Help Sought For Elephant Ride Documentary
The morning of the ride in 2010, my first time there.
It hadn’t crossed my mind but it must be getting near time for this year’s Elephant Ride. That’s if they’re having one. I’m not sure on that. A lot has changed, not the least the fact that Guanella Pass has been paved.
OK, I’ll back up for those of you who are not familiar with this event.
Long ago, in a distant galaxy–or something like that–a bunch of guys were out riding on a February day and decided to go over Guanella Pass from Grant to Georgetown–who cares about the snow?! They succeeded and a tradition was born.
So my point here–what that headline is about–is that I got an email the other day from Shannon Wilson who tells me he is hoping to do a documentary about the event. But he’s hoping to find some help. Here’s the email.
I’m an E-Rider from the ’90s and a friend of Greg Frazier and the other founders.
You probably know from you experience and looking around online that there is a quantity of material on past rides. There actually is a lot more that isn’t yet online, unless it has been archived in the magazines for which I wrote and photo’ed several stories. I think that a few other participants also have pics. I had enough material that I gave a second scrapbook to Steve Grady of STS Powersports in Conifer.
Last year I wrote to Greg, who winters in Thailand, to say I’ d help if he wanted to turn the stuff into a doc. He said he doesn’t make films anymore, but he liked the idea. He was planning his next foreign ride and couldn’t do anything more about it. I contacted Jim Wear, the owner of the Rocky Mtn MC Museum in the Springs, but he’s given me the impression that he doesn’t get the regional historical importance of the E-Ride, and so far, that inquiry hasn’t gone anywhere.
My other ideas for at least archiving the original items are the Summit County Historical Society, Anamosa MC Museum, and the AMA. At some point, on or before my expiration, the material will have to go somewhere, but be that as it may, I’m hoping to meet someone who is interested and capable of helping to film and narrate the material. It’s a great, entertaining, at times hilarious story that is absolutely the descendant of the zany stuff that mc people of the past used to do in the pursuit of fun. It would be a Colorado cultural tragedy to lose the story in boxes on a shelf or unnoticed archives.
If you can help with finding someone–this person would be given everything I have, contacts, etc., plus could use the other online stuff, and this person could be a good amateur or perhaps pro videographer looking at an easy and fun project. There is a possibility that Greg might narrate it, which would be ideal.
I’m hoping to scan most of my stuff this year into my laptop before I leave on an mc trip for the summer. I hope you’re planning a fun-filled summer of your own, and can give this request some thought.
Thanks,
Shannon Wilson
If you have the skills and are interested, Shannon can be reached at this address that I’m not spelling out directly because I don’t want some spammer scraping it off this blog: shanana plus wilson (all one word) and then the @ symbol and yahoo.com.
Also, if anyone has any idea if the ride is on for this year I’d sure appreciate you letting me know. Thanks.
Tags: Elephant Ride
