Passes & Canyons Blog

It’s the time of year when I don’t go up in the mountains much any more. Even if it’s warm and dry down here on the prairie it can be cold and snowy up high. So when I go for a ride I turn my sights east.

I did that on Tuesday. It was a gorgeous sunny day so what else could I do?

As is so often the case, I had no plan in mind when I started off. I figured I’d ride across the top of Cherry Creek Reservoir dam over to Parker Road and make up my mind from there. And then I immediately took a left onto Quincy and rode it out of town. Now, looking at the map I see that I could have taken Quincy all the way to Deer Trail. I didn’t know that at the time, though I do now.

I got as far as Watkins Road, which I believe was only paved in the last couple years, so I decided to take that all the way up to Watkins. If I saw anything interesting along the way I would turn. There really wasn’t anywhere to turn east, however, so on the south side of Watkins I turned down the road that leads to a development where some friends of ours live. Cruising its length, whereas we go left to get to their house, I saw that that road is now paved to the south so I turned right. Now it was time to explore. This was county road 101, by the way.

Wow, there is a lot back in there. It’s mostly farms and ranches–saw a lot of horses and a lot of corn and wheat fields shorn of their crops. I saw a lot of really large houses, and big agricultural endeavors. One thing these farmers/ranchers do not seem to be is poor. And I saw a lot of dead ends.

I was on the V-Strom so if the pavement had ended I would have been good with going further, but it seemed that no matter which road I turned down, inevitably it dead-ended at someone’s dirt driveway. Maybe there is a “No Exit” sign at the turn-off from Watkins Road that I’ve never noticed. This entire area–a really big area–is one big dead-end.

But at the eastern extent of the area I was amazed at the forest I ran into. There are one heck of a lot of trees out there on the prairie, along the river drainage.

So I was looking for a way out that wouldn’t force me to back-track all the way to Watkins Road but it doesn’t exist. So I did. I’d covered a lot of miles in that cul-de-sac, and heck, I was all the way out east to Watkins, so it was time to head back. I had work to do at home. Heading back south on Watkins Road I took the first right I could, Jewell, and rode that all the way back to town. I bet I know more now about that area south of where our friends live than they do. I love exploring.

Biker Quote for Today

The back roads around here are better than Prozac. — Clement Salvadori

I’m serious. There are way too many guys doing exactly that. Killing themselves on their bikes, I mean.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve launched my own small effort to persuade reporters and editors that if a motorcycle crashes into a car that has turned left in front of it that is NOT a “motorcycle crash,” it is a “car-motorcycle crash.” While many multi-vehicle crashes are referred to simply as motorcycle crashes, clicking on the links to read the stories I have found that very, very many so-labeled stories are indeed about motorcycle crashes. Here are the ones just from today’s Google alert.

KY Man Killed in Motorcycle Crash
Kentucky State Police say 60-year-old Robert Topp lost control westbound on Kentucky 132 near the Crittenden-Webster County line. He then slid across both lanes and down an embankment.

Man dies after crashing motorcycle in Saginaw Township
Police say Timothy Ducharme-Patton was driving west on Weiss near Churchill on Tuesday night when his motorcycle ran off the road along a curve.

Man killed in south Travis Co. motorcycle crash
Investigators with the Texas Department of Public Safety say the motorcycle was travelling westbound on FM 1626 when, for some unknown reason, it crossed the center line and slid on the roadway. One vehicle hit the motorcycle, and another vehicle struck the driver.

Cobb intersection reopens after fatal motorcycle crash
According to the Marietta Police Department, the motorcycle hit the bus Wednesday near a transfer station at South Marietta Parkway and Aviation Road. Witnesses say it appears the motorcyclist tried to hit the gas to beat the bus, and lost.

That’s one day. Here are a few more.

