Like I said I will help out in Colorado. I have friends who live and ride in the Durango area. I am headed up there in a couple of weeks for the ADVrider.com West Fest rally. I've ridden the Taylor park area before.
To get to WF I will be riding my Berg cross country from Los Alamos NM to Lake City. This route will give me acess to the area south of Gunnison. I've ridden the major passes in the area around Lake City and Silverton area.
The maps that I rely on when I am riding in the area are the Latitude 40 series. And the local Forest Service maps.
The Latitude 40 maps include Gunnision, Crested Butte, Aspen. Crested Butte and Taylor park map. There are two more for western Colorado.
The webside is
www.Latitude40maps.com
For the FS maps just go to the
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/
We have issues with camp sites in Western Colorado.
They tend to want to book us in the off season. Then when the event comes near they want to add all sorts of costs for being there. They also try to add restrictions for bikes and camp fires.
Four years ago we booked the KOA out of Ouray for WF. We were farily quite but the camp site tried to put us close to other campers. It did not work well at all.
Two years ago we booked a site just north out of Buena Vista CO. That went better. We were lucky to have a site near the back side of the camp ground set a side for us. Keep us away from the other campers.
Last year we had WF at Sipapu NM. The riding is good but not as good as Colorado. The hosts at Sipapu host several bike events a year. They know what bikers need and are real good people.
This year WF is being held at the Texan near Lake City. It's costly. They are jurking us around. They want to charge extra for trucks and tents. Now they want a large deposit. The event has yet to be held. But at this time I am worried about how it will turn out.
We also have a camp or two right out in the National Forest. There are areas were we can camp with numbers of 50 to 75 people without needing a permit. Typically came fires are allowed. And shows can be had by driving to town finding a pay for camping site and paying 3 or 4 bucks.
I feel that we can learn from past problems. A few things that I feel will help inlcude.
Writting a good contact up front. One that lets the camp site know what exactly to expect. And to get the fees in writting.
Spending time at the camp site once the summer season starts. Visiting the site a few times before the event allow for the people to get to know you. That seems to go along way to building trust.
Having a good list of demands going in. We need to know what we want. This years WF fees are almost all going for food. Camping fees were left up to the indivual. This has not worked well.
As far as riding goes. We need someone to ride trails before the event. Last year I rode and mapped almost every rideable trail and FR in Northern New Mexico for WF. We had a local website host post the GPS tracks. There wasn't a very good map resource for northern NM so tracks were needed.
I am willing to helpout with all the topics that I covered. I can also help provide a Grill. I can help with other origional activities. But in the end I think that a event such as this. We need more than one person to pull it off. A small team of equal players could share the work load and host a really good event.
Please remember that I am not trying to promote any one area. I am new to this site. And feel that I am not a strong member. I am ok with any place that is chosen. I will try to make this event. I missed the one last year. And I don't want to miss this one.
