ADV Cannonball Questions & Answers

We welcome Brian Coffin to the podcast. We reminisce about the WABDR, Colorado private rally, IDBDR, MABDR, and other past rides on his KLR650 and his R1200GS. Brian also asks some questions about how the ADV Cannonball Rally runs on a day-to-day basis. Plus the usual moto chat. 

Transcript

Welcome to the ADV Cannonball podcast, where we discuss all things on 2 wheels, the adventure bike cannonball, and other motorcycle related nonsense. Season 2 episode 1. Yep. So, welcome to the podcast. Welcome to ADD Cannonball podcast.

My name is Taylor Lawson, and I am your host. And today, I have 2 guests with me. I have Aaron Pufal. Afternoon, sir. Good morning.

And we got Brian Coffin with us. Hey, Brian. Hey. Good afternoon, guys. Alright.

So maybe the good afternoon part was a giveaway for where Brian's calling from because it's afternoon where he is. So let's just jump right to you and talk about where you are. I am in sunny South Florida, and it's a balmy 73 degrees and sunny right now. So I have my air conditioning on and closed up in my truck as I speak to you guys. Nice.

Show off. Alright. Show off. Showing off. Alright.

How about you? Where where are you sitting, Aaron? I am in, Seattle. And, for once, the sun is actually out, so I'm pretty pleased about that. And more importantly Wow.

More importantly, I'm sitting alone in my hotel room, and I'm gonna pour myself a glass of Crown Royal for this podcast because you guys are, like, ADV royalty. Oh, I forgot to mention what I'm drinking too. Oh, yeah. What are you drinking? So as as I'd like to, pay homage to my beautiful GS that's currently sitting, freezing her butt off in Knoxville in a cold, dark, place.

I'm drinking a Starbucks Frappuccino. Wow. Well done, sir. Well done. Nicely done.

Nicely done. Alright. So I am I'm sitting in Sweden. I think it's it's quite warm, actually. The snow that came last week has now sufficiently melted.

Even the big piles are down to small piles. Although we did have piles of snow that were, like, 12 feet high, and so the parking lots around here was insane. But, anyway, now it's like, I don't know, 50 ish somewhere around there, 45, 50. It is, it is quarter to 7 in the evening, so it has gotten colder. And tonight, I am I am, having a Omni Pollo, the veil teff nut, and I'm gonna describe it.

I'm gonna read the description so you guys can laugh. Here we go. It was the only thing it was the only thing that was in there. You know, I had a selection. Just says I'm a little embarrassed here.

Raspberry pie triple fruited imperial goose, goss, g o s e, goss, imperial goss. That's it. I don't know. It sounds, it sounds a little fruity, but listen. This is a safe space.

Fruity. Again. Alright. Nice. Well done.

And oh, it's orange. Kinda got that Red Bull thing going on. Listen. There's nothing wrong with, 1 or 2 fruity drinks in in the evening. Right?

You just can't do it all night. That's kinda that's kinda my rule. I thought you were gonna say 1 or 2 fruity drinks a year, but okay. We have different standards. No.

A nice bright fruity cocktail before dinner is is a nice tradition that we've just kinda lost. You know? Oh my. I may have to, go for something different during break. I wish you could see Taylor's taste.

It's like he just it's like he's ate a a sour, sour candy. But, anyway, moving on. Wow. You know, it's in so let me give you a bit of background here. So, also, we'll talk about, about why you're why we've asked you to come and join us, Brian.

But I just wanna just sort of the setup here is that so we, we can see each other. We're having a video conference, but we actually have, separate recording devices so that we get really high quality audio. And then later, we send our files to Aaron, and he mashed these files together. He does the post production on these audio files, so it doesn't rely on a Internet connection or anything. But what the the listeners can't see is the fact that we can see each other.

So sometimes there's a reaction that we get from looking at each other once we say something. And then yeah. So that so I just wanna share that that information, sort of what that layout is as to how things happen. And I just also wanna say, we come made a comment about your hair earlier, Aaron. And what was your you said the only thing that drives you to get a haircut now is what?

Yeah. So, you know, it's it's a disaster. Right? You know, it's not going to disaster, but the only time I go to get my haircut is if my helmet doesn't fit correctly anymore. So if it's getting too too bushy of, you know, what's left and I start to get headaches, that's that's the only governing factor to get to get a haircut these days, which is, you know, mainly sad, but also a a small small badge of honor.

Yeah. I'd say I'd say that that that, you know, it goes in line with what we're we're trying to achieve here. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

Cool. So what I wanna do is maybe just jump in and talk about Brian. Brian, it is sort of in in transparency. We we do know you. We did, we did bring you into this because, you had a lot of questions about what the actual cannonball looks like on a day to day.

You had a ton of questions, questions. Some questions we can't even put on the air, but we'll stick with those. But a lot of other questions a lot of other questions that were really good that I think that we should bring forward. So we, so anyway, you're sitting with some, some excellent, some high quality audio equipment, and, and we wanna get your your input on those. So, you up for that?

Yeah. So should I just start with one of my questions I had? No. I wanna let me let me give you a bit of background first about sort of how it is we we've we've come to, come to ride together. So, previously, we had mentioned that, Aaron has set up these curated tours in Colorado.

And the the last time that you and I rode together, it was sort of take it chronologically going backwards. The last time that you and I actually rode together was in October 2023, and we both attended that, tour that Aaron had arranged in, in Colorado, in and out of Aspen. That's right. So it was last time yeah. It was the last time we were together.

Yeah. And, yeah, that was that was amazing. That was I mean, it was something that he's like, let's join in. And I shipped my bike out there and had no idea what to expect. And to describe it for my family is just I there's no words other than you gotta actually experience Colorado like I did, and it was amazing.

And Brian actually got spoiled a little bit because he came out early. And we had we had, 2 or 3 days ahead of time, and we had did a run we did a run out to Moab. Moab. That's right. Yeah.

We did Angel Creek. Nice. And then on the way back, we did, I think it's called, like, edge of the earth or something, edge of the world pass. And then we went, end of the world. I think it was end of the world.

End of the world. Yeah. End of the world pass, and then we went to this really nice resort. We had a a big a big blowout dinner that I'm that I'm still trying to pay for on my on my credit card. And, and then I think I still have the cork from that wine.

Nice. Yes. What? They didn't make points for that, Aaron? A lot of the blue notes.

No more points, man. And then we spent a couple of days in, Aspen, and then, the rest of the group, showed up. Yeah. So Brian got some, some VVI VIP action. Yeah.

It was amazing. Alright. So, before that, Brian, you had before you had so now you have the, the 1200 GS. Correct. And on that, you've done a bunch of riding.

So you've done a lot of the Backcountry Discovery routes. You've done mid Atlantic BDR, but you did that on your on your Kawasaki on your KLR 650. Right? That's correct. Yes.

So How how long ago how long ago did you do that one? The first time you did a BDR. The first BDR I did was 2018, and that was shortly after I bought my first KLR. And then went a little crazy with the Farcals and all the suspension because I was expecting the worst. Shipped it out to Washington, out to Aaron, and he him and I did the Washington backcountry discovery route, starting from Seattle down to the Oregon border and then up up going north from from south to north over the Cascades, all the way up to Canada and then back again to Seattle.

And that was that was my first experience doing a backcountry discovery route on a 2018, no. 2017. I'm sorry. 2017 KLR. And to say gravity works, it does work when you come off the come off the KLR.

