Passes & Canyons Blog

Two more motorcycle events have been canceled due to Covid 19.

The Last Brass Monkey Run, the annual last-day-of-the-year event put on by ABATE of Colorado, has been canceled.

Larry Montgomery, ABATE state rep, said in the latest issue of the Spokesman, ABATE’s member newsletter, “At this time we are temporarily on hold for the Last Brass Monkey Run that was to be held on December 31, 2020, at the Rock Rest Bar & Grill in Golden. We are still going to make available to anyone that would renew at this event to be able to renew online December 31, 2020, and you will receive your Brass Nuts in the mail along with your membership card. For those that do not renew, but would still want or need the Brass Nuts for this year we will make arrangements to get them to you for a $5.00 donation to ABATE. We will need mailing info to send them to you.”

This would have been the 33rd Last Brass Monkey Run so once again, a long-standing tradition bites the dust thanks to the coronavirus.

Also canceled is the 2021 Colorado Motorcycle Expo, the event that takes the place of the old Colorado Motorcycle Show & Swap.

I also got word of this cancellation through the Spokesman, where Mike Cole, ABATE District 17 rep, said, “We talked to you last month about your interest in attending the Colorado Motorcycle Expo in 2021, while we did get a response from you and it appeared that many were not going to attend, the decision has been made for us, the 2021 Expo has been canceled and I believe you all know why, unless you have been living in a virus bubble?”

ABATE had been debating having its usual booth at the Expo and had asked members if they planned to attend the Expo. I had replied that I for one did not plan to go, and I listed my concerns in this post about the event. Man, the folks who bought out that event have got to be losing their shirts on this badly timed acquisition.

But we can take heart from the fact that vaccines appear to be on the way. Maybe by next summer my listing of upcoming events will once again be packed with rides and rallies.

In the meantime, we can all still ride alone, which I prefer anyway–most of the time. To set the mood, I pulled up some old biker quotes about riding alone:

• Riding faster than everyone else only guarantees you’ll ride alone.
• The road is only open when you ride alone.
• I can tell better stories when I ride alone, but I have better time when I ride with friends.
• He who rides alone can start today.
• If you cannot find a good companion to ride with, ride alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than to be with those who will hinder your progress.
• Motorcycles are better than men because your motorcycle never wants a night out alone with the other motorcycles.

Biker Quote for Today

I don’t know why they got mad. All I said was that in order to be a biker your motorcycle needs to leave your yard.

I went to the Last Brass Monkey Run Tuesday, December 31. No, I didn’t ride.

I sure as heck wanted to, and some people were actually able to do so; there were about a dozen bikes parked outside the Rock Rest. But for me as well as a bunch of others I spoke to, our streets were iced in and there was no way to get out on two wheels.

The folks who really, really tried to ride were Larry and Kathy Montgomery. Larry is the incoming ABATE state coordinator, taking over for Bruce Downs. Bruce and Carol were there but couldn’t ride because their street was iced in. Larry and Kathy were there but couldn’t ride because . . .

Well, it’s a bit of a story.

Their street was iced in but Larry is nothing if not resourceful. So he loaded up the bike on a trailer and they drove over to the ABATE state office on Chambers. But the bike wouldn’t start because the battery was dead.

Back on the trailer and they drove over to a piece of land near the state office that Larry owns where for years ABATE has stored extra training bikes. Attach that thing to a charge unit and give it awhile.

Later: still won’t start. The battery is not just dead, it is shot. Time to drive to Golden.

So it was a good turn-out. Part of your registration included a poker hand and there were five games to see what cards you got. In one case there were two bags, four balls in one and 13 balls in the other. Take from the four-ball bag to find suit, from the other for card. I started off with a King of Spades. Nice! I like this.

Next was a wheel to spin, like Wheel of Fortune. My spin landed on a King of Spades. Ummm . . . you can’t have two Kings of Spades in one hand. I had to spin again. Got a 7 of Diamonds.

