Third Annual CZAR, Buena Vista, Colorado.

The Third Annual CZAR (Colorado Zidecar Adventure Riders) Rally is now in full swing, a lot of Uralistas having arrived yesterday to the KOA Campground near Buena Vista, CO.

 Photo of the Continental Divide from near the western end of Kenosha Pass

Part of the Majestic Collegiate Peaks as one

approaches the Buena Vista KOA on US285.

I arrived at 10:00AM, having left home at 7:00AM and transiting down on US 285 with no incidents and light traffic.  There were ten other URAL Rigs parked near the main office for the campground, getting ready to go on the day's ride.

I dumped some gear in fellow Uralista Tim L's cabin as I couldn't get into mine yet as it was being cleaned and joined the group ride.

Julie, Craig, Indy and Tina

photo courtesy Canoewest aka Tim L.

 I believe the group shot above was on CR 187, early on in the riding.

We're still working on our "heroic pose"
photo courtesy of Scott Mu.

11 Rigs, and one two-wheeled motorcycle ridden by Steffen's son Nick, Steffen was riding his Ural Retro with his lovely wife Jody as the monkey.

I wasn't paying much attention at all to the route chosen by Jay B. for the day's ride.  Even though we did have to do some retracing of steps and several map checks, I would say the group ride was a success.  Everyone did well experiencing the varied terrain offered by the area to the SE of Buena Vista.  There were deeply rutted trails, deep off-cambered sloping trails, some mildly steep hills to test one's clutches, some pretty technical portions involving all of the above and with some loose gravel/sand and gravity making life interesting for all.

 Lunch break in a field in the middle of nowhere, peanut butter sandwiches anyone?

Some of the terrain was quite steep and "technical"
photo courtesy Jay

 Jody and Steffen catch a lttle air negotiating a steep hill
with ruts and rocks
photo courtesy Canoewest 

Craig H aka s854
photo courtesy Canoewest 

We covered a little bit over 100 km of varied terrain riding, and fun was had by all.  As you can see below, there were several stops for discussion as to which route to take to get us back to civilization.

 Towards the end of the day's riding, there was on "technical" 

spot to negotiate before hitting the last water point.

photo courtesy Janet and Roy

photo courtesy Janet and Roy

Still, as the afternoon wore on, we finally hit on the right combination of dirt trails and found our way back to CR 187 and from there back to US285 and thence to the KOA campground.

Dinner was pot luck, located at Steffen and Jody's RV as in years past, and much food and drink was consumed.  Everyone was hungry and the talk of today's riding was the main subject.  I went into town and bought a couple of cheesecake samplers as my contribution.

Called it a night shortly after 9:00 PM, early start tomorrow as we try and herd all the riders to the starting point of the orienteering courses starting at 8:00 AM.  Tomorrow afternoon, my loving wife Martha and my two sons: Patrick and Miles will be joining me in the upcoming URAL games scheduled after the orienteering courses.

Note: Lots of video and photos shot by other Uralisti, I was riding sweep for the group and didn't really get much of a chance for pictures.  As I get access to the stuff from the other photographers, I'll add it to this posting.