Passes & Canyons Blog

Don’t go heading for Independence Pass just yet, it’s not open.

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.

The group photo; last night's snow left the mountaintop a sea of mud.

I was up and out the door early on Friday as I wanted to get to the top of Pikes Peak no later than 9:30. That was when the participants of the Sisters Centennial Motorcycle Ride were planning their group photo at the top so I knew I’d find them there at that time. The high temperature for the day was supposed to be in the mid-90s but I wore my electric vest and took a couple extra layers. I don’t care if it’s the middle of summer–which it is–when you get up that high it’s going to be chilly.

I blasted south on I-25 and the closer I got to Colorado Springs the cooler it got, so that I was thinking even then of flipping the vest on. Then I realized I was getting near the top of the Palmer Divide and of course it was getting cooler, but would be warming up again very soon. It was pretty amazing to look ahead where Pikes Peak was in plain sight and to think how in just an hour I would be up on top of that thing.

Well, not really. I needed to stop and get gas and it turned out that an hour later I was just starting up the mountain. But I was still on schedule.

Traffic was light early in the day and the couple cars in front of me very obligingly pulled out of my way so I could cruise at motorcycle speed, rather than follow them at frightened flatland cager speed. It was a beautiful morning and it was a joy climbing that hill.

About two-thirds of the way up there’s a place where they have a cafe and gift shop and a mandatory brake check for the folks coming down to make sure they’re not overheating their brakes. A bunch of bikes were pulled off there and a guy in a motorcycle jacket waved me over. Turned out it was Ziggie, another friend of Alisa’s who I had met some years ago and half expected to see on this day.

What Ziggie had to tell me was that going to the top at that point was iffy. They were still plowing off the snow that had fallen during the night. That’s right. This was July 15 and it snowed last night. It does that in the mountains.

Just about then Alisa showed up with word that things were now pretty clear. So I headed on up. The closer I got to the top, the more the road was still wet, with piles of snow off on the side of the road, but no iciness. And the top of the mountain was still coated with a dusting of snow, looking very beautiful. At the top it was a good thing there was gravel because otherwise it would have been a mud pit, as you can see in that photo above.

So it was kind of fun. There were a bunch of people up on top who I’ve come to know over the years and there were hugs and howdys to pass around. The one disappointment I had was that I had planned to film the ride up and down with my GoPro camera but when I went to set it up on top of my helmet, down at the bottom, I found that I had forgotten to bring the bracket that connects between the camera and the mount on the helmet. Oh well, that means I’m going to need to take another ride up Pikes Peak sometime this summer. Yeah, I know, please don’t throw me in that briar patch.

After awhile I headed on down, to head home. Coming down on I-25 I had noticed just north of Monument some hills rising up with some bare rocks showing that I had never paid attention to before. I figured I’d get off at Monument on the way home, go up through Palmer Lake, and see if I could get closer to those outcroppings along the road that goes to Larkspur. But no, I passed south of them heading out of Monument before I even reached Palmer Lake. Now I’m curious to find out how to get to them. Exploring to be done.

And then on the road to Larkspur the weather hit! I had seen foreboding clouds but was guessing I could run just ahead of the rain. And I did, except for just a few drops, but out on that road the wind suddenly started screaming like a banshee! I was leaned over almost at a 45-degree angle just to keep from being blown off the road. I’ve been in wind before but it’s been a very long time since I’ve been in wind like that.

I got back to I-25 and the wind had died considerably, and then by the time I was north of Castle Rock it was just a normal sunny summer day. And I was home by 12:30. I’ve been to the mountaintop and I still have the better part of the day to do other things. Works for me.

Biker Quote for Today

“People aren’t comfortable with a woman who looks very masculine or rides a motorcycle.” – Pam Grier

The Concours on Mount Evans in 2011 when I did the piece for Accelerate.

I emailed the OFMC asking if anyone wanted to accompany me on this ride I’m planning but got little response. Only Friggs was interested but even he would only have been in for half. I ride alone a lot but this time I’m thinking I’d enjoy company. Want to go for a ride?

What I’m thinking is what I call the “Tale of Two Mountains” ride. Go up to the top of Mount Evans and then back down and south to Pikes Peak, then up to the top there. Two peaks in one day. I think it sounds like fun.

My thinking also includes trying to sell an article about it to some magazine, though I’m not sure who just yet. I sold an article about just Mount Evans to Kawasaki’s Accelerate magazine three years ago so I don’t think they’ll be interested. And Rider magazine had a piece by someone else just recently about riding up Pikes Peak, so I don’t think there will be interest there either. But I have some other publications in mind that I want to explore.

So here’s the deal. If you’re interested in joining me, send me an email at that address in the upper right corner. Let me know what day(s) of the week work for you and whether that would be this week, next week, whatever. My preference would be to go on a weekday because there will be fewer people but I understand that some people have day jobs. When I see who, if anyone, expresses an interest, I’ll try to get something solid.

