Topic: 2014 Rally/Relay

[Pecantree]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
  The riding was much more aggressive than I had anticipated, though.
<<<<<<<<<<snip>>>>>>>>>>>>>

My experience also. I'm a plodder, I like looking at the scenery.
Still glad I did it!
Every year does seem like a quick rerun of last year.
I like the idea of maybe every other year. Maybe alternate it with regional meetups.
One summer with the relay then the next summer have regional meetups.
Culminate in 5 years with a single meetup!

just my 2 cents.
Steve

[Tripps]

True, but in my case, the nearest riders have always been 90-100 miles away.

More like 200+ miles for me. But if I had a sure date, I wouldn't mind riding a few hundred miles or more. The problem this year, for me, was the uncertainty and delays. Whoever just posted alternating years, maybe relay rally alternated with regional meetups, that's a great idea.

[scottly]

After consulting with my fellow Poobahs, we propose dividing the US into thirds: GZ will handle the middle, Lefty will handle the Eastern third, and PZ will take care of the west. This would be the third option on Lisa's poll.

[MoMo]

Nice poll. I'm going to think on it a bit before I choose though.

Me too....Larry

[brooze72]

I agree scottly, and as that includes a possible central meet up, it is the most practical choice for maximum involvement.  Additionally, the sooner the location & date planning, the better for scheduling vacations, time off, etc.  My .02

[Mooshie]

After consulting with my fellow Poobahs, we propose dividing the US into thirds: GZ will handle the middle, Lefty will handle the Eastern third, and PZ will take care of the west. This would be the third option on Lisa's poll.

There are Poobahs?  Who are these Poobahs?

I agree scottly, and as that includes a possible central meet up, it is the most practical choice for maximum involvement.  Additionally, the sooner the location & date planning, the better for scheduling vacations, time off, etc.  My .02

Let's set it up and do this then...

[scottly]

After consulting with my fellow Poobahs, we propose dividing the US into thirds: GZ will handle the middle, Lefty will handle the Eastern third, and PZ will take care of the west. This would be the third option on Lisa's poll.

There are Poobahs?  Who are these Poobahs?

You have to go back to the first relay. Jerry was the Grand Poobah. It was a reference to the Honeymooners...
The advantage to running three simultaneous relays is that it works better with sometimes limited riding seasons; there has already been frost on the pumpkin here.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

If we were to attempt a single meet up point only a handful would make it on any particular date. Almost everyone would be left out. GZ v1.0 has MANY signatures on the TWO banners. Never thought we'd fill up ONE!

This was envisioned as a way to get members out for a ride away from their home town on the open road, to learn to work on their bikes, and to actually meet up with others that are only names on the site. IE enjoy riding and MEET fellow enthusiasts. Lives, wives, calendar dates, jobs, money, bikes, weather, etc all play a part. Not all can make it. Pick a reason or excuse. By having this rolling relay rally GZ meets the masses and the masses meet one another.

el Grande Poobah 

[RAFster122s]

No reason GZ, Lefty, and PZ or a new GZ yet to be named can't do the rolling rally as it was designed. Some years the weather just isn't conducive to many riding because they like to ride when it is nice.

Me, I am a nut who would drive to NE Ohio in the winter on a Saturday night when snow and ice were in the forecast for that evening to go racing my radio controlled race car on RC carpet race tracks. I lived in a NE suburb of Columbus at the time. We would finish around 11/11:30 and I had a 90-120 minute drive in good weather. One bad storm it took me 3.5 hours to get home. A few times during the race season (we raced every other weekend or sometimes once a month) I would take a nap if I got sleepy on the way home. I would run snow tires in winter and know how to drive in snow. It was safer generally further north in OH because the transition area between snow to rain was ice and Columbus or north of Columbus was often that transition area.
So, unless there is ice I am not afraid of braving a little weather.

[madmtnmotors]

After consulting with my fellow Poobahs, we propose dividing the US into thirds: GZ will handle the middle, Lefty will handle the Eastern third, and PZ will take care of the west. This would be the third option on Lisa's poll.

There are Poobahs?  Who are these Poobahs?

