Huge Raffle for MoR at the launch of Sam's new book 'Tortillas to Totems'
 

Hi All,
Well, we are just 14 days away from the launch of my new adventure travel book, Tortillas to Totems, at the Ace Cafe in London. We are kicking off at 11am on Saturday the 18th of September.

I'm posting here though because it occurred to us that getting a bunch of overland enthusiasts together in one place is a really good opportunity to do some good. So we decided to organise a raffle in aid of Motorcycle Outreach. If you've been at the HU Ripley Meets over the last couple of years then you'll already know something about them. If not, then please do click on the link to find out more. Its a very worthwhile charity for anyone with motorcycles and travel in mind.

When you get to the book launch you'll find a table stacked high with raffle prizes. You can buy your tickets there from Road Kill Danny, or out and about from Nikki, Robyn, Lisa and Cogs - they will be easy to find as they will all be wearing Tortillas to Totems launch T-Shirts.

To encourage you to come prepared, this is the list of prizes we have on offer to date. And I have to comment on how amazed we are at the generosity of all the people and companies who have stumped up prizes. Thanks to all of you. Here goes with the list so far:








Voucher for a set of AVON tyres – you choose! Come and talk to Avon on their stand at the Tortillas to Totems launch.
Camera from Robert White Photographic – A fantastic bit of travel kit. Come and talk to Robert White Photographic staff on their stand at the launch.
Metal Mule voucher redeemable against Metal Mule product – great deal. Come and talk to Metal Mule on their stand at the launch.
Function 2 BMW backpack – waterproof and decidedly rugged.
Motorcycle Jacket – warm, safe and dry
Full length Rain suit – yup, winters coming
Orkney Winter Glove from Held – a pair of the best gloves I’ve ever tried
Voucher for 50% off any Stahlkoffer products & accessories - excellent
Rugged Roads Voucher for £50.00 for use at their online shop – really handy.
U TAG ICE (memory stick) – something a biker shouldn’t be without
Bike 2 Bike Intercom for open face helmets – ready for next summer
Top Gear signed and framed photo – the guys couldn’t make it so…
3 x Riders Digest Subscriptions
5 x Adventure Bike Rider Subscriptions
DVD Moto Siberia
DVD Mondo Enduro
DVD Terra Circa
DVDs 3 from Touratech
Travel Book - Tea with Bin Laden’s Brother by Simon Roberts
Travel Book - Sorebums by Simon and Georgie McCarthy
Travel Book - Lois on the Loose by Lois Pryce
Travel Book - Red Tape and White Knuckles by Lois Pryce
Travel Book - Timbuktu by Nick Sanders
Travel Book - Biker Britain by Nick Sanders
Travel Book - Parallel World by Nick Sanders
Travel Book - Parallel Coast by Nick Sanders
Travel Book - Biker Billy’s Cookbook
Travel Book - Building the ultimate Adventure Motorcycle by Robert Wicks
Travel Book - Adventure Motorcycling by Robert Wicks
Travel Book - Adventure Riding Techniques by Robert Wicks
Travel Book - The Hunt for Puerto del Fagiloli by Paddy Tyson
Travel Set of Books by Iain Mutch
Travel Set of books - Into Africa, Under Asian Skies, Distant Suns, Tortillas to Totems by Sam
And much, much more…

And now, the new prizes for the Motorcycle Outreach Raffle at the Tortillas to Totems launch at the Ace Café, which have arrived with us or pledged today:

