Cal 24 Summary

Another fantastic Cal 24 is in the books. I had a great time and finished well too. It was really two rallies in one. The first half was a nod to the Bite the Bullet event from 15 years ago. There were 6 bonus locations along a predefined route. At each "bullet" the rider would participate in a brief whimsical activity. I hit 5 of the six mandatory bullets.

Bullet 1 - shoot a paintball pellet into the target on the back of your rally shirt. This bonus was about 10 miles away from the rally start in Dunnigan.

Bullet 2- I had a hard time finding this one near Oroville Dam. The instructions were not very clear. I looked for awhile, then gave up and continued. Many other riders found this bullet eventually.

Bullet 3 - buy a flower from some Hare Krishnas in Quincy. This bonus was hilarious because it featured legendary hardass Warchild pretending to be a kind and mellow loving sort of guy. Yeah, right. Also the Johnsons from Texas were along for the merriment. The ride from Oroville to Quincy was along Bucks Lake Road. Awesome twisties!

Bullet 4 - eat a mystery sandwich at Daggett Pass, NV (Kingsbury Grade above south Lake Tahoe.) Whoever was there before you made your sandwich from the variety of ingredients. Then you got to make the sandwich for the next guy. I was lucky, and my part time riding partner Reno John Austin made me a delicious sandwich of honey, turkey, and cheese. Yummy! I wasn't as nice - I made one of turkey and baby food, and left it for the lucky chap who arrived next. Alan Pratt and John Langan staffed this one.

Bullet 5 - put on lipstick at Walker Lake, NV. Rallymaster Mark Crane was there with a choice of pink or orange. I chose orange, and apparently did a lousy job of it, because for the rest of the ride I got lots of laughs whenever I took my helmet off.

Bullet 6 - get your nails painted by John Langan at Rawhide Mine, NV. This remote location was also the hiding spot of the Cal 24 Police. This is a long and funny story which I'm too lazy to type right now. Suffice it to say I had a personal encounter with the cops.

There were also two optional bullets: a hot springs in CA, which fit right in after Daggett Pass, and the Shoe Tree in NV, about 15 minutes away from Rawhide. I earned both of these bullets, for a total of seven. For my efforts I was awarded seven bullets when I arrived at the checkpoint in Yerington, NV. I fired away at my t-shirt target and did pretty well too!

The second half of the rally had either a base route that stayed fairly local, or some big points bonii with accompanying high miles to the far north of the state. The base route had a ton of small bonii, and it would be a lot of work to get them all. I opted to take the big points and the big mileage. After picking up the freebie in Yerington, I went to LD mecca Gerlach, NV. From there I planned to go north to Fort Bidwell and two other towns on the Oregon border. But as I ran the scenarios I didn't think I had the time to make all that mileage, so I realigned. After Gerlach I went to Burney, CA.

Outside Burney my odometer turned over 100,000 miles. I stopped for photos. It was 2:37 AM. It was a memorable moment in my riding career, having it turn over during a rally.

My last and most valuable bonus, was Hayfork, CA. This tiny town is only reachable by miles and miles of twisty roads. There are two ways into this town, and both of them are long. I had a very nice ride to Hayfork. I arrived there as the sun came up. I was so far away from rally HQ that I was unable to arrive by 8 AM. I was 17 minutes late, which cost me 10 points per minute at the scoring table. In the end that penalty didn't cost me a thing in the final standings, as the fifth place rider beat me by more than 170 points.

The top two riders - well, do I really have to name them? Who else would they be? Jeff Earls (first) and Eric Jewell (second.) Reno John Austin rounded out the podium. Jeff and Eric both rode the base route on the second leg. I should have paid closer attention to the math. Had I been as smart as they were, I think I would have won the rally. I say that because I was tied with Eric Jewell after the first leg, but he didn't get all the Leg 2 bonii. Earls did. Since I beat Jeff in Leg 1 and could have beaten Eric in Leg 2 (had I done it), the rally was mine. All I needed to do was make the right decision when the Leg 2 bonus sheet was handed out. Lesson learned - do the math!! 4th and 5th place were covered by Dave Biasotti and Brian Roberts, who successfully swept the northern route.

I have no regrets over making the wrong choice for the 2nd leg. It was a very fun rally, and well run by all the staff. I had an excellent time. And to top it all off, Sally and Claire surprised me by showing up at the finishers banquet. I couldn't ask for a better Fathers Day present. The more rallies I do the more fun I have, and the more friends I make. The LD community is really a great bunch and I'm proud to be a member.