Passes & Canyons Blog

When I set out on the Battle Back to the Bike I made a goal to ride at least 1,000 miles in my first month once I made it back. I met that goal as of Wednesday, July 4. I guess I really am back.

Here’s how it went.

June 7 — My first ride, to Evergreen and down Turkey Creek and then Deer Creek — 71 miles.

June 8 — Up Clear Creek Canyon to the Peak-to-Peak and down Golden Gate Canyon — 97 miles.

June 10 — Up Mount Vernon Canyon, to Idaho Springs, over Squaw Pass, to Evergreen, and home — 126 miles.

June 16 — The RMMRC Pie Ride to Evergreen, Deckers, Woodland Park, Florissant, Jefferson, and back — 267 miles.

June 25 — Up to Eagle — 141 miles.

June 26 — Eagle to Buena Vista to Denver — 218 miles.

July 3 — A run to the wine store and then to CostCo to get gas — 26 miles.

July 4 — Sedalia, Palmer Lake, Castle Rock, Parker, and home –98 miles.

Total: 1,044 miles.

Biker Quote for Today

The lure of the open road never goes out of style.

So this is probably the best helmet I’ve ever had. It’s certainly the most expensive. But hey, you know the saying: If your head is only worth $5 then buy a $5 helmet. Otherwise . . .

The helmet is a Shoei RF-SR. And I’m happy to say I already need to clean the visor.

So how do I like it? Well, it’s kind of mixed. It is certainly the most comfortable helmet I’ve ever had. My first was a Bieffe and it pressed on my forehead and gave me a headache after wearing it awhile. Since then I’ve had several others and while all have been serviceable, the two I’ve been using the last few years are by far the noisiest I’ve ever owned.

This was one of the selling points for the RF-SR. Eddy McCarty at Fay Myers says Shoei makes the quietest helmets on the market.

So maybe I was expecting too much. Yes this new helmet is much quieter than the old ones but it was not as quiet as I hoped. Of course, what I really need to do is go for a ride with one of the old ones on and see if it now seems much noisier than the Shoei.

Eddy also talked about the ventilation and that is another thing I may have had too high expectations. The RF-SR has vents at your forehead and matching vents in the rear. Riding on a hot day I could feel that flow of air across the top of my head and it was welcome. But the rest of my head was very hot. I suspect that is in part a result of having a better helmet than I’ve had before: With better padding and better fit there is simply not as much room for air to move around inside the helmet. When you have padding pressed right up against your cheeks there is not going to be air flow past your cheeks.

The one thing that is terrific about this helmet, however, is the built-in pockets for communicator speakers. In all previous helmets I have had to do my best to locate the speakers in any recession existing, and usually ended up with them rubbing against my ears. I think all new helmets now come with spaces designed to take speakers and keep them away from your ear and therefore comfortable.

Removing and installing the visor is a two-second job with the RF-SR. Several of my old helmets–most notably my Bieffe and HJC–made these operations so difficult as to be almost impossible. I busted the whole mechanism on one of them one time just trying to get the visor attached.

So there are a couple things I’m not as thrilled with as I had hoped but I do like the idea of having an actual high quality helmet finally. If in a few weeks I find I’m not so thrilled–or find myself much more pleased–I’ll make note of that here.

Biker Quote for Today

She’s got a wide seat, a couple of saddlebags, smokes like a fiend, and doesn’t mind being call a hog. What a hottie!

Living in Denver I am well acquainted with just about any day ride you can make from here. But I was up in Eagle this week visiting my friends Willie and Jungle and they decided to take a day ride. Oh, that puts a very different perspective on that idea.

I had ridden up there the day before and just took I-70 so as to get there. I was disinclined take the slab home, however, so it fit my plans perfectly to accompany them on their ride to the point where I would peel off for home.

Leaving Eagle we stuck to old U.S. 6, paralleling I-70. Who wants to ride on the interstate when you don’t have to? U.S. 6 does get very urban, however, when you get to Edwards (we were headed east) so we did jump on the big road there, just for two exits, to the Minturn exit.

