I got a Go-Pro camera for my birthday this year and really hadn't used it yet. I do plan on using for some upcoming "You Are There" type videos on the Sky island Riders "Riding SoAZ" series.

I took it along with me on a one of the rides we did one the rally and included that footage in a rally montage I edited using the video and pics taken during our rally. The video has been posted on the various club sites, but I am posting here because some of the people who read this blog, do not read the others.

If you've seen it already, I apologize, if not, I hope you enjoy the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBjkN9ggmNE

Ride on,

Howard

Well, I made it through the rally. During the rally, I found myself being fairly disappointed. I looked around and didn't see the massive numbers of scooters for which I had hoped. The scooter clubs from other cities here in Arizona didn't really “represent.” The people who did come seemed to be having a good time and I was receiving nice compliments on the rally bags, the rides and the overall quality of the rally's organization, but I was all caught up in the numbers.

After the rally, as we were disassembling the remaining rally bags, we started adding up the pre-registrants, late registrants, non-registrants and people who were only able to stop by to say hello and maybe do one short activity. We finally came to an unofficial total of 43. When I first started researching rallies, I had several people tell me that 25 is probably the average for a first time rally.

So, how do you measure “success” for your first rally?

1. Did people have fun? - Check, I heard no complaints and saw no one sulking in a corner. Lots of smiles and laughs. Additionally, there were no crashes or breakdowns.

   
   

   

   Community Participation? - Check, We had 18 local businesses sponsor the rally, mostly by providing raffle items. Scoot Over and Vespa of Marana, especially, really came through for us. Big thanks to everyone.

2. Diverse group of participants? - Check, we had a few vintage scooters and lots of modern ones. Our youngest participant was 16 years old our oldest, somewhere around 70, I would guess. We had about a 60-40 split between the numbers of men vs women. We had scooters from 50cc to 500cc.

3. Did the word get out? - Check, We had riders from Arizona and 3 other states; New Mexico, Texas and Missouri.

4. Good rally bags? - Check, my goal was to produce the best rally bag anyone had ever received at a scooter rally. By all accounts, we succeeded. Most of the folks in my club have never been to a rally before, so it was easy to be their best, however, the riders from El Paso and several locals had been to many rallies. They also agreed that this rally had the best rally bags they had yet seen.

5. Gymkhana? - Check, the entire reason I started planning this rally was for an excuse to be in a gymkhana. I watched numerous videos on YouTube to help design it. I think it turned out well. It was challenging but doable. A lot of people gave it a try and all seemed to have a good time.

   
   

   
   

Could we have done better? Of course we could. However, it was a good enough experience that we are already planning on doing it again next year. We won't be calling it “May Day,” however. Another club, in Oregon, already puts on a May Day rally and they took offense to us calling our May Day as well. We are likely going to go with a western theme.

If there is a rally in your area, I think you should go. Not only will you have fun, but you are supporting and encouraging scootering in your community. Also, from personal experience, I know that it is a lot of work to host a rally. Find your host and thank them.

Ride on,

Howard

Rally Planning

The Sky Island Riders are hosting our first rally, the May Day Rally. Planning and preparing for said rally is consuming my life at this point. We are just 4.5 weeks away. I enjoy planning events and this is no different and I want this to be a great rally. Now, I have only been to four other rallies in my life, so I'm not drawing from a wealth of experience, but I'm doing the best I can. There are three other guys in the club who have quite bit of rally experience and they have been invaluable.

The most recent rally I attended was Friki Tiki, which was held the first weekend in March. It was also here in Tucson and was hosted by the Mary Janes All Girl Scooter Club. I helped a bit in the planning and was a ride leader. It was helpful to have another rally so near to ours, so it's fresh in my mind. I carefully took notes on what worked and where there was difficulty. That info is being used for May Day. Friki Tiki was unique, in that it was also also a music festival. One of the Mary Janes is in a local band, so she combined her two loves into a single event.

One of our meet-ups for the rally was "The Hut" on Tucson's 4th Avenue. Is that Tiki head not one of the coolest backdrops for scooters you've ever seen? I love it! It was moved from a local miniature golf course that closed.

That last day of the rally was a great ride, but unfortunately it rained. However,a little bit of rain, or in this case, a LOT of rain, is no reason to not go out and play in it. That's me, riding through this monster puddle outside of the Bario Brewing Company where we finished the Sunday morning kitsch ride.

Now back to planning. I have been e-mailing numerous local businesses to ask them to provide either raffle items or things for the rally bags. I am really pleased with the rally bags, so far.

My wife hand made rally bags. They are purse string-type bags all will fit in a pet carrier, on a helmet hook, or from a mirror mount. She is also making a scooter-themed quilt for the raffle as well. We are gradually accumulating some nice things for them, too.

Resolutions

Like most people, I'm sure, I make goals for myself, my family, my job, my hobbies etc, as I go along. Also, like most people, the beginning of a new year makes me reflect a little more than usual about goals (aka resolutions) that I'd like to make for this newly started year.

One goal I had for most of last year was to start a personal, scooter related blog. Check! It took til, uh, the 9th of November, but I got this thing going. I'm still not real happy with it, but my first resolution is not only to post regularly, but to improve quality.

So, now it's 2010 and I now have two blogs. One of the member of our scooter club, the Sky Island Riders (SIR's), gave me a new website with blog for Christmas. There is also a very nice bulletin board as well.

Goal #2 - To keep both blogs rolling. Specifically, I want the SIR's blog to be useful and to be a"force multiplier" for the overall website. You can check it out here:

http://skyislandriders.com/

Goal #3 - I want to make more off road rides through non-scooter terrain.

The picture above is taken on the fire road (4wd only) on the north side of Mt Lemmon. I did this ride in August of last year. I am hoping to ride through Reddington Pass and also I want to ride the Florence/Kelvin "Highway." Per haps ride out to another ghost town or two.

Goal #4 - I am hoping that our Mayday Rally will be successful, although I'm not sure how I want to define its "success" yet. Above is a photo taken at the Great Southwest Scooter Fiesta in Gilbert in October. This was the metro-Phoenix club's first attempt at a rally and it was very good. Look at that turnout!

Goal #5 - I am planning on riding an Iron Butt ride. Known as a "Butt Burner" one must ride 1000 miles in less than 24 hours. Iron Butt is an organization that promotes endurance riding. The Butt Burner is their shortest qualifying ride. a thousand miles is tiring, but simple on a motorcycle. After all, with a 75 mph speed limit, it would take less than 14 hours to ride a thousand miles. However, on a 150cc scooter, this a much more difficult. If I can average 50 mph, it will take 20 hours of continuous riding. I'm looking forward to it, but will have to wait til March or April so that weather condition will be friendlier. I'll keep you post.

Have a prosperous, healthy, happy, productive 2010.

Ride on,

Howard