Passes & Canyons Blog

Thyrza sent this photo of the tent they use, which has room for their motorcycle.

I was discussing two-up motorcycle camping recently and got a response from Thyrza, who has done this a lot. She agreed to allow me to reprint what she sent me. Here it is:

So I found your website while searching for motorcycle rides in Colorado and noticed from some of the stories that people thinking camping 2-up without a trailer is difficult or impossible even. My husband and I live in Ohio and have traveled to Michigan, Maine, North Carolina, South Dakota and this year will be going to Colorado. We tent camp the entire time and ride 2-up. I thought I would share how we have made it work.

We ride a Honda VTX-1800 – it’s a large cruiser style bike so can easily handle the weight of anything we strap to it. We currently have soft bags so there isn’t a lot of room in them. However, we just bought new hard bags and are waiting for the paint job to be done. They will hold at least half as much more stuff as our current bags, so I’m quite excited to see what more I can take with us! We added small luggage racks to the tops of the bags so we could still strap on the sleeping bags.

First and foremost, compression/dry bags are your friend. We put his sleeping bag in a compression bag alone, and mine w/both of our small camp pillows, a sheet, and two hoodies in another (his bag is quite a bit bigger than mine). Each bag compresses down to just a little bigger than a lumpy basketball. We use bungee nets to strap one to the top of each saddle bag. The compression bags are also dry bags so they keep everything 100% dry – and we have been caught in more than one torrential downpour. We use our saddle bags for personal items – each of us gets one and whatever fits is what you get. Lucky for him I’m a light packer and reasonably low maintenance. We have a large bag on the back that we put all our “stuff” in. We love our JetBoil – it heats water in about 1 minute so you never have to go w/o coffee on a cold morning. We also bought the cooking pot and frying pan and they work great! Instead of a sleeping pad, we first used Big Agnes air mattresses, but got tired of having to manually blow them up. We just replaced them this year with new ones that inflate with a built-in foot pump. These each role up to about 6-7” around and about 11” long. They are bit bulkier than the Big Agnes but more comfortable. We also have a tank bag that we use for his camera, all our charging cords, and miscellaneous items that we want quick access too.

As far as rain gear, my husband is quite a safety freak, so he insists when traveling that we are in full gear. So we made sure that our coats and pants double as raingear, so one less thing to have to pack. I used to whine quite a bit about how ugly it looked (because it is after all, all about fashion), but after going w/o my jacket in 100+ degree heat riding into the Badlands 2 years ago and getting sun stroke/sick, I learned the value in keeping my jacket on. Gym shorts under the pants make them actually quite comfortable and less hot than bluejeans. Hard to believe, but true! And ladies, all the pockets in the jacket eliminates my need to haul a purse. Plus, when you ride into an unexpected rainstorm and there are no overpasses to hide under, it’s nice to stay dry w/o taking the time to get re-dressed.

Our biggest purchase was the tent… as you can see from the picture, the tent has a built-in garage for the bike! In the actual sleeping area, you can fit two people comfortably (husband is 6” and has no trouble end to end fitting), but there isn’t a lot of extra space. We store our gear in the vestibule area of the tent. We strap the tent onto the top of the tail bag with rock straps. And then to top it off, we have a small soft-side cooler bag (rectangular in shape and just tall enough for a short can of soda), that we strap on top of the tent. It’s a tight fit, but we make it work. Last year we found small folding chairs – they have 2 back legs and then you use your legs for the front and sort of rock back… comfortable, but hard to get into initially. Not something to sit in if you are drinking a lot! We connect these with straps to the D-rings on our tail bag and they tuck down between the bag and sleeping bag on each side. We got tired of having to sit on a picnic bench or the ground, so they were a good investment. (You can see the chair bag – it’s the red little bit sticking out on the left – the other one is on the other side.)

There isn’t a lot of extra space, and we really have to think twice about everything we take, but we manage and it’s a lot of fun! When we go on long trips, we take 3-4 day’s worth of clothing and just plan on doing laundry every so often. If someone wants brand names on any of the gear, I can dig the stuff out and get it.

