SoundRider! Rally in the Gorge in Washington & Oregon
(the Columbia Gorge) August 2 - 5, 2012
My review

Trolling around on the Internet lead to the discovery of the SoundRider! Rally in the Gorge - the Columbia River Gorge, July 30 - Aug. 5. It promoted itself as four rallies - for sport bikes, for sport touring bikes, for dual sports, and for maxi-scoot (scooters) - combined into one.

We decided to give it a go - we really love talking with other motorcyclists, particularly those that travel by such, at least a bit (as opposed to just day rides around town).

Because of work, we couldn't be at the rally until Thursday evening - after the rally had already been going for two days.

Some things we really liked about the rally:

• The test rides. I never get to test ride motorcycles, because the motorcycles are always too tall. This time, however, a guy from a Triumph dealership brought two Zero electric bikes, and one was low enough for me! That ride was the highlight of the entire rally. There's no klutch, no gears, and no sound - and that motorcycle is super zippy! CRAZY. Stefan had the biggest grin on his face I've ever seen when he came back from his ride. Huge shoutout to Joel Walson of Cycle Barn for being, by far, the friendliest, most helpful sales associate we've ever encountered. Stefan also got to test ride a BMW 1200 GS and a BMW 800 GS - the first time he has ever ridden a BMW (can you believe it?! Don't all Germans grow up riding BMWs?). The BMW folks were also super nice.
  

• The route maps. We know this area fairly well - it's our favorite local place to ride - and the group ride on Friday was through and to places we had been before. But the Rally makes all of its suggested rides in the area available, on both paper and via GPS. They even have two off-road routes they classify as "easy" that we're excited to give a try later this year. We really appreciate having these routes all mapped out, with lots of commentary from previous riders, that we can do any time, not just during the rally. 
• Access to Maryhill Loops Road. It's a private, super-winding, short dead-end road with about 9 sharp turns near the Stonehenge monument. The Rally rents it out for an entire day, and for one afternoon, all attendees get access to it for as many trips up and down it as they like. I  went just once - I'm a slow poke, and I knew I'd just hold everyone up. Stefan went up and down twice. He would have done more, but it was too hot.
  
• The facilities at the Skamania County Fairgrounds in Stevenson, Washington. Plenty of well-maintained bathrooms and showers - at least for the women (because there's always less women at these kinds of events than men). 

• Breakfast and supper Saturday being included in the price. And the food was decent both times. AND the meals were in an air-conditioned facility!
  

• Some of the other attendees. Through a lot of walking around and greeting different people, we finally found a few who were friendly and happy to talk (took a lot of effort on our part, however).

• The "outsider" feeling. SoundRider is, basically, a club, and if you aren't a part of that club, you may never feel like a part of the event. There was never a "welcome to the rally!" moment - at least not for people like us, that arrived Thursday evening or later. We were frequently asked to show our wristbands, sometimes by the same person, and a couple of guys seemed disappointed when we were able to show that, yes, we're supposed to be here. We often felt like maybe we weren't supposed to be there. 

• The programs/presentations/workshops, both in terms of content and timing. In the evening, for instance, when all the riders are supposed to come together, the announcers never opened with "Welcome to the Rally! My name is ______, and this is ________. If you've never been here before - a big welcome to you!" Instead, two guys would get on stage and just start rambling - no introduction - and with all sorts of inside jokes that you had to be a frequent attendee or a member of SoundRider! to understand. They also always seemed lost - what are we supposed to be doing now? We never knew if the evening program was something that was going to have any information of any value for us, and often ended up giving up and going back to our tent or to walk around the grounds. What few presentations were available in the mornings we were there didn't appeal to us at all - most of the daytime presentations happen on Wednesday and Thursday - you miss those days, you miss 75% of the presentations/workshops.
  

• The changing rules. Our first night (Thursday), we were in the closed beer garden (it closes at 10), getting to know some other riders and having a really nice first few minutes at the rally. A rally organizer came over as 11 neared and told us that it was quiet time, we had to stop. That's fine. But then the next night, the evening program went on... and on... and on... until midnight, at least. Apparently, when the rider organizers want to sleep, they enforce quiet hours, but when they want to stay up, EVERYONE stays up.

• The beer garden/alcohol policy. You can either go to the beer garden and buy over-priced beer and wine, and your non-drinking friends can sit there going dry (no outside drinks allowed), or you can have non-alcoholic drinks you've brought at your camp site. Not sure the rally organizers can do anything about that - that's probably some wacky state law.
  


• The woman with the lowered Triumph Tiger who was so obviously annoyed by my request to sit on her bike. What 5' 4" woman or shorter isn't happy to help another short biker know about her motorcycle options?! Apparently this one. If you don't want to socialize and be helpful to other riders, do NOT go to a motorcycle rally. She's how a lot of attendees were, actually - very aloof, not really showing any sign of wanting to chat. It got so frustrating to try to start a conversation with attendees - I guess since we weren't "in the club", we weren't worth talking to?


• Not allowing motorcycles next to camp sites in the tent camping section. Motorcycles are just fine in the other camp site at the fairgrounds. A few people ignored the ban, to load or unload something. By the end of the rally, everyone was ignoring the ban, driving their bikes right up to their camp sites to load up. Postscript: it turns out that the rule, contrary to what we were told, is that you CAN drive your bike up to your tent to unload and load up your camp. How do I know this now? Keep reading.
  

