Passes & Canyons Blog

CDOT's "Ate Asphalt with armor" poster.

Road rash is something a lot of motorcyclists are familiar with from personal experience. It’s not fun, and it’s not pretty. But how many of us have ever faced this skinned-alive experience in its extreme form? As in not fun, not pretty times 10?

Well, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) recently put a video up on YouTube where, working with a trauma surgeon in order to make it authentic, they did a make-over on a Fort Collins biker to show what the really bad stuff looks like.

The video is part of CDOT’s aggressive motorcycle safety program that runs all summer and is targeted at younger riders. Among the materials produced for the campaign are posters with a sort of day and night effect. On one, on one side it reads, “Ate asphalt with armor and had room for desert.” On the other side it reads, “Ate asphalt without armor and never got back up.” Another says, “High-sided with a helmet and sat courtside/High-sided without a helmet and rests church-side.” The third says, “Laid it down with gear and picked up his date/Laid it down without gear and never got back up.”

OK, not the most trip-off-your-tongue clever phrasing but they’re trying to put out a message. The point is, they do want us to get home safely.

The flip side of the campaign, of course, is to remind other drivers that we are out there. During May, the annual motorcycle awareness month, CDOT has those signs over the highway telling people to be aware, motorcycles are everywhere. We all know that people driving cars and trucks are the primary causes of the majority of motorcycle crashes. And then, for the bikers again, there is the drive sober part of the campaign.

How much good does all of this do? Good question. My guess would be it’s more successful at reaching the riders than the drivers, but that’s just my gut feeling. Sometimes I think we’ve over-engineered our roads. We were just over in Europe and in many places there are no lane markers, no sidewalks, no separation at all of the various forms of traffic. Cars, pedestrians, motorcycles and scooters, and bicycles all share the same space. People cooperate with each other so that everyone gets where they’re going safely. And you don’t see the distracted drivers over there that we see here because in that kind of situation you had damn well better be doing exactly one thing: driving. With all the lane-splitting and driving on the wrong side of the road and so much else that would make U.S. cops flip out, drivers in Europe pay attention to their driving–and they cooperate–and they do it a lot more safely than we do. Plus, I think their penalties if you do screw up are a lot stiffer than ours, so everyone has that incentive, too.

There’s a lesson here if anyone is interested.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Transportation choices in a narrow world

Biker Quote for Today

“People who ride motorcycles have gotten something right, and I want to put myself in the service of it, this thing that we do, this kingly sport that is like war made beautiful.” — Matthew B. Crawford

A motorcycle/scooter dealership in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

So it has been three weeks since I received the title for my V-Strom and tomorrow morning I’ll be stopping by motor vehicle to register it and get plates. Finally.

Why did I wait so long? I’ve been out of the country. We were gone for 17 days to Italy and Croatia. You can bet I’ll be writing about the nature of motorcycling in those countries in the weeks to come. Just as a teaser, that photo above is a dealership in Dubrovnik, Croatia. Not at all what dealerships here look like. But riding over there is not what riding here looks like, either.

I have some odds and ends here to throw out. I got another email asking for ideas for a ride. I may be able to address this one reasonably well on my own but maybe someone out there has something to offer as well. Here’s the question:

Hi Ken,, I was hoping you could help me out,, Not sure if you got my last email,,, I am looking for a guided D/S Off road ride, in Colo possibly ghost town to ghost town,, with a support truck,, either staying at a lodge/motel/hotel.b&b/RV, anything with showers, and FOOD,,,, Not being from the area, don’t want to waste ower time figuring out where to ride on ower own,, I ride a KTM450exc, my buddy rides 510 Huskey,, It could be either the two of us or possibly up to 6 riders,,Dont know at this time,, If you have any ideas please give me a call or email,, Thanks

As before, offer anything recommendations you have as a comment or email them to me at kendbin at yahoo dot com.

Oh yeah, the spammers are back. I had made it tough for comment spammers to leave junk comments but that cut my legitimate comments to zero so I loosened it up. Checking for the first time now is several weeks there were more than 40 spam comments waiting to be deleted and not one single legitimate one.