Did you spend some time on the ground on that trip? I did. I tested it. It works. The gravity is still working out there.

Good to know. And that, KLR can take a beating and and keep on going. That's all I gotta say, and it did. So that was my first I think I have some, pictures of, Brian. Let's just say taking a break on the ground.

There's there's a dirt there. Actually a photo out there of me laying on the side of, I guess, the mountain, you would say. And I look like, what was that movie where they, god, the space the it was a space movie where a rocket went to the moon, and he's the last the the last scene was the guys laying on the moon looking back to the earth. That was me laying on on the side of a mountain with my motorcycle on my helmet and my gear. But, you know, at least at least you didn't have a yard sale.

You know? Like No. Downhill skiing. And it's like you see, like, you see someone wipe out and their gear just goes everywhere. It's like yard sale.

They shouldn't have that experience. But but, yeah, that was that was fun. But you know what? You know, you don't remember the, the hours and hours and hours of just going on a backcountry. You remember the exciting parts, and that was definitely an exciting part.

It's it's kinda infamous, that area. It's called baby Babyhead Hill. And Oh, yeah. Yeah. There was definitely a babyhead.

So I was we were running over. So and that was my first experience, BDR. After that, I did a a middle Atlantic backcountry discovery route, with a couple of friends of mine from from Alabama and and Tennessee, and we rode our I I brought my I shipped my bike up to them from South Florida, and then we put it in the back of a U Haul, drove up to the start up at Pennsylvania, New York line, and did the Middle Atlantic from north to south, which was really fun. It was chilly, but it was amazing, absolutely amazing. And then so yeah.

So a couple couple of times on the on the on the KLR, and I quickly realized that I really wanted something a little bit more, capable, comfortable on a highway. And that's when I I switched over to the GS. And is there any going back on that? You like, you're never looking back for that the, the KLR? No.

I think I would definitely get another KLR for sure, and that might be in the future. I I just, you know, they're they're I think they're just 2 separate levels of of of going, you know, and then even going lower, maybe like a 250 to go more singletrack. But, you know, for KLR, it'll it'll go anywhere, anytime, and, you can get parts for it anywhere and get it fixed. Where the the GS is just a it's like a Swiss army knife. It'll just do anything and everything well, whereas KLR will just do anything and everything, you know, without without complaining.

You know? So Yeah. Yeah. Very true. The big flywheel just up right up the hills.

Yep. Yep. Let's see here. So and now you've signed up for this cannonball with Aaron. Yep.

And that's gonna be in October 2025. And, so you had a ton of questions. So you're gonna use your, you're gonna use your 1200 on that. You can take the GS on that. I am.

Because I know that this is a little this this rally or this cannonball, is a little bit more road intensive, crunching out the miles each day. And, you know, having that, cruise control really makes a difference, I think, on the on the long roads, and the comfort as well. I mean, just to just to fall back, when we went when we did our route, in in, Colorado, I actually rode my motorcycle back from Colorado down to Texas, across to Tennessee, to North Carolina, down and then down to South Florida. So I I crushed it all the way back home. And, that was that was that was fun.

I mean, there was no effort. It was just so comfortable. Whereas if I still have my KLR, it would have been long days, you know, with my with a hand that would be hurting. Yeah. Absolutely.

Cool. Well, let's maybe that's a good segue into asking Aaron some questions about yeah. Yeah. Go with it. Ask him.

So, you know, I signed up for this. I I read the description kinda knowing what what ETA is gonna be like. But what, like, what's it what's your typical day? I mean, we're starting, obviously, early in the morning. We're going to late at night.

Is it you know? I know there's hotels that's already plan preplanned out. There's a route. I I you know, can you kinda give me the reader's digest version there? Sure.

Sure. That's a great question. So even though you've done a lot of, quote, unquote, rallies with me, we've done a lot of riding, and you've joined some of my more organized groups, what you've never been a part of is an org an organized kind of competitive or semi competitive rally. Taylor has done done one with me, in a car which which was fun and it's very important to keep it structured. So doing a cannonball like this isn't an original idea, but I've taken all the things that I enjoyed about competitive, events and all the and I've removed all the things that I that I didn't really, like.

So every morning, we start at the official hotel. So each night, you're booked into what we call the rally hotel. And in the evening, it's up to each rider to check the rally website. And on the rally website, there may be some notices to know for the next day. Maybe the start times change or there's an extreme waypoint that's being added or some weather information or something that's important.

And then everyone should be at the start line according to the rally start time. So, Brian, let's say your rally number is, 10, and let's say the start time is 8 AM. So you would leave the start line at 8:10 AM. You would not leave earlier or you would be disqualified. You could leave late if you wanted to or maybe let's just say you didn't wake up.

And that's how the mornings the mornings start. The first few days will be a little bit structured, so rally staff will be there to get you going and kinda maybe take some pictures and and and sort of help people, with that process. But by the second or third or fourth day, everyone's just on their own, and everyone starts to recognize each other. And because of the rally livery, everyone has their rally number on their motorcycle. So you'll start to get to know, recognize the bikes that are around your start number, and everyone kind of just, takes care of that starting procedure on their own.

Taylor, I think, you remember from I think you did Alcan with me, and you and you very much get used to looking for your fell your fellow competitors. Yeah. It's really true. So you, also, when that was a time speed distance rally, so it's different than this one. But one of the interesting things about that is that you could use the car numbers around you to sort of if you had gotten mixed up on your timing, you could use them.

And first of all, you get to know the people around you because you're traveling with them. You sort of travel with people who are in, you know, 5 minutes either side of you. So, like, we require 35, so you were traveling around with cars number 30 or even 27, and then and then the higher cars as well. Higher numbers up to about 40. I think that was limited at 40.

But yeah. So you can also use the other cars, at least in that. You could use the other cars to know if you were early, if you were late, if you if your timing was off, you could try to you could see the other car and go, like, if you and the other car passed a waypoint at the exact same time and they were a car 1 like a car 34, for example, and we were car 35, you knew that if we were on time, if they were late a minute. So you could use it as a way to sort of hack your position in there based on time, but this is a bit different as I understand. Maybe you talked about a bit.

Yeah. You you you make a great point. So Taylor used the word early. So on a t s d, a time speed distance rally, you wanna hit a waypoint or a checkpoint. Those words are used interchangeably.

Checkpoint is a waypoint. And, you need to be at a at a waypoint at a specific time. In a cannonball, you just want to get to the waypoint as quickly as possible or whenever you want to get there. And, but starting on the prescribed time is important because there are bonus points for the 1st rider, to get to the, to the final checkpoint for that day, essentially to get to the that evening's hotel. So that's, that's one way to score points.

So the object of this rally is to score as many points as possible and there are two ways to score points. The first way to score points is the first rider to get to the hotel that evening gets 25 extra points. And then throughout the day, on the rally app, there are, checkpoints to achieve along the rally route. And every checkpoint that you ride through electronically, you score 10 points. So there are obviously various prizes that can be won, but essentially in a perfect world, the overall winner will have achieved every checkpoint or has made a strategic decision to get as many checkpoints as he or she feels that person needs and probably has has has finished first.

Maybe not every day, but some of those days. There are other prizes if you want to take more leisurely pace of just collecting all of the paved waypoints and or all of the unpaved waypoints, and there are prizes for each one of those achievements, also. So based on that, is there a way as the scoring is set up, is there a way that you could not be the fastest, but still potentially come in in a very competitive way in the beginning of the sort of ahead of the pack? Yeah. For sure.

