Archive for the ‘OFMC’ Category

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OFMC 2022 Trip Launches

Monday, September 19th, 2022

Dennis and the bikes at a stop on Kenosha Pass.

It was a very auspicious beginning to this year’s OFMC trip. The day before the temperature had hit 100, but this morning it was about 60 and I put on a couple extra layers, and was glad I did.

We planned to meet up in Conifer so I headed out of town on US 285. Over the foothills there were clouds that seemed to promise rain right off the bat. I was ready to stop at any moment to put on rain gear but the drops never fell. Then, as I came down the hill into Conifer it was suddenly sunshine and blue sky, with not a single cloud ahead of me in the west. Sweet!

Bill and Dennis were there and we quickly got rolling. On out 285, over Kenosha Pass and down to Fairplay. West of Fairplay they’re replacing a bridge, so a detour sends everyone south on CO9 to Hartsel, where we turned onto US 24 and then west to Antero Junction to rejoin 285.

Then it was 285 nearly all the way. Through Buena Vista, Poncha Springs (with a stop at Bill’s daughter Jenna’s), over Poncha Pass, and down to CO17, which goes straight to Alamosa whereas 285 gets there but only by detouring over to Saguache and Monte Vista.

All in all an easy-going day with great weather and no problems or surprises.

Really, it’s such a different feel on the first day out on a trip vs. taking a day ride. There’s an energy and an anticipation you just don’t have on a day ride. We’re off!! We’re out for a week! Yahoo! And if the heavens are smiling on you, so much the better.

Biker Quote for Today

“On a motorcycle, you can’t really think about more than where you are. There’s a freedom that comes with that – from stress, worry, sweating the small stuff.” ? Laurence Fishburne

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Motorcycling Camaraderie

Monday, August 1st, 2022

With the RMMRC on top of Independence Pass.

I’ve discussed the camaraderie of riding motorcycles a number of times recently and then events prompt additional thoughts.

As I’ve said, I was struck on this recent RMMRC Great River Road ride by how little social interaction there was among the group once we got to out stop for the night. That surprised me and initially I thought it was just the contrast with the OFMC, where we spend all the time doing stuff together till it’s time to turn in.

But then the morning we took the ride up Coal Creek and then over Douglas Mountain Drive we got together beforehand for breakfast. And at breakfast it occurred to me that this is where there is always a lot of camaraderie–before the ride. Then, a week later when we did the ride up Golden Gate Canyon and then over Squaw Pass Roy called me to tell me several guys were meeting at his house to ride out to Golden. The plan was kickstands up at 9:45 but they were leaving Roy’s at 8:30. Why so early?

It dawned on me that getting there early and hanging out is . . . drumroll . . . camaraderie.

So there’s plenty of camaraderie in the RMMRC–at least on the day rides. Either before the ride or in the middle if we stop for lunch. But it’s a whole different dynamic on long runs, or at least on the one long run I’ve done with the group.

The key came to me at lunch on this day when talk turned to a long ride some of the guys are thinking about for August. They want to do a trip to Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge. There and all the way home in eight days. Eight days. Oh my gosh, that’s a lot of hard riding. And that’s the key.

If you get up early each morning so you can burn up hundreds and hundreds of miles, you get to your day’s destination, have dinner, and people are ready to go to bed. With the OFMC we don’t do these long days, we often reach our destination as early as 2 or 3 p.m. and we’re not exhausted. This gives us time and energy to swim in the motel pool, stroll around and find an ice cream shop, have a beer or two, then have dinner, and kick back with another beer.

Now, Judy and I are planning a trip to the Pacific Northwest in the next few weeks so I definitely won’t be going along on a ride right back to Oregon soon after we get home. But I can just see how this whole thing will play out. They’ll get up early, ride hard and long, and hang it up early. On the whole trip. All the camaraderie will come at the meals–not in the evening.

Now I’m totally convinced that if I want to do any RMMRC rides on the terms I prefer I’m going to have to be the one to organize them, and I’m going to have to make the point to anyone interested that this is a different kind of ride. And in the meantime I’ll just stick to doing day rides. We have a really good time on the day rides.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you complained about the “smell and fumes” near the back of your last group ride.

