The Candy Ass Adventure - August 10 - 11

August 10, 2019

Saturday afternoon was free for staff.  Eric and I walked next door for lunch.  Geez!!!! Eric ordered a chicken fried steak breakfast burrito (who even knew such a thing exists?).  This sucker filled the entire plate and was freaking massive!  Hahaha, yes he finished it ;-)

My meal was a bit more modest, lol, but I still managed to eat most of it ;-)

 We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with other staffers just shooting the bull until it was time for staff dinner.  We all crammed into the hotel shuttle and Justin's van and head to The Ale House, a brew pub restaurant.  I think we were a group of 17 as a few staff opted to skip dinner.  This is a very nice place with awesome food and drinks.  Very popular too as it was Saturday night so it was pretty busy.  You can check it out here The Ale House

Outside, the Ale House had a big tank that was covered in stickers - so - I put a sticker on it! Hahaha!

After all that eating and enjoying adult beverages it was time to chill.  We were in bed by 10 pm and asleep by 10:10 pm.  Tomorrow is the big finish day and scoring opens at 9 am.  We have a staff meeting at 8:30 so we'll be getting up early enough to eat (of course) and then get to the meeting.

Stay tuned for the next chapter!!!!

August 11, 2019

Today is the day we'll find out how this puzzle shakes out.  Who finishes and who doesn't and how everyone ends up in the standings.  Riders can check in as early as 9 am and have to finish scoring within 2 hours of checking in.  Last check in is 2 pm.  If a rider checks in a 2:01 pm they are DNF (Did Not Finish).  No grace here.  All scoring must be complete by 4 pm.

We already have a few riders with DNF status.  A couple of riders just were done and didn't meet the minimum mileage of 1,190 miles.  Less than 1,190 is an automatic DNF.  There is also a score minimum but if you don't have the mileage, you don't get scored.

So now we wait.  It's 10:15 am and only one rider has been to scoring.  He didn't not have sufficient corrected mileage and was an automatic DNF.  However, after talking with the Rally Master the decision was made that riders would be told their corrected mileage at check in (before scoring) and they could decide to complete check in at that time or if needed and time allowed, could go get more miles so they could proceed to scoring.  So, this particular rider is not staying at the host hotel and was not aware of the policy change and now the Rally Master is trying to track him down and give him the opportunity to grab those 21 elusive miles so he can be scored and maybe be a finisher.  I'll let you know what happens!  (Note - he didn't get the message in time but did come to the banquet.  Hope he comes back next year!).

Riders began to trickle in. Here is the first one for scoring.  Eric was in charge of checking riders who were ready to score and herding them into the scoring room.

Our Rally Master, Justin doing the grunt work of moving tables, setting out rally shirts and just generally herding cats.

 The scoring room.  Empty right now but soon to be a hub of activity.

 Outside at the front of the hotel is the check in station headed by Steve Aikens.  Here is where riders would stop the clock on their rally, get their odos checked and be warned about what to take to scoring.

 Luke R. arrives at the hotel with a plugged nose.  There must certainly be a story behind that but I don't know it!  (allergies!!)

 Riders finally start coming in.....

 A few needed to check into the hotel.

 Pay attention to what Eric is saying it may save your rally, hahahahaha!

 Time to start scoring riders.

 It got very intense as riders went through the process and hoped they didn't leave any points on the table.  Hint - several did.  And several left a LOT OF POINTS at the table.  Reading comprehension is important as is listening to Eric's litany before entering the scoring room.

 Barb Smith scoring Greg Farmer.  Greg came in FOURTH!  A stellar ride!

 Awwww, Maura Gatensby and Warchild having a moment waiting to score riders.

 John Langan was having a lot of fun scoring riders!

 Uh oh, rider had an issue - discussion ensues on how to handle it so he can score the points.  Solution accomplished!

The scoring room (where I was) was dead with only a few riders until about 1 pm and then it got crazy!  Fortunately, we had a lot of scorers and it went smoothly if intense.  Scoring was complete by 4:30 pm!  Awesome.

Then, it was finish banquet time.  Here are the trophies to be handed out.  Hardware for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and highest scoring two up riders.  *All two up teams finished in the top 50%*  As well as the highest efficiency being a two up team!  Well done!

 Along with trophies, there were a lot of raffle prizes.  All riders were eligible and I think Justin called out about 20 numbers or more.  Lots of peeps were happy about that!

 Just a few shots of riders and peeps at the banquet tables waiting for dinner.

 And a few pics of the awesome BBQ spread.  Brisket and chicken, done in house with their own sauces made by a hotel staff member.  Mmmmm.

 Then it was that most important time of all - announcing the finish status of the riders.

 But first, it seems a certain rider left his rally placard at his first bonus stop.  Of course they had to make the walk of shame to the front to collect their placard!  Good fun :-)

 Mario Winkleman (LD Comfort) entertained us with a story of a man he had met a few years ago at the HW3 rally.  This man really, really, really, wanted to participate but wasn't quite ready.  He showed up every year (even the year it wasn't held) to just hang out and learn.  This gentleman gifted a free entry to next year's rally!  How cool is that?  Hope he gets to ride it next year.  And thank you Mario for sharing that story!

 Then it was time to announce rider finish positions.  The room was still and you could feel the anticipation.  How did I do?  Who won? 

 At the end of the day, Mike Brooke was in First Place with an amazing ride of over 2,000 miles and more than 28,000 points!  HUGE!

Michael Best had a great ride and came in Second Place!  Well done!!!

 Bob Bowman was no slouch in Third Place!  Congrats!

Sadly, I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of the top Two-Up team, Steven Peugh and Vivian Vu who not only were the top Two-Up team but also 6th overall.  Well done!

 Some random pics of riders and staff following the banquet.  What a fun time for everyone!  Oh, best of all and most important, all riders were safe and accounted for!  That is absolutely the best outcome for any rally!

Craig Brooks managed a top ten finish!

Peter Green also managed a top ten finish!

Here are the final results.

Folks dispersed fairly quickly after the awards and most of us headed outside to shoot the bull just a little longer.  Following some wonderful discussions and visiting with peeps everyone wandered off to bed.  Tomorrow would find everyone riding off in all directions already planning their HW3 for next year!

It was an awesome event.  Justin Philipson was a marvelous Rally Master and Cat Herder.  All the volunteers worked hard to make the event seamless for the riders.  The riders were considerate and had a great time.  Oh boy!  That was simply FUN!

Tomorrow we head out to who knows where.  Stayed tuned to find out!

Cheers for now and thanks for following along.

Cletha