So in order to not make this a race, and it is not a race, is that there are extreme checkpoints as well. So it may be smart to maybe take your time and just go get that extreme waypoint and not necessarily try to be the first person to the hotel every single day. So there's a little bit of, strategy involved. And, you know, there are different people, you know, that enter a rally like this. Like, I know Brian is is not the fastest of riders, and he's really gonna enjoy he's really gonna why is everybody laughing?

But he's really I know. I don't know. But he's really going to enjoy a highly curated route. The route is painstakingly, programmed, into the gpx file, and the waypoints, the checkpoints are all gonna be interesting, wherever possible. So it may be, I don't know, at the cottage to Oppenheimer in, up in the desert.

It may be at a Route 66 landmark. So all the checkpoints are gonna be interesting. Question on that. So there's different checkpoints. Are certain checkpoints in positions where you would need to have an off road machine for or something that's more dual sport capable?

Great great, great question. So there are optional off pavement routes and optional off pavement checkpoints. There is never a time in scoring that, someone could do both. It it would be impossible. However, if someone collects all of the off road checkpoints, there is an award for that and there is an award for someone who collects all of the on road checkpoints.

We do want people to get to the hotel before dark, so there's no tricky business of, you know, someone having to do all the off road checkpoints and double back and get all the on road checkpoints. Listen. If you wanna do that, it's your own funeral. If you wanna show up at 1 o'clock in the morning, you know, that's your business. But, you know, that that would be someone who, his you know, who was more masochistic rather than, you know, you know, competitive.

Well, can I ask a question about the timing? So my time would be 8:10, then I left, but my lazy butt didn't get out of bed, and I didn't leave till 8:30. Does my time start at 8:30, or am I penalized that 20 minutes? Yeah. You're not penalized.

You just the only bonus point attached to elapsed time is the shortest elapsed time to get each day. So it would be unsportsmanlike to leave early, and we and we would know if you left early and you're disqualified immediately and not and not welcome back. But if you leave late, that you know, that's that's your own business. Right? You do miss some of the camaraderie of, you know, lining up with everyone if indeed you were to, not start on time.

But, again, you know, the, like I said, something that I'll I'll repeat a lot is the a core tenant of this is is is self reliance. So if you if you need to go fix a tire or if you need to fix something on your bike or you need to fix yourself, you know, go ahead and do that. You just, you need to make those decisions. And, you know, the group will ultimately will always break up into different groups. You'll always have a set of 3 or 4 guys that are, you know, just interested in in in riding your route and collecting and collecting checkpoints, and inevitably, those riders will end up riding together.

If you do that, just don't leave ahead of your start time. That will cause a major issue and get you disqualified even if you do it honestly. Just don't don't do that. That's the only caution, that I that I can mention for that. Is there gonna be any, entertainment awards or anything for the rider that is always late or the rider that always has the most tickets or, you know, speeding tickets or anything like that?

Yeah. There's no encounters with with those who were there to enforce the law. Yeah. Yeah. If anyone were to use a little bit of thought.

Right? Anyone who uses any kind of official credentials to get out of a ticket is immediately disqualified. Let's just be clear about that. I'll let you clear about that. Yeah.

There is no use in any credentials you may or may not possess, but anyways, that would not be cool. But, but, yeah, but, yeah, there's always fun. There's always a lot of there's always a lot of camaraderie, you know, like, I've never known anyone to pass someone that's on the side of the road, you know, I don't care, you know, how competitive you are. I don't care if you're into the car. Like, people are always checking on on each other.

Right? And this isn't that serious. There will always be a small contingent of people that are being very serious about it, and I highly respect that. And that's really exciting to me. And those people are always up front anyways.

So, yeah, everyone is checking on each other. We're having fun. There's friendly, friendly competition. And I always find that, you know, if there is an extreme checkpoint that gets popped up somewhere, everyone's talking about it, people are saying, hey, by the way, did you notice that extra checkpoint? So even though there's a competition, everyone has a spirit of, trying to help each other out.

I, you know, I just think that's the nature of people on 2 wheels. I think it's, it's a really great community. Is is there gonna be I'm sorry. Is it gonna be a sweep that's gonna you know, from the last rider leaves? Is there gonna be someone that cleans up from the hotel and gets to the next hotel, but kind of like a emergency sweep if somebody breaks down Yeah.

At Camp and Fix or anything like that? That's also a great question. You know, I have I have mixed feelings about this. The reason why sweep is part of, a lot of rallies is because there's there's a lot of, going off going off off the road or there's, people getting stuck. So for instance, when Taylor and I did the Alcan 5000 or, you know, last winter, I did the Thunderbird Rally.

It's it's in the winter, and let's just call it we're driving in a spirited fashion, but legally, people tend to go off off the road quite a bit. And that's the real purpose of Sweep is to pull those cars off the road. Or there are times with with Sweep is because there are no services in the area. So if you're in the middle of of the desert, you have Suite because there's no one to help you. The third reason why there's Suite traditionally in rallies is because there are limitations on on on fuel, and Suite will often often carry fuel.

In this case, because a core tenant is self reliance and being a badass, there technically isn't a sweep because we're we're on heavily traveled roads, and the group is going to be so spread out. The the source son of a bitch is gonna be in sweep. It's gonna be arriving at midnight every night in in the hotel. Now not to say that we're gonna abandon you, but because I don't care if you go off the road, you can call triple a, and they're gonna pull your bike out of the forest. Right?

And then, of course, we're all gonna make fun of you that night. But but but the point is, yeah, there's not really a need for for sweep, in this rally. Now other rallies like the scooter cannonball, not only do they have sweep, they have trucks that are carrying gear for you and things like this. That's also not in the ADV spirit. The the adventure rider spirit is, you know, we're those people at the at the gas station that have more crap on our bikes than we know what to do with.

But, you know, I would like to think that all that gear, is there on purpose because because we are self reliant, and we are we are we we have everything on our on our pack mule. So I think by by having Sweep, it kinda removes that jeopardy of, of saying, well, I'll just wait for Sweep. No. We're on our own, and that's and that's and that's really important that we all we all have that feeling of of being, being on our own or relying on each other. Registration is now open to the public for the next ADV Cannonball rally.

All riders on any motorcycle are welcome to join the adventure. Whether you're looking for an exciting and highly organized coast to coast ride with a group of like minded riders or a friendly competition for Cannonball glory, it doesn't matter. Everyone can participate. Head over to advcannonball.com to secure your rally starting position today. Now back to the podcast.

Yeah. I wanna I wanna back up and make a comment here. You said that this, the sense of camaraderie and people wanna help each other on 2 wheels, but I just wanna say that there were no 2 wheel vehicles in the rally that we did that was in winter in Alaska with ice racing. They were 4 wheel vehicles, none with 6. And I would just wanna say, I was I'd never done a a, an event.

I'd never done a rally like that before we went and did that. And I was so impressed. I mean, people like, we were sucking wind really in the 1st couple days. We hadn't really worked out how to do that. And people, like, at the bar, our competitors, same class, they would sit down and they say, okay.

Look. Here's what we did to get better. And they were really honest about it. They said, we'll keep helping you get better until you beat us, and then we'll stop. And and they remember they were really they were just really honest.

