2021 Alta Rally/Race/Meetup (September 25-26)

Matt said:

I am curious to all. What kind of event would it take to get you to drive 20 hours or so to come? If we had an official race and created a large EV power sports festival with companies bringing prototypes and pro riders coming with rock bands staged to play in the evenings and if a bunch of the people who built Alta came including the founders. I know that is a ridiculous dream that won't happen but I am curious non the less what it would take to get everyone out for a an event. I know some just wouldn't be able to no matter what based on work and scheduling but I am curious for the rest what it would take.

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You had me at riding... 20 hours, no problem.

How about we get a deal from Motoshippers.com and we all fly in with gear bags?
Flights are probably still going to be cheap. Pay $300 to ship bike and $250 for flight and $100 for hotel. Seems like it could work and a little more than gas to drive 20+ hours.

Matt said:

...... I am curious for the rest what it would take.

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I have a pretty low bar. I'll do my best to show up if we can get 10 or so ALTAs (maybe less) at some place with trails and hopefully room to camp. I also need the COVID situation to calm down enough for an old guy to travel safely and be around a group (distantly).

If it turns out to be the world's largest and best ever EV powersports festival that will work too !

I like the Georgia idea or Matt’s place in New York. Sometime in the winter would be great for me. I used to ship my bikes to Glamis and take a flight out there to ride and that worked out great. We could certainly do that for a West Coast rally as well.

snydes said:

You can count on me and the Mrs. to attend. There does seem to be a decent concentration of owners up your way Matt, so there is potential to do it in that area.

I think though to really draw a large group in on a national scale we need an appropriate facility. I have only ever been to two places that in my mind would have enough to offer for a larger gathering, both are in Georgia, Durhamtown Off Road Resort and Highland Park. These two places are like Disneyland for dirt bike fanatics, lots to offer, tracks and trails. Durhamtown is the larger facility but I think Highland Park would be more accommodating.

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I've never been to Durhamtown or Highland Park but they sound like heaven!

I'm in... East Coast, West Coast, in the South.... Let me know when and where....

Matt said:

I would like to propose we as a community of Alta riders get together next year or whenever possible in the future. @Edabdo and I had discussed earlier this year setting something up in NY prior to COVID coming into existence. I am starting this thread to help facilitate this dream and hash out plans that would bring in the most Alta riders possible. NY has the means to hold an event like this but I realize this is on the far end of the country. Imagine an event where we get 100+ of us together to rip on our bikes and hang out for a few days. We could hold the first All electric MX race and first all-electric hair scramble, all in good fun of course. (Personally I would love to see a gate of 40 Altas take off aiming of the holeshot). What would it take for you individually to come to an event such as this? Where is a location the most people would be willing to travel to? (I know personally I would be willing to travel all the way to California but I doubt many others feel similarly). Let's talk about it and discuss feasibility. Maybe we could make a pole on a few topics regarding meeting up once some more concrete ideas have been established.

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Keep me in the loop. I'll be there to photograph the event! TNAphotos.com

Tacq180 said:

Keep me in the loop. I'll be there to photograph the event! TNAphotos.com

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This is sounding better and better! Who doesn't love some photos to show off? Anything East Coast I'm 100% onboard (especially if it's in the Northeast)

We could do multiple events. Durhamtown/highland looks awesome. It seems so that the majority of people who are interested are in the east and northeast so doing another northeast gathering may be a good event to hold separate to a larger one. Just a thought. If we did a northeast gathering at my land and surrounding areas again we could do trail riding and track riding. Silver springs the track that is 30 minutes away has track rentals we could probably do for a whole day. We could hold our own "race" here though it wouldn't be official unless we jumped through some hoops to get it official. We could also go to Tall pines and ride trails. There is another moto park near tall pines that I haven't been to yet that we could potentially check out. I may re-do my track at my land and make it a bit wider to accommodate more riders if we met and stayed at my land again. I considered rebuilding the track and holding the race here but I think the cost would be too great as insurance would be 1000 or so for the weekend and the local ambulance crew would be another 1000 on top of costs to rebuilding the track. Durhamtown/Highland looks like it would be very fun to go ride at with stuff for everyone. We may be able to hold a race there also and there are plenty of trails to ride.

