Greetings all,
Well it's just a a couple of days under 3 months away from FR3!!!
I thought I'd give everyone a little update on what's going on behind the scenes so to speak.
I have spoken with Fritz a few times recently and he has the rides he wants to use planned out and he is now in the process of getting them laid out and mileages for each of the rides. He has a good supply of experienced riders that he will have helping lead the rides and help with support. He is enthusiastic about FR3, and is sure that everyone is going to have a great time! Fritz also mentioned that you should include some sort of a light rain jacket to carry on our rides as it can rain or snow anytime of year in the Colorado mountains.
We are also looking into what local eateries will be good for our group both for breakfast and dinner. In Fritz's words his mechanic owns the best place in town to have breakfast. And I will be talking with his wife Vicki about some other establishments for dinner arrangements on Wednesday night, Thursday night, Saturday night and perhaps Sunday night. I'm assuming here that Bobzilla will be there to cook up his famous chili for Dinner on Friday night. These idea's are not in stone, but, are idea's that are being kicked around none the less.
"I" am hopeful that we can all spend as much time together as possible in the morning and evening so that the different groups can share stories from the days rides amongst their group and will be able to swap stories with the other groups as well.
"I" am also hopeful that we will be able to have a get together or dinner on Wednesday evening to get acquainted and get things laid out for our first ride on Thursday morning. And perhaps meet our trail guides as well. For those of you who don't have an off road sticker from your home state, you will need to purchase one for Colorado on Wednesday before we start riding on Thursday.
Clay Stuckey, the Husaberg North America dealer rep told me that it appears that Husaberg will be at FR3 with 9! count'em 9 2010 model Husaberg's that will be available for test rides.
So I think now would be a good time to offer a gentle reminder to everyone to come prepared to ride.
That includes you and your bike.
We will be starting out at 8000' and riding up to 10 or 12,000', or perhaps even higher. I thought I heard Cheeseberger talk about going over a pass on one ride there at close to 13,000'. Even folks in good shape can have trouble with altitude like that. I live at about 1200' and when I go up to my summer time riding area at 8500', I always have trouble sleeping for the first couple of days. So, if you were thinking about getting in a little better shape, now is the time to start as you still have plenty of time.
I'm sure that Fritz will have at least two different categories of rides on each day A & B. Be honest about your ability and what you think you can handle, you'll probably have a much better time.
I don't mean to sound preachy here, but, go over your bike and make sure it's ready for however many days you plan on riding, hopefully all four days. I can't tell you how many times I have gone on rides with folks that did little or no prep on their bikes and I ended up working on their bikes just to get them back, or just having to sit around and wait for them to jury rig something together to get back to the truck, when they could have prevented the "adventure" by fixing the stuff at home. Things as simple as making sure there is enough air in the tires so there isn't a pinch flat. It's entirely different if things just break, dirt bikes have a way of doing that once in a while.
If your bike boils easily, now would be a good time fix that problem, could be as simple as a new radiator cap. At high altitude your bike will be more prone to boiling over than at lower elevations.
Be prepared to fix your own flat, at least have the materials, spare tube, patches and a way to inflate it once it's fixed. There will be a bunch of experienced folks all around you so fixing a flat on the trail will not be a drama.
If you need suggestions on how to prep your bike shoot me a pm and I will be glad to share everything I will be doing to my bikes before I make the long trek to Gunnison.
Well that's all for now. I hope that everyone is as excited as I am to go riding in Colorado and meet all the folks here at the UHE.
Dale