Any epic road trips planned for 2020?

[keithu]

56 minutes ago, madsquabbles said:

I am not exactly sure yet.  Last time I went from Los Angelos northbound to San Francisco.  The thought had crossed my mind to try and ride further north up the Oregon coast to Seattle.  I go solo and camp mostly so  I will prob change my route a few times before launch date.  I love it out that way.  

When you pick a region let us know. A lot of us know these areas quite well and can provide specific recommendations. There are great roads all over the west coast, but with the wrong plan you can spend a lot of time watching your own reflection in the back windows of RVs.

[madsquabbles]

I will do that.  And post here as things start to come together. 

[angusmcoz]

I'm not sure if you would call it epic but May 31 I'll be attempting 6000 mile s in six days at the age of 60. Had this planned for the last three years. Should be a lot easier when my seat comes in from Terry's. I'll be taking my Tracer GT and heading south west to Texas then west leaving from North East Ohio. See y'all on the road. P.S. Co-pilot is Reggie

[limpy88]

With my second child on the way, I only got time for two 4 day weekends this year. So one bike and one kayak fishing trip. Probably the dragon since I have family close for free lodging. And I can travel light with out camping gear. 

[tinkerfreak]

If everything goes according to plan(rarely happens) and my wrist is not giving me too much grief I will head out from the Toronto area to Cape Breton and then up to the Gaspe over the St Lawrence at Matane to Godbout and then up to Saguenay, Chibougamau and across the 113 and then I will figure it out from there. If all the planets align I am hoping for a mid June departure for 15 to 16 days.

 

Cheers

Edited January 8, 2020 by tinkerfreak

[betoney]

6 hours ago, tinkerfreak said:

If everything goes according to plan(rarely happens) and my wrist is not giving me too much grief I will head out from the Toronto area to Cape Breton and then up to the Gaspe over the St Lawrence at Matane to Godbout and then up to Saguenay, Chibougamau and across the 113 and then I will figure it out from there. If all the planets align I am hoping for a mid June departure for 15 to 16 days.

 

Cheers

Very nice!, sounds like a great outing.  I love getting out and discovering places that I have never been to before and might never get back to. 

[betoney]

19 hours ago, keithu said:

I'm riding the Butt Lite Rally in July. The start/finish is in Kansas City, so I need to ride there from Oregon and then home again. I don't know where the rally will take me, I just know it's six days long and there is a checkpoint halfway through in South Dakota. I expect to ride 4000-6000 miles during the six days of the rally, so should be an "epic" ride for me. 

Is there a website that describes what exactly this rally is?  I have been to the official website and it lists the rules but nothing about what exactly it is.  For example, there is a lot of talk about "bonuses" or obtaining specific photos, and there is a starting point but do you go back there each day or only at the end of the rally?  Do all of the riders follow a set route like a large group ride or is it a free-for-all? 4,000-6,000 miles in 6 days could cover a large part of the US and into Canada if it was a large loop route. 

 

 

[1moreroad]

I'm going to try to take a few friends who have never crossed a state line on a motorcycle to AR - at least Push Mountain and maybe further west. 

[maximo]

22 hours ago, betoney said:

What part of California are you heading to?  There are SO MANY amazing roads in California.

I try to venture down to California once or twice a year, last year I discovered Lake Berryessa and the surrounding roads while on my way to Santa Cruz. 👍

Did the creek crossings on Berryessa-Knoxville Rd have water running on them? That's always fun! 

[maximo]

I think this summer we'll do a couple of weeks in the Canadian Rockies. 

[keithu]

11 hours ago, betoney said:

Is there a website that describes what exactly this rally is?  I have been to the official website and it lists the rules but nothing about what exactly it is.  For example, there is a lot of talk about "bonuses" or obtaining specific photos, and there is a starting point but do you go back there each day or only at the end of the rally?  Do all of the riders follow a set route like a large group ride or is it a free-for-all? 4,000-6,000 miles in 6 days could cover a large part of the US and into Canada if it was a large loop route. 

 

 

Not that I'm aware of. Butt Lite is not considered an entry level event, and I think everyone who was accepted has some endurance rally experience. No description is needed because we all know what we're getting into.

So I think you're looking for a more generic explanation of what is an endurance rally. I think the best way to think of it is as a scavenger hunt. We'll all depart from Kansas City on the morning of July 5, we're supposed to meet at a checkpoint in South Dakota on July 7 or 8, and then we have to be back to the finish line in Kansas City before the finish time on the morning of July 11. Where we go along the way is at this point a mystery to everyone except the organizers.

At the start they'll give us a list of bonus locations. A bonus might be something like:

"Take a photo of your motorcycle parked in front of Mt. Rushmore: 356 points"

"Obtain a dated receipt from Boring, Oregon: 5621 points"

"According to the historical marker at milepost 72 on Wyoming Route 28, in what year did Arch Stanton die of dysentery? 981 points"

There will be dozens, maybe hundreds of bonus questions, and it will be impossible to answer them all. The challenge is to quickly assess the list and plan a ride that collects as many points as possible in the allotted time. Is that 5621 point bonus in Oregon the key to winning the rally? Or is it a "sucker bonus" meant to entice the greedy rider into an impossible situation where they become time barred? It's a challenge of planning and riding long distances on your motorcycle.

Obviously there is the potential for this to be unsafe, a race on public roads. So the organizers take steps to promote safety. Riders who speed excessively will be disqualified, and they have a variety of good ways to enforce this. Big points are also earned for documented rest breaks. The winners of these things are always the folks who are able to plan efficient routes while taking full advantage of the rest bonuses. The rider covering the most miles almost never wins.

What do we win? A plaque, a t-shirt, bragging rights. Nobody cares except other LD riders. It's not everyone's idea of fun, but I like it. It's like eating hot peppers; a few crazy people love it and everyone else wonders why.

Here's a report I wrote up of the 2004 Cal 24 Rally that provides a kind of snapshot:

2004 Cal 24 Rally

[madsquabbles]

On 1/7/2020 at 7:58 PM, angusmcoz said:

I'm not sure if you would call it epic but May 31 I'll be attempting 6000 mile s in six days at the age of 60. Had this planned for the last three years. Should be a lot easier when my seat comes in from Terry's. I'll be taking my Tracer GT and heading south west to Texas then west leaving from North East Ohio. See y'all on the road. P.S. Co-pilot is Reggie

That’s impressive and sounds like a lot of fun.  Serious miles in short amount of time.  I feel like a road warrior doing 6000 in a couple of weeks.  You are taking me to school.  Keep us posted. 

[betoney]

@keithu - Thanks for taking the time to provide that explanation.  Aside from riding consecutive 1,000 mile days, a multi-day, multi-state scavenger hunt-type ride sounds like a lot of fun, especially the random "bonuses" and having part of it a mystery until you start.  It sounds like a very unique adventure. 👍

[tojjer]

We're doing the Scotland NC500 in July. We're right on the south coast of UK so a bit of a trip to get up there to start with. Done it in a car before, so looking forward to doing it on the bikes. Initially gonna wild camp, but them midges are a nightmare, so looking at hostels/hotels probably. 

Weather can be very unpredictable, so plenty of gear going with me

[HGP61]

Extra gear needed to cope with the Scottish "Midge"