Passes & Canyons Blog

These next few weeks are shaping up to be some of the busiest I’ve ever had, all relating to riding motorcycles. Let me give you an idea of what’s in store.

Today I take off on a two-day ride to shoot photos for a story I’m working on for Rider magazine. I did this ride once last fall but then found out my camera didn’t shoot in high enough resolution to meet their needs so I’ll do it again with my new camera.

Then next week I’m taking off for a four or five day ride with my friend John. We’re heading for New Mexico, hoping to spend some time there before the blazing hot weather hits.

On June 12, Judy and I are heading for the Black Hills on vacation. This will coincide, not by accident, with the Cushman Club of America’s 2010 national rally in Sturgis, SD. Their theme this year is “Come play where the big boys play,” and the visuals of Sturgis engulfed in scooters will be just too good to miss.

The following week I’ve been planning to do some coverage of the run-up to the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, culminating with the race itself on June 27. I’ve been connecting with contestants so I can cover that event through the eyes of someone actually involved.

While I absolutely will do some hill climb coverage, I received a call today from the editor of a motorcycle sport touring magazine asking me to go with him to Taos that same week for the Motorcycle Sport Touring Association’s annual gathering. If I can manage to squeeze it in I guess I’ll try to run down to Taos in the middle of the week.

Then there’s other stuff like the Hoka Hey Challenge and the latest Motomarathon event that, if I do any reporting on them, will have to be done secondhand. Hey, I’m only one guy.

So what have you got going on in June? I hope you’re going to get out and have some fun, too. Get on that bike and ride!

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
My first Victory rides: The cruisers

Biker Quote for Today

Life is an adventure, and I refuse to live a boring one.

Riding home from the Laughlin River Run a few days ago I was struck by how many motorcycle travelers I saw. These were not people going to or from the rally, but they were clearly traveling. They were in groups and each bike was loaded with gear.

Route 66 signs for sale in Laughlin

The reason this struck me as surprising is that my group, the OFMC, takes its trips in the summer. That’s when the weather is cooperative. Heck, in Colorado, April is frequently our snowiest month. If you plan a motorcycle trip in Colorado in April you’d better be prepared to change or abort your plans altogether.

Of course, the result of this is that we have taken trips to Las Vegas and Laughlin and other places in Nevada, and in Arizona, and we have roasted. Last time we hit Laughlin it was 115 degrees. Yow! In contrast, when I was there a few days ago it was in the 70s. At night it even got chilly sometimes. BIG difference. And more than that, the desert was actually green. I never knew the desert ever got green. But I’d never been there in April.

So it occurs to me that these people I saw are smart. They’re taking motorcycle trips through the Southwest and they’re doing it in April. I’m sure that even in Nevada and Arizona, if you’re at a high enough altitude, you could still run into snow in April, but it’s probably not too big a threat. So I’m already pushing some of the more flexible OFMC guys to consider doing one of these southern trips next year that we’ve discussed but avoided. All we have to do is go at the right time of year. And that ain’t August.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride fast and take chances!

Ray from Texas did the ride I helped him map out and is back home again. He sent me a note to when he got home:

Thanks to some great advice on the routes and sights to stop, I had a
wonderful ride! FANTASTIC! Would go again in a heart-beat!

He also sent along a slide show of the ride, so we can all enjoy some of the great riding he did. A picture is worth a thousand words and there are more than 100 pictures here. Be aware that this is a fairly large file and may take a minute or so to open.

Colorado Trip on a R1200GS Adventure

Thanks Ray.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Motorcycle noise testing simplified, but will governments hear?

Biker Quote for Today

Two-lane blacktop isn’t a highway – it’s an attitude.

I’m frequently asked to help people plan their routes when they’re coming to Colorado to ride, and I’m always happy to oblige.

Last year I posted a series I called “New Zealand Rides The Rockies” where I laid out the day by day rides of a group on New Zealanders planning to come here this year. Unfortunately, the world economic meltdown derailed their plans, at least for now.

