THE 2021 Montana MOA Re-Schedule (previous 2020 Great Falls Thread)

[gsinnc]

It was just a blast!!

Superbly done!

 

[WrongWayRound]

I'm glad others enjoyed the rally. I've run big events and know how much work has to go into it. I truly appreciate all the work. My experience isn't a reflection on the hard work or the volunteers by any means but it was less than good. It only takes a small few to destroy the good will of many.

Sadly, I had invited a long-time Harley Rider and looked a fool for talking up how great an experience it was. We arrived Friday late morning, and left at daylight Saturday morning, on the road to better times. 4000 mile trip for 24 hours of rally and the to/from was the best part anyway.

May try again next year, but I'll likely skip camping.

 

[lee]

I'm glad others enjoyed the rally. I've run big events and know how much work has to go into it. I truly appreciate all the work. My experience isn't a reflection on the hard work or the volunteers by any means but it was less than good. It only takes a small few to destroy the good will of many.

Sadly, I had invited a long-time Harley Rider and looked a fool for talking up how great an experience it was. We arrived Friday late morning, and left at daylight Saturday morning, on the road to better times. 4000 mile trip for 24 hours of rally and the to/from was the best part anyway.

May try again next year, but I'll likely skip camping.

What was the problem? Bad neighbors in your camping area?

 

[Visian]

I'm glad others enjoyed the rally. I've run big events and know how much work has to go into it. I truly appreciate all the work. My experience isn't a reflection on the hard work or the volunteers by any means but it was less than good. It only takes a small few to destroy the good will of many.

Sadly, I had invited a long-time Harley Rider and looked a fool for talking up how great an experience it was. We arrived Friday late morning, and left at daylight Saturday morning, on the road to better times.

Yeah, camping was way tighter than I like things, but I was in an RV! (We are still out here, just got back from a nice adv ride through the Helena-Lewis & Clark National Forest.)

4000 mile trip for 24 hours of rally and the to/from was the best part anyway.

That’s always been the best part of any rally I’ve been to!

May try again next year, but I'll likely skip camping.

If you like camping, try finding a good rural place within 20 or so miles from the rally… this is almost always what I do. Hotels are OK, too… I just can’t stand the close quarters with 5,000 other friends.

 

[gregfeeler]

I have said it before but will repeat myself: Not even the US Army could move in on a Monday, have 5,000 or more attendees starting about Wednesday, and move out on Sunday leaving the site cleaner than it was when they arrived with nary a tire track.

It's worth being part of the end-to-end volunteer crew just to see that happen.

 

[WrongWayRound]

What was the problem? Bad neighbors in your camping area?

Club Camping adjacent to the RVs. Campers goto bed at sunset and get up at sunrise, RVers don’t.
With no shade the tent was uninhabitable by mid-morning.
RVers were up to 3am or later, then sleep late in the AC, leaving campers with only a couple hours of quiet time.
Hourly train horn all night long
Every other hour industrial recycling crashing noise all night long
3am lady screaming bloody murder
Tents 2ft apart with drunks tripping over tie downs
Ants everywhere including all over the tents
2/3 less vendors than prior years
Very few food trucks, all with no food by mid-day
Club camping assistance tent was shutdown Thursday afternoon, so finding my club was an hour long event.
Bikes parked in the camping area ignoring the no bikes in camping area signs.

Other than being in downtown, the site wasn’t good in my opinion. When you have people camping along the road to find grass that should be a sign something is wrong.

 

[Visian]

Every other hour industrial recycling crashing noise all night long

So *that* is what that noise was…. I thought it was bombing practice at the nearby military base. They were HUGE effing explosions!

Fwiw, it is really getting hard to find a suitable rally site, especially with the continuously evolving preferences of our attendees. I’ve never seen so many RVs at our rally, but considering how many old white men were in attendance (and getting older all the time), it’s going to be harder and harder to balance the needs of our current members with those new members that we desire: younger people with less resources looking to have a great time.

I thought this rally was well managed, but this isn’t a rally that I would have enjoyed as much if I were in a tent. I did welcome riders to park in our spot whenever they asked… parking was exceptionally tight, too. In the past I’ve welcomed tenters in our spot, but the powers that be have outlawed that.

Interesting side note: my wife, who has only been to 2 of our rallies (in our RV) noticed that a lot of attendees, as the rally progressed, were roaming around looking for something to do or watch. Sure would have been cool to have an advriding competition like we used to. 80% of the bikes there are GS, and even though 90% were so clean that you just know the riders never go off pavement. I felt stuff related to advriding was sorely lacking. Road racing & sport bikes in general were non-existent.

