Ok, so at the risk of Mike beating me up, has anyone got ideas for improvements? If he isn't watching this, I'll point him this way in due course, he may like some of the ideas... or he'll just beat you up for the dumb idea, either way, it would make me happy I reckon he could have other bonuses in future, such as area bonuses. All checkpoints would fall into a geographical area (perhaps some would overlap), like Tasman, Otago etc. Collect all points in the area, and there is an attached bonus, based on number of checkpoints, physical size of area etc? Perhaps more levels of checkpoints, and a bonus for completing all of a colour? Anyone else had ideas? No, not you KoroJ, with your idea of no gravel... sounds baaaaad to me
Bonus points for the most summersaults performed whilst attempting the ride??
Less gravel for the ST riders? Not sure if I think SI is fair on all riders. Diamond, even with out SI...looks easier than last year....next year could be toughened up a little more? I like the idea of a bumper sticker (eg; for pannier) as well as a tee shirt....photo option could be either shirt or sticker in photo.
What's left to say??!! I tend to disagree on the ease of Diamond though. It's fine if you're into the dark-side, (or hiring choppers - & no...not the two-wheeled kind) but the only way to get it is on the Compass point option which comes gratis with about 140Km of loose shit. Then if one has an aversion to getting their brand new $100 air cleaner filthy, they'd have to do 3,500+Km (I stopped looking at 3300Km with only 23,700Pts) because unfortunately, most of the good points come with a gnarly surface.
I reckon....leaving SI to one side....if you ride the two gravel passes then diamond 2012 is easier than 2011.....if you want to avoid as much gravel for diamond 2012 as possible, then the total distance can be the same as 2011 but with 20 to 30 km more gravel.... a touch harder....but then you have 8 hours more in 2012.
I think diamond will be acheived by many more than the four that got it last time, gravel will make it a bit tricksy, but last year was no picnic either. Im not sure the busa would thank me for this much gravel, the stone chips alone are a worry, last year i covered it from top to bottom with scuff gaurd just for this ride. This year the pace will be a bit easier with that extra 8 hours, there may even be time for a snooze. Just pace yourself on that gravel and you will be fine.
My Suggestions for Improvements. Would be the inclusion of 2 compolsury rest stops if you were doing the 48 hour Flyer Route. With a minimum of 4 hours each. This can be done with till receipts from the same location. Also grouping more Flyers together with a common link to form a thread. Get all Flyers (eg Fire Stations) in a particular Thread and the cumulative score is increased by a factor of say 3. Like KoroJ I don't think the Diamond is a viable option. The amount of stopping required and several long cul-de-sac Flyers makes it reallly tough and at the moment not worth considering. Just because Mike made the rally window 48 hours, doesn't mean its all for riding, riding. If there was another fatality this time due to fatique, then I think it would be the end of this Rally. I guess Mike wouldn't want to organize another. The Rally is supposed to be FUN, something to do for recreation. YMMV
Forklift Driver: I think the beauty of Mike's ride is the flexibility. You don't have to do diamond, and he's certainly said before, that he doesn't expect everyone to do it for example, with less and less people as you go up the list of tiers. You're welcome to be more social and 1000km a day, stopping more often, longer lunches etc, or you can ride more and stop less. Previously, there was a window of 16 hours a day, 6am to 10pm, which is an average of 62.5kph and the route was more fixed. Now, there is a complete choice of route, which should mean less bikes on each road, with flexible start times and complete choice of route. Even finding other riders during the weekend might be hard. Less bikes in one place is safer to my way of thinking (and why I never did narrow dead end flyers). You can also choose your favorite area of the island to ride. This year, my diamond calcs show that a diamond route can be 2800-2900km, while last year was 3200-3300km, so it's actually easier, with a larger window. Nobody I've spoken to considers riding all the time, with at least one stop planned for a minimum of 6-8 hours (well, maybe the scooter nutters are a bit different, but they'll walk for a change ) 3 days is a bit too long to ride non-stop IMHO.
