we have a 240 mile loop in Vermont that an old dualsport club put together back in the 90's. The route is mostly trails and dirt roads and can be done in one long day of riding. We have completed the ride in one day several times and I have solo'd it once or twice. While the conditions are different out here and we have access to plenty of fuel and food etc the appeal is still the same. I have most of the navigation memorized but the joy is in the ride...getting better at certain sections and just the joy of a 10 hour day where the only worry you have is the ditch that is coming up or getting up the loose wet gulch of a hill. The grand rally is appealing because it is a big self guided tour/challenge. A chance to see parts of the USA that most people will never see. There is risk involved which keeps you on your game and forces you to ride differently. Its also nice to know that someone has done the work to create a route that will eventually end up somewhere.....instead of blindly exploring a road network that may lead to a nowhere.....these are common in the West...in the East if the road dead ends the worst case is maybe a 5 mile ride back out. East Coast problems:
+1. The fact that we are losing legal land access so fast, it boggles my mind, motivates me to go and see and do as much as possible for the time being. It's hard to go and wander anymore, as you always seem to end up at a wilderness area or some ranch with guns pointed at you or an impassable fenceline or ravine. To cover this kind of mileage and see this kind of country that is the last of the last of the truely remote, rideable stuff here in the US with the confidence that while the riding may not be easy, it will go on(without fines or imprisonment) as long as I can stand is also a major part of the appeal. It's ALL fun, otherwise it would feel like work and I'd hate it.
HogWild, I'd love to hear more in depth on your process on your creation of your Roadbooks. What programs, methods, etc (though I understand if you got things you don't want to give away). I've been assembling something similar (although closer to the MidWest). So, I suppose that's what intrigues me about this Grand Rally. Andrew
Yah know, I had seen that post earlier when this thread first came up, but I'd forgotten all about it. It seems I am on the same track with creating the tracks\routes I'm looking for. I hadn't put a ton of thought into alternate routes\work-arounds, though I'll be aim to add much more of that. Any info on the program\spreadsheet you're using for creating the Roadbook? I had found a few: RBEditor Don Barrow Tulip Software, http://w3.ualg.pt/~aanjos/projects.html, etc. Always helps hearing from guys actually using the software (and not 6 years ago). In the meantime, I'll be continuing the process of just jotting notes\etc for each thing. Andrew
Andrew, I'm in Ohio, if you need someone to come out and ride some routes, or just somebody to ride with, let me know, I'm always looking at excuses to ride places I haven't!
I pretty much gave away my whole process in that earlier post. Most of the details I didn't go into are too messy and complicated to explain. I wrote a lot of Excel macros and created some other custom software to make my process easier, but they are not at all user friendly. It's so messed up that I have to spend a few hours fixing links and pointers every time I move to a different computer. And they only work in Excel 2002. There's no way I could pass on my custom tools without also being on call 24/7 to debug the problems. As I think I said earlier, in my opinion unless you want your roadbook to look perfect and you're going to be making new roadbook routes for years to come, you're way better off just writing the roadbook by hand with a pencil. It's WAY faster that way. Yep, it's hard to take first place in two different races at the same time!
We have something like that in the Grand Rally too! It's not quite that bad, but in a way it's worse. The water below is mixed with cow piss, and the top 1 inch is dried out from the hot desert sun. But when you fall in, as Russ did, it's pretty nasty!
Thanks for the info. I figured you had your own spreadsheets\macros you ran for things, but doesn't hurt to ask. My main goal is to be able to navigate a nice route without the use of GPS while on the trail. GPS will be backup, but I'd like to make it so I can run my tracks while having to use my brain at the same time. I'll probably use a site like this: http://www.rollcharts.org/ for making some stuff. Not perfect, but for my own intro into things, should suffice. Thanks Again, Andrew PS - Miguez, I'll shoot you a PM.
