FREE Rally Clinic - Sat Sept. 22, 2018 in Bedford, TX

FREE Rally Clinic - Sat Sept. 22, 2018 in Bedford, TX

First, you may be asking yourself "What is a long-distance rally?" If you are envisioning something like Sturgis, yeah, that's not what this is. A LD Rally is like a scavenger hunt on a motorcycle where you gather points by riding around and taking pictures of really cool stuff on a route of your choosing. I highly encourage any new riders to do a short Google search on LD rallies (like the Iron Butt Rally, or Butt Lite Rally, or NIITWIt Rally, Heart of Texas Rally, Mason Dixon 2020, the Void, Minnesota 1000, etc etc etc).

Every year for the last 6 years, there has been a rally clinic held in North Texas during the month of September. Originally started by Wayne Boyter for the BigTexRally, the NIITWIt Rally took over the helm. Designed around helping familiarize the rally beginner or novice with the gross motor skills that is long-distance rally riding, the event has helped many newer rally riders to have safe, successful rides in their first events.


Any rider is welcome. You don't have to be a rally rookie. You don't have to be signed up for any future events. Anyone with a motorcycle and a desire to learn something about LD rallies is welcome.


This year we will be holding the 7th North Texas rally clinic, hosted by the Southern Long Riders Association in preparation for the 2018 Big-as-Texas event and also the 2018 NIITWIt Rally. The event is completely free to the rider.


The rider clinic will be held Saturday September 22, 2018 at the Texas Harley-Davidson dealership in Bedford, TX from 9a-5p. We will be meeting at PJ's Cafe in Irving, TX at 7am for a no-host breakfast prior to heading over the Texas HD for the start of the clinic.


The clinic will comprise of about 1 hour or so of a brief, informative slideshow about rally basics. Then, each rider will be given a rally pack from which to plan a short, 4 hour rally route. From 11a-3p, the riders will ride said route, will return to Texas HD by 3pm, and will go through scoring. After that, we'll have a brief "lessons-learned" session, talk about things that worked and things that didn't work.



Sign up is free at Ridemaster. Go to : https://rides.jasonjonas.com/regRequest.php?id=572



If you have any questions, please contact Paul Tong at paultong971@gmail.com.


Thanks,


Paul Tong

SLRA

NIITWIt Team

What a cool service! I don't know if I'm working that weekend or not (50/50 chance) but I'll be there if at all possible. Thank you for doing this.

Would something like this be helpful for someone who has never planned a motorcycle trip before? I'm hoping to do some camping somewhere later this fall and have no idea what I'm doing.

Very cool of them to do it for free. I like the idea of a rally kit, plan 3-4 hour ride, then come back and find what worked and what didn't.

notyou83 said:

Would something like this be helpful for someone who has never planned a motorcycle trip before? I'm hoping to do some camping somewhere later this fall and have no idea what I'm doing.

Very cool of them to do it for free. I like the idea of a rally kit, plan 3-4 hour ride, then come back and find what worked and what didn't.

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Hmmm...would it be helpful for planning a motorcycle trip? That's a great question. My short answer is...maybe. Ultimately, no, it is not. BUT....

But, there should be several riders there who are very knowledgeable about motorcycle trip planning that may be of some assistance. If you attend, you are NOT required to ride the short ride. You can sit around and talk ride planning with staff if you want.

It's free, so it's up to you.

-Paul

MacDaddy said:

What a cool service! I don't know if I'm working that weekend or not (50/50 chance) but I'll be there if at all possible. Thank you for doing this.

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We hope to see you there.

Ahhh man, I wish this was another date. I will be in the UK from mid-Sept to mid-Oct, riding from Germany through Ireland, Scotland and England. I have done a lot of long distance riding but never a LD Rally. I am interested in how these work.

Is this all street or gravel roads too?
Joe Fink, you're the envy of many. Been everywhere! See ya soon.

jfink said:

Ahhh man, I wish this was another date. I will be in the UK from mid-Sept to mid-Oct, riding from Germany through Ireland, Scotland and England. I have done a lot of long distance riding but never a LD Rally. I am interested in how these work.

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I do think that your current endeavor sounds much more exciting than what we have in store. I'd pick your ride option over mine any day of the week!

woodsguy said:

Is this all street or gravel roads too?
Joe Fink, you're the envy of many. Been everywhere! See ya soon.

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My event is ALL streets. This is not a dual-sport event. Granted, I admit there may be the occasional short gravel road option and a gravel parking lot or two, but for the most part, this is all paved riding.

Now, if you were asking Joe, well, I don't know....

Thanks, was asking you!! I can do either, but interested in checking this out, have to check calendar.

How many riders do you expect for this type of event?

Jarrett said:

How many riders do you expect for this type of event?

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Right now we have about 6. I think last year we had about 10 riders. 10-12 overall is about the standard. Since I only posted this yesterday, having 6 already is pretty good for 24 hours. I have no idea what that total number might get up to.

