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Who did not attend because of the heat?

Who did not attend because of the heat?


  • Total voters
    100
  • Poll closed .
why isn't there a poll on why people didn't attend because ; to far away, not during my vacation, spouse had too many honeydo's, wrong kind of beer being served, cat had laryngitis, dog in heat, grand kids in jail, warrant for arrest in that state. There is always a reason not to attend some chose the weather this year hope you all can make it to one of the rally's in the future. This year was a great rally sorry you missed it.
 
We made time to visit the rally on our way home from KC. This was our second rally (we also attended Redmond two years ago). The heat was not a deal-breaking problem for us. The grounds were well laid out with plenty of air conditioned buildings to escape to if needed. There were also plenty of shady spots. That said, we did not camp, which would have been on the warm side of comfortable. We are also somewhat used to heat here in Houston (Sedalia wasn't humid compared to here, which was a nice break for us!). I think I liked this rally better than Redmond (although the riding in Oregon is second-to-none). Good food, good music, I found a couple of needed items at the vendor displays, and saw a lot of really neat old bikes. My wife enjoyed the riding and the one of her favorite bands played Friday evening. I say kudos to the rally committee!
 
I am a new member and appreciate the information and general knowledge and entertainment I get from having this site available. I recently purchased a 2007 R1200 RT and have so far enjoyed the bike.

I live in the Portland Oregon area and see that next years rally is in Salem. For those that had issues due to the weather this year, I thought I would give you an idea of what you can expect in Salem next year. Generally July in the Willamette Valley will be about 85-90 degrees. It can however rain and be in the 70 degree range as this year turned out. Although it can get to 100 degrees, it is not common. We usually plan on rain for the Fourth of July. I think the dates that are scheduled are good in that the rain is less likely.

If it is hot, you can ride 50 miles into the mountains and it will be cooler. If you want to camp and don't mind an hour ride into Salem, Detroit Lake has a great campground and is very beautiful. The ride to Salem is beautiful as well with 2 lane highway for half of the ride and 4 lane highway for half. Be aware that the campground fills up quickly and can be reserved on line. In the summer it is generally full, so if you choose to camp there, book early.

Salem in general is just a regular mid sized town. It is our Capitol. There is a lot of great riding with the mountains and the coast being equal distances (about 50-60) miles. There are also great wineries that are also in great riding country about 30 miles away near McMinneville and Newberg.

We hope you will enjoy the rally here, but as with anywhere, the weather can be uncooperative at times.
 
We have tornadoes here in the mideast/midwest in the spring time and hurricanes in the southeast in the fall time. Bloomsburg had the heat in July, and the floods in Sept. I can ride in the heat, but I cant ride in the floods. ROC

I think you hit the nail on the head. Can you imagine the uproar if the Bloomsburg rally had been scheduled in September and the rally had been flooded? I'm not a big fan of the July heat but it is a month with the lowest chance of a natural disaster. I worked insurance claims for over 31 years and I spent many weeks away from home in the spring working tornado and hail claims as well as many weeks away from home in September and October working hurricane claims. The many spring and fall flooding events did not impact me as much because flooding is not a covered peril with most homeowner and commercial policies.
 
i am sure being on the board is a tiring and thankless job, especially when you have someone like me questioning some of the things they do. i do appreciate all they do for our club and although we may not see eye to eye on some things i would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the MOA board members who work so hard to make this club the success it is.

Ya THINK ? ? ? ? ?

nytrashman ... Elections open again in January. I hope to see your name among the candidates.

:stick
 

Thanks for the information, I've seen it before, but could not member the dates and exact number that completed the survey.

Looks like 751 completed the survey. I was thinking it was over 900.
People taking the survey were given 4 ranges of dates, all in the summer.
One choice was June and 3 choices were July dates.
The date range with the most votes was mid June to end of June.
 
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The date range with the most votes was mid June to end of June.

so doesn't that mean that the majority of the members that respond to the poll would like to see the rally dates changed from the current July date to a new, mid June date?
 
so doesn't that mean that the majority of the members that respond to the poll would like to see the rally dates changed from the current July date to a new, mid June date?