Man killed in a motorcycle crash in Northampton
The Northampton Police accident reconstruction team was investigating a motorcycle accident that left one rider dead and closed a section of Elm Street Monday night. “Only the motorcycle was involved,” Northampton Police Lt. David Callahan told 22News. “There were no other vehicles involved.”

Man arrested after crashing motorcycle into back of pickup on Broadwater
A man was arrested early Sunday after he allegedly drove a motorcycle into the back of a pickup truck, injuring himself and his passenger.

Man identified in Sunday Pasco motorcycle crash
Diaz-Cruz lost control of his motorcycle and hit the curb. He was thrown off the bike, and the motorcycle continued to travel into the southbound lanes of U.S. 41. Diaz-Cruz died at the scene, officials said.

Young Marine, Father Dies in East County Motorcycle Crash
Justin Dorson, 26, died Sunday after he overcorrected his 2012 Triumph motorcycle and ran into a large boulder on State Route 94, outside of Dulzura.

Coroner IDs victims in motorcycle crash on Lincoln Road
The preliminary assessment, he said, suggests both vehicles were headed westbound on Lincoln Road. The full-sized pickup was in front of the motorcycle and the wreck happened when the truck driver attempted to make a right-hand turn onto Painted Sky Drive.

OK, that’s just one day as well, from yesterday’s Google alert. It may feel good to be smug and complain about idiot drivers hitting and killing bikers, but these are all cases where there was only one person at fault–the rider. I watched a video recently of motorcycle (and sometimes car) crashes that were caught on video. It was crazy how many of them involved only the guy on the bike, nobody else.

So yeah, I’m serious. Do us all a favor: don’t kill yourself on your bike, OK?

Biker Quote for Today

Transitioning to dirt from squiding?

Judy is very good at merging what I like to do with what she likes to do so we both have a good time, and hiking is one of those things.

Don’t get me wrong, I like hiking, too, but perhaps not as much as she does. So now and then she will suggest that we get on a motorcycle and ride out somewhere to a trailhead and then do a hike. That’s what we did on Saturday.

One of the best things Jefferson County has to offer is an extensive list of open space parks and such, so we ended up having to choose between many appealing options. We chose Mount Galbraith Park, which has a trailhead just about a mile west of where the Golden Gate Canyon Road turns off CO 93 on the north side of Golden.

It was a beautiful, sunny fall day as we got geared up, this time remembering to connect our bluetooth communicators, which we’ve made a habit of forgetting and thus have probably not used in two years. Go figure. We headed west on Hampden/US 285 and then by the time we turned north on C-470 it was already getting cooler and had also turned blustery. I hadn’t worn my sweatshirt under my jacket but had brought it along. I was figuring at this point I was glad of that.

North to Golden Gate Canyon Road and then west to the trailhead and oh, man, was that place packed. The parking lot was overflowing and people were parked all along the road for a good ways. Being on the V-Strom we just pulled right in the parking lot and got the best space you could ask for.

There are three main sections of trail in this park, along with a number of smaller, unofficial(?) ones. From the parking area you climb toward the top of Mount Galbraith and then another section can take you all the way down into Golden or you can circle the top of the mountain and then return the way you came when you reconnect. We did the latter.

Climbing the first portion you get to where you have a really nice view of the canyon road below, as you can see in that photo. Then as you get higher you get views of North Table Mountain, South Table Mountain, and finally the whole metro area. Circling around the mountain top counter-clockwise, as we did, you get over on the west side and a whole area of unfamiliar hills, with nothing particularly dramatic. It took a while before I realized what we were seeing was the uphill area running down to where US 6 runs up Clear Creek Canyon. Now, Clear Creek Canyon is very narrow and the walls are pretty sheer but from this perspective you would never have known it was even there. The only thing that finally tipped me off was when we saw the cell towers on Lookout Mountain and I put two and two together.

