Passes & Canyons Blog

This trail is nothing compared to what some of these folks in this ADV thread have done.

I’m down to only one motorcycle these days, and that one is my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom. I keep telling myself I will buy a second bike, presumably some time in the next year, but I don’t actually feel very motivated because I really like the V and it can do just about anything.

Of course, there are a lot of things it could do that I won’t try to make it do, primarily at this point because I don’t have the right tires for that kind of thing. I’ve quit running those 80/20 Shinkos because they don’t hold up to highway travel all that well and I do a heck of a lot more highway riding than off-road riding.

However, may people who own V-Stroms do have knobbies and they do take their bikes all kinds of places. And there is a thread on Adventure Rider where the theme/title is “Let’s see your Vstrom OFFROAD.” I was looking at this recently and oh man, some of these folks are up for a lot more than I am. Or maybe they weren’t really up for what they encountered but they did encounter it.

Just to give you some idea, I started on page 80 of this thread (there are 91 pages at this point, with 20 posts per page) and I’ll describe a bit of what there is to see.

Right away, in the fourth post on the page, we encounter a couple standing amongst some bikes, giving a thumbs-up, with the caption “High spirits before.” If that is not foreboding nothing is. You scroll down and they’ve come down a steep, gravel hill that comes to a large pool of water at the bottom, with one bike coming through the pool. The next several shots are a bike on its side, having come through a smaller pool, and then a different bike up to the saddle in a deep pool and the rider trying to walk it through.

But they made it and I’m sure they were proud of themselves. I’m not sorry I missed that one.

Next come a bunch of shots of bikes in great-looking spots, people really pleased with where they have gotten to. Some real feel-good shots.

Page 81 opens with a shot of a guy splashing through a stream. Yeah, I’ve done that. Then more shots of cool places people have gotten to. And then it starts going a bit off. First a shot of a dirt road, followed by a path that is mainly marked by other people’s tires having passed this way, followed by a long stretch of muddy road. Then a V-Strom high-centered on a pile of rotting timbers that the guy thought he could get over but was wrong.

A little later (caption “Oops!) we see a V half-way on its side with the front on dirt and the rear in a mud puddle.

Next some more “look at the great place I got to” shots. Envy is what I’m feeling now.

Then there’s another high-centered bike, followed by another bike up to its axles in mud. And a bike on the ground, with a shot showing that they have come through a so-called trail that is nothing but water hole after water hole. Then more mud, more water holes.

It goes on and on. And this was just starting on page 80 of 91 pages. Worth a look for the entertainment value and to see some great shots of some of the great places a motorcycle will take you. If you have the right tires.

Biker Quote for Today

I’m not a thrill-seeker; I’m a thrill-giver to my soul.

From left, the V-Strom, the CB750, and the Concours. Good-bye to the Connie, I’ll need now to do a shot of just the remaining two.

It’s that time where each year I look at the mileage on each of my bikes and set some goals for riding the remaining few weeks. This year is a pretty darn odd year.

For one thing, I sold the Concours. For another, my car got smashed and I got another. And third, for the first time in a lot of years it appears I will have put my miles on my car than on my bikes. How did that that happen?

Just for starters, it’s been a low-mileage year for everything. To date I only have put about 3,100 miles on my cars this year. I’m fine with that. But last year I put about 6,500 miles on my bikes. So far this year I’m at about 2,500 miles on the bikes. Seriously?

I think a lot of this has to do with the markedly less activity going on with the RMMRC. Ever since I joined that group I have gone on a whole lot of rides with them, but this year there just haven’t been that many rides. And one ride that did happen that I intended to go on–a Colorado four-corners ride–I had to drop out of because I had had minor butt surgery that made riding just too painful.

I know Bruce, one of my friends from the RMMRC, also rides with a couple other groups and has suggested I join them. I may do just that. It looks like the RMMRC may be fading away.

So what goals can I set for the rest of 2024? I try each year to put at least 1,000 miles on each of my bikes. That may not seem like much but for a long time I have had trouble getting that many miles on the Honda CB750 Custom. I’ve just ridden the other bikes a whole lot more. But with the sale of the Connie I figured for sure I’d put a lot more miles on the Honda.

And yet, here we are in mid-November and I have put almost the same number of miles on the Honda this year as last year. I still have time and the weather has been pretty good so I do expect yet to surpass last year but more than 1,000? It doesn’t seem likely. But surpassing last year looks like the best I can hope for. And as for turning the odometer over another 1,000, that really looks like it’s off the table because I just did that, sitting now at 38,136. I don’t think I’m going to be putting another 864 miles on that bike this year. I’m just going to have to do better next year.

As for the V-Strom, I’m about 2,000 miles behind last year on it. What I can shoot for is at least turning over another 1,000 yet, as the odo now sits at 47,930. If I can’t get another 70 miles on that bike this year I should hang up riding gear.