The people in the in that little BMW ahead of us, they were so nice and they were so supportive, and I was just like, wow. That's really cool. And, and they really wanna help. Remember when we when the, was it Cayan? It was, I think car 34.

Cayan ahead of us. It was blasting down a single track. No single. It was a one lane in each direction, and it was just was just white covered in snow up the banks, and it had deep it had deep, gullies or deep, drainage ditches on either side to hold the snow, which were filled with snow. And he tried to pass a lorry, and he ended up in the ditch.

It was just too much snow, and he and he just didn't get around him and he ended up in the ditch. Everybody stopped. We blocked the roads. Got a I mean, we we stopped for, like, 40 minutes, and there was only, you know, 1 or 2 cars that we had actually stopped. And everybody stopped to help.

We all of it well, everyone broke out their kids. They had another Cayenne come out and do a snatch release. What's it called? A dynamic I didn't know. What's it called there?

Dynamic tow. A dynamic tow where he he snatched him out of there. It was so it was like a cop came by, and he was in his big truck with all of his tow gear, and he's like, look. Looks like you guys got this covered. I'll see you later.

He just kept hanging on warm truck. He he was he didn't even stop. Yeah. And, you know, and sorry. It's just a Taylor.

We're gonna we're gonna riff here for a second. It's like and, like, isn't that the point of when someone goes off the road, it's like, I can finally use all this crap I've been carrying around for 8,000 miles. Right? And, like, it's like someone's off the road. Everyone everyone jump into action.

Right? Yeah. Finally. We got some really great video. Everyone's got their cameras out, you know, just in case.

Right. Right. Yeah. It's and then and then the fun thing is at the bar that night, first of all, that person and they all had radios. So then first of all, then as soon as that was done, he got on the radio and he was like, thank you guys so much for your support.

It was really nice to see you guys all come to my assistance. And then, of course, that night, we just gave him a relentless amount of crap. So and then the whole time, I could never let up. And, anyway but it was so and it was all it was all in good sportsmanship, and he was so appreciative for that. Yeah.

Okay. So I got a couple more questions that kinda popped up on me. For 1, we're talking about communications. Is is everybody gonna be required to have any type of, communication in their helmets? Or I mean, I know everyone's gonna have a cell phone for for and and or a GPS for, tracking themselves.

But, like, what happens when you're in an area that doesn't have cell phone reception? Are you gonna be able to track is your phone gonna track you? How does that work? Yeah. So there's 2 important 2 important separations there.

We'll we'll we'll call it tracking, community tracking, and we'll call it scoring. I'm gonna leave the scoring one separate for a minute, but let's just we're gonna answer what's called tracking. So you have each competitor must be a part of the Spot Walla tracking page, and there are 2 ways of being connected to that public tracking page. The ideal way, albeit the most expensive way, is by using a Garmin inReach. So everyone knows what a Garmin inReach is, but there's a way of taking that data and connecting it to the ADV Cannonball spot wallet tracking page.

So that's the best way. So anyone can log on, and we can see in relative real time where everyone is. The second way of doing that is by using a free app that, installs on your Ios or Android phone and that accomplishes the same, the the same task. Unfortunately, it doesn't if you are out of cell phone range, which is very rare in this particular route, it will buffer it, and the next time it it connects to a cell tower, it will, it will update with the buffered information. So that serves 2 important purposes.

The first one is obviously safety. You know, where is Brian? He's not here. We'll all we'll all Yeah. We'll all go look, and he he's either at the local saloon, or or or he's, he's just disappeared.

And and because he started with a story. He started with a story. He started with a story. He started with a story. He started with a story.

But, you know, so the and it also serves another purpose of, you know, it's never happened, but if there ever is a a dispute about, scoring and waypoints, and timing, it is a backup, albeit not so accurate, but it is a a broad stroke backup to our highly technical, tracking system. So those are the 2, the 2 ways you can connect to that, and those are the, the two reasons why it's part of the regs. And we are we are firm about, people being being a part of that. You cannot start the rally unless you are connected to that. And there's a free way of doing it, so it's not like a a major inconvenience.

Plus it's fun. You know, there are a bunch of rallies that we follow all around the world and all of our significant others and friends and family, we call them tracker junkies. So it's something fun people to have on their phones and throughout the week, You know, family members and friends can see can see where you are and and, there's actually ways of uploading pictures to that. So it's a it's a fun it's a fun tool as well. So why not why not be safe and, and, have some fun while while you're while you're being safe?

And what about, communication local communication? Like, is there anybody that use Sorry. SENA headsets or something? That's a bunch of questions there. Sorry.

I would love if we had an official sponsor. So if Sena's listening, I know everyone's a whole world of this. Anyways Yeah. Of course. Yeah.

There's there's there's no hard and fast rules for all of us. No pressure. No pressure. There's no there's no hard or fast regulation because it kind of goes against the the core tenant being self reliant. However, we always find that there'll always be a group with Sena headsets or Cardo headsets, and people are usually and I think all 3 of us can speak to, we always just leave our headsets on the on the default frequency because whenever you ride through a place, hey, man.

What's happening? Or I think Brian one time I you and I were riding. Brian and I had finished the Idaho Backcountry Discover route this, this fall. That's right. And, we went up to Canada and we went through Leavenworth and we were riding down.

We're just at the end and we were riding riding along. We were we were being quiet for a minute, which was which was odd because, you know, I don't Rare. I don't That's rare. Yeah. That's rare.

I don't I don't yammer at all. And, these 2 guys were coming. He goes, look at those 2 fat bastards on those GSs. And I'm like, yeah. He's accurate.

Whatever. So Did you did you respond? No. For your lips. No.

I did. Like, I resemble that comment. Yeah. Resemple that comment. Oh my god.

Hey. We did we had another time when we were at Moab. Remember, we were we heard those guys that were on the UTVs up on the up on the ridgeline, and we were down on the down on the, the 2 lane down along the river, and they were chatting at us, like, what they were doing, what we were doing. It's pretty neat. And then and then when, and then when Taylor and I were, in Norway this spring, internationally, it's fun because you start you start hearing a far off voice in in German yet yelling, I'm like, oh my goodness.

What is going on here? Right? So it's always it's always fun to to have that. Yeah. It was really funny.

They were, they, it was a German. We were, I guess in the ski area, we're up near, I guess, Lily hammer. That's fine. And the, they came through and they were going, I guess we were dropping off to go some, I don't know. It seems like you and I were heading to something like Hagerman's pass or something really, really rugged.

They were just, they were on tarmac, and they were just like, woah. And they were and we're like, hey. And they're like, where are you from? Yeah. Yeah.

I could just wave to him. And, actually, I wanna answer more of Brian's question is that inevitably, it's unofficial, but there are always text groups or Whatsapp groups that are always created. We don't have an official buddy system because that's not the nature of a cannonball, but there are always text groups that are created. Also on the Spot Walla, you can leave messages along your track, so several forms of unofficial communication that can be established, but we try to keep it a cannonball is very much a is a is a is a solo adventure, for the people that are, out out in front. So we try to keep it as, less restrictive as possible.

Well, I volunteer to help technology wise for anybody that's gonna be there at the hotels at night. I can I can usually fumble through a lot of their stuff and help them out? Yeah. And you know, it's, it's interesting because I find that to be the biggest barrier entry is the is the technology. And I've removed all of the all the crap I hate about, about TSDs, about, checkpoint rallies that I hate.

