Force ride 3 - so where?

Here's a little more Colorado information and opinion guys.

Silverton;
We ran into a guide from Adventure Motorcycle Tours while in Silverton who claimed there really are no single track trails in the area that are mc legal. So Silverton would leave us in an isolated area with jeep road riding only.

Gunnison;
A nice area but somewhat of a desert scene. It's about 20 highway miles to South Crested Butte (or CB South) where the really good single track and scenery begins. It would be further and take longer taking jeep roads.

Crested Butte (Cement Creek Road);
To me the best option for all around two-track, single-track and scenery. There is a road called Cement Creek Road which takes off seven miles south of Crested Butte in the development called CB South. CB South has a gas station/convenience store near its beginning at highway 135. Shortly after starting up Cement Creek Road it turns into gravel. I noticed several guest cabins (in two separate locations) along Cement Creek Rd. Don't know if they offer RV hookups but they do look inviting. The cabins furthest up the road looked UHE style as they were somewhat rustic and looked more affordable.

We did have to trailer the bikes about 1-1/2 hours to Lake City for the very scenic San Juan range but that was more than worth it.

For those interested in finding more about the CB South area and cabin rentals, I'm sure google could find something. Make sure to look for Cement Creek Road.

I'm sure the UHE locals have some good input and/or could do some investigating if interested. (hint-hint cheeseberger, kadlec, jzfe, buzzard)

log

Bump

i trust the two colorado vores will be combined at sometime?

i'm one of the thre that went for silverton and would swop to gunnison.

regards

Taffy

if the road riding is good why not invite the road reguistered ones along this time?

not sure of the laws in the USA but i see plenty of road registered ones!

regards

Taffy

Magic 8 ball says BUMP. Sorry, to have been away. Like Taffy said I have moved back to Portland, but that is not to say that I am not willing to help support a China Hat FR3.

The adventures of Log and Cheeseburger look sounded great and the scenery is spactacular, so Colorad has it's appeal as well.

So at this stage of the game I don't know which way to vote, part of me wants to share where we ride here and part of me wants to see Colorado, so, I guess I am on the fence.

Good to see you back BendBerg or is it now PortBerg ? FYI the pictures barely do justice to the real thing. FR3 here will not dissappoint, I promise.
Later
Ron

Thanks Stove, staying with Bendberg since home is where the heart is (and my familly). I look at Logjump's pictures and I am sure that I will not be disapointed in Colorado. Life is slowly getting back into some form of normal again, so I will not complain about financing. If I want to go (and I do) I'll find a way to make it happen.

unfortunately I dont know much about any of the locations to give an accurate vote, however, growing up in the D37 desert, now living in So Oregon trees, it seems Colorado would be a pretty cool place (mainly because I've never been). China Hat is fun though, however, I dont know it enough to accurately state it is an ultimate destination. I, personally love riding Ocitillo Wells, CA area and would love to be apart of a ride there some day...but again, my vision of a destination location may vary from others...my .02 may not count for much though depending on when the ride is going to take place.

Another thought would be somewhere north like BC?

I was reading an old post in this topic (Force ride 3- so where) again, and it kind of bugged me. So for the lad's who think the "other Oregon boys" are off the radar until game day, know this. All the rest of you are blerps on our radar screens. You all give us so much entertainment and sometimes silly suggestions that we have nothing to say. Know this, we are always watching you. But you might have one thing right, I'm not on UHE every single day, and I don't have something to say about everything, as I tend to learn from others, rather than know it all!!

I personally would like someone from Oregon to actually try to sell us on China Hat. Do some research on what it will take to pull it off. Airport info, accomodations and transportation for those that fly in etc.. I know personnally that if the ride was in Oregon, I would probably fly up rather than drive.
The guys that fly in have there gear bag, some street clothes and couple of bucks in there pockets, thats about it. I think the number that fly in might double that of Force Ride 2 due to location. I may be way off base with that estimate, but thats the feel I get for it.
So, the gauntlet has been thrown down. Show us that it is viable. Whats it going to take to make it happen. I know BOSS and company are more than capable of handeling the riding activities. The hard part is that the riding is only just short of half the fun of one of these meetings.

I'm sorry if you guy's feel disrespected up there. I sure nobody meant any disrespect. I think we just need alittle more information.

spot on ken

i have put it in far plainer words, 'let us know what you have?' was the request, a call to let us know what was vailable.

as many NW riders will attest too, i wrote to ALL members regardless of their location (i simply hit all the first 3 pages of members with the most posts and stopped at blokes with about 200 posts) and asked them to cast their vote with neither fear nor favour.

behind the scenes, PMs have been sent requesting that someone from oregon region would get some facts on paper. its difficult to see how much more could have been done. a 70 post whinger on top oif this, far from making me feel bad just says to me "just as i thought...."

nobody has stepped up to the plate. opportunity has been there and it hasn't been taken. the deal could have been sealed and closed. with my brusque attitude i doubt i've bought a vote here so i can only think its the complete lack of info from that region and the sheer beauty of crested butte et al.

given how few people live in the CO area, the vote lead is far greater than it looks. i'm certain that CO has truly deserved its present lead which is based on the once-in-a-lifetime topography.

regards

Taffy

I DONT LIVE IN EITHER PLACE BUT HAVE RIDDEN IN BOTH STATES AND AT A FEW LOCATIONS IN EACH. ( sorry capslock)
I think the Larger problem with Or is the restrictions placed on bikes in that state and the lack of knowing where a place with accommodations that would work for us is. Having a tag on my bike make it very easy for me to go any where and not have to trailer if its not too far but that is not the case for many of us. I know that CO is more bike friendly than OR and they tend to look the other way in many areas in regards to a tag if your not being stupid much like Nevada. You will have world class ridding and views in both locations. Both places are a long way from most members so I guess thats a toss up. Kens right as well as Taffy the riding must be good but... there is so much more to these gatherings and a place that we can all stay at, Cabins/hotel/campground/trailer is a MUST have for the event to be as good as the past. I for one thought the ridding in Moab was ok. but the recreation with the other members was fantastic. Being from the desert I would prefer more single track through the trees for the riding.

