Passes & Canyons Blog

Monday is Ride to Work Day. Let's flood the streets with motorcycles.

I would normally publish on Monday but then there would be no lead time. So today is Sunday and I’m alerting you that tomorrow, Monday, June 16, is Ride to Work Day and if you can you really ought to ride your motorcycle to work. I will definitely be doing my part.

We’re in luck, too, because it is supposed to be a gorgeous day. Warm, sunny, and little chance of rain. Just no excuses.

Of course excuses are way too easy to come by. I generally go to the gym after work on Mondays and Thursdays and it gets a little tight trying to fit my briefcase, my rain gear, and my gym bag all into the bags on my bike. There’s plenty of room for two of the three but getting all three in is pushing it. So the lazy side of me says, “Oh, forget it, just drive.”

The biker side of me, however, says, “No, no, no. Too many years you have missed this either because you were off on vacation on this date or because you had no regular office-type job to ride to. This year you can actually do it and by golly, you’re going to!!”

Of course, this year it will be easier, too, because now that I have the V-Strom with two huge side bags as well as a top bag, getting it all in won’t be a problem. So look for me on the road tomorrow.

And just in case you’ve never heard of Ride to Work Day (where have you been living?), it’s a day for motorcyclists to show solidarity and make the non-riding public aware of just how many of us there are out there, and that they need to be aware that we are there.

Lord knows the non-riding public needs to have their awareness raised. The last two times I’ve ridden to work I’ve had to dodge three drivers who decided they wanted to be in my lane and never bothered to see if perhaps that lane might be occupied. Yeah, they may have checked their mirrors but we all know that’s not enough. They need to turn their heads and look–do a head check. In once case the driver started moving into my lane but apparently managed to spot me and swerved back.

In the other two cases, they didn’t see me at all and when I blew my horn long and loud they were totally startled and waved their hands apologetically. I did use the horn for an excessive amount of time because I really wanted to make the point that it was not OK.

So come on, let’s make people wonder where the heck all these motorcycles came from. Ride to work tomorrow.

Biker Quote for Today

My first car was a motorcycle.

There are so many great places to ride in Colorado you can't do them all in one trip.

I frequently receive emails from people asking me to suggest routes for them for their Colorado vacation rides. The latest was from Paul, who will be coming for six days of riding with some friends. They will fly into Denver and rent bikes, so he asked me for my thoughts on where they might go. Here’s my reply.
________________________________________

There are all kinds of alternatives, so I suggest you consider the parts and perhaps realign them to suit your inclination. But just supposing you were going to do a 6-day ride . . .

Head out to Golden and catch U.S. 6 up Clear Creek Canyon and then take the Peak to Peak Highway to Estes Park. Go over Trail Ridge Road and down to Grand Lake and stop there for the night.

Day two, continue on to Granby and take U.S. 40 west over Rabbit Ears Pass to Steamboat Springs, take CO 131 down to where it hits I-70, and take I-70 west through Glenwood Canyon. Spend the night in Glenwood.

Day three, go south on CO 82 to Aspen and over Independence Pass to the Twin Lakes area. Go south on U.S. 24 through Buena Vista, pick up U.S. 285 down to Poncha Springs, go west on U.S. 50 over Monarch Pass to Gunnison and spend the night there.

Day four, continue west on U.S. 50 to Blue Mesa Reservoir and then turn south on CO 149 to Lake City and over Slumgullion Pass to Creede and on to South Fork. Go west on U.S. 160 over Wolf Creek Pass to Pagosa Springs and spend the night there.

Day five, continue west on U.S. 160 to Durango and then go north on U.S. 550 over Red Mountain Pass to Ouray and spend the night in Ouray. Ouray is pretty much my favorite little town in Colorado.

Day six is going to be a long one. Continue north on U.S. 550 to Delta, then go east on CO 92 to Hotchkiss. Catch CO 133 over McClure Pass and down to Carbondale, to Glenwood Springs, and then blast back to Denver on I-70. It may be interstate, but in Colorado’s mountains, it’s some of the prettiest interstate in the country. And then, if you have time, when you get to Dillon, get off I-70 and take U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass. That trip down that pass will leave you with one final fabulous vision of riding in Colorado.