The pink jacket is where I sit, and the yellow jacket is his seat. I joke that we won’t get hit by someone cause they can’t see us, but more because they’ll be laughing so hard! (I have gotten rid of the pink jacket and bought a nice conservative black one – got tired of looking like the Pink Power Ranger!)

Anyway – tent camping on a motorcycle without a trailer, riding 2-up is 100% doable! We have a great time! Our goal is to hit every state in the continental 48 – after Colorado this September, we’ll be at 25!! In just 5 years of traveling. Not too shabby!
___________________________
So there you have it. It can be done, if you’re ready to be selective and resourceful. Thank you Thyrza. Here, below, is the other photo she sent showing the VTX loaded for camping.

The VTX loaded for two-up camping.

Biker Quote for Today

Guanella Pass is under construction again, this time completing the paving all the way to Grant in Park County.

I don’t know how it happened but the decision has finally been made to finish paving Guanella Pass all the way from Georgetown to Grant. From what I understand, Clear Creek County, on the Georgetown side was all for it and of course paved their side years ago. Park County, on the Grant side, however, just would not budge and so for all these years the road has started paved on the Georgetown side and turned to gravel further south. Park County has finally changed its tune.

This is already a wonderful motorcycle road if you don’t mind doing some gravel, and there are plenty of people who have ridden it. Once this paving project is completed it should be a real magnet for anyone who has not wanted to do it because of the gravel. Because it’s a really sweet ride.

So when will the job be completed? Apparently not until October 2015. And what that translates into is that I’d advise avoiding this road until then. The U.S. Forest Service has put up information about the construction and it’s going to be ugly.

First off, the road is completely closed twice a day Monday through Friday. That’s 8-11 a.m. and 1-3 p.m. Even during other periods you are likely to encounter delays up to 30 minutes.

If you like to camp, the campgrounds along the construction area are now closed, which includes the one we went to recently when we decided to try two-up camping on the V-Strom. The campgrounds up near the top of the pass are still open.

I’m curious what effect this work will have on the wildlife in the area. We have seen bighorn sheep right alongside the road up through there. They’ll probably skedaddle for now but we hope they’ll return once it gets quiet again.

Once this job is done I’m going to have some work to do on this website. I don’t have a separate page for Guanella Pass as I do for so many other roads because I have focused pretty much on paved roads. So far I’ve only had a short bit about it on the Dirt Roads and Side Trips page. Once this one is paved it will absolutely rate its own page. That’s why this website will never be finished: things keep changing. That’s OK, I enjoy the work. And especially the research. Of course I’ll have to go ride it as soon as it reopens. Dirty job and all that, you know.

Biker Quote for Today

Regular maintenance is the key to reliability; irregular maintenance is the key to great exercise.

Jungle with the Concours and the Interceptor.

I had a very interesting opportunity a couple weeks back to ride a Kawasaki Concours that was not my own. What made it interesting was to see how two essentially identical bikes differ. And they do.

I was up in Eagle and went riding with my friends Willie and Jungle, on Jungle’s 2000 Concours. Mine is a 1999.

The very first thing I did when I bought my Connie was to have risers installed that raised and brought the grips back three inches. I was convinced at the time that this was essential to making the bike comfortable, rather than having an uncomfortable forward lean to the grips. Jungle’s Connie does not have risers. I noticed this immediately. And as we rode I quickly came to the conclusion that my thinking had been correct. It wasn’t long before my shoulder was aching pretty badly.

Another thing I noticed right away was that Jungle’s bike does not have highway pegs. I love my highway pegs. (And I’m glad to say that as of yesterday I now finally have highway pegs on my V-Strom.) I know that Jungle and Willie take long trips on the Concours and I just don’t understand how you can do that without highway pegs. I need to move my legs around. I guess Jungle just doesn’t have that need.

At our first stop, Jungle came over to me and asked with a bit of a grin if I had noticed anything about the bike. I knew exactly what he meant. This Concours has a growl to it that mine does not, and it has noticeably more power. His grin widened as he explained that he had advanced the timing about 5 degrees and that made all the difference. It’s a really simple thing to do, he told me, and he described the procedure. But you have to understand that Jungle is a mechanic by trade and what for him is simple is for me something I wouldn’t dream of attempting.

