The Colorado 500 Charity Invitational Ride – 50 Years of Giving Back
The Colorado 500 Supports Youth, Education, Communities, our Trails and the Sport of Off Road Motor Cycle Riding
By Daniel Dunn
Births, marriages, and deaths are the undeniable giants of experience in life — unforgettable and etched into your soul forever. But there are experiences that sneak up on you, burning their way into your consciousness like embers refusing to die. I was fortunate enough to experience this emotional epiphany. I was barely home from an assignment covering the Colorado 500 Charity Invitational Ride and road-weary from three brutal days behind the wheel, when it suddenly hit me like a lightning bolt: “I HAVE to go back. Sign me up. I’m ALL in!”
The Colorado 500 is THAT Experience
This isn’t just an event — it’s a soul-rattling, life-altering force that grabs you by the throttle and never lets go. It leaves a mark so deep, that you’ll be chasing that high long after the dust has settled. Is it the ultimate rush? The numbers don’t lie — the wave of returning riders flooding back year after year says everything. This is a must-do.
This is a new Obsession
The Colorado 500 is a dirt bike motorcycle ride through the mountains of Colorado, with an extreme dedication to charity, to put it mildly. You have to be invited by a previous rider, or the organization itself; it’s not for beginners and you have to promise to be a representative of the event. Not hard qualifications really, but they permeate everything you do throughout the week, and probably beyond.
The CO 500 is a charity event, a non-profit 501c3. This is a light-hearted, seriously fun dirt bike ride that has been happening for five days every summer for 49 years. The event was started by the late Wally Dallenbach in the fall of 1975. Dallenbach happened to be a race car driver, so his immediate group of friends consisted of many of those guys, including Al and Bobby Unser.
The social gathering of those friends riding dirt bikes through the Colorado hills became a noted event on the calendar, and quickly grew in size over the years as Wally and his wife Peppy dedicated themselves to hosting the event annually. Today, it has morphed and become the longest running charity invitational ride in the USA.
The course winds through some of the most beautiful mountain terrain that exists on the planet. A shared love of the outdoors, camaraderie, and strong commitments to giving back are the bonds that have held everyone involved together. This is a good time for all the right reasons and something a passionate dirt biker would want to be a part of.
Every year, a grand marshall gets the 5 Day ride going from along the roads of Snowmass, CO where the riders make their way up to Aspen to climb the 11,925-foot Taylor Pass- a flowing rocky trail that opens into a breathtaking view of forests and mountain tops. Here, smaller groups are formed, each led by an experienced guide, and set out on routes of varying difficulty to the mountain town of Crested Butte. The following day these groups head off to Gunnison, Lake City, Ouray, Silverton, and Telluride before returning to Snowmass for a grand gathering and celebration.
The list of infamous riders is lengthy. In recent years, these names come from the high profile ranks of dirt bike racing, like Johnny Campbell (Baja 1000 11 time winner and overall moto legend), Ricky Brabec (Paris-Dakar Rally winner), Jeremy McGrath (highly influential King of Supercross during a time of massive growth for that sport), and this year’s GM being Ricky Carmichael (the GOAT, or Greatest of All Time motocross/supercross race winner). Carmichael is excited to get a chance to spend five days riding and hanging with friends. He visits Colorado often for work as a moto/supercross event announcer and track designer. A love of skiing with family on vacation also brings him here, but he tells me he couldn’t be more pumped to be back for a week of riding what he knows is some of the most beautiful terrain in the country.
Riders come from all over the country and the world to participate in the CO 500. They come from southern California, that area itself being a hotbed of dirt bike riding and racing, some would argue the birthplace of moto/supercross racing.
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People like Cameron Steele, who literally grew up in the sport of Baja 1000 truck racing, his Dad being a pro driver. Steele himself is now a trophy truck Baja team owner and truck driver, his wife is a retired racer, and they bring their own family on adventures every chance they get. Steele owns the Desert Assassins race team and media company, his company’s tagline “Share the Stoke”, offers several private and exclusive off-road trips a year with trips to Baja on dirt bikes and trucks with an underlying mission of raising money for orphanages in Baja, Mexico. Giving back to the local communities he plays in is important and a theme that runs strong in his hearty personality. “What brought me here (the Colorado 500) first is a good friend from Colorado, Pete Kelly, but what keeps me coming back is what they’re doing. They give back to the local schools, they give scholarships to young people to help with their next steps, they give to local Search and Rescue and police units, they give to the Trail Preservation Alliance. I think it’s just a good vibe, it has a good stoke.”
