2024 National Rally: REDMOND Oregon

I forget which rally it was long ago, when shuffling up to the registration table I was greeted with a loud "RALLY VIRGIN" greeting and the rest of the registrar's in unison sang out "VIRGIN", greeting me in their true membership hurrah. A memorable and great welcome to the club. It's been a fun time since!

flyhi2cfar said:

... You have a tough act to follow Redmond. The Virginia 50th gig was kinda special.

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As special as it might have been, Redmond will be much better and special to me. The 2023 Rally was just too far away from me, while the 2024 Rally is probably about as close as it can get to me. I just hope I can squeeze it into the 2024 family vacation schedule without a lot of blowback from the rest of the family.

PGlaves said:

First timers, formerly affectionately called Rally Virgins, were about 15% of the attendees. Lets do everything we can to help them stick around and come back.

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Hopefully we will now be able to contact all of them to thank them for coming and remind them that joining the MOA is a wonderful thing.

About 15 years ago, I made a detailed proposal of how we could combine the use our outbound e-marketing tools, inbound response tools and our Ambassadors to do a focused marketing program aimed at welcoming first-timers *and* creating new members.

The outcome was the #1 pin… which is better than a sharp stick in the eye.

This is something that we could do in cooperation with BMW Motorrad NA, with new motorrad sales (or at least a fatter list of prospective buyers) being the main benefit to them.

I also repeated this advice in some thread in the Clubhouse a while back, when it became known that the demo truck would be making an appearance.

If anyone on our Board of Directors is interested in how this could be done, I would gladly repeat the recommendation and, if asked, would lead a volunteer-driven effort to deliver the program next year.

We make a HUGE investment in money and personnel effort to stage our rally and we do not leverage it to maximum effect for creating new *paid* members.

We could do much better in this, but it takes a well-planned and executed program that engages people at least 6 months ahead of our event.

Ian

Ps -> iirc, we had about 6,600 people in Redmond, 2001… thanks to savvy web marketing and this new thing back then called Google.

PGlaves said:

First timers, formerly affectionately called Rally Virgins, were about 15% of the attendees. Lets do everything we can to help them stick around and come back.

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I met Ted Moyer shortly before the First Timers gathering and he encouraged me and my buddies to stick around and engage with the First Timers which we did. They seemed to really be enjoying the event and appeared to be planning a return. Unfortunately most first timers are relatively young (well younger than a lot of current members) and working and thereby having limited vacation. With the next National being 2500 miles away and requiring at least 2 weeks off to attend it would be a stretch for a lot of them. However, the getaway events would be a great carrot to entice them. They all were having a blast but most I met were relatively local, say less than 1000 miles.

I've been to three National Rallies. (2019, 2022 and 2023). Did you see me there? Probably not. I was also to a getaway that's now a Rally in Pineville KY. The getaway was much more intimate, which I think was good. Showed up Friday, someone organized a ride for Saturday and then Sunday hammer it home. I like the Rallies cause there's a lot to see, but *I* personally use it as a jumping off point for riding of my own. I get up early and go and make it back about around lunch time. Most of the sales pitches, um seminars, are not interesting to me. A $4000 vacation to Peru is of little value when I've paid $50 to sleep in a tent and shower in a trailer. (MO I stayed off site).

I'm probably doing it wrong. I found out when I got there, that the local group (BMWBMW) all camped together. Somehow I missed this. They do a lot of rides on meetup. I never saw that anyone was going. ONE GUY went from BMWBMW in 2019 so I assumed right after Square Rt, which I skipped cause I was supposed to be wrapping up the MABDR that weekend nobody would be going. I never seemed to find where everyone was camped.

So, maybe I'm fussing a little bit, but it does seem like there needs to be something to entice first timers to be second timers. Even though I knew nobody, I volunteered in 2019 and had a good time. I had an "OK" time in MO because I trekked all that way and then rode to places I had not been before. By myself on my schedule (which can be adaptable). Richmond? It got better. When I got there on Thursday, I was questioning why I was there. 70 miles from home, I got bought what I set out to buy within a few hours. I stopped by the Airheads tent, they have cheap snacks and I like looking at the bikes, and bringing down the average age. I had a volunteer job, but it wasn't till late Saturday. If it wasn't for the demo truck and my volunteer job, I might have bailed early. I did attend Wes and George's session, because I know George. Saturday was hot, I signed up for a second demo ride and then ran up to Bowling Green 20 miles away. Came back for my test ride and then spent the afternoon just people watching. Helped a guy going home early Saturday bump start his 1100 with a dead battery. That to me, made it fun. Helping out someone. Saturday's concert with Bonnie Bishop was the best of the weekend. Shoot to Thrill was fun. The blues guy was boring.

Make of this information what you will. I'm looking for another smaller Rally to attend to maybe meet some people to look forward to seeing at the next National in the central part (probably gonna skip Redmond).