Anyway, although the extra power was fun, it seemed that this bike really sucked the gas down, much more quickly than mine. I’ve never been unsatisfied with the power my bike has so if the trade-off for even more power is lower gas mileage I’m happy to just stick with what I’ve got.

We rode from Eagle up to Steamboat Springs, had lunch there, and then headed back to Eagle. As I mentioned, my shoulder was really hurting me, so when, on the way back, Jungle pulled over and asked if I’d like to ride his Honda Interceptor I was interested but uncertain. This bike is a full-on sport bike with the typical crouched riding position with a serious forward lean. But I wanted to ride it and it wasn’t as if staying on the Concours was going to suddenly become comfortable.

What a difference! From the moment I got on the Interceptor and really leaned forward the pain went away. What a relief! And then, to add to that, I found that bike a joy to ride. Jungle is a go-fast kind of guy, and on the way up I had not been able to keep up with him. With him on the Concours–which he definitely rode fast–and me on the Interceptor I found that this sport bike made it really easy to go really fast. It wasn’t just that it had all this power, although it did, but that the steering and handling were so smooth and so sweet. The control was amazing. I finally really get what it is that the fans of these bikes love.

So we got back to Eagle in a hurry. Fun ride.

Biker Quote for Today

I ride a bullet. A 2-wheeled, multiple-explosion powered machine with enough moving parts to remove entire fingers. Surfaces hot enough to cook flesh. It propels me at neck-breaking, bone-snapping flesh-tearing speeds, over and through obstacles I can only see as blurs. It’s a sport that kills the careless, maims the best, and spits at the concept of mercy.

The new SW Motech crash bars and skid plate make my V-Strom much more prepared for riding off the pavement.

I’m not much of one to add stuff to a motorcycle. The V-Strom is proving to be the exception.

Besides the throttle lock and top bag I already added to that bike, I’m now pleased to say that I have added crash bars and a skid plate. Next up is highway pegs, although that has proven trickier than I expected.

I wasn’t planning to take the V-Strom on the OFMC trip last week but the Concours had a rear tire that was so on the cusp of whether it would make it or not that I decided not to chance it. But I didn’t want to go on another long ride, like last year, on a bike with no highway pegs. We’re talking about you, V-Strom.

The problem was, there is nowhere on a stock V-Strom to attach highway pegs. A related problem with the V-Strom is that the radiator and oil filter are just hanging out down there, fully exposed to anything flying up off the road. I don’t understand Suzuki’s thinking on that. That’s just too vulnerable, especially if you go off the pavement.

Fortunately the solution to one problem provides a solution to the other. Put on crash bars, which gives you a place to attach a skid plate, and that protects the radiator and oil filter. It also gives you something to attach highway pegs to.

Thanks very much to Ben Kriederman at House of Motorrad, I got the crash bars and skid plate on on Thursday evening before we left town on Friday. I’m truly grateful to Ben for putting these things on for me because there was no way I was going to be able to do it myself.

I did try. The problem was, although attaching the bars was pretty simple, just four bolts on each side of the bike, busting those bolts loose was beyond my meager tools. I had an allen wrench and an extender but I quickly saw that if I applied enough pressure to bust the bolts loose, all that would actually happen would be that I would bend the heck out of my allen wrench.

It’s wonderful having the right tools for the job. Ben did and he quickly took care of the bars, but then the skid plate even gave him some trouble. It seems the (supplied) replacement bolts fit fine but the (not supplied) washers were just too small for the new bolts. They had to be drilled out.

Ben got ‘er done and even threw in an oil change while the bike was up on the lift. Nice guy.

The next day, on my way out of town, I stopped at Vickery and bought some highway pegs. I figured I’d put them on in Brush or in Chadron when I had a moment. Uh-uh. The pegs came with two sizes of strap to go around the bars, but the small (7/8″) was too small and the large, with the provided spacers, came completely together without being tight enough to hold the peg in place. So I made the whole ride without highway pegs again. Fortunately, this trip was mostly short rides so I didn’t miss them terribly.

