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Headed to this "Adventure Rally - Sierra" tomorrow and I expect it's going to be an awesome time! I will do a full write up on it when I get back but from what I can tell, it's kind of a scavenger hunt type format where you ride in teams and score points for reaching certain areas, figuring out a riddle or snapping a photo as proof you were there. There are also "special tests" at camp which I'd imagine are stuff like slow races, cone riding, tire changing. Stuff like that. I've heard nothing but good things about it and there's really nothing else like it. It's hosted by Bonnier which owns CycleWorld, Motorcyclist and Dirt Rider magazines and they'll have staff there participating. The sponsors are: GEICO, BMW, Moose Racing, TCX Boots, Honda, Bell, AlpineStars, Motion Pro, Galfer, EagleRider, DoubleTake Mirror, REVER and the Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR). I bet there's some pretty cool swag going to be given away to riders attending! People I know who are going appear to be Sherrie and Kirk Young, @greedyg, @thegeardude and a few others. There's an Instagram account @ADVRally but no posts yet. The hashtag #advrally though does yield a bunch of photos of the event. They also put on this even in Colorado earlier in the year in July. I need to confirm what the registration price is but I seem to recall it was around $300 (correction: $400!). It does seem a bit steep but we'll see what riders get for that. My guess is the food is pretty solid and probably plenty of swag. One small concern is the email they sent out with last minute details seemed to indicate we had to still pay for camping when we got there. I'll find out when I get there tomorrow. (edit: it used to be $600 so they lowered the price but you have to pay for camping which is hopefully no more than about $20/night). I spoke with Kilometer9 (his only social media is Instagram) and he's done it before and had a great time. He said the winning strategy is to ride to the furthest point out and pick up all the easiest and closest targets rather than going off to burn time on more difficult ones. I really don't care if my team wins though, I just want to have a good time, see the sights and get some good riding in. Sean MacDonald had done a piece on the Taste of Dakar event last March that I took exception to for both his criticism of the tracks we rode (worthy of critical review but hadn't asked why they were the way they were or included that info in his piece) as well as an odd "suggestion" that AltRider move their event to the Sierras like where this event is held: "Hopefully, as AltRider continues to host the event, the routes improve or they move the event to the Sierras, where we hold the ADVRally (which has incredible riding)." The TOD tracks were the way they were primarily because the area's already at 5,700' and due to unprecedented snow our scouting trips had been cancelled three times and thus scouted just two weeks before the event (for three days with three riders). The intermediate route was under 2 feet of snow when scouted but luckily it melted in those two weeks and also fortunate was the relatively "easy" tracks got a lot more challenging as they dried out and were quite sandy and loose. Next year's event will have much better opportunities as more time is spent scouting, leveraging Kellon Walch's local knowledge and perhaps even pushing the event 2-3 weeks later in the season. The Goldfield area does have "incredible riding" too but the weather and lunch stops funneled routes into something less interesting than they could be otherwise. I'd even be in favor of moving the event to the Lake Havasu area, Needles or even the Mojave Preserve, you know, because those actually resemble the Dakar, unlike the Sierras. I think it would have been appropriate for him to give a plug for this Sierra ADV Rally by saying something like "if you like this type of event then you'll love our Sierra rally..." but it kind of came off as "TOD is lame, you should try ours." Also, I'm not sure the Sierras offer much resemblance to any part of the Dakar, as good of riding conditions as they may be. So I'm eager to see what the event is all about and the types of terrain available because I would absolutely be interested in leveraging that for any future event. But you can be assured I'll roast him if this event isn't top notch!