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The worst part of the rally.....

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+1 Well said

i thought about complaining how hot it is... Then i realized that: 1.) it isn't 109 degrees; 2.) i'm not 5,700 miles from home; 3.) i'm not dressed in a full bdu uniform and helmet and carrying 70+ lbs.; and 4.) there is very little chance that anyone will shoot at me or that i might drive over a bomb in the road today! Thank you to all who serve.

+100
 
Don't even bother wasting your time. I've been trying to get the religious nuts banned for over two decades but they still keep letting them in, even giving them space to practice their weird rituals. Creeps me out even knowing they are around, that anyone could be one of them. But what are you going to do? I just keep an eye out for them and if I see someone that has "that look" well I just turn and go the other direction. There is just no place for that kind at our rallies.

[Note: For further reading, please see "The Art of Satire"]

:thumb:
 
Overall - outstanding but...

I've read the whole list of comments - I'm a noob, first rally and here's my 2c.:violin
- The venue I thought was perfect - lots of space in an adorable town with great motorcycle routes around. Normally PA is very comfortable this time of year. You could have taken a ride into the hills north to cool off. Fairgrounds are always stuffy and hot.
- The book is great, but needs some refinement. I like the comment about vendors mapping page - list and where they are on the map. We use that in the boat shows - works great so you don't have to wander looking around.

I missed a training event that was poorly coordinated in the book. I signed up months ago for the Rawhyde training on Saturday - I'm a new GSA rider. I came to the rally for that and to buy a new seat (I got the seat). The coordinating directions said "Rawhyde training event will start at 8 a.m. at the designated area".....no designated area is printed anywhere in the book or the confirmation email.... I missed the training. Pretty p'd off over it having got up early and prepped my bike. Sat morning, I came 45 min early to look for "the designated area" - I asked around and some officials, ie with radios and special tags, didn't even know what the event was, much less where it was. I do want to thank the 2 "Go-fers" who helped me get in touch with Roc. They were the nicest folks! Thank you. I felt bad for Roc, no one was answering their radios, so it's not his fault.
As a retired military guy, we're used to coordinating rather large events with lots of moving parts. There's always chaos. If training/events are taking place - we have a small staff at "stand-to" to make sure everything's covered. That was lacking.

In the end, after saying screw it and going for a lovely long ride north of Bloomsburg on great back dirt roads, I came back to the grounds to find them training in the field way over by the swim spot. I watched and then went and played in the GS pit inner field and had a grand time. Yes, I went dirt biking at 130pm, the hottest part of the day and had a blast! So no foul in the end.

- would suggest putting some big fans in the food tents to circulate/blow out the tent air. Outstanding job with the misting tents and over the pedestrian areas! You guys really did try hard and it was noted by all with whom I chatted throughout the weekend.

- last parting shot, as I'm up to $1.50 of my 2c - the flame cars were absolutely stupid and not in the character of our organization. Leadership should have just shut that down. It was already 95+degs and you guys turned on the flame throwers with the wind pushing the heat into the bleachers. That was really stupid and actually dangerous. Josh who won the GS Giant bike was more entertaining! It's a motorcycle enthusiast event - not a car show. A guy doing trix would have been more entertaining.

All in all - yes - outstanding - heat and all! :thumb
 
don't even bother wasting your time. I've been trying to get the religious nuts banned for over two decades but they still keep letting them in, even giving them space to practice their weird rituals. Creeps me out even knowing they are around, that anyone could be one of them. But what are you going to do? I just keep an eye out for them and if i see someone that has "that look" well i just turn and go the other direction. There is just no place for that kind at our rallies.

[note: For further reading, please see "the art of satire"]

aaaahahahaaha!!!
 
For me, the most distressing part of the rally was to hear so many people in the crowd booing Vance, during the closing ceremony.

...

What a great way to discourage a phenomenal volunteer.

That was pretty unfortunate. I know that a lot of folks put in a lot of time and effort to make something like this happen. I volunteer and help out, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to what the real movers and shakers do. And I appreciate their efforts.

OTOH, the audience - myself included - was sitting in the hot sun while the ceremonies were going on. I did appreciate the opportunity to thank the volunteers (and even the paid staff) for their efforts. However, some of the awards were unrelated to the rally. I felt a little like we were being taken advantage by an MOA who wanted to recognize folks for contributions unrelated to the rally. That seems like a good idea because there is no other congregation of a like number of MOA members, but while sitting there in the hot sun, it seemed a little less like a good idea. I suggest that the rally closing ceremony stick to the subject of the rally.