I figure now the thing to do is put some rubber strips under the strap to both prevent scraping metal on metal and to take up room, making it possible to tighten things and have it hold in place. I was hoping to do that yesterday but it didn’t get done. It will get done this weekend.

Then, let’s see . . . what else does this bike need?

Biker Quote for Today

Money can’t buy happiness. But… it can buy a motorcycle. And you can’t be sad on a motorcycle.

It was a little toasty when Friggs broke down in Shoshoni.

Our summer ride continued as planned after leaving the Black Hills–except for one of us. We left Buffalo, Wyoming, and crossed the Bighorn Mountains, through Ten Sleep and Worland, on our way to Riverton.

A funny thing happened on the way to Riverton: Friggs didn’t get there. At least not under his own power.

I was bringing up the rear, with Brett in front of me and Friggs in front of him. The other guys were pulling away up ahead and I was getting annoyed that Friggs was not picking up the speed. Apparently Brett was, too, because he blasted around him. Immediately afterward, Friggs turned on his turn signal and pulled onto the shoulder. I followed. I stayed on my bike while he fiddled with the throttle a bit and then he started moving, slowly, along the shoulder. I followed.

After a ways Friggs picked up speed and we pulled back onto the highway. We hadn’t gone far when Brett came along going the other way, coming back to see what was going on. He turned around and pulled in behind me and we cruised into Shoshoni, where Friggs pulled into the parking lot of the local school. Turns out he didn’t choose to pull over there, the bike quit on him and he coasted into the lot.

Brett and Friggs got on their phones looking for assistance while I walked over to the police department, just across the street, where we nearly got lucky. I explained the situation and asked the officer if there was a towing service in town. He said no, there was not, but right at that moment a tow truck he had called to pick up an abandoned vehicle was 13 minutes late. He was going to Riverton and maybe he could load the bike on, too.

Just then the truck pulled in but the guy had to decline because he had no chains to strap the bike down. So close, no cigar.

So we hung out for the next two hours (it was hot; you can see the temperature on the sign in the photo) until the truck arrived and he had the Fat Boy loaded on. The bike had to go to Lander but he dropped Friggs off with us in Riverton. The next morning we rode on to Lander, John carrying Friggs’s bag and Bill giving his brother a lift. (He ain’t heavy, father, he’s my brother.)

The diagnosis was a broken rocker and there was no way to get parts today. And it was Friday. We left Friggs in Lander, where his lady friend was going to drive up and they would spend a few days vacationing, more or less. When the bike is ready they’ll make the trip back to Denver together. And to my knowledge, this event is still in the future.

We rode on across central Wyoming to Rawlins, hopped on I-80 briefly, and then turned south through Saratoga and Encampment, into Colorado for our night’s stop in Walden. Now here’s a sign of the times: the motel has signs posted saying no marijuana is allowed on the premises. I wonder if that’s legal. The times they are a changing.

Next morning was just the ride home. John headed southwest to his home in Montrose and the rest of us ran down the Poudre Canyon. The Poudre was at its finest, green and beautiful. We turned off on to the Stove Prairie road, figuring to connect with the Buckhorn road and get to Loveland that way but at Stove Prairie the road was blocked saying there was no access to Masonville in that direction.

We turned up toward Rist Canyon but at the top of the hill the road went two ways, something I don’t recall noticing before. I was in the lead and I turned left but that didn’t take us down Rist Canyon at all. It was a steep, curvy road that I liked but the Harley boys didn’t and it dumped us into LaPorte, where we picked up US 287. Most of these guys live on the west side of town so they didn’t want to go east to I-25 and then have to go west again, so we went down 287.

Oh my gosh, what congestion. Fort Collins has grown way south and Loveland has grown way north so there is almost no separation at all between them. And then there’s Berthoud and Longmont and everywhere there is huge growth. Along this route we split and went our separate ways and this year’s trip was at an end.

Biker Quote for Today

When I was younger I was afraid I’d die riding. Now that I’m old and falling apart, I’m afraid I won’t.

Cruising down Spearfish Canyon.