I got a surprise email the other day from Craig Vetter. Yes, that Craig Vetter, the guy who made all those fairings, among other things. Seems Craig saw an article I did last fall where I talked about his Fuel Economy Challenge at the Vintage Motorcycle Days event in Ohio, and he sent a note thanking me for it. That was very fortuitous because I’ve been owing Rider magazine a feature about Vetter and his challenge for some time now and haven’t followed up on it. I emailed Craig back and asked if we could talk sometime once I got back to the U.S. and he said sure. So that will get me off the dime.

One more thing: this Sunday is the Old Bike Ride. You’ll want to be mounted on a bike at least 1980 or older, although if you want to volunteer as a corner worker you can ride anything. I don’t have any idea what they would use corner workers for at the Old Bike Ride, though. Anyway, here’s what Jerry Pokorny sent out about the ride:

Old Bike Ride 11, this Sunday. Information can be found at http://www.nortoncolorado.org/obr/OBR11.html.

Remember, if you want to participate but don’t have a motorcycle that qualifies (pre 1980), you can volunteer to work a corner and ride anything you like. Contact Bob Ohman to discuss it (303) 570-9333 or reohman@q.com. Bob would appreciate hearing from a few more of you about volunteering for corner duty. It will not detract much at all from your enjoyment of the day.

BMAC members and supporters in Colorado Springs will meet at the parking lot of the North Campus of Pikes Peak Community College (Hwy 83 next to the New Life Church) between 7 – 7:30 am. Departure for Golden at 7:30 am (come with full tank of gas – we won’t be stopping on the way).

Arrival in Golden about 9:00 am, riders meeting at 9:15 am and departure for OBR 11 at 9:30 am SHARP!

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Where are the Ducs?

Biker Quote for Today

Soaked to the skin, chilled to the core but alive. I left a puddle at the hotel desk as I checked in … this is how adventures end … not with a bang but a puddle on the carpet!… — SkyRiderman

A scene from downtown Colorado Springs during the 2010 PPIHC.

Anyone who doubts that electric motorcycles will be more and more common in years to come just has their eyes closed. They just keep getting better and better, with greater and greater range as batteries continue to improve. Plus, they’re fun to ride! I know; I’ve ridden a bunch of them.

All this is not lost on the folks who host the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. For the first time this year they will include a class for electric bikes. At this moment there are six competitors entered in this class, all riding Zero bikes: two FX models, one MX, and three S. Just so you’ll know, the FX is for urban riding and is billed as “the fastest accelerating Zero ever.” The MX is the track bike in the family, and the S is the basic street bike.

The riders on these bikes include Aaron Frank, editor of Motorcyclists magazine, five guys I’ve never heard of: Nathan Barker, Jeff Clark, Jeremiah Johnson, Rich Ted, and Brandon Miller. People who follow racing more closely may have heard of some or all of them, as they’ve all got experience.

From what I read it seems this could become a popular class, at least for awhile. Whereas racers in other classes have worked for years developing better and better (read: more expensive) machines, to the point that it squeezes out the small guys, electrics is wide open and nearly everyone is riding a bike that is nearly stock (read: inexpensive, at least compared to what it could be).

Now, I’m not at all sure why there are no competitors on bikes from other companies. Where are the Brammos? Where are the guys who are competing in the Isle of Man on various custom bikes? This class ought to grow in years to come.

Of course, there is one electric superbike competing, a Lightning, ridden by Chip Yates, but in a different class. That gives you some idea how good that bike is. “We don’t need no stinkin’ class of our own; we’ll go up against the gas burners!” And Yates will have competition: Greg Tracy will be riding a concept model Amarok P1A Super Bike.

This year’s Pikes Peak in set for June 30. The week before that, though, is the best time to see the machines and meet the riders. I’m going to try to get down there again this year.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Tilting Motor Works offers a fun trike conversion

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes riding a slow bike fast is an adventure in itself.

It just stands to reason that when you have more people riding motorcycles there will be more motorcycle crashes.

There have been dozens, if not hundreds, of stories all over during the last few weeks following the release of a report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) that says motorcycle fatalities were up again last year. Most of the so-called reporters who rehashed the press release dutifully echoed the claims that this increase is tied to states eliminating their mandatory helmet laws. It’s just not that simple.

Also as usual, the Motorcycle Riders Foundation followed up with a more balanced response.

The gist of what Jeff Hennie, the MRF’s vice president of government reations and public affairs, had to say is simple: the biggest reason motorcycle fatalities are up is that ridership is up.

