More information here on URAL's website for the rally: LINK, you can download and look at the rally score sheet at this site. Below, I've added snips from the score sheet that I managed to collect for points.
I was rider number CO-777, there were 26 other Colorado-based riders registered according to the rally website.
At 8:00 AM, I headed out with Miles, my youngest son, as my monkey (which by the way earned me 50 points), this was after doing the pre-ride check (50 points) and a starting mileage of 43114 km on the odometer.
Miles and I stopped at a local McDonald's for a quick breakfast and the resulting points:
Breakfast was soon consumed and we headed down to Arapahoe Road to find the County Courthouse on Potomac Street:
The Arapahoe County Courthouse on Potomac, 8:35 AM
You'll note the "flag" held by Miles showing my rider number for the rally. Photos were supposed to be taken showing the number with the objective achieved.
After the courthouse, it was time to take Miles to a local gun club for his first formal Firearms Safety Course. It's called "First Shots" and it's a combination of education, safety, advertisement for the local gun programs offered by the gun club and includes some very basic firearm safety training. It was very informative and Miles paid great attention throughout.
The instructor, John G., oversees Miles actions as he
takes his first shots with a .22 caliber bolt action rifle.
All the other students were interested in the handguns offered for training, so the instructor let me fire ten rounds of .22 Long Rifle as well. Bonus! Miles did pretty good for second time with firearms!
The class ended at noon and so we motored on home as Miles had other things to do. Before we got home though, it was time for lunch and some more points:
Lunch at Sonic's 12:35 PM
After I dropped off Miles, I donned a water-soaked evaporative vest as temperatures had risen to the mid 90s by this time. It was hot! The vest helped with the heat, though you could still feel it at times.
I rode over to the Fairmount Cemetery where I had recently taken some then and now pictures. There were of course, more points to be had for the rally:
Built in 1920, this mausoleum qualifies as a historic building.
Guarding the entrance to the military section of the Fairmount Cemetery
was this Model 1885 3.2" Field Artillery Cannon.
I left the cemetery and headed over to the Wings over the Rockies Air Museum nearby. It's located on the previous site of the Lowry Air Force Base and is a very nice museum worth a visit if you're in the area:
I'm sure the URAL Rally folks will agree this B-52 Stratofortress
qualifies as a historic and interesting vehicle!
Now it was time to head south, still in the heat of the day, still bearing up nicely under it thanks to a freshly wet down evaporative vest and some water in the helmet for good measure!
At a stop light, just before the light turned green, this couple in the car next to me UDF'ed me long enough that we delayed traffic slightly when the light turned green, still, it was more points for me:
It was time to stop by a friend's house and get a picture of the second monkey of the day for me: Meet Levi, who was quite at home in the sidecar I must say!
Levi didn't actually ride with me as we didn't have the right
restraints for him to do so safely, so not sure I'll be given the points by URAL.
Bonus for my readers: Oscar and Janet's lovely children: Cassie and Stevie, posing on my Valencia:
After saying goodbye to Levi and his family, I headed on home. My ending mileage was 43231 Km so I rode 117 Km for the rally:
I also had to adjust my tug's rear brake once I got home at 5:00 PM:
I know, not the right tool, but all it needed was a
half turn counterclockwise.
So, my grand total is 567 which I'll be recording onto the rally site after I post this report. Even if they disallow my Canine Monkey shot since we didn't actually ride together, I made the minimum of 350 points (432) to qualify as a rally finisher.
Great, though hot, day of riding. Had a good time with Miles and later Levi and his family. Great Rally Day!
Update: I finished in the 110th position from the list of riders who qualified as finishers.
8 comments:
I think the officials at URAL should give you bonus points for finding some of the cutest kids in the front range area that aren't your own to ride in the rig!
Should be extra points for every degree over 70F!
How much time did they give you to plan your route?
RichardM
To plan? Since the Spring I think. I roughed out my route the day before the rally. If you meant how long is the rally, from sunup to sunset.
+1 what Martha says. Cute kids bonus!
I had a chuckle at the "historic" task... "at least 50 years old" ;-) In the village I live the challenge likely would have been the other way round... find something newer...
However I would have no clue at all where to find some military stuff in the region. We don't put this much on public display in Germany.
SonjaM, being such a young nation, it's amusing at times the pride locals have on structures which wouldn't qualify for historic status yet in Europe solely due to age....
Your remark about the public display of old war equipment made me realize I never did see stuff like that while stationed there....never thought about it at the time.....interesting.
Hey that B-52 is over 50 years old! We now have three generations of families that have flown them. Gramps, Dad and Son/Daughter.
Good Rally
There are some who carefully read the rules and plan their route to maximize points. Not what I would expect from a Ural rally though.
I have to say, that looks like a fun day out. Motorcycle scavenger hunts for the win!
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