Cool! I'll be there. Attended the 2010 rally and it was good. Gonna be a really rough ride from where we live that being at Florence on the central Oregon coast. I know, rough life. lol..lol..

Hey, it's 65 degrees here as we speak and sunny with only a slight onshore flow. Now Bend just south of Redmond has grown just a bit since 2010 and now is over 102K residents. Also, US 97 from Bend to Redmond is wall to wall people. Not to my liking but what can you do when the majority in good ol' Caliphonia want out. Can't really blame them but jeez I wish they would forget Oregon but too late for that.

R65_Steve said:

I've been to three National Rallies. (2019, 2022 and 2023). Did you see me there? Probably not. I was also to a getaway that's now a Rally in Pineville KY. The getaway was much more intimate, which I think was good. Showed up Friday, someone organized a ride for Saturday and then Sunday hammer it home. I like the Rallies cause there's a lot to see, but *I* personally use it as a jumping off point for riding of my own. I get up early and go and make it back about around lunch time. Most of the sales pitches, um seminars, are not interesting to me. A $4000 vacation to Peru is of little value when I've paid $50 to sleep in a tent and shower in a trailer. (MO I stayed off site).

I'm probably doing it wrong. I found out when I got there, that the local group (BMWBMW) all camped together. Somehow I missed this. They do a lot of rides on meetup. I never saw that anyone was going. ONE GUY went from BMWBMW in 2019 so I assumed right after Square Rt, which I skipped cause I was supposed to be wrapping up the MABDR that weekend nobody would be going. I never seemed to find where everyone was camped.

So, maybe I'm fussing a little bit, but it does seem like there needs to be something to entice first timers to be second timers. Even though I knew nobody, I volunteered in 2019 and had a good time. I had an "OK" time in MO because I trekked all that way and then rode to places I had not been before. By myself on my schedule (which can be adaptable). Richmond? It got better. When I got there on Thursday, I was questioning why I was there. 70 miles from home, I got bought what I set out to buy within a few hours. I stopped by the Airheads tent, they have cheap snacks and I like looking at the bikes, and bringing down the average age. I had a volunteer job, but it wasn't till late Saturday. If it wasn't for the demo truck and my volunteer job, I might have bailed early. I did attend Wes and George's session, because I know George. Saturday was hot, I signed up for a second demo ride and then ran up to Bowling Green 20 miles away. Came back for my test ride and then spent the afternoon just people watching. Helped a guy going home early Saturday bump start his 1100 with a dead battery. That to me, made it fun. Helping out someone. Saturday's concert with Bonnie Bishop was the best of the weekend. Shoot to Thrill was fun. The blues guy was boring.

Make of this information what you will. I'm looking for another smaller Rally to attend to maybe meet some people to look forward to seeing at the next National in the central part (probably gonna skip Redmond).

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Check out the BMWST site as they have some excellent gatherings and in YOUR neck of the woods ....usually WV, VA, NC, GA or TN.

https://www.bmwsporttouring.com/forum/94-appalachian-riding-tour/

jammess said:

Cool! I'll be there. Attended the 2010 rally and it was good. Gonna be a really rough ride from where we live that being at Florence on the central Oregon coast. I know, rough life. lol..lol..

Hey, it's 65 degrees here as we speak and sunny with only a slight onshore flow. Now Bend just south of Redmond has grown just a bit since 2010 and now is over 102K residents. Also, US 97 from Bend to Redmond is wall to wall people. Not to my liking but what can you do when the majority in good ol' Caliphonia want out. Can't really blame them but jeez I wish they would forget Oregon but too late for that.

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It's gonna be tough for me to get there, too. What with having to ride Highway 1 all the way up there, then cutting across the coastal range before dropping into Redmond. It's gonna be tough with all those curves in the road and everything, but I think I can power through.

Dunno why you need to throw shade on other Americans, but whatevs, I guess.

Not to throw too much cold water on your enthusiasm but Oregon, especially western Oregon and particular Deschutes county in central Oregon, has had phenomenal growth since 2010. Where I live on the central Oregon coast traffic has become virtually unbearable. Most of this growth is the result of people leaving California. To a long time (native) Oregon resident like myself these changes have not been at all welcome to say the least.

Also, most all drugs are now legal in the state for personal use including such things as heroin. If you get caught with an illegal substance you might get a fine of maybe 100 to 200 dollars. This is the only state with laws like this and again not to everyone's liking. Driving here has become dangerous wether in an automobile or worse yet a motorcycle so be extra careful when you visit.

