Scooter Cannonball Rally talk with David Bednarski - Taylor's UK Trip Recap - ADV Cannonball News

Taylor and Aaron discuss motorcycles, with Taylor summarizing his recent trip to the UK. Aaron also shares some updates about ADV Cannonball. Later, Aaron and David Bednarski have an in-depth conversation about the Scooter Cannonball Rally set for 2025, including its history and significance.

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Transcript

Welcome to the ADV Cannonball podcast where we discuss all things on two wheels, the adventure bike cannonball, and other motorcycle related nonsense. Season two, episode eight. Welcome to Adventure Cannonball podcast. My name is Taylor Lawson. I am your host, and I am joined by Aaron Pufal.

Hey, Taylor. What's going on over there? I have to say, man, we are getting we are getting some warm weather. Today was, twelve. What did I make it?

Near 50 here today with sunny skies. Supposed to be a nice weekend, but, yeah, I like a little snow next week. But, you know, at least we got a little teaser. Fair enough. Fair enough.

We have a atmospheric river on the way to Seattle, so it's gonna come on Saturday morning right when the weekend starts, and everyone's gonna have to, keep the motorcycles away for another week. No. Atmospheric river meaning it's just gonna dump on you for the entire weekend. Mhmm. It's a meteorological event when it's kind of a cyclonic rotation off the Pacific, and it gathers moisture and just comes and takes a big poop right on Seattle.

It's really it's really fantastic. Yeah. Facetiously, obviously. There's the joke about the people in Seattle. They don't age.

They just rust. Oh my goodness. Well, listen. I I know that you came from, the foggy city, from The UK. So why don't you tell us a bit about that?

Oh, yeah. I was in London last week, the family with the family, and, it was really fantastic, actually. We had really, really chilly weather, but with chilly weather, we had blue skies the entire week. We had day one, we had a little cloud, a little bit of rain when we landed, and then we were there for seven days, six nights, and it was sunny and gorgeous, but cold. It was colder in in England than it was in Sweden during that week, so but it was amazing.

Nice. I forgot to tell you. In, in celebration of the dark and stormy weather, I got me a a dark and stormy. I got some, Gosling spice rum and some, ginger beer on the go here. What about you?

That sounds that's something a little I have to say I'm a little bit in the, little bit of envy going on there. But, I have, I got a little bit of a little white wine going on here. I know it's it's just what I had. You know? Sometimes I just go through it.

You gotta get what's in the fridge sometimes. I guess, Shabbat. I gotcha. They say one on a hand is better than two in the fridge. That's right.

Sorry. I distracted you with alcohol. I took you away from The UK. So tell us what you got up to over there. Yeah.

I got up to some, fun family stuff. I think I did, I don't know, 10,000 steps a day, not to mention the, you know, the countless kilometers and miles I did inside the tube system, the metro system in London, which is amazing. Did all kinds of cool stuff. I went to one thing that was really cool. I did some cool motorcycle stuff, but I did a lot of other things that weren't motorcycle related.

But I have to say I didn't get to get on a bike, so that was a bit sad. But I did lots of cool things. There was one thing that I really liked, which was called frameless, and it's like it has it's a it's a building with the big, halls, like a big there's a massive room, like a ballroom. And in there, there's these projectors, and you have, like, pieces like, Matisse, and you've got these, Van Gogh and famous artist pieces where they've taken them and deconstructed them and made the pieces within them. Like, if you have a, you know, a boat in a stormy sea, then they've made it so that the there's a video presentation of this piece of art, and the waves are crusting and crashing, and the boat's moving through the sea.

And you're in this room, and there's music, and it's really like being in the art. It was really cool. Anybody who, it's just it's just North of Hyde Park. I highly recommend if anybody's gonna go there. It's a really cool family experience.

Anyway, there's four or five That's the area that we normally stay in too in Hyde to Hyde Park. We stay at the at the train station. There's a a fantastic room there up in a tower, and, there is a Hilton there as well. Just don't get the room by the stairs. Trust me.

When you have jet lag and you can't sleep, the room by the stairs at the Hilton and Hyde Park, stay away from it. Fair enough. That's the one over in that's the, Knightsbridge is the is the metro stop there, I think. No. It's the big, South Kensington?

No. It's the big train station. The G and W Railway, was founded there. And from there, you can get I think it's Paddington. Yeah.

Paddington Station. There's a you can you can walk to it to to it from there. And That's massive. Yeah. And there's a great hotel in that station.

And, and anyways, it's it's fun. The whole area is great. Yeah. What kind of motorcycle stuff did you get up to? You know, you mentioned tower.

I think that might be a good segue into a water tower that I had a chance to visit. Nice. So back in 2023, you for one of the curated trips that you did in Colorado that you invited me to, You flew in Elspeth Beard, and, and she came in as a guest speaker, and she rode with us, and you put her on a, I guess, a GS 600 or six fifty. And, we did some trips out in Colorado and rode stuff. And, yeah.

Anyway, that was that was the first time I had met her. So I was in there. I was in London. I had texted her previously and then texted her maybe a couple of weeks ago before I went. And then she texted me back when I was there, and she's like, hey.

If you're still in town, I've got some time. Why don't you come down on the tower and check out the water tower? Because it's I mean, it's won it's won awards. It's been in magazines. It's it's pretty famous, actually.

Not as famous as she is. And by the way, Elspeth, for those of you who who don't know her, her book is actually in the, in the web in the webshop. And she is the first British woman to motorcycle around the world, and she did that on a a BMW r 600 slash six, and she did that in 1982 to 1984, back when she was a young lass of 23 years old. Wow. Impressive.

There's there's so many few things that there's so few things out there that you can say you were the first to do it. And we always talk about that, like, with cannonball runs and things like that, and this rarefied air is is getting more and more difficult to attain. So that's really special that you're able to interview here. I think we'll get to that interview probably next week or the week after. Yeah.

It's coming soon. And what's interesting, just to comment about the interview, talk about being first, is that her her in the interview, you'll find that she's like, I didn't do it to be the first anything. She did it to go on a quest to learn about herself, and that was really what was so genuine about it. She's like, a lot of people do things to be first, and and she respects that. And she said, but that's not why I went.

And I was like, that's probably why I made it. It's probably why it was so special. Yeah. And that really comes across in her book. And, actually, it gets overlooked a lot, but her I wanna call it a coffee table book.

Her her book called The Photographs really is a companion, for the novel Lone Rider, and I have both those listed on our main website, advcannonball.com, and we have something called the Motorcycle Book Club, and both those, are recommended there, on that web page. So if you're looking for stuff to read, that and other recommendations is on our main web page. Yeah. Cool. Very good.

And I I had, had just listened to her book again before I went out to, to meet with her, so it was quite, it was quite perfect timing on that. Nice. And then and I and I know I sent you over to, meet one of our other friends. And how did that go in Central Legend? Yeah.

I want to before before I jump over to that, I wanted to mention that when I was actually when I was when I was, sitting and talking with Elspeth, she said, oh, I got an invitation to go out and be part of this this thing. It's this thing in it's this thing in Sweden. I don't I don't know. I can't remember what the name is. It's got a funny name.

And I said, is it Skoog? And she said, well, s s k o g. I said, yeah. She goes, yeah. Yeah.

