his shirt. That would have been too chilly for me but I did remove the liner from my jacket, and later was very glad I did.

We stopped up on top and I noticed a much reduced effort at distancing than previous RMMRC rides have entailed. People are relaxing.

Coming up on the Park County side the road was extremely clean and clear. Heading down on the Clear Creek County side there was still a bit of sand on some of the tighter corners near the top. Be alert.

On top the question came up, do we just cruise down to Georgetown and get on I-70 and blast home? I said it was possible to go almost all the way back to Denver on just a very few miles of interstate. You take the lead, they said.

Down we went to Georgetown and through town and on toward Idaho Springs, not on the superslab but on old U.S. 6. At Idaho Springs you have to get on the highway for a few miles but then you can get off at U.S. 6 heading down Clear Creek Canyon, but take a quick right up Floyd Hill on old U.S. 40, which runs alongside I-70 in places and far away from the highway in other places. You do have to get back on I-70 at Evergreen Parkway but you get back off again and at Genesee. Then 40 runs all the way down to Golden.

So approaching the U.S. 6 exit I had six bikes behind me. As I got off I saw several had stayed on the interstate. Guess they just want to get home. But then when I got onto 40 not one bike followed me. Wow, I guess everyone had different plans. Not a problem; I like riding alone. I toodled my way on home, roasting now even without the liner in my jacket, and was glad to walk into the cool house.

Biker Quote for Today

It’s just crazy bein’ here with you, as a bad motorcycle with the devil in the seat, going ninety miles an hour down a dead end street. — Bob Dylan

The RMMRC was planning a ride over Guanella Pass last week and I was very much inclined to go. But the day was extremely windy and that dampened my enthusiasm. I’ve been out on days when it was windy in town, and when I got to the high country, especially above timber line, it was howling. That’s not my idea of fun, and I ended up not going.

Well, I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to anyone who did go but the next day I read in the Denver Post that Guanella was not open yet. OK. Did they find that out when they got to Grant? Or when they got near the top? Or did they get over despite it being officially closed? I’m curious to find out.

This tied in very conveniently with a post I was already planning, which was to check out the status of all of the larger Colorado roads that close in winter. Here’s what CDOT, the Colorado Department of Transportation, has to say.

Trail Ridge Road through Rocky Mountain National Park is closed for the season and will remain closed until further notice due to ongoing Covid-19 concerns. To hear updated road status please call the Trail Ridge Status Line at 970-586-1222.

Independence Pass. Closed for the season. (OK, does that mean it closed last fall and is not yet open? Are they not going to open it at all this year? I find that doubtful. CDOT could be more helpful here. But the Post article said it will open on June 1.)

Cottonwood Pass. Same. The Denver Post also says this will open on June 1.

Guanella Pass. Same. The Post says to be opened at a date to be determined.

Mount Evans Highway. To be determined.

Pikes Peak. Is expected to be open to the top as of June 1.

So the bottom line here is, check before you go. Don’t count on things opening up at the time they usually do. But I tell you, once it does open I really want to do Cottonwood Pass. They finally got it paved all the way last year and I have not been on it since they were done. This is number one on my list.

Biker Quote for Today

If the countryside seems boring, stop, get off your bike, and go sit in the ditch long enough to appreciate what was here before the asphalt came.

Wednesday morning and I went by the Original Pancake House again and this time the other folks from the RMMRC were there. It turned out the last time that the ride had been canceled because pretty nearly everyone who normally goes on these impromptu rides was gone on a ride to Alabama. I just didn’t get the notice of the cancellation because it was put out via the group’s recently added Meet-Up group, of which I was not yet a member.

I’m a member now. And it turns out that apparently this Meet-Up thing is a good recruiting tool. There were several other guys who are not RMMRC members who came via Meet-Up, and who may now become members. In this particular case, let’s hear it for social media.

The ride this day, the decision was made, was to go up through Evergreen, across Evergreen Parkway to I-70, to Georgetown and over Guanella Pass. Just an easy 140 or so mile jaunt. There were nine of us on a bunch of BMWs, a couple Concourses, a Gold Wing, and a V-Strom 1000.

Figuring it might be chilly in the morning, and would definitely be cool up on top of the pass, I wore my newest mesh jacket with a fleece vest underneath. I was right about the morning chill but by the time we got out of town I was very warm and looking forward to higher altitude. It definitely was cool up on the pass so my thinking was good.

Riding with a bunch of guys you’ve mostly never ridden with there is always the question of how well you will do together. At breakfast I sat next to the guy on the V-Strom (can’t remember his name) and he told me of another Meet-Up group he had ridden with where in his opinion the ride leader was a bit crazy and at times he found that ride scary. Yeah, you’ve just got to ride your own ride.

This group went together well, though. After a lot of shuffling and getting separated in city traffic we regrouped out by Morrison and headed up the hill. Everyone just naturally arranged in staggered formation and nobody was crowding anybody. A good riding group.

Guanella was a good ride. There had been talk about encountering snow on the road up high but it was completely dry. Be aware, however, if you’re heading up there soon, that there is considerable gravel in some of the hairpin curves. I took those at about 5 mph.

There were a good number of bikes on the road over the pass, so other people had the same idea we did. It was definitely a good day to ride.

