Jerry’s Durango Rally

Man. So much has gone on in the last couple weeks. Today’s topic: Another motorcycle rally, this time one I co-sponsored. Location was in Durango, and the rally was held over the 4h of July weekend.

I’ve never gone to 2 rallies in one year, so this was a first. What does a rally organizer do? Well, a couple of things.

First, arrange for a “command central” where everyone meets and stages for rides. This year my co-sponsor suggested a campground whose owners he knows. A few calls, and we had group discounts, dates, and location confirmed.

Another duty that fell to me was planning the group ride. Most rallies have one major ride planned, and a few smaller, often shorter, rides planned for the 2^nd  day of the event. In this case, I planned to have a group ride over the San Juan Scenic Byway, with next-day rides to Wolf Creek Pass and Valicito Lake.

Some of the XS11 models our club members ride have a range of about 100 miles due to small fuel tanks. Ride planning has to include fuel stops, as well as plan for meals and photo stops. Having been on this route before, I had a pretty good idea of where we could stop for these various requirements, but planned to arrive a day early to pre-run the course and confirm my memories. The pre-run resulted in a few minor changes and options related to the number of motorcycles we would have in the group.

And, of course, co-sponsors historically provided adult beverages for the socializing that takes place in the evenings after the day’s ride is over. I left that part to my co-sponsor. His wife actually took care of it, and did a good job.

Then there is the question of the rally T-shirt, no small issue. One of our members offered to come up with a design and pass along the shirts for $15.00 each, not bad for a limited-run production.

Rally T-shirt

13 bikes and 15 people showed up, not a bad turn out for one of these events. Aside from some minor mechanical problems the rally came off well. Scenery and weather were excellent, members enjoyed the ride and company, and food and arrangements worked like clockwork. Except for one thing.

I got stomach flu during the first day’s ride.

By the time I headed for home, I had to stop once or twice every hour to stretch out my abdomen. As a result, it took me about 5.5 hours to ride the 195 miles home. I missed 2 days of work and didn’t eat much in the way of solid foods (do crackers count?) for about 3 days. This is very odd for me, as this is the 2^nd time I’ve had this happen, both times this year.

The rally was a success. I met some old friends and made some new friends, saw some great scenery, and introduced some people to the scenery of South-west Colorado. Here is a slide show of the main group ride.

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Larger photos, with captions, can be seen on my Colorado Rally Page.

Thats it for now. Thanks for looking in!