Rallying in New England?

[Mudhen]

I was just over at the rallyrider.com site, drooling over the videos of the rally raids they have overseas. Wow...awesome stuff.

Anyway, back in the real world where my GS and I would really be able to play, has anyone ever put on a time-speed-distance sort of rally for bikes? Something using trails and roads that would make for a challenging event for a dual-sport?

I know there are a few events/clubs that allow bikes in their rallies, but they're all car based...

So my questions are:

Would anyone be interested in helping to put an event like this on?

Does anyone have a bike with a rally computer on it to mileage the course?

Does anyone have the software to write the routebook?

It's probably a terrible time of the year to start thinking about this, but at least we'd have a few months to prepare...

Pat

[Augie]

In June there there is going to be the minuteman 1000 Basically a route starting in Greenfiield MA. This was posted on the LDriders mail board.

[RedMenace]

Said Mudhen:

Does anyone have the software to write the routebook?

It's probably a terrible time of the year to start thinking about this, but at least we'd have a few months to prepare...

Pat

here is one possibility:

making a roadbook with Word

Out here on the opposite coast, NW Tour and Trail puts on some great rallies. you can contact Tom thru his website, or just surf around the site fro a while-you might find most of the info you need there...North West Tour and Trail

[Mudhen]

The events that Northwest Tour and Trail put on look like what I'd be interested in putting on (or attending if I could get my wife to move west).

Is it just an Enduro? Albeit with speeds and terrain setup to be fun for a big GS and not crazy race prepped 250s? I've never really found a good definition of 'enduro', 'turkey run' - any other forms of off-road races...

Thanks for the links - TONS of good info and leads. Now I can go out and spend thousands of dollars to outfit my bike with the best rally gear as if I was going to be running the Dakar...and put on a 50 mile event of mostly street riding. :-)

[NHGS]

Mudhen,

Last year Max Stratton posted a question on the MAX BMW board to see if anyone would be interested in a TSD rally- there seemed to be a few riders who expressed interest. Might be worth contacting Max to see if he has already done simliar research.

[RedMenace]

Said Mudhen:
The events that Northwest Tour and Trail put on look like what I'd be interested in putting on (or attending if I could get my wife to move west).

Is it just an Enduro? Albeit with speeds and terrain setup to be fun for a big GS and not crazy race prepped 250s? I've never really found a good definition of 'enduro', 'turkey run' - any other forms of off-road races...

Thanks for the links - TONS of good info and leads. Now I can go out and spend thousands of dollars to outfit my bike with the best rally gear as if I was going to be running the Dakar...and put on a 50 mile event of mostly street riding. :-)

The Blackdog and Rat dog rallies NWTour and Trail does are not quite enduros-they are not races or timed events. They are rides laid out with a roll chart and checkpoints. There is a maximum time allowed on the course, but there are events ranging from darts to a poker hand at the checkpoints which acrue points for your rally total, the idea being to take some of the motivation away from turning it into a speed contest. Tom's events are laid out with several routes ranging in difficulty from the AA-which is insane and probably not the first choice for a big dualsport, to the C course which is mostly roads and easy two track. The B course is the best combination of challenging course and reasonable survivability for a big bike. The fun and challenge comes from navigation( you can't just follow the pack because the AA, A, B & C course share some sections and diverge; follow someone blindly and you may discover you are off course only after you have gotten someplace you really don't want to be). The AA thru B course also include sections which require technicle riding skills of varying degrees of difficulty.
There are enduros out here that share the rollchart system but are timed rallies with more elements of racing, but I haven't participated in any of those.

