Passes & Canyons Blog

Ron Coleman on one of his V-Stroms, ahead of me on mine.

I recently bought a Suzuki V-Strom because I have ridden them and I like them. Ron Coleman is part of the reason for that. Ron runs Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures and he rents V-Stroms. It used to be that was all he rented but now he has a BMW GS800 and several Suzuki DR650s. I’ve gone riding with Ron a number of times, usually on one of his V-Stroms. This past weekend, though, we went riding and I was on my own V-Strom.

When Ron and I ride he generally takes me on gravel roads in the hills above Boulder that, in many cases, I had no idea existed. That was the case once again.

We headed up Boulder Canyon and then turned north on the road up Fourmile Canyon. Fair enough, I’d been up that road before. But we kept on going, way beyond anywhere I had ever been before. We got up into the area where the big fire burned a couple years go and I could see there were a lot of lucky people there. Whereas a lot of folks lost their homes, especially in the Wall Street area, all along Fourmile Canyon there were homes beside the road and scorched trees coming down the slopes but stopping just shy of the houses. I don’t know if that was due to the efforts of firefighters or just plain luck, but those places survived.

Eventually we came upon a sign that warned that the pavement was ending. This is what I love about this bike: we didn’t slow down for a second. These bikes love the gravel.

So the road wound around and around, climbing ever higher, and I just had no idea so many people lived up there. From riding through the canyon we emerged onto the ridge above and now we had some really nice views. Eventually the road came out at Gold Hill. Ron had led me on another gravel road to Gold Hill another time so I was a bit surprised to discover there is another route. From there we took a road we have ridden on before to the Peak-to-Peak Highway. We turned north and headed to Allenspark for lunch.

Unfortunately the Mountain Meadow Cafe was closing when we got there. Ron said he goes there a lot and it is a terrific place but they close at 2 p.m. and it was about 1:56 when we walked in. Oh well, another time.

So we headed back south and took the turn-off to Jamestown. From the Peak-to-Peak the road is unpaved, so once again it was just cool to turn off onto the gravel without giving it a second thought. I’ve been on that road before but I’m not sure I’ve ever been on it on a bike. Maybe once on my Honda. Not sure. Anyway, it’s a nice ride, a bit steep in places, and perfectly comfortable on the Suzuki.

We were headed for the Mercantile in Jamestown and it was a busy place when we arrived. We walked in, though, and the waitress told us that, sorry, they were just closing. Rats–again!

What to do, where to go . . . We were hungry. There has to be someplace we can eat. So we continued on down Lefthand Canyon to where it came out to U.S. 36 and turned north to Lyons. Here, on a straight and fast piece of road, I finally got to try out this little throttle lock device Ron had loaned me, which worked amazingly well considering how simple it is. I’ll tell you more about that soon because I’m buying one. We finally ate at Smokin’ Dave’s in Lyons and then headed back toward our various homes. On the way we zig-zagged across Boulder County avoiding the heavily populated areas and at one point Ron led the way off the pavement onto another piece of gravel that cut a diagonal and was therefore a short-cut. Again, it was no hesitation, just go. I love that. You don’t go another route in a car when you come to gravel. Why should you do so on a motorcycle?

And then we parted ways and headed on home. Another good day of riding.

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OFMC heads home, more dirt en route

Biker Quote for Today

Getting lost on purpose . . . again.

I keep saying it and I’m going to say it one more time: There are too many great roads in Colorado that I have never seen because I’ve only been riding a street bike all these years. I have got to get a dual-sport bike if I can just figure out a) where the money’s going to come from and b) where I’m going to store it.

I had the latest in a series of opportunities this past weekend to do some dual-sport riding. This time I went out with Ron Coleman, who runs Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures out of Boulder, on one of his V-Stroms. The last time I went out with Ron we went up Fourmile Canyon and through the Wall Street area that later was the epicenter for that big fire they had up there. We then continued along the Switzerland Trail, which used to be a rail line many years ago.