Still the GHSA paints a very morbid picture and uses this false platform to push for mandatory helmet laws. After all motorcyclist fatalities are up. What they never mention is, so are registrations for motorcycles.

The study’s author James Hedlund, formerly of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, had this to say in an interview about the study, ‘I found that over the past three decades, the number of registrations tracks closely with the number of deaths’.

The long-term fatality flow chart used in the GHSA report would echo this if the registration numbers were also posted. As expected, those numbers were not included.

What started off as a promising report on valid reasons for the increase in motorcycle usage, ended up as an attack on the freedoms of all motorcycle riders in this country.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in wearing a helmet and I do wear them. But I also believe in letting the rider make his or her own choice. What is so annoying though is how the bureaucrats always go straight to the conclusion that making helmets mandatory would solve the problem. It wouldn’t. And couldn’t we at least compare apples to apples by pairing fatality numbers to rider numbers, as Hennie says?

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re becoming addicted to riding when you find your self leaning closer to the open window in a car than you normally did.

I didn't come close to hitting this guy, but he was standing only about 15 feet away as I carefully slipped by him. And this was in Nebraska!

What’s the strangest thing you ever hit–or nearly hit–on your bike? That’s the question that launched a long-running thread on the Adventure Riders forum, and periodically I go there to pass along some of the more interesting things people tell about. Let’s go!

OK, enough fun and games for today. (Yeah, fun. Right.) As we all know, it’s dangerous out there. Be careful.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Butler Maps Northern California map is an eye-opener

Biker Quote for Today

Your attitude makes an adventure out of a difficult situation. So, its all in your head.

The Givi bags on my new V-Strom come pre-scarred so I don't have to worry about doing it myself.

My new V-Strom is new only to me; it has 17,000 miles on it from two previous owners.

That’s OK with me. As you can see in the photo above, this bike has gone down at least once so that means I can drop it myself and not feel that horrible pang of regret from having put the first scratch on your new baby. Not that I had a tendency to go down on bikes but I’m planning on getting off the pavement on this bike, and when you do that your likelihood of going down increases.

Heck, I’ve already dropped one of Kevin’s V-Stroms. We were going over Cinnamon Pass and came to a particularly tight switchback on what was at that point just a narrow gravel trail. I didn’t make the turn successfully. No problem. Pick the bike up, get it facing in the right direction, get back on, and go.

About two switchbacks later I came to another really tight one and this time I stopped to study it. I could see that the steeply sloping rock face that was the corner of the turn had tracks across it. I figured other people in this spot had just powered through and around, so that’s what I did. I gave it some revs, let out the clutch, and hit that rock face with power and just carved that turn around and was on my way up the trail again, all in an instant.

I want to do more of that kind of riding. That day was one of the best riding days of my life, and it was that ride that totally sold me on getting off the pavement.

So I took the new bike out for a ride Saturday. Not a very long ride at all, because I don’t have plates on it. But I took a little jaunt through the neighborhood just to get on it and get a feel for it. Fired up great and ran beautifully. Hey, oh boy–fun times to come!!

Biker Quote for Today

Adventure riding has been good for my attention deficit diso….Hey, what’s down that road?

A tight space for my third bike to live in.

Of course I’ll start out with another picture of my new V-Strom. If you’ve seen the last one, this is obviously shot soon afterward because it’s now in the garage and the snow is still on it. I’m going to have to do some rearranging because that door beyond it in this photo is my access to where I keep the other two bikes. The door to the outside from there only opens from the inside so clearly I’m going to need to set things up so I can get in there.

So yeah, as I say, I do get mail. Most recently I got a note from Steve who asked for some assistance. I can’t offer him anything but maybe you can. Here’s his email:

I own a 2005 HD Softail that is fuel injected with a Powercommander. I had the engine bored out in 2009 to 95” and am running the same map that Dynojet recommended for break in. But now I’d like to find a good tuner to get the most out of the bike. I live in Silverthorne, but would go the distance for the right guy. I’m wondering if you could recommend anyone?

OK, I don’t know any Harley tuners. I don’t ride Harleys so it’s not something I pay attention to. But what about you? Any recommendations you have I’ll pass along to Steve. Thanks.

Then here’s another. A guy named Kevin (not my friend who brought my V-Strom) sent just a quick note asking, “How much is a computer for a 2005 big dog?” I replied I had no idea and wondered why he thought I might. He pointed me to a piece I wrote on Big Dog a couple years ago. So anyway, if anyone can answer the question let me know and I’ll pass the info along.