I hate checkpoint rallies that you have to take pictures and upload it. And what if the upload didn't work? I lay I hate anything that if you make a small technical error, you're kind of you've lost that scoring opportunity. Like, I hate that. It should be it should be effortless.

Like, if you made it there, that's that's the barrier to the checkpoint, not if you know how to use your thumb correctly on a phone or if your phone worked correctly. It's funny. I've I've been having an ongoing conversation with the people from Revver. Revver is a great motorcycle app, and we're very close to to to coming to an agreement and really streamlining everything. So So it's not an official announcement yet.

We're getting close. I need to test it, but we're very close to using an app like Revver that the route and the checkpoints are on one app. You can see where everyone else is, and you simply ride through the checkpoint, and the scoring is all is all public. So we're very close to making it even easier. But if that doesn't happen this year, we we we have our our all of our established apps, and and it is relatively easy.

And with someone like you, Brian, who's helping out, which is always the way. Everyone knows that Brian in the corner who's, you know, sipping on his coffee, go see him to help you with this app. Or so and so over there is really good with Spot Walla. He'll show you how to post a picture because your wife wants to know what checkpoint you're at. So there's always, there's always people helping each other.

And, more to that point of helping each other, on the first day on rally check-in, we have a ballroom, that everyone can kinda hang out in and help each other. And then the 1st day, day 1, at that hotel, we have a private banquet breakfast. So we're all in a room together. So there's announcements, and if someone has a problem, they can put up their hands. So I've made every effort, at the beginning, to have as much community help as possible in addition to the practice routes that are set up on day 0 and day negative 1.

If you come to the hotel early and spend an extra day, I have practice routes set up. So there's no excuse if, if you have a technology, issue, that you can't work that out. There is no excuse for not working it out, on day 0 or day negative 1. Very good. Very good.

Yeah. It's a good point. So Go ahead. Go ahead, Brian. I was gonna say I'm I plan on bringing my my STARLINK mini, strapping it to the back of my bike, so I'll be a I'll be a roving, hot spot if you need me.

You you know, it's great because, actually, I wanna ask you. Are you planning on doing some of the, off payment options or not? Yeah. Yeah. I do.

I do. You are? Okay. Okay. Definitely.

I'll definitely give it a shot for sure. I don't think I'm gonna be the I'm, o I'm not going over over it was a Ofer's pass or whatever. Nothing like that. Right. But, Well well, it's funny because, you know, there's a whole other podcast about this, so I'm gonna take a bit of risk here.

You know, the first rule of being a lawyer is never ask a question that you don't know the answer to, but, you know, you and I have done a lot out there. Yeah. You and I have done a lot of Backcountry Recovery Us together, and I have some some opinions on that that I'm kinda, you know, working on trying to, you know, to voice correctly. And you've done some, some of my rallies. And, you know, a guy who rides a GS like me, like, I really curate a GS route as a GS route, not as a ADV route or an off road route.

I really make a GS route. So all of the off pavement, routing that we did in Moab and we did in Colorado, for instance, in 2023, really was catered for GS. We never really have a feeling of I shouldn't be here. This is a bit too big. But the off road sections, there's always a point.

Right? It drives me crazy, and I don't understand why people do this where they take an off road pass or an off road, route for the sake of going off road, like this is a, like, this is a boring forest road, like what are we doing here, right, like this road is made of marbles, there's nothing to see, there's no point to this so whether it's cannonball or something that I that I plan each off pavement pass is because there's an awesome vantage point or this is a pass that shaves off you know a 100 boring miles and by the way it's really interesting. So I I always make a point of whether it's cannonball at cannibal or or not to make a off pavement section, not just for the not just for the sake of of being off road and that's really been my feeling and a lot of the, BDRs the last few times we've been on them is that it seems to me, to be the purpose of it is to say that you went off road or you went from a to b off road. And I felt the last few BDRs weren't really that epic.

They weren't, that pass wasn't wasn't purposeful to to be to be, off off pavement. It was more just to say that you did it. I'm not putting it down. I'm just saying that, I'm starting to, you know, start starting to lose my luster to wanna do my next EDR is all I'm saying. Do you do you do you have an opinion on that, Brian?

Yeah. I I agree. You know, the last one we just did, which was the Idaho, we we were dodging forest fires, and then there was a couple passes that were just man, they just would there was no way that I was getting up with a 1200 GS 900 pound bike with gear. And I actually just went around because it's just just you know, I'd rather not take that, that ride out on an ambulance or helicopter, as opposed to just taking the long way around. But if you're saying that it it's these routes are or these off road bypasses or or nice routes are are kinda designed for GS, then absolutely.

I'll do them. And I I I will travel with somebody, you know, at least 1 or 2 other other riders that have similar riding capabilities like myself. But, yeah, I I agree. Some sometimes it can be a little too much, and you can get, what's the word I'm looking for? You don't wanna be too brave where you say, hey.

I can do this, and then, you know, you're getting pulled out. And and that's not that's not that's not fun. Once it's not fun anymore, then then I'm not doing it. Yeah. Once it goes Yeah.

Good point. Once once it goes code brown, it's over. Right? Code brown. Captain's making the brown pass.

Do you remember when we did the Washington BDR and we were almost to the end? It was, like, the last section, And there was one section that we we decided just to go around because it was raining, and these 3 guys and GS's were like, oh, yeah. We're gonna go do it because we saw them the night before. Mhmm. And then we just just have we happened to go the with the workaround, and then we saw ambulances head in that direction.

We we met up with 1 of the guys. They're like, yeah. We're waiting here to bring the, the ambulance in because one of the guys, crashed his GS, and he had to be, you know, lifted out. And Yeah. Man.

That's actually a really great story. Wow. Yeah. I think I remember giving you a hard time because you wanted to go around, and I and I wanted to be what's known as a dumbass. And, and thankfully thankfully, we went, we went with your advice, and it was great because we we just went to a saloon.

But I remember specifically, that whole story, and it's worth a minute and a half, aside is because we were texting with them, and they were feeling a little bit apprehensive about it. And I said, well, here here's our number if something goes amiss. So we were at the pub, which is shocking. I know. And they were texting with me, and they were like, yeah.

We've had a bad crash, and we have activated our SOS on our Garmin. We've been in communication with with the, with dispatch. Yeah. And it's an interesting story. So everyone thinks that, like, you know, a guy is coming with a Blackhawk, but having having been in this environment a few times throughout my life, what actually happens is they just find the low the local search and rescue group, the a group of volunteers.

So what actually ended up happening to them was a group hiked in. So they had to wait several hours, and a group hiked in. They backboarded the guy out. They have a special backboard with a with a with a unicycle tire, about midships on that, and they wheel you out, which is a a terrible experience. And then, thankfully yeah.

And then I had volunteered to double back and ride that bike out if they had no alternative. But, thankfully, one of the rescuers was a badass, and he rode that bike bike out. So, so getting into trouble and pressing that that that bright red button, you know, activates a bunch of people. There's a bunch of cost involved, and it's not it's not easy. There's no helicopter coming to get you unless indeed there's no other option, and then that gets really expensive at at that point.

You're taking resources from from maybe, let's say, a traffic accident or something that that happened. So don't don't take pressing that that that button lightly, and and it is not a magic, you know, here here comes the Blackhawk. It's not a 911 where your response time is normally 3 to 5 minutes in an ambulance. It's it's it could be 3 to 5 to 12 hours before someone actually gets to you. I remember that guy actually broke his collarbone.