However, if you don’t have to fly halfway around the world and you don’t have to rent motorcycles, coming to Colorado to ride is actually one of the less expensive vacations you can take. I can confirm that a good number of people are doing just that.

Among them are Ray and some of his friends from Texas, who are cruising around Colorado right this moment, presuming they didn’t have any last minute glitches. I’m not going to lay this out in the detail I did for the Kiwis but I figured you might have some interest in their plans.

Days One and Two

Ray and friends are coming from the Dallas-Ft. Worth area (I believe) and were riding to Las Vegas, NM, the first night. From there, on Day Two, they were planning to head north to Taos and on up to where they would reach U.S. 160 at Fort Garland. They planned on taking U.S. 160 west to South Fork, then CO 149 over Slumgullion Pass to Lake City, and then the gravel roads over to just south of Ouray. Ridgway was their destination for the night.

These plans were revised considerably when I pointed out to Ray that it would be a much nicer ride to take U.S. 64 west from just north of Taos, via Chama, and then U.S. 84 up to Pagosa Springs. From Pagosa, a run over Wolf Creek Pass would put them at South Fork. I also mentioned that they must be riding dual sport bikes if they were planning on taking that road west out of Lake City.

Apparently they aren’t, so that road was nixed. Instead, they adopted my suggestion of the Chama route and then just continued on through Lake City to Gunnison for the night.

Day Three

Day Three was to be a fairly easy one after a long Day Two. Heading west out of Gunnison they planned to stop at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and ride the South Rim Drive and the East Portal Road. Then they would make the easy cruise to Ouray and make that their headquarters for two nights.

Day Four

Day Four is planned as a circle route through Ridgway, Placerville, Telluride, Cortez, Durango, Silverton, and back to Ouray. This will take them over Lizard Head Pass and Red Mountain Pass. Red Mountain Pass, of course, is one of the best in the state.

Day Five

On Day Five, Ray and friends are heading north through Montrose and Delta and will then head northeast on CO 92 to Hotchkiss and up and over McClure Pass on CO 133. At Carbondale they will turn southeast on CO 82 through Aspen and over Independence Pass, another of Colorado’s very best.

A run through Leadville and then down Fremont Pass to Copper Mountain will put them at I-70, where they will head east to Silverthorne. They’ll take U.S. 6 up over Loveland Pass and end up for the night in Idaho Springs.

Day Six

From Idaho Springs our travelers will head south on CO 103 up Squaw Pass with a sidetrip to the top of Mount Evans. From the Bergen Park area they’ll head south to Evergreen and on to Conifer where they’ll pick up U.S. 285 for just a short jaunt. At Pine Junction they’ll head south on CO 126 through Deckers and on to Woodland Park and Colorado Springs.

Days Seven and Eight

In the morning of Day Seven, Ray and the rest will make a run up to the top of Pikes Peak, then head back down and blast homeward as far as Amarillo. Day Eight will see them home again in the Dallas area.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
10th Annual V2V: Victory riders ride Victory Highway

Biker Quote for Today

Fun is not a straight line.

The oil rigs are gone! Motels have vacancies! You can visit Rifle, CO, again!

Judy and I are on vacation in Utah at this moment, so we came through western Colorado the other day and I have to tell you it’s like night and day. A year ago I was advising that anyone considering coming to Colorado to ride not even think about spending a night in the area around Rifle. With gas prices over $4 a gallon, a drive along I-70 at night was like Christmas, with lighted drilling rigs dotting the landscape everywhere you looked. Of course, all those drilling crews had to sleep somewhere, and there was not a motel room available closer than Grand Junction.

What a difference a year makes. First off, we only saw two rigs along the way. The landscape is now dotted with what I take to be pumping stations, where the wells have been drilled and now the machinery is just doing its thing, extracting the oil or gas. You don’t need a lot of people to manage those.