10 x Horizons Unlimited DVD's - two each from the series "The Achievable Dream - the Motorcycle Adventure Travel Guide"
4 Metal screw-top “Stahlkoffer” fluid container with fitting to fix it onto metal pannier, one silver, one blue, one black, one red
2 Cotswold outdoor fold-up “Frisbee”/ flying disc in little bags
1 x “Source” brand hydration pack with side pockets and extra small zipped pouch, similar to this one: Donated by Traveldri-Plus
2 x boxes 333g/11.7 oz Thorntons Milk Chocolate Selection
1 x box Thorntons 430g / 15.15 oz premium collection
1 x certificate entitling the holder to one night/two people at Moto Camp Bulgaria, “a motel with cosy rooms”: Moto Camp Bulgaria | MotoSapiense
1 x copy “Long Way Down”
1 x copy “Visions of Wanderlust – the world of travel photography”
1 x copy “Ride Guide to America Vol.2” – the AMA’s guide to favorite [sic] motorcycle tours in the USA”
1 x tyre, Michelin Sirac 120/80 18*








I hope you can make it to the launch.
All the best,
Sam

Sam Manicom : Adventure Motorcycle Travel Books for more info

Am off that day yipee I intend to be there!
I see Susan & Grant will be there look forward to meeting them as well.

Terrific! Looking forward to seeing you. :mchappy:
Cheers for now,
Sam

Sam have emaild the Assoc to see if we can get a bit more intrest
My freind told me nothing on Ace web site?

Morning : )
That's great news. I'm chuffed that you are up for helping out.:thumbup1:

Hmm, the Ace? Not sure where your friend was looking. The Ace have got the info here Welcome to the Ace Cafe London Home Page Viewers scroll down the date - the 18th - and then click on the link for more info.

Thanks again.
Catch you soon.
Cheers,
Sam

must admit did not looked myself just done so, it say's 12pm you will know it's me dont worry lol
looking forward to meeting Susan & Grant as well.

btw how much are the raffle tickets?

Morning Selous,
Yup, I saw that they had 12 marked as the signing. Long story, but as they say, we will be kicking off around 11am. Got to be there at 7.30 to set up - that'll be fun doh - so we might as well go for it earlier than originally planned. There's plenty going on...

And its great that Grant and Susan are going to be there. Phew have they had a busy summer bouncing around doing Meets all over the place. Have you seen any of the HU DVDs yet - really good!

Which reminds me:
New prizes in today!
Pacsafe 120 luggage security cage from Traveldri-Plus
£50 gift voucher from Motorworks
Puncture repair kit from Two Wheel Trekkers
That list of prizes just gets bigger and bigger doesn't it. Brilliant eh :D

But you asked about the ticket price. With prizes like we have on the full list, we think a pound a ticket is about right. I shall be buying a heap of tickets but I shall have to find someone to hold the tickets for me, and to pick up any winnings. Otherwise the Ace Cafe is going to ring with the sounds of 'FIX' :innocent: Can't have that eh.

Catch you soon.
Cheers,
Sam

Hi Sam
Hope you're getting better. What time will you finish? I'm at Mallory Park for the Triumph 20th Aniversary thing earlier in the day. Depending on if I can sort friends to visit in the Smoke on Sat night, I could try to make it to the Ace too.

cheers
Chris

Im supposed to be at the BMF show but I am seeing if I can arrange to go to the ACE first, hope you are well Sam.
What else do you have planned for the day the Ace site is, shall we say, not very helpful.

Raised my First Namibian Windhoek beer to you Sam, as promised at the BMF, and it tasted great!!. Hoping to do the same as Trix, come down to the Ace before going to the BMF Tailend Show. Looking forward to getting the next installment 'Tortillas to Totems'.

Hi Sam,
Yes did wonder, 11 might be a bit too early for me as i finish shift at 04 in the morning & I need my beuty sleep! lol
I look forward to meeting Susan & Grant, I should think they would know me as yes I have the full set of DVD's really good, even better for me as I am Mild Dyslexic so it takes a while to type or read anything as Spell checker is a good thing but not correct for grammar & if I just accept some words if spell wrong.

And trying to get talking books on this sort of subject is nil! as most are published privately & work out quite expensive, so sometimes dvd's are just as good.
Yes a £ is cool only asked as I was at one event wanted £5 per raffle!

