The Rally of the Rockies was to occur in Durango, Colo. over Labor Day weekend. Many Phoenix area bikers were gearing up for festivities; unfortunately, right before the event it was announced that the Rally is officially shut down. I decided earlier this year to attend the event only to find out on the road that it had been cancelled. I continued onward anyhow.

Dan Bradshaw has been a great promoter of the Rally in the Rockies event. I had not had a chance to attend any in previous years but I’ve helped Dan promote the event for 4 years now. In fact, I was in the Durango area the day that Dan committed to moving the event to the ECHO Basin Ranch. I took advantage of the information and reserved a room at the Mesa Verde Motel in Mancos, Colorado. This little community is about 5 miles from the rally site. I thought for once that we had the advantage of getting a room at the location before anyone else had a chance and would be rewarded one of the closest locations to the event. Now, all we had to do is wait for the event date.

The event was to officially start on Wednesday, August 30th. We left Tuesday morning the 29th because we wanted to ride across southern Utah and make it a two-day trip on the way to the event. Well, Tuesday night, while in southern Utah, I found out that they shut the event down. Bummer!

There was no stopping now. Besides, it’s a great place to ride and I would not let a little thing like that deter us from having a great time. Besides, I was curious about the event cancellation and what was going to happen.

The non-event or Rally in the Rockies (Not!) was not a big loss to us. But can you imagine the frustration to a lot of riders that did not even know about it until they got there! Worse yet, all of the vendors and bands that had committed to the event could not participate at the rally that they had spent weeks preparing for. And of course, Dan was devastated.

I do not want to get into the politics or the legal part of the injunction. All that I can tell you was Dan was unable to get a stay and the county won for the time being. I assure you that there was and still is a lot of hearsay about what happened and why. If you want more information on the injunction, you can go to their Web site at www.rallyintherockies.com.

The first thing that we did when we got there on Wednesday was go to the rally site to see what was going on. Not a lot. Some long faces and upset people milling around. I did find out that the campers that had reservations were permitted to stay and were able to make use of the restaurant and bar. As for the vendors, events, bands and rides – they were all shut down and not allowed in the EHCO Basin Area.

As for the people in the surrounding area, like the town of Mancos, they could not have been nicer. In fact, they allowed some of the vendors to set up there booths in the town park. A lot of vendors ended up at Durango Harley-Davidson or went back to the old rally site in Ignacio.

In the past, Rally in the Rockies was held at Ingnacio, Colorado. They have a large area 2 blocks from Main Street where all the vendors set up and the campers stayed. This year they were not able to use this area because of legal issues. The event there is now called Ignacio Bike Week and held on Main Street. Vendors lined both sides of the streets and the Ignacio Chamber of Commerce sponsored a beer garden in the center of town.

The beer garden featured live music both Saturday and Sunday, plus the Casino was very active in bringing fun and festivities to the event. This included giving away a new Harley, hosting more bands and even oil wrestling, and much more.

We did end up staying at the Mesa Verde Motel for the three days, but found out that we were about as far away from most of the events that you could be. Again, Bummer! At least I wasn’t a vendor or Dan Bradshaw.

We did have a great time and the riding is what it is all about – the oil wrestling helped. The people in that friendly little town of Mancos could not have been nicer. My sincere thanks go out to the town of Mancos, Colorado.

What does the future hold for the Durango area? I am not sure. I did meet a very likable little lady by the name of Emily that said she is working with the Chamber of Commerce and they want to go forward next year with a new Ignacio Bike Week. If you go to their Web site at www.ignaciobikeweek.com they have already posted “The 2007 Ignacio Bike Rally is coming your way!” Stay tuned. I will be in contact with them and let you know more about the rally.

Ride Safe,
Kirk
www.phoenixbikers.com