MOA Rally in New York

Do we know how many people from here are going to that rally?
I registered. Just wondering if are going to have a small band of riders going?

ken is going up...

According to the Poll I setup there are 6 people that are planning to attend.

John mentioned Ken, so from what I know that would make:

Ken
Shereef and Raouf
Alan and Ted Cymbaly
Sandy and Marilyn
Ross and Anne Marie
John and Beth Pineo (may be leaving early to visit family)

So that makes 11.

There are a few others (4) who've mentioned going but hadn't decided last I spoke with them.

THere are also several BMWMOA riders from the US (CA, TX, PA, etc), as well as a rider from Ontario that I chatted with in Quebec last week, who are all currently touring the region and several of them will be heading to the Rally from here. I've given them our (Ted and I and anyone else who wishes to join us) departure date of July 11th, arriving at the Rally late afternoon of the 13th, so that they can join up with us for the ride if their timing allows.

Steve Towne and his son Chris will riding their bikes from southern Maine to join up with us for the evening of the 12th in Saratoga Spring, NY., to do the ride on the 13th.

Talked with a GS rider today from PA who is here for the Tattoo but isn't sure if he's going to squeeze Das Rally in. He is going to try and drop by the Chicken Burger tomorrow evening to discuss.

Hi Alan

You mentioned you had planned out a route. Can you share that route with us?

Ken

I maybe leaving the 13th to arrive on the 14th
Seems like it's very possible in two days

shereef wrote:I maybe leaving the 13th to arrive on the 14th
Seems like it's very possible in two days

That's quite true Shereef, however, unless you have pressing business here, I'm not sure you'd want to would miss a full 33% of the Rally by showing up a day late. Rally Schedule

It starts at 8am on the 14th with tons to do in the schedule. Aside from the vendors, and tons of other things there are 28 events scheduled for Thursday alone starting between 8am-4pm. I know my days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday) are pretty full and I've even run into several double-booking issues for seminars, riding training and events. Have a good look at the schedule and also the indoor and outdoor exhibitors lists to make sure you can fit everything in that you'd like to do, it would be a shame to get there and be rushed. I certainly can't fit all my activities in. :-/

The two days ride is certainly no problem if you super-slab it there and the journey isn't part of the trip (I had to do that on last weeks trip to Montreal -Lake Simeco.

However, for this trip I wanted to do some of the mountainous rural roads that I've done in the past and enjoy that part as well so I set that down as a foundation. Doing that means that if you want exciting and enjoyable roads to travel than you won't be able to average 110-130 kph like you can on the freeways. Riding enjoyable roads takes time, even at spirited speeds. Several of the sections of the route are very twisty and take approximately 2 hours to travel just 120-140 km. If there isn't any traffic than one can run at a much quicker pace but allowing for typical traffic, doing interesting secondary roads around the White Mountains, etc., it would be two very long and tiring days of hard riding or three semi-leisurely days of riding and enjoying the journey, not just the destination. ;-)

The first day (11th and 12th) are 8 hour riding days (including gas/lunch stops), the third day is a 7 hour day and gets us into the motel at just after 4pm for an opportunity to get unpacked, have a relaxing meal and get a good nights rest before three days filled with more to do than time to do it.

Ken Corkum wrote:Hi Alan

You mentioned you had planned out a route. Can you share that route with us?

Ken

Certainly Ken, I'd meant to do it but have been slammed with things needing doing and some of them have gotten the short end unfortunately.

My plans are as follows (anyone wishing to join us is welcome and we are open to adjustments):

2016-07-11 - 7:30am (AST) - Leave Tim Hortons, Bedford Commons to Canaan Motel, Canaan, ME 4:20pm (EST)
Super-slab to Calais
Lunch at Irving BigStop Bailleyville, ME (head of Route-9) at noon (EST)
Route-9 to outside Bangor and Route-2 to Canaan Motel, Canaan, ME 4:20pm (EST)
Call for reservations: 1-207-474-3600 http://www.canaanmainemotel.com/contact.html

2016-07-12 - 7:45am (EST) - Leave Canaan Motel
Lunch at noon at Local Buzz, 142 S Main St. Bradford, VT
Springs Motel, Saratoga Springs, NY at 4:50pm (EST)
Call for reservations: (518) 584-6336 http://www.springsmotel.com/

2016-07-13 - 8:00am (EST) - Leave Springs Motel
Lunch at Blue Water Grill, Skaneateles, NY (at the head of Skaneateles Lake) 11:45am
Quality Inn, Hamburg, NY at 4:15pm

The timing and pace allows for Airhead riders with shorter fuel ranges and has a quick 15 minute gas stop every mid-morning and mid-afternoon to set each leg at a leisurely 90-120 minutes as a couple of riders who originally intended making the trip would be more comfortable with that. Depending on the actual makeup of the group and it's desired pace and range, all of this could easily change, but based on the original parameters, the above fits the bill.

I've had to put several Garmin "Shaping Points" into the routes to keep things on the most interesting roads or else they GPS will route me over boring freeways. If I simply ask it to use the Garmin "Curvy Roads" calculations it uses too many back roads and would take 4-5 days to do the ride. If you'd like, I believe I can provide the email or post the GPX files. I've created one for each day in Bae Camp and then imported it into my Garmins.