Matt said:

We could hold our own "race" here though it wouldn't be official unless we jumped through some hoops to get it official.

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I like the separate NE event idea and would be cool to have us all convoy to a track together. Never been to either but Silver Springs looks really fun and a safe track. And it'd be cool to do a full moto day and a full woods day at those (or other places). Also if there's enough people there are a few really cool moto trophy sites that could make ones fitting for us and a bit more incentive for the race side.

Matt has a real nice property to act as base camp, secluded (not that our electric bikes need that). It worked out good for our small group last time we got together.

snydes said:

Matt has a real nice property to act as base camp, secluded (not that our electric bikes need that). It worked out good for our small group last time we got together.

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I can clear out some more space for campers if more people do come in the future. I also found a section of the field that is dryer all year which will help if it rains before an event. Ther is also another riding area about an hour away from my place that is a ski hill with a bunch of trails on it that is a moto park in the summer. It is very fun and has many trails with some fun climbs.

We should try to plan which weekend (or at least a window) that way we can try to get a head count which would probably make it easier to get pricing to rent the track and if we go to Matt's, easier for him to know how many to expect. It's nice to know that there's been a group there before to know it would work.

Matt said:

There is also another riding area about an hour away from my place that is a ski hill with a bunch of trails on it that is a moto park in the summer. It is very fun and has many trails with some fun climbs.

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And man it sounds like you're in a good spot with riding areas all around you.

JW884 said:

And man it sounds like you're in a good spot with riding areas all around you.

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Western NY isn't bad we have a good group of tracks and a few trial locations. I actually live about an hour north up in Rochester but there are about 4 tracks within an hour to go to so not too bad.

Matt said:

Western NY isn't bad we have a good group of tracks and a few trial locations. I actually live about an hour north up in Rochester but there are about 4 tracks within an hour to go to so not too bad.

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Hey it's way more than I have haha. Closest public track is 1&1/2hrs away in MA. Only two tracks advertised in CT anymore and they are private to members and both are very small and out of my way.

I road at silver springs on Sunday at a private track rental. It was pretty dry and I hadn't ridden in 10 weeks so I was a bit rusty and was riding conservatively but it was fun. I attached the video here if anyone wants to see what the track is like. @TCMB371 I did a little commentary influenced by your vid. (I mention you in the video by first name only but I spelled your name incorrectly (Brian vs Bryan) my apologies). Anyways I talked with the track briefly. They said it would take about 30 riders to rent the track for a day and would cost 30 dollars per rider. If we did a ride day here I can invite other people to get us past 30 if we don't get that many Alta guys coming out. Alternatively, if we schedule a ride event weekend/ long weekend that aligns with one of their races if we get enough riders they will hold an all-electric class for us to race in. This would be cool because there would be people there and it would be an "official" race. Additionally, it would be a much more relaxed class to race in as we would just be doing it for fun. The guy I talked to said more than 5 would be needed for an all-electric class which I think is easily achievable. They do have 220v power with RV hookups and if we set a date with them they may be able to put in more plug locations. They are very nice people and willing to accommodate us if we are interested in coming.

Sounds like a promising spot.

Matt said:

They said it would take about 30 riders to rent the track for a day and would cost 30 dollars per rider. If we did a ride day here I can invite other people to get us past 30 if we don't get that many Alta guys coming out. Alternatively, if we schedule a ride event weekend/ long weekend that aligns with one of their races if we get enough riders they will hold an all-electric class for us to race in. This would be cool because there would be people there and it would be an "official" race.

