Notes From Recent Rides

April 2nd, 2018
riding motorcycle up Guanella Pass

That instrument cluster in the foreground tells me I was on my Honda this day.

How is it that things come in bunches? I went out on my CB750 a couple weeks ago and three times during that one ride I had drivers in the lane to my right try take my lane, never mind that I was in it.

The first was the most egregious. This lady obviously did not look and she just pulled right over barely six feet in front of me. I blew my horn and shook my fist at her and she hit the gas. Made sure to get well ahead of me.

The next time was better. This guy seemed like he initiated his lane change and looked my way at the same time. He very quickly corrected and got back in his own lane.

The third was the least of the three: she signaled and had barely begun moving my way when she saw me and moved back.

You might ask whether I was at fault here. Was I paying no attention to being in these people’s blind spots? No, I assure you I was not. I pay a lot of attention to that issue, coming up on cars I’m overtaking cautiously and then hitting the throttle to blast past them quickly, getting into and out of their blind spots as rapidly as possible.

But there’s no avoiding being in their blind spot at least momentarily, and if that’s when they decide to change lanes and they don’t do a head-check, watch out!

Call Me The Breeze
That Saturday was an utterly gorgeous day so I did something kind of unusual: I went for a ride up in the hills. Normally I just never venture up to the high country on a bike until about May. This year, however, it has been so very warm of late, and we’ve had so little snow, that I figured I’d do it. Plus, I had just been up on the Peak-to-Peak the week before in a car and it was all clear.

So I was on the Concours and I headed up Mount Vernon Canyon on U.S. 40. It was a really nice run up to Genesee but when I got to that high point the wind was whipping a bit. I went on to Floyd Hill and the wind was howling. Of course, the Concours has complete bodywork so I always describe it as a sail. Not fun in high winds.

My original idea was to hit U.S. 6 in Clear Creek Canyon and then jump on I-70 just up to the exit for the Central City Parkway. I planned to take it over to Central City and then run down to Black Hawk, then go north on the Peak-to-Peak and back down to the flatlands via the Golden Gate Canyon road.

Well, considering the wind at Floyd Hill, going on up to Central City Parkway, which is higher and more exposed, was not at all appealing. So when I hit U.S. 6 I turned right and headed down Clear Creek Canyon. I could have then taken the left that would have taken me to Black Hawk and on to Golden Gate Canyon as planned but my gas gauge was acting weird so I was nervous.

Gas Or No Gas?
Ever since I had left home my gas situation was unclear. I always reset my trip meter to zero when I fill up but when I started off, the trip meter was reading about 80 miles while the gas gauge was showing near empty. Then as I went up and down hills the needle swung back and forth from half a tank to almost empty. I understand this, I’ve ridden this bike for for nearly 20 years, but I’ve never seen this kind of wild swinging. I was starting to wonder if a gas line had rotted through and was leaking. But I checked at a stop and found nothing dripping so I kept going.

I just kept heading down, to Golden, and made my way back home. I stopped and filled up on the way, and it only took 4.2 gallons. The Kawi holds 7.5 gallons. I was nowhere close to empty. But I filled it and set the trip meter to zero so now I know that next time, if things get weird again, there must be something wrong. Otherwise, I have no idea what was going on.

Speaking of gas issues, I had a different one on the previous Friday when I was out on the CB750. Normally I go to Reserve on that bike at about 145 miles. I was hitting 160 and going strong so I was wondering, watching closely for the first sign of the engine coughing so I could switch over.

I was coming up I-25 when it did seem to cough and I quickly flipped the petcock. But it didn’t take long before it started coughing even more. I hadn’t planned to get off at Orchard but in this case I did. On Orchard I got stopped at the first traffic signal and then the engine died altogether. I pulled over onto the sidewalk and considered my options.

The one thought I had been having was that maybe I had left the petcock set to Reserve ever since the last time I had had cause to use it. I put the kickstand down and got off to take a look. Sure enough, it was now set in the “On” position, not the “Reserve” position. I flipped it back to Reserve, pushed the starter button, the bike fired up and I rode on home.

No harm done, of course, but I know from experience what can happen if you have the lever set to Reserve without knowing it: you run out of gas entirely. Yes, I’ve done that.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you’ve never ridden long enough to know that stock seats are never comfortable.

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Are You Ready For Biker Coffee?

March 29th, 2018

Emiliano contacted me about this new “Biker Coffee” they are now releasing in the states and asked if I was interested in passing the word along. I believe the gist of my response was “What makes coffee ‘biker’ coffee and of course if you’d like to send me some I’ll try it out and tell people about it.”

