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The Adventure Rally - Sierra 2017


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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. :lol:

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!  :lol:

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I called the resort and camping is $20/night but the heavy snow last year caved in the shower trailer so no showers are available

The thing is though, it's surrounded by like 5 public campgrounds that are literally across the street so I'm thinking why pay?

Edit: Showers are available inside the lodge's locker room.  Whew!

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20 hours ago, Eric Hall said:

I called the resort and camping is $20/night but the heavy snow last year caved in the shower trailer so no showers are available emoji20.png

The thing is though, it's surrounded by like 5 public campgrounds that are literally across the street so I'm thinking why pay?

Edit: Showers are available inside the lodge's locker room.  Whew!

Shower? What happened to using baby wipes!! LOL

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My 690 Enduro and I participated in the Gunnison ADV Rally back in July. The event is well planned and executed. Riding is what riders/teams make of it. Plenty of options on the map to make for some great riding. 

Having some experience and knowledge with the area, I was able to help a team plan their ride for the second day. At the end of the day, they ran into me at happy hour and thanked me as they had a terrific day of riding. They actually collected more points! :D Anyway, this is part of the experience for these rallies. 

I camped about a 10 minute ride away, and even that is a bit of a problem since I couldn't let the beer tickets go to waste! 

 

 

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OMG this is so much fun already and we haven't even started!

Got to talk with the one and only Johnny Campbell about racing and his involvement in the development of the Africa Twin. Then Ned Suesse about big vs small bikes racing in Baja.

Can't wait for tomorrow and the contest to begin!

Oh and met @bmwmotorcyclegirl too!

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Okay so we had a very long day yesterday. We ended up doing this kind of Enduro cross trail called Swamp Lake or something that we weren't supposed to do. We hit it at about 2:00 and didn't get back until 10:30 pm last night. A rider in another group lost his clutch and we had to have him hike out then ride two up.

I lost a foot peg. Spencer cracked his water pump housing. Rob Dabney punctured his left cylinder head so we are just doing repairs this morning.

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1 hour ago, greedyg said:

Was it @thegeardude that broke down and had ride bitch out?!  Haha! Or was that "just for fun" ? 🙄

Nah it was Jay Eastmann whose clutch got fried or something on his 950.  I was just giving Spencer a ride across the parking lot back to the bikes.  They gave him a new bike as well.

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55 minutes ago, Eric Hall said:

Well after I busted the right peg off, they switched bikes and gave me a manual with TKC-80's

Did you put a pretty-good hit to that foot peg? What response did you hear from the Honda guys regarding frequency of breaks. Sort of wonder if it is worth ordering a bracket to keep on hand.

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So this ADV Rally is the collective work of Justin Bradshaw (REVER) and Ned Suesse (Dakar legend and DoubleTake Mirror). I guess Bonnier (Motorcyclist, Dirt Rider, Cycle World) came to them for a Rally idea and they'd already had this one so that's how it started.

 

It's not cheap at $400 but good luck getting tickets as it sells out very fast. The focus seems to be on adventure Enduro and you'd better know what you're doing because they have lots of great trails mapped out. Easy ones too if that's your thing.

 

There's the Colorado one in July then they partner with Stewards of the Sierra, a trail advocacy group, to scout out trails. These guys know all the tasty gnar in need of shredding! This event also raised about $3500 for them.

 

Vendor row from my recollection: TCX Boots, Motion Pro (left Saturday?) BMW, Honda (huge presence), AlpineStars, Eagle Rider, Adventure Brothers, and perhaps a few more. Lots of swag was handed out as well.

 

Food was pretty good. Drink tickets were plentiful but at 7k' you're fine with two drinks (Saturday I had five, whoops!).

 

Really glad I camped but there was a Starbucks rider there who left Saturday because he hadn't slept the past two nights! I slept like a baby (of course) and turned down a hotel room (because I'm a man ).

 

Cory Eastman from Bonnier was the ringleader and did a fantastic job. You can tell there's a real esprit des corps amongst Cory, Justin and Ned and the humor was very light hearted. It felt like that really special group of riding friends you wished you could always ride with.

 

I met Cory's brother Jay on the trail, the one with the 950 who busted a clutch, as well as this guy Brett who was a total Eagle Scout during our endurocross trail event. He's from Colorado so the altitude wasn't an issue.

 

These three leaders i mentioned came out to meet us at around 10:00 pm with food, water and blankets. That's gold right there.

 

I certainly plan to go again next year and hope to make the Colorado one as well.

 

Do it!

 

P.s. So Sean MacDonald was right that the trails are epic but still doesn't get that it's not a good facsimile of Dakar like the Nevada desert is

 

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On 2017-10-01 at 8:02 PM, rider_marc said:

Did you put a pretty-good hit to that foot peg? What response did you hear from the Honda guys regarding frequency of breaks. Sort of wonder if it is worth ordering a bracket to keep on hand.

 

Preventative solution:
Camel Brace Product Page
Product intro Camel Brace

 

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Edited by Camel ADV
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