Then it was U.S. 24 over Tennessee Pass to Leadville, and down over to Buena Vista. Certainly I’ve been on that road more than once before but it is not a common route for me so it was very nice to be out there.

As we reached Buena Vista and turned east on U.S. 285 it occurred to me that for Willie and Jungle, this stretch must be a piece they don’t get to often. I mean, they never go to Denver and that’s where this road heads. For me on the other hand, this is an extremely common stretch of road that I traverse probably at least a dozen times every year.

So we headed east and stopped in Fairplay for lunch. They could have gone north there over Hoosier Pass to Breckenridge but these people are serious riders and that would not have been a long enough ride. So we continued east from Fairplay over Kenosha Pass and down to Grant. This was where we parted. I continued east to Denver and they turned north over Guanella Pass to Georgetown and then headed west to Eagle on I-70, with a side-trip planned to go over Loveland Pass, rather than through the tunnel.

Of course, living in Eagle, Willie and Jungle have numerous day trip options. I have ridden with them other times when we went to Leadville, down to Twin Lakes, over Independence Pass to Aspen and Glenwood Springs and then back to Eagle. Also over to Wolcott and up to Toponas and over Gore Pass, then Rabbit Ears Pass to Steamboat Springs, and back to Eagle.

Whereas, living in Denver, as I do, the first part of nearly every trip is just getting across town to get into the mountains, and then coming home I’m largely restricted to the two major routes, I-70 and U.S. 285. But I suspect wherever you live it gets to be the same old, same old, riding the same routes again and again. Anybody want to swap houses for a year so we can both explore new roads?

Biker Quote for Today

Some important things in life just require a deep breath and a long ride with friends.

Judy and I have spent a good bit of money on motorcycle gear in the last year or two and pretty much all of it has been at Fay Myers. The truth of the matter is, we’re buying from Eddy.

Eddy McCarty works in gear sales at Fay Myers. We don’t shop at Fay Myers because we love that store or think they have the best selection and/or best prices. We shop there because Eddy is the best, most knowledgeable sales guy we’ve ever met. Not only does he have an encyclopedic knowledge of the products, he is personable and accommodating and also entertaining.

We got to know Eddy when we bought our newest communicator set, Sena SMH10s. As I noted in a blog post then, “It was my good fortune to hook up with Eddy at Fay Myers because Eddy spent a lot of time with me and was exceedingly knowledgeable.”

Later we went back to get a new helmet for Judy. Once again it was Eddy who waited on us and once again he impressed the heck out of us with his expertise. He helped Judy pick just the right helmet and then he did the installation of her communicator in the new helmet, a task that took him at least 20 minutes and probably would have taken me an hour.

Now, just last week, we were back again. We knew we wanted Eddy so we stood for 5-10 minutes just waiting for him to wrap up what he was doing. And he sold me a new helmet, and once again he did the installation of the communicator. And while all this was going on he entertained us with discussions of topics as varied as deodorants and a tongue-in-cheek petition to ban water (ask him about that!).

We don’t typically grow attached to the sales people we deal with, but Eddy is absolutely an exception. Next time you’re at Fay Myers try to get him to help you out. Eddy is special.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if your tattoos wash off.

I have no idea what led up to this but I caught the very end of an ugly encounter on Wednesday.

Following my surgery in March I am now going to rehab sessions three times a week over at Porter Hospital. I was heading north on Downing, getting near Porter, when my eye was caught by the unusual motion of a scooter heading south.

The guy on the scooter was pretty interesting all by himself. He was wearing a helmet and for a jacket he wore a Mexican-style serape. Kind of odd looking. But that was not the point.

The point was that there was a pick-up right behind him, very close, and as I watched the scooter came to a very abrupt, very unstable stop, and as the pick-up blasted on past him the obviously angry rider threw up his arms in a middle finger salute. Holy crap, what just happened?

