Wow, what a fantastic weekend. As everyone knows, the weather forecast was not ideal, but the actual weather for most of the weekend what not too terrible at all. On Friday everyone who rode south for 20 minutes from dealership reported sunny blue skies and warm temps. The weather was cool that evening, but rains held off.
I believe most everyone stayed dry the majority of their ride on Saturday. Later Saturday afternoon the rain did hit, but Kevin and Larry did not hesitate to invite us inside the dealership for the meal they sponsored and the raffle giveaway.
From what I could tell, all 120 hardy souls that attended the 2016 Camp N RIde didn't let the less than perfect weather dampen their attitudes or keep them from having a good time. How often do you get around that many people in the rain and everyone is still smiling? It was great.
Yes, 120 people is less than the 161 we had signed in last year. Considering there were at least three organized adventure/dual sport bike events happening this weekend, I'm am extremely pleased that so many of you decided to return to the Camp N Ride. Next year we will return to our fully in the month of May schedule and eliminate the overlap with those doing an end of April event. All things considered, 120 is a awesome turnout when you're competing with other options and the weather, too.
This weekend was a win/win event. The riders were happy, Romney management was very happy with the weekend, and both Suzuki and Yamaha were extremely happy with the caliber of rider that came to them through our event. Same kind of report we had from the Suzuki demo guys last year.
I had the pleasure of spending some time with the Yamaha Regional Rep. His first question was, "what can we do to make this event better for you?" You have to love it when the factory rep starts a conversation that way. He listened very intently, and seemed to really be taking in the suggestions that were given. I also had a similar conversation with the Kawasaki Regional Rep. He was also very interested in participating in the future Camp N Ride events. Overall the factories supported by Romney are impressed with the Camp N Ride event and plan to be a part of them in the future.
Although our attendance was smaller, the generosity shown by the riders was a whole lot bigger. At one point I was telling Bob (Checkswrecks) that we were very close to raising as much money as we had collected last year. Two riders heard the conversation and immediately reached in their pockets and said "how much do you need?" That was a great example of the type of people at the Camp N Ride. Ultimately we had a late rush of contributions and we easily shot past last year's total. It will take a little while before the know exact total including shirt donations. It will be an amount that will reflect great credit to those who contributed this year. I should mention the contributions from those who could not attend was significant and it would not have been possible without them. Thanks to everyone.
I do want to acknowledge just how much Kawasaki stepped up regarding the prizes for the raffle. They provided 3 riding jackets combined worth over $1,300. It's a long way from our top prize being a (very nice) shirt. Huge thank you to Kawasaki for the support. Congratulations to Flyfish Jeff for winning the grand prize of a Helite inflatable jacket.
I heard there was a little confusion regarding how the raffle tickets worked. We initially asked people to fill out their names on the back of each ticket. As some point we realized we already had everyone's information on the sign-in sheet and the wrist band number would be sufficient. All tickets (name or wrist band number) were in the bag during the drawing. Which is why we sometimes called a number and other times read off a name.
I feel comfortable saying the use of volunteers was a great success. Big thank you to Larry, Steve (Gunner), Alan (twodogs), and Ann (Happygirlluck). Friday was a very busy sign in day and Ann, Larry, and Alan had the desk running as smoothly as it could have been. There was a great team effort happening and I was really happy to have them making everything work so well. Bob and Steve has everything covered nicely on Saturday. We will definitely be using volunteers again in 2017.
Some of our fellow riders also deserve acknowledgement for their roles. When Firedog45 (Steve) is not busy doing underwater testing of his BMW, he was cleaning up route files for everyone to use. Gunner (Steve) was at home screen printing shirts that he offered to increase donations to the charity. Rudderfeet (Scott) worked for months creating the ride sheets, spent money laminating them, created and hosted the website for the routes, sent SD cards with the routes loaded, donated a iPad to the school, and sent a very generous donation. Honestly Scott's contribution to the event was enormous. Thank you to Scott and all those who went above and beyond to make 2016 a great success.
Of course none of this happens without Romney deciding they are going to put their time and money into this event. Kevin (owner) and Larry (GM) were both very pleased with how the event went this year. They have already started discussing how they can make improvements for next year. All I can say is thank you Romney for your continued support and hosting of this event.
As for me...in a weekend full of good stuff, I have to say my favorite moment was when Ed (Whistler on trooper) walked in and said hello. Last time I saw Ed was during the 2014 event as I was watching him being loaded into the helicopter blocking the road ahead of our group ride. To see him back, happy to be there, and thrilled to be on a bike again, it was awesome. Welcome back, Ed. So glad you have you join us again.
On Saturday night someone asked me why I do my part in this event. The truth is, I love it. I love sharing with all of you the Romney experience. They are something special in the motorcycle world and you need to come here to see what that means. I love sharing my community, the adventure riders, with Romney. You guys reflect the best qualities of motorcyclist in both the US and Canada. Respectful, generous, responsible...just plain good humans. Romney started this event to get to know the adventure riders. After 5 years I'm really proud of what they have learned.
Thanks to all of you.
See you May 5/6/7 next year.