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High Sierra 2022


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I went a few years ago and food was catered in , is this the case ? or do we feed ouselves ? 

Our caterer retired and we thought her helper was going to pick up where she left off but he wasn’t up to it. I figured hey, we’re adventure riders and not Starbucks riders. We can figure it out. Last year seemed to go fine. A few like to cook and if you okay your cards right you can have them agree to include you in their efforts. Plenty of options close by and there’s a general store too.


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Ok that changes everything, if we're going to haul food, we might as well bring the trailer and haul the bike's, if we pull a trailer we might as well bring a bbq and fully stocked bar, and while we're at it we might as well bring the margarita machine. We seem to  be getting a decent contingent from Bako.

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For those who don’t already know, this event raises funds for Motorrad Angels, a 501.c.3 charitable organization.

It’s also a network of volunteer chapters, mostly in N and S America what do many clean water projects because these filters are easy to carry on a moto.

We’ve done many disaster relief projects too and found that having a moto makes it much easier to get in and out of some of these areas after a disaster.

We’ve been doing a series of other projects as well helping single mothers with small kids living outdoors in parks in cities like Bogota, Medellin, Lima, Quito and Santiago. We give them an apartment, food and their first months rent and then a coffee cart business. Nearly 300 mothers have “graduated” to become self sufficient and none have returned asking for more money. Most are Venezuelan refugees.

A good moto friend of ours, Nano, has stage 4 cancer and we are organizing a tour to raise money for his treatment. This tour kicks off this Sunday. We will probably raise about $12,000. I just made a donation of $600 on behalf of XLADV but that’s my own money and all funds raised from this event’s raffle will go to Motorrad Angels.

Nano runs Endurolandia, an off road training and tour company and has been one of Motorrad Angels most dedicated volunteers. He’s a great rider and was a GS Trophy competitor for Latin America.

We typically raise around $3,000 or an astounding $30/rider. This blows me away because I’ve seen other moto events raise funds and it’s more like $8/rider. I don’t think we are “richer” but it speaks to XLADV riders having bigger hearts than most.
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There's always been a certain magic about High Sierra.  Is it the weather?  Scenery?  Riding?  Nope.

It's the people.  We've always had an incredibly high number of really great people attend.

We've been lucky to only have a few bad apples in the last ten years.  There was the guy who showed up without registering or paying, refused to pay to be there and then refused to leave.  Then the guy with the careless riding and barking/hostile dog.  I think the first bad apple though was a guy who fancies himself a bit too much, calling himself the "godfather of adventure riding" who felt he didn't need to register so he got a camping spot nearby and just joined in the event.

This is called "roguing."   And just the other day I get a text from a guy named Eric Fried asking what the cost of this event is and what it covers?  I sent him a link to this thread and I said: riding, camping, campfire, raffle drawing with some great prizes to benefit a great charity, professional photography, silipint cup, etc...   Apparently that's not sufficient and he then points out "camping's much cheaper if done individually."

My response what basically don't come then.

Our event is basically $40/night.  The GS Giants last rally was $275.  They spent $4000 for a tent and the venue doubled their fee from the year before.  The Touratech Rally is essentially the same price but is only 3 nights.  They're also a much bigger company and leverage other sponsors on a much higher scale.  You might be able to get a site for $30/night (doubt it) but you're not riding with us or setting foot in our area.  You want to be "that guy?"

I can't tell you how many times I've had riders tell me to increase the price as they like it being smaller and it weeds out problems like this.

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On 8/19/2022 at 4:50 AM, Eric Hall said:

There's always been a certain magic about High Sierra.  Is it the weather?  Scenery?  Riding?  Nope.

It's the people.  We've always had an incredibly high number of really great people attend.

We've been lucky to only have a few bad apples in the last ten years.  There was the guy who showed up without registering or paying, refused to pay to be there and then refused to leave.  Then the guy with the careless riding and barking/hostile dog.  I think the first bad apple though was a guy who fancies himself a bit too much, calling himself the "godfather of adventure riding" who felt he didn't need to register so he got a camping spot nearby and just joined in the event.

This is called "roguing."   And just the other day I get a text from a guy named Eric Fried asking what the cost of this event is and what it covers?  I sent him a link to this thread and I said: riding, camping, campfire, raffle drawing with some great prizes to benefit a great charity, professional photography, silipint cup, etc...   Apparently that's not sufficient and he then points out "camping's much cheaper if done individually."

My response what basically don't come then.

Our event is basically $40/night.  The GS Giants last rally was $275.  They spent $4000 for a tent and the venue doubled their fee from the year before.  The Touratech Rally is essentially the same price but is only 3 nights.  They're also a much bigger company and leverage other sponsors on a much higher scale.  You might be able to get a site for $30/night (doubt it) but you're not riding with us or setting foot in our area.  You want to be "that guy?"

I can't tell you how many times I've had riders tell me to increase the price as they like it being smaller and it weeds out problems like this.

 

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This is the only Rally or ride I'll pay to go on, Eric does a great job and the money goes to a great cause. I'm generally totally oppossed to paying someone to take me riding, I can't imagine crashing an event that goes for charity, I'm not sure even Anthony Fauci is that low..... well maybe fauci would. 

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Right.... so have a good buddy who was going to not just trailer me up and said he'd provide food for anyone who wanted but unfortunately something came up for him of an importance that outweighs our rally (and I'm 100% fine with that).

However, I'm now looking to see if I can get my moto on someone's trailer.  I will need to drive my car because I've got the prizes, cooler, beer, water, camping gear, etc...  If not then I'm just driving up sans moto.  Maybe Harley will let me borrow one of theirs.

I reached out to @David Diaz who I heard may be coming but haven't heard back yet.  My moto is here in Rancho Santa Margarita.

 

Thx

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Okay ery body! Tracks posted in a link in the first post of this thread. Was going to put them on the FB event page but FB is jacking me around about what my “location” is. . I ride a motorcycle around the world. My location is where I am everyday.

Got some new Dunlop swag, Motopockets prizes and word that Harley is giving much better test rides this year PLUS a guided adventure ride. You can’t get that with any other bike.


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