A
angysdad
Guest
I've worked as a weather forecaster for Environment Canada for almost 30yrs. You can blame me. You will not be the first!
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I've worked as a weather forecaster for Environment Canada for almost 30yrs. You can blame me. You will not be the first!
I've worked as a weather forecaster for Environment Canada for almost 30yrs. You can blame me. You will not be the first!
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 our 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 May/June or August/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.
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 our 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 May/June or August/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.
I respectfully disagree. BMW Rally is a big rally and will draw the same or even more riders from all parts of the country if the dates moved to a more pleasant time of the year such as early September. As far as crashing and burn it will never happen no matter where and when you held the rally. As I stated in an other thread I invite the board members to conduct a general poll(no more focus groups or calling 30 random members to make decisions) among the members."During the Membership survey which was conducted in early 2009 and concluded with a random focus group being surveyed at the 2009 Johnson City rally, the VAST majority of responders voted to keep the rally in July."
I made the point in another thread that this was a few years out from the Lima Ohio rally which, by all accounts was miserably hot as well.
To all of those who are searching for a better month, I suggest that you skirt the earlier dates as the May/June weather tends toward the wet in a large part of the country and we are as likely to run into a wet one as we were a hot one this year.
While a September date might not be too bad, you start to conflict with several of the larger regional (and long standing) rallies - Finger Lakes over Labor Day, Vermont the weekend following, etc... as well as getting into the local, county and state fair season. Like the MOA rallies, fair folks start arriving early to set up and linger in take down so you'll likely find fair organizers may be hesitant to schedule in something like what the MOA does within a couple weeks of their own event. In effect you'll now be discounting OTHER parts of the country by moving the date to September to accommodate heat and the south west region.
It has been well documented that a "moving target" is a recipe for disaster. There is enough case study on how well established events, both large and small, have crashed and burned when this was tried.
When you plan a week of vacation and the weather isn't perfect?
If you ski and there's no snow the week you go, who do you blame?
If you go to the beach and it rains who do you blame?
If you go sailing and there is no wind who do you blame?
Why do so many of you want to blame someone for a heat wave?
In the case of rally I blame organizers for not learning their lessons, and year after year holding the East coast rallies in the middle of the summer when heat and humidity sucks all the time.
As I stated in an other thread I invite the board members to conduct a general poll(no more focus groups or calling 30 random members to make decisions) among the members.
You are wrong. The last East Coast Rally, the 2009 Rally in Johnson City TN, also in July and about 400 miles SOUTH of Bloomsburg PA, was downright seasonable if even a bit on the cool side with temps in the low to mid-80's. I even heard some complaining of the low night-time temps.
I respectfully disagree. BMW Rally is a big rally and will draw the same or even more riders from all parts of the country if the dates moved to a more pleasant time of the year such as early September. As far as crashing and burn it will never happen no matter where and when you held the rally. As I stated in an other thread I invite the board members to conduct a general poll(no more focus groups or calling 30 random members to make decisions) among the members.
When you plan a week of vacation and the weather isn't perfect?
If you ski and there's no snow the week you go, who do you blame?
If you go to the beach and it rains who do you blame?
If you go sailing and there is no wind who do you blame?
Why do so many of you want to blame someone for a heat wave?