Beyond that, anything that can be done to keep the ceremonies a little snappier would be appreciated. There were numerous times when the MC called someone to the stage and we sat there in silence while they stood up and walked across to the microphone. That pattern repeated several times. It's only a few seconds, but a few seconds sitting in the hot sun can get long.

I appreciate that vendors expect the podium when donating substantial prizes. I also appreciate the vendors who probably had long speeches prepared and decided to cut them short.

It seems like there were a lot more club and individual awards at previous rallies. I hope these can be posted to the web site since they did not get covered during the abbreviated closing ceremony.

best,
hank
 
I missed a training event that was poorly coordinated in the book. I signed up months ago for the Rawhyde training on Saturday - I'm a new GSA rider. I came to the rally for that and to buy a new seat (I got the seat). The coordinating directions said "Rawhyde training event will start at 8 a.m. at the designated area".....no designated area is printed anywhere in the book or the confirmation email.... I missed the training. Pretty p'd off over it having got up early and prepped my bike. Sat morning, I came 45 min early to look for "the designated area" - I asked around and some officials, ie with radios and special tags, didn't even know what the event was, much less where it was. I do want to thank the 2 "Go-fers" who helped me get in touch with Roc. They were the nicest folks! Thank you. I felt bad for Roc, no one was answering their radios, so it's not his fault.
As a retired military guy, we're used to coordinating rather large events with lots of moving parts. There's always chaos. If training/events are taking place - we have a small staff at "stand-to" to make sure everything's covered. That was lacking.

Not really, the only Rawhyde Training on Saturday was their dealer clinic with Hermys BMW GSer's ( not mentioned in the program because it was not an MOA event, and this is the event you saw ). Rawhyde also had a "two day" adventure course offering on Friday and Saturday but that was solely run by them and they sent emails to those involved. The GS Giant Chair's gave them a meeting point and they were to inform their customers. Being a Chair, I even stopped by on Friday to see if everything was OK for them. You had to be there Friday, Saturday was day two. ........ again the GS Event folks gave them a place and it was their program. How stand on is that ?

The book was poorly coordinated because it went to the printer in May, a time we were still waiting GS event funding let alone trying to get people committed. I would like to see an app since we are dealing with the last minute generation now. Sadly I wanted everything done waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy back during the winter but moto folks can't see past the next weekend let alone the next event...........I have tons of emails I can't share to reflect this and a location change had to happen because of funding foot dragging. Hey but everything turned out well. :thumb

Come join the virtual GS Community in the clubhouse because traing will once again be offered.

As far as logistics ? Been there done that starting in the days of slide rules and black & white photos. My assessed community needs were met. :)
 

If only we had an expert in new media, experienced in ap design and layout, truly a genius at gathering and organizing information, and an experienced volunteer whose dedication to the organization and its members was simply unmatched ....... :bliss

.

.

.


(why do I have a feeling there is now a price on my head :))
 
Heat is beyond the control of any mortal, the complaint really is how the adversity was met (or not met). Bottled water was good, misters were good, I saw a lot of paper fans going around (not sure where they came from, but if someone thought to have them made up and distributed around the grounds - bravo) but the buildings were equipped with AC that a) did not work and/or b) failed (one building never worked, the other two did and one failed, the third could not keep up but did provide a little cooling). All of the buildings were cooler than outside and offered some modicum of "relief". The facility manager should have had a crew in there and had it fixed same-day. This should be a contractual obligation. Either someone did not put enough pressure on them (specifically Paul Reichart, president) to do so, or some greater problem arose. Power was out in a portion of the third (arts and crafts) building that never had AC, I suspect the two are related. I saw no one working on the AC systems at any time. A member in another thread showed a portable AC generator truck, once the excessive heat was predicted, someone should have investigated one of those. No, I don't know what they cost... I said investigated. Maybe something like that needs to be budgeted in for future events as part of a back-up plan.