Let me tell you, some of this is hard riding. Doing 300 miles in one day on mountain roads is a long day. It’s not like freeway burning. And I don’t know what your timeline is as to when you’ll actually get going the first day or when you need to have the bikes back at the end. If those days are short, especially the last one, you’ll need to make some adjustments.

All in all, of these rides, the best in my opinion are Trail Ridge Road, Red Mountain Pass, Independence Pass, Loveland Pass, and Wolf Creek Pass. Any route you create that ties them all together guarantees you a great ride. Enjoy.

Biker Quote for Today

Only a rider knows how much a fellow rider suffers in the winter.

Nothing like a little moisture to liven up your day on the bike.

You may have noticed we’ve been having rain lately. I do ride in the rain but lately I’ve seen some people who are much more hard-core than I am.

I rode to work one day recently when rain was predicted and sure enough, about 20 minutes before I was planning to leave it was coming down in buckets. I had brought my rain gear in off the bike so I was prepared to head out in the downpour if necessary.

To my good fortune, by the time I did leave the rain had stopped. I still suited up because I knew that with water on the street I’d still be getting wet.

What really surprised me on that ride home was how many other people on bikes I saw. And what really surprised me was how many of them were the cruiser types with no helmets and no rain gear. I mean, unless all these folks headed out as I had, right after the downpour stopped, they must have been riding in the rain. I’ve ridden in the rain with no helmet; I don’t like it. It stings! Those little drops are like needles. And no rain gear? Yeah, I’ve gotten soaked before, even got a bit of hypothermia one time, but that’s why I own and use a good rain suit. As I say, if you’re going to get out and ride with no helmet and no rain suit you’re a lot more hard core than I am.

I’ve also seem some people who weren’t as hard core, but they at least were out in it, though some looked miserable.

The one that really caught my eye, though–and boy do I wish I could have shot a picture–was a couple on a sport bike. Not sure what the bike was; I was looking at them. It was pouring and he had no helmet and just a regular riding jacket. She had no helmet, just a winter coat that looked soaked, and a huge backpack strapped on her back, also soaked.

Were they really happy to be out riding? Or was he in for some serious crap once they got where they were headed, about “I’m never riding with you again unless . . .”?

You know what I like? I like a jacket that seals snugly at the (high) collar, a helmet that comes down below the top of the collar, serious rain jacket and pants, rubber booties, and waterproof mittens that allow me to slip my gloved hands inside. A nice full fairing helps, too. I can ride all day with all that stuff because I’m warm and dry.

Apparently some people are OK with less. To them I just say, “Wow. You are hard core.”

Biker Quote for Today

Not knowing where you are going is part of the adventure!

Dan getting ready for a ride.

Marijuana tourism is a very real thing that has hit Colorado since pot was legalized, so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that someone is now offering motorcycle tours hitting the high spots (I didn’t really intend that pun) of the industry.

And wouldn’t you know it, that enterprising person is my friend Dan Patino who runs Go 2 Motorcycle Tours. I’ve remarked before that Dan is one of the most entrepreneurial people I know and here he goes again.

Dan wrote me the following email:

Ken,
interested in doing a story on a overnight tour I will be offering? It is the only one like it in the world. I will be the first motorcycle touring company embracing the Marijuana industry. I will be offering a overnight tour that visits dispensaries, and the world’s first legal Cannabis Club in Nederland. Overnight stay in Nederland with a shuttle to the club. I am about to post the info on FB then my website. My emphasis is to show a openness to the industry but also a responsible motorcycle operating. No guest will be operating under the influence but may wish to consume on the overnight.

Of course I had to say “tell me more.”

Dan’s reply:

I posted it on my FB page. I assume this click will let you view it. I want to emphasize a few things. One the reason, uniqueness of the tour, and responsibility.

The reason is the demand for visitors to want to visit and see a legal operation industry. Like ClubNed they get calls from all over the world inquiring about their operation and the industry here in Colorado. ClubNed is the only legal cannabis club in the world in operation.

Now the Uniqueness being Go2moto now the only touring company highlighting the industry in a private tour via motorcycle. To the only Cannabis club in the world.