Ian

Ps -> three different people I spoke with expressed the desire for group rides, or at least GPS routes that could be downloaded prior to the event. I used to do this every rally for people, but it’s past my time. I bet we don’t do this because we are exceptionally risk-averse.

Pps -> Redmond, OR may just be the perfect site and we haven’t gone there since 2010. Maybe they got too expensive?

 

[adamchandler]

As Visian said, "different strokes"

I can concur on some of these things highlighted, not enough to have me pack up BUT the train, the tight camping quarters, the RVs...all things that if you're in a certain spot will annoy the crap out of you especially if you're a light sleeper and don't have ear plugs. Silver lining, it wasn't 85 degrees at night which would be guaranteed to keep me awake even with the best ear plugs. I cannot sleep in boiling temps.

Visian highlighted a lot of what makes any 2021 rally challenging. The BMW community is incredibly diverse. You have a very diverse vendor representation this year which is fantastic. I thought the vendors did cover pretty much all of our needs from different riding styles. Some stunt riding (on or off road) would have been entertaining. My pet-project that I haven't told anyone about yet is a seminar for online YouTube people basically see if a few of our MOA members who produce compelling videos on YouTube or Vimeo would be willing to talk about how they capture their content, the setups, some fun stories...same for travel photographers. There were a lot of seminars so I never ran out of things to do. Besides, the truly adventurous ones saddled up and headed out in 4 directions in search for fun local things to see and roads to ride. You could be on the bike at 7AM, get a big breakfast, ride until 2PM, come back and see a seminar in the AC during the hottest time of the day then start drinking and that'd be a great day.

I wasn't involved with planning this year's rally but I did spend a lot of time with volunteers that did and, mostly, I only heard good feedback and only a couple of complaints.

If I were planning an Adventure Touring Rally in 2021, I'd ban RVs and Autos completely. You can park at a park & ride and ride in if you're 1000 miles away and find a spot with a lot of trees for more dispersed camping. There'd be a communal area with a fire, some porta-a-johns and I'd focus on getting everyone out of there by 9AM and everyone would be out riding. but then you wouldn't have a rally with 5,000 people. It'd be 300 at most. The MOA has diversity in its members interests and we have to offer something for everyone

My 2 cents and speaking only for myself.

WrongWayRound, I'm sorry you had a bad time. Beers are on me if I see you next year in MO....I mean like a 6-pack, not one beer.

 

[lee]

Club Camping adjacent to the RVs. Campers goto bed at sunset and get up at sunrise, RVers don’t.
With no shade the tent was uninhabitable by mid-morning.
RVers were up to 3am or later, then sleep late in the AC, leaving campers with only a couple hours of quiet time.
Hourly train horn all night long
Every other hour industrial recycling crashing noise all night long
3am lady screaming bloody murder
Tents 2ft apart with drunks tripping over tie downs
Ants everywhere including all over the tents
2/3 less vendors than prior years
Very few food trucks, all with no food by mid-day
Club camping assistance tent was shutdown Thursday afternoon, so finding my club was an hour long event.
Bikes parked in the camping area ignoring the no bikes in camping area signs.

Other than being in downtown, the site wasn’t good in my opinion. When you have people camping along the road to find grass that should be a sign something is wrong.

Most of those would have bothered us if we were there and tenting.
One time we moved our tent, but with limited tent spaces that was not a option for you.

 

[glenfiddich]

Because of where the rallies are being held (our many inclusion criteria rule out many locations with fantastic local riding) I enjoy riding there and back, but once at the rally I pretty much remain on the grounds. I took three weeks getting there this year and have still not turned toward home. For me the rally is a break to connect with friends, learn a few things, fix what broke on the journey there, check out new products, and eat too much before meandering my way home to the epic Honeydew List.

I tented this year from Weds till Sunday and had an absolute blast! Yes, there were ants, but they didn't bite. Ambien took care of the train and recycling noise. I gave one seminar and attended several others. Food was always plentiful provided you were flexible if your first choice ran out. And as for club camping - why ride 3400 miles to camp with people from your neck of the woods?

Different personalities have different preferences. I don't understand the RV thing but aside from setting up far away from them it doesn't impact me. The only thing that bothered me this year were the three yappy dogs that barked like banshees every time Glenlivet was visible or a stranger walked past. Responsible dog ownership includes minimizing your impact on others.