Even more telling are the parking lots of the motels. They’re empty. We stopped at a rest area in Rulison and I asked the fellow tending the tourist center and he confirmed my assumption.

“They’ve all gone back to Oklahoma and Texas,” he said. He told me that at the height of the boom, a new La Quinta was built in Rifle and it was full immmediately. They built an addition and it was full immediately. They built another addition and it was full immediately. Then work was begun on a new Ramada Inn and another motel and work on both has been suspended.

On another note, it appears that Loveland Pass has reopened. I reported last week that it was closed, and the notice from CDOT said they would send word when it reopened. Searching their website it appeared that perhaps the pass was open again, although the main notice page had not been updated with that information.

With that in mind I was all eyes as we came past the turn-off to the pass the other day, and yes we saw traffic on that road. In fact, what we saw was three motorcycles coming down the pass. So now Colorado is truly open for the season.

Recent from the National Motocycle Examiner

Biker Quote for Today
Sometimes the fastest way to get there is to stop for the night.

Is cruising the Colorado mountains by motorcycle a dream of yours, but it’s just too dang far away? Maybe you should consider signing up for a tour. Depending on the tour company, they’ll either provide the bikes for you to ride or connect you to someone who will.

Those of us in the OFMC take pride in riding our bikes to whatever distant state we choose for our summer trips, but let’s face it, we live in the heart of great riding. But you notice we never ride the Smoky Mountains or New England, not to mention Europe or Australia or so many other places. If we ever decided to do that we might be looking for a tour.

There are a number of options for tours if you do want to see Colorado in that way. Here’s a list of the companies I’m aware of and a little about each of them.

Turkey Creek Tours
Turkey Creek Tours is my sentimental favorite of the Colorado tour companies, mainly because I’ve had some interaction with these folks, Tom and Lynn Matthews. It started when they called me one night to settle a debate they had been having. The question: where was the photo on my home page taken? I can’t remember where Lynn was guessing, but Tom was right, it is Independence Pass.

Turkey Creek Tours is a homegrown outfit and they’ve been around for a number of years, so that says good things about them. They don’t provide the bikes themselves but will connect you with people who will. They have six tours on their calendar for this summer and are also happy to arrange custom tours. Check them out.

Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Tours
I’ve never met them but Bob Herman and Lisa Scalise run this outfit. They strike me as being similar to Tom and Lynn of Turkey Creek Tours, so this is probably another good option. Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Tours also has six tours scheduled this summer, and they also do custom tours.

Freedom Tours
Another local tour company, this one run by Mike and Linda Broadstreet. Probably comparable to the first two. As I go along on this I’m struck with how little I really know about any of these so I guess I’ll just give you the list and the links and you can explore them on your own.

Monkey Gripper Motorcycle Tours
What’s different about Monkey Gripper is that they offer dual-sport tours, meaning you get to go off the pavement and explore some of the places other tours don’t go. Dan Patino, the operator, has been a dual-sport tour guide in Alaska and also worked awhile as a Forest Ranger in the Rampart Range, Colorado’s dirt bike haven. One of his tours requires riders to be experienced dirt bikers but the rest are accessible to those with less experience.

GO2Wheels
GO2Wheels is run by George and Andrea Ofiesh. They offer their trademarked RideVentures as well as motorcycle rentals. The website says that:

RideVentures are offered in three ways:
1. RideVentures include lodging and meals (various options).
2. Tag-along – Ride with us but make your own arrangements.
3. Self-guided – We will plan and give you all the information you need for a great ride.

EagleRider
No surprise here, this is the touring site for Harley-Davidson. Of course they’re happy to rent you the Harleys to ride.

Colorado Motorcycle Tours
Another small, local outfit, run by Greg Hartley and Evan Mandell. One thing these guys offer is one-day trips in addition to the longer ones. On their site they promote the idea that hey, if you have just a day free in Colorado, let us take you on a great ride. Not a bad idea.