Then a board with eggshell foam where each depression is a card. Drop your ball and see where it lands. I got a 3 of Clubs.

Fourth was a blow dart thing. This is cool so I was glad to have the chance to do this. And I got a 10 of Clubs.

Finally a hoop throw. Whatever you get a hoop around, that’s your card. I got a 2 of Clubs.

That’s a pretty miserable poker hand. No, I did not win.

I did, however, come home with a baseball-themed beer stein as a door prize. Judy said we could give it to ARC but I said no, I think I’ll use it. What the heck, it’s kind of a nice beer stein.

All in all it was a good time. I’m glad I went.

Biker Quote for Today

Anything that gets your blood racing is probably worth doing. — Hunter S. Thompson

OK, this will be a shameless promo. Looking on Thursday at the seven-day forecast, the best day coming up should be Tuesday, December 31. How convenient. That’s the day of the Last Brass Monkey Run.

The Last Brass, as it is called for short, is an ABATE of Colorado event intended to be the last ride of the year. Although ABATE tried moving it to the last Saturday of the year, in order to get more people to come, that didn’t have much effect so it was moved back to the last day of the year.

This year the Last Brass will be held at the Rock Rest Lodge, 16005 Old Golden Road, out in Golden. If you haven’t ever been to the Rock Rest you might want to come just to see the place.

Back a long, long time ago I lived very near there with my girlfriend, Sue, and we used to go there on Saturday nights for the country swing dancing. I hadn’t been there in probably 40 years but it was one of the stops on the ABATE D-17 Dart Run this summer so I stopped in again. Holy smokes, has that place changed. Forty years ago it was basically a dive bar with a huge dance floor. Now it is still rustic but it has been updated in a way that retains and enhances the ambience. And it’s a lot more popular.

So the Last Brass used to be an event where you would come to some distant starting point, sign up, and ride to the location. For many years that location was always the Grizzly Rose. Years ago you would come to the Rose and the parking lot would be jammed with motorcycles of all kinds. Then, for reasons unclear to me, attendance started to drop. The Grizzly Rose was no longer a viable venue because it was much, much too big for the number of people showing up. So it started moving around. It was at Wrigley’s for a couple years and then last year was the first at the Rock Rest. (I didn’t make it last year.) This year it’s the Rock Rest.

There will be music, food, door prizes, “games of skill/chance.” Now there are no far-flung starting places, you just come on down. Registration starts at 11 a.m. For ABATE members it’s $15; for non-members $20. If you join or renew your membership it’s $10. I originally joined ABATE at the Last Brass and I always renew there if I go. I’ll definitely be going this year. I invite you to join me. And if you do come, be sure to find me and say hello.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you ever quit a job to go to Sturgis.

OK, I’ll admit up front that I wimped out on the Last Brass Monkey Run yesterday–I drove. It was wicked cold out there.

Under the category of “Better Men Than Me” you can count approximately 40-50 riders who did show up at Wrigley’s on motorcycles. As I was cruising out 6th Avenue I was passed by a guy on a bike and I figured there had to be only one place he was going. I kept him in sight and followed him right to where we were both headed: Wrigley’s.

This was ABATE’s 30th annual Last Brass event, and the traditional nut handed out to all who attend was cleverly designed to reflect that.

It was a new venue, however, as previous Last Brass gatherings were held at the Grizzly Rose. Attendance has dropped off in recent years and as a result, the cavernous Rose seemed almost empty. Plus, the venue was not making enough off the event so they said no more after 2016.

This was a good move for all involved. In a substantially smaller place, there was an excitement in the air that had been missing. With essentially the same attendance as before, Wrigley’s was jammed. It was just fun walking in and seeing all the people.

So OK, we’re into 2018 now. My resolution is to ride a heck of a lot more than I did in 2017. I’ll see you out on the road.

Biker Quote for Today

Straights are for fast bikes. Turns are for fast riders.