This time we headed out of Boulder on the road up Sunshine Canyon, which took us through another area hit by the fire. What was really surprising about that part of the ride was seeing how selective the fire was. Some houses stood unscathed while others were ash heaps. In the trees there were paths visible where the fire burned some but left others green and growing. Pretty dang interesting.

We reached the Peak to Peak Highway and jogged south on it a short distance and then turned off on another gravel road that winds past Caribou Ranch. The days when this ranch was a premier recording studio are long over, and I’ve known for years where it was generally, but this was the first time I’d ever seen it.

We took another job off the Peak to Peak, and then a side-trip that took us up to the old Caribou townsite, now a ghost town. That’s Ron in the picture riding past the only remaining structures in what was once a gold mining town with a population of 3,000. And yes, that’s snow falling. Summer is definitely past.

Back again on the Peak to Peak, we turned off on the Coal Creek Canyon road and made a side-trip–gravel roads again–to the site of the Lincoln Hills resort that was a major draw for Blacks at a time when they were excluded from other, segregated facilities.

We returned to the canyon road, went up and over the ridge through Wondervu, and then turned off onto the gravel road that takes you past Gross Reservoir and eventually brings you out on the back side of Flagstaff Mountain. Then down Flagstaff Road into Boulder.

What a gorgeous ride! And sure, I’ve been on the Peak to Peak countless times, but I’ve never been on these other roads. Why? Because my Honda is barely tolerable on gravel and my Kawi detests gravel. In the meantime, the V-Strom is just every bit as comfortable on gravel as the Kawi is on the highway. But you know what? The V-Strom is also totally at home on the highway, and way more agile than the Kawi.

And there are a zillion more of those roads up there and all through the Colorado mountains. I don’t know how I’m going to make this work. I love my Honda. It’s the first bike I ever owned and I’ve been riding it for more than 20 years. I don’t want to part with it. And I love my Concours. I have to suspect that the V-Strom really is no match for it when it comes to serious touring. But I only have room in my garage for two motorcycles, not three. And I want a V-Strom in the worst way.

I’ve got to figure something out.

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Decorate a biker bra to fight breast cancer

Biker Quote for Today

Bounce like you’ve got hydraulics in your G-string.

Here’s an out-of-the-ordinary sort of situation that just occurred.

Running the Passes and Canyons website as I do, I frequently receive emails from people with questions about routes or lodging or motorcycle rentals or whatever. But recently I got a totally different request. Here it is:

Hi Ken – I was reading through some of your site and was interested in knowing if you knew anyone in this area offers rides in this area? I drove up Mt. Evans with friends in the car the other day and noticed all the motor bikes heading up. It looked like a great way to see some of the magnificent drives around here. Thanks, Daphne

After ascertaining that Daphne was interested in finding someone to take her for a ride, not to rent her a motorcycle, I considered offering to do it myself. Hey, I’m self-employed, earning money any way I can, why not? Well, the why not was the thought that if I did arrange a business deal with her where she hired me to take her for a ride and something bad happened, I could be screwed.

So then I thought of Ron Coleman, who runs Western Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventures. Ron is someone I know, who advertises on this site, and I figured he is set up with liability waivers and all that stuff, so he would be a good possibility, if he was interested.

Long story short, I got this follow-up email from Daphne just a few minutes ago:

Hi Ken – I just wanted to let you know that Ron Coleman did take me out for a scenic ride yesterday and it was wonderful! It goes without saying, what a nice guy Ron is, but I also found him quite interesting and fun to be with. I really enjoyed the opportunity to be able to take a ride while here in Colorado, the experience was great and the scenery incredible!

Thank you for your help in putting us together!

Sincerely, Daphne

So how cool is that? It’s one of the things I enjoy about doing this website: helping people in whatever way I can. Daphne, you made my day.

Biker Quote for Today

Everything looks better from the inside of a motorcycle helmet.