Yeah, if I could actually focus on one thing at a time, I would probably be able to actually do something worthwhile in my life...LOL...
For me it is the "cool terrain" and the "idea of a long challenging adventure". As I posted before, the navigation doesn't interest me at all. I have done the western TAT, and did the continental divide last summer. I like long varied rides. Being miles and miles and miles away from anything or anybody is appealing to me. I don't want to live like that, but I do like a good visit now and then. Your question reminded me of a question my wife asked me about 30 years ago. I had talked her into coming to a MX race. Right before she got there I had crashed and tore some ribs loose from my sternum.I was covered in dust and sweat, jersey was ripped all up and I was trying to NOT look like I was in pain since I was trying to convince her that dirt bikes weren't really dangerous. She sat in a lawn chair in the 100 degree heat, frowning at the dust heat and noise watching me try to eat a piece of chicken. Swallowing caused immense pain. After a few minutes she asked " how can this POSSIBLY be fun"? "I dunno" I said, "it just is".
Did we have the same life in different worlds? I agree, how can this be fun.................................... it just is!!!
LOL, literally. Another story, sort of related: After taking a ten year hiatus from motorcycles starting when I was born, my dad was in the market for another bike and things had changed a lot. We went to look at quite a few bikes and he was just spellbound with all of the new stuff, not sure what to choose. I remember him asking one of the sellers why he was liquidating his bikes...his reply will forever ring in my ears as scary and appealing, and it went something like: "...well, I had a lot of fun racing, and it's always kept me in pretty good shape. But I found out that I could get the same effect by putting all of my gear on, sitting in the sun for a few hours and sweating through it all, rolling around in the dirt and mud, and then having my wife beat me randomly with a 2x4 about four feet long. And that was a lot cheaper, she was a lot happier, and I wasn't gone from the house for the day, so the kids and dog didn't miss me." He was joking, of course, but even when I was ~10 or so, I got the double meaning in his joke.
Most of the Grand Rally stages have one or two places where we step it up to a 4x4 level beating, just for an extra satisfying experience.
Just back from another prerun. Mike, Russ and I froze our butts off! Despite the cold, we managed to get over 500 miles in. On this trip I planned more HP (off trail) than all previous stages combined. HP in this terrain proved quite challenging, sometimes as slow as 5 mph zigzagging through the mars-like terrain. On the last day the snow slowed us to a crawl, setting us back a few hours, and leading to a 9:00pm ASS and a late dinner. Overall the was quite successful. This area has so much great terrain, we now have several long stages all from the same start/finish point. You guys are going to eat these stages up!!! Camel Head rock is one of the destination points at the end of a tough HP section. When you see this off in the distance, you know that's the point you should be aiming for! Another HP section. We all seemed to take different lines in the HP sections, but managed to come back together when we hit the landmark point where a new heading was given. There were a lot of cool little dunes mixed in with brush and wild rock formations. It was usually easier riding the dunes than the other sections as recent rains had made them pretty hard packed. Summer riding will be a lot tougher! I don't draw the tulip drawings in the roadbook until we prerun it and prove the route is good. Sometimes it's tough staying on track when you only have mileage, text and headings. Huge cow pie: Just down the road from the bivouac we hit the Mars terrain: Grand Sunset: Near the cattle water hole. Russ didn't fall in this time. Lookout point while riding along the edge of the Grand Canyon: Wild horses running along the edge of the Grand Canyon: Every morning we pulled out the roadbook and installed a new one. This one is for half a stage. This was just minutes before Russ went down on this road due to the slick ice and snow. That was the end of the day for him. He'll be back soon! Later, with just Mike and I, we dropped into this wash and rode it for a couple of miles. GREAT fun!!! Eventually the snow got the better of Mike and I as well. This section was very slow going, and not so fun. I got a bit aggressive again, and paid the price. Not the Grand Canyon, but definitely a grand view. It didnt look like anyone had been on the road along here for months if not years. Very remote!