I don’t think there’s any doubt what my New Year’s resolution needs to be come January 1: Ride. And ride some more. And ride some more. And then some more after that.

Biker Quote for Today

“The road never ends . . . only our vision does.” — Amit Reddy

It was rides like this one with the RMMRC that put all those miles on my V-Strom in 2023.

I noted down the odometer readings on my vehicles on December 31 once I knew I wasn’t going anywhere else that day. Once again, as has been the case every year for quite a few years, I put a lot more miles on my three motorcycles than I did on my car. In fact, once again, I put more miles on one particular bike than I did on the car.

My mileage on the car was up about 500 miles last year, all the way to 3,062. That compares to 2,506 in 2022. But I put 3,940 miles on the V-Strom, which was 74 miles more than the previous year. That’s the third time the Suzuki has gone more miles than the car.

It used to be that the Concours was the bike that out-distanced the car, often by a heck of a lot. For instance, in 2010 the Concours to Elantra numbers were 10,004 and 5,581. In 2011 they were 6,875 and 3,556. In 2012 they were 9,437 and 5,061. But now apparently I ride the V-Strom more.

In fact, my Concours number was only 1,849 in 2023, compared to 2,354 in 2022. Part of that had to do with it being out of commission after overheating up by the Eisenhower Tunnel coming home from the OFMC trip. It was nearly two months before that bike was rideable again.

I know I’m not going to get big numbers on my CB750 so my target each year is to put at least 1,000 miles on it. Once again I was unsuccessful. I only racked up 672 miles on that bike in 2023, which was down from the 729 miles in 2022. I try to favor that bike for that very reason but I guess I just don’t do it enough. A new year’s resolution I’ll try once again to keep.

Altogether in 2023 I put 6,461 miles on my bikes. This is down a bit from the previous year, when I rode them 6,949. My total mileage on all four vehicles for 2023 was 9,523 compared to 9,455 in 2022. Are most people as consistent as I am?

Biker Quote for Today

Distance is just a number when you ride a bike.

Adding air in Fairplay.

Nick got back from visiting my brother in Grand Junction on Saturday and on Monday we took off on a three-day Colorado ride. Good thing I have three motorcycles because my Concours was in the shop and my CB750 needed a new clutch cable. Obviously, I rode the V-Strom. Nick was on his BMW R1250RS.

A note about that Beemer. As big as it is, and as much taller than me that Nick is, the seat height on this thing is amazingly low, way lower than my Connie or V. I sure didn’t expect that.

So we took off for Gunnison our first day and for a change of pace I led us up Deer Creek Canyon to pick up US 285 just outside of Conifer. And it was cold! After all this heat we’d been having it was cold! I knew it was cool and I considered wearing my riding pants but didn’t. And then wished I had. We took a break at the King Soopers in Conifer and I put on a flannel shirt but then we only made it to Pine Junction before I pulled over again and put the liner in my jacket. That helped a lot but at Fairplay we stopped again and now I put on my electric vest. Finally I was warm.

Meanwhile, Nick was having tire issues. He had noticed this on the way back from Junction and that morning when he checked his rear only showed 18 pounds. He put air in and brought along a pump and an extension cord. He added air when we stopped in Fairplay and again at the top of Monarch Pass, and called a shop in Gunnison to get the bike in the next morning to address the issue.

Addressing the issue ended up being just putting in some Fix-a-Flat type stuff to seal it from the inside and the guy told him it should be fine for a couple days but don’t push his luck. A couple days was all he needed, though, and that settled the tire issue for the rest of this ride.

So we got away the next morning about 9:30, past the Blue Mesa, and north on CO 92 along the north rim of the Black Canyon. Beautiful weather, beautiful day. I was all layered up and glad to be.

We stopped at Hotchkiss for lunch, finally finding a Thai place that was one of the few places open. We were figuring to go over the Grand Mesa and looking at Google Maps Nick saw an alternative route on some back roads up to Cedar Edge and we took it. We went past apple orchards all swathed in netting to protect the ripe fruit from birds. A very nice alternate route. We did encounter some recent chip-seal with a good bit of loose gravel.

Got to Cedar Edge and headed up the mesa and ran into about 15 more miles of chip-seal. Not pleasant. At one point we passed a sweeper truck collecting the excess loose gravel and had no choice but to go past him. We were showered in the chip-seal pellets. When we stopped up on top we had gravel chips on our seats and I had a bunch on top of my tank bag. That was a new experience.

I had shed most of my layers in Hotchkiss so going over the mesa was chilly but that was OK. Coming down on the north side of the Grand Mesa a bear cub ran across the road in front of me. It came out and paused and looked at me and decided to scurry on across. I was looking everywhere for the mama but didn’t see her and the cub scuttled into the underbrush and was gone. Very cool. First time ever for me to see one of those guys like that.

