Riding the old bikes

Wilt Chamberlain is ready to ride with his buddy, Steve Schmid, in Steve's BMW sidecar rig.
(Photo: Ken Bingenheimer)

Sometimes you just want to get out and ride them. Today was a perfect day in Colorado for motorcyclists and we were out in the thousands. And I hooked up with an especially interesting group, joining in on the 8th annual Old Bike Ride.

Picture this, if you will. No riding fees. No liability waivers. Just show up and go for a ride with about 150 other riders on machines that in most cases were well over 25 years old. That's the Old Bike Ride. Organized each year by Bob Ohman, he came through again this year.

We met in Golden at the Golden Hotel and it was like a street fair. Old Nortons, Ducatis, Vincents, Hondas, Kawasakis, Urals, BMWs, BSAs, and others lined the streets and the street was full of people, walking around admiring the old iron. Oh yeah, and occasionally a car would want to use the street, too.

All the usual suspects were there, of course, including Todd Wallis, whose basket-case 1966 Sears Sabre restoration I wrote about, Jerry Pokorny, who handles publicity for British Motorcycle Association of Colorado, who clued me in to the event where I met Todd, and Dom Chang, our own Colorado Motorcycle Travel Examiner.

First on our route was up to the top of Lookout Mountain, which is the windingest, prettiest ride you'll find in the Denver metro area. After more schmoozing and oogling, we headed back down and then up Clear Creek Canyon to catch the Peak to Peak Highway.

We cruised a ways on the Peak to Peak and stopped for lunch at the Millsite Inn, near Ward. Then it was choose your own route back to Golden to the Golden City Brewery. Altogether a gorgeous day, a great ride, a lot of fun seeing old friends and making new ones, and a bunch of cool old motorcycles. Who could ask for more?