That's it. And so they invited her to go be part of Skoog. And then we had a chat, and I told her about it. And then the next thing you know is she sent me a text. She goes, alright.

I've accepted. So Nice. That sounds like you're gonna be, you're you're gonna be her personal escort, I think, for the whole whole event. Yeah. I hope so.

Yeah. It'd be nice to ride with her again. And This is great. Last last I heard, they're gonna give her a, I think, Royal the Himalayan, Royal Enfield Himalayan of, four five two, the one that Itchy Boots rode in her series when she was when she was testing that prototype. Nice.

So they're gonna give her one of those I mean, it's become a big event. So they're gonna have Moscomoda, and they're gonna have a bunch of other vendors down there who will basically present their wares, if you will. And it's in it's like a you know, everyone comes back at the same spot every day. So, Royal Enfield will be there. And as I understand that, they're gonna give her a bike to ride while she's there, so that'll be cool.

Yeah. Scug is that classic rally, which is the opposite of our rally's, which is it's one central location. You set up a camp. The food is there, the speakers are there, the the socializing happens in there, and then throughout the day, there are one or more, rides or trainings that people go out and do, but everyone's back before sunset and, being social and and and eating. Yeah.

And I'm I'm really jealous that you're going to that event, but enjoy. Yeah. You know, maybe we'll shoot for you to get out here for the twenty twenty six one. Indeed. We we can all we can all aspire to such high high, high things, but we'll try.

Alright. Sounds good. So as I as I intro'd with that, I said water tower. And, it was really cool because we met in her office and chatted in her office. We actually did the interview in her office, and then afterwards, so so she was sitting there in her in her biker gear.

She was all kitted out, a little bit chilly but sunny and gorgeous, and, she rode her dirt bike there, met me at the train station. She's like, just walk down the road here and grab a cup of coffee, and then, and I'll meet you there. So she she, she met me over there. And, I had two cups of coffee, and she's like, alright. I showed her in this this this office building that used to be the carriage house or used to be the stable for a hotel that was built in the sixteen hundreds.

So really cool piece of history. She she, that was her office in the upstairs of that building. And then, and then we did the interview, and we turned the mics off. And then she's like, you want you wanna see the tower? So I went out there and I got some pictures of the tower as well.

So she went back. It's just a mile away. So she went back and dropped off the bike, and then she picked up the car, came back and collected me and we rode out to the tower. And then later she dropped me at the train station all within, you know, an hour. Fantastic.

Yeah. Super cool. So what I wanna say, sort of segue over to the to the other thing that I got a chance to do was I got a chance to meet and, and interview Jordan Gibbons. So, anyway, initially, you set that meeting up with him, and you were planning to go there, but you couldn't make the trip. So I took that on your behalf.

So I just wanna say you missed one of the coolest man caves ever. Oh, I know. I saw all the pictures. I'm sitting here in my my apartment in Seattle with the goddamn monsoon river heading towards me, and you're cracking beers with this guy in a man cave. It's like, what is going on with my life?

Where where did I go wrong? But I'm happy you were you were able to do that. So thanks for handing that one off to me. Yeah. Sure.

For those of you who don't know Jordan Gibbons, currently, he is the senior communications manager at Norton Motorcycles in The UK. And, but it's interesting because he's got a career. Everything that got him there is sort of in a two wheel interest. So, like, when he was a young guy, he was the, he's a first of all, he is a photographer and a journalist. That's his training and that's his background, and that's really been his his main focus.

And he's been able to parlay it into his hobbies and make a really good career out of it. So his first hobby was riding bicycles, and he used to cover Tour de France. And he was the editor of cycleu cycle.co.uk, which is an online, cycling, magazine for for two wheel pedaling adventures. And, and then he ended up as the the a reporter. He moved his way out through the food chain there, but he was the reporter for MCN.com, which is motorcyclenews.com.

So if you put in Jordan Gibbons, MCN or motorcycle news, you'll see a lot of the content that's up there is actually him. And he did that for about six years, and there's someone who is now, in that place putting out the content. But it was super cool because he got a chance to, you know, flat track a Harley Davidson. So it's like he said, I draw the I drew the short straw, and I and I ended up, having having to be the one that they had to train how to do flat track racing with. Oh, yeah.

Sounds terrible. Yeah. Sure. Yep. But classic classic Englishman, right, being modest and and humble about it.

But meanwhile, I'm like, yeah. That sounds real terrible, buddy. Yeah. It's so bad. But what's really cool is, yeah, he he he's super modest and super humble, and, you can hear that in the interview as well.

But the reason that we really wanted to talk to him was because he just released a book. And as you as you said earlier, like a a coffee table book, but it's a book in photos. And it's 272 pages of, of really large format photos of trips of motorcycle trips. It's over 20 trips that span the globe. They didn't in every continent, it's got a little piece of something.

He didn't do all the trips, but they're he's done a bunch of them, and it tells you who the riders are in there. It gives background. It gives a map. You can actually use the the, the book as sort of a planning. It's like what to carry, tools, what to pack, whether you're staying in hotels, whether you're taking camp, whether you're taking kitchen, those types of things.

So it's a really practical guide. And at the same time, being a practical guide, it's really inspirational to look at the photos and go, I wanna go there. Mhmm. Yeah. It's really rich.

The photography is really good. It's not it's not really how to guide, but it is. It's it's storytelling. It's it's collecting those stories, and that's why I originally put that on on our, motorcycle book club page, just because it is that inspiration, especially this time of year or when you're in the doldrums of winter and you're not you you can't really get out there. And I find all these books and all these people you talk to really serve as a inspiration and a bridge to get you to the spring.

Yeah. Absolutely. And I just just just, again, just, you know, to to make that point, to to drive that point home, that book was the inspiration for you to tell me to go meet with him. So thank you. Yeah.

And hang out in his cool man cave. Yeah. It's really awesome. Thanks for reminding me again. Yeah.

I really appreciate that. I think your motives are are not are not so genuine. But, you know, we're running out of time here because we have a great interview to get to, but I just wanted to mention, a couple of things. The I'm sending out the metal ADV license plates to the Patreon supporters. So thanks very much, for whoever is supporting us on Patreon.

And anyone on Patreon gets early access to these interviews. So we are about four weeks ahead on interviews, and everyone on Patreon gets the interviews themselves without our ramblings, on either side of it. And they're getting those several weeks ahead of time. So thanks very much for everyone who's supporting us on, on Patreon. Absolutely.

Is it a fair statement to say that, they've heard it? I know we have three interviews in the can, one that we're gonna roll right now, and then those two that we just mentioned. Are all of those on? They're all either have dropped or they're scheduled to drop. Because I'm old, I can't remember.

But whenever I edit an interview, I I put it in queue, and it will automatically drop, for people. I try to keep them one week apart. Yeah. Fantastic. Very cool.

Yeah. And then, let me get to a request from Facebook about, ADB cannonball twenty twenty five. Some people are asking about details on scoring. So the ADB cannonball is partially a tour and partially, let's call it a friendly competition. And, the way we take a tour and make it a competition is we call it a checkpoint rally.