Of course the supposition is that the pick-up was crowding the scooter. Maybe he was not going fast enough for the pick-up driver’s sense of urgency or whatever. Whatever the case I’d say it’s pretty certain the guy in the pick-up was being a total jerk.

It wouldn’t be the first time. Heck, one time I watched as a guy in a pick-up deliberately pulled up slowly behind a motorcycle and tapped bumpers. The rider pulled forward and the guy pulled forward again and tapped his bumper again. Deliberately. Just being a jerk. Why do people do things like that?

I’ll never know the details of this vignette over by Porter but I will remember for a long time what I saw.

Biker Quote for Today

The only way to see the sunset is to ride into it.

I joined with other members of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC) Saturday on the Pie Ride. For those motorcyclists who live by the slogan, “Ride to Eat, Eat to Ride,” this is the perfect event.

We met at a bakery where the first pie of the day was quiche. I’m not sure very many of us actually got quiche but that was the theme setter. There were eight bikes plus we picked up another rider who just happened to be there having breakfast.

Getting underway, we ran up Bear Creek from Morrison to Evergreen but this was not a good thing. Evergreen was holding its annual rodeo and they had a parade through town and all traffic was shunted to the north around downtown. Then, when we came out on Evergreen Parkway, the road into town there was also blocked so we could not get to the road that runs from Evergreen to Conifer as we had intended.

Thank you Evergreen, I guess it wouldn’t have been possible to have posted a sign coming up the canyon that the road ahead was closed. We ended up taking Evergreen Parkway to I-70 back down to C-470 and finally took U.S. 285 into the hills toward Conifer.

At Pine Junction we turned south and made our first pit stop at Deckers. By this point we had lost three bikes so the group was smaller. The barest sprinkling of rain cooled us down nicely and it started coming down harder just as we pulled into Woodland Park, where we were stopping for lunch. The second pie of the day: pizza.

I’m sure not one of us needed to eat more after lunch but just 25 miles further heading west from Woodland Park we came to Florissant, to a very nicely converted old house that is now a restaurant. We had been pumped up by stories of how good the forest berry pie was, and Sara had called ahead to let them know we were coming so they would not have run out by the time we got there. Sadly, the lady said she had just pulled the latest pie out of the oven and it would need time to cool, so no forest berry pie for us.

I got the peach instead and the peaches were clearly fresh but not quite ripe and the pie had not been baked long enough to soften them up. So I was disappointed.

We continued west to Lake George where we turned up Highway 77 which runs up to Jefferson, in South Park. There we caught U.S. 285 and turned east back to town. I hadn’t expected it to be an all-day ride but it was nearly 6 o’clock by the time I was home. Ah well, a good ride. And more pie than you can shake a stick at.

Biker Quote for Today

The best way for guys to communicate is just don’t talk to each other for nine hours. That’s why I like long motorcycle rides. It’s a great way for guys to socialize and not socialize. — Justin Theroux

For my third ride since I won the Battle Back to the Bike, I headed out to Morrison, up 93 to I-70 and then got on old U.S. 40 going up Mount Vernon Canyon, right alongside I-70, at least for awhile. I had been up this way earlier this year but wanted to explore more.

For starters, once you get up to the buffalo overlook exit from I-70, it appears U.S. 40 merges at least for a few miles with I-70. But where does the road go on either side at that exit? I figured I’d find out.

First I went to the south side. The road to the left seemed to go into a housing development; I turned right. Right away there was a sign announcing Genesee Mountain Park, one of Denver’s mountain parks. Have I ever been here before? And does this road go anywhere beyond the park? Time to find out.

Things started looking familiar very quickly and I concluded I had indeed been here before, but it was either 40 years ago or perhaps only 30 years ago. So it was like a first visit.

The road climbed its way up Genesee Mountain to picnic areas, with signs for a trail, but then came to an end. Second question answered. Gonna have to backtrack. Heading back down I was surprised to look off to my right, to the east, and there was the Sleeper house. In case you’re unacquainted, this is a futuristic-looking house that was featured in an old Woody Allen movie, titled not surprisingly, “Sleeper.” But there it was, down below me, over on the crest of the next ridge. I’ve only ever seen it from I-70.

