Blake Conner

November 14, 2018

That’s a Wrap On GEICO ADV Rally 2018!

With the end of the year fast approaching, the GEICO Adventure Rally & Camp just outside of Julian, California, was a great chance to get in one last ADV extravaganza for the year. This year’s change of venue proved to be a total hit with the 200-plus participants that converged on the Stagecoach Trails RV Resort in Southern California. The weekend is a combination of a competitive POI ADV challenge—that for the first time was managed almost entirely by the REVER app—Honda demo rides, scored skills tests, lots of campfire bench racing, live music, and yes plenty of beer provided by The Tap Truck.

GEICO Adventure Rally & Camp 2018 is in the books.

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***Zip-Ties can't fix chains as team Heavy Enduro discovered.***

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***This father/son duo took teammate to a whole new level in their Ural sidecar.***

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***Honda brought out its demo rig of Africa Twins, CRF450Ls and more.***

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Photos by Jean Turner

The weekend is a combination of a competitive POI ADV challenge—that for the first time was managed almost entirely by the REVER app—Honda demo rides, scored skills tests, lots of campfire bench racing, live music, and yes plenty of beer provided by The Tap Truck.

As in years past, the object of the competitive aspect of the rally is to visit as many of the 77 POI locations as possible over the course of the three-day event. REVER geofenced all of the locations so that scoring could be automated and logged on the Challenge leaderboard by participants tracking in the app. As always, we also asked the participants to make sure they posted images of their team at each location on Instagram as backup.

With such a large variety of POI locations—each with their own level of difficulty—the rally caters to riders of all skill levels. For those that wanted to be challenged, we offered sand, sand, and then some more sand thrown in for good measure, in addition to some Black Diamond (think skiing) rated trails that are no walk in the park. For those that don’t want to chuck their $18,000 ADV bikes down a cliff, we also created some exciting but less demanding blue trails, or for those that really just wanted to take in some scenic vistas, some easier paved locations.

In addition to the POIs, we created some other opportunities to score points: taking a demo ride on a brand new Honda Africa Twin or CRF450L earned teams 10 points. Attempting to navigate our cruel skills test courses also paid points—nothing like getting heckled by beer drinking onlookers while you dump your bike for the fourth time in a row! A long list of non-geofenced points were also included to encourage participants to slow down and look at the scenery. Snap a photo of your team with a donkey, that was worth an additional point!

After three days of riding and plenty of competition, the winning team (Team Manatee) edged out multitime GEICO ADV-Rally winners WildHumans by a scant 5 points! Over the course of three days, riders in the Challenge recorded 16,245 miles over 211 rides. Outside of the basecamp POI, the most visited location was Yaqui Well Camp Road, with 56 teams recording the POI, the least visited was a tie between three locations: Motor Transport Museum, Tecate Post Office, and Volcanic Hills, with three visits at each.

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***No where else do people chuck their expensive bikes on the ground, get heckled, and then smile themselves. That's ADV!***

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***Days end is always better with BEER!***

Team Manatee

This twosome piled up the miles over the course of three days. Here is one of the rides that helped them win the 2018 GEICO Adventure Rally & Camp.

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Team WildHumans

This husband and wife duo have won multiple Bonnier Motorcycle Group ADV Rallys in the past. Here is a sample of one of the rides that this year earned them a runner-up position.

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