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We didn't know what kind of riding we would be doing this time in Silverton, so Laurie and I decided to trailer our bikes and various gear instead of riding. I was glad the HU meeting was back in Silverton, since the local riding was better than it had been around Gunnison last year. We also booked a Bed and Breakfast instead of camping, so it was going to be an easy event for us.
I had volunteered to do some presentations, and Grant Johnson (the operator of the HU site) scheduled me to fill three time slots. I re-worked my PowerPoint slide shows, but I thought that they were maybe still too long.
Laurie and I arrived in Silverton on Thursday and helped get the facility set up for the event. There were about 60 people registered for the meeting, still only about half the number who had attended here a few years ago. The slump in the economy was still taking its toll.
That evening, I gave my first presentation to only about 25 people who had arrived that day. I had broken my South America presentation into two sections, so it was limited this evening to Don and I riding from Bogota to Ushuaia. I was right about the show being too long, and I ran over my allotted time. Everyone else did, too, so I didn't feel too bad.
The other presentations were all good, including rides around Australia, Alaska, and Africa. The best thing about HU meetings is getting to meet and talk with riders who have been all over the world. This is why riders come to these meetings, and I encourage all riders to attend one of the Horizons Unlimited Travelers Meetings somewhere in the world at some point.
On Friday, Laurie and I were joined by a few others for a ride over Ophir Pass. This is one of the easiest passes in the region, but it was still more than Laurie had ever done before. I had encouraged her to bring the XT225 instead of her KLR so she could get more experience on challenging routes. If we were to ride together in South America at some point, she couldn't plan on always having good roads.
The initial ascent was easy and scenic.
The last few miles were steeper and had more loose rocks, so Laurie went slowly. She and Scott, the rider who had stayed with her, finally joined the rest of us at the top for some photos. (I had led the ride, so I didn't see much of her on the way up.) We met two other KLR riders at the top of the pass, both from New Mexico.
Another woman rider in our group was concerned about the descent down the west side of the pass, but she managed it pretty well. Everyone else had no problems aside from Laurie, who hadn't ridden anything that steep and challenging before this.
I stayed with Laurie on the ride down, and our group broke up so everyone could ride at their own pace. Our friend, Scott, stayed with us as well, but he and I mostly just stayed with Laurie in case she had any real problems. She didn't, but she was never able to relax and let the bike roll at a decent speed. Because of this, she was exhausted and had to stop frequently to rest. These photos are very deceiving--she was really struggling to keep moving without falling over. When she gets more confidence, she will find it much easier to move faster and let momentum help her over the rocks. Still, the views during her ordeal were very nice.
Once back down on pavement, we rode up toward Telluride and took a break. Scott went back over Ophir Pass, but Laurie wanted nothing to do with that, so she and I did the long, paved route back up through Placerville, Ridgeway, and Ouray, finally getting back to Silverton in time to catch a few of the afternoon presentations before dinner.
The evening shows were again good, and I gave an hour on my ride to Alaska in 2008. Other presentations included rides through Russia and South America.
Laurie and I were totally lazy on Saturday, and didn't ride at all. All that riding gear we had trucked up went unused, but that's okay.
We sat through all the afternoon presentations, despite the difficulty everyone had in seeing the video projector's image. During the day, the meeting room was too bright (lots of windows with inadequate shades), so that was something that would need some attention in the future. After dinner, there were more ride presentations, including Greg Frazier's standard show about having ridden around the world five times. I was the last presenter, and since everyone had again gone over their allotted time, I didn't get started on finishing my South America until after 10 PM. I, too, ran long and didn't finish until 11:30. Grant had videotaped the evening's presenters, so we might end up on a DVD at some point.
We helped pick things up on Sunday morning before saying our goodbyes, and I promised Grant that I would see about locating another venue for next year's Colorado meeting.
Anyone know a good place in Colorado to host maybe a hundred people, where there is a good room to give presentations, plenty of camping space, a few restaurants, nice riding nearby, and maybe a few cheap hotels in the area?