• The featured speaker. I'm not going to say who it is - you can go to the web site to see. The organizers were so proud to have him - and were stunned that so few people stayed for his evening program - I over-heard them complaining about it constantly the next day. Let me tell you why I didn't stick around: (1) He talked way too fast. I couldn't understand what he was saying most of the time. It was like he was trying to cram a two-day workshop into an hour. I don't learn that way - by the machine-gun style of teaching. I don't think most people do. Slow the frak down! (2) I couldn't understand what he was trying to teach. He would do a demonstration, rambling most of the time, and when he was done, I had to ask my husband - who is not a native English speaker, but is an experienced motorcyclist - to translate what I was supposed to have just learned. And he struggled, because he wasn't always sure what the guy was trying to say/teach either. (3) He was focused entirely on people who like to speed. He assumes all motorcyclists like to go way, way over the speed limit, all the time, particularly around curves. That's not me at all. Therefore, he seemed to have no advice for me - or if he did, he talked so fast I never heard it. (4) He told us again and again that his two-day workshops cost $1100 and are sold out months in advance. If I heard it once, I heard it half a dozen times. Once would have been enough. 

• Can a Team Oregon representative do a presentation and not put in a dig or two at the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, whether they name them or not? Having encountered their reps three times now as presenters, I'd say - nope. Very childish - makes me not want to listen to the rest of the program. Let it go!
  

• Puget Sound Safety representatives being so inaccessible. I had wanted to take the Dual Sport basics course, but it was sold out by April. It was offered only once - on Thursday (like many other rally attendees, we couldn't be there until Thursday evening). We saw the company trailer was there for the entire rally - we walked by the camp site probably four times at different times of day over three days, hoping to talk with someone (I've been thinking of going up to Puget Sound for one of their trainings), but no one was ever there, and there was no info booth in the vendor booth area. At their camp site, we found some brochures almost hidden behind some of their equipment on the ground. Makes me wonder about the very big time and money investment of taking their course - was this just a fluke that we couldn't find anyone to talk to? 

• That damn train! It goes by all night, blaring its horn. Nothing organizers can do about that, of course. But, wow, it's annoying!

• This isn't really four different rallies; it's just one rally. There are not lots of programs tailored for specific groups; most activities are meant for all attendees. But it is, indeed, very welcoming to all four groups of riders. 
  

• The presentation program changes frequently; the only way to know for sure what's happening in a day is to go to the vendor's area and read the white board. And note that most of the presentations happen the first two days. If you miss those days, you've missed most of the presentations - Friday and Saturday are mostly about riding (which is awesome, if I haven't made that clear).
  

• There is no shade in the tent camping ground. None. 3 - 6 p.m. in the tent camping ground is Hell on Earth. I cannot put into words how hot it is. Don't be there at that time. Go sit at a restaurant if it's also too hot to ride at that time. The advantages of that camp ground over the other: closer to the bathrooms and closer to the vendor areas. Just drive right on to unload your gear - if someone says you should do that, just say sorry, finish, then put your bike in the barn. Then do it again on Sunday when it's time to load up.
  

• There are only about three picnic tables in the entire camping area. If you want to eat or cook at your campsite, bring a travel table or panniers you can cook on.
  

• Get to know the people offering test rides and take at least one!

• Load up on the printed out routes, free and available in the rally store area, and get them on your GPS as well - you can take them any time, not just during the rally.
  

• There's plenty of places to eat in the area - Stevenson has lots of restaurants, as does Bingen, about 30 minutes father East. And the walk to downtown Stevenson from the campground is a fairly easy schlep. There's also food for sale in the main hall for breakfast and supper.
  

• The ride between Bingen and Maryhill is a frying pan. It was well over 100 degrees when we road back from Maryhill at 3 p.m. If you are going to do the Maryhill Loops road, get there right when the rally opens it to all riders. And on your way back, plan a long break in an air-conditioned restaurant (we stopped in Bingen for an hour in order to cool down).

• If you've never stopped at Stonehenge, you should on your way back from Maryhill Loops.
  

• The bathrooms and showers under the grandstand aren't as busy as the ones near the stage.
  

• If you aren't going to be there for the opening on Wednesday - if you are going to arrive Thursday night, for instance - you may feel quite the outsider for the entire rally, as we did.
  

• Most rally attendees are 55 or older. Kind of surprised AARP didn't have a presence there. Nothing wrong with that age group - but it was weird to be in my 40s and feel like a youngster.

• Much of the rally is staffed by a Christian motorcycle riding group. If you are a secularist like me, or someone who is of a different faith, fear not: they let their t-shirts and coffee cups do the proselytizing for them. We never got asked to pray or if we were saved - and we very much appreciated that!
  

• Moto-FERNREISE-Treffen by the famous (infamous?) Bernd Tesch, Belgium & Germany, April 2006 (if you haven't heard of Bernd, you aren't *really* an international motorcycle traveler)
  

• Freunde der Africa Twin Rally, Germany, June 2008

• Horizons Unlimited 2010 California meeting, From Oregon to the "Lost Coast" of Northern California, August 2010

• Tynda Burning Moto Man, for international motorcycle travelers, near Eugene, Oregon, June 2010 and June 2011.
  

What makes a great motorcycle rally (& rallies I have attended)

Tips for Women: Getting Started as a Motorcycle Rider (just to ride, not necessarily to travel as well)

For Women Who Travel By Motorcycle (or want to)

Advice for Women Motorcycle Travelers: Transportation and Accommodations Choices

Advice for Women Motorcycle Travelers: Suggested Books and Web Sites