Ball O’ String Custom Adventure Tours
Willie and George (Jungle) Fuhrman run this outfit out of Eagle. In addition to custom motorcycle tours, they also offer sports car tours. The Fuhrmans lead tours in Colorado and neighboring states and various other countries.

Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures
Here’s one more I only just discovered does tours. I’ve had them listed as a motorcycle rental company on the website but apparently they do lead tours as well. I don’t know anything more about them.

American Motorcyclist Association
Of course if you know the AMA you won’t be surprised that they offer a Ride the Rockies tour.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride the roads that make you giggle in your helmet.

It has taken me quite awhile, and I’m not finished yet, but there is a lot of new material on the Passes and Canyons, Motorcycle Touring in Colorado web site. Although I’ve been all over this state numerous times, there are some areas I haven’t gotten back to since I started building this site — until this summer.

Let me give you a quick run-through of what is new.

I’ve added photos to the Red Mountain Pass page. This is one of the premier passes in Colorado and the photos show it — finally!

I’ve also added photos of Colorado 65 over the Grand Mesa. The mesa itself is beautiful but the ascent and descent have breathtaking vistas.

One couple of passes I had overlooked are Cumbres and La Manga Passes. It had been long enough ago that I had been there that when I started on the web site I forgot how nice they are. So I’ve added them. (And they are a pair, it’s one stretch of road.)

Wolf Creek Pass is another that I had on the site but did not have adequate coverage of. Now it’s there. McClure Pass is another.

In addition to these passes, I have added a lot of motorcycle-accessible campgrounds along these same routes. I know that this is not of much interest to a lot of people but for those of you who do camp, anything I’ve listed can be reached on two wheels without too much hassle.

And finally, I put up some photos from Rim Rock Drive through the Colorado National Monument, as well as some more photos from Skyline Drive in Canon City.

And I’m still not done. Within the next couple weeks I should have the rest of it complete. Keep checking back. Thanks.

Biker Quote for Today

The road goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the road has gone and I must follow, if I can.

I wrote just three days ago about the conditions on Guanella Pass, so with that on my mind, when my wife wanted to head for the high country the next day I knew where I wanted to go.

The last time we were up there was two years ago, and what we saw then was what I described. Well, there is a lot that has changed in two years.

For one thing, the reconstruction work I mentioned has begun, and going up from the Georgetown side the road is horrible. Horrible! It’s one lane in several places, with traffic signals stopping you or letting you pass, but the road surface on most of it is so bad it’s amazing. I can hardly believe the county would let it get this bad, although I wonder if perhaps it is the heavy construction going on that has torn the road up like this. If that’s the case then of course they won’t want to repair the road surface until the heavy work is done. The project won’t be completed for another couple years.

After awhile you get past the mess and then the road is pretty good the rest of the way up. It’s mostly paved, although still rough, and just as you near the top it turns to gravel. It’s definitely passable. We couldn’t really tell what the condition was two years ago because it was all covered with snow at that time.

And it is beautiful up on top! It was beautiful last time, too, but it was an all-covered-with-snow beauty. I had forgotten just how spectacular it is when the snow is gone.

Heading on down the other side it continues as gravel and gets to be a lot of washboard. Then abruptly, about a mile from the top, you hit nice new asphalt. We guessed that this was where we hit the county line. If you look at the picture I included in the last post and you see the poor surface, that’s all been redone. The new asphalt continues for several miles and then you get back to the older surface and intermittent gravel. It’s all very passable, although if it has rained you will face mud.

So bottom line on all this, I still wouldn’t take a Gold Wing on this road but anyone who doesn’t mind doing some dirt would find this a really nice ride. You’ll need to go slow on the part where the surface is so bad but you definitely can do it. Just try not to get caught in a thundershower.

Consequently, I will be adding this road to the Dirt Roads and Side Trips page of the website.

Biker Quote for Today

Patience is the ability to keep your motor idling.