Rifle is no longer a drive-through zone; Loveland Pass reopens

June 1st, 2009

The oil rigs are gone! Motels have vacancies! You can visit Rifle, CO, again!

Judy and I are on vacation in Utah at this moment, so we came through western Colorado the other day and I have to tell you it’s like night and day. A year ago I was advising that anyone considering coming to Colorado to ride not even think about spending a night in the area around Rifle. With gas prices over $4 a gallon, a drive along I-70 at night was like Christmas, with lighted drilling rigs dotting the landscape everywhere you looked. Of course, all those drilling crews had to sleep somewhere, and there was not a motel room available closer than Grand Junction.

What a difference a year makes. First off, we only saw two rigs along the way. The landscape is now dotted with what I take to be pumping stations, where the wells have been drilled and now the machinery is just doing its thing, extracting the oil or gas. You don’t need a lot of people to manage those.

Even more telling are the parking lots of the motels. They’re empty. We stopped at a rest area in Rulison and I asked the fellow tending the tourist center and he confirmed my assumption.

“They’ve all gone back to Oklahoma and Texas,” he said. He told me that at the height of the boom, a new La Quinta was built in Rifle and it was full immmediately. They built an addition and it was full immediately. They built another addition and it was full immediately. Then work was begun on a new Ramada Inn and another motel and work on both has been suspended.

On another note, it appears that Loveland Pass has reopened. I reported last week that it was closed, and the notice from CDOT said they would send word when it reopened. Searching their website it appeared that perhaps the pass was open again, although the main notice page had not been updated with that information.

With that in mind I was all eyes as we came past the turn-off to the pass the other day, and yes we saw traffic on that road. In fact, what we saw was three motorcycles coming down the pass. So now Colorado is truly open for the season.

Recent from the National Motocycle Examiner

Biker Quote for Today
Sometimes the fastest way to get there is to stop for the night.

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Posted in Biker Issues | No Comments »

AMA Nationals Coverage: Onerous Requirements for Press Passes

May 28th, 2009

I have a proposition for you. How about if you do some work and I’ll take possession of it, for no fee. Of course, I’ll let you use it, as long as you meet my terms. I may revoke your right, however.

Racing at Thunder ValleyThat, in a nutshell is what you have to agree to if you want a press pass to the AMA Nationals.

Every year out at Thunder Valley Motocross Park here in the Denver area they hold one of the races that make up the AMA Motocross Championships. This year the event is set for June 27. I figured I’d go and take advantage of my press affiliation to get in free and get some preferential treatment in doing my coverage.

I contacted the appropriate people and they sent along the 2009 Pro Motocross Media Guidelines, complete with a waiver for me to sign and return to them. Sure this is just standard stuff and if you want to play you have to play by their rules, but I read what I was about to sign anyway.

Holy smokes! Read this:

Media Members agree and hereby do assign to MX Sports and its affiliates (collectively, “MX Sports Entities”), all copyrights in any or all still or motion picture . . . or any other form of media captured . . . MX Sports hereby grant to Media Member a royalty-free, non-exclusive, limited, revocable license (“Licensee”) to use the Works, illustrating, describing, relating to, or referring to the Event(s) for editorial purposes only.

Oh, thank you so much for allowing me to use my own pictures for free.

I’m still going to go to the races, but I’m not sending in the press credentials form. I’ll pay my way in and I’ll jostle with the crowds to get the best coverage I can. But I’ll own my own work.

Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
An experienced motorcyclist’s lessons in humility

Biker Quote for Today

Well, sister, the time has come for me to ride hard and fast. – Rooster Cogburn

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Posted in American Motorcyclist Association, motorcycle racing | No Comments »

Step by Step to Becoming a Professional Biker

May 26th, 2009

Do what you love and the money will follow.

Have you ever heard those words? Do you believe them? Well, I’m putting them to the test. First some background.

I’ve been a writer all my life, and I’ve been riding motorcycles for more than 20 years. That doesn’t count the numerous times when I was a kid when I had the occasional chance to ride. By 20 years I mean since I bought my first bike. So what could be more natural than to put the two together?

Beginning Rider CourseOK, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ve been in the newspaper business and various other lines of work but the one thing they all had in common was that I was a writer. Most recently I’ve been doing contract work as a technical writer. On my most recent gig I knew first of all that it would end. That’s the nature of the beast. I also knew the economy was in the toilet and that getting the next gig could be very difficult. So I put aside as much cash as I could while I had the income and when the end came I was ready.

I’ve been “unemployed” for a couple months now but I’m working harder than ever. But no, I’m not looking for a job. I’m working to make a living as a biker.