So it was a good hike, about 5 miles altogether, and boy did it get windy! We had been getting blown around on the bike as we arrived and I was figuring we were really going to get blasted when we left. Nothing to do but to do it, though, so we climbed back on the V-Strom and headed out. And glory, glory, it really wasn’t all that windy down at this level now and we had a very pleasant ride home. What a really good way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

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 there before the asphalt came.

Alan was interested in my post about “Shariah law” and when he gets curious he knows some knowledgeable people who he asks to comment. He sent me a couple responses.

From Samantha there was this:

This is quite a subject of hot debate.And actually, the very reason Ron and I disbanded the Deadhorse MC. Well, me anyway. Ron was just tired of leading rides all of the time and worrying about riders getting lost, keeping up, doing the newsletters, writing about every ride, calling everyone, etc. I, on the other hand, knew the day was coming that we would get into conflict with other MC’s. Not so much for having our rockers (as we never had rockers in the first place) but once more MC members were gathered in the surrounding areas, the main artery of drug trafficking known as Highway 191 going straight through Moab would become a territory issue. Knowing me, I wouldn’t take it as seriously as these guys were and would mouth off, getting all of us hurt.

Sure enough, less than a year of us disbanding, a new group was formed here and they decided they were going to call themselves an MC and got patches with rockers and all. They were contacted and ‘encouraged’ to take the rockers off. They did. It was a bit silly, as these guys had no idea where the rocker idea had even come from, and for that reason, I grant respect to the MC’s that claim territory. Rockers were their thing to start with, and if you let them have it now, they seem to be fine with whatever little ‘club’ you want to have..just don’t claim a state.

It’s all very high school, until you get ‘encouraged’ by an MC. Then, it gets real!

Then there was this from Greg:

Randy Decastro indicated that one of the club local chapters would not allow the American Legion that he belongs to form a club or be patched.

That’s one thing that Bruce told us at Sunday’s ABATE meeting, that we were not being singled out, but that they were going after everyone. Fine. A bunch of suburban, middle-class guys like the OFMC really has no interest in pretending to be a bunch of 1%ers anyway. But there’s no one who can tell us we can’t have a small, private club of guys who like to ride.

Biker Quote for Today

If she changes her oil more often than she changes her mind, follow her.

Let’s see if you understand what I’m referring to here.

You have a group of people who tell everyone else that regardless of whether or not they believe the same as they do, the others must follow the laws of this group’s beliefs or else they’ll do them bodily injury, perhaps even kill them.

Does that make you think of Muslim extremists and Shariah law? I’m betting that if you’re like most non-Muslim Americans the answer is yes. Maybe even if you are a Muslim American. I’m not saying that is an accurate description of what ISIS and Al-Qaeda are all about but I think that’s a fair statement of how most of us see it.

So what if I told you what I’m really here to talk about is a motorcycle “club”?

On the OFMC trip this past summer Ray was complaining that the Sons of Silence had made his VFW group of riders take the “Colorado” rockers off their patches. “Made” them do it. How can they make you do that, I asked him. Why don’t you just tell them to go take a flying leap? Ray never really answered that question but I think we all know the answer.

Now I was just at my ABATE of Colorado District 10 meeting on Sunday and it turns out the Sons had approached ABATE saying that ABATE cannot use the word “Colorado” on any patches it produces. Never mind it’s part of the group’s name. It seems in their minds that they own Colorado and no one else can lay claim to it.

Telling us about his meeting with two “club” representatives, ABATE of Colorado State Coordinator Bruce Downs said, and I paraphrase: Whether you agree with them or not, it’s their belief system. You put a territory name on a rocker and you’re saying you own that territory. There have been people who have died over this. That’s not what we’re about. I’m not going there. We came to a mutual understanding.

Did somebody say Shariah law? Oh, yeah, I did. Now, no one said anything about physical retaliation but Bruce’s remark about people having died over this issue makes it clear that such things can and have happened and that fact is always in the back of your mind. It leads to self-censorship. It leads to groups like ABATE and Ray’s VFW group giving in no matter how vehemently they despise doing so. And I agree totally with Bruce. This is not what we’re about. There are more important issues ABATE needs to address. It’s not worth anyone getting hurt.

