moving the rally to the spring or fall

[Sue]

They are not done yet:

For 2011, the MOA has planned another two special Weekend Getaways for members - September 23 - 25, Cedar City, Utah and September 30 - October 2, Tomah, Wisconsin. Registration is underway.

Check out the main page:

http://www.bmwmoa.org/

There have been a few people in the thread who have weighed in that they feel (some feel very strongly) that we need to move the national rallies to spring or fall.

But right now we have two regional events planned in the fall, and there are still openings for both. For those folks: Here is your opportunity to really make your point. Both of these events offer outstanding riding venues, along with a chance for new - and renewed - friendships.

I cannot imagine restructuring the rally to the fall, if we can't even fill up the regional events which are limited to 100 attendees.

Check out the Cedar City (UTAH) event or the Tomah (WISCONSIN) event information.... http://www.bmwmoa.org/

 

[beemerdons]

One Man and One MOA Club's Input on Moving MOA Rally to June, August or September!!!

I feel this thread has been very beneficial to BMW MOA Officers, ON and Members!

A month+ ago I sent the letter below to President Greg Feeler, Directors and ON.

I want to express my deep gratitude to Greg for his immediate response to my letter, I just wanted to let everyone know that your Club Officers are listening.

Whatever will be will be, but it was gratifying to know that my voice was heard!


Subject: One Man and One MOA Club's Input on Moving MOA Rally to June, August or September; no more MOA July Rallies.

Dear Esteemed BMW MOA Directors and Staff,
Dear Honorable BMW MOA President Greg Feeler,
Dear BMW Owners News Editor Vince Winkel,

Folks, I want to start this letter with expressing to you just how much my membership in BMW MOA has meant to me over the last 30+ years. It has meant the world to me, great friends, great rides and great fun. As we say in Phoenix, Arizona: Mas Caminos y Mas BMW Amigos! Nothing will cause me to waver in my devotion to BMW MOA!

But, the time has definitely come to address the issue of holding our International Rally in July; thought needs to be give to moving the event to June, August or September.

First time post of '699072' summed up the circumstances perfectly, the weather is just too hot for July rallies anymore. I'm a big booster of Camp Gears and younger folks joining MOA. However, the reality is that the bulk of our members are now 50+. You are going to see a majority of our members not preregistering or not attending at all!

There is nothing in the way of changing the Rally to June, August or September other than the momentum of our having had the Rally in July for the last 40+ years now!

School Calendar is certainly not a factor, even though some try to make it an issue. In a large part of the USA and Canada, schools are on a year round basis. Certainly that is the situation in Arizona and the Western States that border AZ. My Son Seth (14) is back in Chandler Schools on the second to last weekend of July every single year.

Yet, School Scheduling does not keep me from taking my Seth out of class to attend BMW MOA Rallies. I took him out of school for Vermont, Johnson City and Redmond.

Had only one member from AZ Beemers attend the Bloomsburg Rally and who preregistered; the rest of we Zonies knew going to PA was going from the frying pan to the fire!

MOA is at the Crossroads: 1) Move the Rally out of July and keep our 50+ members who can no longer take the heat. 2) Keep the Rally in July and hope for more 40- folks!

Quotation from 699072: "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 out 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 June or August or 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." End of Quote.

Extremely well spoken, Sir! An outstanding post from a first time poster! You have summed up so perfectly what a number of we long time MOA members are thinking.

"The location could have worked out 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 June or August or September date might be a better choice."

It is time this gets put to a vote by the General Membership, put a mail in postcard into the next issue of Owners News and let we the Members vote this in or out ASAP!!!

Respectfully yours,

Don Stanley
BMW MOA #24810
BMW RA #21856

1061 N. Amber St.
Chandler, AZ 85225
Cell: 480-440-4666

 

[GSteve]

There have been a few people in the thread who have weighed in that they feel (some feel very strongly) that we need to move the national rallies to spring or fall.

But right now we have two regional events planned in the fall, and there are still openings for both. For those folks: Here is your opportunity to really make your point. Both of these events offer outstanding riding venues, along with a chance for new - and renewed - friendships.

