Colorado Forum Ride 2012: Place and dates set

[PJ-Hunter]

The ride will be at Vagabond Ranch by majority vote on both sled forums.

The date will be February 24th-26th.

Here is a basic rundown of what the owner of Vagabond Ranch sent me:

I strongly recommend you come check it out soon as it will help with some of the questions you will get and its a good excuse to get out of the house. If you go to our website and click Hut Info there is a picture of every bedroom, open sleeping, kitchens and etc. I think this will be a really helpful tool. I'm here to help though, just tell me what info you need and I will get it.
If you want the whole ranch 2/23-2/26 it will cost $3,809 for three nights and thats with 12% off. That includes Ranch House, Cascade and Parkview. It will sleep 36 people on their own beds but there will be some shared rooms for some. I know this will be tough for some dudes to deal with so we might not end up with 36.
Linens are extra, $300 for Cascade and $200 for Ranch House. You can also just bring your sleeping bag. Most snowmobilers that come pay for linens and skiers bring bags.
We sell gas and booze now but just beer and wine. 88 octane, non ethanol, I know, couldn't get 91 non ethanal out here this year.


I will need a deposit to hold the dates. Its nothing personal, just business learned the hard way. I normally don't even do deposits anymore unless I really know the people well. Hope that is understandable as its our busiest time of year.

Let me know what I can help with,

And thanks a million for the promotion, greatly appreciated. As for the snow,,..well I will keep my fingers crossed. I'm guessing the first half of the season is going to be the snowiest with La nina still in force. Its supposed to end in December from what I heard but who knows...

Jeremy

I don't think the prices are too far off from what has been spent in the past. The setting is different than what we have seen in the past also. It's more a actual ranch style than actual cabin or single motel room style. I hope to start getting a lost of actual attendees so we can collect monies and give VR a deposit.

Here is the link to the ranch:
Vagabond Ranch

Yes, most of the pics are of skiers but I know the owner and he is an avid sledder, not just a skier. You can also check out his Facebook page:
Vagabond Faceboook

The last four years have been at the same places and it's time to see something different. Lets's give this a shot and not let the Forum Ride die, please.

Thanks and we will be seeing you at the Snow Show in a couple weeks.

Ralph

 

[tudizzle]

Sunday thru Wednesday for the ride?


Why did you end up selecting these dates.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

Sorry, that was a typo. I meant staying the nights of 24, 25 and 26 February of 2012. Original post has been edited.

 

[Fast Rider]

Looks like an awesome place. I'm hoping for good snow as this forum ride should be a blast! I tried to get one together when I was on the east coast (thru hcs) and know how tough it can be. Your legwork is much appreciated PJ. I'm looking forward to it. So what's the typical next step..you gotta figure out how many attendees there will be? Poll?

 

[tudizzle]

Sorry, that was a typo. I meant staying the nights of 24, 25 and 26 February of 2012. Original post has been edited.

You looked at a 2011 calendar?...that was a weekend.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

You looked at a 2011 calendar?...that was a weekend.

Possibly. I used the one on my smartphone and I've only had it a few days and sometimes I mess it up. But the dates are corrected now.

 

[skibreeze]

Maybe start a poll to get an idea of how many people would be willing to send money to reserve the ranch and then we can go from there.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

We have to send deposits in every year no matter where we stay. I'm trying to find out who all is going. Once I get that figured out, I'll either round up the money or have each individual send it to him.

So if you are going, please let me know. I'm already talking to last year's donors for the raffle. I will start a poll to see where peeps wanna send the raffle proceeds.

I will also be going up there the 1st to check it out and do a little single track riding .

 

[backcountryislife]

so.... what are the dates NOW?

20-22 or 27-29?

if we're seriously talking about 23-25, be prepared to be lonely.


Assuming it's one of those weekends (preferably the latter weekend) we're in. How would couples work? Obviously we only need one bed, but not sure how that would go rate wise. (not sure how many other couples there are really)

We'd bring bags.

I'm willing to put a deposit down IF we've got a confirmation that the price will be close to what is quoted, which puts me at $141 assuming we pay full price despite only using one bed.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

I dunno man. Every weekend that he has available, people have other plans. Honestly, I'm tired. I ended up taking the ride stuff over last year and over half the people than confirmed they were going backed out in the end.

Now, most of the CO peeps I know are either riding somewhere else or are going to the BCR ride in West Yellowstone.

I can't, in all fairness to Jeremy keep this going, send deposits and have him reserve cabins and then have people back out, change their minds and not come. Not only would people lose out on deposits, Jeremy would lose business having the place reserved and I'd have to ship donations back to the people that sent them.

