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06-08-2011, 10:31 PM
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#1 |
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Scott Whitney
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: SoCal USA
Oddometer: 2,228
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The Grand Rally
I’ve been working on this project for about a year now. 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 (old map above), I’ve found so much great riding in that region that I’m expanding it to more days and many more miles (new map to come later). I’m adding new stuff every week. 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 things are progressing, it’s looking like The Grand Rally may end up being around 3000 to 4000 miles, 14 to 18 days, and over 95% dirt. 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. 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 1500 miles 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 those sections are still being finalized, and the roadbooks for all the stuff we have yet to pre-run are not even started yet. I'm aiming to have most of it ready to go sometime in 2012. For now you can drool over photos from the pre-runs ...            
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06-08-2011, 10:33 PM
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#2 |
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BITD/Rallye
Joined: Dec 2007
Location: THE exact center of California/Bass lake/Yosemite
Oddometer: 5,309
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IN! plus... if I can help I will be a guinea pig...
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Thanks for the 2013 support: DUNLOP, BELL HELMETS, Kriega USA, Carbon-pro.com, Ride 100% Goggles, Renazco Racing, Sidi/Motonation, Acerbis USA,KLeN, FMF, Mx1west,,Masters paint and body, Magura , motolab ,and Freedom Cycle |
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06-09-2011, 12:40 AM
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#3 |
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Beastly Adventurer
Joined: Jun 2009
Location: Amsterdam or on Twitter @antal
Oddometer: 1,355
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Looks right great fun!! Excellent initiative!!
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=> http://www.eatdirt.nl/blog <= |
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06-09-2011, 03:24 AM
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#4 |
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F5lood.
Joined: Oct 2005
Location: Austria
Oddometer: 9,342
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Awesome.
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06-09-2011, 07:27 AM
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#5 |
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Scott Whitney
Joined: Nov 2003
Location: SoCal USA
Oddometer: 2,228
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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 |
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06-09-2011, 08:23 AM
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#6 |
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"just do it"
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Escondido, CA
Oddometer: 489
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Great job
Fantastic Job!!
 A Paypal account for donations and "promotionals" will be great.Antonio
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#32, Dos Sertoes, 2008 #23, Las Pampas Rally, 2007 #421, Baja 500, 2007 DVR, 2007 DVR, 2008 |
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06-09-2011, 03:17 PM
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#8 |
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Fast and Far
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Merrickville, Canada
Oddometer: 6,825
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Awesome
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www.GravelTravel.ca Canadas Source For Overland Routes Tales From The Bivouac Rally Print Publications TCAT Trans Canadian Adventure Trail 15, 000 km GPS route across Canada |
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06-09-2011, 03:29 PM
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#9 | |
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Gnarly Adventurer
Joined: Dec 2008
Location: Canada
Oddometer: 423
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Quote:
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Just trying to keep the rubber side down 
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06-09-2011, 04:04 PM
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#10 |
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quarantined
Joined: Apr 2008
Location: Westsideistan
Oddometer: 2,748
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my nx250 project pics my mini ride reports "parts made of unobtanium" + momento mori + |
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06-09-2011, 05:00 PM
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#11 |
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Gnarly Adventurer
Joined: Nov 2008
Location: Southernmost City. Flatistan
Oddometer: 170
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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. |
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06-09-2011, 06:26 PM
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#13 |
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Shipwrek
Joined: Nov 2007
Location: Ottawa
Oddometer: 1,595
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great work....!! have fun making it...
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06-09-2011, 06:31 PM
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#14 |
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Acerbis Gear
Joined: Oct 2006
Oddometer: 75
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That's rad. Keep us in the loop.
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WWW.MX1WEST.COM |
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06-09-2011, 06:44 PM
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#15 |
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nonaffiliated
Joined: Oct 2008
Location: Stranded in Berkeley, CA
Oddometer: 603
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This is so cool
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Cheers Guy 04 KTM ADV 950S GO!!!!! 09 KTM 690 ENDURO R |
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