Now here’s a funny thing. Bruce said this applies only to patches, and only to three-part patches, with a top rocker, middle, and bottom rocker. If you’re silk-screening onto a T-shirt it’s OK for ABATE of Colorado to call itself ABATE of Colorado.

I thought Judy summed it up well. When I told her about all this she remarked that it’s like a bunch of dogs going around marking their territory. Some people need to grow up. And I guess if the University of Colorado decides to produce patches they had better just call themselves the University. Because the Sons own Colorado.

Biker Quote for Today

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but dirt bikes break them better.

I’ve been really nervous every time I’ve ridden the Honda since I first noticed the valve stem on the front tire was rotting away. That was in June and I finally got it replaced this past weekend.

I met Ron in Boulder and we went to his friend Jeff’s house where Ron keeps his tire changing machine. The expectation was to remove the wheel and then take the tire off before replacing the valve stem. A good half hour job or more.

Fortunately, Jeff was home at the time and he had a little device that turned this into a five minute job.

With the bike on the centerstand, Jeff pulled out a portable bead breaker, which is like a set of tongs with plates at the squeezing end and enough length in the handles to get leverage. After releasing the air, he positioned the plates on the sides of the tire by the valve and squeezed. That broke the bead free from the wheel and with a couple tire irons to keep the tire shoved aside, Ron removed the old valve stem and then reached in to insert the new one. Hook up the air pump and give it a blast and presto! Job completely finished, just that quick.

Not only that, but this new valve stem is a big improvement over the last one. The last one was the typical rubber kind, whereas this new one is a metal stem with a 90 degree bend that makes it easy to get the air hose onto it. You can see it there in that photo.

It’s not so important on this front tire because there’s plenty of space to get to even the old type. But on the rear wheel it’s a totally different story. The space is so cramped that getting a hose on incredibly hard. Some years ago I bought a metal, L-shaped extender specifically to make it possible to get at that valve easier. The extender is very much like the new valve stem. So anyway, we didn’t put a new stem on the rear at this time because it’s going to need a new tire soon anyway, but now I have a second one for the back when the time comes.

What a huge improvement!

Biker Quote for Today

Murphy’s Motorcycle Laws: 8. “Universal” accessories are so named because that is where you must search to find the bike they fit.

No sooner had Alan read my remarks about sending dead dinosaurs through my bike than he emailed me to ask if I wanted to join them on a ride Sunday. I did.

Alan, of course, now rides a Gold Wing sidecar rig and his daughter, Abby, joined us in the hack along with her little dog. Then we headed west to the Conoco station out by Morrison where we met up with Sandy, in her Harley sidecar rig, with her dog, Bentley. Alan met Sandy in Sturgis at a sidecar rally this spring and considering that both live in the Denver area, they had been trying to get out for a ride together. This was the day.

And just as an aside, while Alan’s rig is a true beauty, Sandy’s was chosen Best of Show at the rally, so you know it’s a very nice piece of machinery.

We took off with Alan in the lead, me in the rear, and Sandy in between. Although I hadn’t planned it, this allowed me to observe Sandy and Bentley throughout the day. Periodically she would reach over and stroke his head, which was sweet and made me wish I could get a photo of it. Going through towns she would also pet him and on quite a number of occasions she also readjusted his goggles so they would be where they belonged, protecting his eyes.

Bentley doesn’t seem to mind the goggles when they’re at speed but when they slow down or even stop, he wants them off. He has become very adept at turning to the back of his seat and using it to brush the goggles up off his face. I saw him do it time and again. The straps of the goggle are pretty ingenious: one strap goes all the way around his neck, while another goes under his ears and holds them in place. That way, when he brushes them off, they don’t fall off. They just sit on top of his head until Sandy puts them back down.