"Scooter nutters" , what the hey?? On the scooter we will not be sleeping but i dont think we can come to as much harm as we could have on the busa and goldwing. As stated if we get tired we could up the pace by getting off and running along side, or carry them?? But seriously... ( new for me) ... just do what is right for you, know your limits, i have two starts, two trophies but most importantly two safe finishes. Lets face it, it is all for a piece of plastic and bragging rights. The ones that impressed me the most over the years was attempts on a GN and the year before an elderly gentleman on a 500, that kept passing me in the windey stuff, every time i saw him coming i pulled over and waved him through and then got him on the straight stuff, but where i made most time up on him was at fuel stops as he was a bit slow off the bike with what appeared to be only one leg. Ride your own ride and enjoy it.
Gremlin. I thought later that using the word compulsory was a bit strong. I just felt there was a need to emphasise and demonstrate a safety attitude in the Rally. I think most LD rallies in the States have built in rest stops for the riders. And having to stop for a period of time adds to the routing options. What about creating a Disscusion about Various Routing Options. I am curious how you put together a diamond route of only 2900 Km. While not setting out to create a diamond route, I thought I would add just Medium and High Flyers to the Compass route and see what I got. I ended up with 3439 Km and requiring an extra 14 Lows to get up to the 25000 mark. Mapsource says I'll need 43.5 hours to ride it. I haven't used Elaine Bay, Paturau river, Hakataramea or the entire West Coast and ignored the Lows at first. Are you seeing something I'm not?? Gixxer. I meet that guy on the GB500 in Hokitika 2010. He used a bungy cord to hold his prosthetic leg (I think) against the bike while riding. He said "follow me I know a short cut to Kumara ". It was the Old Christchurch road (jikes gravel !!) and man was it dusty. It took me months to get all the brown dust out of my jacket. And its NOT an effen short cut. I too was amazed how fast that 500 could go. I thought that it must have trick motor or ran on methonal.
Improvements ... not our worry ... just go with what he gives us ... Such is life ... Except ... MY only "suggestion" for bonus points ... another 10,000 points for Yamaha riders ...
Yea Gremlin....how did you do it? The lowest I can get diamond with is 3050 without Stewart Island....and that does include the gravel passes. Keeping gravel to a minimum <140km... the best I can get diamond is 3400 BTW diamond last year required some 100km Gravel I do think there is some merit in a required stop but how or what I do not know....I have 2 stops planned, one each night. Regarding sharing routes...not sure if I would want 1/2 the rally running the same route as me, and besides the planning is 1/2 the fun and the competition....For example....Gixxer is chuffed he achieved Diamond with 7 km less than I last year...."To a man with an imagination, a map is a window to adventure"
Mike is letting Yamaha riders even compete? Wow... they let just about anything in these days My route does include Stewart Island, naturally includes Compass (10k points is hard otherwise), but like LBD, not too keen to share the exact route. Suffice to say, doing Compass alone makes you travel down a lot of roads, with a lot of points within easy reach (or on) the main route. 25k after all is half the total points, taking off the bonuses, there is only a possible 35k remaining. Gravel passes are included, and my tank range of 500km+ also means I don't need to go out of my way to find fuel. I'll make a route minus Stewart Island and report back... From experience LBD should be right on the money with possible distances... Estimated at 36.5 hours. re that 7km, over that distance, it's not surprising at all. During the GC, even if people take the same route, it can either be speedo variance, map set used, and taking a slightly tighter line through corners can add to over 7km alone, easily.
Stupid addictive route making *he mutters* So I did it now... provided I didn't screw anything up, I make 3006km for Diamond, gravel included, no Stewart Island. I haven't plotted an exact route through Invercargill though, as I would need gas there, so route would lengthen a bit. 25,000 points on the dot. I would say it's much like LBD's, as 25km could mostly be made up of map set differences? Exact mileage isn't the whole story though, as I could use Queen Charlotte Drive which drops 30 odd km, but it's quicker and safer to go around. 40.5 hours estimated.
My "provisional" route avoids Invercargill ... quicker ways of avoiding that sprawling mass of 50 km/hr zone ... Local knowledge helps ... (I grew up down there ... and left shortly after )