I cannot imagine restructuring the rally to the fall, if we can't even fill up the regional events which are limited to 100 attendees.

Check out the Cedar City (UTAH) event or the Tomah (WISCONSIN) event information.... http://www.bmwmoa.org/

It's quite possible that folks have already used this years vacation time for the Bloomsburg event.

 

[xp8103]

Don - you did not post the reply you received?

 

[From MARS]

There have been a few people in the thread who have weighed in that they feel (some feel very strongly) that we need to move the national rallies to spring or fall.

But right now we have two regional events planned in the fall, and there are still openings for both. For those folks: Here is your opportunity to really make your point. Both of these events offer outstanding riding venues, along with a chance for new - and renewed - friendships.

I cannot imagine restructuring the rally to the fall, if we can't even fill up the regional events which are limited to 100 attendees.

Check out the Cedar City (UTAH) event or the Tomah (WISCONSIN) event information.... http://www.bmwmoa.org/

If the National Rally were to cost as much as these events, we might have trouble selling it, too. Minimum for attending the Wisconsin rally, the cheaper of the two, is $200 for registration and a two night room stay. Throw in travel cost to and from, food, taxes, etc and it could easily cost $500-600 for this event. Its not worth it to me.

Tom

 

[beemerdons]

Don - you did not post the reply you received?

From: Don Stanley <beemerdons@aol.com>
To: gregf <gregf@e-moto.org>; brian.boles; BeemerguyRT
Cc: editor <editor@bmwmoa.org>; Board <Board@bmwmoa.org>; paul.glaves <paul.glaves@bigbend.net>; RAadmin <RAadmin@bmwra.org>
Subject: Re: [BOARD] One Man and One MOA Club's Input on Moving MOA Rally to June, August or September; no more MOA July Rallies.
Date: Tue, Aug 2, 2011 9:01 am

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Greg,

Many thanks to you for personally responding to my letter, it is very much appreciated! *With your kind permission I have copied AZ Beemers *MOA #89 Club President Brian Boles and former Vice-President Uri Schumm. *I was AZB President and Uri was my AZB VP. *I have been a member of AZ Beemers for 18 years and a Club Officer for a dozen of those years. *I routinely lead weekly AZB Rides and BMW Rides into Mexico.

At a previous AZB Sunday ride, I polled 10 of our members and all ten are in favor of moving the BMW MOA Rally out of mid to late July.

I do agree with you Spokane and Bloomsburg have been our only "hot" rallies of the last decade. *Fredericksburg, Texas in 1997 was "hot"!

This may be a geographical issue, it is going to be 111F in Phoenix today; we Zonies are not willingly going to venture where it is even hotter.

http://mem.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/...9qrHS8L/1356806511_ZJKxTLP#1356908529_Vsq3294

What a lot of our club did this year, knowing that Bloomsburg had the potential to be a "scorcher" was to plan our Moto Vacations elsewhere. *In the case of my Son Seth and I, we rode 8,000 miles over 18 days to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and managed to work a www.fjrforum.com Canada Rally in too.

I am aware that mid-July to mid-August is also "out" due to the heat potential. *But, as a long time MOA member I really do feel that June 1 to July 15 and August 15 to September 30 be considered.

http://www.azbeemers.org/forum/index.php?topic=3287.msg24138;topicseen#msg24138 Brother Greg, I have started a thread at AZ Beemers on this topic. *You may wish to monitor the responses.

I am turning 63 on 10/28/11 and I know my old age is the largest factor in why I have now made the decision for myself to never again pre register for a July Rally, MOA or BMWRA, just too hot for me!

Sadly, lack of pre registration by we "MOA Oldsters" is going to raise havoc for Rally Preparations.

Once again, thanks for your quick and personal response. *Best part of MOA is the BMW people!!

Sincerely yours,


Don Stanley
1061 N. Amber St.
Chandler, AZ 85225
Cell: 480-440-4666



-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Feeler <gregf@e-moto.org>
To: Don Stanley <beemerdons@aol.com>
Cc: editor <editor@bmwmoa.org>; Board <Board@bmwmoa.org>; paul.glaves <paul.glaves@bigbend.net>; RAadmin <RAadmin@bmwra.org>
Sent: Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:11 am
Subject: Re: [BOARD] One Man and One MOA Club's Input on Moving MOA Rally to June, August or September; no more MOA July Rallies.