I need to point out this is an individual effort event. It is not a group ride. I don't mean to insult anyone but I do occasionally get folks that think a long-distance rally is something other than what it is. I LD rally is a scavenger-hunt on a motorcycle, a somewhat competitive individual effort ride. Maybe similar to a poker run but with a variable route of your choosing.

If the reader of this post knows what a LD rally is, please disregard. If not, it's the most fun you'll have on two-wheels, in my opinion.

I don't really know, but I get the general idea. I figured it was a bit of an individual thing.

I just didn't want to show up and play bumper cars with 500 Ultra Glides trying to get out of the parking lot in a hurry

Jarrett said:

I don't really know, but I get the general idea. I figured it was a bit of an individual thing.

I just didn't want to show up and play bumper cars with 500 Ultra Glides trying to get out of the parking lot in a hurry

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You have a very good point. Last year we staggered everyone's departure....only to have them all stop again at the red light 200 yards down the way. It'll be a small number of riders, so no issues.

ptong971 said:

I do think that your current endeavor sounds much more exciting than what we have in store. I'd pick your ride option over mine any day of the week!

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Thanks, but having never participated in an LD Rally, I really would like to know how they work and even perhaps participate. Your event sounds like the perfect introduction. May be I can catch one at a later date. Thanks for organizing these.

jfink said:

Thanks, but having never participated in an LD Rally, I really would like to know how they work and even perhaps participate. Your event sounds like the perfect introduction. May be I can catch one at a later date. Thanks for organizing these.

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We typically have one each September. You can also just choose to ride in one of the rallies and kind of learn as you go. That's how I did it! Also consider the Big-As-Texas Event in Allen, TX in October. I think there will be some rally tutoring going on and some other small rally type rides. I haven't got all the specifics yet, but look for it to be posted soon on the events page at www.ironbutt.com or at http://www.ironbutt.com/texas/.

-Paul T.

My work schedule says I'm off that weekend so I just registered.

The only "experience" I have is participating in the last event that EuroSport in Fort Worth held this past spring. They've put on a free mini rally the last few springs as well as other events over the year. All brands welcome. Anyhow, if I remember right we were given a packet at 8:30 to study and at 9:00 am we were free to take off. We had to be back no later than 1:00 pm or you were DQ'ed. The packet held a photo copy of the area with target locations circled (large circles) and another page with instructions/clues to an item you would find at a specific location. Fill in the blank on the instruction sheet with the correct answer and move on to the next. X amount of points per location (farther/more difficult more points, closer/easier less points). The idea was to take the instructions and figure/guess how many of those you could string together for maximum points and still be back by 1:00 pm. Locations ranged from around Weatherford to around Glen Rose and a whole bunch between. I had a lot of fun and it seemed everyone else did.

I guess why I want to attend the clinic is I have this secret goal to ride in the 2020 Scooter Cannonball ride (280 cc max). They hold the event every 2 years and this year they rode from the Pacific to the Atlantic averaging approximately 350 miles per day for 10 days/stages along a specific route that contained many bonuses.

MacDaddy said:

My work schedule says I'm off that weekend so I just registered.

The only "experience" I have is participating in the last event that EuroSport in Fort Worth held this past spring. They've put on a free mini rally the last few springs as well as other events over the year. All brands welcome. Anyhow, if I remember right we were given a packet at 8:30 to study and at 9:00 am we were free to take off. We had to be back no later than 1:00 pm or you were DQ'ed. The packet held a photo copy of the area with target locations circled (large circles) and another page with instructions/clues to an item you would find at a specific location. Fill in the blank on the instruction sheet with the correct answer and move on to the next. X amount of points per location (farther/more difficult more points, closer/easier less points). The idea was to take the instructions and figure/guess how many of those you could string together for maximum points and still be back by 1:00 pm. Locations ranged from around Weatherford to around Glen Rose and a whole bunch between. I had a lot of fun and it seemed everyone else did.

I guess why I want to attend the clinic is I have this secret goal to ride in the 2020 Scooter Cannonball ride (280 cc max). They hold the event every 2 years and this year they rode from the Pacific to the Atlantic averaging approximately 350 miles per day for 10 days/stages along a specific route that contained many bonuses.

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I have never ridden in one of Eurosport's short rallies, but our co-rallymaster, Troy Martin, has on several occasions. It is very similar to what we are going to be doing, only ours will be more of an educational atmosphere than anything else.

I've never done anything like the Cannonball but I know a guy who has. I can always put you in contact with him if you have any questions.

ptong971 said:

I've never done anything like the Cannonball but I know a guy who has. I can always put you in contact with him if you have any questions.

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Thanks, I might get that from you at the clinic. I guess some of what I looking to learn is what makes a bonus worth going for and what doesn't.