Biker Coffee was the brainchild of my uncle, Frank Rossi. Frank is a “no nonsense” kind of guy; he’s passionate about certain things like motorcycles, great coffee, freedom and family. He thinks political correctness is overrated so he prefers to tell it like it is. If it’s s–t, Frank is the first one to say so. That’s where “beans with attitude” comes in. Frank didn’t want to sell any old coffee – he wanted to craft coffee blends that said something. With every cup, you’re making a statement.

Biker CoffeeFrank started Biker Coffee Company in Canada in 2009 where it was a huge success. He decided to buy the rights from his partner to sell in the U.S. market so we’re now geared up and rolling in the U.S.A.

What makes Biker Coffee different is that the beans are roasted to order. That means when customers place an online order, the beans are roasted and the flavor-sealed bag is delivered to their doorstep. It also means our coffee is at peak freshness when you open the bag. The robust aroma, accompanied by a rich, bold flavor, will get you ready for whatever the road (or day) brings. Our beans are sourced from free trade, sustainable farms in the mountains of Costa Rica and Guatemala. We add the attitude in the states.

Biker Coffee Company embodies everything we hold dear – quality, freedom of expression and the adventure of the open road. We will gladly support biker causes by providing rallies or clubs with a percentage of revenue when Biker Coffee is served at their events. Interested groups can contact me for details.

So I received the coffee and made a pot. The first thing you need to understand is that I usually drink a pretty dark roast. I’ve read that with the really dark roasts, almost all the coffee flavor has been replaced by the taste of char. So if you drink a milder roast you may find yourself experiencing actual coffee flavor for the first time and that may be surprising. Emiliano sent me the Medium roast.

My wife and I both thought it tasted like dishwater. I realized I had made a mistake using the same proportions of water to coffee that I do with my dark char standard. I contacted Emiliano again.

You can adjust the percentages to taste. Here is how we recommend brewing:

Here are some brewing tips:
Drip method is best.
1. Use 1 oz of coffee for 16 fluid oz of water or .625 oz for 10 oz of water.
2. Heat water to approximately 200 degrees F
3. Pour water over beans.
Enjoy!
i.e. one pound bag of coffee yields 16 delicious 16 oz cups. or 25, 10 oz cups!

Yes, that is a bit more coffee than I was accustomed to using. In fact it was so much more that I didn’t go straight to the 1-16 ratio right away. But the further I pushed in that direction the more I started feeling like, OK, this is good coffee.

I should make the point here that Biker Coffee offers three versions: the Original Blend medium roast, Disc Brake decaffeinated, and Full Throttle dark roast.

So I took my taste buds on a learning tour, although we got side-tracked by a hospital visit. Much hospital food is as horrid as you have probably heard but at least the coffee was only bad, not undrinkable. (The chicken noodle soup was inedible. How do you ruin chicken noodle soup?) So when I was released and back home to drink real coffee again the Biker Coffee was a blessing. Coffee with taste. What a concept!

Biker Quote for Today

Drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested. — Hunter S. Thompson

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Running Off The Rails

March 26th, 2018

If you’re a regular reader here you know that something has gone wrong. Ever since April 2006 I have posted regularly, with the exception of a short hiatus in December last year while my Mom was dying. Now it has been two weeks.

me pushing wheelchair

Yep, that’s me–with a four wheeler! Dang!

That photo to the right should give you a pretty good idea where I’ve been. It was shot in the cardiac ICU at Porter Adventist Hospital. I had quadruple bypass surgery with partial aorta replacement thrown in.

Needless to say, I’m a bit out of commission. I have three motorcycle-related posts already prepped that I’ll be putting up in the next week and a half. After that I’ll be taking another hiatus, although to the extent that I’m able, perhaps when something presents itself in my email, I will have an occasional post. Also, because the writer in me never shuts down, I may put up a couple posts here now and then that have nothing to do with motorcycles, but rather chronicle a motorcyclist’s battle back to the bike. (I kind of like that. That’s going to be my theme: The Battle Back to the Bike.)

I understand if you are here for motorcycles and are not particularly interested in some guy’s recovery from surgery. You don’t have to read them. Check back later and we’ll definitely be all motorcycles, all the time. For now I’m just going to do what I’m able to do.

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A New Route Up The Mountain

March 15th, 2018
two highways side by side

That’s not just a frontage road along I-70, that’s U.S. Highway 40.

