Canadian Rally Anyone?

In another thread about the Calabogie racetrack the following comment was made and it got me thinking:

Calabogie...............what a spot for an FJR Rally. Which one of you upper Canadians are able to pull that off ?

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I live very close to the Calabogie race track (Carleton Place if you want to look it up on a map). Its on the eastern edge of some of the best motorcycle roads in Ontario and the Calabogie racetrack is right in the middle of them.

I have been salivating at the thought of doing a track day at Calabogie since they announced they were going to be building the track almost 5 years ago. After attending the last couple EOM's I have also been considering that its time to do a Canadian FJR rally. But I had not put the two ideas together until it was mentioned here.

You are spot on CanadianFJR in saying that it’s a great spot for a rally. That entire chunk of Ontario is a marvelous area for sport touring. Looking on a map it would be basically defined by the area:

• North of Hwy 7
• South and east of Algonquin Park
• East of Haliburton
• North-East of Peterborough
• West of Renfrew, Arnprior.

I organized a rally once before in this area for another bike club I belonged to. But it suffered from a lack of attendance because most of the members were Yanks and pretty much scared silly about the idea of having to cross an international border. So I am a bit hesitant to put the effort in organizing a rally (especially if it requires out of pocket expenses like track rental) if the interest in attending isn't there.
But I suspect the FJR group might be a bit better in that respect. The FJR types are a little bit more open to travel. (Very few trailer queens!) Plus there is enough of a membership of Canadian FJR riders that it could still be successful anyways. A basic Rally itself would be easy enough to setup, the track day would take a bit more.

For just a Rally you would only need about a half-dozen people to show serious interest. For a track day it would probably require at least a dozen bikes before the track rental would be reasonable (this is just a WAG at this point).

But I will make this offer. If enough people were to show interest for next season I think I might be able to be talked into organizing this. I would guess sometime next year, either early spring or later summer and into the fall. (Fellow Canadians will understand why I am avoiding mosquito and blackfly season!)

So, anyone interested?

I would be very interested in riding around Ontario. How far would that be from Oregon? BB1000 opportunity?

Bill

650cent said:

I would be very interested in riding around Ontario. How far would that be from Oregon? BB1000 opportunity?
Bill

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BBG opportunity! I would be very interested if the timing fits - my sister lives on Otty Lake near Perth.

Hey Colin,

Well I'm even closer to Calabogie and also marshall at the track.

I can offer some tent space on the lawn and we are are on the water (Ottawa river) with a nice beach.

About the track, It's private and only open to groups not single riders.

Your looking at $5000 per day to rent and the groups we have had are one of the schools with alfiliations with AMA or CMA, about your only chance to to ride on the track would be through a track day organised via FAST or a dealer day.

Chris

Colin,

Depends on what dates early fall sounds good to me. I would definitely be interested. Were you the one at EOM that did an SS1K to get there? If I remember correctly your father was there also?

Just don't cross over the border pal, or all your beer are ours......

Count me in!

Re Calabogie, my inside contact tells me there is a private track day booked on June 9 & 10 and the group organizing will invite some other "mature riders" (i.e. non racers who will not "spoil" the track day for the safety oriented hosting group) in order to fill out the track day complement. Calabogie being a big track they are looking at 3 groups of 35 riders per day overall. They could probably handle several dozen FJR riders each day at something like $2xx.00 per day. They would welcome a bunch of FJRs on the track! :clapping:

If interested, I can formally approach the organizer.

BTW the cost to rent the track per day is actually $10K ($7K for the track and $3k for mandatory amb & corners workers).

Also Team ProMotion has a public track day booked in May sometime; the date is not posted yet.

Set a date I will do my best to round up all the FJR riders from the Maritimes. The only big conflict would be June 22-24 (www.aldersland.com). With enough notice, I should be able to get a good sized group. B)

"Build it and they will come"

Canadian FJR

Yeah I might come... I'll go for a ride on the roads but not on the track.

Oh oh There goes another weekend I can't sit at home.

Count me in...would prefer the Fall to the Spring.

gypsy

Interested, depending on the date, anyone else form Montreal coming ?

Sounds good, but that is a long way away. We will see when the time comes, schedule permitting.

Fall period sounds nice.

gypsy said:

Count me in...would prefer the Fall to the Spring.
gypsy

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I might be interrested... Depends on my schedule on the chosen date.

I would be interested as well. Coming from the west coast, would be a good opp for anyone wishing to do a BBG or other LD certificate.

Keep us posted dudes!!

Depending on actual dates, Have passport will travel.

Okay. It's been a while since I posted the earlier message so I figure it was time to chime in again.

First off. considering the cost numbers quoted and the response I doubt a track day is in the cards.

Second. I suspect there is enough interest for the rally though. :yahoo:

So I guess the next order of business is to start narrowing down a date and a location. I think a late summer or fall rally would be best and seems to have the most support. the other FJR rally dates are:

- WFO - July 26-29

- CFO - Sept 20-23

- SWFOG - Sept 28-Oct 1

- EOM - Not announced yet

(Likely the 2nd or 3rd weekend in September based on past rallies)

I dont want to hold the rally over the labour day weekend (Sept 3rd) since both I (and I assume many others) will have other things planned.

August is tricky. I know many families are still on summer vacation. But the last weekend in August before labour day is a consideration.

Working on the _guess_ that the EOM will schdule on either the 8th or the 15th. We could pick the other weekend that they dont take.

We might also consider the same weekend as the SWFOG, the Sept 29 weekend. Not that I am trying to step on anyone's toes. But I suspect the SWFOG rally is the least likely to have overlap of people who would want to attend both. The weather is a bit cooler at this time of year but still comfortable. But there is the risk of unseasonably cool at this time of year and the days are getting shorter.

The more I think about it and look it at I think I kinda like either the Aug 25 weekend or the Sept 8th. The sept 8th may be the sweetest if the EOM is not held this day. Weather is still good but all the cottagers have headed home for the winter. Of course Aug25 is more likely to have all the facilities open (Labour day is the traditional close of season around here).

So, any thoughts?

- Colin

I'm interested in riding some nice roads in Ontario. It does not look like planning for an Ohio or WV ride is going too far in the midwest forum.

You may want to post this in the Midwest forum for more visibility and input. I do agree overlapping with SWFOG is much less of a problem than EOM. Could be wrong.

There are several active FJR touring riders closeby (NY, IL, IN, OH) that would make the trip if we have a half baked plan and can do burnouts in BugR's yard. Did I say that??

I would lean towards Sept 8th. Provides a little spacing from WFO for those of us planning to be there!

FastJoyRide said:

I would lean towards Sept 8th. Provides a little spacing from WFO for those of us planning to be there!

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I would prefer Sept 8th.

gypsy