Responsibility, upmost concern because we don’t ride under the influence. Like all tours, we don’t allow consumption of alcohol or and drug while operating a motorcycle. I get it. Cannabis tour via motorcycle, red flag! Like visiting Coors it can be done! Pictures, and knowledge of the industry is the focus of the tour. However the overnight stay in Nederland would give those an option to consume after the riding is done. A shuttle or a short walk will get those back and forth to their lodging, so no operation of bikes will be allowed until the following day. Specific on pricing will be available on upon request this being a private group tour. Prices depend on size of the group of riders.

Just from my experience talking with people from outside Colorado, I have no question there is a lot of interest in this legal marijuana thing. Dan may be on to something here. This is going to be very interesting to watch.

Biker Quote for Today

I have a fever, and the only prescription is more moto.

David puts on his chaps before taking off.

David from Ohio stayed with us last week, another Motorcycle Travel Network member passing through. By the time he got home he had been out for three weeks. Not an excessively long trip, but I guess for him it had been a long ride.

David has recently developed some unfortunate health issues and he was on a bucket-list ride. He had taken old Route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica. His take on it was different than any I had heard before.

What he found particularly striking about that route is how old and worn out so many of the buildings were. Route 66 was once a happening place and then the interstate took over and the old route faded. All these motels and restaurants that did booming business in their hey-day were now rotting hulks.

What must people from other countries think about the U.S., he wondered, when they come here to ride this road and see all this decrepitude? He talked about how someone referred to some of these places as “ruins” and how he had always thought about ruins in the sense of Roman ruins or Greek ruins. But these absolutely were ruins, just from a much more recent era.

He said following the old route was pretty difficult at times, which doesn’t surprise me. I did an article a few years ago about an outfit that leads a Route 66 ride every year and the main guy told me that in some places the official route changed as many as five times. Each year he would vary things by taking different segments.

At other times, said David, the old road ran right alongside the new road and he figured out he could cut short some of the longer, more boring stretches by taking the new road. He’d still be seeing the exact same things and passing through the exact same countryside. Is that cheating? Some games you don’t really have to play by someone else’s rules, you get to make up your own. Especially if you’re riding alone.

One of David’s biggest disappointments about this ride was also interesting. He was passing through Springfield, Illinois, and stopped at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site. This is a several-block area of old Springfield that has Lincoln’s home and all his neighbors’ homes just as they were when he lived there. An interesting coincidence here is that I was set to work on that park unit the very next day in my job at the National Park Service.

So what disappointed him is that he really wanted to see the actual original Gettysburg Address. And it wasn’t on display. They told him it is very fragile and is only available for viewing for short periods each year. I don’t remember exactly but they may also have told him that when it is on display it is not on display there, but somewhere else.

The next morning David rolled on across Kansas headed for another MTN stop out that way. We’ve become something of a route. Michel, our last MTN guest, headed out for that same Kansas stop after leaving us. And those Kansas folks have stayed with us previously. Everybody says the same thing: The Motorcycle Travel Network seems to be getting smaller and smaller. It may eventually sputter out. What a shame that will be if it happens.

Biker Quote for Today

Drive?! Why?! Cars have too many wheels… just makes me feel… awkwardly stable… I’ll ride thank you!

My National Motorcycles Examiner home page.

It wasn’t my intention to write about this today but when I became aware of it just by chance it became the obvious choice. As of today, this very 24-hour period, I have been writing for Examiner.com as a “motorcycle Examiner” for six years.

A little background may be in order. Six years ago the social internet was in its infancy. Friendster.com was still around, Facebook was just getting going, and the idea of crowd-sourcing website content was getting a lot of attention. I got an email out of the blue from an outfit called Examiner.com asking if I would like to write for them as their Denver Motorcycle Examiner. Ernie, the guy who contacted me, had seen this blog and figured I’d be a good fit. I said sure, you bet. And, just so you know, “Examiners” is what they call their writers. I later shifted and became the National Motorcycle Examiner, and then they tweaked names and I became–and remain–the National Motorcycles Examiner.

Starting out, the pay was practically nonexistent and it took me three months to earn enough for them to issue me a paycheck. But my earnings kept growing and I started getting paid every month. Then I saw that they had a second motorcycle Examiner they had brought on, Mark Poesch, who was the Washington DC Motorcycle Travel Examiner. I got his email from Ernie and made contact and we agreed to work together to promote each other’s posts. After all, we got paid on page views.