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Thinning Of The OFMC Herd

Monday, May 2nd, 2022

I’ve been riding with the OFMC for more than 30 years and I’ve seen it grow from Bill and John and me and then shrink to just Bill and Dennis and me. All the guys who are no longer riding with us are still around, they just don’t ride anymore.

Friggs after his crash four years ago. Notice the black on his clothes and the rips.

That may change soon.

Speaking frankly, I’ve wondered for some time how much longer John will be with us. He has a list of health issues so long I won’t even begin to list it all.

So it was a surprise a couple weeks ago to get a text from Bill about his brother Friggs. Friggs was one of the first additions to the OFMC and was with us for many years. Finally, about four years ago, he went down in a mysterious crash that he still can’t understand. That shook him up enough that once we got home from that trip he sold the bike and that was it.

Anyway, the text from Bill was passing along a text from his niece, Friggs’s daughter, telling the family about the latest news on her dad’s cancer. This was the first the rest of us had heard about it. The cancer was found in his colon, his liver, and in his lymph nodes. From what I have heard about lymph nodes especially, that seems to be a death sentence.

Friggs has been a snow bird for some years now, living with a daughter and her family in Florida in the winter and coming to Colorado in the summer. He was in Denver this past weekend so several of us got together. I went wondering if this would be the last time I would ever see him.

If Friggs thinks he’s facing a death sentence he sure doesn’t show it. He’s getting chemo every two weeks now so that allows him to run out here for a few days. He talked about how the chemo messes with the nerves in his finger tips so when he touches something cold it’s like he has touched a burning coal. Other than that, you’d never know there was a thing wrong.

Maybe it’s just early days but one thing he was doing while here is getting his condo ready to sell because he is planning on buying a house in Florida. Who looks death in the face by buying a house, for pete’s sake!

He had surgery and the doctors say the cancer was caught fairly early so maybe I’m being alarmist here. But as I say, lymph nodes. We’ll keep our fingers crossed for you buddy. I’m not looking forward to putting a black border around any OFMC member’s photo on the website.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 7. It’s perfectly natural to have a motorcycle parked in the living room.

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A Good Day To Ride

Thursday, April 21st, 2022

Pretty sure this is the most I’ve ever paid.

It’s already April 21 and I still hadn’t ridden the V-Strom this month so that was a sure bet for today with an RMMRC ride planned. This was going to be a little different; we were just heading up to Black Hawk for lunch at one of the casinos. That’s actually more like an OFMC outing than the RMMRC.

My first order of business when I got to the gas station in Morrison where we meet was to get gas. And, I believe, for the first time in my life I paid more than $4 per gallon for gas. $4.05.9 to be exact. Yow! But you know, I’d happily pay more if that meant that Russian oil was unwanted and that would help stop Russian aggression in Ukraine.

I know some people claim Joe Biden is responsible for the hike in gas prices, not Vladimir Putin, but I call BS on that. I’m a registered Independent voter, not a Republican or a Democrat, so I call BS on anyone who deserves it. If gas prices were stable around the world but soaring in the U.S. that would be one thing, but they’re not. They’re up everywhere. Is Joe responsible for higher gas prices in Australia? In France? In Japan? OK, that’s way more politics than I normally get into here.

So there were only five of us riding this day. Bob was leading and he said he would figure out some side roads to take. I had some thoughts about his route but he proved me completely wrong. We headed up Bear Creek to Kittredge and took Kerr Gulch over to meet up with Evergreen Parkway just on the south side of I-70, cut across the highway and then followed old U.S. 40 on up Floyd Hill and down to where we hit U.S. 6 heading down Clear Creek Canyon. Then we caught the Peak to Peak Highway to Black Hawk.

Bob’s plan was the buffet at this casino but when we saw that it cost $20 there were three of us who demurred. I personally never like buffets because as a fairly small person I can usually fill up easily at any restaurant for far less than the buffet cost. Plus, I really wasn’t hungry. So I went and played some slot machines while Roy and Bruce went to the casino’s other eatery and Bob and Maynard did the buffet. Yes I gave the casino the same $20 I would have paid for the buffet but at least I had the chance to go home with more than I came with and besides, I wasn’t hungry.