As i said am intending to come have sent e-mails out to all the UK Chapters of the Bike Assoc. I belong too & the HU communalitys I am in.

See you there.

Hi Chris, Great to hear from you. I wondered if you'd be heading down to Mallory. Should be a good day there. But what time are we finishing? About 4pm. I think we will have run out of steam by then and I'm guessing that people will be wanting to head off home at that sort of time. Especially the people who have travelled a long way. Did you hear that a couple of guys rode all the way from the Lake District to the launch of Distant Suns at the Ace.:mchappy: Brilliant eh.

Anyway, I hope you can make it to the launch. It'll be great to see you. Shame I didn't make it to the Meet at Lumb Farm this year but great excuse eh. Oh, and yes, I'm dong really well thanks. Just made it through the first 3 months which is the major risk period for rejection. G&T tonight methinks - just a small one though. Don't want to get the new plumbing too excited doh

Hi Trix,
Good to hear from you :thumbup1: It'll be great to see you at the Ace if you can make it on the way to Tail End.

What's happening? If people get there early enough they can treat themselves to one of the Ace Cafe's famous breakfasts! I shall be indulging that's for sure. Of course the Ace will be serving up their usual high standard of nosh right the way through the day.

Kick off at 11am. Steve McGill with be up on stage for a session. Have you heard him play and sing yet? The first time I saw him was at a Moto Guzzi rally where I was doing a presentation. Steve was so good that the actually had people dancing on the tables - not something that Ace would be happy about mind :( Nuff to say that Steve works magic with an acoustic guitar and has a superb voice.

I'll be doing a bit of a natter around 12. It'll be short though as I don't want to bore people too much :eek3:

We'll be book signing right the way through, oh and we have 2 completely unique t-shirt designs that I think people are going to like.

During this time the guys are going to be selling raffle tickets. We have even more prizes in now. Well over 60.:clap:

Mike Carter and Elspeth Beard will draw the raffle around 2pm. Really interesting those two. They will be around much earlier so people can grab them for a natter.

There will be several other well known travelly people around but I'm not spilling the beans yet. Well, they are travelling types so who knows it they will have decided to escape during the week :scooter:

The team who have worked to put the book together, Paul (Editor) Fil (Designer) Nikki (Proofreader) Iain (master of the dark arts - websitey stuff I mean) and Birgit (amazing travel companion, and hugely patient supportive person - how many versions of T2T did she have to listen through?) will all be there for people to snag and natter to. It's a great chance to find out what goes on with bringing a book to launch stage.

There are going to be several people from the bike press there too, including the editor for the new mag Adventure Bike Rider.

Oh and as a comlete bonus, the UK Dune Buggie club are going to be there. I can't wait to see those cars. It's a real California connection eh.

Grant and Susan, Avon Tyres, Robert White Photographic and Metal Mule will be there with stands and there will be several other companies around for people to chat to. These guys will be there right through the day.

Steve McGill will do several more sessions durng the course of the day.

Hmmm, Sam has been his usual long winded self when answering a streight forward question. Sorry about that. But it is lining up to be a really buzzy day :DHope you can make it!
Cheers,
Sam

Brilliant Jaydub :clap:
Glad you made it, and that you remembered the 'Winhoek' bit beerchug
It'll be great to see you at the lanuch - looking forward to hearing how the trip went! I did promise you the lot for that beer didn't I - don't forget to snag it from me :biggrin3:
Catch you soon.
Cheers,
Sam

Cheers for now,
Sam

Ditto Sam

It's a lovely day for a ride out so I'll see if the road bike will fire up and take a toddle up to The Ace.

I'm reading Under Asian Skies at the mo.

Sam had a great time & I won a DVD have hopfully uploaded some pix others I put straigt on Face Book HU Groups

Sorry Sam got others but says something about too many? saved?

