SR! Event Recap
Rally Week in The Gorge 2008
Hanging off in the ells on the way to Glenwood
along the Mt. Adams poker run.
Another Rally Week in The Gorge is in the books and the outcome could not
have been better.
Attendance was at an all time high with 550 people registered. That’s 10%
higher than last year. If you were just driving by you might have thought our
numbers were down by looking at the south camping field. After more than six
inches of rain the two days prior to rally, there were a number of failed
attempts to remove the carnival trucks from the weekend before. The field turned
into a total mud bog when a loader had to be called in to get the rides and
trucks off. Hence, about 80% of the campers pitched tents on the north field
around the RV’s.
Vendor turnout was up as well. There were more than 20 vendors on the grounds
scattered all over including Beaverton Honda, Cycle Barn, Eastside Motosports,
PHM Photography, ASV Inventions, Sines Designs, CMA/Fast Lane, Avon Tyres, RKA
Luggage, Ventura Bike Luggage, Happy Trails, All Moto Tires, Bend Euro Moto, BMW
North America, Ride West BMW, South Sound BMW, Western Oregon BMW, The Dam Tour,
several massage therapists and various food and beverage vendors. Wow, how this
has grown.
One of more than 20 vendors on site this year, Don Daugherty
mounts up new rubber for a rally attendee.
 So what numbers were down this year? Crashes and injuries were next to nil.
We counted four crashes for the entire week with only one minor case of road
rash. Compared to last year’s dozen plus with about half those involving
hospital visits, it makes one start to wonder, how did the number decline so low
this year? There’s no single thing we did, but it didn’t hurt to publish the
Common Sense Riding Practices article from the new 3rd edition of the
SR! Guide to riding in the Columbia River Gorge, which outlines the 10 most
common reasons why people crash. Not coincidentally that chapter was written
following the 2007 rally. Couple it together with special guests like Nick
Ienatsch, Bret Tkacs and David Hough on the agenda and it becomes obvious this
rally is not about speed and stupidity; it’s about becoming a better rider and
doing it in a safe manner. Our thanks to everyone who came out and had a great
time keeping the rubber side down.
Super Motorrad! Attendees had a chance to demo the latest
bikes from BMW & Ducati.
The BMW Demo truck arrived with plenty of demo bikes for attendees to try
out. The demo route ran from Stevenson down to Carson and back giving riders a
taste of the bikes on straights, in the twisties of SR 14 and along the tighter
twisties up Hot Springs Road. Bend Euro Moto provided Ducati demo rides through
Saturday on the tighter Kanaka loop.
Sportbike Northwest/Sport Touring Northwest
 Thursday riders arrived and settled in. Some stayed on the grounds perusing
the vendors, taking demo rides and relaxing in general. In the evening some
stuck around for the first round seminar by Nick Ienatsch and later the
Northwest/Motorcycle Trivia game. Others took off on rides with a number heading
east to Goldendale for the Dinner, Twisties and a Starshow ride and telescope
extravaganza. By late Thursday night the Dam Bike Barn (gets it’s name from the
Dam Tour folks who sponsored it this year) was loaded to the gills with bikes.
Kicking back at the Eastside Motosports Main
Stage during the evening events. Nice backdrop huh?
Friday saw the debut of the Mt. Adams poker run. Keep in mind we’ve never
repeated a poker run route in 6 years of doing this event which goes to show the
wealth of great roads in The Gorge. The route was about 187 miles in distance
with all the checkpoints off site from the fairgrounds. The weather could not
have been better and the photos we have of riders rolling between BZ Corner and
Glenwood with Mt. Adams in the background made for a lot of Kodak moments. That
evening Nick Ienatsch presented his The Pace in 2008 seminar and we closed the
evening with the movie, World’s Fastest Motorcycle, provided courtesy of the
American Motorcyclists Association.
Two way traffic ensued Saturday afternoon on
the Maryhill Loops road.
 Saturday morning began with a Coffee with Nick Ienatsch session that rolled
into the breakfast hour. Two dozen riders headed east for the Puget Sound Safety
cornering clinic at Maryhill Loops Road in the morning. Eight teams of riders
took part in the Sam Hill Adventure Hunt which would ultimately lead them to
Maryhill Loops Road for an afternoon ride up and down there. In the evening
Harvey Gilkerson led a rollicking door prize giveaway and a number of the silent
auction items were bid over the reserve and closed out by 9 pm.
Nick Ienatsch, fore-left, leads a coffee session
Saturday morning. Ienatsch taught four seminars from Thursday
through Saturday at the rally.
