Passes & Canyons Blog

It was very annoying to drop my bike while loading the bags on.

I had the V-Strom parked out on the driveway and was maneuvering the left side bag into position on the two pegs when a simple nudge of the bag sent the bike toppling over the other way. Was the loaded, already-mounted right side bag enough weight to destabilize the bike like that? I guess I’ll mount the left bag first from now on.

The main damage was busting the right turn signal but it still worked, so with duct tape it was back to OK.

So after getting home yesterday from the 3,300-mile Canada trip, I left today on the OFMC trip. Bill and Friggs and Dennis left early but Brett works and had to leave later so I arranged to go with him. Our first night destination: Lake San Isabel and the Lodge at San Isabel.

Brett and I got on I-25 to blast (as much as possible) down to Colorado Springs to catch Colorado 115 to Penrose, then Colorado 67 and Colorado 165 on down. Of course, for much of the way on I-25 there was no blasting, just the perpetual traffic jam that defines that highway.

Exiting the slab, we got turned around a bit but thanks to GPS got righted quickly. Heading south from Florence on 67 we hit major wind, with a couple gusts threatening to push me into the opposite lane. Yow!

Up to this point we had been very hot. Now, however, the sky threatened rain, a few drops fell, and the temperature dropped more than 30 degrees. We were cold!

Turning off at 165 for the final leg we pulled over to add layers. There were four guys on some old rat bike Harleys stopped there doing the same thing. We would see more of them later.

The rest of the ride was uneventful but when we met up with the rest of the group we soon heard what happened to them at that junction where we stopped. Seems Friggs was riding third and lagging behind, as is his wont, and a car got ahead of him, plus he got pretty far behind. Now Bill had explained a couple times what roads to turn on, so when he and Dennis got to 165 they stopped for Friggs to catch up.

But Friggs was doing his Mr. Oblivious thing. He blasted right past the junction, past Bill and Dennis sitting right on the highway such that a car coming the other way might have hit them. Bill took off in pursuit but it was right about this time that Friggs figured he ought to speed up a bit and catch up. Which left Bill racing at what he considered dangerous speeds on this twisty road, trying to catch Friggs.

All did end well but Bill was a bit angry with his clueless brother.

Biker Quote for Today

Up with the sun, gone with the wind.