So you follow this route every morning, you leave the hotel, and you follow this awesome route, and then you go and collect waypoints. Waypoints are checkpoints, and you ride to them. What I did was in response to these comments is I took some screenshots of the checkpoints on Google Maps and I posted them on the FAQ page of advcannibal.com. So you can physically look at those checkpoints. Now there are three separate kinds of checkpoints.

Every time you get a checkpoint, you will automatically, through our tracking app, collect those points. The person with the most points at, at the end of the rally wins. It's it's it's it's pretty simple. A regular checkpoint on a paved road is 10 points. A regular checkpoint off road is 10 points, and each day we have one or more extreme checkpoints.

Now extreme checkpoints require some effort. You have to navigate to them on your own, perhaps it's at the end of a pier, so you might have to go to a pier, park your motorcycle, walk to it, or perhaps it's at the end of a switchback road that, you know, requires putting an extra 20 miles on, or maybe it's, I don't know, something interesting. Let's just say they're always interesting. So that's an extreme checkpoint and you get 21 points for those. And the final way to score points is whomever makes it first each day to each night's hotel you get 25 bonus points.

And all those details about those checkpoints are on the FAQ page and there are examples of each one of them. So yeah, whoever has the most points wins. Alright. The opposite of golf. In teeth.

In teeth. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So, let's just get to it because we're about twenty minutes, into this already, and our interview is about forty five minutes. So I had the pleasure and I always say I'm not the host of this of this, of this podcast, and, you know, I have the voice of a parakeet.

So, I did my best to, do an interview with David. David is the scooter cannonball rally master and really the caretaker of that legendary event. And the ADV cannonball is is largely modeled after the scooter cannonball and the antique motorcycle cannonball. And he was so nice. Everyone is positive about anything motorsports, and we have an interview with him.

I'm looking forward to going to the start line of the Scooter Cannonball this summer and meeting him and the gang down there in Oregon. Yeah. I have to say that in listening to that interview, he is such a gentleman and he is really forthcoming, and he is very thorough in his answers. And you asked him some pretty technical questions, and he just rolled right through him. So, great interview.

So enjoy. Yeah. Roll the interview. 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. Okay.

We're gonna welcome David. David is the rally master behind the scooter cannonball, and I'd like to welcome you to the podcast. And I'm in Seattle today. And where are you, David? I'm out of Allentown, Pennsylvania, just north of, Philadelphia.

Oh my goodness. So you must be in the the middle of winter also. We are we are in the middle of a, an unusually cold and, snowy wintery winter here in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Yes. Oh my goodness.

And I I'm assuming that there aren't any crazy people with scooters with off road spike tires out there with those little 12 inch wheels. No. Not not too many. I wish we had more scooter riders in this in this region, but definitely not in the winter. You know, there's a there's a guy out there speaking of, winter riding.

He's in Sweden, and he has, I think, a Royal Enfield, but he has deployable skis, and he has spike tires. So there are people out there doing this crazy business, but I think I I share your sentiment, which is in the middle of winter, we'll just stay inside and do podcasts and things like that. Yeah. I I actually commuted in my my Vespa was my primarily primary source of transportation for two winters in my late twenties. It was unintentional, but it can be done.

You know, some hide now snow snowtex tires and, just kinda got lucky with the, with the snow and the the rain that year. But Yeah. The things we do when we're when we're, when we're when our twenties are will not be repeated at our age. That's for sure. Definitely not.

So I have to admit that I signed up for the twenty twenty five Scooter Cannonball, with the intention of, you know, doing field research and trying to, you know, increase my badass credentials. But it conflicted with the twenty twenty five tour tech rally out west here, and the ADV cannonball has a booth there. So I have to admit that I signed up, and then I I I promise you I didn't chicken out. I just, I I had that conflict. Yeah.

A lot of conflicts. I mean, we're we're four months out tomorrow from the start of our event, and I I have a on my list to do list this weekend is to send out that first kinda thumbs up down, yes, no, maybe email to the 325 people that are signed up for this year. So very curious to see, you know, where we're at, you know, this time, kinda going into it versus last time about four months out and to see what that final turnout is in June. Yeah. You've had a big growth spurt, so maybe you can, tell us what your last event was, what year that was, and basically give us some data of how many, you know, crazy, sadistic people signed up and how many actual people, started.

Yeah. The scooter cannonball runs every two years. We it was originally on the on the even years, and during the pandemic, we we shifted ahead from 2020 to 2021, and that's where we saw participation growth, for a variety of reasons. The most recent was in 2023. The route went from Southern California, San Clemente to Hilton Head, South Carolina, And we had I'll be off by, you know, plus or minus five or 10 counts here.

But we had about, I think, 385, three hundred 80 seven individuals who paid the fee and registered and threw their hat in the ring. And we had 185 or so show up at the starting line in California, complete their tech inspection, and start the first leg of the event. Wow. That's a lot of people. What kind of reception do you get from from the towns that you, roll through with a giant gang of, scooter riders?

We're I mean, we're not a group ride by design. I mean, that'd be very that would be very difficult to have, you know, really any large group of riders make their way across the country. It's not very practical, and, you know, the miles that we do and the road selections make that, you know, even more, you know, impractical. But we the first day, the first half of the first day definitely has a little bit of a group ride aspect. It's unavoidable, you know, we do a group photo in the morning and everyone sort of leaves when they're ready, but, you know, within maybe a thirty minute period, everyone's kind of leaving the starting line and hitting the road, and then it spreads out, just it spreads out, just given the nature of the event, the the varying sizes of scooters, riding styles, pacing, a lot of people just have the reality is that the first day is really a shakedown day for many people.

It's the first time, you know, that under the current configuration of their scooter, that they're getting out and putting some miles and some distance on, they're figuring out the scoring, they're routing their nav. There's a lot of stuff that just goes sideways that first day. And with that, too, there's a lot of a little bit of a group ride to it. Beyond that, we haven't had a lot of issues with towns and municipalities. There have been some one off cases over the years where, you know, maybe a local law enforcement saw an opportunity to, you know, catch some scooters who, you know, didn't see a step down in speed from, like, a 55 to a 35, coming into into, you know, a city.

Kind of innocent stuff really. But beyond that, it's it's always been very welcoming. We we hear and get a lot of feedback at the end of the day. And then afterwards, through, like, social media, we'll have local gas stations or restaurants, or kind of small delis or that type, style. We'll, send a, you know, a thank you that it was unexpected, but they appreciated the, the spike in business and, you know, everyone that they interacted with was quite nice.

So I think in general, we're very well received, where we go and as we pass through, you know, the the the demographic or the makeup of our riders and then the group is is always, you know, it's it's a great group of people. You know, we don't have a lot of, you know, biker gang, stigma attached to it. It's a lot of people on two wheels that are really trying to get, you know, to and from on a scooter. It's a lot they're long days, they're tired, and it's a lot of time in your helmet. And when you take it off, I I think that, you know, we're you find people are very, friendly and excited to talk to anyone that'll listen.

I know we see that at the scorecard table at the end of the day too. It's just happy to see, happy to see someone and and to to talk about their day. Yeah. I think that the idea, the charm of a scooter cannonball, looking from the outside in is, look at all these great little scooters, and by nature, they're not going very fast anyways. That's just the nature of a scooter.