I mentioned in my post following the Last Brass Monkey Run that attendance is down considerably since the first time I attended the event. Well yes. In fact, it is down so much that the Grizzly Rose told ABATE that it would no longer be the site for the event. Not, that is, unless ABATE pays all costs: salaries, maintenance–whatever.

Was this the last Last Brass Monkey Run?

Not if the folks who do the work to make it happen have anything to say about it, although the 2017 Last Brass Monkey Run may indeed be the last.

The 2016 event was the 29th time it has been held. “There has to be a 30th!!” was the emphatic attitude at the ABATE District 10 meeting on Sunday. And if indeed the next one does turn out to be the last one, let’s go out with a big bang!

The Last Brass Monkey Run–a December 31 run starting at all points of the compass and every road leading to the Grizzly Rose–has for years been ABATE of Colorado’s biggest fundraiser. But just as the number of people at my District 10 meetings has dropped from 25 to 30 each month to the current 6 to 8, the crowd at the Grizzly Rose in recent years has been a shadow of what it had been.

Surely part of the blame for this rests with the organization itself. Bad blood that I still have no understanding of caused a mass defection of people from District 10 and some really bad financial decisions, made without consulting the membership, nearly led to ABATE’s demise only two years ago. There must be other reasons but I don’t know what they are.

I really like the idea behind the event. It’s the last day of the year and the last ride of the year. Sure sometimes you can’t ride–ice and snow are an impediment. But many years you can and hey, let’s show some guts and get out and ride on this cold day. It’s our last chance this year.

But now we may be looking at the last of the Last Brass. And there’s not even a guarantee there will be another. But I suspect there will be. At least one more.

Biker Quote for Today

I just want to go riding and ignore all my adult problems.

Our thermometer out back read 37 degrees when I took off on Saturday for the Last Brass Monkey Run so it was a no-brainer about how warmly to dress. I wore all the winter gear.

Still, I had the heated gloves set on the second highest setting and that was too much; I went two blocks and stopped and turned them down a notch.

It was definitely Michelin Man time for me–I was so covered in warm clothing that I felt like if I had gone down I would have just bounced. But I was warm, truly warm. I could have gone for a long ride. Sweet.

I got to the Grizzly Rose and as I expected, there were plenty of bikes. Not like last year where it was cold and icy and there probably weren’t more than 25 bikes altogether. People rode this year.

Still, the place was not crowded. The first year I went to the Last Brass Monkey Run the place–and the parking lot–was packed. From what I understand, ABATE membership has declined significantly since that time. That’s too bad. ABATE is the chief lobbying group for motorcyclist issues at the state capital. But apparently most people don’t thing that concerns them very much. They might think differently if there was no one down there standing up for our interests.

So I went in and walked around and as is pretty much always the case, the only people I knew were all working the event. Taking tickets, running the poker walk games, handing out the door prizes–all that. If I were a better ABATE member I would have been working, too, but agreeing to be the District 10 legislative liaison this year is the first time I’ve ever gotten really involved. Mostly I just go to meetings and then do my bit to get the word out about what’s going on that riders should pay attention to. I consider that a valuable contribution but it’s not like working the events the way all the rest of the folks do.

I got my chance, though. I found Stump manning a table for the poker walk and stopped to talk awhile. He had two bags with marked ping-pong balls in them. Players would draw from each bag and if you got, say, a ball marked diamond and a ball marked 8 then you had drawn an 8 of diamonds. Stump would then note that down on your sheet as one of the cards in your poker hand.

At one point Stump walked away to do something and I found myself there playing dealer. And because he never came back, I stayed there as dealer till the poker walk ended. So I did help out a little.

After that I took off. By then it was a lot warmer out and I had a thoroughly pleasant ride home. Not at all bad for December 31.

Biker Quote for Today

98% of all Harleys ever sold are still on the road. The other 2% made it home.