First off, I’ve turned my gig at Examiner.com into an almost full-time effort, and as of yesterday I’ve moved from Denver Motorcycle Examiner to National Motorcycle Examiner. Second, I’m doing what I can to make more money off this website. I’ve always had the Google ads, and they’ve always paid enough to support the website without me having to dip into my pocket just to pay the hosting fees. But now I’m actively trying to sell ads on the site, which has the potential to provide serious income. We’ll see.

Third, I’ve been talking with Dan Patino at Monkey Gripper Motorcycle Tours about working for him this summer as a motorcycle tour guide. Considering the focus of this website, that seems a perfect fit. Now all we need is for the economy not to totally crush the tourism industry and to get some people signed up for tours.

And fourth, I’m considering the possibility of becoming a motorcycle riding instructor. To that end, just this weekend I took the Beginning Rider Course from T3RG Motorcycle Schools. The possibility of becoming an instructor was really only one of four reasons I had for taking the course, but because the course is required if you want to be an instructor, it was fortuitous to be able to do so just at this time.

So we’ll see. I’m doing what I love and while I’m not making nearly enough to live on so far, things do seem to be moving in the right direction.

And doors do seem to be opening up. For instance, in my work with Examiner.com I have helped build a group of the motorcycle Examiners around the country. We try to coordinate our efforts and work together whenever the opportunity presents itself. Well, there is a new East Bay Motorcycle Examiner who just started, Gabe Ets-Hokin, who just today posted his second ever post, which is part two of his introduction. It turns out to my extreme interest that he has been a motojournalist since 2004 and is currently the Online Editor for Cycle World magazine. Holy smokes! I now have a contact with an outfit I’d love to become involved with. It may never happen but you never know.

Rest assured, I’ll keep you up to date on how this progresses. I’m not saying you should be all that interested in how I make my living, but I would think just about anyone would be interested to see whether you really can do what you love and end up making it your job. Who knows, it might be the inspiration someone else needs to do so as well.

Recent from the National Motorcycle Examiner
Emotional day ends Run For The Wall

Biker Quote for Today

You can forget what you do for a living when your knees are in the breeze.

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Posted in Miscellaneous, Motorcycle Safety, Motorcycles | 5 Comments »

Independence Pass, Mount Evans Now Open; Loveland Pass Closed

May 21st, 2009

Independence PassNote to the world: Colorado is open for the season.

That’s right, with today’s opening of Independence Pass and CO 5 to the top of Mount Evans opening tomorrow, all the seasonal roads are open. Even Trail Ridge Road is open, although the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) reports that it is icy in spots.

One note of interest, however, is that US 6 over Loveland Pass is closed at this time. This is not a seasonal road, but CDOT says it is “closed for emergency road repair until further notice.” Apparently they just closed it yesterday. That’s a good thing for me to know because I was planning to head up over that pass in just a couple days.

Here’s a bit more info from CDOT:

U.S. 6 over Loveland Pass is closed due to a culvert failure, about 1 ½ miles east of the summit. Excess water has washed out the bottom of the culvert. Safety considerations will not allow the road to be open to traffic due to a loss of roadway support over the culvert. All traffic will be detoured though the Eisenhower Tunnel on Interstate 70. Loveland Pass will remain closed until further notice. The Colorado Department of Transportation will send out more information when it becomes available.

Recent from Denver Motorcycle Examiner
Run For The Wall nearing its destination

Biker Quote for Today

If you don’t make it the first time, back up and try again, only faster!!

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, motorcycle touring, Suggested Rides | 3 Comments »

Meeting Up With the Run For The Wall in Limon

May 18th, 2009

The Run For The Wall came through Colorado Saturday and I rode out to Limon to see the spectacle. It turned out I wasn’t the only one.

Run For The Wall goes through LimonI’ve been following the Run For The Wall on Examiner.com via Glenn and Cathy Buchholz, a local couple who are on the ride. I figured I’d meet up with them when the group stopped for gas in Limon.

I reached Limon well in advance of the run because I wanted to scope things out and pick some good spots to shoot photos. I knew I had the advantage that Glenn and Cathy are on the fuel crew so they would be arriving ahead of the main group. I picked one of the largest gas stations in town and asked if that was where the group would be stopping. No, the lady told me, they would be using the Phillips 66 across the street. So I went over there.