I think that the charm of these cute scooters ripping through the town at a low speed, I think, is charming and endearing. I think, I think in general, people are are are quite positive about it. And, I think one of the challenges with with our rally is is getting people who are a part of it to, you know, never go fast in a town, you know, never, you know, keep the image of the rally as positive as possible. And it's a little harder for us with these great big, over one liter displacement ADV bikes. And everyone's got an aftermarket exhaust, and I think the charm of, scooters alone really, really help with that.

Do you, do you find that the scooter is more disarming than than anything? I think it can be. It comes down to the rider. I mean, the scooter to you know, like any any bike, really, we we do, you know, there's some aggressive filtering, you know, lane sharing, you know, people, you know, our California riders will maybe ride in, you know, Mississippi or Alabama the same way they, you know, they'll they'll filter through traffic in L. A.

And will turn some heads. You know, there's so it's it's it's a mixed bag. Some of it, too, is the small towns are just an opportunity to, you know, pop open your helmet, a little bit and shove, you know, a a a cliff bar in your mouth and get a swig of water, before you, you know, you leave and you, given the design of our route, you might not be in another small town or see a traffic light for fifty, sixty miles. Also with gas, I mean, the scooters do not. 80 miles is kind of the typical max range with fuel.

So a lot of these small towns are where you're stopping to get gas, you know, and and transact maybe. So, yeah, we we don't have a whole lot of issues with that. Just given the design of the route, we really are trying to avoid civilization as much as possible and the scooter cannonball. There are days where we it's not uncommon to go, you know, without gas for a hundred and a 50 miles without any sort of opportunity to buy something. So that's that's that's what we're after in the route design and checkpoint placement, when when planning this event.

Yeah. For sure. I think I think you you and I can commiserate probably for an entire hour long podcast about lane filtering and how as you cross the country, the attitude towards that changes. And I scratch my head all the time, but we will not turn this into a commiseration about lane filtering. But, perhaps you can tell me about the first year, and if you can just maybe you can describe how much alcohol was involved about deciding to do this the first time and maybe describe the the group of riders who clearly must have been friends and it must have been a notion of doing something, seriously unadvised on a scooter.

So you guys definitely were badasses doing it, but maybe you can describe that first group of riders and, when when that was and where and where you decided to, do do this. Yeah. So I'm I joined the the scooter cannonball going into the 02/2008 year. So the event started the first running of the event was actually in 02/2004, and then again, well, the 02/2004 event, is pretty well documented on our we have a history page on the website, scootercannonball.com. There was a fantastic write up by Scoop magazine that year that I I think really really captured a little bit of the backstory there, the essence of the event, the riders.

And and then from 02/2004 and 02/2006, it was became a little bit more of the structured event, that it's become today. In that year, it went from, you know, a dozen kind of friends on on vintage scooters, or a mix of vintage and modern scooters, really, making their way from Virginia Beach to, Los Angeles. In 02/2006, again got a little bit more structured, went from, Oregon to New Jersey, and was about 20 or 30 riders. Again, mixed vintage and modern scooters as the modern kind of scooters. As we know today, we're entering the market here in The United States.

And then 02/2008, Patrick Owens really is kind of the godfather of the modern scooter cannonball. The rules, all the format kind of characteristics for the very most part are really what what he put in place in 02/2008. And then in that year, you know, it was cookie cutter it again in 02/2010, and we tweaked it. It was tweaked with a little bit in 02/2012 and then not again until 02/2018. And really, the only change from kind of since then was the addition of some bonus points in between our control checkpoints, which just gave a little bit more opportunity to, really get customize the route and pull riders away further away from, you know, interstates were never really a part of the design, but now we're really moving more towards those back roads, off state highways, and making it more of a navigational challenge, and and with that, you know, an increase in miles, the mileage has gone up quite a quite a bit.

In recent years, and but the the funnel, the funnel, the kind of the core of it hasn't changed. I feel the number of riders has has gone up, but we've tried to do that and scale with the, you know, the interest out there to ride in the event. And I think we've, you know, that the end of the day parking lot camaraderie that exists among riders is still very much there. A lot of the the essence of those original kind of, origin years, I think is still baked into it. It's just it's a larger group of people at the moment, and it's it's not grown, I think, because the event, you know, and I I kind of view myself as its present day, current day caretaker, more so than it's it's not really my event.

If I could find somebody dumb enough to take it over, I would. At this point, I think I would. I would be willing to pass the baton. But it's it's it's it's very much in many ways. I feel like it hasn't drifted from the the two thousand and eight, the spirit of that event.

It's but it has changed. It's changed in terms of the number of riders and gone as moved away, you know, from state highways and and let's see how fast these, how fast and far these things can go and how well aftermarket modifications hold up to it's it's about finishing it, not getting lost, and the miles are higher and you you have to keep you have to keep moving and keeping moving doesn't necessarily it doesn't mean going fast. It means that you you you need to be moving in the right direction, making the right turns, not running out of gas. It's like I said, it's it's it's a lot of back roads and that's how you you have to finish. You can't even score and win if you don't finish each day.

So it is. You're kind of in it to finish it and see how well you do and how well you perform against, the route and the road selections and all the the kind of complexities maintaining the scooter. The event is longer than the maintenance intervals. There's a lot of that stuff that goes into it, and at the end of the day, the the score is really a reflection of your, of how well you kind of executed on all against all the things working, not in your favor. Yeah.

I think people don't appreciate how much work as a rally master and organizer goes into these things. And, you know, for me alone, it's it's it's full time. I work eight hours a day, five, six, you know, seven days a week sometimes on this. So I can only imagine with 350 scooters, that must be, madness to you. I think we share a lot of commonalities with the way we run our event, but I understand that when people get to checkpoints, they take pictures rather than than a geo fenced, type of, GPS checkpoint.

Maybe you can describe a day in the life of a scooter cannonballer and maybe how they navigate the route, how you how you distribute the route, and how people earn points. Is that is that something you can give us a couple of minutes on? Sure. Yeah. So for our in in 2021, we prior to '21, it, you know, it was we'd have at most 50 riders, call it 35 riders, and we would publish the route in the checkpoint list six to nine months in advance.

The event would provide a very rough draft GPX file. It would be a track, and it was connected the the the different checkpoints. And for the most part, it was like, hey. This is what Garmin spit out giving some, you know, avoid highways, take the turns you want, and the travel distance that that, algorithm put out kind of was the basis for the points. So if if Garmin says and and maybe just to to back up slightly, our event has a, a known starting and ending hotel each day.

There are three interim checkpoints, that are control checkpoints, and the travel distance, the predetermined travel distance between each of those locations that creates four segments, establishes kind of the the max point value. So if it's a 20 miles between point between the start hotel and the first checkpoint, there's a 20 maximum points. If you find some shortcuts and you're able to to maybe navigate that in 90 miles, you know, that that's to your to your benefit. You've been able to figure out, how to maybe shave off some some mileage, and maybe there's a gamble there. Maybe you decided to to take this alternate way and you you hit road construction, or or maybe you were aware of road construction and you took a route that was maybe a 30 miles, but you didn't sit, in the line with the cars.