Don,
I very much appreciate your devotion and appreciation of the MOA, and especially your effort to write to us. *However, let me ask you a question. *Do you think perhaps people are overreacting? *Consider that the last "hot" rally we had was in Spokane in 2004. *Both Redmond and Johnson City were very comfortable. *Gillette was "warm" but not hot and didn't have the humidity so typical in the east. *West Bend was also warm, but not hot by my standards, and so on. *Also, please consider that both the week before and the week after the Bloomsburg rally the temps there were exactly what is considered normal: mid to upper 80's. *We experienced an unusual short heat wave which covered much of the eastern half of the U.S. *Is this a basis on which to make a radical change?

There are many reasons why we can not schedule the International Rally outside of the traditional three summer months (June, July, and August) and still be able to put it on, much less have the attendance we do. *One reason is that the large core of experienced committee chairs essential to the event would not be as available. *Further, early spring and late fall are both highly unpredictable for weather. *I was snowed on at the World Superbike Races in Salt Lake City over Memorial Day. *Mid-July to mid-August are even hotter on average than mid-June to mid-July - at least according to the records we check before approving a rally site. *So, that would put our event into mid-September (to miss Labor Day), and many people are not as readily available after the first of September. *Although small local club "off-season" events work well, something the size of the MOA rally is a different matter.

To be candid, most of the concern about the heat at Bloomsburg which I'm hearing is coming from people who did not attended, not withstanding the quote from the forum your provide below. *I was there and camped. *Yes, it was very hot and I hope not to have to go through that again, but I also had a great time, and if you look at this video shot at the rally, it looks like many others did as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Glru5bcwFQ.

Please understand that your club leadership is very concerned about your concerns. *We will be reviewing many aspects of the rally process - including site locations and timing - starting this month. *There is always room for improvement and if we can we will, but until we have a machine to control the weather, that is always going to the big wild card.

Again, thanks for writing!


Greg Feeler
President
BMW Motorcycle Owners of America

 

[brewmeister]

If the National Rally were to cost as much as these events, we might have trouble selling it, too. Minimum for attending the Wisconsin rally, the cheaper of the two, is $200 for registration and a two night room stay. Throw in travel cost to and from, food, taxes, etc and it could easily cost $500-600 for this event. Its not worth it to me.

Tom

I'll second that!

 

[greenwald]

First of all, there are few people I know within the MOA that work harder or with more enthusiasm than Sue R-M. I hope the Tomah event sells out! (Sadly, I am doing MSF instruction that weekend).

That being said, regional events are hardly barometers for measuring whether or not you could generate adequate attendance for a National Rally in, say, early September.

Only way to do that is to hold a National Rally in, say, early September and see how it goes.

I would like to see that - my personal opinion is that you'd better set up extra of everything!

But any sagging attendance figures for Tomah or Utah or anywhere else for that matter don't translate into 'divining rods' for a national.

 

[nytrashman]

the cold hard reality here is that a successful rally could be held at a different time of the year but the powers that be don't want it changed so it will forever be held in July.

now, we the general membership can vote the current board out, run for office ourselves and see if we can change the rally dates, vote with our wallets and not renew our membership, or drink the MOA cool-aid and continue on the current path of "we have always had the rally in July" mentality. which option you choose it entirely up to you.

 

[Visian]

... "we have always had the rally in July" mentality.

PM sent.

 

[nytrashman]

PM sent.

PM acknowledged

 

[jaherbst]

If you insist on july at least keep it above 5000 feet so the nights are cool enough to sleep!

 

[jaherbst]

I have camped out with the BMW group north of Daytona the last several years. Two of those years the overnite temperatures have dipped into the 20's. Not fun. I'd rather have the heat.

Over half of North America would not be able to ride to a March rally, even in Florida due to snow and icy roads.

