merrittgene
2006 K1200GT, 1986 K100
Opinions
Opinions are like elbows; everyone has two and it hurts like hell when you bump them into things.
(Wait, that's not right.)
Anyway, I've done three endurance rallies so far: Green Mountain 400 (10 hour), Bonzai (12 hour), and Minuteman 1000 (24 hour), and in that order. I don't know what it would have been like to do the 24 hour first. I enjoyed all three, and I did them as they became available to me, as opposed to purposing starting on the shorter events.
I will say this, though, the 24 hour event was a lot more demanding. I was handicapped somewhat by needing to travel 1200 miles to get to the starting gate, so even with a full day of leisure before the start, I was still on a sleep deficit. And, these events require route planning, so I traded sleep for that. In the end, 22 hours of riding (2 hours of rest for points) was somewhere near my limit that day.
So, I guess I'm saying, if you're prepared (i.e. rested and mentally ready) for a longer event, then go for it. But, if the next rally that interests you is a 10 hour rally, then go for that. Either way, it's a lot of fun.
-
Here's what I love about endurance rallies: They are a lot like camping rallies (top quality people, friendly tire-kicking sessions, great camaraderie) AND the rally master & staff find interesting places to send you. So, I like to think of the Minuteman as "a New Englander's view of New England". I could have ridden to Massachusetts on my own, and hunted around for roads and landmarks without an underlying contest, but it wouldn't have been half as fun, and I wouldn't have seen as many cool things.
And, I like that everyone does the event a little differently...it makes for more interesting conversation later. "Did you find this? Dang, I missed that. Man, that was neat. Etc."
So, find a rally and try it out. You'll be an awkward newbie for about 0.57 seconds, and then you'll make a bunch of new friends and start having fun.
(I suppose I could have spawned a new thread for this. Oops.)
Opinions are like elbows; everyone has two and it hurts like hell when you bump them into things.
(Wait, that's not right.)Anyway, I've done three endurance rallies so far: Green Mountain 400 (10 hour), Bonzai (12 hour), and Minuteman 1000 (24 hour), and in that order. I don't know what it would have been like to do the 24 hour first. I enjoyed all three, and I did them as they became available to me, as opposed to purposing starting on the shorter events.
I will say this, though, the 24 hour event was a lot more demanding. I was handicapped somewhat by needing to travel 1200 miles to get to the starting gate, so even with a full day of leisure before the start, I was still on a sleep deficit. And, these events require route planning, so I traded sleep for that. In the end, 22 hours of riding (2 hours of rest for points) was somewhere near my limit that day.
So, I guess I'm saying, if you're prepared (i.e. rested and mentally ready) for a longer event, then go for it. But, if the next rally that interests you is a 10 hour rally, then go for that. Either way, it's a lot of fun.
-
Here's what I love about endurance rallies: They are a lot like camping rallies (top quality people, friendly tire-kicking sessions, great camaraderie) AND the rally master & staff find interesting places to send you. So, I like to think of the Minuteman as "a New Englander's view of New England". I could have ridden to Massachusetts on my own, and hunted around for roads and landmarks without an underlying contest, but it wouldn't have been half as fun, and I wouldn't have seen as many cool things.
And, I like that everyone does the event a little differently...it makes for more interesting conversation later. "Did you find this? Dang, I missed that. Man, that was neat. Etc."
So, find a rally and try it out. You'll be an awkward newbie for about 0.57 seconds, and then you'll make a bunch of new friends and start having fun.
(I suppose I could have spawned a new thread for this. Oops.)