You have to go back to the first relay. Jerry was the Grand Poobah. It was a reference to the Honeymooners...
The advantage to running three simultaneous relays is that it works better with sometimes limited riding seasons; there has already been frost on the pumpkin here.

If we were to attempt a single meet up point only a handful would make it on any particular date. Almost everyone would be left out. GZ v1.0 has MANY signatures on the TWO banners. Never thought we'd fill up ONE!

This was envisioned as a way to get members out for a ride away from their home town on the open road, to learn to work on their bikes, and to actually meet up with others that are only names on the site. IE enjoy riding and MEET fellow enthusiasts. Lives, wives, calendar dates, jobs, money, bikes, weather, etc all play a part. Not all can make it. Pick a reason or excuse. By having this rolling relay rally GZ meets the masses and the masses meet one another.

el Grande Poobah 

I think three simultaneous relays, East/Central/West might be the ticket. We could try to bring the three together at a common finish line (i.e. Sturgis, Barber's, Manufacturer's Cup, etc.). I even see the three regions competing for :

>Most participants
>Most miles by single rider
>Most total miles by region
>Most landmarks photographed with the "baton"
>Most bikes at any given meet-up
>Shortest miles by single rider (going to be hard to beat Sam's 1/4 mile though!)
>Most rider's logs posted
>Best pitchurs'
>Most regions participated in by a single rider

And any number of other categories. This could even extend overseas to include an Australian region, European region, Nordic Region, etc.

This would extend the time focused on any particular area and would likely provide the most opportunities to participate. This even blends the two ideas of separate relays along with the idea of a common meeting point.

[Bankerdanny]

I like this idea, but I would still like to see a GZ (or two) available for 'checkout' along with a banner so that we can bring them to motorcycle events that happen at times when the rolling GZ's are in other areas of the country.

[Bankerdanny]

The next question would be how to organize the theee regions.

I would be willing to serve as a coordinator for whichever region Illinois falls in. 

[madmtnmotors]

The next question would be how to organize the theee regions.

I would be willing to serve as a coordinator for whichever region Illinois falls in. 

Organization might run similar to past relays, in that one or two persons in each region serve as regional coordinators, with each region broke down into smaller "Teams" where we could use local coordinators (Team leader? Team captain?) that could be more familiar with local conditions than the regional coordinator might be. The regional coordinator could focus more on getting the Team boundaries established, coordinating between Team leaders, getting neighboring Teams communicating with each other, and overall scheduling. The local coordinators would be suggesting routes/meet-up places/exact times, etc. and coordinating riders at the local level. Similar to before, except we have the potential to ease the burden on everyone from the top down by giving everyone a smaller geographic area to oversee. In this scenario there would be THREE TIMES THE AMOUNT OF TIME AVAILABLE for any given area than has been available in the past...

[mono]

I'll leave it up to you guys, but i gotta say that i am bummed that i missed this year's run.  people did a good job of stepping up and taking charge for my region, but GZ really seemed to be on a "flight of the bumblebee" pattern.

in my mind, it would be best to get everyone to tag themselves on the google map, then look for member concentration areas, establish a radius, and create regions that way -- then plot a starting point, loop around/through the country, and a timeline of roughly 1 week/city.  obviously if we're starting in the spring/summer, the more northern areas should start, then move GZ coastal/southward as the year progresses to maximize good riding weather.

i think 3 regions is a good idea, though, but idk that there needs to be a competitive factor to it, as  think the idea here is community (not competition), and that would take away from the "lets just  ride together and meet each other" aspect. 

that's my 2.

[madmtnmotors]

idk that there needs to be a competitive factor to it, as  think the idea here is community (not competition), and that would take away from the "lets just  ride together and meet each other" aspect. 

The competitive aspect wasn't really a suggestion, more of my own observation of what would likely transpire whether we wanted it to or not!     

[Bankerdanny]

Mono, that's a great idea. I know there are vast swaths of the western US where we have never had much participation for the rally's, causing a couple dedicated guys to ride over 1,000 miles alone just to move GZ along.

The path does not have to be so linear with a regional model as well. It can be a series of overlaping circles.

