LD Awards

[SHERIDESABEEMER]

I rode over 3100 miles to the rally. When I tried to register for the award, I was told "don't bother you won't win." Regardless of a person's chances, that type of attitude from a volunteer is inappropriate.

Sad but true (but no excuse to be rude to anyone) your miles to the rally don't count because the measurement is from your mail address to the rally. No one should be turned down from registering for long distances. Live and learn. We can only hope to implement improvements next year.

[98288]

...does anyone know if the mileage is calculated by land only (direct of course) or does it calculate shortest route .... which often inputs a ferry into the equation. I would think that the ferry is a rider (who has the money) option and that the actual mileage omits the ferry option. At least I hope that's how it works. -Bob

[SUE]

Please don't be offended by the indelicate sentence structure of a volunteer. Volunteers get tired too. I would ask your patience, knowing that whoever spoke to you had probably alrready worked a lot of hours in that booth. Sometimes we say things without knowing how they might offend someone.

Granted, it would have sounded differently if they would have said something like:

"Wow! Sounds like a GREAT ride! Here is the sign-up sheet, but it looks like there are some others who have nudged you out of the running. We are so sorry, but what an adventure you must have had. Would you consider writing an article for the BMW Owners News about it?"

Yes, that would have sounded better, but sometimes we, as volunteers, just get tired and forget to be very careful.

We all hope you had a good time at the rally, regardless. I, for one, am envious of your wonderful long ride.

And I am sure that the 2008 Rally Chairs would welcome your input on ways to improve the process.

[SUE]

From the rally program

[BOKRIJDER]

Scott,

Please submit an article to the ON relating your wife's experiences and travels with the sidecar rig. The award and $1.25 will buy a cup of coffee, I'm dying to hear her story.

Motard

[arlahile]

1) You've *always* had to sign up once you arrive at the rally, for both club and individual awards. This year was the first time the club awards were to be automatically entered with your registration, although it sounds that like for anything that when done the first time, there were some glitches.

2) There was a very obvious place to sign up for individual awards in the Country Store area, where presumably everyone also went to drop off door prize tickets and pick up pins and patches. If you're not interested in a door prize next year, I'm taking ticket donations!

3) The mapping software did seem funky, e.g., calculating my mileage as 1740-sumpin' when both Mapquest and Google Maps give me 2200+ as the shortest driving distance. Nonetheless, it must have been equal for everyone, since the woman who beat me out was certainly traveling from a further distance than me, but the software also showed her as a tad under 1800. (Yeah...but I went via Seattle... )

4) Jeez, it's not like there's a money prize! It's a just a mug!

5) You can sign up for the Grand Tour prize if you're, say, going to Gillette from Cheyenne via Hyder, Alaska!

Thanks, Sue, for putting on The Best Rally EVER! It was FAN-tastic!

[fettler]

Whew, that WAS pretty close Arla. Colleen Tucker, my wife, got 1st place long distance female solo rider. They measured from our home in Claremont, California, to the site of course. She rode down to Waveland, Mississippi first, then up to Superior, Wisconsin, before finding a map and discovering WEST BEND! Total mileage covered on this uninterupted trip, 8278. As if we hadn't had enough, on our way home we did an 1162 mile day to celebrate the winning of a lovely ceramic beer mug. Left West Bend on Sunday morning about 9am, and arrived in Claremont, Los Angeles County, 3am Wednesday morning! DO NOT attempt the Virgin River Canyon Pass on I 15 as midnight is drawing close, it is very dark and scary. Filling up with gas in Baker at 1am has it's own delightful memories, I wanted to take my bike cover out, roll up in it and just sleep, but no, Mrs Long Distance wanted to get home! We rode from our last nights camp site at Jackson Lake, Eastern Colorado, to home, stopping for a cat nap, bathroom and gas. It was new experience, and one I personally have no desire to re-create.
Maybe we will see you in Wyoming? We are going to Alaska first, all being well.