Wow Alan
You have this super well planned
I hope I can find time in my work week to arrange for that style of trip
I just may have to find a way to make it happen and hoof it back

I know what you mean about finding the time. Sometimes it can be a very elusive commodity and necessitates doing things that will at least allow one to take in an event if not enjoy the journey as well. Last week due to timing, I had a comfortable ride to Montreal, Bedford to Edmundston on Wednesday, and Edmundston to Montreal on Thursday to sell the 1150RT on Thursday evening, and then to Barrie on Friday to pickup a boat on Saturday morning. Those three days were fairly easy going and only 6.5, 5.5 and 7 hours of ordinary driving each day, but were dictated by needing to be at a specific spot in Laval at 7pm and having had dinner prior to that. Friday was dictated by having to be in Barrie on Saturday morning and head home. Initially I'd planned on driving to Toronto to visit friends then drive to Barrie Saturday morning, but decided to relax and go directly from Montreal. It made for an easy trip. The return trip, towing a 7,400 lb boat and trailer was more like work as we didn't get underway until about 11 am and then had 8.5 and 9.5 hour drives for Saturday and Sunday. I'm at the age now where if I've got 21 hours of driving to do I'll try to fit it into three 7 hr days vs two 10.5 hr days. It allows me to stop and smell the roses so to speak. ;-)

Normally I wouldn't go into such minutia with the ride to Hamburg, but originally the planning was done with a couple of club members with airheads who were most comfortable with keeping the riding stints within the 1.5-2.0 hour range with short breaks in between. From that I was able to workout that it needed to be three days vs two, but that then allowed for rural twisty roads which mean that the journey becomes an appropriate part of the experience.

I like the ride route you are taking
We'll see what unfolds in time

Try and have fun boys !!!!!

With all the shootings there it might be an edgy trip

We should be fine if there's any problems they'll likely be in larger centers which we won't be near.

Ted arrived last evening on his K1100RS, cold and wet. Left the west side of Toronto the previous day, so he made good time, but that was super-slab with just the destination and not the journey as the goal. The ride to NY will be journey and destination as equal goals. ;-)

Shereef, call me today so we can get the communications paired up, etc., before we leave.

Just discovered there is a nice mobile app for the Das Rally. Check it out at https://appsto.re/ca/w4bUcb.i

I think it might be available for Android too if anyone still has one of those old things. Hehe.

Hi Alan -and everyone-,
Was talking to Shereef yesterday afternoon while in Truro for the ECDC AGM, and i think i'll be joining you guys tomorrow, but i need some BMW logos ASAP to put on my VFR

Yeah, sorry I missed the ECDC AGM, had a memorial service to attend.

You'll be fine without the stickers. ;-)

Shereef was over last evening and we put the motels into his GPS and a couple of other things.

I'm installing a RAM mount on Ted's master cylinder today and we'll try to find a wiring problem he encountered on the ride down here. Might have been a water issue with all the rain he rode through, but we'll have a look anyway.

Kickstands up at 7:30 am tomorrow from the Tim Hortons at Bedford Commons. That will put us into the Canaan Motel in Canaan, ME at 4pm EST (5pm AST) without pushing. The next two days will be 8am to 4pm though some really nice back roads.

If you haven't already, you should consider registering online to make things easier at the Rally and so you can get the Rally app for your phone (Schedule, Map, Vendor list, Presenter list, etc).

Alan, Do you know about the shortcut around Bangor Brewer by using Hwy#46 at East Eddington off of the #9?
It'll take you through Holden (on the #1) to the #395 to the I95 and then the #2 can be picked up in Newport.
There used to be a Purple |Cow restaurant across the street from the motel. Notsure if it's still there or not.
Have a great ride.

Yes, thanks for mentioning it, Amedee. It is the only route I take now. Nicer route and avoids the Brewer / Bangor bottle-neck.

I've been told that the restaurant across from the Canaan Motel has closed, so we'll just ask the folks at the motel for a recommendation I guess.

Looking like we'll be a party of four leaving Tim's tomorrow morning, but there are a good number you've already left.

I am departing Halifax at 0646 and taking the back roads to be at AMP at 0930 to get my service light reset and then heading out from there. Maybe see you guys along the way somewhere.

I have to get service light reset as well in the AM

shereef wrote:I have to get service light reset as well in the AM

Shereef, if we're stopping to AM, i wonder if i could take the Multi and have new front tire installed there? or would that be much of a delay or hassle?

Ken, if we leave on time (that is my plan), we should be going by Moncton around 9:45-9:50 am. As noted above, the planned lunch stop is the Irving Big Stop at Bailleyville (just outside Calais) at the top of Route-9, so you should definitely be able to catch up with us there as I've laid out a fairly relaxed pace and have set aside noon EST (1pm AST) until about 12:50pm EST, arriving at Canaan Motel, 205 Main Street, Canaan, ME around 4pm Eastern time. Some maps refer to it being in Skowhegan Township,

Hey Allen. How did you guys make out today? 906 km put me in Bethel, ME for the night. A couple easy days now. Shooting for Gloversville tomorrow. Hope you guys are having a great ride. Beautiful weather and scenery.

We (me, Alan, Shereef & Ted) made it to Canaan, ME today around 5:15PM (EST)

Plan is to leave at 8:00AM tomorrow heading ti Saratoga Springs through mostly secondary roads according to Alan, giving that his GPS stops acting up and doesn't screw us over again

Ken, we'll be running along Route-2, etc., tomorrow and down Route-5 for lunch (noon) at the Local Buzz in Bradford, VT.

The GPS problem was mostly "operator error". ;-)

BTW Ken, Ted and I are staying at the Quality Inn in Hamburg (5440 Camp Road), and Raouf and Shereef are camping. What about yourself?

Roger that. I had a good ride today through the same area. At hotel in Johnstown tonight. I was planning to camp at rally but found out today can't get in until Thursday morning so needed a hotel for tomorrow night. Decided the hell with it and booked for three nights. I couldn't find anything in Hamburg so staying at Hyatt in Buffalo.