More motorcycle Examiners joined and for quite a while I contacted each one inviting them to join our little community. We grew and grew, though there were plenty who didn’t stick it out when they saw how little money they made in the beginning. But for those of us who applied ourselves and kept at it the checks kept getting bigger and bigger. Along the way, my Examiner postings caught the eye of someone else looking for a motorcycle writer and I was contacted to write for RumBum.com as well. Of course I said yes.

Shortly after this my latest contract gig ended and I made the decision that with my Examiner and Rum Bum earnings, and other opportunities opening up, I would not seek another job, I would go full-time freelance. And that’s what I did for the next four years.

The only constant is change, however, and Examiner made a lot of changes. They were trying to figure out how to make money on the Web and one thing they apparently figured out was that they couldn’t pay us as much as they were and make a profit. So changes followed upon changes and every change had the same result: our earnings got cut. From sometimes making more than $100 a day, my earnings dwindled to where I was lucky to make $50 in a month. And then Rum Bum went under. By this time Rum Bum had become my biggest client, so with them gone and my earnings at Examiner down by 90% my finances were really hurting. Right at that time this gig at the National Park Service came along and I found myself working in an office again.

Through it all though, I have continued to write for Examiner, but only about once a month. The reason there is that if you don’t stay active, posting at least once a month, they quit paying you, even though everything you have written is still out there and still gets read. In other words, you’re still earning them money, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t continue to get my meager share. I can do a piece in half an hour or less once a month and it becomes like an annuity, though an extremely small annuity.

And now today is my six-year anniversary with Examiner. It has been quite a ride. There have been a lot of good things that have come my way through my association with Examiner. High on the list was the media tour I was invited on by EagleRider a few years ago where they put us on bikes and paid all our expenses and took us on a darn nice ride through California. I have received all kinds of free gear and motorcycle books and maps in exchange for reviewing them. I’ve met a lot of people and made a lot of friends through all these events I have covered. It’s been good.

So it’s too bad that the money part of it no longer works. But I will keep posting enough to remain active. And I guess in a year I’ll be marking my seventh anniversary.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Only a biker knows . . .: Motorcycle wit and wisdom, #32

Biker Quote for Today

Happy to still be working though it interferes with riding!

Even if loud pipes do save lives, you better believe they seriously annoy a lot of people at the same time.

One of the biggest risks of excessively loud motorcycle exhaust systems is that influential people will get sufficiently annoyed that they will bring pressure to “do something about it.” Unfortunately, doing something about it all too often sweeps up the innocent along with the guilty.

Now, with the decline of newspapers it’s hard to say anymore how influential someone like the editorial page editor of the Denver Post is. Years ago that person had a good deal of influence.

Which all leads up to the fact that Vince Carroll, that aforementioned editorial page editor, had a column in Sunday’s paper entitled, “Mobile Noise Pollution,” in which he made it totally clear that too many bikers have pissed him off for too long. While the loud portion of our rider community claims that “loud pipes save lives,” other segments reply that “loud pipes risk rights.”

I’ve never been a loud guy myself. I have three bikes and none of them are louder than the typical car. And they’re a lot quieter than a good many pick-up trucks I’ve seen and nothing close to making the noise a semi makes. So my reply to the loud pipes save lives argument has always been that hey, I’ve never been in an accident, so maybe attentive riding and practiced riding skills are really the main things you need to save lives–forget the noise. And there are a lot of people out there like me. Somehow we survive year after year despite our lack of noise.

Sure I’ve had some close calls. We all have, haven’t we? The road is full of idiots. That’s why you always ride defensively, as if you were invisible.

And at the same time, I’ve known people on loud bikes who have gotten hurt. Was it just that their loud bikes weren’t loud enough? Yeah, let’s try making them even louder and then see how rabid the general public becomes toward shutting us all down.

Now, I’ll give it to Vince that he was not lambasting all motorcyclists. He very carefully made the point that his grudge is with a minority. But here are the words of warning:

Yes, they (loud bikes) are much harder to ignore. We can agree on that. But if safety can be achieved only by becoming a public nuisance–a questionable claim–then maybe these hobbyists need to find another pastime.