[arlahile]

Woo-HOO! You should certainly sign up for the N. American Grand Tour next year! Wow! I've seen enough about Alaska to think twice about taking an ordinary road bike up thataway - well, at least not on the haul road. Someday I'll be a normal wimp and cage it up there.

I try to NOT to do much riding at night ever since I hit a downed elk one night just outside Flagstaff, luckily someone else knocked it down for me, but it sent me airborne.

Sounds like you guys are Iron Butt material! Cheers and see you in WI!

Arla

[98288]

From the rally program

Sue, I asked earlier if the mileage excludes ferries or does a ferry get included automatically in the calculation (thus shortening the distance) . Streets and Trips automatically puts a ferry in. -Bob

[SUE]

Sue, I asked earlier if the mileage excludes ferries or does a ferry get included automatically in the calculation (thus shortening the distance) . Streets and Trips automatically puts a ferry in. -Bob

Hey Bob ---

As the rally chairman, I did not have anything to do with the way these were calculated. (Delagate, delagate, delagate.......)

The way I understand it, they used Garmin GPS software for all calculations. Maintaining the same criteria for EVERONE would be important. I am sorry if you missed an award because you chose to ride instead of taking a ferry, but I support the Awards and Tallies team with their efforts to maintain an equitable solution.

Sue

[98288]

Hey Bob ---

As the rally chairman, I did not have anything to do with the way these were calculated. (Delagate, delagate, delagate.......)

The way I understand it, they used Garmin GPS software for all calculations. Maintaining the same criteria for EVERONE would be important. I am sorry if you missed an award because you chose to ride instead of taking a ferry, but I support the Awards and Tallies team with their efforts to maintain an equitable solution.

Sue

Only thing I missed (unfortunately) was the rally. I was just interested in obtaining a bit of clarity around a small (albeit potentially significant) aspect of the process. Personally, I would like to see something around actual distance travelled to the rally. Likely a much more complex and challenging to determine I suppose. My point is personal in that no matter what national we ride to could be recorded as 400 miles less because of the N.S. - Portland, Maine ferry. We ride around due to cost and riding pleasure. I think that when we won the two up LD award in Redmond that they told us that the ferry was not the route in the calculation. Maybe that's the way it still is. -Bob

[SUE]

Hi Bob -

There actually is the "Grand Tour" award, which is given to the rider who has ridden the most miles to get to the rally without stopping at home along the way. One of the past winners actually left his house in January, and had ridden more than 20,000 miles before he got to the rally. That is the award that you would be able to sign-up for, if you wanted to tour along the way to the rally and get credit for it.

But for the "Point-to-Point" rider, we must have a very strict standard. We have found that the computer mapping programs are the best resource for this.

Example: a few years ago, Brian and I rode to the National Rally in Fredericksburg, TX. When we arrived, Brian had 1210 miles on his odometer. I had 1103. We had both ridden the same distance, the same speed, and stopped at the same stops. The only difference were our motorcycles, yet my bike clearly indicated that I had ridden 100 less than he did. What's up with THAT?!

Harrumph! (I think I said something like that, anyway.)

Hope that helps clarify the way it works.

[98288]

...thanks Sue for taking the time on this. Mapquest goeth by land; Streets and Trips by ferry. Oh well. It will be a great trip no matter what and we can trade salty fog for big blue sky -Bob

[LARGE JOHN]

actually i won the grand tour award this year. there were two; grand tour in and out of north america, and grand tour us and canada.
the fellow that won us and canada had been on the road since march / april and was well into 13 14000 miles.

i won in and out of north america using two bikes one here and one in europe tallying some 9300 miles between may 11 and the beginning of the rally slc to dc to new hampshire, fly to europe ride germany to belgium to netherlands ferry to england ride across, ferry to iom tour, ferry back to england ride to wales tour, ferry to ireland tour, ferry back to wales ride across england ferry back to netherlands, ride belgium france germany, fly back to states ride nh vt que ont mi to wi and rally 11 weeks later.



a side car guy i met told me
"if it's worth doing, do it to EXCESS!"