For years voices have raised the objection: CLOSING CEREMONIES NEED TO BE KEPT BRIEF. 2 hours in good weather is excessively long. 2 hours in blistering heat, with more than half the crowd sitting in the sun is begging for trouble. Studies show the average attention span is 40 minutes for a presentation. I do not mean recognition of achievements by people like Paul, Don, Ian, et al are not worthy of some time but there are mentions and items that can be posted in the magazine and not used to take up time at the ceremonies. Given the extreme situation, the ceremony should have been kept very brief and jumped right to the prizes and their sponsors - that's what the crowd showed up for. What happened to the old format where an award was given, then a prize, an award, a special recognition, prize... etc. keeps things interesting that way. Mix it up! (tm)

Like any good ol' family reunion though, fights break out, tempers are tested and someone ends up sleeping with the dog.
 
If only we had an expert in new media, experienced in ap design and layout, truly a genius at gathering and organizing information, and an experienced volunteer whose dedication to the organization and its members was simply unmatched ....... :bliss

.

.

.


(why do I have a feeling there is now a price on my head :))

Does that mean you're wearing a expensive hat?
 
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used bike area

1) In addition to a flea market mentioned above I would like to see a central area where people could park their bikes for sale. I enjoyed looking and dreaming about the used bikes scattered around the area, but a central location would be much more convenient and would likely mean I wouldn't miss some neat bikes!

2) It seemed like almost all the seminars on riding places were done by commercial groups. I have nothing against that, but it would be nice to hear ride-stories from members who can tell it like it is (embarrassing moments and all!). Perhaps to give them an incentive to spend the time preparing a good presentation, offer a free admission if they give a seminar?
 
2) It seemed like almost all the seminars on riding places were done by commercial groups. I have nothing against that, but it would be nice to hear ride-stories from members who can tell it like it is (embarrassing moments and all!). Perhaps to give them an incentive to spend the time preparing a good presentation, offer a free admission if they give a seminar?

I also think there should have been seminars on riding places for us poor and/or cowardly folks. The seminars could show and describe a week or so of riding here in the Appalachian Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Rockies, Northern California and many other places in this country. It could be called "See the USA in a two wheeled way" (to the tune of the Dinah Shore Chevrolet ad) and cover a different part of the country at each session.

Ken
 
I second that, I noticed how almost all the vendors were pushing rides in other countries. That means I would not only have to travel there by air, but I'd have to rent one of their bikes. I'm more fond of anything in North America. I think on the vendor side this was lacking. Sure overseas trips are great, but we have an incredible landscape right here at home.
 
Sure overseas trips are great, but we have an incredible landscape right here at home.

ya know, i might like to do that.... somehow it never occurred to me.

maybe it would help more people to decide to get out and ride the backroads and byways. :dunno

ian
 
Forgive me if things I mentioned were already previously mentioned as I didn't fully read everyone's comments.

First of all, why not move the rally to a different part of the season to where the weather is more enjoyable or to locations where the weather is nicer? Of course, don't want rally at the same locations all the time as its nice to be able to see diff parts of the U. S. This thread was started about this which I have not had a chance to read: http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?t=54631 I am being told by a rally chair that it will always be held at the same time and it will never change. I understand that many years over the past it has always been held the same dates. I don't know if people don't want to change the dates as they don't want change but perhaps changing the dates will do good? The reason the dates will not be changed because of the "excuse" that teachers and professors are out of school as well as kids are out of school. Also, I was told that HEAT can be controlled easier on a person than cold. How can heat exhaustion and dehydration be controlled much easier??????? I still won't understand this comment coming from person I spoke too and never will. I think that is incorrect. There were a lot of people going to first aid and having an ambulance trip to the hospital. Moving the time to where the weather is more favorable perhaps this won't be happening. Another situation of moving the time is having snow on a route traveling to a place is another reason why the dates won't be moved... well, can a person travel where they won't be hitting snow on their route? This is something else I will not understand as I am sure if you get the right dates for the season and area there can be a little better compromise. It is always talk about school teachers, professors, and kids being out of school is the "main reason" for the dates of the rally. How about everyone else that needs to take off work? Is that not something that is important that is looked upon? I know Camp Gears is a big event and I have no problem with Camp Gears but couldn't the rally dates be held during Spring Break where the weather is more favorable? Both kids, teachers, and professors will be out of school? All of us have to take off of work, why can't teachers, kids, and professors take off just like the rest of us? I think moving the dates to early spring or fall to have nicer weather would make the rally more enjoyable. Due to the weather this year, this was my worst rally I attended. I was sick and because of that I was not able to do any rides to explore the area as I normally do.

