I've been working on this project for about a year (edit: that was back in 2011). The Grand Rally is a hardcore roadbook guided off-road rally adventure and training route circling the Grand Canyon. It's being developed for expert riders to practice rally style navigation in preparation for competing in cross-country rally events such as Dakar. The routes and terrain on this ride are moderate to extremely challenging, not to mention amazingly scenic! A typical day of The Grand Rally will be on par with a day of Dakar. Yes, it is THAT difficult! Though originally planned as an 8 day 2000 mile killer ride, I've found so much great riding in that region that I'm expanding it to more days and many more miles (new map above). I'm adding new stuff regularly. And rather than riding the whole distance in one long trip, I'm providing multiple loop days, so it can be attacked in 3 to 4 day sections based out of strategic fixed locations. This means riders can spread the fun out over a year or more, taking on sections as their vacation schedule allows. As of early 2024, there are almost 50 stages planned, totaling over 12,000km. Of those stages, 1 are done and ready to go, 15 more have roadbooks "done" but need validating, and the remainder are in various stages of planning (basic routes are determined, but no roadbook work has been done). This will not be a race. It probably won't even be an official scheduled event. Think of it as a do-it-yourself Dakar Rally, a collection of roadbooks available to hardcore rally types who can schedule their own small group ride on their own time. For less than expert riders, I'm doing my best to provide bailouts and "easy" ways around the really tough stuff, to make it a bit more manageable (2024 update, I'm failing at that goal). One strong philosophy in laying out each stage is to find off-beat roads and trails that are long forgotten. During the pre-runs we've ridden quite a few sections where motor vehicles haven't traveled in decades. Naturally, those are usually extremely challenging technical sections, but they often offer the most unique and fun riding too. When will all this be done and ready for you to ride? So far we've pre-run roughly 3000km in various sections (thanks to all our pre-run helpers, Des-RIP, Russ, Dave, Jen, Robb, Phil, Mike S, Ned, Mike B, and more to come). The roadbooks for some of those sections are still being finalized, and the roadbooks for all the stuff we have yet to pre-run are not even started yet. Development of Sonora Rally got in the way of completing this project, but I'm past that (2023) so Grand Rally progress will continue.
I can't recall if I posted these before, but here are a pair of videos showing the Google Earth terrain perspective of a couple of the stages. The faint green or blue line shows the course. Stage 6 and 7 preview video Stage 8 preview video
I second that and very interested in coming down for an event or just to ride with a few buddies from up here. It is on my bucket list so lets plan to strike off one in 2013. Grand Rally here we come.
Scott, You da man. Thank you for your extreme effort to this sport that we all love so much. I would not be the navigator that I am if it wasnt for your unselfish dedication. Im sure that these routes are amazing and the roadbooks spot on, I cannot wait to come out west and try the Grand Rally. Thanks again.
You're already on the list for the next pre-run, so we'll be collecting out of your hide rather than your wallet! If you think you've seen good stuff on the DVR routes, wait til you see TGR routes! From pre-run#2, a cool river crosing video. And one from Russ. On that trip we saw a lot of wild horses, plus lots of other cool critters: <iframe width="800" height="450" src="http://contour.com/stories/wild-horses-on-grand-rally/embed?map=false&width=800px&height=450px" frameborder="0"></iframe>
Prerun a couple weeks ago was awesome. Here's a few pics: !!!! Danger.. trail heads up the hill towards the cliff. Pay attention: Softest sand I've ridden in: Mike (Tahoe Rider) expertly navigates the uphill waterfall: Russ looking over the edge:
And here's a video of Russ using my strategy up the dry waterfall: Get off the bike so you thumb doesn't explode*. <iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O8uv1XaStiE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> * Bicycle Phil shows the aftermath of having your thumb explode upon impact:
