Saturday (0730): The Opening Scene

These riders are motivated!  By 0430 (4:30 a.m.), riders were already moving their bikes into the staging area of Rally HQ, Martinsburg WV and heading in for some breakfast (with MANY thanks for the hotel staff who came in at 3:30 this morning to get it all ready for them!).  There were a few bleary eyes, and the usual number of questions, and by 0600, most riders were pulling out as the sun was starting to shine through some gathering clouds. 

There are 44 starting riders.  This is a 32-hour rally with riders facing DNF (Did Not Finish) if they do not return to Rally HQ by 1400 (2:00 p.m.) tomorrow afternoon.  For those used to multi-day rallies, this is a compressed schedule.  Comparing shorter timed rallies to multi-day rallies, rally veterans claim it’s pretty much like “riding with your hair on fire” for 32 hours.  There is very little room for error.  In a longer multi-day rally there is a bit more time to make up mistakes, time to reroute, time to perhaps eat something other than whatever is melting inside your tank bag.  On a short rally, for competitors, luxuries such as those are few.  The strategy is to review the rally pack, plan your route, and ride like hell.  In this case, being Memorial Day weekend in the Mid-Atlantic, riders will be sharing the roads with hundreds of thousands of tired workers beating feet to escape the city.  There will be small town road closures for parades, and whole portions of large towns (i.e. Washington DC) closed for events such as Rolling Thunder.  In other words, riders must also carefully plan their routes and timing to avoid sitting in endless miles of holiday traffic on I-95 going nowhere fast. 

 

Before coffee and the 0515 rider’s meeting, riders had sorted through screens of bonus locations to create a route that will give them a unique combination of points, efficient riding, and for this production – actors, directors and locations for a successful production!  Each rider has declared their production company.  Kirsten’s is 404Found Productions, a Division of Outhouse Media.  And we’re trying something new on this year’s production – digital photo submission and no Spot Tracker!  But have no fear, I still have a steady stream of tracking data coming through with photos via SpotWalla Bubbler.  About half of the riders chose the digital option this year, so their bonus location photos are automatically being sent to their digital rider folder as they are created.  Rally staff can review them ahead of time, which will help keep scoring moving along at the finish.  And for 404Found Productions, it’s nice to see a regular stream of images as the rally production progresses!  We’ll tune in later today for an update from the field.

Allen Hatcher and Eric Bray wrapping up morning bike staging duties.

Co-producer rally pups Bela and Riley provided wiggling words of wisdom in the wee hours.