For the first time in the 25-year OFMC history we stayed in one place for three days. Hill City, South Dakota, was a very nice base for day rides but now we’re in Wyoming. How were the Black Hills?

Everything is very much in preparation for the rally. All the tighter curves on the roads in the area have been marked with orange flags to alert riders to be cautious, and in some cases they’ve even set up cones. I stopped at a Suzuki shop in Sturgis to get some assistance setting up my new highway pegs but they told me they just don’t have time to deal with small stuff like that now, “We’ve got a rally to prepare for.”

In Sturgis most of the shops are still empty but other vendors are already in business. I know that in a week there won’t be a bit of available space anywhere.

After doing the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road one day, we went up through Deadwood and down to Sturgis, the next, returning via Vanocker Canyon and Nemo Road. Very nice to get off the very busy main highway. Stopped at a junction along the way we had one of the closest calls ever in OFMC history. We were parked faced left on a T and needed to go the opposite way. I pulled out and turned around and then Dennis started to follow. What he didn’t see–but all the rest of us did–was the gravel truck coming right toward us in the lane he was just starting to cross. Johnathon screamed as loud as he could, I yelled, others did whatever they could, but Dennis couldn’t hear any of us over the sound of his motor. Then he looked up and saw the truck as it was smoking its brakes, coming right at him.

The driver had seen him, and was no doubt cursing loudly, but he did manage to stop, as Dennis hurriedly scooted out of his path. “I didn’t see him,” Dennis said. “I looked back but all I could see was a bunch of bikes.” Take note that Dennis is quite short, so it makes sense that he couldn’t see past the throng. But oh man, what a bad thing nearly happened.

We did make it safely back to the motel, however, and then three of the guys decided they wanted more, so they set off to ride the Needles and Iron Mountain again. Mind you, it was late in the afternoon and a rainstorm was threatening. They leathered up, suited up, and took off. They got wet. Really wet, but they did have rainsuits on. Johnathon said it got so dark at one point that he thought the sun had set and he was startled a little later when the sun came back out.

They said there were no other bikes out on the super twisty roads, nor many cars either. It was a bit hellacious but very memorable, too. How many of us have memories of riding those roads in that kind of extreme conditions? Those guys were hard core.

Then this morning those three plus Ray got up early and blasted out to a gig in Cheyenne. The rest of us took our time, headed up through Lead to Spearfish Canyon, down to Spearfish and I-90, and on west all the way over to Buffalo. It was hot and windy and not the most pleasant ride, but tomorrow we’ll go up over the Bighorn Mountains and down to Ten Sleep and I know that’s a really sweet road. Hot diggety!

Biker Quote for Today

The car driver population sustains substantial mental stress from the continuing “lane weaving” antics of typical motorcycle riders.

Narrow tunnels are part of riding the Black Hills.

With 11 bikes–the most ever for the OFMC–we rode the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road today. Tomorrow will be a ride up to Sturgis and Deadwood.

The initial seven were joined yesterday here in Hill City, South Dakota, by Johnathon–a regular–and Ray, Steve, and Kenny–all newcomers to the group. The first three all rode up from Denver yesterday and Kenny drove up late with his bike and keyboard in a trailer. Steve, Johnathon, and Kenny will be heading out early Wednesday to get to Cheyenne to play during the Frontier Days festivities. These guys are all part of Homeslice, a pretty darn good band.

We came on to Hill City yesterday from Chadron, Nebraska, on a pretty short ride. This trip is full of short rides, which is kind of nice actually. Our rooms weren’t ready so we strolled on down to the main street and went in the Mangy Moose for some liquid refreshment. Turns out that in preparation for the Black Hills rally, which starts very soon, the bar was clearing out its taps so they will sell only bottled beer. It’s just faster than drawing from the tap and changing out kegs constantly. But they managed to draw us a couple pitchers.

This close to the rally there are already a lot of bikes here. They’re intermingled with families, however, so we’ve been seeing plenty of mommies and daddies with the kiddies. This is just a popular tourist place at any time, although in September, once school starts, it’s pretty quiet.