I nearly didn't bother checking my numbers because I've never won anything in a raffle...................
I won !!!
There was such a big list of prizes that I struggled to chose.
Picked up the set of Achievable Dreams DVDs

Hi Selous,
Great to meet you at the launch and many thanks for getting your shots up on the Facebook pages so quickly.

Anyone else reading this should know that Selous is a fast worker! he had the pictures up before the launch had even ended. Brilliant. I'm chuffed! Or did he... reading this now makes me wonder.

Perhaps an email to Grant? Not being a techie at all I'm no help at all with this! Or shall I email Grant to ask? Just let me know eh.

Ha! Brilliant! :thumbup1: Good on you for buying tickets. It was one of the reasons we worked so hard to get this huge list of prizes. Just had to be worth buying some tickets. Darned sight better than the lottery eh. I'm chuffed you won the DVDs -Excellent stuff.

Many thanks for coming!

Cheers for now,
Sam

Actually, I'm wondering where the last 4 days went! Friday, pick up the van, get to the warehouse, load up, drive to drop off all the food and goodies for the Launch Crew’s après launch thank you party and then on to north London to our digs for Friday night.

Set up at the Ace Cafe kicked off a 7.30am :eek: on the Saturday morning and by 10.30 we were already selling books to some guys, who’d popped in on the off chance on their way up to the Tailend BMF Rally.

We had a few IT glitches (of course), which started off with the planned digi projector for the power point presentation not being where it was supposed to be. http://www.ukgser.com/forums/images/smilies/doh.gif Thankfully, Grant and Susan didn’t mind me waking them up with an early morning phone call. http://www.ukgser.com/forums/images/smilies/thumb2.gif And yes, they’d bring theirs. That wasn’t the end of that little saga though. My lap top wouldn’t recognize the projector! It took the book editor Paul Blezard, Fil Schiannini the book’s graphic designer and Grant himself to finally get all the connections made so the 240 shot, power point presentation could roll through. Thanks guys! :clap:

But that was the only big time glitch. Steve McGill set up his music kit and kicked the launch off with some of his amazing singing and playing. If you didn’t make it to the launch, he is well worth Googling. While Steve was playing a queue was forming at the book and T-shirt counter and around us floated the delicious scents of the Ace Cafe’s fantastic breakfasts.

And then we were on a roll. Outside in the sunshine, the car park was slowly filling up with dune buggies and bikes, and Avon Tyres, Robert White Photographic, Metal Mule, James Cargo, Two Wheel Trekkers and Globebusters were getting their first interested visitors. By 12 the car park was filling fast with people who had ridden from as far away as the north of England and west Wales. Plus of course, everyone from UK Gsers – thanks for coming guys. It was great to get the chance to link up with you. The attendance estimates were given to me at the end of the day as somewhere between 400 and 450 people.

Over 500 pounds was raised in aid of Motorcycle Outreach. :clap: Our thanks to everyone who donated a prize and to those of you who bought raffle tickets.

I have to admit to being absolutely shattered by the end of day. No surprise I suppose, as it was my first day out of quarantine. But it was a very happy shattered. The day wouldn’t have been such a success without all the help we have had from friends. Where would we all be with out good friends eh. :)

Birgit and I got back home late on Sunday afternoon, via the warehouse to drop off some books and pick up others, and then lugged all the stuff up the stairs into our home before falling in a messy heap on the sofa. But a happy messy heap!

What a weekend! We are delighted with how well the day went, and we really enjoyed it. We hope you did too.

If you were one of the HUers to make it, many thanks for riding over and I hope you enjoy reading your copy of ‘Tortillas to Totems’. If you didn’t make it, well, you can get a copy from www.sam-manicom.com Let me know you are on the HUer forum by using the comments box on the order form and I’ll get a signed copy out to you.

All the best,
Sam :)
PS If you check oit the website for the books, over the next couple of days we should have pics from the launch going on. If you made it, are you there, if you didn't make it, check out the look of the day.
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