What, did some huge rainstorm carve out a new canyon? How is it possible that I could have gone up into the hills right here in the metro area on a new road?

This one has been hiding in plain sight: Mount Vernon Canyon.

If you’re like most people you just said, “What?”

Mount Vernon Canyon is the canyon everyone has been up and down through but never heard of. You know I-70? That’s Mount Vernon Canyon. But did you know that U.S. 40 also goes up through that same canyon?

All the way up to Genesee U.S. 40 runs pretty much right alongside I-70. Heading up the hill you won’t even see U.S. 40 because it is above you; coming down it is more visible. And while I recently came down part of that road for the first time, I had never gone up it. Until Saturday.

Where do you even get on this road? If you’re coming north on CO 93 out of Morrison you take the left on the north side of I-70; coming south from Golden you’re already on U.S. 40 and you follow the sign going to the right, west. (Don’t get confused; not the on-ramp to I-70.)

It’s a pleasant ride, with not a lot of traffic. Once you get to Genesee U.S. 40 merges with I-70 just for a short distance and you can then get back off the superslab at the exit for Evergreen Parkway. Cross to the south side of the interstate and then take the first right turn. This puts you back on U.S. 40 and you’ll cross back to the north side of the interstate and then for awhile you’ll get completely away from the big road.

The two roads do draw close together again after a bit, especially as you come up to Floyd Hill, and then U.S. 40 winds down Floyd Hill to meet U.S. 6 coming up through Clear Creek Canyon. U.S. 40 continues west from there but it is incorporated into I-70 so that’s the end of this nice alternative stretch of road.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: Motorcycles don’t care if you are late.

Motorcycle Link for Today

When you need motorcycle tires, Toyo Tires are a good option.

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You’re Not Welcome Here

March 12th, 2018
map of my route

My route.

I took off on the CB750 not knowing where I was headed so I wandered over onto Parker Road. That at least would get me out of town.

I knew from a couple rides that there is a road that runs diagonally between Parker and Castle Rock and I had only ever taken that road coming to Parker, never going to Castle Rock. In fact, I wasn’t even sure (memory not clear) where it came out in Parker. So let’s go find it and take it the other direction.

I got into the old downtown area of Parker and eyeballed Main Street heading west wondering if that was where that road came in. I didn’t think so and I kept on. I had the idea in mind that I wanted Hess Road but wasn’t sure.

Next I came to Twenty Mile Road and that looked promising so I turned. At the very least, this was exploring. After going west a short distance, Twenty Mile Road turned north and soon intersected with Main Street. OK, turn left. I guess I’ll see where Main Street goes.

I knew that Parker had grown enormously over the years but I always had it in mind that it had grown mostly to the east. Wrong. There is a huge part of the city to the west, and I went right through it. This was clearly not the road to Castle Rock. In fact, as I got further along I could see the Reuter-Hess Reservoir further south, confirming that I had really wanted Hess Road. But I had never been west out of Parker on Main Street so again, this was exploring.

Where did this road come out? Well, first of all, it came out of the city into open fields and no development at all. (This road is so new that my mapping software, a few years out of date, does not even show it.) You know as well as I do that that won’t be the case for long. But it went on and hit I-25 at the I-25 exit for the Cabela’s store on the south end of the metro area. Now I knew. And by this time it was Ridge Gate Parkway.

After crossing I-25 Ridge Gate Parkway bent north and soon it intersected Lincoln Avenue. I went west on Lincoln Avenue, now figuring I wanted to work my way over to Chatfield Reservoir. I’d been over there a couple times recently and had seen this road, Rampart Range Road, that went off somewhere that had me curious.

I turned south off Lincoln Avenue onto South Quebec Street and that wound its way further and further south, becoming Monarch Boulevard along the way. I had been this way recently. When Monarch Parkway hit Castle Pines Parkway I knew exactly where I was. I turned west on Castle Pines Parkway to Daniels Park Road and took that south to U.S. 85. Then north, past Sedalia, and off at Titan Parkway, which leads over to the road going around the south of Chatfield.

Titan Parkway runs straight west almost to Chatfield State Park and then a 90-degree turn puts you on Rampart Range Road. A little ways south you hit Waterton Road and this is the road around the south end of the park and reservoir. But where do you go if you continue south? This was what I had come to find out.