My feeling is that the MOA should time its rally so nearly all of North America can get to the rally by motorcycle. That leaves out early June and late September as the mountain passes on the major routes frequently have snow in those months. Again, its not just the site, but the ability of our members to attend on a motorcycle. We are, after all, a motorcycle club.

Not really Bullit! How about April or late October maybe. Most mountain passes these days are open for travel 24/7 year around. It may be a little chilly for you pipe smoking electric heated men of BMW motorcycles though.

 

[Visian]

Not really Bullit! How about April or late October maybe. Most mountain passes these days are open for travel 24/7 year around. It may be a little chilly for you pipe smoking electric heated men of BMW motorcycles though.

the view from Beartooth pass during the 4 hour wait for the snow plows to open the road for travel: July 6, 2010.

electric jacket set to stun....

 

[KenDittrick]

Not really Bullit! How about April or late October maybe. Most mountain passes these days are open for travel 24/7 year around. It may be a little chilly for you pipe smoking electric heated men of BMW motorcycles though.

April and October would be pushing it for some of us Canucks just to get out of our country since snow is almost guaranteed in those two months. Not just the passes either, but May through September would work. Generally if I travel without my wife this time span is fine but if she wants to ride then only July or August are good since she is a school Principal with a traditional calendar.

 

[MOONDOG59]

From: Don Stanley <beemerdons@aol.com>
To: gregf <gregf@e-moto.org>; brian.boles; BeemerguyRT
Cc: editor <editor@bmwmoa.org>; Board <Board@bmwmoa.org>; paul.glaves <paul.glaves@bigbend.net>; RAadmin <RAadmin@bmwra.org>
Subject: Re: [BOARD] One Man and One MOA Club's Input on Moving MOA Rally to June, August or September; no more MOA July Rallies.
Date: Tue, Aug 2, 2011 9:01 am

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Greg,

Many thanks to you for personally responding to my letter, it is very much appreciated! *With your kind permission I have copied AZ Beemers *MOA #89 Club President Brian Boles and former Vice-President Uri Schumm. *I was AZB President and Uri was my AZB VP. *I have been a member of AZ Beemers for 18 years and a Club Officer for a dozen of those years. *I routinely lead weekly AZB Rides and BMW Rides into Mexico.

At a previous AZB Sunday ride, I polled 10 of our members and all ten are in favor of moving the BMW MOA Rally out of mid to late July.

I do agree with you Spokane and Bloomsburg have been our only "hot" rallies of the last decade. *Fredericksburg, Texas in 1997 was "hot"!

This may be a geographical issue, it is going to be 111F in Phoenix today; we Zonies are not willingly going to venture where it is even hotter.

http://mem.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/...9qrHS8L/1356806511_ZJKxTLP#1356908529_Vsq3294

What a lot of our club did this year, knowing that Bloomsburg had the potential to be a "scorcher" was to plan our Moto Vacations elsewhere. *In the case of my Son Seth and I, we rode 8,000 miles over 18 days to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia and managed to work a www.fjrforum.com Canada Rally in too.

I am aware that mid-July to mid-August is also "out" due to the heat potential. *But, as a long time MOA member I really do feel that June 1 to July 15 and August 15 to September 30 be considered.

http://www.azbeemers.org/forum/index.php?topic=3287.msg24138;topicseen#msg24138 Brother Greg, I have started a thread at AZ Beemers on this topic. *You may wish to monitor the responses.

I am turning 63 on 10/28/11 and I know my old age is the largest factor in why I have now made the decision for myself to never again pre register for a July Rally, MOA or BMWRA, just too hot for me!

Sadly, lack of pre registration by we "MOA Oldsters" is going to raise havoc for Rally Preparations.

Once again, thanks for your quick and personal response. *Best part of MOA is the BMW people!!

Sincerely yours,


Don Stanley
1061 N. Amber St.
Chandler, AZ 85225
Cell: 480-440-4666



-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Feeler <gregf@e-moto.org>
To: Don Stanley <beemerdons@aol.com>
Cc: editor <editor@bmwmoa.org>; Board <Board@bmwmoa.org>; paul.glaves <paul.glaves@bigbend.net>; RAadmin <RAadmin@bmwra.org>
Sent: Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:11 am
Subject: Re: [BOARD] One Man and One MOA Club's Input on Moving MOA Rally to June, August or September; no more MOA July Rallies.