If someone has a GOOD suggestion I'd be willing to hear, but after talking to various people over the weekend, I'm under the impression that the interest is not there and finding 36 people isn't looking that great.

I'd hate to see a traditional ride die, just because it isn't happening on Grand Mesa or in Silverton. Personally, I'd have been happy at any of the three places, but some weren't.

 

[dejadoo]

I would be more interested if it was a little less organized, just my opinion.
Just pick a place and time to meet to ride and a place for food and drinks afterward. The riding means much more to me than the social event.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

I would be more interested if it was a little less organized, just my opinion.
Just pick a place and time to meet to ride and a place for food and drinks afterward. The riding means much more to me than the social event.

Don't we already do that every weekend?

 

[dejadoo]

Don't we already do that every weekend?

I don't get to ride every weekend and usually ride from the same few places with mostly the same other riders. I have had two previous CO forum rides that I planned on attending, but things came up a week or two before hand and I couldn't make it. Just saying, it would be a lot easier just to pick a weekend and a place than getting a bunch of people to commit to lodging 6 months ahead of time. I would like to see this ride continue every year also, even though I haven't made it to one yet.

 

[PJ-Hunter]

^^^^ Whenever you wanna ride with new folks just ask. Show up at (for example) RE at the Muddy creek lot and there are lots of Snowesters that would be more than happy to have ya. And there are lots of different places to get yourself into trouble up there. LMAO!

I ride there because I don't feel the need to drive for hours to ride. (I'm lucky to have a decent job and live up here) but sometimes I do enjoy trying something different and I plan to this year. I hope to ride over towards Craig, Yampa and Spring Creek. I found some sick terrain up past Yampa that looks insane! Can't wait to see it covered in snow.

 

[riceburner]

so what is the deal here? Please confirm dates - for real. My brother and I - possibly another friend - would like to make the forum ride this year from mpls / des moines.

Please advise and what would deposit be per person?

Thanks PJ for the work.

Jon

 

[backcountryislife]

so we really were looking at doing this during the week? Or are we just not doing it at all?

Can someone explain what the F is going on?

This shouldn't be that tough.

We had that many people that came to SLO, a trail ride fest, I can't imagine that we'd get less people for this.

SO, what weekends does he have available? Find one, make it the weekend, and go that way. Do we NEED to have 36 people? WHY? What happens if we have 22? or 26?

Sorry to not be empathetic, but I don't see why we can't just get a date to work with?

 

[PJ-Hunter]

It's bagged. I'm sorry but times couldn't be worked out. People said they wouldn't come if it was one weekend or another weekend. People said they wouldn't come since it wasn't in Silverton or GM. With the pricing and deposits needed to reserve lodging I felt it too big a gamble and I personally couldn't afford to put it on my card and hope that enough people came and I didn't feel like eating a huge loss.

The weekend I chose to try and accomodate everybody turned out to be the same weekend as the BCR ride in Island Park and quite a few folks that usually come to the Colorado ride are going to that so there goes at least 10 regulars.

It sucks and I'm sorry but it's not in the cards this year. If somebody else wants to try, they are more than welcome to it but it is honestly too hard and time consuming for one guy to do it. And frankley, I got tired of comments from the peanut gallery telling me what and how to do it, when they have never attended a forum ride since I started going 6 years ago.

I'd welcome any help but I can't do it by myself.

 

[backcountryislife]

I can't do this since I'm a "basic", but can someone post a poll for what weekend would work for a "not" forum ride?

I'd think we could still get a decent chunk of people, and they can fend for themselves if need be, there's hotel rooms all over the place, we live in a tourist state.

So it sounds like Vagabond is out then, so where would be the next most favorable spot?

If you're worried about the plans of a few people, it'll never work.

Worst case scenario, lets just have a few come up with a place & date that works for a few.

I could care less where as long as it's within 3 hrs or so, like GM or CB at the furthest.

It's like herding cats... and doos... and poos...

 

[Gmiller]

I'd like to set a date, time and yadda, yadda but unfortunately im starting a business that only allows me to travel somewhere if i know its going to be bluebird for the weekend where i live. I can sneak up to GM pretty easily though even if i can only make it 1 or 2 days. I would be fun to have a more "organized" ride so we can meet and ride with everybody. I of course wouldn't know until the last minute if i can go though. Keep us posted.....

 

[bushy]

I'd recommend going back to presidents day. Doesn't fit for everybody but that's the best weekend for most. You did a great job Ralph. It's not easy and there's nothing wrong if you don't want to deal with it. Chances are, someone else will step up and take it on.