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Our fledgling adventure motorcycling industry is at the precipice of an expansive frontier, loaded with anticipation of an exciting future. Scratching a certain itch for those who crave more, we’re ready to escape into the world of adventure outside of the urban box. Oftentimes it takes a visionary to lead the way. Just as Walt Disney took the helm to manifest a vision for his time, adventure motorcycling is ready for its own visionary to help shape its future. Enter Jim Hyde, and The World of Adventure—previously known as ADVLife.

The story began in 2008, when RawHyde became an official BMW training center after six years of fine tuning various educational riding programs packaged in an adventure lifestyle framework. Being the number one big enduro training facility since 2004 solidified the fact that Jim Hyde was helping to define the new term “adventure motorcycling,” first coined by Chris Scott back in the ’90s in his iconic riding bible, the Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.

So, we all find ourselves riding into the new frontier of this young industry with no all-in-one resource to guide product decisions, education, or community… until now. Jim has taken on the imagineer’s role to create a way for entry-level adventure riders to immediately connect with all aspects that will make them better, safer riders, while having fun exploring this new world with other like-minded individuals. This vision is what’s behind The World of Adventure, and testing the concept began at its first event, Adventure Days, November 2012.

The weekend began with the beasts rolling in oneby- one, up the long and winding dirt and gravel entranceway to the fabled RawHyde ranch. Hundreds of eager riders were looking to grab some big enduro skills, to check out top-selling adventure motorcycle products and services at Vendor City, and to attend many of the non-stop roster of seminars and talks in the packed schedule of this unique experience. And did I mention the chefs extraordinaire who were busily prepping the weekend’s gourmet delights included in the package? All of this orchestration came together like clockwork at the hands of Jim and his stellar RawHyde team. This would be the weekend that I would experience the best adventure riding event to date.

The venue was the RawHyde ranch in Castaic, California—a 120-acre adventure motorcycle playground—the perfect spot to prove that there is a big demand for “everything adventure” in our exploding riding movement.

Jim came up with the concept of The World of Adventure program after observing that most new riders were somewhat lost when it came to basic education about riding technique and gear. He realized that other outdoor recreation industries, like marine and RV, embrace a certain kind of lifestyle that ours was lacking. Boaters and RVers, for example, walk into an already fully formed world aided by associations and clubs that not only help but actively nurture all levels of interests. It’s what’s missing in our adventure riding industry, and Jim believes we can do something similar for our adventurous way of life on two wheels.