HUMM 2009 - Horizons Unlimited Mountain Madness

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Hi all,

Has anyone looked into renting dirt bikes (250-450cc) for the HUMM this year in La Molina, Spain?

Or maybe someone could bring along a bike to rent?

Any suggestions are most welcome,

Peter

Hi Pete,
I'm just working with Grant to make eight 2008 Tenere's and six 2008 KTM 450's available for hire, I think Grant intends to make booking them available off the tour page in the registration section. Please bear with me while I out this together for Grant regarding pricing and logistics. All bikes are impeccably prepared and I'll be there to keep an eye.
All the best
Tim

Is anyone camping at Quexians?
Anyone found anything better/closer?
We are definitely entered, just waiting to sort travel and accommodation... see ya there!

Bike Rentals now available!

You don't have to ride all the way, or trailer your bike, just fly in like the pro's Or if you were thinking your bike isn't the right one for the event, now's your chance to get great bikes delivered to the door of the hotel, ready and fully prepped for you, with backup and maintenance crew too!

Tenere's, KTM Enduro, BMW 450X and 650 XChallenge.

See the HUMM page for details

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I am camping, but also have a small dog, which may be a problem help!!!!!

Also, looks like the group I had thought of going with is falling through... Anyone need another team-mate? In the bigger than 645cc category...

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"I think we've stumbled onto something substantial"

Hi,

We have been doing a lot recently with the HUMM, getting hotel bookings sorted, shipping the bike down, rentals and more. Registrations are coming in steadily, and clearly everyone is getting excited already! With all the terrible weather we've had in the last while, the thought of the beautiful Pyrenees weather is all that is keeping us going, dreaming of warmth, beautifully warm riding in sunshine and glorious twisty roads!

Latest news on the HUMM

1. We have 85 riders registered already, months ahead, to ride the HUMM, so it looks like it will be a great turnout.

43 for the under-645cc
27 for the over 645
12 for the Road
2 Road Pillion
1 Brave/Crazy Off-road Pillion

If you're looking for a team mate, at the moment we have 11 singles, so it should be no problem matching you up with a team mate, but of course if you can find a friend to come along that's even better.

As we are filling up, we may need to cut off registration EARLY - so if you know anyone interested, tell them to get registered NOW!

2. Ship your bike down: Billy Bike Truck is planning on running a truck down to the HUMM, so if you're short of time, he can take your bike and gear down, while you fly in. All details on the HUMM page: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/humm#biketruck

3. Bike Rentals: You can also fly in and get a rental bike. Bikes available are Teneres, KTM Enduros, BMW 650 XChallenge, BMW 450X, so there should be one to suit you, or perhaps a chance to get a thorough "road test" on something you're interested in buying! Again, full details are on the HUMM page: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/humm

4. Ferry - Portsmouth to Bilbao - nearly full! Many dates are fully booked already, so get it sorted now!
4a. Train - Calais to Toulouse, an alternate is the RailEurope train, see French Motorail destinations en route to Narbonne and Narbonne Inbound Prices. A car and passengers with sleeper for the Sat 18th July 09 to Toulouse train = £490

5. Remember - Booklets with all the check points will be handed out to you at 11AM the day before the start, on the 20th, at the event! You and your team mates will then have until the start time (start 0800 - finish 1800) next morning to plan your route. There is a huge bar room with tables etc to do your planning. We expect this will put everyone on an equal footing technology wise and get it back to the original idea of a planning and mapping exercise - but most importantly, a fun ride!

6. Maps - Will NOT be laminated.

7. Planning, sharing, getting there: There is a thread on the HUBB just for the HUMM, where you can contact other riders and make plans, so have a look at:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...mountain-38622

It's worth subscribing to that thread to keep up-to-date on the conversation and what's happening.

8. We'll be in touch individually by - at the latest - early May with final hotel confirmations. There is lots of room, and if you have requested extra days, no worries, all is good.

We're going down on the Portsmouth to Bilbao Ferry on Monday, the 13th July, so will have time to check out the facilities and make sure it's all sorted for you. If you're going down early, we'll see you at the hotel.