This picture is from the B course last BlackDog. We had gone about 8 miles in on a narrow two track along the top edge of a ravine when we came to this drop under a gaggle of downed trees. The photo doesn't really convey the difficulty of the terraine-this was a fairly steep drop with uneven washboard the size of moguls. I wasn't certain I could get through it with out flipping the sidecar; Amy sat on the sidecar fender to help keep the hack wheel down. It wasn't that hard until I reached the bottom. Then the track went up a very steep grade, only as wide as my rig, with a dogleg left partway up. Just below the dogleg on the right was a pit about the size of my rig exactly where I would slide off if I lost traction making the turn.
Several folks waited to see what we did. I gave one of them my tow rope with a snatch hook and positioned him at a tree where the road bent left. I chained up the bike and made an attempt, but, probably fortunately, I couldn't get the traction needed to even get close to the hard part, so I hogged the rig around and bounced back up thru the moguls to where the picture was taken.We took a lunch break and watched the rest of the riders pass thru this section. Everyone made it, the smaller bikes easily, KLRs and such with some difficulty. We waited for the sweeps to tell us the field was clear and went back the way we came and detoured around this section....

[Mudhen]

Wow...you're nuts! I always enjoy your pics...never get enough of seeing that steamer in the woods...I'm pretty sure I need one.

Having done a lot of car rallying, I think I'd like to include the timing. Certainly not with bike-breaking speeds in mind...but enough to keep it interesting. Do they ever send out any of the routebooks electronically? I can imagine what they look like, but I'd love to see one.

I think the worst part of the whole thing would be the routebook holder. It's not like car events where you can just show up and the navigator sits there with the sheets and tells you where to go. I don't know a single person in the area with one (although, Max may have one on his ORYX). So everyone immediately has a $100 entry fee...and that would be using a stock ODO.

Do you have a rally computer?

NHGS and Jeffaugie: I just added you guys to the entry list

[RedMenace]

Said Mudhen:
Wow...you're nuts! I always enjoy your pics...never get enough of seeing that steamer in the woods...I'm pretty sure I need one.

Having done a lot of car rallying, I think I'd like to include the timing. Certainly not with bike-breaking speeds in mind...but enough to keep it interesting. Do they ever send out any of the routebooks electronically? I can imagine what they look like, but I'd love to see one.

I think the worst part of the whole thing would be the routebook holder. It's not like car events where you can just show up and the navigator sits there with the sheets and tells you where to go. I don't know a single person in the area with one (although, Max may have one on his ORYX). So everyone immediately has a $100 entry fee...and that would be using a stock ODO.

Do you have a rally computer?

NHGS and Jeffaugie: I just added you guys to the entry list

Well, I think I have broken my rig every event I have entered. Broke the fender off the sidecar the first Rat Dog I entered. I have broken the frame several times and entered the last Black Dog with a broken frame already (found it right before I left and couldn't find a MIG to put it back. Did a "feelgood" spot weld with the buzz box but knew in my heart of hearts it wouldn't hold); I was towed off the course with a burnt clutch. It isn't a timed event but everybody seems to forget that out on the course and rides hell bent for leather on the remote sections where there isn't anybody to be bothered by our nonsense.
To do an actual race you need more insurance, closed sections which usually requires posting a huge bond with the landowner, the Forest Circus or County forestry dept out here, and is more difficult to put together.
I heard the rally car race held here last month required an $8000 pay off to the county forestry department and the cost of grading the roads after the event, plus whatever the Forest Service charged them. I don't know if the details are accurate, but I am sure they spent a bucket of money to do it.
The rollchart for the BlackDog and Ratdog events is issued at the start of each day's event. It is printed on 8x10" which you cut into 2" strips, tape together and roll onto a scroll type chartholder you mount to your handlebars. I don't use a rally computer. I have a $25 roll chart holder. Since I have a navigator in the sidecar(usually my wife, Amy), I mount my rollchart holder there and use the tripmeter function on the GPS or mount a SIGMA bicycle speedometer($20) there for her to track the milage with. Solo bikes mount the rollchart holder to the crossbar and use the tripmeter on the motorcycle speedo to keep track.

RollChart Holders

What is dualsporting?


tips

C course on the Rat Dog

[GSGIRL]

Patrick,

Check in with Max. We have been talking about putting something together on this for a while now. I know he is definitely interested and if we can get some folks committed to doing it, I am sure he would coordinate such an event (in between all the other things that we do).

He'd be more than happy to exchange notes on roadbooks and software and such as well.