As I said, it’s hard to say how much influence someone in Vince’s position has any more. But what if a few legislators read his column and they agree? Perhaps they’ve had similar experiences. And they do have the power to do something about it. Then what happens?

Biker Quote for Today

The great riding pleasure is “to crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women,” all from a smaller, less powerful bike.

At least in Florida they warn you what to look out for -- panthers.

It seems apropos to revisit this thread from the Adventure Riders forum, “What is the strangest thing you hit/almost hit?” The weather is warm, there are lots of bikes out on the road again, and at least many riders have had the bike put away for the winter.

So this is a cautionary tale, a reminder that stuff happens out there, often when you least expect it. Here are a few things that other riders have encountered.

• A big fat woman in short shorts, about 11 pm doing her best Jesse Owens sprint across the highway. Missed her by a foot probably. Her drunk boy friend was on the other shoulder telling her to get across the road.
• Last week on my way home from work at 3am the road was on fire. 2 small patches about 5 inches each and about 3 feet apart. And not another car to be found anywhere. Was too weird to even stop, went around and kept on heading home. Strange.
• One time coming around a corner in some twisties I came across a sheet of plywood – it was too big to avoid, so had to go over it. As I went across, it started to slide, I started on the inside of the corner and came out near the gutter. I was still maintaining traction, kept my line and everything was normal…it was just that the the road I was on moved 3 feet.
• I was on the Causeway (24mile bridge) coming back from NoLa, and someone threw a dirty (poop-loaded) diaper out the window – right in the face-shield, glad I had leather on that day.
• An unidentified glob of gelatinous goo the size of a small pumpkin off the back of a garbage truck when it went over the railroad tracks. Hit me dead center in the chest. Had to throw away the riding jacket because I couldn’t get the horrible smell out. (even tried the pressure washer at the car wash).
• Traveling down W bound I69 into Flint Michigan, someone had lost a load of pallets in the road. I choose a clear path and thought I had it made till the woman in the van next to me decided my lane looked better than hers. I took the shoulder and a pallet square on. Stayed up, but sent wood and splinters everywhere.
• On I270S heading towards Washington, DC during the morning commute I saw a large wedge of geese heading east. There was a drainage ditch on the east side of the highway that they seemed to be aiming for. Unfortunately, the tour buses that were also heading south did not fit into their computations. The geese hit the buses and soon dead or dying goose missiles were coming at me from all angles. I do not have any idea how I managed to avoid getting hit. I just ducked (hah!) and rode through the onslaught.
• Earlier this summer I hit a black garbage bag kicked up by traffic in front of me. It hit my handlebars and stuck there, flapping right in my face so I couldn’t really see anything at all. Not really a strange thing to hit, all things considered, but definitely not a pleasant thing to hit. At least it wasn’t something heavy or solid, I guess.
• As a teenager years ago I was woods riding with a couple friends when a large black snake dropped from a tree ..and wrapped around my neck. I screamed like a girl, let go of the bike and was ran over by my buddy. Got a couple scars from that one.
• I hit a muffler and later a Porcupine on the same night. Made me start riding a little slower.
• A Dragonfly…well didn’t hit him but it came under my helmet and got trapped inside my face shield…..I couldn’t get it opened fast enough. Pretty weird feeling having a dragonfly bouncing off your face.
• I was riding home from work on 66 from the beltway around D.C. I saw a 5 gallon paint bucket fall off of the back of a paint truck. It started to spin and bounce and I did what I have always heard, aim for it and by the time you get there, it will not be. It just caught my foot peg and broke open. I got just a little on the bike, but the car behind me caught almost the whole bucket worth on his windshield. Wipers didn’t do much and he wound up into the guard rail. I stopped to give my testimony to the Police. That one was pretty wild.

And wow, I didn’t see it coming, but this is the end of this thread. I guess it will be quite awhile before I pull stuff off this one, until a whole bunch more people tell their stories.

Whatever. Be careful out there, you never know what you’ll run into.

Biker Quote for Today

After reading through this thread I’ve come to the conclusion that more people cruise the internet looking for reasons why X bike won’t work in Y scenario rather than actually riding their motorcycles. — RyanR