We talked many times over the course of the event, with Steele immediately recognizing me and asking how I’m doing, how’s the event treating me? This shows his personality as a solid, good dude. But he gave compliments to the event and all of Colorado. “Why come to Colorado? Because it’s so beautiful. Everywhere you look, it’s a postcard. On top of that, this event is special, the way they take care of every detail, the way they give back. It’s great people doing great stuff. It’s just spectacular. And oh, the people of Colorado, they’re all just outside, doing their thing, spreading the stoke, it’s awesome.”
Riders like Frank Mann come from places like Atlanta, Georgia to ride the CO 500. Mann’s story speaks for itself. He has cancer, he has suffered greatly from cancer, and has recovered from cancer. He still has it, saying “yeah, it’s something I have, but it’s not who I am. I decided I wasn’t going to let the cancer define me or what I was or who I was.”
“I’ve always felt that everything I have, has been a blessing to me. Everything we have, it’s just on loan to us. I just want to share what I’ve been blessed with. You know, it’s just my personality.. But you’re coming out to CO to do this ride with me, don’t give me any of your excuses, you’re coming. Hey, I got myself in shape from cancer, to ride this year, you’re coming.”
“Sitting in the infusion chair, at the chemo shack, I can tell you this, There’s not a single person sitting in those chairs that’s wishing they could go to one more meeting, that could close one more deal or build one more company. All they want to do is have more time. And I, and I know the feeling, and when you’re faced with, you may not live long, you want to fill that time with everything you can and you want to fill it with the people that you care about being with. We’re not promised time, you gotta take what you got and you gotta go live it.”
This guy could write the handbook on how to live life. Mann was headed to the Doc’s office for more testing later in the afternoon when I spoke to him, and I’d not be telling the truth if there wasn’t some moisture in my eye after speaking to this guy. He’s the definition of “get out and do stuff”!
Giving Back
If you’re feeling good about the riding and the giving back parts of this story, but wondering where does the money go, you’re not alone. The answer, many places and people, some in the form of scholarships, to people like Shawn Stevenson, the first ever scholarship recipient and returning super-volunteer of the event. To Davis Manning, one of last year’s scholarship recipients, who will be entering his Sophomore year at University of Colorado Boulder fall 2026. The money goes out as a donation to Pitkin County based Mountain Rescue Aspen; The Silverton School, Silverton, CO which the CO 500 has been donating to since 1981. The event has given away over 3.5 million dollars since they started their charitable giving. A new plan announced last summer,is a three year partnership with the Trail Preservation Alliance, a trails advocacy group that exists to protect, support, and sustain the future of off-highway motorcycle recreation.
If you hadn’t noticed, public land is disappearing at an alarming rate. If land isn’t protected, it will either be built on or its resources extracted. Those discussion points are not the scope of this article. Protecting that land for public recreation does fit within the article. That’s where the Trail Preservation Alliance comes in. A long mixed history of the CO 500 and TPA exists. They help each other and the rest of us by promoting safe, responsible riding, and all types of outdoor recreation. Chad Nixon, President of the TPA, had this to say. “We appreciate the ongoing donations which of course helps us continue to work on advocacy, legal, user engagement and trail support. The trail crew is a really tangible thing, guys out there doing trail repair work, interacting with all trail users, it’s an easy thing to show that off on social media and create support in that way. Just helping to change the narrative and get people to understand a little bit better about what’s going on out there.”
Colorado is full of multi-sport athletes, we do what we want as the mood strikes us. We hike, bike, run, ski, dog walk, kayak, ride horses, dirt bike, ride off-highway vehicles like side-by-side (SxS) and Jeeps. Sometimes we go hunting or boating. The Colorado 500 is an event simply trying to bring together passionate outdoor folks and highlighting what’s wonderful about the state and the people who inhabit it.
While this year’s ride is sold out, The Colorado 500 is always looking for headlining sponsors and partners to support their mission. If Dirt Biking is your passion, you really should try to do it, or at least make efforts to prepare for next year. Hopefully we’ll see each other out there. Remember, like Frank Mann says, we’re not here for a long time, but we’re definitely here for a good time.
50 Years of Impact
A total of $3,515,383.00 has been distributed from 1981-2025.
Broken Down:
- $1,097,783.00 to Schools, to Local Search & Rescue, Emergency Service Organizations, and many other worthy organizations and individuals throughout Western Colorado.
- $1,039,000.00 College Scholarship Grants
- $72,000. Disabled Veteran Sports Program
- $890,600.00 Trail Clubs, Trail Advocacy, Trail Preservation Alliance, US Forest Service Grants, Legal Defense.
- $416,000. Ministries, Missions, Churches, Chaplains.
If you want more information about the Colorado 500 Charity Invitational Ride, or figure out a way to be involved, check out Colorado-500.org. The Board of Directors, as well as Janet Lohman, who has guided the Colorado 500 as President and Executive Director for three decades, is always happy to help.
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