Don,
I very much appreciate your devotion and appreciation of the MOA, and especially your effort to write to us. *However, let me ask you a question. *Do you think perhaps people are overreacting? *Consider that the last "hot" rally we had was in Spokane in 2004. *Both Redmond and Johnson City were very comfortable. *Gillette was "warm" but not hot and didn't have the humidity so typical in the east. *West Bend was also warm, but not hot by my standards, and so on. *Also, please consider that both the week before and the week after the Bloomsburg rally the temps there were exactly what is considered normal: mid to upper 80's. *We experienced an unusual short heat wave which covered much of the eastern half of the U.S. *Is this a basis on which to make a radical change?

There are many reasons why we can not schedule the International Rally outside of the traditional three summer months (June, July, and August) and still be able to put it on, much less have the attendance we do. *One reason is that the large core of experienced committee chairs essential to the event would not be as available. *Further, early spring and late fall are both highly unpredictable for weather. *I was snowed on at the World Superbike Races in Salt Lake City over Memorial Day. *Mid-July to mid-August are even hotter on average than mid-June to mid-July - at least according to the records we check before approving a rally site. *So, that would put our event into mid-September (to miss Labor Day), and many people are not as readily available after the first of September. *Although small local club "off-season" events work well, something the size of the MOA rally is a different matter.

To be candid, most of the concern about the heat at Bloomsburg which I'm hearing is coming from people who did not attended, not withstanding the quote from the forum your provide below. *I was there and camped. *Yes, it was very hot and I hope not to have to go through that again, but I also had a great time, and if you look at this video shot at the rally, it looks like many others did as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Glru5bcwFQ.

Please understand that your club leadership is very concerned about your concerns. *We will be reviewing many aspects of the rally process - including site locations and timing - starting this month. *There is always room for improvement and if we can we will, but until we have a machine to control the weather, that is always going to the big wild card.

Again, thanks for writing!


Greg Feeler
President
BMW Motorcycle Owners of America

Sounds like a stubborn no to me. Maybe it will have to be that we bug our leaders so much they quit....

 

[rkoreis]

Not really Bullit! How about April or late October maybe. Most mountain passes these days are open for travel 24/7 year around. It may be a little chilly for you pipe smoking electric heated men of BMW motorcycles though.

Open does not equal a bare road surface. There can still be compact snow or ice. Or try a road surface that still has sand on it. Snoqualmie Pass, at only 3000', received snow on May 22 this year. Go farther south you say? Well check out this report of snow on I-84 in June. http://www.kval.com/news/19717289.html

I guess it's too easy to belittle something you don't understand or have to deal with.

 

[osbornk]

I don't think some of us are thinking about the weather possibilities when we want to move the rally to months other than July. Take this year for example. This spring and early summer, much of the country suffered a lot of destructive tornados and severe flooding. July was pretty uneventful except for the heat wave that caught us at the MOA rally. In August, a lot of the country suffered damage from hurricane Irene. September has brought us tropical storm Lee with the potential of hurricane Katia hitting us (and it is only September 3rd).

This year, the weather was fairly comfortable in Bloomsburg the week before and the week after the rally. To me, the heat at Bloomsburg was far better than the rain at Charleston.

Since the rally has to be scheduled far in advance, July has the best odds of good riding weather for the vast majority of the US and Canada.

 

[R80RTJohnny]

I appreciate Don's reply but that said the average temperature for next year's rally was considered a heat wave in Bloomsburg.

As my body can no longer tolerate the heat as I could in my mid 20's I'll take on pass on next year's rally.

 

[jaherbst]

the view from Beartooth pass during the 4 hour wait for the snow plows to open the road for travel: July 6, 2010.

electric jacket set to stun....

Looks rideable to me! I notice the pavement is wet not snowpacked and icey. Couldn't have been that cold. At least above freezing. I have riden Bear tooth at least 25 times and have yet to see it snow in the summer. That must have been a kwirk. It looks like you are on the upper meadows not the pass itself. Anyway great picture.

Jack