Do plan a few extra days, two days can only scratch the surface, and if you haven't been down before, you'll find you regret not planning on extra days to take real advantage of the trip and get in some more riding, so book the days off now, and you'll have a great time!

see you there!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I am taking a Tranny van down this year, a mate of mine is also taking a van.
Although we have 4 bikes and all sorts of stuff on board we could take another small bike or some baggage/tyres etc down for a very modest contribution to the /diesel bill!
We leave Thurs 16 July and arrive Sat/Sun before HUMM. Will be back in UK Mon 27 July.
Luggage is easier but if you want a small bike taking its not a problem... other than the fact you would need to let us have the paperwork..... Your call!
We were there last year in a big Merc with a trailer so not entirely unknown.

Hi guys. This event sounds fun, and am v interested in doing the event on my R1200GS. I realise that there is a >645cc class, but I wonder if the R1200GS will be suitable for use on the trails for this class?

I don't mind a challenge, or knocking the bike around a bit !

But would be handy to get some comments on this.

Ta
M.

The WINNERS of the event the first year were a 1200GS and Africa twin team, and the SECOND year winners were a 1200GS and F650GS team so no problem! In fact the 1200GS could be considered a favourite.

You will want to avoid the very few bits marked as very difficult, but that's not a problem. Go for it!

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

hi i've entered the event and the lads that were supposed to go have cried off unfortunately. i took part last year and my team did quiet well it was a bit mismatched though,a 450 exc with a 30ltr tank and an old airhead 800 dakar with very dodgy fork seals.

i will be using the ktm again,im very competent off road can use a map[not great though] and fairly serious.

if you need a team mate or leader im your man. btw im camping and expect to be a day or two early to have a look around and hope to spend a few days after to enjoy the sights

please feel free to contact me. nothing ventured ,nothing gained

bernard

Hi, I'm new to this forum as I am to offroading.. so hello, everybody!

I wonder if I can get some advice from someone in the know, maybe even the webmaster ;-)

I tried to register online about a week ago but have not been able to complete registration. The allocated space to enter the bike details is not active & won't allow input. Consequently, the system does not send off the data asking to complete the missing information :-(

I could not find a way around this other than printing off the registration screens and filling in the details by hand. As I intend to take part with my 15 year old son riding pillion on my F800GS (comments invited!), I had to print many pages..
Sent everything off to Grant including payment & have yet to receive a reply.

Left in the dark, I'm unable to book a ferry passage to Bilbao, which may no longer be available by now..

Any helpful comment/advice would be most welcome!

Wolf

Hi - I guess knobblies are needed for this event. So if I was to ride down from the UK with road tyres, if there someone nearby that could fit some knobblies if I bring some with me? Perhaps LocoMoto who are doing the bike hire?

Hi,

Welcome to HU! And sorry about the problem, I know it's very frustrating when it doesn't work right!

Please try again - I've checked the form and it works fine now - maybe it wasn't properly downloaded when you tried it.

You sent the reg form to our Vancouver address I think - I have a report from our person there that a hand printed one arrived there - so it will be a while before I get the details in London.

No problem with registration, we'll get it sooner or later, and there is still space, so go ahead and make your arrangements. Any questions specifically on this should just go to me at the "contact Horizons" link at the bottom of the page.

Ferries for Bilbao have been largely unavailable for some time now, depending on which one you want.

Here's some info in recently from elefantman which may help.

It might be worth mentioning to Hummers that the French Motorail does a sleeper train service between Calais and the south of France. I believe it stops in Toulouse, which I'd venture could be a nice day's ride from Humm HQ in the Pyrenees.

It's a sleeper train where you ride your bike on and then kip for the night on the train, waking up and disembarking at the other end.

I think it makes the downward journey on Thursdays and back up on the Friday. It's a bit hard to find out about but there are phone numbers at the RailEurope website.

As for a pillion - off-road HUMM or on-road HUMM? Assuming it's off-road or you wouldn't ask, yes it's doable - we had a pillion last year ride it most of the way - bike broke so they didn't finish.

Take your time, have fun, and don't expect to win, but do expect some amazing scenery, great roads, and lots of great experiences.

hope that helps! Grant

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
------------------------
Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com