Motorcycle rally racing in America is definitely an obscure activity practiced by couple of. Plenty of dirt bike aficionados recognize “Dakar Rally” and may follow casually, but rarely do these supporters understand the intricacies involved. I was among those fans and aimed to remedy that will through the PNW Rally School.
The three-day rally schools are held a few times a year and are truly a labor of love by a handful of people at the heart of rally racing in the United States. Rally Management Services (RMS) started the particular schools in 2007, and they also offer support at rally races like Dakar and sell notoriously hard to find rally equipment. Dave Peckham is the owner of RMS, but he also manufactures ICO rally computers, runs Rally Skillet Am (American pro rally team), and recently began farming. Certainly, a man of many hats, as were most students in the class. Dave is the lead instructor for the schools and infused students with knowledge and stories from supporting and education racers in international rally competitions eleven times. Alex Martens, owner of Konflict Motorsports, put in the majority of the route creation labor that produced this school possible. Konflict Motorsports has provided suspension services and products for rough-road and adventure bikes since this year. Although lacking the deep rally roots like Dave, Alex’s pure enthusiasm for adventure based operating is evident and proven in the hundreds of hours invested in the paths.
This particular edition of the Rally School occured in Deschutes National Forest, near Bend Oregon, during the third weekend of August. Bivouac style camping followed rally tradition, with breakfast every day and dinner provided by the school.
Photos by Jesse Felker
Deschutes National Forest provided a gorgeous backdrop for the traditional bivouac style camping employed for the most part rally races.
Day one of the school consisted of a classroom session covering the roadbooks and working the ICO computers. The papers roadbooks consist of the distance in kilometres marking the direction change or obstacle, the “tulip, ” a simple line based representation as seen from above, and notes based on France lexicons. Race routes are unknown and roadbooks are handed out the night time before each stage. Racers generally assemble the roadbooks and highlight them with their personal system of records, and this practice provided the bulk of the social time during the school. The particular “book” is really a long roll, that is loaded into a roadbook holder that can scroll up or down via a handlebar mounted toggle switch. Furthermore mounted on the bike’s rally gaming console are two computers with big digital readouts; one is an adjustable odometer and the other a “CAP” heading (compass heading expressed digitally). I was aboard a new rental bike provided by RMS, complete with all the necessary navigation equipment.
The college definitely employs the “experience is the best teacher” mantra. Directly after the brief classroom session, I was off in to the unknown for my first move experience, 146km of intense studying, enjoyable riding and just the right amount of journey. I was instructed to ride by yourself to absorb the most, and I heartily decided. During the first few hours, I might either too slowly approach or even completely blow by turns, not familiar with riding via km or taking the tulips too literally. Much time was squandered stopping at each turn, modifying my odometer via the bar mounted buttons to match the roadbook (there is often unavoidable error), roll our roadbook forward, try to memorize a minimum of the next course change, and finally continue. I would also decelerate to look at the odometer often , simply because of my insufficient feel for how far a km or lack of confidence that I was on route. Early in the day, I dropped an hour misinterpreting the tulip plus running up and down the same section of path. I was happy to have other riders around me at the time, but also recognized I could just as easily been by yourself. By far the most challenging navigation were the “HP” (hors piste) sections, going off trail with only a CAP heading, odometer reading and the tulip glasses. Being off trail in new wilderness is a truly intense encounter, testing your resolve. Luckily I had fashioned two others in the same HORSEPOWER section, including Dave, who successfully sleuthed out the connecting trail. I was fully stoked on which makes it around the course in about six hours. After about 30 minutes of enjoying the camaraderie of additional students, I was overcome with exhaustion, caused equally by the physical demands of riding and the mental needs of navigating. I have never already been as mentally engaged and immersed while riding a dirt bicycle. It was truly a different experience compared to riding known trails or a monitor.
Pictures by Jesse Felker
Dave Peckham, owner and operator of Rally Management Services, instructs Coach Seiji on loading his first roadbook into the rally console.
Day two’s route was the greatest of the school: 210km. Typical worldwide rallies are 480-640 km/day (half transfer, half racing), for 7 days, so we were still in the minor leagues at this distance. I ready as well as I could, marked my roadbook well, fueled my body and eliminated my mind. I was determined to remain on route and minimize needless time losses. I was instructed to have confidence that I was on route when all the clues matched and to move through the turns while simultaneously modifying the odometer and roadbook to prevent massive time losses due to dead stops. I met all those targets in the first 30km of the route, and my confidence soared. I approached a complicated tulip and got the trail that I thought had been correct. I was soon passed by Charlie Rauseo, who notably brought rally racing to American privateers, finding assurance in our mutual path selection. A few km’s passed and although course obstacles somewhat arranged with the roadbook, small errors were stacking and my confidence meter declined. Charlie was at a complete stop at a trail intersection and am knew I was off route, and so i quickly reversed direction, but became indecisive. I reversed again, yet there was no sign of Charlie, and by then there were too many of my own tracks to make out which ones might have been his. The odometer was at this point off and I didn’t have a crystal clear understanding of where my original error occurred. I killed the engine and could hear no bikes. Given that this was a training roadbook, coordinates received (rally races do not allow use of GPS so entered them into our GPS to no avail (user error). I was utterly lost. After much frustration, I did make out the park road on the GPS and eventually rode that back to camp. I actually only made about 40km’s in to the route! Ugh. I did learn a lot, not only about navigation but also in regards to a fundamental principle of rally racing: self-reliance. While riding in my disoriented state, I realized that if I would be to injure myself or my bicycle, I would be totally on my own. We rode conservatively and my detects were on high alert. Even though I had a GPS tracker inside my vest, I was in survival setting, knowing it was just me and my machine, and help would be a long way off. Later that evening I realized that the rally encounter provides the adventure I crave plus pursue in climbing, but on the dirt bike! The perfect mix.
Photos by Jesse Felker
Alex Martens, owner and operator of Konflict Motorsports plus Suspension, gives Coach Seiji some last pointers before his very first rally experience.
The last day of rally school contains a route short on distance but long on navigational difficulties: 48km with 60+ separate areas. Again, I was super determined stay on route and vowed to attention the big lesson learned the day before: when little discrepancies start to pile up, the resulting “off” feeling demands instant attention. I did have Alex behind me but he was instructed to keep me leading so I could have the most learning potential. I actually correctly navigated 95% of the program on sight, caught errors rapidly, avoided almost all dead stops plus genuinely felt like I had a firm grip on that day’s challenges. I actually encountered a few snafus, but with Alex’s help, I understood the causes. This particular last day was all smiles for me and one of the most enjoyable experiences I have had on a dirt bike. It was the perfect combination of riding and navigational challenges, and although lacking the endurance component that is a primary characteristic of rally racing, I got a true taste for what it felt like to be in the flow of the rally experience.
Photos by Jesse Felker
Students takes a break from the mental engagement rally demands to enjoy one of the numerous views.
If riding in beautiful landscapes and sampling various cultures while competing against each route and riders sounds attractive, check out a Rally Management Providers school for yourself. It is indeed an athletic, adventuresome, intellectual and esoteric form of riding and racing that will truly challenges body, mind and spirit.
Photos by Jesse Felker
Move forces self-reliance while on route. It really is essentially a solo effort, guy and machine vs . the route and terrain. There are no pit prevents and mechanical or navigational help are against the rules and realistically a long ways off.
Photos by Jesse Felker
Off-trail navigation provides the the majority of challenges and tests both resolve and skill, the only references being odometer and compass readings.
Contact:
Rally Management Services
www.rallymanagementservices.com