Sayward April Madness
The first event of the season is nearly here and the weather forecast is promising dry warm sunny (sssh!) days ahead.
Entries will remain open up until event weekend as usual - late entrants will have to understand their “study time” of the routes, either by roadbook or Gaia will be reduced, but Hey! we’re not going to the Arctic so what could possibly go wrong….?
April Madness as an event is ready to go, the route is set, ridden and in place. The GPS timing gates are up and running so Cue! Intro music! Final Instructions and routes will be emailed out in the next couple of days with Richta instructions for those riders riding the regularity (time/speed/distance) category.
There will be The Cedar Motorcycle Riding School trophy for the rider with the highest number of Richta GPS gates and the lowest time penalties on this event.
This scoring system will be applied to the other events this year and will also be applied to the 2024 overall season trophy - the highest number of GPS gates (first measure) and then the lowest total of time penalties for those gates (second measure).
Consistency and navigational accuracy over the whole series, ticking off as many GPS gates as possible will be the key to overall success.
GoldRiver 400 - Les Chemins Sauvages
Attention is now turning to the GoldRiver 400. Four days, 1400km and 20,000 metres of climbing. You can get some idea of the course profiles from the pictures above. Don’t get the idea that these routes are on “easy” FSR Mains…. The routes are on “gazetted” public roads, but at every opportunity, the roads go up! And of course what goes up…….?
The GR4 routes are set and the roadbooks are written (subject to revision following pre-riding). All being well, the first GR4 route will be ridden and laid out on the day after the Sayward event. There are a total of five routes (for a four day event - one spare in case of forest fires) and without giving any clues away the routes are based on Gold River, Woss and Sayward Junction where the fuel stations are.
There will be an Event Bivouac again, the group site (#16) at the Gold River Municipal campground. $90 per tent per five night stay which includes the toilet and shower block at the Ucona sports field being open Thursday evening 27 June until Tuesday morning 2 July.
Bivouac camp fees can be bought at www.gr200.com/shop
If you are bringing a RV or a motorhome, or if you would like a camp site of your own, please DO NOT book through the gr200 website but contact the campground host Ken Smith directly on his email keeweesmithgr@gmail.com and explain you are coming for the motorcycle event and would like a separate site.
As part of their event sponsorship activities the Cedar Motorcycle Riding School will be putting an event dinner on at the bivouac one of the evenings for event participants. Also expect to see a Kove representation from Kove Moto Canada and Tuff City Powersports Nanaimo.
The GoldRiver 400 event will be four full days of riding (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Canada Day Monday) with shouting and prizegiving in the Ridge Pub on Monday evening - then probably early to bed. The starts will be outside Uptown Cappuccino cafe each morning. Everyone goes home Tuesday morning at the latest.
Sayward September Showcase, 27-30 September
Another holiday weekend allowing two full days of riding and travel time for those who live on the Mainland. The dates are set, the routes are under development and will continue our exploration of the north of Vancouver Island. The route details can’t be announced yet, but they will comprise roads that haven’t yet figured in VIME events. No point setting a navigation trial over roads that riders already know…
And 2025….
Ever in search of providing a rallysport experience as authentic as possible within the constraints of Vancouver Island and the Canadian legal system, I am beginning to think about 2025….
Canada Day ‘25 is Tuesday 1 July, which means another four day event is possible (Saturday through to Tuesday, arriving on Friday and departing on Wednesday).
We have the whole of the north island as our venue and we know where the petrol stations are…
There is this rallysport subsection called Malle Moto…. If you haven’t heard about it there is much on the internet. Broadly, Malle Moto riders would ride the event route AND they carry all their kit on their bike.
This would imply the event will be a “Grand Tour”, a nomadic circus, travelling, arriving, camping and moving on. Further, the implication is that there would be a “supported” category with tote boxes in a hi-cube van…
The logistics of this would of course be an order of magnitude greater than VIME events up until now, and perhaps the challenges riders would face would be off putting - or not? Please let me know, it would take a year to put an event like this together! It could be done but would there be sufficient interest…..?
If you have any ideas or event features you would like to see included in future events, please let me know and we can discuss possibilities.
I hope to see you soon.
Regards. Jonathan
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