There were two good bands... Paul Thorn and the German band. The times were overlapping. A person couldn't enjoy both good bands at the same time. This sucked! The German band was extremely good who started performing before Paul Thorne was suppose to perform. This was the very first time the German band performed in the U. S. and the very first performance. It was a shame to have two bands performing together. I hope in the future rallies this will not happen again.

I was really looking forward to the BMW Demo Fleet Truck this year... and to only see 1600 GT's and GTL's was a "big" let down. I was totally in shock when I watched them roll out these bikes only. I was looking forward to seeing the other models. Of course these are new bikes and trying to be pushed, but this is a big BMW event... why were the other models forgotten about? I hear these were the only demos that dealers had to give for the Demo truck as they get the bikes from different dealers? Is that so? This is the first year where anything like this has happened... I hope this will never happen again in the future.


The attendance was low this year.... a lot of people didn't come due to the weather or they probably turned around and went home. This should have been spoken for at the awards ceremony when the door prizes were being called and no one was claiming their prizes they won because they had already left or left early due to the weather? Because of this, you could tell that the folks trying to call out the awards were getting upset and a few times the attitudes of giving out the awards... the person calling out the awards started to get a bad attitude. The way the awards were set up and how far one had to walk in order to get out and across the dirt track to the stage I am sure wasn't an added factor to how ones demeanor was getting. The fire flaming cars were not fun due to the heat.... the awards ceremony/closing ceremony.. part of it was nice and part of it wasn't nice. Some parts were long and drugged out and other parts were rushed through because of other parts being long and drugged out.... the parts that were rushed through should have not been rushed through as they should have had more recognition. I thought the awards ceremony was that you did not have to be present to win.... that is what I was told as well as some volunteers who worked the registration booth was even told that and come to find out a person had to be present to win. That was a little misleading.

I was hot and not feeling good from the weather and went into one of the vendor buildings for a second to see if they were open to try to get out of the heat and I got thrown out of the building which I feel was a little bit uncalled for. I understand a lot of people were stressed trying to get things set up and making sure things are going as planned but how I was treated that day I think should not have happened.

I think if it wasn't so hot and humid things would have been a little better and more enjoyable. I think there were some vendors that are normally at the rally were not there and not sure if that had anything to do with the weather or if it was another reason.

I hear over the years theft has been bad and each year it is getting worse... why can't we trust fellow BMW riders and not have theft happening during the rally? This is a shame to hear... something for those out there to think about and hope you are not the one reading this that may have taken something that perhaps wasn't yours.

Thanks to those who worked hard putting the rally together.
 
I also think there should have been seminars on riding places for us poor and/or cowardly folks. The seminars could show and describe a week or so of riding here in the Appalachian Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Rockies, Northern California and many other places in this country. It could be called "See the USA in a two wheeled way" (to the tune of the Dinah Shore Chevrolet ad) and cover a different part of the country at each session.

Ken

+1

I know I'd like to learn from riders about the "hidden" roads that only locals know about. Or about great hotel/motel values, places of interest, things to do, restaurants, etc.

In May we rode through Eureka CA and at the rally we found out that we missed the best breakfast house in the area -- those are the kinds "don't miss" things this type of seminar could provide.

We could have a whole series of seminars for people new to:

Touring
Farkling
Camping

There were several people asking me questions about my bike at the rally and I had an idea for a DIY farkling seminar for hexheads/camheads that illustrates how easy it is to remove and install the tupperware, add electronics, and othewise workaround the canbus. We could invite a bunch of bike owners to display their rides and to answer questions for riders looking for ideas.

I was hesitant to take my bike apart but once I worked through the DIY tech threads it became easy -- seeing it illustrated in person could be a big help to new bike owners who want to add some accessories but are hesitant to disassemble their bikes and would like to see a demonstration.
 
i was really looking forward to the bmw demo fleet truck this year... And to only see 1600 gt's and gtl's was a "big" let down. I was totally in shock when i watched them roll out these bikes only. I was looking forward to seeing the other models. Of course these are new bikes and trying to be pushed, but this is a big bmw event... Why were the other models forgotten about? I hear these were the only demos that dealers had to give for the demo truck as they get the bikes from different dealers? Is that so? This is the first year where anything like this has happened... I hope this will never happen again in the future.

+1
 
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