Meet David Evetts | Motorcycle mechanic & adventurer

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Evetts and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I had a career job through my 20’s, for 8 years building skills an confidence, eventually becoming the operations manager for a small forestry company. When this job fell out from under me, and with years of pondering what i should really do for my life behind me, I knew this was the time to jump in with both feet. I feel blessed that i had worked with small business owners enough to know that working for myself was the only way for me. With a wife and 3 young children, this was beyond scary. I knew that if i put my head down and just got started, one way or another i could make it happen.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I run a small business we call Grandventure. Since i was young i have always been very excited about adventures, and growing up it was always one grand adventure after another. I was raised on a small farm in the high desert of New Mexico, and as a boy i thirsted for big mountain adventures. I founded Grandventure with one large goal in mind, to inspire and participate in grand adventures. while i have explored and enjoyed many hobbies, they have always been about adventure. Mountain biking, rock climbing, kayaking, motorcycles, and hiking. Lately our interests have narrowed into motorcycle camping adventures, which has lead us to becoming a motorcycle shop and tours in the mean time. We still have a larger scope for our businesses future adventure endeavors. If you walk in our shop today, you will find a variety of activities alongside all the mechanic equitment, the back 3rd of the shop is an indoor climbing wall, complete with slack line, and gymnast rings. a Hot Wheels collection of 400 cars adorns one wall, and variety of other activities can be seen if you look for them. these almost always get our customers excited, and we love that energy. Grandventure has an exciting future, although the direction of the future is never certain, we are confident it will be an adventure worth working toward. We purposely chose a beautiful little mountain town, Pagosa Springs Colorado, where we plan on eventually building an adventure center, where we host expeditions of all kinds, and an activity center for the town. Eventually building business that can bring inner city kids, into the wild, with the hopes of showing them a different perspective of life on earth. During and through these goals, we are working on producing adventurer videos to help inspire people to the calling of the perspective of adventure. Its not about what your really doing, but about the perspective of doing something adventurous in your own life!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My best bud and i would start the morning early, around 5;am. we would jog down the dirt road from my house, 1/2 mile to the trail connecting to a 22 mile long trail called Turkey springs, outside of Pagosa Springs Co. once we hit the trail we would run up it 5 to 10 miles, and watch the sun rise over Pagosa peak, allowing warmth and beams of light to stretch through the forest as we run! After returning home for a half hour stretch on the front porch, admiring the bird songs of an early morning, and spirited by the cool air, and hopefully a runners high. We could drive into town and stop just down the road from Grandventure, for the best breakfast in town, and “Two Chicks & A Hippie”. After breakfast, we meet up at the shop with more friends to prepare for a motorcycle adventure up a off-road mountain pass called Ellwood Pass. Friends are busy around the shop, packing snacks, tightening a chain, checking tire pressure, charging a Go-Pro, and one is probably in the back sneaking in a quick warmup on the climbing wall, before we all ride wheelies out of the parking lot for a day long adventure up to 12,000 feet elevation of hard mountain roads and water crossings. After a long day of Grandventures, we would race the sun back down the mountain, looking forward to diner a cold brew at one of the best places in town, “Riff Raff on the Rio” were we can sit out on a deck over the San Juan river for diner. if after diner more drinks are preferred, i would recommend our friends go down the main drag, to the Neon Mallard, an infamous cocktail lounge and bar, complete with outdoor fire pit. throughout the rest of the week, we could be plenty busy going for world famous rides in the area, such as the Million Dollar highway, or the endless off-road adventures of the Alpine Loop, a high elevation 4×4 network of mining trails throughout the San Juan Mountain range.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have had many great working experiences with small businesses growing up. I do believe all of them combined had a lot to do with my own desire and courage to go into business for myself. I was raised on a farm where my father grew crops for living, my first formal job at 13 years old was cleaning for a small performance engine shop, in high school i worked for a small restaurant during the week, and catering wedding house on weekends. for 5 years, Tammy & Dennis at Country Home Weddings (Canyon Texas) really showed me the struggles and benefits of working for yourself. After a few more jobs for small businesses and just enough college to know what i didn’t want, I went to work for the next 8 years for Boss Reclamation. This was a small heavy equipment forestry company, where the wonderful owners Luke Thompson and Rick Evans, gave me the teachings, and opportunities to really discover what i can do in this big world. I became the operations manager for large forest service contracts, diesel mechanic, drone operator, contract negotiator, and business man. Without these opportunities, i don’t know if i could have become the man i am today.

Instagram: @grandventure_

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCy0vAt_F9Kuv_1R-bOd214g

Other: You can find Motorcycles that we have available for rent on the website. www.riders-share.com search for rent in Pagosa Springs. co.

Image Credits
all photos are property of Grandventure LLC