I rode out around 9:00 AM and by 11:30 I had gotten there with Scarlett, we took a bit longer than usual as we stopped for pictures of Long Peak along the way. Oh, and Scarlett went over 1000 Km today so I'll be performing her first service tomorrow.
Long Peak from County Rd 32, near the I-25 Super Slab
Shot with 16X zoom
There was already several folks at Unique Rides, several of them being fellow Uralisti who'd come to check out the EFI rigs. I saw some new folks as well and met with several of them over the course of the next few hours.
In particular, two gentlemen I met stood out in that one brought a spiffy KLR 650 Sidecar Rig with an old Jawa sidecar frame attached, very cool. The first one was Jim K was his name and I'll be adding him to the Uralisti email list for future rides. I am curious how this rig will do alongside the URALs:
Jim K's KLR650 Sidecar Rig
The second gentleman I met was Brad B, a fellow Army Veteran from the Infantry though he's much younger than I, having fought in the more recent conflicts. My first view of Brad was of him astride one of the demo rigs with his service dog "Captain" in the sidecar:
Brad and Captain
Captain is a service dog, helping Brad deal with the PTSD he developed while serving in combat. We had some long conversations and Brad definitely has stories to tell. I hope someday to help him tell the story of how he found remnants of several URAL motorcycles over in Iraq, and his mechanics pieced one together to ride about near his compound in Iraq:
As a First Lieutenant of Infantry in Iraq
Another shot of two year old "Captain" A Combat PTSD Service K9.
A very friendly yet highly disciplined dog, I was very impressed.
I also met fellow Uralista Mike M but failed to get a picture of him with his gorgeous 2013 all red Tourist. His rig was immaculate and of course, of the correct and fastest color choice! Instead, I stole this picture from his Facebook page:
Mike's 2013 Tourist
Finally I met another Uralista named Paul who had a forest fog GearUP, he'd driven up with a buddy of his for parts and stuff and we chatted for a bit. He and another lady remarked that they read this blog, it's always nice to run into folks who read one's stuff.
Here's some pictures of rigs that stood out to me out of the many motorcycles, sidecar rigs, trikes, and scooters at Unique Rides.
Here's Tammy's custom painted sidecar rig, simply beautiful isn't it?
Valencia, along with the other rigs that are for sale at Unique Rides
Quite the eye-catches, a Royal Enfield with Sidecar Rig
I spent the day at Unique Rides, talking with folks and learning some new things about my rig from Dave, the URAL rep who is taking the demo bikes around the country to all the dealer demo days. I'd met Dave before when I visited URAL Headquarters on my way north to Alaska last year. Dave was a fount of knowledge and tips and both Randy and I learned new things today.
Randy, owner of Unique Rides and Dave of URAL posing
by a "Sage Green" 2014 Gear UP
It was great to see fellow Uralisti, Darrell and his lovely wife Piper on their 2014 Patrol "Babe" as in Paul Bunyan's Blue Ox, Roy and Janet N., Tim L, Steffen and his son Nicholas, Mike Byers, Nick from Loveland, Dan K from Blackhawk who had to drive a cage since there was 15" of snow on the ground at his home in the mountains! Apologies if I forgot anyone, there was just so much going on today!
Everyone who took one of the 2014's out for a demo ride came back impressed with the torque on the new rigs, I didn't hear anything negative and there were a lot of smiles on faces!
I didn't leave until close to 5:30 PM, arriving home two hours later tired and hungry but glad for the time I spent at the Ural Demo. Good people, sidecar rigs, new friends and old friends.....truly a good day.
11 comments:
That looks like a good time. I've heard that they have been traveling around the country with their demo trailer. How long are the demo rides and how do they teach someone to ride safely or do they not go on the roads?
Tammy's rig is definitely the star of the day (well, for me it is), although I really like the Royal Enfiield hack, too.
What an amazing collection of bikes. Isn't it just great to meet up with all these wonderful likeminded people? There must have been tons of stories (and adventures - good and bad) to tell.
What a great day out.
We missed the demo days at Raceway in Salem due to Snowpocalypse II. I am sure that wouldn't have kept you guys away though.
For some reason I never get tired of seeing your Urals in front of the snow covered peaks. So nice.
RichardM, a good time indeed. I didn't go on a demo ride but they were perhaps 30 minutes long, they were led by Dave and I saw newbies practicing in the field belonging to the dealership where they store U-Haul equipment before they rode out.
SonjaM, I thought Tammy's rig would appeal to you. :) The Enfield Hack looked good but I will tell you this...one of the Uralisti took it out for a test drive, and when he came back, he stated: "I never thought I'd say this, but the Enfield made the Ural seem smooth". Lots of stories being told, some lies, a couple of exaggerations...typical motorcyclist gathering. :)
RichardM and SonjaM, added photoshopped version of one of the pics to the lineup....got rid of annoying traffic signs.
Thanks Trobairitz, I just updated the post with a photoshopped version of the mountain pic, with the traffic signs removed....I hear only two people showed up at the Raceway Services demo, the snow kept them away apparently....methinks folks missed a chance at riding URALs in snow.
Hey Dom,
Was that Paul you mentioned from Laramie? If it is, I met him last year when he rode his Yamaha TW200 all the way to Moab for the meet. I know he recently bought a rig from Randy.
Good to see everyone again.
Cheers,
Dan K.
C6 as you know I was a no show yesterday, just wasn't in the stars that controls the time clock. However I have been waiting to read about what turned out to be a most excelent day, thanks. I'd be guessing Dan K was the Royal Infield test pilot. I suppose my demo ride will come in a couple of weeks getting to ride the demo in the 'real world' of the roads, rocks and deserts in Moab, aka "Spring in Moab" 'THE' Ural gathering, 27 and counting, you should really come, we need a great reporter like yourself
Dan K. Unknown if Paul is from Laramie...he was driving a Forest Fog GearUP.
Spat, you missed a good time, haven't seen that many Uralisti in one spot in a long time....just goes to show we've got to get a group ride going soon!
Hey Dom,
Great to meet you at the demo! I feel immortalized in the blogosphere now hah . I am indeed from Laramie and it was a fun ride with my 325 lb friend in the sidecar. It was great seeing all the Ural folks!
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