Perhaps we should have encouraged the owners to relocate to the RV section.

Pete

 

[Visian]

Perhaps we should have encouraged the owners to relocate to the RV section.

 

[gsinnc]

Not being a camper I’m thinking sounds like neighborhood issues. Maybe there needs to be an HOA.

eek

 

[REBGEN]

Based on advance reports of somewhat limited camping space, I wasn't disappointed, lol. I was one of the fortunate ones in that I arrived Wednesday to volunteer and had an easy time finding a (non-shaded spot) and getting settled. I was grateful to have several neighbors that were a pleasure to talk with all week.

That train whistle Wednesday/Thursday night.....I am positive that conductor was going through a NASTY divorce. My ear plugs didn't stand a chance for that drive by.

Friday night after the concert I heard my tent zipper being opened....it was Samantha Fish stopping by to tuck me in.....and then I woke up...DAMN!

 

[orforester]

I talked to several people and we all had the same complaints, no parking no tent camping spots outside of ant hills and people piled on top of each other. I am old enough the train crashes didn't bother me, can't hear anyway. Finding my club spot was a challenge and the Porta Johns were no where near enough and the building bathrooms were trashed. No outside sinks for hand washing and teeth brushing anywhere I could find. I came on Friday and left on Saturday. My first and only rally. I will go if it is close (Redmond sounds good) but otherwise I will take John Day Rally any time over the national if that is standard fair. I will have to say the bands on Friday were very good. I never got to town so missed out on that. I too did not enjoy the bikes in camping area, except at Airhead Central where they were working on them.

And now I here, well was there anything good? Yes I did make some new friends and like I said Airhead Central was very good and lots of fun. Attended a couple of seminars that were good, Matt Parkhouse and Tom Cutter and the sidehack guy.


Just my 2 cents

Bob

 

[akbeemer]

Be thankful the rally was last week. 102 degrees at our house at the moment; we are 85 miles SE of Great Falls. Forecasted to have highs in the mid to high 90s at least thru 14 July. Great Falls is predicted to be only a few degrees cooler most days. Sucks, even though it is a dry heat.

 

[gregfeeler]

I talked to several people and we all had the same complaints, no parking no tent camping spots outside of ant hills and people piled on top of each other. I am old enough the train crashes didn't bother me, can't hear anyway. Finding my club spot was a challenge and the Porta Johns were no where near enough and the building bathrooms were trashed. No outside sinks for hand washing and teeth brushing anywhere I could find. I came on Friday and left on Saturday. My first and only rally. I will go if it is close (Redmond sounds good) but otherwise I will take John Day Rally any time over the national if that is standard fair. I will have to say the bands on Friday were very good. I never got to town so missed out on that. I too did not enjoy the bikes in camping area, except at Airhead Central where they were working on them.

And now I here, well was there anything good? Yes I did make some new friends and like I said Airhead Central was very good and lots of fun. Attended a couple of seminars that were good, Matt Parkhouse and Tom Cutter and the sidehack guy.


Just my 2 cents

Bob

Bob,
That's a good list of what you didn't like, Would you please describe what you would have changed, and how, to make it more like what you wanted? For example, the ants were about everywhere - how would you have handled that? Thanks.

 

[gregfeeler]

Be thankful the rally was last week. 102 degrees at our house at the moment; we are 85 miles SE of Great Falls. Forecasted to have highs in the mid to high 90s at least thru 14 July. Great Falls is predicted to be only a few degrees cooler most days. Sucks, even though it is a dry heat.

Kevin it was good to meet you, but far too short! We are having the same temps in Boise this week: 100~102 until at least Monday. We did catch a break with the weather last week in Great falls.

 

[Rharrod]

I enjoyed this rally very much, the hole experience. I got a tent spot on Wednesday, it was all good and as expected. Camping at the rally was all in good fun to me. Some people are just better off at the Hampton. I had fun as a volunteer helping, it was a very good time. P.S. we all hit the weather just perfect ��

 

[mosrrt]

For me a Rally is a Rally . Bring what you like , Tent , RV or whatever .
Enjoy , roll up your sleeves and help out .

 

[Omega Man]

For me a Rally is a Rally . Bring what you like , Tent , RV or whatever .
Enjoy , roll up your sleeves and help out .

And…….if you see something not working out, figure out what it will take to make it better and offer some assistance.
OM