When are you going to stop by? Oh sure, I sell you and Tim Adventures and that's the last I see of ya!

[Mudhen]

The rally you're describing is a Pro Rally (or stage rally). I would liken that to the rally raids they have overseas. But I wouldn't be looking to do anything like that. I'd want to do something like a road rally - all routes are open public roads (and trails in this case) at legal speeds or less. The challenge comes from trying to maintain the exact speed set out by the rallymaster all the time, never knowing when you'll come around a corner and have a checkpoint there.

I think I could make it pretty nasty for a dual sport, even with really low speeds required for the offroad parts. Put checkpoints hidden over the crest of a huge technical hill...or around a corner just after a big water hole.

Looks like the TrailTech computer for $79.95 and the Dual Star routebook holder for $29.95...and I'm rallying! Or I guess I could do the Touratech stuff for $1000.00...

[Mudhen]

Said GSGIRL:
When are you going to stop by? Oh sure, I sell you and Tim Adventures and that's the last I see of ya!

I've been busy trying to drum up more sales for you guys!

Actually...I've been working at getting more mileage in before winter. Went up to Pittsburg a couple weeks ago, then last week I went to Lubec for a few minutes...longest trip yet at 665 miles...

[GSGIRL]

Glad you are out riding and enjoying the bike. Thanks for all the referrals. It is much appreciated - keep them coming. I know Max would love to do the Rally. I would be up for doing it, but I am not that good at riding my GS off-road. Maybe we could do a little sissy one for people like me!!!

CroMag & I hit Lubec earlier in the summer. He's out riding now, I have to stay off the bike while my foot gets better :-( IT SUCKS!!!!

[Mudhen]

Damn him! He should be attending to your needs, not out gallavanting!

I saw him for a brief moment when I was in picking my bike up last week - didn't get a chance to talk to him, though. I said, 'Hey, CroMag! (since I can't remember his real name)'....he said, 'Hey'...then some babe walked up and started to talk to him and he forgot I existed...

Mudhen? Who?

What happened to your foot? Drop a GS on it?

(oh ya, Max thanked me for the referrals on my last service...I was only goofing about getting on the commission schedule!! You guys rock!)

[GSGIRL]

Said Mudhen:
Damn him! He should be attending to your needs, not out gallavanting!

I saw him for a brief moment when I was in picking my bike up last week - didn't get a chance to talk to him, though. I said, 'Hey, CroMag! (since I can't remember his real name)'....he said, 'Hey'...then some babe walked up and started to talk to him and he forgot I existed...

Mudhen? Who?

What happened to your foot? Drop a GS on it?

(oh ya, Max thanked me for the referrals on my last service...I was only goofing about getting on the commission schedule!! You guys rock!)

Yea Yea, CroMag (Ross) is the ladies man. I don't mind him going around and looking at the menu, just as long as he comes home for dinner. He was probably flirting with Abbey (of Max's) & Katie (Max's girlfriend). Here I think he comes to Max's to visit me, but I think he just likes flirtin' with the girls!

Dropped a log on my foot. It's not broken thankfully, as I would have been pissed to screw up my ski & snowboard season. I think by tomorrow I can ride again. YEAH!

[Ritalin Boy]

Said Jeffaugie:
In June there there is going to be the minuteman 1000 Basically a route starting in Greenfiield MA. This was posted on the LDriders mail board.

Greetings,

As Jeff pointed out there is the Minuteman 1000 next June.

While not quite as controlled as you mentioned the MM1K will be a 24 hr rally held to IBA (Iron Butt Association) rules and practices. There will be a base route for those wishing to get the IBA SS1K (1000 miles in 24 hrs) certificate as well as plenty of bonus locations for folks who want to go their own way and have a chance at winning.

There will be dirt involved however it will be tame, the rule is no roads / paths that a fully loaded 'wing couldn't handle. Having said this Jungo Road (near Gerlach, NV) would be considered ok.

More information will be released in mid December, registration opens in January, entrants will be limited.

Best,

Rob Nye
MM1K Rallymaster