So that's kind of the how our how the the layout of the route works. We added in the bonus points that I had mentioned. They really kind of help shape that, and they have a point value that is, typically has a correlation to, how'd you just skipped it and and took the the shorter route between the the control checkpoints, or if the bonus point is located on, like, an unpaved surface, gravel, or something that's a little bit more ADV style, you know, that would have a a little bit more of a bonus, value to it given the technical complexity to reach it. And also just to discourage riders that, you know, everyone should ride within their limits certainly, but if if if this type of terrain is just something you're not comfortable on comfortable with, you don't need to navigate to those bonus locations to, to score there and also be considered a finisher of the event. It's you you really only need to kind of hit the three the three main ones in between and everything else else in between is is optional.

So in '21, we move prior to '21. At the end of the day, everyone went to these locations, and they took a photograph with a point and shoot camera. They would sit down with a scorekeeper at the local bar, and we would show share our photos, and we would would enter the times on the the time stamp into a spreadsheet, and it would it would do some some time speed distance math. Writers were kind of strongly encouraged to use a spot device or, you know, another kind of beacon just to, you know, support their story and and and you know you were where you said you were and you were traveling by scooter and it was, you know, the honor system and that's how it worked. And and we we really didn't have any.

I kind of paused there, but we we really didn't have any issues with it. There was there was always some some subtle acquisition accusations of of of cheating, but no, it was fine. And in '21, we use we moved to a mobile app and we we built that ourselves. That first year, thankfully, we only had about 35 riders. The the Apple the traditional typical story with with with phone app tech development, you know, the one device platform worked better than the other.

Our Apple users were fine. We did a lot of testing on that because we were Apple guys, and the Android was was hit or miss. We just didn't realize how much very variation there were between, you know, the manufacturers and and the device. But with that, the concept very much still the same. We're just sort of adding that that chain of of custody with the data.

It was really the goal there that the the individual would ride to the location, and they would use the app to take the photo of it, and the the app would automatically, you know, behind the scenes, it would upload the photo along with the the geo data of, you know, the of where they're at to the server, and then our scorekeepers would would have that. So we could hopefully streamline that sitting at the bar process and looking at everyone's phone and the photos and talking about what a great day they had to, they've arrived, we have all of your document all your photos, we reviewed them, go grab a beer and hang out. Like, you don't need to sit with us, we don't really wanna sit with you. And we've kinda we've continued to build on that, and that's been an evolution. You know, it's it's hard to iterate as you as you know, organizing these events when they happen every two years.

It's like, you know, we start planning the next one as soon as the last one ends. It's, you know, the the next morning at the airport bar. It's like, alright. What just shake everything out of your heads. What worked well?

What did not? Let's just get this down on paper because, you know, we we have to refine it before the next one. So maybe I'll just, I'll kind of pause there. That's how our scoring works functionally. The rider uses an app, the app, you know, they sign into it, they have all the things that you would expect, they can share their location from the app that goes out to our server, it shows on a map, you can during the event go to our website and see where all the little dots are as they move around, and then they can take photos of the checkpoint locations.

All of that kind of comes with the data that you would expect to hitchhike with it, you know, time stamps, GPS coordinates, and the file itself. From there our scorekeepers then look at it and say well you're supposed to take a photo of the post office, and it looks like you took a photo of the church. You're in the right town. We can see where you're at, but you were on the wrong block, and you didn't photograph the right thing kind of thing. So we we use that to verify and then award award points.

It sounds like the fun spirit of of scootering comes into your scorekeeping with taking pictures, and it sounds like a little bit of a of a scavenger hunt as well. Wait. Maybe riding to this geolocation, but, taking, taking the photo seems seems like a fun a fun add on to that. Yeah, it's a fun add on the the scooter doesn't. The scooter does not need to be in the photo.

There's no rally flag in the photo. The rider doesn't necessarily have to be in the photo. It's just a way that, you know, for for the the more competitive riders, it it helps keep everyone honest and everyone feel like everyone is honest. It's a it's a tie ring event, and, you know, emotions can can kind of swing, you know, as we make our way across the country and and the heat and the weather and everything else, and, it's it's just a layer of transparency, and administratively, it makes it much easier for us to, support the number of riders that have that are interested in riding riding in the event and, and and and to do kind of scoring as we travel because we don't have people sitting at home, you know, in their in their jammies looking at these photos. These same people are riding, driving, you know, straight to the hotel and setting up and and there to greet the riders and and to take care of this, you know, on a traveling eight, ten day basis.

Yeah. There's a there's always that unfortunate reality that at the end of every day, there's always some sort of complain that goes on, and I've attended a lot of rallies, maybe international rallies or just, you know, two, three day rallies, maybe on motorcycles and on cars, and there always seems to be this contingent of whining at the hotel or at the bar, and we've put that into our rules. And the first rule is don't be an ADV weenie. And then rule number two is if you plan on complaining or whining or accuse someone of cheating, simply refer to rule number one. And I'm really trying to create that spirit of we're here to have fun, you know, there's no one's walking away with a million bucks here, and we've put enough infrastructure, be it technology wise or tradition wise, that people aren't people aren't out to get you.

Just go have fun, and, everyone's on the on the same page. And if you're not doing so well, well, just try a little harder tomorrow, but let's just all stay, stay really positive about it. Can maybe you can talk a little bit about the handicapping system because that's really unique, and you have such a wide spectrum of machines. You have vintage bikes. You have modern bikes.

You have I see there was some crazy guy who did it on a 49 cc scooter one year, so there's some really sadistic people out there. But, maybe you can talk about the handicapping system and how that helps you deal with the the wide variety of, small scooters. Sure. Yeah. The the, the handicapping system came into play in 02/2012.

This was a, Patrick who I had earlier referred to as sort of the godfather or the of the of the present day event and its structure, came up with. And I we we've not modify I don't I don't we've we've not modified the math. The it's been understood that it was it was rumor has it that it was kind of engineered around, like, the the SIM HD 200, which I think Patrick was riding in 02/2012. Whether that's true or not, it's it attempts to kinda normalize the these the scooters that are entered into the event around a fictitious, early eighties, late seventies vintage Vespa. And we've been using it now for ten years with without any, you know, really any complaints or issues.

It we our event is capped at 300 cc's, which I I think with the exception of maybe one scooter is really like two seventy eight in actual displacement. The majority of our scooters are at or or I think we're we're slightly under 200 cc's in terms of the actual turnout if you average everyone who shows up at the starting line. The the Honda ADV series and the PCX, really the Honda bikes, and and and Yamaha and some of those in there that are just in that 50, hundred and 70 sweet spot. They're they're great. They're well made.

They're reliable. Ergonomically, they work, I think, for a variety of sized riders in in in terms of just build. It's they're they're a great bike. So and in terms of actual turnout, we're we're at or just a little bit under 200 cc's. Beyond that, there's some, two fifty scooters, primarily in the the Vespas that were that came out that are now, like, almost 15 years old, ten, fifteen years old.

And then we have some of the the other badges of 300. In terms of the handicap, though, once you really move above 200, you're sort of mathematically out of the the competition. It it just it works it works against you. There's no we're we're not a speed event. The rider can't outride the bike for the very most, but there's there's so few riders that can just take the scooter, you know, a a a a Vespa three hundred, you know, sure, it'll do 83 miles an hour.