Everywhere we went Bentley was a head-turner. Everybody was tickled to see the dog with goggles in the sidecar. I remember in particular when we passed a girl of about 10 and her face just lit up as she pointed him out to her friends.

And Bentley was well behaved, too. Though he was not strapped in, he never jumped out inappropriately, although there was one time, again in Boulder, where we were stopped for a red light and he saw a squirrel. “Squirrel!!” Oh man, he wanted that squirrel, but Sandy saw it, too, and poked him to remind him to behave. She had to poke him a couple more times before we left that squirrel behind.

I have to confess I did not even catch the name of Abby’s dog. She and the dog were tucked down inside Alan’s sidecar, way out in front of me, and it was easy for me to forget the dog was even there. Abby did share with us the amusing fact that her dog–more than any she has ever known–has absolutely no idea how to brace itself for the inevitable curves you encounter in a car or any other vehicle. We’d go around a curve and the dog would find itself laying on its back, feet in the air, thrust up against the outside wall of the sidecar. “How did I get here, Mom?”

So it was a beautiful fall day up in the hills and we had a good ride, though it definitely got chilly later on. Caught just a few drops of rain coming through Golden. If the forecast holds out this may be the last good weekend for riding we’ll have for awhile. And there were a lot of folks on bikes out taking advantage of it.

OK, this just arrived. Here’s a group shot.

Biker Quote for Today

Only animals belong in cages. (That’s the quote, but I say no, animals don’t belong in cages, either. But some dogs do belong in sidecars.)

“My goal is to see how many gallons of dead dinosaurs I can send through my bike.”

I used that for a “Biker Quote for Today” several years ago and you know, it really rings true. I pride myself on putting as few miles as possible on my car each year, but then I turn around and pride myself equally on how many miles I can put on my bikes.

Let’s keep this in perspective, of course. For my friend Dan, who is an Iron Butt guy, hitting only 30,000 miles in a year is an off year. For me, a really, really good year is in excess of 10,000. I’m probably looking at something between 6,000 and 7,000 this year. And when you consider that I’ll probably only put about 6,000 miles on my car this year, that’s not bad. As far as I’m concerned, any year where I put more miles on my bikes than on my car is a good year.

So the end of the year is not far off now and as always I’m identifying some goals that I may not achieve but that I want to at least shoot for. Some are fairly arbitrary: get each bike up to the next 1,000 on the odometer by year’s end. This year, however, that’s going to take some doing. The Honda right now is in the 100s, while both the Kawi and Suzuki are in the 200s. That’s a good bit of riding when you’re not going on any trips soon.

Now, I am going to be taking the Honda up to Boulder on Saturday, and that will be about 100 miles altogether. But most of the simple riding around that I do is a lot shorter: go to the dentist–18 miles; go to the bank–3 miles; go to the wine story–19 miles; run to the grocery store–4 miles. Those kinds of trips don’t add up very quickly. When I just go out for a cruise on a nice day those rides generally run between 25 and 75 miles. It will take a lot of those to get to the next thousand on any of the bikes.

And then there’s riding to work. Yeah, I know I said I had ridden to work for the last time but maybe that’s not the case. The National Park Service has asked me to come back on an emergency, 60-day basis. The emergency is that they have a little more than 400 of these foundation documents to get completed and the deadline is past the 75 percent point but the work is only around the 65 percent point. “Can you help us catch up?”

So I said yes, and I’ll try to get in as many days riding to work as I can. It’s a 35-mile round trip. But this also means these are days when I can’t just go out for a cruise.

Whatever. It’s no big deal if I don’t turn over the next thousand on any of the bikes. The point is to ride as much as possible. I just want to maximize dinosaurs.

Biker Quote for Today

Reason takes a holiday as Dr. Horrible spends money he doesn’t have, on a motorcycle he doesn’t need, in a misguided attempt to recapture his youth which, upon reflection, wasn’t all that great in the first place.