We got down on the other side and I took out the jacket liner. Now, after all the coolness, it got hot. In my experience, Rifle is about the hottest place in Colorado. First we got on the interstate but got off at Parachute and took old US 6 the rest of the way to Rifle. Heading north to Meeker I was seeing surges of oncoming traffic and knew that road work we had encountered on the OFMC trip in July could not have been completed so I hoped we wouldn’t get stopped too terribly long. But just as it had on the OFMC ride, we came to the end of the northbound traffic just as they started to move and we didn’t even have to stop. My luck holds. There was only one guy behind Nick.

They’ve made a lot of progress on this project—laid a lot of asphalt, though we didn’t get on any of it. If they’re going to get this work finished before the snow flies they’re going to have to bust their butts.

So we got back to the pavement and reached this passing zone area. I got into the right lane and Nick pulled nearly alongside me in the left lane—blocking this guy behind him from passing us which he clearly wanted to do. He would have gained little anyway because of all the people in front of us, but still. Nick, what the heck are you doing? So we got to Meeker and the road widens to two lanes just as we get to the gas station, where I planned to stop. I intended to turn left to get to it but I just knew. And I was right. Right when I would have pulled into the left lane this guy jammed his foot to the floor and blasted past us. I totally read the situation and am I glad I did. I made my turn after he blasted passed us.

That night we stayed at the old Meeker Hotel, which is under renovation and is perhaps perpetually understaffed. Renovation of our room was already completed and it was a nice place–the lobby is what’s really getting the work at this point. And the room rate was really low, so it was a good place.

Biker Quote for Today

A bad attitude is like a flat tire, you can’t go anywhere until you change it.

The OFMC gets out of the rain in New Mexico last year.

The RMMRC is leaving in a few days on this New Mexico ride and at last week’s meeting someone asked me which bike I’ll be riding. Gosh, I hadn’t even thought about that. I guess I ought to.

The Honda CB750 was out right away because its tires are too thin and would not be enough for a 1,500-mile trip. That left the Concours and the V-Strom.

I figured what I really ought to do is take both of them out for runs and see which seems to be most ready, or else figure out what each of them might need.

I checked the tires on the V-Strom and the air was good. Check. Tires are good. Check. My top bag has suffered some damage in a couple times dropping the bike but I pulled out a strap that secures it well so no worries there. Check.

How is the oil? I just got the oil changed in my car the day before because I realized I had pretty much forgotten about paying it any attention. And I couldn’t remember the last time I changed the oil in the V.

I checked, which first meant figuring out how. That’s how bad an owner I am. So there’s a sight glass and you’re supposed to hold it level and check the level in the sight glass. Well, I didn’t see anything in the sight glass. I figured it would be good to take it for a ride over to Vickery to get some oil. That way I would also get a chance to see how it’s running.

It ran great. One thing I like about this bike is that it always runs great. I’ve had my troubles periodically with the Concours and the CB but the V-Strom, as they say, is bullet-proof.

I got home, put in some oil, checked the sight glass, put in some more, and it looked fine. So this bike is ready to go. I guess I’ll be riding the V-Strom. But now I really ought to check the air and oil in the Concours, just because they need to be checked. And if I do that before I leave, and I take it for a ride, maybe I’ll change my mind about which bike to ride. After all, the Concours is a really fine highway bike . . .

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you hate the fact that you were in front of your computer long enough to read this and not on your scoot.

Running up alongside the Mississippi River on one of my 2022 trips.

Every year after the first of January I look at my mileage for the year just ended. I did pretty well in 2022; rode the motorcycles more and put exactly 12 more miles on my car than I did in 2021.

First the car, because that’s my primary basis of comparison. I drove my car all of 2,506 miles. I wasn’t far off that with the Concours and well beyond it on the V-Strom. Nowhere close with the Honda, though.

The Honda only got ridden 729 in 2022. That’s down from 1,086 the year before. Which is a bit surprising to me considering that I thought I was trying to make a deliberate point of riding it regularly. Oh well, I’ll do better in 2023. And I’m also going to put some money into some work this good old bike is in need of.

The Concours had a better year than the CB750: 2,354 miles. That is up from 2,002 miles in 2021 and, as I said, almost as much as the car. Just 152 miles shy of the car. The Kawi got to go on the OFMC trip so it got a lot of miles off that one.

The champion this time around was the V-Strom. I rode that bike 3,866 miles in 2022. It got to go on the RMMRC Great River Road Ride and that was a good long jaunt. I hadn’t planned it that way. I was going to ride the Concours but had to make a last minute change when I discovered the valve stem on one of its tires was totally rotted away. It’s good to have more than one motorcycle.

Altogether that adds up 6,949 miles on motorcycles in 2022, versus 2,506 in my car. I may not put really big miles on any of my vehicles the way a lot of people do but by gosh, I do most of my getting around on the bikes. I kind of like it that way.

Biker Quote for Today

I love being on my bike, but I don’t consider that a sport: it’s too pleasant.