They're they're not going they're not capable of taking that three, you know, 83 miles an hour through the, you know, the the twisties in the mountains. It's just it's beyond their abilities, and mathematically, the handicap just reaffirms that. It's not even worth trying to outright it because you you can't. Whereas somebody, the same rider, if you put them on a 50 cc scooter, they can carve through, you know, some of the most technical roads out there, and ride the scooter to its max capacity and still be under the speed limit. And and and that's what it's it's it's sort of, again, kind of calling out.

So if you're if your bike is within that kind of 50, two hundred cc, you know, range, the handicap doesn't really totally exist. And if you're way under that, you're on like a 50 or you're on a a really old vintage scooter. It's giving you a boost to try to pull you back into that 200 cc spot. So the kind of the the further you go either way, if you're way under, it's kind of bringing it up. And if you're if you're kind of moving beyond to towards two fifty or above, it's just saying you're you're in tourist mode.

You need to, you know, ride safely and everyone needs to ride safely, but just this isn't this is not something that you're going to beat, and any amount of speed is not going to overcome it. Be safe. Don't make wrong turns, and get to the Finnish hotel, And, that's kind of what the intent of the handicap is. It's to normalize the playing field or maybe segment it in in areas where it's just not mathematically you're you're you're out of the you're out of the competition with the smaller scooters. And for that, we do we brought back in 2023 class scoring, which the handicap actually eliminated in 2012.

In 2012, we went to all handicap. If you were in the event, you were you were scored on a handicap adjusted basis. And, in in in '23, we went to both. The the scooter cannonball is still the, you know, everyone that's that's participating is is the the winner is determined, and the the final ranking is based on the handicap adjusted performance. And then we do kind of we we cluster them into classes that, you know, allows you to see how did you and your scooter, how did you perform compared to your peers?

You know, were you what was your your ride efficiency in terms of getting there and number of wrong turns, and and just to kind of understand, you know, where you are in in the in the mix, scooters of of relatively similar performance. Yeah. I think you really did a great job of ex explaining that, and I think you touched on something that's important with all of these rallies. I think about 50% or more of the people that enter the scooter cannonball and and our and our cannonball is they are looking for a a fun event with a little friendly competition, and they really are wearing that tourist hat or someone that is looking just to go on an adventure because planning stuff is, you know, a nightmare. So people like to join our our kinds of rallies just to go on a on a well managed, adventure.

And I think there's about 50% that go in with the intention of I'm here to win or I'm here to place well. And then even by day one or two, which has always been, you know, my attitude when I go through the effort of, entering a rally is the reality is, well, I messed up here and I missed that turn or something happened or I've had a mechanical failure, and now I'm just in tourist mode and I'm out to help people and and and hang out and just go on this great adventure as a group. I can see that you've done this about seven times, that really speaks to you know, the camaraderie that that all rallies seem to have. But maybe you can talk about your history, and I see you started in in in 02/2008. And when when when are you gonna give up and pass on the baton to somebody?

Yeah. It's the the the tourist mode thing is is definitely there, and it's the the camaraderie, and you even our competitive riders well, I should also say, a rookie has won the event every year since 02/2008, I believe. So that it's that's that's always I I I hope a rookie wins at this coming year so we can keep that going, but you you even our most competitive riders recognize that. They you you don't win you can't win this on done day one. Day one is about is just efficient travel to the finish line and and let some things shake out, let your own ride kind of sort itself out, your your own nav and situation.

And we've seen a shift, you know, from people that are scooter riders into this as just, you know, people that like power sports and and two wheeled events, and a scooter is just another kind of, means of or mode of transportation or a way to, the form of a participation here, which is great, and a kind of a a melding of those communities and and really, I think, adds to that camaraderie that we're not just, you know, the the like, a exclusive sort of scooter scooter club. I found this in 02/2007 or '2 early two thousand eight, maybe. I wanted to retrace Route 66, and I was between a, buying like a used BMW convertible or, a Vespa, and I had no prior powered bike motorbike experience. I mean, I rode a bike as a kid, but I I stopped on the way home, by at the dealer one night kind of randomly in January, and I I was like, oh, I'm turning 25 in a couple days. I'll just buy a Vespa.

And so I did. And but the the I had the promise of the dealer that I I wouldn't ride it until spring because he was convinced I was going to die. And I did the cannonball that that was January. I did it in September. I started in sweatpants and an open face helmet, and I think I finished in Maryland in, like, full head to toe riding gear.

Probably not the smartest thing to do, but to this day, like, I was I remember being terrified riding within my means as I understood them there, which was a lot of times very slow, and, but made it across the country. And the why I think what I was going after, you know, in in wanting to retrace Route Route 66, there is, you know, seeing seeing America and and doing it in a in a way that's kind of disconnected a lot from our bigger cities and highways and towns, and and a little bit of an obsession of wanting to collect states. I have fallen to that category. And just that idea of going across the country, it's it's just a, you know, it's a it's a it's a big, giant, beautiful country, and there's there's so much of it out there to see, and that has really is what brought me back to it, year after year, is is is a little is a lot of that adventure, and, you know, to today is really kind of the reason I do it. The organization and the planning, there are some bits in there that maybe scratch a few other like tech interests and other kind of nerdy things that I'm just otherwise into, and, the rest is maybe that a little bit of that sick punishment of sitting on a scooter all day, and some of the some of the the audit, some of the weirdness that goes into that, I think that we the people listening understand.

So it's it's it's multifaceted. But, yeah, I I started, with stupidity, and I'm I'm still here, and a lot well, many people tell you that's it's stupid to continue to organize this. So Yeah. It's, it's definitely a lot. And next year is the hundred year anniversary of, the Mother road, Route 66.

And I think, it's gonna focus some more attention on that and that that bygone era of small side roads and and, you know, running across the country. This year, you have 350 entrants. I realize not everyone shows up, but you must have a team helping you with volunteers. Maybe, how how many people help you wrangle all those all those cats? So we, most of the interim planning in between or the is I I do most of the janitorial work myself, and we have a very small group of myself and two or three other individuals that do some work on the route planning.

A lot of it's scouting, checkpoint, you know, photo opportunities and landmarks of interest in between, maybe some some roads that are of of interest, once we sort of know approximately where we're coming from into, in the overnight locations. And then beyond that, I I kind of just follow the the the formula every year. I I kinda know, alright. Well, by the February, I need to have this done, and by the March, I need to have, you know, the booklets out to the printer and the T shirts ordered, and it kinda comes together. And then we split up the the actual event tour responsibilities and do support trucks and scorekeepers, really.

We have this year, we operate three well, we will operate three support trucks. Very similar, actually, last year. Same same same strategy. We have a, like, a 15 person sprinter type passenger van that has some cargo capacity, and then we also have a cube truck, like a 16 foot cube truck for, spare parts and tires. Riders can can kinda buy into these, to have some some limited inventory of of tires, essentially, things that could be repaired roadside, if you were to have some sort of, mechanical failure, and it's not something that's reasonable to carry on the scooter.