The only thing I thought was a bit lacking was that when we got to the top of the pass we paused to regroup but then just kept riding. It seems to me that the top of a pass generally calls for stopping and getting off and looking around a bit, stretching your legs. Certainly I could have gotten off my bike and walked up to the ride leader and suggested we do that, and I didn’t, so I can’t blame him. But it just felt a bit gratuitous to me to not stop a bit. I mean, I like to ride, but I like to make stops, too.

So then it was down the other side, picking up US 285 at Grant, and on back into town. (Where I roasted with that fleece vest on!) And we scattered and went our separate ways.

Biker Quote for Today

“I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating; the BMW GS handles in ways a two-story building was never meant to.” — AZ_ADV Rider

Living in Denver I am well acquainted with just about any day ride you can make from here. But I was up in Eagle this week visiting my friends Willie and Jungle and they decided to take a day ride. Oh, that puts a very different perspective on that idea.

I had ridden up there the day before and just took I-70 so as to get there. I was disinclined take the slab home, however, so it fit my plans perfectly to accompany them on their ride to the point where I would peel off for home.

Leaving Eagle we stuck to old U.S. 6, paralleling I-70. Who wants to ride on the interstate when you don’t have to? U.S. 6 does get very urban, however, when you get to Edwards (we were headed east) so we did jump on the big road there, just for two exits, to the Minturn exit.

Then it was U.S. 24 over Tennessee Pass to Leadville, and down over to Buena Vista. Certainly I’ve been on that road more than once before but it is not a common route for me so it was very nice to be out there.

As we reached Buena Vista and turned east on U.S. 285 it occurred to me that for Willie and Jungle, this stretch must be a piece they don’t get to often. I mean, they never go to Denver and that’s where this road heads. For me on the other hand, this is an extremely common stretch of road that I traverse probably at least a dozen times every year.

So we headed east and stopped in Fairplay for lunch. They could have gone north there over Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge but these people are serious riders and that would not have been a long enough ride. So we continued east from Fairplay over Kenosha Pass and down to Grant. This was where we parted. I continued east to Denver and they turned north over Guanella Pass to Georgetown and then headed west to Eagle on I-70, with a side-trip planned to go over Loveland Pass, rather than through the tunnel.

Of course, living in Eagle, Willie and Jungle have numerous day trip options. I have ridden with them other times when we went to Leadville, down to Twin Lakes, over Independence Pass to Aspen and Glenwood Springs and then back to Eagle. Also over to Wolcott and up to Toponas and over Gore Pass, then Rabbit Ears Pass to Steamboat Springs, and back to Eagle.

Whereas, living in Denver, as I do, the first part of nearly every trip is just getting across town to get into the mountains, and then coming home I’m largely restricted to the two major routes, I-70 and U.S. 285. But I suspect wherever you live it gets to be the same old, same old, riding the same routes again and again. Anybody want to swap houses for a year so we can both explore new roads?

Biker Quote for Today

Some important things in life just require a deep breath and a long ride with friends.

Sunday was warm and sunny, and you could still ride up onto Guanella Pass. I know, because I did. By Monday, not true. This may have been my last ride in the mountains in 2017.

I had been wanting to get up in the hills to enjoy some of the fall color but with my Mom ill I had been in South Carolina for awhile. Then I got back and we had almost two solid weeks of overcast and rain–not at all like typical Colorado weather. Finally the sun came out but other demands kept delaying me, until I realized it was Sunday or not at all. I geared up and headed out.

Not that I really geared up sufficiently. Heading out of town across Hampden/U.S. 285 I was already getting chilly but I did have my electric vest on so I flipped it to on. I was wearing long underwear and had multiple layers on top, but only my least warm gloves. And I had intended to wear my leather chaps but forgot them as I got ready.

No matter, the vest really did the job. With it pumping out heat, everything else abated.

My intention was just to run up Guanella Pass from the Georgetown side and then back the same way. I had other things I needed to do at home and going down to Grant and home on 285 would have taken a lot longer. But I began reconsidering as I saw all the traffic streaming down on I-70 and realized it was the dreaded Sunday afternoon. Maybe I better rethink this.

Off I-70 at Georgetown and starting up the pass. I didn’t really know for sure if the road was clear or if maybe it had ice on it at places. Turns out it was completely free of that kind of slippery stuff but in all — and I mean all — of the switchbacks there was plentiful gravel, obviously spread there to improve traction–for cars, not motorcycles. Take it slow; not a problem.

The V-Strom is a fun bike to ride on twisting mountain roads. It is (relatively) light and agile and every time I got clear of traffic in front of me I was able to whip it (except on the switchbacks). This is what makes riding in the mountains so fun. There were very strong winds in just a few spots but not for the most part. What caused those isolated blasts? Heck if I know.

So before I even got to Georgetown I knew I was too late for any color up on the pass, but there was snow alongside the road and on the hills, so that was a different kind of beauty. And the top of the pass is particularly scenic, as you can see to an extent in that photo above. Still worth the trip, especially if the real purpose of the trip was just to go for a ride.

I did decide to go back the way I came and then I was surprised to find that the dreaded Sunday afternoon traffic was absent. Maybe because Monday was Columbus Day and a holiday for some, and/or maybe because it is mud season, where it is too early to ski but too late to camp or do so many other summertime mountain activities. Whatever the reason, I blasted back down into town rarely going slower than 65. Often a good bit faster.

All in all, a nice day on the bike.

Biker Quote for Today

Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it’s about learning to ride in the rain.