Thursday, March 8, 2012

2011 GR3 Rally (Great River Road Rally)

Between other rallies or other commitments in the past, I'd heard about and knew various friends that made the GR3 Rally one of the first if not the first (we're up north) rally of the season.  It's a rally hosted by the Madison BMW Club, held in Soldier's Grove, WI and has been for 37 years.  Last spring, mid-May 2011, was my first time.  I was anxious to attend a rally with my newly remodeled '83 Honda Ascot, affectionately now known as TranZalp (last Post) and the GR3 was the one to be honored with the old Honda's attendance.

Soldier's Grove and the surrounding region is an area I spend much of my time riding in and around.  As far as I'm concerned, it's about as good as riding gets for the roads I enjoy the most.  There are lots of County roads designated as "O", "A", "T"(Letter Roads) and so on.  When a short sectioned County Road links two of them together, connecting "H" and an adjacent "T", the designation of the link road would be "HT".  The smoother, wider and faster County Roads are fine, but even more fun for me are the Named Roads, the smaller, neighborhood roads that often are rougher, narrow, may turn to gravel for a bit before returning to asphalt again.  A good ride in my book is a nice blend of both.

Friday night at Veteran's Park, the rally site.....


Saturday morning, my usual early walk-around.....


Camp still mostly asleep.....


Louie's new Victory......


Following my normal practice, I left Saturday after breakfast for my previously planned ride, something I'd created a GPS Route for at home.  Charged with (volunteered for) creating a Slow Ride for our annual Wildcat Rally over the Labor Day weekend, I was anxious to pre-ride the Route to see if the roads, conditions, etc. were suitable for a group of riders.  Normally lucky with my pre-planning, I wanted to verify that the ride would cover some of the more scenic and interesting roads.

One of the stops was to be the interesting geological formation in the park at Rockbridge.


You can see the point ahead where it looks as though the trail leads into the formation......it does......


a


And through to the other side.......


Rockbridge was on the easternmost part of the ride's loop, from there it was west to one of our favorite spots for pizza AND/or ice cream, The Blue Goose.  If you go, make sure you watch for the horse and buggy traffic on the road.


Finishing up my pre-ride back at Westby, satisfied with the Route.  Or course, since this time I hadn't picked out a cone at the 'Goose, I made the stop in Westby for coffee and a scone....

Ole and Lena Coffee Shop.....


From there, south, the long way to enjoy gravel where I could find it, back to  Soldier's Grove.


Saturday evening's pre-banquet meeting......





Once again, a BMW Rally allowed and promoted a great time for a non-German machine and its pilot.

Sunday morning.......







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