Of course, this area is where you find Roxborough State Park, an area of gorgeous rock formations. Continuing south on Rampart Range Road I saw for the first time some neighborhoods built in really beautiful settings among these rocks. Oh my gosh! I bet these places are expensive.

Then the road went up a bit of an incline and curved in between two miniature flatirons and I was starting to think that, oh boy, this is really going to be cool. But I came between the rocks and there was a sign, “Residents only right lane,” and a guard shack. I stopped at the guard shack and a very nice older woman, in the role of guard, greeted me.

“Howdy. I’m exploring,” I said. “I was wondering where this road goes.”

“This is the Arrowhead gated community,” she replied.

“So does this road come out somewhere else?” I asked.

“No, it’s one way in, one way out.”

“OK, I guess that’s all I need to know,” I replied, knowing that meant I was now supposed to turn around. And she pointed me to the turnaround, just in case I wasn’t totally clear on the matter.

Now I know.

Biker Quote for Today

Every mile is my destination. Every failure is my motivation. I’m a rider. I live to ride. Nothing comes between me and my bike. I’m a rider and I’ll survive. — Sagar ZZ

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Before The Cell Phone

March 8th, 2018
motorcycles on highway

Separate on motorcycles is very different from together in a car.

As once-new technologies pervade our entire lives it can be hard to remember what we did before we had these devices. Cell phones are an example, and the change they have made in motorcycle trips with the guys is far-reaching.

First you need to recognize that three guys traveling on three bikes is not at all the same as three guys traveling together in a car. In a car, where one goes, all go. And if you park somewhere and go in different directions, all it takes to regroup is to wait at the car until everyone returns.

Not so on motorcycles. If you get separated, good luck finding the other guys. Except that now, with cell phones, you just call the other guys and ask where they are.

We didn’t used to have cell phones.

John and Bill and I were in western Wyoming one time going south on U.S. 189 from Kemmerer and it was wide open country. Bill got a wild hair and twisted the throttle, shooting past the two of us on his way to speeds in excess of 100 mph. Catching the bug, John cranked it up, too, and they both disappeared ahead of me.

The only problem was that we were planning to turn off to the southeast on Wyoming 412 headed to Lyman and they both blew right past the turn. I did the only thing that made sense, I stopped to wait.

After a bit, John noticed I wasn’t behind him so he slowed down to let me catch up. When I didn’t catch up he stopped and waited, and then turned back. He found me sitting at the turn-off. So we both sat to wait for Bill. And we waited. And we waited.

Just about the time we were getting concerned, Bill did show up. Seems a Wyoming state policeman had wanted to have a chat with him. But OK, we were back together, let’s go.

Another time, we decided we wanted bike-to-bike communicators, so we bought these cheapo units from Radio Shack. They worked fine in the store and out in the parking lot so we bought them. Then, as it turned out, I couldn’t leave with John and Bill so we agreed to meet several days later at the Grand Canyon. I told them to be sure to have the communicators on so we could find each other.

I reached the Grand Canyon and had my communicator on but got no response to my attempts to reach them. As it turned out, they had found these things to be perfectly worthless and never tried using them again after their first day out. It was sheer chance that we connected. The only option I would have had would have been to find a pay phone, call John’s wife and leave a message, and then hope that he would call her. We were very, very lucky.

Then there was the time John and I had to leave without Bill because his bike developed mechanical problems as he was coming to John’s to meet us. John’s wife Cheryl did serve as the intermediary this time. Bill resolved his problem and called her to tell her his plans. She relayed that info to John when he called her. Bill would meet us in Thermopolis, WY, so when we got there we parked our bikes out along the main street. Bill came into town, spotted our bikes, and we connected.

Those days are gone now. Everyone carries a cell phone and getting separated is no big deal. But that didn’t stop Bill and me from causing a bit of an upset some years ago. Once again we were in Wyoming, this time headed south from Casper to Medicine Bow. Bill and I were in the rear when we reached a turn-off we knew was just an alternate route that would meet back up with the main road a little further along. As a prank, we took the alternate route.

One of the primary rules in group riding, however, is that you keep an eye on the guy behind you. When our absence was noted, the other guys pulled over. When we didn’t catch up they sent someone back to check on us, to no avail. And there was no cell service way out there.

Bill and I, in the meantime, reached the reconnection point and waited. And waited. Finally we decided we’d better head back up the main road, and in a few miles we encountered the other guys coming the other way. They were not happy. We’re not ever going to live that one down.

Biker Quote for Today

I know not the destination, let the road decide. It’s not the destination, it’s the glory of the ride.

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