Maybe you’re like me and you used to race. Roadrace, supermoto, motocross. At some point you quit: too expensive, too time-consuming, or maybe you just got tired of setting off metal detectors from all the hardware in your bones. But you still love riding, and riding fast, pushing your limits of skill and endurance in a controlled environment. Sport-touring is fun, but it’s often a solitary event: “You want to compare yourself with other people,” Colorado sport-touring enthusiast John Metzger told me.
So back in 1986, Metzger and a pack of riding buddies set out to see how many mountain passes they could ride in four days. That became a tradition, and in 2006, to celebrate 20 years of riding the passes, Metzger and friends put together an event they called the “Cinquantipassi” – 50 passes. The format was similar to touring rallies like the “Centopassi” (100 passes) event held every year in Italy, only more flexible and relaxed. Metzger’s rally wasn’t a balls-to-the-walls bladder-busting death march like an Ironbutt event (he questions the wisdom of having riders travel at high speeds on interstates during the night). Rather, the routes were laid out to be challenging, exhilarating, and completed in a day’s riding at a reasonable pace. The goal is to find “the best roads where I’m going to be pushing the adhesion limits and doing the most leaning.” That’s the point of sport-touring, no? Metzger noted that “more and more people are doing this kind of riding, but nobody’s organizing this, nobody’s competing.”
So Metzger and co-founder Paul DiMarchi put the Motomarathon Association together to form a sanctioning body for organized sport-touring. The first event will be held June 12-15, 2009 in the mountain resort of Keystone, Colorado. Routes will be announced the night before each day’s ride, and the next day, riders must complete the route – in a proscribed order – in 24 hours, using cameras to document each landmark. Each day must be completed by 8:00 pm, avoiding night riding. At the end of the four days of riding, the participant with the lowest completion time that hits all the checkpoints will be the top-ranked rider. It sounds easy, until you think about the last time you tried to ride 1600 miles on unfamiliar high-altitude roads. When John sent a dozen riders to test the concept last year, only 2 of them were able to fully complete the ride. Metzger sees this type of rally as a way to provide a fun and competitive event for all kinds of riders, including our touring and cruiser bretheren.
June’s rally will be sponsored in part by Ducati North America, which will supply a fleet of Hypermotards to try in their native habitat: bumpy, twisty mountain roads where speed limits are enforced more by the laws of physics than the laws of Man. Space is limited (Metzger expects 50-125 riders) and the Keystone Lodge is offering a special rate for rally participants. If you can’t make the June rally, another is planned for September. Can’t make it to Colorado? Metzger says organizers in other parts of the country, including Arizona and California, are inquiring about setting up Motomarathons locally.
MD Readers Respond:
- “At the end of the four days of riding, the participant with the lowest completion time that hits all the checkpoints will be the top-ranked rider.”
If the above quote is accurate, then this event fits the legal definition of a race on public roads. Even if this event is allowed to take place by law enforcement, which I doubt will happen, none of the participants will have any insurance coverage should they have an incident, since participating in a race will nullify their policy. Not only that, but if one of the racers were to injure someone else during the race, do you think there would be grounds for a lawsuit? John
- I had never heard of that and it really sounds interesting although I prefer
to compete with myself doing IBA rides – in daylight hours preferrably. And
Motomarathons don’t necessarily have to be a competition. A couple of years
ago, my GF and I did a “Ride The Divide” in Colorado: http://www.ldrider.ca/ridethedivide/index.htm David - Motomarathon sounds like a cool ride and a lot of fun. I question why John Metzger needs to question what others riders chose to do though. The statement accredited to John “(he questions the wisdom of having riders travel at high speeds on interstates during the night)” seems to be disparaging to riders who chose to ride Iron Butt type rides.
Myself I like to challenge myself and push the limits. I don’t think that makes me not smart as John suggest. Here is a link to my last ride it was a blast and I was safe at all times. http://www.gregrice.com/trifecta/Tales_From_The_Trifecta.htm Thank you, Greg