He he flipped the GS on top of himself, and he broke his collarbone. I do remember that. It was pretty painful. Yeah. Since you're on the topic of, of of accidents, when you and I were in Norway, you don't even need to go off road.

You and I were in Norway, and we were on those twisties down by the actually, on the mountain passes by the lake zone, and, we went by one area. I think it was the area where you've got a picture of being with all the sheep. Right? And the sheep are across the road. It was time to bring in the sheep in from the yeah.

And we went around one turn, Super windy. I remember there was, like, I don't know, 50, 60 knots of wind on us. And we just, like, you could just lean the bike into it. And then when the bump would come off, you'd have to you'd have to straighten steer back into it. But I remember we went around one turn at the bottom and there was a, Harley Davidson Pan America that was laying there with and the people had just kinda pushed all the parts over to the like, the windshield was sitting on the seat, and they kinda pushed all the parts over to it, but the dude was gone or the, you know, guy whoever the rider or riders were, they were gone, but the bike was just stuck there on the side of it.

That. We're like, I guess someone's coming back for that. Yeah. We were like, oh, I'll keep going. Right?

Yeah. We had we had the patch at Berry, and it and Yeah. I the bike was upright, and the parts were kind of around it. So it wasn't like it was barren. Right?

So you could tell if someone was in a ditch. But, clearly, the bike had been put upright, and the emergency people had taken whoever this this poor son of a bitch was away. And, yeah, you make a you make a really good point. You know, crap can happen anywhere. It doesn't it doesn't have to be, on baby head hill.

It could be it it could be anywhere. Here's the interesting statistics. As I said, when I did my my motorcycle license in Sweden, they make you learn all the statistics about about accidents. And the most common, the most common cause of fatality on motorcycles, at least here in Sweden, is a single rider, single vehicle accident failure to negotiate the turn, and it's usually in a 50 mile Yeah. 50 mile an hour 50 mile an hour, and that's it.

And, you know, the bikes and and that's what the one of the things really stress is that as soon as you come to an off ramp, you need to actually do a visual check on your Speedo to make sure you're doing at least close to what the recommended speed is for that turn, because quite often you get you know? Some people go too fast on their bikes. I'm just saying there. And, I know that. I was safe because I was in the back, and I could see that orange bright helmet from 4 miles away.

And if it was upright, I knew it was so safe. Yeah. Like, it's a orange helmet. Safety helmet. Yeah.

Anyway From which I wanna move this along real quick. I wanna there there is a question I did have about, awards banquet. Does isn't there something, like, at the end, we're doing something at Listen, Brian. I had I had 15 minutes about trail breaking. You just ruined it.

I'm gonna have to save that for another another episode. You know? Yeah. So so there's 2 two really cool things along along this route. Halfway through in New Mexico, I've really broke the bank, and we're booked into, forget the name of the hotel.

It's like Thunder Road or something, hotel and casino. That's gonna be a great a great night. And the next day is amazing riding. So you're gonna be stuck between, do I really enjoy this night or really enjoy the riding tomorrow? So, anyways, there's that event, and then, at the end, we're at the actual finish line for all cannonballs at the Portofino Hotel in Marino sorry, Marina.

And, we have a banquet booked starting at 6 PM, that that evening. We have some parking reserved, which will be fun. We're gonna take pictures at the finish line. I encourage everyone to get a hotel room at the Portofino Hotel, and, we have a proper banquet. So awards will be handed out.

Not everyone will leave with their awards. I'll have to mail mail some of them to people, but, the overall winner will get the award. You guys can pose with the, the brand new perpetual trophy. We have a giant, you know, cup that each year, the or the overall winner's name will be embossed on on that on that big cup, so that's that's pretty exciting. And, yeah, well Stanley Cup?

Yeah. Because we'll be the frank owner this year. Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah.

So that's gonna be a a great a great night as well. Cool. So let me ask you. Is there gonna be a delayed start the next day because, because, you know, of the big night out the night before? No.

That's it. So the the very last day, the very last day of the rally is a very short day, and there's always time to go collect yourself, probably take the first shower you've had in days, fix all the stuff on your bike, arrange arrange how you're getting home, and stuff like that. So, so, yeah, so that that very last day, will be a short day on the road. You come to the finish line. Everyone has a few hours to to get themselves put back together or explore the area.

It's a really interesting area to, to ride around. And then we all meet at 6 PM for the banquet, and then everyone is on their own, as of, that that night's conclusion. So just to be clear, when you say they're on their own, that means so the rally, the entrance fee does not include that night in the hotel, which is why you recommend people stay there and then book it. When they book this rally, they should also book that additional that that additional night in the was it Portofino Hotel and and Marina? Yeah.

Is that the one of the the Redondo Beach 1? Yeah. Yeah. That's the famous that has the monument, the cannonball the cannonball monument on it, and, they've been, they've been great with us. They have, they have some parking, set aside for us.

We'll have, we'll have the photographer there taking pictures as people arrive, so, if everyone can arrive on time, that'd be great. Are you gonna have some security on the bikes at night? That's a great question. So I haven't sent out this month's newsletter, but because we have the new Sprinter van, which I'm pretty excited about, One of the things that I was always concerned about and is sometimes an issue even with 4 wheel, you know, rallies is, you know, craps getting stolen, especially the motorcycle. You're worried about your motorcycle getting stolen.

So Yeah. What we've come up with, and we're gonna have this tradition every year, is that if you park next to the Sprinter van, and it's unmistakable. It's the biggest Sprinter van in the world. If you park next to the rally rally master sprint sprinter van, someone will sleep in the sprinter van because it's set up half like, like RV, and we will put a security device through all of the bikes. And if anyone messes with that security device, an alarm, alarm goes off, and they're met with overwhelming force not to mess with everyone's bikes.

So Nice. Delicatively played. Yeah. So I I I lose sleep over security. I'm sure everyone else does.

So we've come up with this solution, and so some some sorry SOB is gonna be stuck in the van, but, everyone will will obviously buy that person a round of drinks at the awards banquet, for doing that important task. Not every night. It's always passed out. No. Not every night.

No. Otherwise, it's not very effective. Did my volunteers pass out in the van tonight? Yeah. Here's your 12 pack of beer and a, you know, in a flashlight.

You know? No. I don't think so. Ocho cervezas, papa more. Yeah.

Yeah. That's very good. Alright. Well, that that's those are the questions I think I had. I I appreciate you clarifying a lot of that.

That it's a lot to swallow right away here. No. And I think, you know what? Let's let's do this again another time. So there's lots to talk about.

There's lots to talk about how the timing works. There's, there's talk about, you know, what what what you do when you arrive at the hotel, how the check-in process works. You know, I don't wanna go on and on about it. People are tuning out. But, but, yeah, there's, there's plenty, there's plenty of, you know, the actual how how the rally operates talk to be to be had in our in our future.

So just a just a quick question here. So it's about 2,000 was it 2,700 or 2,800 miles? Mhmm. And it's it's a 7 day it's 7 days of riding. Correct?

Or I think it's 8. Yeah. 8 days. 8 days. 8 8 days of riding.

Okay. So that's under 400 miles a day. Yeah. So I always stress this point. So whenever we go to another rally and we have our display set up, we talk to people, the most common question is how many miles a day.