Since 3 of the 4 choices were July, some people will say the majority voted for July :)

If they ever do another survey I think it would be better if they ask if you want the rally in May, June, July, August, September, ect. Don't give 3 choices in one month.
 
Since 3 of the 4 choices were July, some people will say the majority voted for July :)

If they ever do another survey I think it would be better if they ask if you want the rally in May, June, July, August, September, ect. Don't give 3 choices in one month.

+1, Gunny Lee; I participated in the survey and I was shocked that the survey only had only one choice for June yet had three choices for July, it was definitely a "fixed deck stack" so July was selected!

We at AZ Beemers were/are still concerned enough about this heat issue that we got our heads together and sent off this letter to the BOD, signed by me but written by many!


Subject: One Man and One MOA Club's Input on Moving MOA Rally to June, August or September; no more MOA July Rallies.

Dear Esteemed BMW MOA Directors and Staff,
Dear Honorable BMW MOA President Greg Feeler,
Dear BMW Owners News Editor Vince Winkel,

Folks, I want to start this letter with expressing to you just how much my membership in BMW MOA has meant to me over the last 32+ years. It has meant the world to me, great friends, great rides and great fun. As we say in Phoenix, Arizona: Mas Caminos y Mas BMW Amigos! Nothing will cause me to waver in my devotion to BMW MOA!

But, the time has definitely come to address the issue of holding our International Rally in July; thought needs to be give to moving the event to June, August or September.

First time post of '699072' summed up the circumstances perfectly, the weather is just too hot for July rallies anymore. I'm a big booster of Camp Gears and younger folks joining MOA. However, the reality is that the bulk of our members are now 50+. You are going to see a majority of our members not preregistering or not attending at all!

There is nothing in the way of changing the Rally to June, August or September other than the momentum of our having had the Rally in July for the last 40+ years now!

School Calendar is certainly not a factor, even though some try to make it an issue. In a large part of the USA and Canada, schools are on a year round basis. Certainly that is the situation in Arizona and the Western States that border AZ. My Son Seth (15) is back in Chandler Schools on the second to last weekend of July every single year, yet his Summer Break starts on June 1 every year.

However, School Scheduling does not keep me from taking my Seth out of class to attend BMW MOA Rallies. I took him out of school for Vermont, Johnson City and Redmond.

Had only one member from AZ Beemers attend the Bloomsburg Rally and who preregistered; the rest of we Zonies knew going to PA was going from the frying pan to the fire!

MOA is at the Crossroads: 1) Move the Rally out of July and keep our age 50+ members who can no longer take the heat. 2) Keep the Rally in July and hope for more age 40- folks!

Quotation from 699072: "My wife and I have attended a number of the BMWMOA Rallies, but this years event really got a lot of people thinking that the MOA really should consider alternate dates for the event. Our membership at the Rally is comprised of primarily older riders who frankly are not able to cope with weather extremes - especially the heat that we all went through last weekend. In our group of around 60 club members (Mac-Pac) we had two of our members picked up by the Medics on Thursday, one of which had to be admitted to the hospital. While I think everyone accepts that the heat was not planned or expected, there could have been some measures taken to provide additional relief - such as keeping open the General Store Building (which had AC) for those campers who were having problems from the heat.

In the case of myself and my wife, we ended up packing up our tent and leaving Friday evening and heading home. I also felt sorry for the venders as it was frankly too hot to spend much time visiting the stands.

The location could have worked out well and I'm sure the sponsors put a lot of time into the planning, but its time for the MOA to consider that July weather can become very hot and that a June or August or September date might be a better choice.

Just my thoughts on the issue. I looked forward to the event since last year, but I like many others did not last the entire event - a loss for myself and also for the event." End of Quote.


Extremely well spoken, Sir! An outstanding post from a first time poster! You have summed up so perfectly what a number of we long time MOA members are thinking.

"The location could have worked out well and I'm sure the sponsors put a lot of time into the planning, but its time for the MOA to consider that July weather can become very hot and that a June or August or September date might be a better choice."

It is time this gets put to a vote by the General Membership, put a mail in postcard into the next issue of Owners News and let we the Members vote this in or out ASAP!!!

Respectfully yours,


Don Stanley
BMW MOA #24810
BMW RA #21856

1061 N. Amber St.
Chandler, AZ 85225
Cell: 480-440-4666

 
Everyone ...