I don't have access to any decent graphics stuff at work. I am going to play around with various mapping tools from home to see what I can produce and share.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Competition brings out the best but mostly it's just stats. Guys tend to step up to the plate better but it's not predicated on a competition. There is no real award. Fun is the only award. Wilbur has some excellent ideas as do others. 

Mono,

What you suggest is what we've TRIED to accomplish. This year GZ is like a biker in slow motion. I set a time table of 6 months in v1.0 which corresponded to the riding season. Start March in Florida when riding begins and end the beginning of Sept Labor Day when northern weather begins to be a problem. Limits HAVE to be placed with some flexibility added in.  It took MAJOR cajoling and an amazing amount of work/effort/time to pull it off. REALLY helpful with Scottly and Wilbur having my back too  Took all of Sept in v1.0 but I knew going in that Sept IS possible throughout southern Canada but could get iffy. The earlier riders have to take the others into consideration rather than hold up GZ in all fairness to the latter riders. Schedules have to be made and mostly adhered to. There have been many bummed potential participants each year but GZ has to move and it is just not possible to wait on everyone or it won't happen start to finish. This year?? If a rider can't make it to GZ then plan for the next year somehow hopefully. We tried to zig zag GZ within regions to the rider populace. Yeah life happens and that's understood. Jobs, wives and money seem to be the 3 big obstacles. The biggest problem it seems we've encountered is the vastness of the west with a scarcity of riders. Many of us did 2000+ miles while others stayed at home on the couch. We just gotta MAKE it happen however.

Here's to hoping you and others can participate in v4.0!! 

[mono]

Competition brings out the best but mostly it's just stats. Guys tend to step up to the plate better but it's not predicated on a competition. There is no real award. Fun is the only award. Wilbur has some excellent ideas as do others. 

Mono,

What you suggest is what we've TRIED to accomplish. This year GZ is like a biker in slow motion. I set a time table of 6 months in v1.0 which corresponded to the riding season. Start March in Florida when riding begins and end the beginning of Sept Labor Day when northern weather begins to be a problem. Limits HAVE to be placed with some flexibility added in.  It took MAJOR cajoling and an amazing amount of work/effort/time to pull it off. REALLY helpful with Scottly and Wilbur having my back too  Took all of Sept in v1.0 but I knew going in that Sept IS possible throughout southern Canada but could get iffy. The earlier riders have to take the others into consideration rather than hold up GZ in all fairness to the latter riders. Schedules have to be made and mostly adhered to. There have been many bummed potential participants each year but GZ has to move and it is just not possible to wait on everyone or it won't happen start to finish. This year?? If a rider can't make it to GZ then plan for the next year somehow hopefully. We tried to zig zag GZ within regions to the rider populace. Yeah life happens and that's understood. Jobs, wives and money seem to be the 3 big obstacles. The biggest problem it seems we've encountered is the vastness of the west with a scarcity of riders. Many of us did 2000+ miles while others stayed at home on the couch. We just gotta MAKE it happen however.

Here's to hoping you and others can participate in v4.0!! 

+1  -- yeah it's definitely hard to organize and coordinate and motivate so many people, especially spread all over a continent!  and yeah, flexibility in schedules is a necessity - everyone's got weather, and most of us are working-class   I'd have loved to participate this year, but my job just isn't flexible enough for me to knock off work for a day on short notice (hooray for deliberate understaffing!).  I do hope that I can be part of next year's run, because honestly there's not much i love more than Godzilla and motorcycles.  Plus, i want a freaking jacket patch with godzilla on it, because that's just .... awesome.    let's make it happen!  I'll help any way that I can.

[heffay]

There is just something much, MUCH cooler in saying
"this is Godzilla, in 2013 he travelled xx,xxx miles/kilometers in the in the Relay Around The World." 
vs
"This is Godzilla, in 2013 he and several other Godzillas travelled a reduced amount of miles/kilometers per each to form a cumulative Relay Around The World."

There is something magical in carrying the torch, it loses a bit of pizazz when the torch becomes a one of #.

[scottly]

Better that 300 people carry 3 torches, than 100 carry one, IMHO.

[madmtnmotors]

it loses a bit of pizazz when the torch becomes a one of #.

