fudgypup
Pack Dog
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2013
- Messages
- 226
- Reaction score
- 8
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
I have heard a lot about this gathering over the years and I finally decided to attend. Most of the riding I do is just weekend dirt/enduro/hooliganism in the surrounding 500 or so miles from my home in Southern California. However, I have ridden a lot in Mexico and did a ride last year in Bolivia, so I guess I have some authentic adventure travel under my belt as well.
I'm not sure how many were in attendance but it seemed around 500. Lots of people from around the world. I did not see Matthew Snyman (of Gauteng) on his Great American Trek. I think they are in So. America somewhere (Buenos Aires?) right now. I offered my home when they come through here, so hopefully I get to meet them.
It's basically a lot of class/seminar type things on this or that person's adventure or how to load a bike, fix a tire, deal with corrupt police, etc... I guess the highlights were a visit from Ted Simon and social media's latest and most favorite adventure rider, Alex Chacon. People might hate me for saying this, but I had already heard and read a lot about Ted Simon and I didn't get much out of it. I didn't appreciate his politicized preaching at the end either, but I figure he's 84 and can do whatever he likes
He certainly has added much to the world of adventure riding, no doubt. As for Alex, I was also a bit disappointed. He's had some fantastic adventures for sure. I actually followed his travels on his blog a few years ago before anyone had heard of him. Then his YouTube video came out and the rest is history. He's had something like 11,000,000 views. What put me off was that he's kind of packaged himself as this "social influencer" and media commodity. I wasn't sure if this was some kind of multi-level marketing program where we were all "invited" to help him finance his travels or what. I suddenly felt like an old man who says things like "back in my day, we did things the hard way! And we liked it!" I wasn't the only one left with that impression, either. I think there's intrinsic value to adventure riding that means if no other person knows about my trip then that's fine; I still walk away with that experience and satisfaction. Alex is a good kid though, and a great photographer.
Alex's famous video:
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/VTlXttQL_Yk[/flash]
One very thing about the event is that they chose "Lost for a Reason" as their charity and raised about $2700 for it that weekend. I raised $2,800 for them this year, but hey, who's counting? :lol8: Ron Grace was there, with his dad, and it was really fantastic to hang out with him and share his mission with everyone. I may have mentioned Brad Barker of "The Ride of My Life" before, but he's the one who put together this fantastic video of Ron and the Lost for a Reason charity:
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/97r_DLNFhYI[/flash]
Really good food! There was this huge pit bbq where they burned oak logs for a day and a half to build up a bed of coals then dropped these water soaked burlap covered chunks of a whole steer in and let it cook for another day. Best bbq ever.
Can't recall the name, but this group raised a bunch of money to buy motorcycles for some park rangers in Mongolia who patrol some really large lake.
Ted Surman is an Aussie adventure rider I met who plays the didgeridoo in my video below. I gave him a sticker You can find his page on Facebook at "Small Home Big Backyard" He got a good bit of kit donated by a new soft luggage mfg, Mosko. An early Christmas present.
This is Jimmy Lewis, my "man crush" He's a really great rider and off road motorcycle instructor. Three time Dakar racer and podium finisher; Baja 1000, Six Days, Dubai, etc... I had ridden scooters in high school but my first motorcycle was my '11 GSA and Jimmy taught me everything I know. I am going back for another class later in October.
He's wearing a KTM shirt now but was always a factory BMW rider. You might have seen is 147 mph Erzberg hill climb video on the HP2 on YouTube. He got first place on the first run but then his engine blew on the second run just short of the top. That's when they changed the rules and said it was going to be an average of the two runs, so he ended up with third.
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/5ur6bs7h4vE[/flash]
Here's some video I got from the event...
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/xDQK6o-4H24[/flash]
I'm not sure how many were in attendance but it seemed around 500. Lots of people from around the world. I did not see Matthew Snyman (of Gauteng) on his Great American Trek. I think they are in So. America somewhere (Buenos Aires?) right now. I offered my home when they come through here, so hopefully I get to meet them.
It's basically a lot of class/seminar type things on this or that person's adventure or how to load a bike, fix a tire, deal with corrupt police, etc... I guess the highlights were a visit from Ted Simon and social media's latest and most favorite adventure rider, Alex Chacon. People might hate me for saying this, but I had already heard and read a lot about Ted Simon and I didn't get much out of it. I didn't appreciate his politicized preaching at the end either, but I figure he's 84 and can do whatever he likes
He certainly has added much to the world of adventure riding, no doubt. As for Alex, I was also a bit disappointed. He's had some fantastic adventures for sure. I actually followed his travels on his blog a few years ago before anyone had heard of him. Then his YouTube video came out and the rest is history. He's had something like 11,000,000 views. What put me off was that he's kind of packaged himself as this "social influencer" and media commodity. I wasn't sure if this was some kind of multi-level marketing program where we were all "invited" to help him finance his travels or what. I suddenly felt like an old man who says things like "back in my day, we did things the hard way! And we liked it!" I wasn't the only one left with that impression, either. I think there's intrinsic value to adventure riding that means if no other person knows about my trip then that's fine; I still walk away with that experience and satisfaction. Alex is a good kid though, and a great photographer.Alex's famous video:
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/VTlXttQL_Yk[/flash]
One very thing about the event is that they chose "Lost for a Reason" as their charity and raised about $2700 for it that weekend. I raised $2,800 for them this year, but hey, who's counting? :lol8: Ron Grace was there, with his dad, and it was really fantastic to hang out with him and share his mission with everyone. I may have mentioned Brad Barker of "The Ride of My Life" before, but he's the one who put together this fantastic video of Ron and the Lost for a Reason charity:
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/97r_DLNFhYI[/flash]
Really good food! There was this huge pit bbq where they burned oak logs for a day and a half to build up a bed of coals then dropped these water soaked burlap covered chunks of a whole steer in and let it cook for another day. Best bbq ever.
Can't recall the name, but this group raised a bunch of money to buy motorcycles for some park rangers in Mongolia who patrol some really large lake.
Ted Surman is an Aussie adventure rider I met who plays the didgeridoo in my video below. I gave him a sticker
You can find his page on Facebook at "Small Home Big Backyard" He got a good bit of kit donated by a new soft luggage mfg, Mosko. An early Christmas present.
This is Jimmy Lewis, my "man crush"
He's a really great rider and off road motorcycle instructor. Three time Dakar racer and podium finisher; Baja 1000, Six Days, Dubai, etc... I had ridden scooters in high school but my first motorcycle was my '11 GSA and Jimmy taught me everything I know. I am going back for another class later in October.
He's wearing a KTM shirt now but was always a factory BMW rider. You might have seen is 147 mph Erzberg hill climb video on the HP2 on YouTube. He got first place on the first run but then his engine blew on the second run just short of the top. That's when they changed the rules and said it was going to be an average of the two runs, so he ended up with third.
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/5ur6bs7h4vE[/flash]
Here's some video I got from the event...
[flash=480,385]https://www.youtube.com/v/xDQK6o-4H24[/flash]