And I answer the question, it's not about how many miles a day, it's about how many hours a day. So one of the challenges in this rally is because there's some desert riding to be had through through New Mexico and through California, we really put it to the end end of the season for climate, for climate purposes, but that reduces the amount of, daylight hours. So we have about 12 hours of daylight each day. So rest assured that you will start, you know, at, you know, at, civil twilight ish, and then you will ride and you should make it to the hotel before sunset. We really don't want people out there, after dark.

It's kind of my as I get older, it's kind of my golden rule about about riding unless, well, unless, like, the last rally in Baja. I rode till 1 o'clock in the morning, but that's another story. But I, you know, I really hate that. So many bad things can happen. So to answer your question, you're gonna ride all all day.

The front runners are obviously gonna gonna gonna get to the hotel early, but plan on riding all day. Alright. Fair enough. But you can always just bail out and just put your quickest way point to the hotel and go if you really really get tired. Right?

Yeah. Good point. Yeah. That's that's true. So in the daily rally posting the notes, sorry, the notice, for that day, they'll always be the, the address, the hotel, and you can always just say, right.

It's raining cats and dogs. I'm done with today anyways and I'm gonna and I'm gonna go direct to the hotel. I would encourage you not to wimp out and do that, unless you've really had enough because you're gonna miss out on the waypoint crusher, award, and I really hope everyone gets that gets that award. I would be disappointed, if if if they didn't. Everyone will also get a finisher award.

So, you know, it's not as glamorous as the other ones, but if you even just make it to the end, I think that's an achievement, that, requires some sort of recognition. So, at minimum, finish finish the rally. But if you can do all the waypoints, you know, try to. Yeah. Absolutely.

I remember in the Alcan, that was a, I think it was the first the first rally that they had done in many years when every car actually finished. Right. Right. Remember that? They were like, yeah.

Everybody finished. It's amazing. Out of 40 cars, everybody finished. It's like, woo hoo. Yeah.

And there's been years where cars have rolled over, and, you know, they've got all the winches, and they've they've put it upright, and they kicked the windshield out, and they're like, I'm still going. So people always have that spirit of we're not giving up. And I I really like these long distance rallies for that spirit. You know? It's not the kind of rally where you go to an empty field and, like, you need to leave because the middle of day is too hot and there's no shade, and it's like, what what am I doing here?

Like, those those aren't fun rallies to me. And, that seems to be the way of almost all ADV rallies in this space are those kind of rallies. And I just love the mission based, sense of achievement you get from a long distance rally. And even though you don't win, who cares? You there's a a major sense and rightfully so of accomplishment if you just make it to the end.

You know, you've prepared your bike correctly. You've you've always gone through some weather. That's always the way, whether it's a snowstorm in our in our case, probably rain or something or or, you know, heat or sun in your face. Yeah. There's always some adversity that we wear as a badge of honor in a cannonball or any other kind of long distance rally.

And there's a finite amount of time. You can't take the day off. You gotta be the next hotel. So I I think I think it is a badge of honor, and I think it is an achievement if you even finish, a, cannonball. Yeah.

It's it's I there's still a lot of Are you guys gonna put any decals on the bike so we can recognize people, or how how how are we gonna identify each other on the road? So we call that livery, like rally livery, and that's actually part of the, regulations is that, you know, put on a minimum usually on people's windshield, but we give you a kit. It's a sheet, of stickers essentially with your rally number on it. So if you can put it on all four sides of your bike, that's great. Three sides at a, you know, at a minimum.

But, yeah, not only is it cool to recognize your fellow riders, it helps us as we have marshals out on the course or at the finish line. We can see you coming. Right? So, it's yeah. It's important to, to have that livery on the bike and that's part of the rally check-in process.

So when you come to, the rally check-in, someone will go out with you to your bike and just make sure that you have the rally livery displayed. Plus, we'll also check your VIN number. You know, not that people are cheating, but you have the only rule I have with the bike is I don't care if you show up with a bagger or a c 125. I I don't care. Right?

I think it's cool that people show up with bizarre things. Right now, it's all the usual suspects. Right? It's big g s's, you know, I think there's 1650, but the only rule is yeah. Exactly.

You have to finish with the same frame. Right? So I would love a story where someone has, you know, done some major work and you finished. Right? But you have to finish with the same bike that you that you left with.

I I don't want a a rich guy showing up with a trailer and 4 bikes. You know? This is not sportsmanlike. Right? It it will it will not be allowed.

You have to start and finish with the same bike. Yeah. Fair enough. Very cool. Fair enough.

I I just wanted to throw something in there. You mentioned, there won't be a sweep, and part of it has to do with the fact that it's it's it's, part of the the ADV aspect of it, ADV cannonball, and that you need to be self sufficient. And it reminded me, you said, you know, sometimes the sweeps you're getting the sweep can't get in into the last car. And I remember at the beginning of the Alcan, the sweeps actually got mad at us, and they're like, you guys are keeping us away from the bar. You're like, you're really killing our bar time.

Like, you need to get on the gas and get up to get up to the get up to the hotel. You know, you know, it's funny because we had the supercharged FJ on that on that rally. In that specific day, just so, you know, I gotta I gotta reclaim a a bit of bit of boasting boasting rights here is we loved, especially during the transit stages, to make sure we made it up front and rolled with the rolled with the fast people. That was, you know, most of the fun when the pressure was off through a special stage that the transit stages were just as much fun. But there was one day where it was on the bleeding edge of that FJ's fuel range, and we had worked out by that day what the fuel range was according to the speed, to the surface conditions, to what if it was a 4 wheel drive or not.

And we knew we had to do, like, 55 miles an hour down this road for, like, 3 hours. And I'm like, I am not getting out and putting that Jerry Cannon. It is negative 35 out there. And and that was the reason why we were going so slow is we just didn't wanna get out and refuel, you know, in the middle of a blizzard, at negative 35. So most of the time, we were we were definitely kicking it down, but that particular day, we were going slow and got reprimanded for it.

I think we were called don't be that guy. Yeah. I'm like, dude, I don't wanna get out and put fuel in. And then he actually said to me is that they carried an extra few gallons in the back of their pickup truck, which was easily accessible. And I'm like, if you let me use your fuel can, I'll go 90 miles an hour.

I don't care. But, because you you can have my fuel. Just get going. So we came we came Just get going. To an agreement that we would we would go as fast as we could as long as we had access to the fuel and not and not my fuel strapped to my roof, which was a pain in the ass.

That brings a that brings a question here. What is well, I don't know if you know an answer to this yet, but, you know, obviously, we're all going on on bigger bikes. But is there a a stretch where there's gonna be maybe 250 miles without any fuel, or is there gonna be Mhmm. Kinda 100 mile, you know, links? Or how how is that gonna work?

Yeah. You know, in the spirit of an ADV cannonball, you're gonna have to answer that question for yourself. So, Okay. So there's not gonna be handholding here. Right?

So the route is up there. I can't see the route changing anymore. It's changed a couple of times according to hotel availability and and and and so on and so forth. So that is entirely, your problem. So, figure it out.

Gotcha. But, also, you know, you know, we all know, like like, I I I run a GSA for a reason. You know? But I also can't tell you where to stop because if someone is is is, let's say, riding at a higher RPM throughout the day, they're gonna burn more fuel. Like, I I can get as little as 200 and something miles per tank on my GSA, or I can get as as much as over 350 depending on what my average speed is.

Right? So I definitely don't wanna get into the weenie conversation. Well, technically, it's a 100 you know, like, you just figure it out. Yeah. You figure it out.