And by the way, if anyone has solid information about the Mount Evans road being open, please let me know. This article says the opening of the road has been delayed this year but it was supposed to finally open in late July. Well, it’s mid August now so I assume it’s open but haven’t been able to find anything definitive. Thanks.

Biker Quote for Today

A mother is neither cocky, nor proud, because she knows the school principal may call at any minute to report that her child had just driven a motorcycle through the gymnasium.

I have a recollection that I may have been up on Pikes Peak about 35 years ago. Otherwise, I know I was up there 50 years ago. Suffice it to say, when I rode my Concours up to the top on Friday it may as well have been the first time. Oh my god, what a road!

Last week was race week for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, a race with cars, trucks, motorcycles, quads, sidecars, and a few divisions that have peculiar names because, well, probably because no one knows what to call that vehicle. Tuesday was sign-in and tech inspection, followed by three days of practice, and then Saturday was free before the race on Sunday.

I ran down to Colorado Springs on Tuesday to meet up with the racers I had made contact with via the Adventure Riders forum, and to get my press credentials. I went down again on Friday to talk to my contacts about their experiences in practice and hopes for the race, and to go to the top of the mountain myself. Then Sunday I went down one more time for the race.

Let me tell you, you have to ride that mountain yourself to really understand how incredible it is what these racers do. From the starting line to the top is 12.2 miles, and it took me about 30 minutes to cover that distance. Granted I was behind a couple cars with tourists who thought the 10 mph posted speeds on some of the switchbacks were excessively high. I ended up shifting down to first gear a few times when I would rather have stayed in second.

But it’s not like I was grumbling about them holding me back. I would probably only have shaved a couple minutes off that time on my own. So consider this: The top racers were shooting to make this run in under 10 minutes for the first time ever. That is to say, they would have needed to average 73 miles an hour the whole way up. Yikes! There is no portion of that road I want to take at 73 mph period, much less average that speed the entire way up.

Now, the 10-minute barrier wasn’t broken, so the record remains all of 10:01.41. And the fastest time this year was 10:11.49. Oh yeah, that guy was going slow!

So the race was fun and very interesting but the real trip was the mountain. If you’re coming to ride in Colorado you have got to ride to the top of Pikes Peak. Yeah, there’s a $12 fee per person but it’s worth it. And while the road used to be only half paved, there are now just two remaining stretches of dirt and the rest is asphalt. Paving is to be completed in 2012. So if you want to ride it while there’s some dirt left you’d better come soon. Or if you’d rather avoid the dirt you only need wait a couple more years.

For myself, I would have welcomed a dual sport bike on that gravel, but I did it OK on the Connie. And I’ve ridden over high passes before many times but I wondered if going up on a bike with carbs would be an issue by the time I got to 14,110 feet. No problem. It ran just fine. Remember though, I’m tuned for Denver elevation already, so if you’re tuned for sea level it could be a different matter. But I didn’t see anyone who was having any trouble.

Of course I’ll be adding Pikes Peak to the Passes and Canyons website. Hey, I’ve got the photos and the info now, and all I need is the time to get it done. I’ll let you know when it’s up. Till then, you can check out these pictures.

Biker Quote for Today

Accelerate until you see God, then BRAKE! –Kevin Schwantz

Hard to believe, but the road to the top of Pikes Peak is already open for the season. I know we haven’t gotten much snow this winter along the Front Range but I thought the mountains were getting hit pretty hard. I’m really surprised.

Some of the best roads in Colorado are seasonal, which means that they are not maintained, or even open, during the winter. These include:

• Trail Ridge Road
• Independence Pass
• Mount Evans
• Pikes Peak
• Kebler Pass
• Cottonwood Pass

If you’re thinking about riding any of these seasonal roads the best place to find out about conditions is the Colorado Dept. of Transportation website. You’ll want to go to www.cotrip.org/roadConditions.htm and then click the “Travel Alerts” tab at the right. Then scroll down to see whether any of these roads are marked “Closed for the Season.”

For a review of road conditions around the state, use the “Road Conditions” tab just to the left of “Travel Alerts.”

While most of these roads are open by the time out-of-state bikers start arriving for their summer vacation, unless it’s the dead of summer it’s always good to check. While a road may open in May, a blizzard one week later can sometimes close it again until they can get it plowed. Or if we have an especially snowy winter some roads may not even open until June.

In the fall it’s the same thing. A road may not be closed for the season but an early blizzard can shut it down anyway. It’s best to check, and if one of these roads is the centerpiece of your planned tour you’d better figure to come June to August. The shoulder months of May and September can be iffy. Usually they’ll be fine. Usually. No guarantees.

But Pikes Peak is already open! That’s amazing. I’d guess the rest won’t be far behind.

Biker Quote for Today

The World is small… get on a motorcycle and ride around it.