So back down to I-70 and across. Where does the road go over there? Does it go through to somewhere? I only remembered that I had been that way once before, also around 40 years ago, when my friends Jerry and Diane got married up there.

It didn’t take long. In about a tenth of a mile the road curved around to the left and there was the church they were married in. And beyond that there was a dirt road going to the left, a road into another housing development to the right, and a gate into a private property straight ahead. No choice but the interstate.

I passed the first exit on the slab, the Chief Hosa exit, and got off at the Evergreen Parkway exit. Crossing the interstate, I took the first right and was back on old U.S. 40. Now the highway curved far away from I-70 through some really pretty country. And I encountered a surprising number of bikers who also know of this road. It does come back to I-70 going up the east side of Floyd Hill and then loops down to meet U.S. 6 at the mouth of Clear Creek Canyon. I turned left, with 6 feeding onto I-70 and took that up to Idaho Springs.

At Idaho Springs I turned up Chicago Creek on CO 103 to go over Squaw Pass. It wasn’t long, however, when I smelled smoke and then noticed that the air around me was filled with a blue haze. Clearly there was a forest fire somewhere. Was it ahead of me on my route? I continued, assuming that they would have the road blocked if that were the case. As the road climbed toward Echo Lake I got a more expansive view and could see there was smoke filling the air for miles around. I learned later it was a fire over by Silverthorne.

Now the riding got really nice, and considering the hot weather down on the plains, it was very nice to find myself chilly.

Eventually, of course, I ended up down at Evergreen Parkway, took that to Evergreen and down to Morrison and back home. About 130 miles and a really nice down out on the bike. I love when that happens.

Biker Quote for Today

Do not look back. You’re not going that way.

On Thursday last week I took my first ride after more than two months, thanks to bypass surgery, and it was not without its very own moment of excitement.

My timing (bad timing) was such that I was homeward bound up I-25 in the middle of rush hour. There was a bit of stop and go but mostly we were moving pretty well. Of course, you know how it is in that kind of traffic. If you want to change lanes you need to act quickly when the opportunity presents itself. And a woman in a Nissan Altima did just that.

I’m sure she looked in her mirror and saw an opening and jumped on it. What I’m also sure she did not do was to do a head check–turn her head to see for sure that the lane was clear and nobody was in her blind spot. And guess who, at that particular instant, was indeed in her blind spot.

So I’m cruising along trying to maintain a distance between myself and the car in front of me so I’m not constantly braking and accelerating and with no warning whatsoever this car next to me starts moving decisively into my lane . . . which is where I am. We were probably going between 30 and 40 miles an hour and I had to brake hard to let her get ahead of me. I braked hard enough that I nearly stalled the bike and with no speed the bike started to lay down, such that I put my left foot out to hold us up. Plus, this meant I was veering into the adjacent lane to my left.

I got it all stabilized and got moving again and I could hear the guy behind me blowing his horn long and loud. I knew he wasn’t blowing it at me, but at the woman who cut in on me. After a moment I was able to move into the right lane and I sped up to pull alongside her. I shook my fist at her and blew my horn, and meanwhile the guy who had been behind me–a guy in a CDOT tow truck–was right behind her blowing his horn. She just stared straight ahead: I see nothing. I hear nothing.

Then a minute later the tow truck guy pulled up alongside me and rolled his window down, yelling to ask if I was OK. I gave him a thumbs up and a nod of thanks.

So yeah, first ride after being off the bike awhile and already some excitement. I only wonder if I would have been more alert to the intention of this driver if I hadn’t been away from riding for so long. I’ll never know, but that’s all the more reason I want to get in a good 1,000 miles this month before we take off on this Canada trip. I always want to be at the top of my game when I’ve got Judy on behind me.

Biker Quote for Today

Don’t fear dying, fear not living.