Beyond Epic 5 - Ozark Rally, Aug 31 - Sep 3, 2012

[centextom]

Well, my boy has talked me into Red River if Epic is a NO.

[Bastrop]

Keep us posted! I'm still undecided but I would really like to go!

[nchristie]

ATTNTION ROAD RIDERS:

The Weather Experts are saying the center will be about over Little Rock at 8 AM on Friday. The storm is slowing a little. So, perhaps Arkansas is not a good place to go.

Anyone up for a road-ride group to the Hill Country? Which is better - NW, W, or SW of San Antonio? HOtel / Motel / Mom-and-pop to stay?

Or is it really too late to arrange, and I should just give up and - gasp - "work at home!" I hate to lose a kitchen pass..........

Neil

[solorider]

A little rain won't hurt me, will wait and see what happens tomorrow. The plan is to ride the Wing from Houston.

[WoodButcher]

I'm still waiting and watching the forecast.

[TwoSmokeDS]

Are we jumping the gun. The forecast is only 30% rain on Sat and sunny on Sun.

[WoodButcher]

weather.com shows Clarksville as 50% rain on Thursday, 60% on Friday and 30% on Saturday right now.

[cdc]

I'm optimistic...
We may ride south the first day, while the rain moves north (?)


From mobile

[Trail Boss]

Originally Posted by TwoSmokeDS

Are we jumping the gun. The forecast is only 30% rain on Sat and sunny on Sun.

The challenge, as I see it, is 3-fold. First, we will be riding through through the hurricane to get to Clarksville. That by itself is of significant concern to me. Second we will have rain for half the rally (Fri and Sat), which can put a serious damper on things (most riders prefer not to ride through extended periods of rain). Third, if AR gets significant rain or if the wind is still 30-40 mph when the storm arrives then it is quite possible that many of the routes in the national forest will be impassable due to high water, mud, and downed trees.

[hizzo3]

If you stay to the south side of the 'eye' or what ever is left of it, everyone should be fine. It may be rainy but its forecast to be a depression come 8 am Friday and out of the area Saturday. All you will have left are strangler cells and new ones that pop up. Wind should be manageable, mud however is a totally different animal. If I was able to go, from how things look, I would go.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[fossil]

Guess we could load up the play boats and go hit the Cossatot instead.

[Irishcoffee]

A bad/mixed weather ride in AR is much, much better than a three day holiday doing honey-dos at home. Period! Just the bench racing and trip to Oark will make it worthwhile. I;m sensing a bunch of water cooler city/office boys with "adv bikes" beginning to show their true colors.

[Irishcoffee]

Originally Posted by Irishcoffee

A bad/mixed weather ride in AR is much, much better than a three day holiday doing honey-dos at home. Period! Just the bench racing and trip to Oark will make it worthwhile. I;m sensing a bunch of water cooler city/office boys with "adv bikes" beginning to show their true colors.

But, my drive up will not be until Fri, so the weather that day could still cause me to tuck tail also.

[fossil]

This is the one that sorta has me cross eyed.

[reddogbmw]

Originally Posted by Irishcoffee

A bad/mixed weather ride in AR is much, much better than a three day holiday doing honey-dos at home. Period! Just the bench racing and trip to Oark will make it worthwhile. I;m sensing a bunch of water cooler city/office boys with "adv bikes" beginning to show their true colors.

I'm with you, Let's go, I'm going rain or shine.

[Irishcoffee]

Originally Posted by fossil

This is the one that sorta has me cross eyed.

The duration of rain in the area is my concern. I am hoping the reports late thur will be more definitive. Thats my final decision time. It will have to be very negative to cause my cancel. Most of the forest roads are pretty rock based and shed water pretty well. Sure there could be some mud but thats why I use full knobbys. Just will have to speak with some locals for an accurate appraisal of the conditions.

[Trail Boss]

Riders,

It is with regret that I am officially announcing that the rally is cancelled.

I've been tracking the hurricane for the past 2 days hoping it would change directions but no such luck - it has now made land and is headed up through Louisiana and Arkansas. As I wrote above it is for both safety and enjoyment reasons that I am cancelling the rally. Ultimately I think it is better to err on the side of caution than to continue with the rally.

I will mail rally t-shirts to any registered rider who wants theirs- just let me know and I will gladly get your shirt in the mail to you.

[centextom]

Well Richard, thanks for your hard work, and its very dissappointing for alot of people Im sure. I was really looking forward to being in the mountains with my son. It will happen sooner or later. I would like our shirts mailed to us, and I think we should pray for anyone in the path of Isaac.

[Irishcoffee]

Trail Boss made the right call. Thanks for the hard work to organize the rally.

[bigdon55]

Hey Richard, I was not going to be able to make the Rally this year anyway but want to give my condolences for having to cancel.
I know that you've put lots of money and work into getting this rally organized and to have to cancel is a real kick in the butt.

It will be better next time!