This IS NOT the Oregon I fondly remember! Don't like to throw ice water on your expectations but it is what it is. On the plus side the beer is still good and plentiful so enjoy.

jammess said:

Not to throw too much cold water on your enthusiasm but Oregon, especially western Oregon and particular Deschutes county in central Oregon, has had phenomenal growth since 2010. Where I live on the central Oregon coast traffic has become virtually unbearable. Most of this growth is the result of people leaving California. To a long time (native) Oregon resident like myself these changes have not been at all welcome to say the least.

Also, most all drugs are now legal in the state for personal use including such things as heroin. If you get caught with an illegal substance you might get a fine of maybe 100 to 200 dollars. This is the only state with laws like this and again not to everyone's liking. Driving here has become dangerous wether in an automobile or worse yet a motorcycle so be extra careful when you visit.

This IS NOT the Oregon I fondly remember! Don't like to throw ice water on your expectations but it is what it is. On the plus side the beer is still good and plentiful so enjoy.

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Seems like that's ended in Oregon as of 2022 and there are concerns about outmigration: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01...ion has grown for,about 16,000 people in 2022.

We make more people by having kids and often don't seem to consider exactly where they're gonna live. A bunch of my neighbors are very anti-growth, but between the two couples they have six kids. And then they moan that their kids can't find a place nearby.

Well, duh.

R65_Steve said:

I'm looking for another smaller Rally to attend to maybe meet some people to look forward to seeing at the next National in the central part (probably gonna skip Redmond).

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Check out the BMW Riders Association event this September. It’s not far away from you in WV (Canaan Valley).

A little less polished and far less hype, smaller event and less costly. Not sure where it will be next year, but you can always count on them to be at a venue in the middle of great riding.

Like their tagline says… they have The Ride Attitude.

Ian

kbasa said:

Seems like that's ended in Oregon as of 2022 and there are concerns about outmigration: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01...ion has grown for,about 16,000 people in 2022.

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And then there is the State of Jefferson.

Visian said:

And then there is the State of Jefferson.

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Just what we need. A 51st state that's poorer than Mississippi. A bunch of Oregonians seem to be trying to append themselves to Idaho, which probably wouldn't work out a whole lot better.

kbasa said:

Just what we need. A 51st state that's poorer than Mississippi. A bunch of Oregonians seem to be trying to append themselves to Idaho, which probably wouldn't work out a whole lot better.

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Thanks very much for that link and that is most interesting. I kind of wonder if some folks have seen the light if they are retired or have to work. Oregon may not have a sales tax but it does have the highest income tax rate in the country. As in 9% of your adjusted gross on all amounts above $10K I think New Jersey might come close I know it was the case years ago. Also, in recent years property taxes have gone much higher probably due to the rapid increase in property values driven by in migration from you know where.

No, I don't like the way things have gone but what can you do?? And then I am forever asking myself the question..."Where can I go at this stage in life's game??" The answer is, at least for me, nowhere that I know of. Well, that and I turn 80 in a couple months and I don't feel much like loading a U-Haul. lol..lol..

I've lived on the OR coast for over 40 years and I just can't see inland because I don't do smoke and heat well at all, not no more! I was raised in the lower Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon so here we stay. Truth is you can do one hell of a lot worse as you probably know well. More lol..lol..

kbasa said:

It's gonna be tough for me to get there, too. What with having to ride Highway 1 all the way up there, then cutting across the coastal range before dropping into Redmond. It's gonna be tough with all those curves in the road and everything, but I think I can power through.

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Pump your own gas!

Remember in Oregon, there are gas station rules! However, if you’re on a motorcycle, they’ll let you pump your own petrol! This will be great ride for me coming from Northeastern California… Plus, there’s lots of great riding in the area if you head out Northeasterly… I’m booked and I gotta go! Ride safe and watch out for deer!

lasnin said:

Remember in Oregon, there are gas station rules! However, if you’re on a motorcycle, they’ll let you pump your own petrol! This will be great ride for me coming from Northeastern California… Plus, there’s lots of great riding in the area if you head out Northeasterly… I’m booked and I gotta go! Ride safe and watch out for deer!

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Yes .... when we were in Oregon in 2021 after the Rally in Great Falls we discovered they will let you "pump" your own gas but THEY have to push the start button on the pump !!

Guess that is how they roll in Oregon!

kbasa said:

Just what we need. A 51st state that's poorer than Mississippi. A bunch of Oregonians seem to be trying to append themselves to Idaho, which probably wouldn't work out a whole lot better.

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Yeahbutt they’d have all your water.

As far as the state of Jefferson goes that talk as been going on for 20 or 30 years now. Nothing new.

EUGENE said:

As far as the state of Jefferson goes that talk as been going on for 20 or 30 years now. Nothing new.

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More than that. They anticipated starting the legal process on 12/7/41, which, you may remember, was a Day of Infamy. So what's that? 80 years?

And I don't think they'd have all our water, Ian. Check out what' happening in the Sierras these days and the state of our reservoirs. Right now, we are struggling with managing too much snow melt.