Those folks knew the group was coming so I chatted with them awhile. Then, getting restless, I cruised through town a couple times just to be sure I wasn’t missing something. At one point, passing a motel, I saw a bunch of folks and bikes sitting out in the parking lot so I stopped. They weren’t with the run, but they had ridden out from Denver to watch them pass. They were a bunch of nice folks so I stood and chatted with them a bit, too.

It got to be time when the fuel crew should be showing up so I went back to the gas station, but after waiting there for too long a time I knew something was amiss. I rode back to the west side of town, where the police and parade marshalls were set up to guide the group, and I learned that the fueling stop was in a big truck stop on the other side of I-70. I scooted on over there and sure enough, this was the spot I needed.

They had marshalls to guide the riders in order to do it efficiently and quickly. Not wanting to interfere with their operation I started to turn in at the first entrance to the station, not the second one where they were directing their people to go. Suddenly a marshall with a flag on his baton lept directly in front of me and started screaming at me that I WOULD go in the other entrance, that I was endangering everyone on this run, and I had now done so TWICE!

Twice?

I explained to him that I was not part of their group but he didn’t want to hear it, continuing to scream at me and point and wave his baton at me in an extremely threatening manner. I thought, OK buddy, I’m not in the army and you aren’t either, not any more, but you obviously take your duty here very seriously, so I won’t argue. My wife, generous-hearted soul that she is, speculated that perhaps he was a vet who was making the run trying to deal with his unresolved demons from his Vietnam experience and was just a bit overwrought.

I went down to the other entrance, pulled in, looked around for a place to park that didn’t seem to be in anybody’s way, and parked. Then another marshall came over, greeted me cheerfully, asked who I was, and then asked me if I would please move “over that way” a bit because “I’m going to be parking a whole lot of motorcycles right here in just a few minutes.”

“Sure, you bet, not a problem,” I replied. The contrast was blazingly clear.

So I found Glenn and Cathy, had a few minutes to talk with them before the main group arrived, shot some pictures, and then headed back into town to take up position to get some photos as they rode down the main street.

Limon was turned out for the scene but it was not the kind of scene you might have expected. Probably the biggest crowd was on the grounds of the city office building, and by that I mean about 15 people. There were other clusters of up to five people scattered here and there along the parade route. I’m certain there were more U.S. flags lining the parade route than there were spectators. Hey, this is small town America.

The parade passed and I talked a bit with a Limon teen who was eyeing my Concours, telling me he had just gotten a Ninja 250 but didn’t have his license yet so he couldn’t ride it. And then it was time to head back to Denver.

Recent from the Denver Motorcycle Examiner
Civilian Top Gun competition shows who really has the skills

Biker Quote for Today

Never twist the throttle with your ego

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Rides and Rallies | No Comments »

Motorcycles as Bling: Can a Poser Find Redemption in a Charity Ride?

May 14th, 2009

Let’s see. Sixteen motorcycles with a total mileage among them of less than 500 miles. Yep, that guy’s a poser. Or at least he was, and except for one time each year you have to wonder if he still is.

Kyle Petty Charity Ride emblemI’m talking about Herschel Walker, who plays football professionally and has a lot of money to spend on bling. He and a bunch of other monied folks came through here Tuesday on the 15th annual Kyle Petty Charity Ride. Walker and the others on the ride paid $10,045 each for the privilege of participating, according to Darrell Andrews, who told me he has been riding with Kyle for years and has been on every one of these cross-country rides.

So OK, it’s a charity run and they raise a lot of money for good causes. I wrote about that on Examiner.com and you can go there if you want to know more. What I’m interested in here is Herschel Walker.

First off, let me make the point that I didn’t talk with Walker while I mingled with the group at the Chick-fil-A in Aurora where they stopped for lunch. (Chick-fil-A is sponsor of the ride.) I’m drawing my basic information from an article in the Steamboat Pilot newspaper. Here’s what the article said.

When he first participated in the ride four years ago, Walker said he took some ribbing because all 16 of his motorcycles had a combined mileage of about only 500 miles.

So clearly he’s put a little more mileage on at least a few of his bikes since then. This year’s ride will cover 3,500 miles. What I’d like to know is, does the guy ever ride at any other time? Is he still a poser for whom motorcycles are no different than gold rings or necklaces, or has he found that riding a motorcycle is more enjoyable than just owning them and hoping people will think he’s cool because they’re his?

I shake my head and try to think of what else to say, but there really isn’t anything else to say. So I’ll shut up.

Recent from the Denver Motorcycle Examiner
Run For The Wall rolls out of Rancho Cucamonga

Biker Quote for Today

One bike on the road is worth two (or sixteen) in the garage.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, motorcycle touring, Rides and Rallies | No Comments »

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