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Yes! Sounds awesome and $30 would be great. I'd be fine if we even had to pay a bit more if less people come. Lining up with a race weekend would be awesome cause I have a buddy or two who would wanna come then to race (without Altas) and I prefer doing multiple classes anyways. And I've made some "Vlog-ish" style videos before and would love to film the whole weekend and document it.

Matt said:

I can clear out some more space for campers if more people do come in the future. I also found a section of the field that is dryer all year which will help if it rains before an event. Ther is also another riding area about an hour away from my place that is a ski hill with a bunch of trails on it that is a moto park in the summer. It is very fun and has many trails with some fun climbs.

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I am not a MX rider but I'll sign up for the race if the rest of you promise to not land on me as I roll the Death Jump (TM). Silver Springs MotoPark looks to be about 850 miles each way for me so it would be good if I could make this more than a one day destination. @Matt, Do you know if any of the other riding spots in the area are open on weekdays?


And just throwing a couple of thoughts into the planning mix ....

As someone who has helped organize such events for motorcycle groups in the past, I would suggest that we NOT try to have multiple east/southeast events this first time, at least not during the same time of year. Past experience says that it will significantly dilute the numbers at both events because very few people will try to attend both. I suspect it is especially true with the virus situation and the current uncertainty of many people’s work schedules and family obligations.

Since it appears most of the interest is in the NE, I would say hold the “Official 2021 AOF-East” event somewhere near all of you (Silver Springs, Matt’s Place, ?) . If a few people also want to come ride in Georgia at Highland Park and/or Durhamtown those places are open at 360+ days a year. We can try to coordinate schedules without it being an “Event”.

And it would be cool if there was a concurrent AOF-West event so that we could trade stories, pictures, and videos.

leeo45 said:

I am not a MX rider but I'll sign up for the race if the rest of you promise to not land on me as I roll the Death Jump (TM). Silver Springs MotoPark looks to be about 850 miles each way for me so it would be good if I could make this more than a one day destination. @Matt, Do you know if any of the other riding spots in the area are open on weekdays?


And just throwing a couple of thoughts into the planning mix ....

As someone who has helped organize such events for motorcycle groups in the past, I would suggest that we NOT try to have multiple east/southeast events this first time, at least not during the same time of year. Past experience says that it will significantly dilute the numbers at both events because very few people will try to attend both. I suspect it is especially true with the virus situation and the current uncertainty of many people’s work schedules and family obligations.

Since it appears most of the interest is in the NE, I would say hold the “Official 2021 AOF-East” event somewhere near all of you (Silver Springs, Matt’s Place, ?) . If a few people also want to come ride in Georgia at Highland Park and/or Durhamtown those places are open at 360+ days a year. We can try to coordinate schedules without it being an “Event”.

And it would be cool if there was a concurrent AOF-West event so that we could trade stories, pictures, and videos.

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I like your thoughts and to answer your question about other ride spots, yes. Tall pines which is all trails is open all week and is 45 minutes from my land. Kissing bridge the ski hill that operates as a Moto park in the summer has had varying hours through the years but have included weekdays they are about an hour away from my land. I could get in contact with them about procuring a day to ride there if there was enough interest if they weren't going to already be open. They hold specialty events regularly. There is also another place similar to tall pines that I haven't been to around a half hour away that I believe is open all week. Lastly Ed who I mentioned at the beginning of this post runs the motorcycle program at Alfred State college which is about 40 minutes away just down the road from tall pines. They have many hundreds of acres with trail that the students have been building on them. Ed wanted to get all of us out to ride there when we were planning this together originally. I believe he got permission from the school but I may be mistaken in that. Either way it may be an option I know he wanted it to happen. I can talk with him more about that. About an hour and a half away is another Moto park called majestic trails in northern PA. It is huge and open all the time and awesome.

Additionally my father has wanted to hold a conjunction of bands to play a concert at our land for many years now and we are considering trying to combine these if the Alta rally ends up at our place again. This is just ideas at this point still, so that is loose but may also be something cool to do in the evenings. I also can take a week off if people want to come earlier in the week and make it a longer event.