That "pizazz" comes at a high cost, especially with all the time and effort put forth by those trying to plan/coordinate/schedule, only to come up short in the end anyways...

The idea here is to find a way to involve as many members as possible, encouraging members to "get out and ride" to meet other members, all while trying to do so on a reasonably attainable schedule. The continuous, "unbroken" single chain relay is proving to be too time constrained for members to be able to commit. The single circuit relay requires the baton to cover AT LEAST 350 MILES PER WEEK. Any hiccups in that requirement causes problems further down the line for those that have scheduled their participation, some up to nearly six months in advance. Miss their scheduled vacation time by two weeks and guess what? Now they are unable to participate due to the narrow constraints that the short schedule and vast distances have inadvertently imposed by their very nature.

Yeah, the "unbroken chain" is (was) cool, and I'm glad to have been a part of it. It also required a monumental effort on the part of a small percentage of participating members, not to mention the marathon rides that some members put down just to pull it off.

Figure out a way to:
>Make the ride shorter
>Extend the time available at any given location
>Get more people to participate
>Make everyone happy

and you will have nailed it! 

[Stev-o]

I like Madmt's suggestion.

So, how do we divide N. America? East, Mid and West? Start down south in the Spring and ride North? That could easily work.

No matter what is decide, there will always be some who do not like the plan. Oh well.

[madmtnmotors]

So, how do we divide N. America? East, Mid and West? Start down south in the Spring and ride North?

This would triple the amount of time available for any given area. We would also be looking at something closer to 100 miles per week, instead of 350 miles per week. At 100 miles per week, we could have a two week delay and still make up 300 miles in one day without much effort. Try making up over 1200 miles in one day! The general path would be driven by riding weather, which would dictate South to North. Once complete, the route could turn around and come back South again. Batons could even "Trade Places" and migrate between the three Regions. i.e. "Lefty" could travel North in the Eastern Region, overlap with the Central (most likely) and/or Western Region, where batons are swapped and a different baton completes the return trip South for a given region. If the three regions were to overlap (even if only indirectly by having the Central Region overlap East and West) then we still have something that more closely resembles an "unbroken chain" than we would if we had resorted to "Team Brown". Riders from neighboring regions could even "pitch in" and help connect the dots within more than just one region.

This configuration would also lend itself to more opportunities for our Canadian members to work within what is probably the narrowest riding season of all. I know the seasonal constraints have probably made it more difficult for them than just about anybody else.

Keep the ideas coming! 


This schedule might accommodate a meet-up at.... dare I say.... STURGIS?  That might just be the motivation for me to finally make the pilgrimage... 

[mono]

If someone wants to start creating a list (or does one exist) of everyone's name/city, we can load all of that data into a Google Map to create a visual representation of where everyone is (everyone would have their own pin marker) - then we could split up regions logically and decide the best travel paths.

**edit**
one of the teams already did this on MapQuest, and it looks awesome.  Google maps has some different tools (you can draw on the map, and create map "layers") which I think may make it easier to visualize this whole thing.  But this is the general idea.  You figure out where everyone is, then generate the game plan.

http://www.mapquest.com/?icid=mqdist_mb_tools&c=c8Dd&maptype=map&zm=4&cr=49.00025291001215,-39.20056175239318&projection=sm&showScale=false

[mono]

another idea just struck me:  if we *can* compile a visual member-map, it may be easier for people in that local area to organize a meet-up day where they can all do a photo op/touch the lizard --- that way, even if not everyone can commit to actually transporting GZ, at least they get a chance to see him and meet other folks from the area.  then the people who *can* make the run can do that whenever.

hypothetical example:  GZ  needs to get from Indianapolis to Chicago.  there's 20 people within a 40-mile radius of Indy, but only a few can commit to a whole trip to Chicago.  indy has a GZ meetup night where everyone comes down and hangs out for a while, takes some pics, and then the guys who are making the run do it another day that week/weekend, or even leave from that gathering with some fanfare.

?? opinions?  I think overall this would work well - obviously it would not be *required* to have a gathering -- i think in more sparsely populated areas people would still want to play hopscotch, but overall it would lessen the total number of hands (and individual schedules) GZ had to pass through.