Passes & Canyons Blog

Looking at the north end of Golden from the parking lot of Buffalo Bill’s grave.

We’ve had some really nice weather the last couple days so I had to go ride. Normally, with Wednesday forecast for a high around 72 there is no question there would have been an RMMRC ride. However, with the coronavirus flaring up in a big way, the RMMRC sent out a note earlier this week that for the time being all rides and events are suspended. I guess I’ll have to do this on my own.

It’s times like this when I get antsy to move somewhere else. I’ve been out on the plains way too much lately but going to the hills means riding half an hour across town both ways. It makes me jealous of Bill, who lives right alongside CO 93 running up from Golden to Boulder. He gets on his bike and he’s in the hills in five minutes.

But I did head west. I took Hampden/US 285 to C-470 and got off at Morrison. I was going to run up that road to Kittredge on CO 74 but just like the last time I tried that the road was closed. I figured the work they had been doing several weeks ago would be finished, but no. Wonder what they’re doing?

So I took the Hogback Road that runs up past Red Rocks, under I-70, and turned left onto old US 6 up through Mount Vernon Canyon. I wasn’t sure yet where I was headed but about this time I decided I’d take the turn-off over to Lookout Mountain and the Buffalo Bill grave site. That’s a nice road and you get several stunning views of the plains laid out below.

I stopped at Buffalo Bill’s to get that photo above and then headed on down. What I was already surprised at was how many other people on motorcycles had the same idea. Also, not a surprise, there were at least as many people on bicycles.

I started heading down and came up on a guy on a bicycle. I could have passed him but I’ve seen these folks on hills like this. I figured he’d actually want to go faster than I did. I was right. We neared the first sharp curve and he started scorching. Within seconds he was gone. I was in no hurry.

So I cruised on down, waving to any number of other bikers coming up, and then suddenly two bicyclists went blasting past me. Holy crap! I hadn’t been looking in my mirrors because what was there to look for? And I got passed one more time before I got to the bottom.

A note: the lower end of the Lookout Mountain road has been newly paved and they have added four speed bumps in the area where there are houses around.

I got down to CO 93 and one of the first things I saw was a motorcycle cop, and this guy was wearing just a short-sleeve shirt. I had a tee shirt, a flannel shirt, a vest, and my leather jacket. That’s how warm it was. Beautiful day in November.

Then from there I just headed home.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you don’t go a day without wearing something that says “Harley Davidson.”

I’m still experimenting using my new GoPro camera, and with the great weather we’ve been having I’ve been out. The first test I did was a simple ride over the top of Cherry Creek Dam, with the camera mounted on my helmet. Next I decided I wanted to try it with the camera mounted on the fairing of my Concours.

I also wanted to try out the time-lapse function because I can’t believe many people are going to want to watch a 45-minute video going over some pass. But they might watch a 2-minute time-lapse version of that. What would that time-lapse be like? I wanted to find out.

I selected Lookout Mountain. With the camera on the fairing I shot time-lapse going up and regular video coming down. See here for yourself how it turned out:

Time Lapse Going Up

Regular Video Coming Down

So you can see, the time-lapse goes pretty fast. That was shot at one frame every half second and that’s the fastest rate possible. I’d like to have done in something like maybe eight frames per second so it would be a bit smoother and also not such a race to the top. But you work with the technology you’ve got.

I also wasn’t thrilled that much of what you might see in the mountainside view is blocked by the guard rail. I’m thinking the top of the helmet would have been better, to see over the rail. The view, in this case, is mostly down. Going through Glenwood Canyon the fairing might be good because there the view would be mostly up. That’s why I’m experimenting.

Ultimately I’d like to get video going over every pass in the state that I have included on the website, plus every canyon, and add them on those web pages. That means I’m going to have to ride all of them again! What a dirty job. But I’ll do it. That’s just the kind of guy I am.

Biker Quote for Today

Did you hear about the guy who got a motorcycle for his wife? Pretty good swap don’t you think? (OK, this one is going to get me in trouble with my wife. I don’t really agree with the idea but I still thought it was worth a chuckle.)