Rally Ready?

I think the time has come for me to try a motorcycle rally to see how much fun they are.  The whole idea of a motorcycle rally is to put in simply a motorized scavenger hunt over a number of hours.  The object is to accumulate as many points as you can safely get by visiting a number of bonus locations and getting information or photos at those locations.  At the end you must submit your rally packet to the rally masters for scoring and whoever gets the most points with proper documentation wins.

A rally is a physical and mental test.  The physical is obvious, riding for 10-12 hours or more in a day or for the bigger rallies like the Iron Butt Rally, for 11 days over 11,000 miles.  Even in a shorter rally, the endurance and physical is a test because to finish high in the standings, you will probably have to ride between 400-600 miles in the allotted time frame.  The mental test is your ability to route a safe, logical and high point producing route that will allow you to get back in time.

I know I can ride the distance in a day...that isn't an issue.  What will be the biggest test will be my routing ability.  Having never done a rally before, it will be a new experience to try to route a ride from an unknown to me starting point to places I've never been to and have no idea of the difficulty that getting to them may entail other than the mileage to them.  I find this part of the challenge really interesting.

My first rally will probably be Ed's Last Resort Rally, hosted by Ed Tillman in Surrency, GA May 13-15.  The actual rally will be a 12 hour affair on May 14.   I had the chance to meet Ed at Stagecoach this past December and he assured me that I would have a great time...or my money back, less handling fees ;)  I have talked to a couple people that have participated in his rally in the past and they said it was a hoot.

So wish me luck and good weather for the weekend.  Hoping that David will join me for this too.  It would be fun to share this adventure with him.