I leave tomorrow morning to ride to Grand Junction for the HW3 Rally. Friday is tech inspection, odometer check, the before-rally banquet, and the rider meeting. We will be at our bikes at 5:30AM on Saturday morning for a 6:00AM departure. The next 32 hours will see us ride routes picked from the 108 possible bonus locations. We have to ride at least 1100 miles, which shouldn't be too difficult, and get 5,000 points minimum to be ranked as a finisher. We have to be back to the Clarion Inn in GJ no later than 2:00PM on Sunday afternoon.
There are categories for the bonii: Petroglyps, Epic Overlooks, Indians, Ghost Towns, Bridges and Ferries, Roadside America, and probably some others I'm not thinking of right now. Getting any two bonuses in a category doubles the points, getting four in a category triples them. There are points for up to four hours of rest (you can rest longer, but the points max out after four hours), and there are points for spelling "How the West Was Won," one letter at a time found on official city, county, and state signs, and for finding signs that have a US President's name on them.
I'm swamped with simply trying to get all the bonuses entered into a nifty program called EasyBake that gives you a spreadsheet app so you can sort bonus locations by points, availability (24-hours, daylight-only, or a specific time period), and then you can export them to Base Camp or Streets and Trips. I've got about half of them in and will spend tomorrow afternoon/evening and part of the time Saturday picking a route I want to ride and hoping it'll make me a finisher.
We've had the Bonus Pack since Friday night, so I'm guessing that lots of the riders have calculated and evaluated 8-10 possible routes. Not me! I do not see how people who do rallies like the Iron Butt Rally and only get the rally pack after the banquet the night before the Rally begins a few hours later can make decent plans.
I'll be taking pictures before the rally and after it ends. I'll be taking pictures during the rally, too, and I'll post some of them when I write a ride report at the end of the Rally.
There are categories for the bonii: Petroglyps, Epic Overlooks, Indians, Ghost Towns, Bridges and Ferries, Roadside America, and probably some others I'm not thinking of right now. Getting any two bonuses in a category doubles the points, getting four in a category triples them. There are points for up to four hours of rest (you can rest longer, but the points max out after four hours), and there are points for spelling "How the West Was Won," one letter at a time found on official city, county, and state signs, and for finding signs that have a US President's name on them.
I'm swamped with simply trying to get all the bonuses entered into a nifty program called EasyBake that gives you a spreadsheet app so you can sort bonus locations by points, availability (24-hours, daylight-only, or a specific time period), and then you can export them to Base Camp or Streets and Trips. I've got about half of them in and will spend tomorrow afternoon/evening and part of the time Saturday picking a route I want to ride and hoping it'll make me a finisher.
We've had the Bonus Pack since Friday night, so I'm guessing that lots of the riders have calculated and evaluated 8-10 possible routes. Not me! I do not see how people who do rallies like the Iron Butt Rally and only get the rally pack after the banquet the night before the Rally begins a few hours later can make decent plans.
I'll be taking pictures before the rally and after it ends. I'll be taking pictures during the rally, too, and I'll post some of them when I write a ride report at the end of the Rally.
