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Posted: **13 Jun 2016 09:09**

I am just stealing my own words from last year:

You probably have all heard about the Dakar rally or other races to remote places. You actually do not have to go that far to have a lot of fun!

This year I had the chance of doing the Sonora Rally and did the Yellowstone rally with MotoMann. We just wanted to share a little bit of what it is about, our experiences and how to get into roadbook navigation.

Cycle Zone in Topeka, beside everything else they did for me have been generous enough in providing a location to meet!

7 pm on July the 1st is the date and time.

If you are a racer, you should be interested in expanding your horizon!

If you are a trailrider/ dual sport rider, you should be interested as it is a way different experience to navigate and find all those cool places without eating the dust of the guy in front of you.

If you are an Adventure Rider this is definitely for you!

Posted: **13 Jun 2016 09:43**

On our way back from Wyoming, we had a lot of time to ponder on what made the experience so interesting and can it appeal to other people or not. I have been told several time so why a road book, my GPS can just do as well, or a road book in KS why?

Here is my take on it, over the years I have a done quite a bit of riding and I have to say, here is probably what does it for me:
- I can ride my own ride as fast or as slow as I want it; I am not eating dust all day long or have to ride slower that I want to or push my limits to not feel like I am holding down the group.
- I have created numerous GPS route or followed GPS tracks, but there is something unique about following a roadbook: have I read the instructions properly, am I on the right track, if I do not think I am how far should I kept going before turning around.
- Last but not least it is you, your bike, your roadbook and your head going through pretty remote places (even in KS) how well can you keep all those pieces together to make to the end.

Last but not least, there are apps out there that allow you to run all the navigation on your ipad/iphone so you do not have to spend gobs on money to get your bike ready.

Here are a few spots that some roadbooks around here have taken me through

Let's ask KC about adventure

Posted: **13 Jun 2016 09:47**

Here are the excellent words of Motomann:

motomann wrote:Do you really want to be the one missing out on the motorcycle craze that is sweeping the nation? Who will you ride with when all your friends are at rally events with their cool nav gear and roadbooks? Don’t say we didn’t warn you here first.

In all seriousness, Gagnaou (the big French guy) and I just returned from a 3 day Adventure Rally Race in beautiful Greybull, Wyoming (NW Wyoming near Yellowstone between the ?? Mountains and Yellowstone park). It was absolutely awesome!

I have to admit though, going into it I was a bit intimidated by the distance, gear, speed, etc. that seemingly defines rally (or at least Dakar style).

This was quite different – more akin to an Adventure Ride combined with Rally Racing. Yes, it had long-distances but unlike any other type of motorcycle riding/racing I’ve done, this was a truly unique and awesome experience.

For one, the scenery out there was awesome. For me, I REALLY like self-paced long-disance, moderately technical riding. Of course some rally events could be more technical and often include dunes riding (at least in the traditional context), in our case, it was all 2-track and some slightly technical creek/hill climbs but nothing any ADV rider couldn’t do.

What made the riding “difficult” was the navigation – and that’s the point. BUT, with the right gear, this sport is SUPER fun. Historically, to do a rally event like we did, you’d need a full nav tower, roadbook holder, probably some type of goofy looking rally fairing and something to tell you your heading and odometer.

Today, however, with the rising popularity (oh yeah, craze) of rally in the US, you can now get ALL of that as an App!

All you need to do is mount up an iPhone/iPod/iPad using a RAM mount, download Rally Blitz and get yourself to the next event.

Gagnaou (Luc) and I will be putting on a brief recap of our ride sometime in early July. Our plan is to take anyone who is interested on a “demo rally ride” a couple weeks after that. Our plan is to provide 1 or 2 setups like I described so that gear is not the barrier. We think once people experience this type of riding, they’ll be in and your life will then be more fulfilled.

More to come on our local KC/Kansas rally expose. In the meantime, check out http://www.rallymanagementservices.com/ ... lly-school for information on Rally Schools and to learn more about the craze that is Rally!

Posted: **17 Jun 2016 21:57**

Hey Luc, those fingers were supposed to be just for you. I was showing that Luc's adventures are Number One!!
That was a memorable day...huge rocks hidden in the grass, pile after pile of washed up tree limbs that seemed to never end, and then I seem to remember my clutch going out as my radiator overheated and running blind through 5 feet tall weeds and almost hitting a big whitetail deer. I made a bee line for the nearest shade to let the KTM cool off and top off the radiators with water from my pack. After I got off the bike I realize that just beyond the shade line of the trees is a near vertical drop off into the main waterway of the dried up cove we are in. At this point, I am not even sure that I will be able to ride my bike out of where we are at. Luc looks around a little then points to the trench directly in front of us and says "looks like this is the best way out". He got the fingers...and a smile!

I want to come to the class on July 1st, but I need to wait to see how this weekend goes before I commit for sure.

Posted: **28 Jun 2016 13:02**

Ok Folks, this is friday, if you are planning on coming. Post here so that I can start getting a head count!

Posted: **29 Jun 2016 12:49**

I'll be there.

Posted: **03 Jul 2016 12:28**

That was a good presentation Luc! It was nice to learn parts of a new language as well. For those of you that didn't go, Horse Peter means Off Road so get ready for some rough terrain ahead.

Posted: **04 Jul 2016 14:51**

Thanks to everybody for showing up, we had a pretty good turn out. I apologize for the videos not playing, here they are again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGJsBT0K1Ro

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpOU8quFrSo

https://gagnaou.smugmug.com/Motorcycles ... -RScLkTS/A

https://gagnaou.smugmug.com/Motorcycles ... -SJrzq9j/A

https://gagnaou.smugmug.com/Motorcycles ... -WnfFrKQ/A

Saturday the 16th of July is the navigational ride out of Manhattan I was talking about. It is opened to everybody, if you do not have the equipment for a roadbook, you will just have to follow somebody who does. As far as bikes, anything bigger than a 650 will have their work cut out for them... Post here, or PM me so that I can email you the roadbook and details.

Posted: **25 Apr 2017 10:09**

Thought I would post here. I just came back from a rally in Utah! Beautiful places to discover, and the best thing is that you can do it at your own pace...

Posted: **25 Apr 2017 10:53**

I am working on organizing a weekend sometimes this year as I have had some more request since last year...

Posted: **25 Apr 2017 12:53**

Why didn't you invite me? We could have rode double!

Posted: **27 Jun 2017 08:03**

still working out on a couple of date for this summer, I will post on this later, but in the meantime a video from somebody who made it to the Yellowstone rally this year. Probably one of the closest event from our part of the world:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GGzGPkebc4

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Learn about rallying and roadbook navigation July 1st 2016

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