Like, you should be able to carry a belt and then an oil filter or something small. We understand that it's you're not gonna overload your scooter with two spare tires. So these trucks do sweep the route and have some of those larger items that could be repaired on the side of the road. And if you opt not to or you've had some other sort of mechanical situation or otherwise, you can load up the, the, the bike into the the cube truck. We also have a a light duty pickup truck that has an open trailer for this year, that we can just, we can load your your scooter on it and get it to the to the overnight hotel.

And that that also that light duty suite truck also handles some of the off road and ADB type roads that we we don't send the passenger van or the the cube truck down. So those are sweeping the event. They hit the road about 8AM, and they they they ride the route. And you, as a rider, need to stay ahead of them if you'd like to be picked up in this in a in a situation where you may need a lift. The, scorekeeper staff, they head direct to the hotel, to the next hotel, and, they set up there to receive and welcome incoming riders, and we just keep we just keep rolling that ahead city to city until it's over, and it seems to work for us.

You know, we're not I've seen, like, the great race and some other events that really make a big, you know, to do. It's it's it's impressive what they do and and the overnight host cities. And I know Jason with the the motorcycle cannonball does. You know, that's a big part of of the format of that event. You know, we're we we're still a little scrappy, and that is something that people will come up to in this event will will come up to you in this event.

So, you know, it's really nice and everything you're doing, but, you know, we could we could have porta potties, and we could have some some stanchions, and we could do this and that. And I'm like, yeah. We we could. We could set up scaffold and have a welcome banner and and all the other kind of stuff, but the original event was kinda scrappy. It was guys on on on Vespas rolling in tired, needing a beer, having to do maintenance, having to do this, having to do that, looking for a bar or a restaurant or whatever it may be, and the guy over there was looking at your camera, you know, scratching down some times and giving you credit.

So it's a little like, it's it's been a balance as it grows to sort of maintain that scaffold or kind of, like, the primitiveness of it that I like, as a a younger rider or first time or early participant, really, like, felt was special. But also allowing it to scale and realizing that you can't you know, in an event of 35 people going across the country is very different than the event of, like, 200, two hundred 50 people going across the country. And how do you how do you balance that? So we we try to keep it lean. We try to keep it a little, you know, a little a little scrappy and a little a little gritty here and there, but it's it's intentional.

It's not always that we're clueless on how to, you know and actually, it's funny is the the the people that that that we don't use we avoid scooters and and really actually motorcycle riders for our event staff. We have people that work that actually do work exclusively like in events that that do this that are on scorekeeping side or or are, you know, work in this space and other capacities outside of power sports. Because when you're broke down the side of the road, like a scooter guy, we would be like, oh, let's try to fix this. You know, the guy that's, you know, a roadie for, you know, a a bus driver is like, I don't I don't buy your scooter. It's gotta go in the truck or I'm moving on.

And and that you you have to have that or you're not going to get to the next hotel. So we have kind of the same mentality that we have people that would that work at events and understand events. And with that, it's it having they're they're fantastic, and they know how to, like, their the scooter aspect of it is not for them, and that's is a big part of how we continue to just how they move ahead and are able to to make it happen is because they don't give a shit about the scooters. They don't care about them. It's not their thing.

They find it fascinating, and it's interesting, but they're they're there to get to the next hotel and to to kind of execute on, you know, on the responsibilities that we need to to make it run smoothly. And we'd love to make it into a more polished thing, but it's also just not what this event is fundamentally. Yeah. I think that you did a great job of illustrating of how different it is to ride across the country on a scooter. You have less you have less capacity on on the vehicle.

You have a in my opinion, more of a possibility of a breakdown of failure. Whereas on a great big ADV bike, we we embrace that spirit of being that cliche photo on the Internet of a giant overloaded ADV bike with all the spares on it. You know, I don't know how many times I've bought a brand new bike, and I just do 6,000 miles on it without even really checking it over. They're just so huge and reliable. And the challenges that, that you have on a scooter, really make the event really, really, interesting.

We're running out of time here, but I I just wanna encourage folks that maybe are hesitant to do the ADV cannonball. The OG scooter cannonball really is a great, gateway drug, and I think you have a website that people can go to, and there's plenty of information on YouTube. But how do you recommend people finding, finding more about the, Scooter Cannonball? Yeah. Absolutely.

Our website, ScooterCannonball.com, is the the website for the event. There's information there on the history of the event. And then that website will really transform. It's a little it's it's intentionally vague a little bit right now for the upcoming event. And then in June of this year, June '20 '20 '5, that will, sort of come to life.

The we have real time interactive, you know, our the riders are using our app for photos and documenting their travels. So that website comes alive with interactive maps each day. It has the, the route that they're traveling, the the line. You can see all the little dots start to move, their their photo submissions come in in real time. We do our best to, to keep our we the Facebook page for the event is another just another there's a there's a group there.

It's open. You can join. You just have to, you know, ask a, you know, a spam bot kinda question. You can find the answer on the on the main website if you're you're totally stumped. So, yeah, Facebook is a great way, and during the event and the website as well is a is a awesome way to, to follow along while it's happening.

We try to do some live from the parking lot videos. We've teetered with having a, like a videographer kind of come along. I don't think we're gonna do that this year, but, yeah, we we we try to share as much as we can, understanding that, you know, the people sharing are also either riding or they are, they're they're traveling as well and and taking on some of your responsibilities, but it does. It becomes very, very interactive. Modernvesa.com has also been a, a great place for following the event at more of, like, a a if your interest comes from scooters, and, the ADV forms as well also have threads on that.

So, a a lot of places will cover it depending on maybe your your level of interest or your angle, and and get maybe some some different perspective. But the event itself, the website, and our Facebook page are probably the, the most kind of, real time and interactive way to to follow along as to what's happening. We try to syndicate the videos to YouTube as well. That's that's hit or miss. You know, we're we're in a parking lot, you know, with 300 other people, everyone on their phones these days, so you know, live streaming has become a little bit more challenging just given, just we all understand what that is.

So, we do our best and, we, we certainly we're we're not shy anymore about, you know, hey. This is where we're at and what we're up to and, fall fall along. The, the route itself and its details will be posted that Friday, the, June was it June 20? The event starts Saturday, Sunday, I should say. The event starts Sunday, June 22.

It starts in, Seaside, Oregon. If you do not make any wrong turns and you go to all the checkpoints and bonuses, you'll be, just at or under about 4,000 miles. If you're, there are some opportunities on some days for riders to, trim off a few locations that'll get you maybe a little bit closer to 3,600 miles. The route is unknown to the riders except for the first day in advance, so they will be receiving days two through eight in Seaside, as early as two days before the start of the event to do their planning. And our overnight locations are in, Pendleton, Oregon, McCall, Idaho.

Then we go to Pocatello, Idaho, Grand Junction, Santa Fe, Pecos, Texas, Kerrville, Texas, and then we end in South Padre Island on, again, Sunday, June 29. We'll be there at, if you're in the area, we'll be ending in, I think Clayton's Beach Bar is kind of the the place to be, and if you're in the, Washington, Oregon area, we will be in Seaside, Oregon. I think riders start to show up that Thursday, Friday of, prior to the event. By all means, come and hang out and join us. There's a lot of, some partying in the evenings and a whole lot of scooters and bikes, and everyone, it's it's all open arms.