The predicted high for today was in the high 70s but I had been cautious and had worn a sweatshirt and my electric vest. I had been glad to have them on the ride up as it was still cool in the morning. Leaving Black Hawk I was thinking more about getting back into town and it being hot, so I just put on the vest but stashed the sweatshirt. That proved a wise move, as even later in the day it was still darn chilly up on the Peak to Peak and even coming down Golden Gate Canyon.

When we reached the flatlands, however, it was definitely warm and I was really glad not to be wearing the sweatshirt.

Anyway, it was a beautiful day for a ride and we were all glad we had taken advantage of it. In a perfectly fitting coincidence, as I made my way home across Hampden I found myself behind a car with a sticker on the back that read “Never let a nice day go to waste.” Perfect. We didn’t.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you use your dishwasher to clean bike parts.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, OFMC, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club, Suzuki motorcycles, V-Strom | 2 Comments »

Ride To Eat, Eat To Ride

Thursday, February 17th, 2022

Our OFMC logo.

Judy and I had a candlelight dinner the other night and she wondered aloud if eating a baloney sandwich by candlelight would make it special.

That brought to mind a meal John and Bill and I had years ago on one of the early OFMC trips. We were in Utah, planning to spend the night camped at Hall’s Crossing, across from the Bullfrog Marina, on the north shore. In the morning we would take the ferry across and be on our way.

We knew better than to count on food at the marina so we stopped in Blanding at a grocery store and picked up a few things.

We cruised on then to Hall’s Crossing but upon arrival we encountered a problem we hadn’t anticipated. There was a campground and we had no trouble getting a campsite. There was a little store there but by the time we got there it was closed for the day–good for us for foresight. But there was no wood for a fire. None, as in no trees. And no firewood to be bought because the store was closed.

I don’t remember what else we bought but we had hot dogs. How are we going to cook these things?

One thing on hand was sagebrush. But green, growing things don’t generally burn well. So we scrounged around and found just a few dead twigs and some dry grass. We put it all together and had enough to make a fire about the size of your palm.

There were no sticks to impale the hot dogs on so we took turns, holding each end of the dog in our fingers, passing them back and forth over the tiny flame, turning it to cook all sides, and then there was dinner.

Maybe it was cooking over burning sage. Maybe it was just the situation. I mean, everyone knows food cooked over a campfire tastes better than the same thing cooked at home.

Whatever it was, those hot dogs were absolutely delicious. Those were unquestionably the best dogs I have ever eaten.

Thanks for calling that memory to mind, Judy.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 14. If the weather is nice, we’re not home.

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What The Hay?

Monday, December 27th, 2021

We encountered the hay truck shortly after this rest stop in the Snowy Range. Sorry, no photos of the hay trucks.

I find it pretty amazing how those container ships stack those things so high above the ship’s deck. It looks really top-heavy but clearly there has got to be a lot of ship below the water to keep it stable.

On dry land, the seemingly comparable situation is the way you sometimes see loads of hay stacked to tower way, way above the truck hauling it all. The difference being that there is no truck out of sight down below the road so that top-heavy load better be well stacked. Sometimes it is not.

Twice this past year, out on motorcycle trips, I encountered situations where those bales were not well stacked and secured.

The first was on the OFMC trip. We had been in Wyoming, having left Torrington, and were headed to Walden, back in Colorado. At Laramie we took US 230 southwest as it passes through just the southern edge of the Snowy Range.

Coming around a bend there was a warning cone in the road and a quick glance ahead showed why. A truck loaded to the sky with huge bales of hay was part-way off on the side of the road with its load leaning menacingly toward the highway. Oh my gosh, there’s a real mess trying to happen. We gave it all a wide berth.

At least that guy didn’t lose his load. He had folks there to help and they were doing whatever it would take to put it all back to right. But clearly somebody didn’t do their job all that well when that truck was loaded. Or maybe that driver was just going way too fast.

It was a very different case, however, when, on the Colorado Cruise with the RMMRC, we were crossing Grand Mesa on our first day out. As we came down CO 65 toward I-70 in Debeque Canyon there were warning cones in the road. And there ahead was another hay truck. But this one didn’t have any hay on it. It’s entire load was scattered on and around the highway. Somebody had a real mess to clean up. And somebody probably got seriously reamed out by their boss.

Gosh, the things some people will do just to keep life interesting for us traveling motorcyclists!

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you have a refrigerator in the garage just for beer.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, OFMC, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club | No Comments »

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