Motorcycle Relief Project – Day 1

Day 1: October 1, 2018

Route: Littleton, Colo., to Florissant, Colo.

This ride report actually starts on Saturday, September 29. Today is day one of the Motorcycle Relief Project. MRP is an organization that takes aims to provide relief to veterans and first responders with PTSD and other injuries by taking them on multi-day motorcycle tours.

I had been trying to get on of the MRP’s rides for a few years, after seeing an article about them on Facebook. They have recently been featured in ADVMoto magazine. Having served in the Army and being diagnosed with PTSD myself, I thought the program sounded like a great way to decompress.

I flew into Denver to meet with the crew from the MRP. I arrived a day early and unfortunately stayed at hotel close to Denver International Airport. I say unfortunately because there was nothing around the hotel, and it was about 20 miles from the city itself.

On Sunday, I made my way back to the airport to meet a couple other participants and to get a ride to MRP headquarters in Littleton. At the airport, I met Dan, a retired US Coast Guard rescue swimmer, and Lance, not a veteran, but he would end up being our dirt-riding coach. We were picked up by Don, the MRP’s lead volunteer, and a Vietnam War veteran.

Sunday night, the other participants and I met at MRP headquarters for a meet and greet. There were a wide variety of veterans from different eras and all of the branches of the US military. It did feel a bit strange to meet a bunch of strangers, but two things brought us together: our status as veterans and love for motorcycles. It did not take long for us start getting along like old friends.

Monday morning we all met back at MRP headquarters to make our way to our accommodations for the week – a cabin in Florissant rented by the MRP. At headquarters, we were assigned our motorcycles – also provided by MRP, acquired mostly through generous donations of MRP supporters. I was assigned Katrina, a 2007 BMW R1200GS.O I was a little apprehensive about riding such a big bike – my own bike is a V-Strom 650 – but I was assured all would be OK.

MRP’s entire fleet is made up of BMW 650, 800, and 1200 GS’s. New to the fleet is Greta, an Army-green R1200GS with a DMC sidecar. MRP recently acquired the sidecar, so veterans who are no longer able to ride motorcycles can participate in their rides.

We mounted our bikes and headed west into the Front Range. We soon entered Deer Creek Canyon, which was fun and twisty. Instantly, we were greeted with beautiful Colorado fall color. There were many evergreens with yellow aspens interspersed throughout.

We soon started climbing into the mountains, coming out of the canyon near Conifer. We stopped for lunch at the home of MRP’s founder – a home with expansive views of the Rocky Mountains and a vast valley between adjacent ranges.

We headed south from Conifer and entered the Platte River Canyon. The road was tight and twisty, following every curve of the river. We stopped at the old South Platte Hotel for a break. We enjoyed cold water surrounded by yellow and brown hills covered in evergreens and aspens. Leaving the South Platte hotel, the road turned to gravel and we got our first, easy taste of the life off pavement. Surprisingly, the GS handled the gravel well. But then again, everyone knows what GS’s can do.


The road came to a T in Deckers, and we stopped there to enjoy ice cream cones at Deckers Corner coffee shop. We had been riding together for only a few hours, but we all acted like old friends.

We took Colorado Highway 67 out of Deckers toward Woodland Park. Highway 67 wound through the Horse Creek and West Creek Canyons before climbing up the Rampart Range into Woodland Park. From Woodland Park, we headed southwest into Ute Pass.

Entering Ute Pass, the scenery changed. Gone were rolling hills covered in trees. Trees were still there, but all around were outcroppings of large red rocks. Ute Pass also introduced us to the manic personality of Colorado weather. Out of nowhere the blue skies gave way to gray clouds and a falling rain.

The rain stopped before we entered Florissant, allowing a bit of time to dry out before arriving at the cabin. We took a dirt road up into the foothills above Florissant to our cabin, the Tihsreed (read that backwards for a chuckle). The cabin was perched on the top of a bluff overlooking a valley carved by a creek. The cabin itself was really nice and would make for a fine base of operations.

We unpacked our gear and selected our rooms. Soon after we had a group dinner around the large dining table. We quickly found ourselves joking around like one big family.

The stars even managed to come out.

Mileage: 100