Also, I got a note from Todd, who is coming to Colorado with his brother and sister and their spouses to ride. He sent me a Google mapping of his proposed route and was asking for any suggestions I might have for tweaks. You can take a look at his route here.

It looks like a good trip. Starting out from Colorado Springs they’ll go down to New Mexico via Cuchara Pass, then do the Angel Fire loop out of Taos before coming back north. Out of Colorado City they’ll go up through San Isabel, stopping at Bishop Castle of course, and on to Canon City. From there they’ll hit Buena Vista and take Independence Pass over to Aspen and Glenwood Springs.

Then it’s east on I-70 to pick up US 40 and over Berthoud Pass, to Grand Lake and over Trail Ridge Road, and then to Denver on the Peak-to-Peak. From there it’s back to the Springs with a sidetrip up Pikes Peak.

Sounds pretty good to me but I did offer some suggestions:

Your southern leg will definitely be good. In Canon City be sure to ride Skyline Drive. You might also want to take a side trip to the Royal Gorge. It’s cool to ride across the bridge and the best thing is to keep going out the other way. Most people go in and double back, but the road on through is very narrow, twisty, and pretty.

Leaving Canon City, as an alternative, you might consider going out US 50 to Salida and then catching 285 to Buena Vista. Both routes have their attractions; US 50 takes you up the Arkansas River canyon.

Heading east on I-70 you really ought to go over Loveland Pass rather than through the Eisenhower Tunnel. The descent is breathtaking.

Coming from Denver it will depend on what you do there as to what makes sense. If you’re coming around the city take C-470 south from I-70 on the west. If you do go into town, then coming out by I-25 makes the most sense, but if you make your way over to CO 105 through Perry Park and Palmer Lake that’s much nicer than the interstate.

OK, for anyone who knows Colorado that’s not rocket science, but for someone who doesn’t know the area I hope those are some good ideas. I get these letters all the time and it’s one of the things I enjoy about running this website that I get to help people plan their trips. Sometimes I even get to meet them!

Biker Quote for Today

That road is fabulous, I wish to test it .

Kevin and my new bike were waiting for me at home on Monday.

I got home from work on Monday and Kevin was sitting in his truck waiting for me. I was glad to see him because I had had some fears that he might be stuck in a white-out on the prairie east of town. As it was, it was snowing and rolling that bike down Kevin’s narrow ramp off the trailer was made extra dicey by the fact that our footing on the trailer was very slick due to the snow.

But we got it down safely and wheeled it into the garage where it’s going to sit for awhile. I need to get it registered and get plates and that’s not going to happen right away because I don’t yet have the title. I’m buying the bike from Kevin’s brother-in-law in Tennessee and he hadn’t found the title by the time Kevin was leaving. They did find it, though, and it’s in the mail.

In the meantime, I’m in possession and that means I needed to get it insured. I logged in to my insurance company’s website and it showed me the policy I had on the other two bikes. I clicked on “Add a vehicle” and it stepped me through the process.

I was a little surprised when I found that the insurance on the new bike would be more than the insurance on the other two combined. I guess that’s because one of the old ones is 33 years old and the other is 14 years old. But I fiddled with the coverage, increasing my deductible a little, and knocked the total down enough to satisfy me. So I got that taken care of. Of course, it never hurts to shop around any time you’re changing your insurance coverage–you never know where you might find better coverage for less money.

Just as soon as I get plates on it I need to spend a little more money. As Kevin had told me, the front tire is pretty much shot and he says the chain is in bad shape. In my experience that means I’ll probably be replacing the sprockets, too. The really, really nice thing about having a job these days is that I have a paycheck coming in and that means I have the money to pay for these things. Hallelujah!

Of course then, the other thing that needs to happen is that it needs to stop snowing. I was talking to my friend Dan the other day and he was saying that due to two foot surgeries over the winter he hadn’t had the chance to ride in five months. Now he can ride and it just won’t stop snowing! One way or another though, he said, he’s leaving here on May 5 to ride to Maine by way of Florida. Can you tell he’s an Iron Butt guy?

My time will come. Patience is a virtue. And then I’m figuring on seeing a whole lot of Colorado I’ve never seen before.

Biker Quote for Today

There is something wrong about pics of motorcycles in the snow that is just wonderful….