Timothy Allen – Page 13 – PNW Grand Tour

The Day Before the Best Day of the Year :)

Many of you have plans to get out and enjoy our wonderful roads in the PNW – I am joining you, too! Be safe, enjoy the ride and stay warm!

Make sure you know where you are going and what you are supposed to include in your picture. As a friendly reminder:

Your motorcycle (or enough of it to tell it is a motorcycle) must be in the picture.
Your rally flag (or placard for a small number of you who haven’t received your flags, yet) must be in the picture with the number readable.
The object described in the location guide must be included in the picture. It does not have to be an exact match in terms of size or angle, but it does need to be recognizable.

This seems like a good time to remind riders what to do if you (oops) lose your flag (note – leaving your flag at home isn’t the same as lost). If you LOSE your flag, take a picture with your smiling face in place of your flag. When you can, let me know what is going on and I can send you a file you may print to use in place of the flag going forward.

Did you forget your flag at home? It sucks being sad, but that’s what you are now.

Once you have that picture of your dreams, remember to send it in like this:

Send it from the email address you used to register for the rally on Ride Master (unless you have told me to change it).
Send it to the email address used for scoring ().
Make sure the location code (e.g. “GT01”, etc) is the first thing in the subject line of the email.

Please do not send the picture as a text message. It will not be recognized by the system.

All right, off we go! Maybe I will see you out there. I have plans to ride a long way on Saturday with no stops (except gas). I will be making my way back home starting Sunday and will see parts of California, Oregon and Washington.

GT16 Update (Steptoe Butte)

The state park website says the road to the top of Steptoe Butte will be closed for construction this year. Tim Seawel and I went out there on Friday (3/26) to scout an alternate location and the road is still open with no signs of work. We saw no signs of preparation for work, either – no signs, no construction equipment staged, no survey markings, etc. My best guess is that any work planned is a few weeks/months out. Those visiting earlier this season will likely have no issue getting to the top.

So, what to do?

The planned stop at the top is still valid. The road is rough. It is paved all the way up but there are potholes in places. Take it slow (I think we went about 25mph and it was fine) and enjoy the views. At the top, just before the dirt parking area, there is a paved road to the left that goes up to the main parking area where the picture should be taken. There are also bathroom facilities in that parking area (pit toilets).

If you go later in the season and can’t get there because of road work, take a picture at the entry just off of Hume Rd with the butte visible in the background. The gates in the picture below are located immediately adjacent to Hume Rd and should be accessible all year long 🙂

The website will be updated to reflect this alternate location in the next day or so.

Less Than A Week to Go!

The rally officially starts this Friday and I am sure most of you are excited to get started. If you haven’t tested out the scoring system by sending in a few test images, please take a few minutes ot do it and avoid frustration later. It is super simple but does require 3 basic elements for success:

Send the email to the correct address ()
Send the email from the same email you registered with.
The location code (“GT01”, for example) must be the first characters in the subject line!

Here’s a link to the page with more info for scoring success.

You all should have received your flags by now! If you have NOT received your flag, drop me a line using the contact form on the website so we can sort it out.

See you all out there!

TS02

New Scoring System Ready for Testing

I think I mentioned that we were developing a new scoring system to improve the experience for both riders and scoring team alike. Well, the bones are in place and it is ready for testing. We have added a link to the new “Scoreboard” in the menu at the top of the web page, and I added a new page describing the system as a sub-item under the Scoreboard. Head over and take a look! Send in some practice picture to get used to the simple system.

Here’s a link to the page describing the new system and how to use it. Please read me first 🙂

Here’s a link to the new Scoreboard.

Other updates…nothing much to say today. We are waiting on the flag shipment – everything else is ready for mailing. We will let you know when we put stuff in the mail!

TS01

2022 Destination List Posted!

OK, get ready, get set…GO!

The destination list, sample images and a gpx file (for GPS users) is posted on the web site. Look for the “Downloads” page under “Rider Resources” on the web site.

Flag order is in, hoping to get them by mid-May and to you guys in time for the start of the rally. Reminder – even if you have your flag earlier, the rally doesn’t start until April 1st!

Here’s a link to the Download page.

Final Teaser (#6) – Lowman, Idaho

First off, I will be out of touch for the next week. I plan to post up the full location listing when I get back, and also plan to assign flag numbers to new riders (and the couple of you who asked for new numbers) when I get back. I will also upload the sample images and a GPX file (for you GPS users). The only things you will be missing are your flag (mid-March) and April 1st to arrive!

Final teaser (#6) – Lowman, Idaho. Oh, boy! I picked this location to allow some of you the opportunity to even out the wear on your tires…if you decide to come up from the Boise area on state highway 21, you will be very tired when you get there! It is constant curves, many of the them tight and technical. If that is too much, and sometimes it can be, come in from the west on Banks Lowman Road (county highway 17) – it is still fun, but way less technical.

Give yourself some time to enjoy the area, it is stunning.

N 44.08078, W 115.61971

Tim and Tim visited Lowman in 2020 as part of the North by Northwest rally.

Teaser #5 – California Dreaming

Located on the north wall of the former Surprise Valley Drugstore in Cedarville, CA is a Coca Cola mural painted over a plaster face that covers the original brick building underneath. The brick building itself is very old and historical looking and looks like a building that’s been there since the late 1800s. The artist has put the size of the mural as a ’16 x 24′ and with a date of Oct, 1946.

There isn’t much about northern California that isn’t worth riding 🙂

N 41.529500, W 120.172183

This location brought to you courtesy of Dale Wilson!

Teaser #4 – Montana

Teaser #4 – this location will take you out to western Montana for a visit to Big Hole National Battlefield. There is good riding in every direction! The site was closed last year (sad) because it was being used as a staging area for fire fighting efforts, but should be open again this year. At 6,000+ feet, this is one you will probably want to plan later in the season.

The GPS coordinates are at the entrance sign off of MT-43. That is where you will take your picture so that you don’t have to pay to get in, but feel free to stop and enjoy a visit, too

GPS – N 45.6359, W 113.6435

Big Hole National Battlefield in western Montana.

Teaser #3 – Oregon

Teaser #3…Oregon coast, sort of 🙂

Agness, Oregon. Who knows where that is (besides Butch and Beckie Dunlap)?

This is a great area in the coastal mountain range, but there are a few notes to make. First off, there is a lot of dirt in the area. You dual sport riders will probably love this one! The paved route is on Agness Rd from Gold Beach on the coast. The road from the north (Powers) is a lot of dirt forest service road.

Credit for this location goes to Butch Dunlap 🙂

Location – N42.555167, W124.064433

At an elevation of 230 feet, this one isn’t going to require snow tires, but finding a dry stretch of riding weather will be a challenge in the early going.