We are limited to summertime, specifically June & July. Why is that? Because [simply put] there can be snow in many mountain passes through May, and after September. If we want to make the rally accessible to all members, we need to have it during the typical riding season.

In addition, the locations where we hold our events typically hold their other, regular events in August. (County Fairs, State fairs, not to mention dog shows, quilt shows, etc...)

The BMW MOA has chosen to host Regional Events in spring and fall, as an alternative to the big rally.

So yes - - we started out by examining the traditional date time frames.
 
Everyone ...

We are limited to summertime, specifically June & July. Why is that? Because [simply put] there can be snow in many mountain passes through May, and after September. If we want to make the rally accessible to all members, we need to have it during the typical riding season.

In addition, the locations where we hold our events typically hold their other, regular events in August. (County Fairs, State fairs, not to mention dog shows, quilt shows, etc...)

The BMW MOA has chosen to host Regional Events in spring and fall, as an alternative to the big rally.

So yes - - we started out by examining the traditional date time frames.

I always believe in giving credit where credit is due, AZ Beemers #89 and I did receive a very nice email letter back from the BOD for submitting our Rally letter.

What we didn't know until we read Sue's post above was no months other than June and July would ever be considered as possible for MOA International Rally!

However, the Regional MOA Events are a wonderful addition and I will utilize them.

Turning 64 on 10/28 I personally must choose Rallies that will not kick my old butt!

I attended my first BMW MOA Rally in Oregon at the Prineville Fairgrounds in 1980.

I'll preregister for the Salem 2013 Rally because I know the temps are moderate.

Same goes for Wisconsin as I know from past riding experience the temps are OK!

Just won't preregister for Rallies where I know from past trips heat is excessive.


BMW MOA President Greg Feeler did send AZ Beemers a cordial Thank You and here is the AZB response:

Dear Greg,

Many thanks to you for personally responding to my letter, it is very much appreciated! With your kind permission I have copied AZ Beemers MOA #89 Club President Brian Boles and former Vice-President Uri Schumm. I was AZB President and Uri was my AZB VP. I have been a member of AZ Beemers for 18 years and a Club Officer for a dozen of those years. I routinely lead weekly AZB Rides and BMW Rides into Mexico.

At a previous AZB Sunday ride, I polled 10 of our members and all ten are in favor of moving the BMW MOA Rally out of mid to late July.

I do agree with you Spokane and Bloomsburg have been our only "hot" rallies of the last decade. Fredericksburg, Texas in 1997 was "hot"!

This may be a geographical issue, it is going to be 111F in Phoenix today; we Zonies are not willingly going to venture where it is even hotter.

What a lot of our club did this year, knowing that Bloomsburg had the potential to be a "scorcher" was to plan our "back-up" Moto Vacations elsewhere. In the case of my Son Seth and I, we skipped over Pennsylvania to ride 8,000 miles over 18 days to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and managed to work a www.fjrforum.com Canada Rally in too.

I believe that mid-July to mid-August should be "out" due to the heat potential. But, as a long time MOA member I really do feel that June 1 to July 15 and August 15 to September 30 be considered.

http://www.azbeemers.org/forum/index.php?topic=3287.msg24138;topicseen#msg24138 Brother Greg, I have started a thread at AZ Beemers on this topic. You may wish to monitor the responses.

I am turning 64 on 10/28/12 and I know my old age is the largest factor in why I have now made the decision for myself to never again pre register for a July Rally, MOA or BMWRA, just too hot for me!

Sadly, lack of pre registration by we "MOA Oldsters" is going to raise havoc for Rally Preparations.

Once again, thanks for your quick and personal response. Best part of MOA is the BMW people!!

Sincerely yours,


Don Stanley
1061 N. Amber St.
Chandler, AZ 85225
Cell: 480-440-4666
 
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Aren't there alternative routes even though it maybe a little more out of the way?

We have had to deal with that several times because a pass is closed, or more snow than I want to ride a motorcycle in. It's not a big deal to take a different route if you plan for the possible delays. We have traveled a lot in the spring and fall and it's one of the things that make the trip interesting.
 
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