That's cool. That's cool. I like that. Yeah. There's a ro is it was it Rotax?

What's the, the tank? What what was the actual tank you had on the Rotax? Roto Roto Rotopak. Roto Pack. Okay.

So I have a, on the on the inside frame. So on the, on the pannier frame of my Tenere 700, I've got that Roto Pack kit that can go in. I think it's an extra gallon, 4 liters. Yeah. So I think it's an extra gallon or more that I can put in there.

So, that's consideration as to whether or not that comes or at least, you know, because you don't wanna carry that weight unless you actually have have to. I might get one of those MSR can can Yeah. Jugs. I might carry one of those. I think it's funny that when Taylor and I ride together, and he's on his Tenere and I'm on the GSA, it is a 3 to 1 fueling ratio.

See, he has the fuel. On his every 3rd tank, I fuel. No. I don't need it. I don't like it.

It's, man. I'm good. I mean, like, I'll be over here with a, With the toaster. I've got yeah. Exactly.

I got I got I got 16 liters. Wow. Very good. Yeah. Alright.

Any, any should we take a break and then come back and then, we'll talk about some cannibal news? We forgot to take a break. Roll the commercial. Ladies and gentlemen, could I please have your attention? I've just been handed an urgent and horrifying news story, And I need all of you to stop what you're doing and listen.

Cannonball. Hey, Cannonballers. Thanks for subscribing to our podcast. We appreciate it. If you're not a cheap Canadian and want to buy us a coffee, head on over to buy me a coffee dot com, or better yet, buy us a case of sweet ass craft IPA.

We'll visit on patreon.com. Links are in the show notes. Now back to the riveting podcast in progress. And we are back. So, Aaron, in the first part of this, you and Brian, Brian, great questions.

And, Aaron, thanks for taking the time to answer these questions about what it looks like on a a day in, day out, as we do the as we do the rally. So what I'd like to do right now is, first of all, I wanna say that in the upcoming podcast, there's a lot more technical detail that can be covered about this. So, for example, stand alone device for scoring, how that works, the difference between a GPS and a GPX, things like that. So there's a really there's a lot of information that come forth because, again, you do need to have some understanding of this. And, and we also thank you, Brian, for volunteering to be an assistant for people, say, if they needed, help getting their things set up, you can help them as well.

It's really nice. So we'll do an entire podcast about the technical aspects of that, in which we'll all be here, and we'll, we'll cover a detailed list of those things. Yeah. And more just to put people's minds at ease because it sounds technical, but it's really not. Like, if you know how to operate your your phone to go to the nearest Starbucks, you can navigate in the ADV cannonball.

But you just need to, to be prepared for it, but it is it is easy and accessible and not overly technical. Okay. Well, that's good. That's that's reassuring. That's nice.

And, and with that, maybe we could, hand it over to you, Aaron. You can give us a bit of a background on Cannonball News. Yeah. So I am still taking people's contributions to the ADV Cannonball Spotify playlist. At the end, you'll hear our email address.

So just email me if you have any contributions to that playlist, which is which is fun. I also bought a, set of ramps for the, Sprinter van. So we're really gearing up to be able to ship motorcycles to and from, the rally. And, also, we'll be offering some shipping services even though the rally isn't, isn't running. So the ramps are are super awesome.

£1500 capacity. So I'm pretty, pretty excited about that. That's nice. Yeah. So we're gonna cover a bit more detail on that.

I guess once the van is built out, and, we can talk more about that actual service. So if people do want to get their bikes to or from this particular rally, we can actually discuss that in a bit more detail down the road. Yeah. Let's do that. Yeah.

That's a that's a whole conversation. We're pretty excited to make to make that announcement as well. I suppose let's talk about new sign ups. Let's, let's get over there. So we have Randy.

Randy's from Scottsdale, Arizona, and he is riding the the best bike in the world, a 12 50 GSA. Not that my opinion's biased. 1300 is that better yet? You know, it's funny. Like, the 1300 is is demonstrably better.

Okay. I get that. Right? But, you know, I really like my bike, and I don't think a 1300 GSA, apples to apples. If I sold mine today, I'm probably only gonna get well, I just sold one of mine, and I got, I think, 13,000 for that one.

But that was that was the one I used to ship around to different events. But the one that I have now is is is the newer one. And even with, like, 50,000 miles on it, you know, I'm only gonna get, what, 14, $15,000 for it. So is the 1300 $15,000 more gooder Yeah. Than my 12.50?

Right? Plus And when I get a $15,000 value out of it above and beyond yours, I don't know about that. No. Of course not. There's no one that can say that.

Right? I'm only riding my bike 50% of of its of its capability. You know, let's let's be honest. Right? I've I've only had a couple of scotches.

I haven't had enough to pretend that I that I'm gonna enter the car. Right? Yeah. Fair enough. But, yeah.

So but if someone were to ask my opinion and I have this giant bag of money and I'm buying a new bike, well, if you have a giant bag of money, yeah, go go buy a 1300 GSA. If you want something that is a great bigger ADV bike, get whatever bike you can afford. Like, it's it it doesn't matter. Like, you have a 1200, I have a 12 50. It doesn't matter.

They're both they're both fantastic. Right? So yeah. So that's kind of my that's kind of my, my my opinion on that. And, anyways, we have, speaking of, of smaller bikes, this is someone's alias.

It's Christopher North. Obviously, it's an alias. He's from Lincoln, Nebraska. Kudos to Christopher North for the cool alias. Nice.

And he is on a, DR 650 SE. So a Doctor 650 is the smallest bike in the rally, and I'm excited to to see how he does. And you know what? It'll warm my heart if he kicks everyone's ass on a 650, and everyone's sitting around with their with their VGSs. It'll warm my heart.

Nice. I used to have a bike like that, so my my money's on that guy. Yeah. Exactly. And everyone loves an underdog.

Right? Yeah. So and then we have, John. John's from Tuttle Tuttle, Oklahoma, and he is well, here's an interesting interesting, interesting choices he has. He has a 1200 GS.

He also has a 12 50 RT, and, Taylor, you rode an RT 1 year in Colorado. It's a sport touring bike. Yeah. It's the same frame as the GS. Right?

Except different fairing? It's it yeah. The geometry is the same. The engine is the same. Everything is the same except for the, you know, the fairing.

Obviously, someone will email me very angrily later and explain that it's different, but, basically, it's the it's the same it's the same bike. And, actually, I wanted to thank the the boys at, sport touring magazine. They published an article about the Cannonball, and, I wanted to say, thank you to them for giving us that ink. It is, it is much appreciated. They say there's no such thing as bad advertising.

Well, no one's being mean to us yet, but we'll see. Yeah. You know, that's like that's like the people we're competing with against before. They were like, hey. We're gonna help you right up until you beat us, and then we're gonna stop.

Right? So this so Yeah. We're we're not threatening anyone here. No. Not exactly.

Yeah. And that's all the, all the news that I have for you today. Fantastic. Alright. Well, I just wanna take a moment to say thank you both very much for making time.

It's always nice to have an opportunity just to hang out and chat with friends about motorcycles. So, thanks again for another great episode and have a great evening. Alright. Thanks, Taylor. Thanks very much.

And roll the outro. Thanks for listening to the ADV Cannonball podcast. Please give us a 5 star review on your preferred podcast platform. That really helps us with the algorithm gods. All hail the algorithm gods.

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Keep your right hand cranked and your feet on the banks.