t’s hard to imagine that there could be a better location for a motorcycle group ride than the area of southwest Colorado that has been home of the Rocky Mountain 300 since its start 11 years ago. Towns such as Crested Butte, Ouray, Silverton, Lake City, Gunnison and others have become regular stops of the previous events and riders of the RM300 all have their personal memories of great times there.
     Change, however, is something that we all deal with in our lives, and change is what was in order for the 2004 ride. This year, the three-day “Gentleman’s Trail Ride” was based in the northwest Colorado ski resort town of Steamboat Springs. Thanks to Colorado residents Rob Stickler, Ron Tuchschmidt, Don Riggle, Doug Drussel and others, all the details to host the approximately 200 dealers, sales reps, staff, vendors, press, VIP guests, guides and others who make up the ride were worked out. The courses were selected and marked, the Sheraton Steamboat Resort opened up its property for parking and the all-important Performance Alley, and the weatherman provided plenty of Colorado sunshine.
     When the riding was over and bikes loaded back into the pickup trucks, it was hard to find anyone who felt that Steamboat Springs was not a great new home for the RM300. Proving once again, that change can be a good thing.

The RM300 is always a good chance to catch up with old friends. Braking’s Brandon Baldwin (middle) “hangs out” with Parts Unlimited’s Mike Ego (left) and Scott Link of Alpinestars.

From left, Dr. Steve Augustine, Thor’s Bob Maynard and veteran RM300 guide Don Riggle take a break alongside one of the many picturesque lakes in the Steamboat Springs area.

A trip through Performance Alley is another highlight of the ride. Here FMF’s Doug Muellner is presenting the latest in off-road exhaust systems from his company.

Dealers come to the RM300 mostly to ride, but an autograph from celebrities such as Rodney Smith (left) are great to get as well.

Ride guide Dick Allen shows what a properly packed “goodie bag” looks like after a trip through Performance Alley.

Thor’s Janelle Wadlington (left) was the person to see about the event “paperwork” that needed to be completed at check-in.

The daily rider’s meetings were “must-attend” events where important details of the day were presented. This one was held on the outside deck of the Sheraton Steamboat Resort.

Thor was just one of the manufacturers that used a big rig to get everything to the RM300 that it needed to bring.

All his years of medical training helped Doc Bodnar diagnose Travis Pastrana’s head injury as a “black eye.” Travis flew straight from the X Games in Los Angeles to the RM300.

Despite a broken wrist, ankle and the black eye suffered just two days earlier, Travis Pastrana impressed RM300 attendees when he still showed up to fulfill his commitment. He was even able to muster up his trademark “thumbs up” for Demetrio Escobar.

“Tire Paul” Anderson loves nothing more about an event like this than mounting tires for the dealers.

Mitch Ikemoto of FMF reads the meter during the sound check that all bikes needed to go through. In an effort to keep the peace in the mountains, riders had to pay a fine of $25 for each decibel over 96. While most attendees understood the need, each year a few refuse to make much of an effort to comply. Come on guys. Less sound = more ground!

Tim Gallagher of Wrights Sales rolls up to the sound check the day before the ride started.

Dick Burleson explained the “simple way” to load the route charts into the holder. Everyone agreed we were happy he didn’t show us the hard way.

A great barbeque dinner of chicken and ribs was served the night before the start of the ride. No one went to bed hungry.

Photographer Kinney Jones is usually on the other end of the camera, but we caught him taking a spin on Paul Anderson’s Triumph “Pit Bike.”

Dealers Randy Thomas (left) and Gary Roe came from Oregon for the ride.

In the middle are two of Parts Unlimited’s Pennsylvania sales reps Dave Daub and Mike Ego. They have made a tradition of preparing some special “theme” bike for someone each year at the RM300. This year’s machine was outfitted so that their boss, Regional Sales Manager Don Gonzales (left) would have every convenience possible out on the trail. Emcee Rob Buydos is almost speechless.

t’s been a while since we’ve run a report on our Suzuki DRZ400 project bike. For this year’s ride we installed a 4-gallon IMS gas tank. While we didn’t actually need the added fuel range, our main purpose was to better protect the radiators which retail for over $300 apiece!
The biggest change in our machine this year involved just a couple of pieces in the clutch.      Followers of the project will recall that last year we installed a Rev-Loc clutch. We had one of the early versions and our experience was that there were a few drawbacks that offset the benefits of the original design.
     Rev-Loc inventor Doug Drussel updated our clutch before this year’s ride by removing quite a few of the springs and balls. Our Rev-Loc worked great on rocky or slippery uphills without the scary downhill “free-wheeling” that we had previously encountered. The difference was like night and day and we wanted pass this on to those who had read our previous concerns. For information on Rev-Loc call 303-292-1366 or email: info@revloc.com.

The ride begins. Jeff Nilsen from The Brothers Powersports navigates past the lake on day one of the ride.

Taking a breather are (from left) Brad Cameron of Renthal, David Veracka of Brockton Cycle Center and Mitch Ikemoto of FMF.

Pablo Veglia of Del Amo Motorsports impressed his fellow riders on the Trials bike that he rode. Be sure to check out the story about Pablo and his store that starts on page 68 of this issue.

Luis Roca of Triumph LA gives his rating of the trail.

You’re going to hit a water crossing or two when you ride in Colorado.

Ross Reed from Kansas shows good form as he navigates a crossing on his KTM.

A successful group event costs a lot of money to produce, so sponsors are also important.

It takes a lot of help and organization to put on a ride for a couple of hundred people. Ron Tuchschmidt (far left) stands with Don Riggle, Rob Stickler and the many other great people who volunteered their help as guides on the ride. (See Rider’s List for names)

Yours truly had a “little incident” on day one of the ride (See Emde Report). But the show must go on, and I was able to hobble around until the banquet on Friday night. After surgery to screw my Tibia bone back together, I look forward to riding all three days next year!

People that have participated in at least ten RM300s were honored this year. From left in front are: Steve Hyde, Mike Ego, Suzie Fleming, Greg Fleming and Doug Johns. In back from left are: Jim Woods, Steve Dickenson, Matt Jackson, Paul Anderson, Mike Garrett, Frank Edwards, Chris Carter, Don Emde, Brent Durfee, Curly Hill and Don Riggle.

Parts Unlimited’s Rob Buydos (right) interviews Mike Lafferty, one of the many racing stars on the ride and at the banquet.

As they have done for many years, Dr. Steve Augustine (left) and Dr. John Bodnar volunteered their medical services and expertise on the ride. They were honored with a nice plaque by Janelle Wadlington.

Luis Roca was named Rookie of the Year.

Steamboat Springs residents Ron Tuchschmidt (left) and Rob Stickler pulled all the necessary strings in the town to make this year’s ride possible.

Matt Jackson from World of Powersports in Illinois receives the Dealer of the Year award from Thor’s Bob Maynard (left) and Lou Lopez.

Dan Blankenship and Jeff Engleman of COHVO work all year to keep the trails open in Colorado and they were duly honored as co-riders of the year.

Parts Unlimited’s Lou Lopez (left) presented a donation to COHVCO’s Dan Blankenship. Another $3,000 donation went to ORBA from Parts Unlimited.