A special thanks to Bill Farley, Matt Ambeaun, Paul Tefft, Steve Schiller and
members of CMA’s Fast Lane division for running a well run gate throughout
the three days.
Motorcycle Marketplace
Sunday we brought the Sound RIDER! Motorcycle Marketplace event to Stevenson.
Many of the SBNW/STNW attendees stuck around to take in clinics through out the
day given by David Hough, Tim Bowman and Bret Tkacs. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. we
opened the fairgrounds free to the public to come in, check out the vendors, get
a look at the Sound RIDER! Garage Sale and get a taste of the rally in general.
As a result attendance on the fairgrounds was much higher for Sunday than in
years past and we’ll probably repeat the Motorcycle Marketplace event again next
year.
Dualsport Northwest/Maxi Scoot Northwest
 Sunday was also the day maxi scoot riders and dualsporters arrived for the
second installment of the rally. Our dualsport attendance was about even with
last year, but the maxi scoot numbers jumped 200% from last year! Riders settled
in throughout the day with some taking off on various ride excursions to Cougar
Rock, Sunset Falls and Goldendale. In the evening David Hough taught a dualsport
traction seminar with Coach Ramey Stroud sitting in and adding his two cents
along the way. We also ran the beer garden for the first time ever on Sunday
night and the scoot and dsport types got to play NW/MC Trivia as well. Rumor has
it there was a mods versus rockers mud brawl around 11 p.m. with the scoots
taking on the dualsporters in the south camping field-but that one has not been
confirmed.
Panorama Point was checkpoint one for the 3rd annual Maxi
Scoot/Dualsport Poker Run. Tim & Sherry Bernard (left & center) of
Happy Trails ran four checkpoints. Ellen Palms (right) digs for a
high scoring chip.
 Monday played its weather card. With rain in the forecast, a number of riders
headed east to dryer ground. Many of the dualsporters took the Lava Love loop
ride. Eighteen scooter riders made a loop out to Bickelton via Klickitat Canyon,
Stonehenge and the Centerville road. The wind was up but the scenery made it
spectacular. That evening Bill Altland, a rider from Alaska shared his slideshow
about his ride from there to the tip of South America.
A pack of maxi scoots descended on the town of
Bickelton Monday afternoon.
 Tuesday it was poker run time once again. For the third straight year in a
row we were able to come up with separate routes – one for the scoots and one
for the dualsporters, but shared checkpoints throughout. Riders headed over to
Oregon, wound their way to The Dalles back into Washington State and up to
Appleton and Trout Lake. The route was such we only needed two parties to run
all five checkpoints with Bruce Scott and Ryan Barnett running the Appleton
checkpoint and Tim and Sherry Bernard running all the other four. If there’s a
poker run history archive somewhere this rally may be the only one of its kind
to have a dsport/maxi scoot run and pull off running four checkpoints with just
two parties.
Dualsports along Tuesdays poker run route.
Wednesday is always an emotional one for me. We spend a year preparing the
rally, ten days on the fairgrounds setting it up, running it and tearing it
down. Only to start all over again. It’s like raising the same child over and
over again. You get attached to it and it’s gone.
When is the rally really over?
This year we joked about – when is the rally officially over. Bruce says it’s
when the last person leaves the fairground. My thought is it’s when we shut the
door on the Exhibit Hall the last time. With all the keys turned in Ryan and I
suited up to ride. Bruce got in his truck. I tugged on the Exhibit Hall door for
the last time, looked at Ryan and said – "The rally is officially over" then
realized - I’d locked my helmet inside.
To all of you who attended this year thanks for making this a great one
again. We’re already looking forward to 2009.
Tom Mehren/Summer 2008
FYI’s
 2009 Rally dates are as follows:
- Sportbike Northwest/Sport Touring Northwest August 27th – 30th
2009
- Dualsport Northwest/Maxi Scoot Northwest – August 30th –
September 2nd 2009
Also
- PHM Photography is getting pictures uploaded at a good pace, but with
more than 2,500 photos shot during the event don’t expect to see them all
online until the end of September.
- Missed the rally but want to ride in The Gorge? Get The
Sound RIDER!
 Guide to Motorcycling in the Columbia River Gorge. Now
in its 3rd edition it’s loaded with rides (pavement and
dualsport), attractions, where to stay, eat and play.
- Additional T-shirts can be ordered now through the end of September.
Shirts will be printed and shipped in October.
CLICK HERE to order now.
- 11x17 Commemorative Rally prints for 2007 & 2008 are now available.
CLICK HERE For more details.
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