Passes & Canyons Blog

Drivers are cruising along thinking, “My gosh, there are a lot of motorcycles on the road. I better be extra careful I don’t change lanes without seeing one, or turn in front of one!”

That’s the kind of thinking we would love all drivers to have going on in their heads, isn’t it? Well what are you–yes, YOU!–to make them think that way?

How about this. Ride your motorcycle to work on Monday, June 19. That’s this coming Monday.

Monday, June 19 is Ride Your Motorcycle to Word Day. The idea of this effort is to inculcate exactly the sort of thinking described above. Flood the streets with bikes and make drivers shake their heads in surprise at how many motorcycles there are out there. Make them aware we are there and hope that they will connect the dots to realize that they need to do that head check rather than just glance in their mirror. That kind of thing.

I could go on about the whole philosophy behind this event but why bother? This is the gist of it. Just ride your bike on Monday.

Biker Quote for Today

Hospital gowns don’t come in black leather. Ride aware.

For something kind of significant it was awfully ordinary.

I was expecting to ride a bike to work yesterday or today, with that being my final ride to work, but there was no work for me to do so I didn’t go in either day. Now on Thursday and Friday I will go in but I’ll need my car both days. That means when I rode to work last week on Tuesday, that was my last ride to work.

And I don’t mean just for this job; I mean forever. When I leave the office at the National Park Service on Friday I will be officially retired. Done.

Of course, I’ll continue to write, both here and other places on a freelance basis. I’m a writer. That’s what I do, like breathing. Plus, doing freelance work gives me an extra push to get out and do some great rides, and it also makes my expenses when I do those great rides tax deductible. Why in the world would I stop writing?

But I won’t be riding to work any more. So how was my last ride?

First off, it was a little cooler than I anticipated. In the morning I was glad I did wear my sweatshirt but the electric vest might have been welcome. Traffic on Hampden was seriously backed up for no reason I could perceive, until I got past Santa Fe. Then things opened up and I cruised. It was a totally uneventful ride.

Heading home I decided to leave a little early. The sky to the west was threatening in a big way and while I had my rain gear I really preferred not to have to use it if it could be avoided. Plus, I’ve got short-timer’s syndrome and by mid-afternoon I really didn’t want to be there any longer. So I left.

Raindrops were falling as I walked out to the bike but I figured once I started heading east I could outrun it. As I worked my way over to Union, south on Union, east to Kipling, and then south on Kipling to US 285 it was a steady, but light drizzle. Then I got on 285 and blasted and soon left the wetness behind me.

From there it was a simple, again uneventful cruise on home. No pictures, no stories to tell. And no chance for another, different final ride to work as I had expected. Oh well, mundane is fine, I guess. I don’t really have a desire to “live in interesting times.”

Biker Quote for Today

The difference between driving a car and riding a motorcycle is the difference between watching TV and actually living your life.