Hey Guys,
As has been mentioned, this needs to turn into it's own thread. I normally wouldn't look at a title such as this has so I wandered to it inadvertently. For something as dynamic as this to happen it needs as much visibility as possible to succeed, internally then externally. Don't put the cart before the horse.
This is a really fantastic idea. Timing and participation are the key ingredients. Timing being the seasons and weather. Participation being the ability to cover all the states possible without any delays by riding every day non-stop whether it's a few miles or many miles but nevertheless daily. I know we have a large base of potential participants but I have a feeling it may still be difficult. We need to lay the framework first then go forward from there. Kind of like my daughter's middle school projects. She is using outlines then filling in the subject matter in a logical progression. We need to set an achievable time frame inclusive of weather then set up some routing ideas around that. 6 months should be more than enough and the weather situation should not be a problem.
Looking at my map ( I love looking at maps for rides
) my thoughts are to start down south due to the seasonal weather. We should try to NOT use the Interstates but, rather, follow their routes. For instance: kick it off in Daytona during Bike Week (late Feb/early Mar). I don't think for what we want to accomplish that 2011 would be feasible - too early. If we do a good job and get the press/sponsonship we'd like to have we could probably even be recognized as an event. From Bike Week head we knock out the entire south east first then head west.
For instance, Leg 1 (March - April): Say Daytona - Jacksonville - Savannah - Charleston - Wilmington - Nags Head - Richmond - Blue Ridge Pkwy - KY - TN - AL - MS - AR - LA - TX - OK - NM - NV - AZ - CA.
Leg 2 (April - May): CA - NV - UT - CO - KS - MO - IL - IN - OH - WV -PA - MD - DC - DE -NJ
Leg 3 (May - June): NY - New England states
Leg 4 (June - July - August): From Maine hit the provinces crossing back at Sault Ste Marie - WI - MN - IO - NB - SD - ND - Manitoba - SK - AB - MT - WYU - ID - OR - WA - BC
Leg 5 (August): take the ferry from Seaweb's and Magpie's at Victoria, BC to AK
Aside from routing then we will need people and sponsors. No better people than what we have here! I'm going to suggest at least 2 and maybe more riders all the time! We have old bikes. Don't want anyone stranded and we need to successfully accomplish our mission. But, we'll probably need outside help also so we recruit which will also help our membership increase. We have nationally recognized companies around us that can help promote such as APE, Corbin, Dynoman, etc. I'm sure some of the national motorcycle publications would be interested too. That would be the REAL push. BUT we need to put an outline in place and round up our initial riders to make sure we could FEASIBLY pull this off BEFORE we approach the publications.
How's all this sound to you guys?