So whatever you ride or don't ride, we'd we'd we'd love to, to say hello. I'm over here shaking my head and smiling at the same time. I'm like, you guys are nuts. There's some old school rally stuff there, like getting roots at the last minute, and I'm like, you're on this little scooter and you're not even sure where you're going, but it also makes me smile at the same time. You've really captured something special here and it's awesome.

And we have a tradition here on on on the podcast is I'm gonna mail you a certified badass sticker, because, you know, I don't care that it's a scooter. I'm like, I'm fine with going across the country on my giant ADV bike, but I think it's even more of a badass to to, you know, do something like this with all those, rally challenges that you just mentioned, is is is really something. So all the competitors and and yourself, my my hat's off to you. I will definitely be a tracker junkie. I'll definitely be following along.

And, if I can make it out to one of those things, I will definitely be handing out cans of beer to everyone who who indeed makes it. So thanks very much for, for chatting with with us, and, I'm looking forward to seeing the twenty twenty five event. And, I wish you guys the best of luck on your cross country experience on your on your little scooters. Thanks so much. Thanks for having me.

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Yeah. He's great. And that's that's a great event. That's a fun event too. And, I'm looking forward to going down on the starting line, like, like I said.

Yeah. No. I have to say that's a little bit masochistic, you know, from what he was talking about and making a comparison. When you in the interview, you're making a comparison between ADV machines, which are these machines that are designed to, you know, designed to, you know, to cross the country, and then maybe think about oil change, you know, or maybe just cross it again. And and these guys are like, yeah.

You know, we can't get across without passing a service interval. Yeah. And, also, those machines, you know, those tiny wheels and the little clutches, and they're they're belt driven, a lot of them, and, you know, they're just fraught with peril. Like, they're not designed to, you know, to really do that many miles without having issues. So everyone carries spare belts and all these, you know, homemade tools for taking belts and clutches apart, and it's it's it's it's really a lot different than than doing a ride like that on a great big brand new GSA or something.

Yeah. Absolutely. I I gotta say I'm gonna I think that I'm more the GSA kind of guy. Me too. Especially at at this vintage.

You know what I mean? I'm not saying I I don't mind the hard work, but Yeah. The stress of worrying about mechanical failure is something that I'm happy to do without. But I definitely admire the guys that are that are doing it. That's really cool.

Yeah. Let me let me segue here into talk about setting up and, things to, to get a a rally off the ground. And I know that you've been doing a lot of work with the apps and trying to figure out which app to use, and you've been recently you kinda came to a conclusion of your testing on Revver. So tell us about that. Yeah.

So we did a lot of work with them in setting up some test rallies, and, unfortunately, it was a little bit glitchy, and and, you know, we can't have anything glitchy. You know, I hope we can move forward next year perhaps, but we're either going to revert back to what we've always used, Rick the rally, and that's and that's fine to move forward with. And we have a few other options that we're going to beta test, this summer. But, unfortunately, the Revver app didn't work. Not that we don't use it for planning and and and and riding, it's it's just not gonna work as a as a rally app.

Alright. But but just to be clear, we do have an app which is going to function perfectly for this rally. Yeah. We we we've always had one for the last ten years. I was just trying to make it a little more, you know, up to date, a little more modern, use user friendly, and also maybe less work for me.

Instead of having a bunch of apps running, I would like to have just one app running. So, we're we're working diligently to move the ball forward technology wise. Alright. Cool. Speaking of technology, I know there was a when we did a little bit of beta testing, I hooked up my phone to the tracker, to the Spot Walla.

I thought it was good. It was good. Talk a little bit about that if you would. Yeah. So thanks for you for doing it and a few other people.

So the Spot Wallet tracking page, the location page, technically, it's called, is up and running. So whoever wants to join that early, who's ever registered for 2025, please reach out to me, and we'll send you the guide. Unfortunately, the Android app, doesn't exist anymore. But iPhone has an app, and it works great with Garmin inReach. And we had one gentleman who hooked up his Zoleo, GPS tracker on his own, and so he was able to do that.

So, the the apps are getting smaller, but the devices are getting bigger. So, so, yeah, who whoever wants to, to join that, that location page early, just, reach out to me. Cool. Very cool. How many spots open do you have for, for shipping to the start and to the finish on the most likely?

We have one spot open to the start, and we have four spots open at the end of the rally to get you home. Alright. And, you know, it seems like I sound like a bit like a broken record here saying that it's getting like, the whole one of the main reasons that we are doing this podcast, one, because it's fun. And, and two is to be able to bring knowledge, as things change to the people who are participating in there, and also to make sure that people recognize it's a legitimate thing, it's gonna happen, there's a lot of effort and work being put into it, and to, to let people know that they can have confidence in that, and get and to follow the story as it goes along. So in participating with it, they feel like they've really been part of the story of of what's been happening.

Yeah. For sure. And and that's been really that's been more that's been more successful than I think you or I had ever really imagined in that because you only have, what, how many spots left? There are exactly five rooms left and depends on occupancy for new sign ups, but there are five rooms left, and today is March. And that brings us around to some new sign ups.

Let's give a shout out to Shane Young from New Mexico, and he is on a Super Adventure twelve ninety. And then we've also got Wayne, and he's from Texas. And he is riding a r 1,300 GS. Nice. And I don't know if you can hear that, but they are drilling underneath me with a hammer drill, putting in chargers for the parking lot underneath my apartment.

So I've got the worst luck, but there's literally a hammer drill going on under my feet. I'm not sure if my microphone's picking that up. I sound a little bit distracted. I think last time we did we did one of these, you were, you were at the, the ADV, Cannonball Worldwide Headquarters, and you were like I was like, what's it like outside? And you're like, it's sunny and beautiful.

It's a great day, and then it's got a metal roof. And then when we started, you're like, and here's here's a downpour, and it sounded like, you know, machine gun fire, you know, in in your building. You're like, the timing the timing on that. Anyway The worst luck. And then the worst part was my desk was under a spot where, specifically, the gutters had clogged in the fall.

So there were these, not just raindrops, but, but, a river of water slamming into the metal roof. I, you know, I just got the worst luck. But, anyways, this is why I I I rarely participate in rallies. I just I just run them now. Yeah.

I would I would have to say that I don't know. I don't agree with that. I think that you've got pretty good luck. So you you do. We'll see.

We'll see. We'll see how it goes. Anyway, I don't have anything else about I don't have anything else. I think that, I think we've we've we've covered it. What do you think?

Yeah. That's it. Let's wrap this one up. That was a great interview. Thanks very much for, for hosting us, Taylor.

And, and, and, yeah, if you don't mind, let's roll the outro. Roll the outro. Thanks for listening to the ADV Cannonball podcast. Please give us a five star review on your preferred podcast platform. That really helps us with the algorithm gods.

All hail the algorithm gods. You can buy us a coffee on buymecoffee.com/advcannonball or directly help save this sinking ship for the price of a pint at patreon.com/advcannonball. Follow us on all the socials with the handle at a d v cannonball. If you'd like to send us a question or comment for the air, or if you are a musical artist and want your royalty free music played on our podcast, or if you'd like to contact us for advertising opportunities, email us at podcast@advcannonball.com. Thanks for listening.

And remember, don't be an ADV weenie. Keep your right hand cranked and your feet on the banks.