Passes & Canyons Blog

I don’t know about other parts of the country, but in Colorado, Utah, and Idaho–where we are now–rain is a passing phenomenon. Wait 10 minutes and it will be gone. That makes it a tricky thing to decide whether you need to stop and put on rain gear when you’re out on a motorcycle ride.

Stop and gear up too eagerly and you will often find that you didn’t need to bother. Wait too long and you’ll be drenched before you get your gear on.

You tend to develop an approach that you find serves you well much of the time. For instance, I look at the traffic going the other direction. Are the cars dripping wet, with windshield wipers going? Suit up now. Are they dry? No problem.

What does the sky look like in direction you’re headed, and which way are the clouds moving? On Saturday, heading from Vernal to Duchesne, in Utah, I would have bet money we were in for it. Might as well just stop now and be done with it. But cars–and bikers–coming the other direction were dry so we pressed on. We ended up reaching Duchesne perfectly dry. And I’ve already described the situation we ran into as we continued west out of Duchesne.

Yesterday was one of those days when you just don’t want to stop but you know that if you continue you’ll be pushing your luck. It was the end of the day and we were nearing Soda Springs, ID, where we needed to stop and make a call. There was rain all around us but a pathway seemed to magically appear in front of us looking like we just might make it. I was lagging behind so when I came over a rise to see brake lights on I knew it was time.

It wasn’t that I could see the line of demarcation where the pavement was wet and where it was dry, although I could. It wasn’t that I could see that line moving in my direction, although I could. It was the hail that smacked me in the face before the first raindrop hit that convinced me it was time to suit up. And the line of wet hit me long before I had my rubber pants on; then, before I was finished pulling on the rubber mittens I could see the sky clearing ahead.

We mounted up and rode on into town, about 1 mile, and stopped and took it all off again.

That’s rain in this part of the country.

Biker Quote for Today

Some call it adventure; I call it my way of life.

Cold and rainy today, with patches of fog. What a great day to ride! Seriously.

Of course Bill had no idea what the weather would be a week ago when he proposed that we do one of our occasional rides up to Blackhawk for breakfast. It has been warm and sunny lately, so we assumed it would be a nice day. I rolled the bike out and looked at the sky and wondered if I should call to see if anyone would show up. But I figured surely someone would be there so we would join them.

Judy asked me what she needed to wear and I told her I was just putting on a flannel shirt over my t-shirt under my leather jacket, so she dressed similarly. We took off and hadn’t gone very far when I started to doubt my judgment. It was darn chilly! Oh well, it was morning and surely it would warm up as the day progressed.

We got to the meeting spot and found only Bill and Jason out for the ride today. Dennis is in Indianapolis for the Indy 500, Johnathon had a graduation he was going to, and John was using his same old excuse about being 250 miles away in Montrose. Wuss. Can’t remember why Friggs wasn’t there.

We headed on up Clear Creek Canyon and the sky was threatening but nothing else. Going a bit slower up the canyon it wasn’t as chilly but Judy and I both were wishing we had our electric vests. Judy was also wishing for long underwear. I was just glad to be on the Concours with its full fairing.

Leaving the canyon and getting onto the Peak to Peak Highway it started looking like it might clear up. That reminded me of when I lived in Golden and worked in Idaho Springs, and on some days I would drive out of a rain or snow storm up the mountain into the sunshine. Then after spending the day in the sun I would drive back down into the same storm I left behind. Not today.

We reached Blackhawk and cruised on to Central City to the Red Dolly, a small casino with good breakfast at very good prices–our standard stop. Had a great breakfast, warmed up, Bill and Jason gave the machines some money, and it was time to head back down. We stepped outside and it was raining. No big deal; we’ve got the gear. And this was Judy’s first opportunity to try out her new rain gear.

Suited up, we headed back down into Blackhawk, got back on the Peak to Peak, and continued north to the turn-off to Golden Gate Canyon. One of the nice things about this whole area is that there are multiple canyons and you can take your pick of which one to go up and which one to take down. They’re all beautiful and twisty.

Today they had a different kind of beauty than we normally see. Besides the rain, we were in and out of low-lying clouds, aka: fog. I know that Judy, having no responsibility for ensuring that we stayed on the road, was more able to appreciate the beauty than I was, but I was not unappreciative.

With the wet pavement, the on and off rain, and the on and off fog, we took it fairly slow. That, plus the rain gear, meant the ride down was quite a bit warmer than the ride up. And with the good rain gear we were perfectly dry and comfortable.

Then we were down out of the canyon, back on CO 93, and we headed over to Bill and Thais’s new house close by to see it for the first time. Some hot chocolate to warm us up again and we headed on home.

This was not the ride we anticipated but at least partially for that reason it was probably a more memorable ride. Despite being a little less well-prepared than we could have been, we have no regrets whatsoever. It was a great ride. What a great day for a ride!

Biker Quote for Today

It takes more love to share the saddle than it does to share the bed.