So we took off this morning and boy, what a chore it is getting 11 guys ready at once. We rode the narrow roads that would be broad one-ways but which in fact have traffic going both directions. Speeds are between 15 and 25 so it’s pretty safe but then there are the narrow tunnels that only permit traffic one direction at a time. If you’ve been here you know the score. If you haven’t, you should. Several of the tunnels are aligned so that as you go through them Mount Rushmore is right there ahead of you on the other side. A fabulous image.

Come Wednesday we’ll be heading to Wyoming and we’ll be back down to seven. Right now we have seven Harleys, one Kawasaki, one Suzuki, and two Hondas. Then we’ll be back to five Harleys, one Suzuki, and one Honda. Ranging in size from 650 to 1800. We’re a pretty eclectic group.

It’s just so good to be out away from family and jobs and all responsibilities. And riding motorcycles.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride hard or stay home

I'm betting this is not a quiet motorcycle.

My wife sent me a link to a story on the National Public Radio website that she figured I would be interested in: Vroom, Vroom, Hmmmm: Motorcycles As Literary Metaphor. While I found the story interesting, I also found the comments interesting, but not in what these people had to say.

What was interesting was how predictable it all was.

Right off the bat was this remark: “It’s difficult for me to appreciate this story since I find the noise pollution produced by lots of motorcycles to be abhorrent. ”

Yeah, right from the word “Go!” the battle was on. And just as predictably, the riders lined up on two sides crying that loud pipes save lives and that skillful riders don’t need loud pipes to ride safely. The main point in my mind was that both sides were spouting some truth and a lot of bogus garbage. For instance, in some back and forth on loud pipes, the noise proponent said it helped make people aware of him in traffic when he was in someone’s blind spot. The reply was a blasting about “What the heck are you doing in someone’s blind spot in the first place!!!”

Hey, I’m sorry, but when you ride in traffic, such as when you use your bike to commute, you’re in heavy traffic a lot and you are constantly in and out of people’s blind spots. It’s inevitable. A skilled, attentive rider will make a point to be aware and to spend as little time as possible in blind spots but you are in and out of them constantly, if only for a second or two.

Heck, just today I was riding home and twice had people start to pull into my lane because they didn’t do a head check and at the instant they decided to make their move I was in their blind spot. I pay a lot of attention to blind spots but they are unavoidable.

But here’s what I have new to add to the discussion. A few days ago I was in my car going down a similarly crowded multi-lane street, and I knew there was a guy on a bike a little behind me to my left. And from what I could tell, this guy was not paying attention to where he was in my field of view. You know what? He was on a Harley and even when I couldn’t see him in my mirror I could hear him. I knew he was there.

Now, I’ve always been more inclined toward the skilled-riders-don’t-need-loud-pipes position. I have three bikes and they’re all quiet. Somehow I’ve never been in an accident; must be skill or attentiveness or something. And I know that most of the noise a bike makes is heard behind it, not in front of it where it matters most. But there I was, hearing this guy even when I couldn’t see him. I just don’t think you can deny across the board that no, loud pipes don’t save any lives ever. Maybe not as many lives as some people would like to think, but I suspect they do save a few.

Is that justification for making a lot of the non-riding population hate us by blasting them with mega-noise? Absolutely not. I didn’t say this guy was really, really loud, he was just on a bike that does make some noise–a good bit more than the Kawasaki I was on today. And that was enough. Just because some noise can be a good thing, that doesn’t imply that absolutely deafening noise is a better thing.

How about if we all just use common sense? You guys who want your bikes loud, don’t go overboard. Don’t go making us enemies everywhere you go. And you guys who think loud pipes are worse than useless, it won’t hurt you to admit that there’s probably at least a kernel of truth in the claim. And how about if we all make it totally clear to the real offenders that even other riders don’t care for the black eye they’re giving us all?

Personally, with those guys I really don’t believe that safety is the issue at all. They’re just using that as an excuse to hide the fact that they’re too self-centered to care about anyone but themselves. Don’t let them get away with it.

Biker Quote for Today

Turns gasoline into noise without the burdensome byproduct of horsepower.