I know that Boss is busy doing the long distance ride to the dealer show and then Vegas to Reno race as well as his business so maybe one of the other guys J willy, Johnnycat, etc can give us the scoop.
There called ya out in the open since my bro from England is so around the bush
How about it PNWET guys got a place we can gather and have a good ride. If you were at the last you know what type of accommodations we need.

So this is what an hour on the internet and a phone call will get ya.
Gunnison has an airport that appears accessable from any major airport in the US. There are 3 other airports within 3 hours drive, Denver,Aspen and Colorado Springs.
I found this place for lodging.
http://www.3riversresort.com/other.htm
60-100 people, no problem. They do big groups often. It looks like it would run $30-65 a night depending upon what you want as far as rooms etc.. It all depends on how comfortable you are with sharing space. They have single rooms up to houses for 8, and everything in between.
There is no place for camping or RV's but there is a State campground about 2 miles away and a private campground about 4 miles away.
They do have meeting areas available both inside and out (reserved for a fee).
The property is located right between Gunnison and Crested Butte. About 10 miles from each as far as I can tell.
Best time of year for us would probably be August 15- September 15.
The only downside I see really is the lack of camping/RV spaces. Whith the price of fuel and the somewhat reasonable price of lodging, that may not be an issue.

This is no more than an example guy's.

Ok I will give you all the info I can.
There is no cabins/lodging close; the closest lodging would be in Bend. We would all have to camp unless someone was willing to drive 25 miles each way every day. I’m sure we could accommodate everyone in campers, motor homes and trailers, it might be tight but it can be done. I know Boss has mentioned that before. Since we would all be camping we won’t have to worry about some people not having plates.

This is the link to the website for the riding area.
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/r ... ndex.shtml

This is a link to the map of the riding area. (Might have to copy and past it).
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/l ... efrmap.pdf

There is camping all over the riding area and it is all free. On the map you can find Road 25 staging area or Camp II would probably be the best place to camp as they have pit toilets. No showers except in the campers that we bring. The China Hat Guard station might work also; it might have running water by the time of the force ride. There are also a couple cabins at the gaud station that the forest service was talking about renting out. I think 3 would half to check to see if they would rent them to us.

If you want a great place to ride for all skill levels then I would think China Hat is a better choice. If you want unbelievable scenery then I’m sure Colorado would be better.

I will do everything I can to go were ever you guys decide. Colorado would be cool because I’ve never been their. I’ve ridden in a lot of different places and terrain and love going new places, China Hat is the place I love the most.
One of the biggest benefits to China Hat area with a big group is that it is very well mapped and signed. So as long as everyone has a map it is virtually impossible to get lost.

If you would like more info let me know but it sounds like we are going to be Colorado.

Bump

johnnycat said:

Ok I will give you all the info I can.
There is no cabins/lodging close; the closest lodging would be in Bend. We would all have to camp unless someone was willing to drive 25 miles each way every day. I’m sure we could accommodate everyone in campers, motor homes and trailers, it might be tight but it can be done. I know Boss has mentioned that before. Since we would all be camping we won’t have to worry about some people not having plates.
If you would like more info let me know but it sounds like we are going to be Colorado.

Click to expand...

While the riding in colorado appeals to me, I have to concur that Bend is probably more appropriate for mixed skills. One of the reasons I have not suggested having a force ride in Idaho is that it would absolutely suck for anyone with less than very strong intermediate technical skills.

I personally like the idea of riding from camp. Trailering (like in moab) always turns into a bit of a clusterf*ck and uses up an hour or so each day that could be better spent drinking beer or riding.

It seems to me that renting some rv's would be the best bet for the softies, but then there's still the food thing, as I imagine most motorcyclists can't cook for themselves, or would rather get drunk than cook (i know i would, lol).

Having said that, I'm still game for colorado, even if it means having to trailer, eat in restaurants, and ride boring fire-roads. Perhaps the time we lose by trailering will be made up by not having to cook for ourselves. At any rate, I'm pretty sure I can survive on beer and lucky charms for 3-4 days.

Velo, if you check with Colby I'm quite sure you can find something quite a bit more interesting than "boring fire roads" Besides they aren't fire roads, they are 100 yr. old wagon trails usually good for killing a few quad riders a year (they just can't seem to wear helmets)

Fire roads? well if that's all you think there is here, well its best that you guys go somewhere else :crazy:. Logs pictures may have shown some of the easy stuff, but whatever....

Velo, I can make you cry, you will be wishing you had a fire road to rest! LOL
Fritz

Fritz, Hey thanks for the laugh buddy ! I spit coffee all over my keybord on that one ! I say MAKE HIM CRY FOR HIS MOMMY !
Later