Team Lyle Garden State

Rally participants during briefing

My friends Anthony and Kate organize an 8 hour rally called the Team Lyle Garden State Rally (TLGSR). The rally is a fund raiser for Eddie's Road, an organization for at risk youth. The theme of this, the 2nd annual
rally, was Wright or Wrong, and took place in the end of September.

Wrong Way...

The rally started in Branchburg, NJ and had plenty of bonus locations around the state. I had picked a route that I felt comfortable with completing within the allowed 8 hours and a maximum of 500 miles. At 9 am we were off. The first thing that happened was that my GPS decided to recalibrate. I quickly pulled off waiting for the darn GPS to do its thing and suddennly I spotted one of the wild cards - a Wrong Way sign. Yeah! At least the stop was worth something. Finally the GPS was done with its re-calibration and off we went again.

The weather was simply gorgeous and traffic was not too bad. I was not successful in finding two of the bonuses I had on my list and wasted some time looking for them. The one thing I'm learning about doing these kind of rallies is that time matters. And wasted time is just that - wasted time. Not worth any points and eats up valuable riding time.

Continued the ride which lead me to Trenton. There were three bonuses available. Two of them easy to find. I saw a fellow rally rider behind me at the State Capitol building but lost hm as I went searching for the last

The elusive grave stone

bonus. This one was supposedly located in a cemetery. After searching for about five minutes in an area that was, let's just say "interesting", I took a photo of what I hoped to be the bonus location and quickly got back on the bike to head out of the city.

My ride took me through some beautiful countryside and through Flemington. Traffic was crazy in Flemington and I had a real close call with a car that almost side swiped me. With a pounding heart and the need to breathe I pulled over to take a break. It is not often I feel the need to get off the bike but this was one of those moments. I sat on the ground and released all the stress from the close call.

Back on Blackie and out in to the countryside again. The temperature was in the low 70's and the sun shining. Very nice riding weather. Rode by farm stands filled with pumpkins and mums. Signs for corn mazes and hay rides. Simply a beautiful day to be on the bike and for a good cause.

The nice policeman

Passed by an intersection with some road construction and suddenly realized there was a police officer there. Could I possibly stop and ask him to help me out with one of the wild card bonuses? Well, you don't know if you don't ask. The bonus was to have a police officer hold your rally flag while you take a photo of him or her. There were extra points if you could get them to turn on the lights on the cruiser. I must admit, I'm not good at these kind of things but I parked the bike, mustered up the courage and asked the police officer in my sweetest voice if he could possibly help me. He was more than happy to assist. And no, I did not ask him to turn on the lights...

Continued on and found more of the bonuses on my list - A giant gun as a mailbox, Washington Cycle Works, a State Police barrack and sign, a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house
just to mention a few. Due to my "close call" earlier I was behind schedule and realized I would not make some of the bonus stops I had planned to visit and make it back to rally head quarters in time. The penalty to come in late was stiff and I didn't have enough points to afford such deduction.

My bonus swap

I went looking for another Frank Lloyd Wright designed house in the Bernardsville area and rode through some great curvy roads, hills and valleys and past beautiful scenery. In town I found that I could utilize another one of the wildcard bonuses. You could pick one of the bonuses in a category and replace it with something similar. Since I knew I would not be able to visit the bonus including the Star Ledger office (news paper) I spotted the sign for the Bernardsville News. Score! And then I found the police station and some very nice police officers who helped me out with that wild card bonus.

Now it was time to head back. I had enough time to take the back roads and enjoy the ride. Rolled in to rally head quarters with about 10 minutes to spare and was happy to be back safe and finishing a good ride. The volunteer ladies logged my time and mileage and I sat down to go over everything in my rally book. Make sure times and mileage (odometer reading) were recorded correctly by each bonus I was claiming. Make sure the wild card sheet was properly filled out. Oh, and bring in "Ron's famous peach cobbler" from Washington Cycle Works. Which by the way, is not a edible peach cobbler but a can of something (I never did find out what it was...) to use for your motorcycle.

I ended up with 53,450 points and took 7th place in the rookie category. I scored a gift certificate for Chevy's Mexican Restaurant. Thank you very much!. My goal was to enjoy the ride and finish so I can happily say I did that! I also got to see my friends Kate, Anthony and Hammy and I met some new like minded folks who I am sure I will get to know better and enjoy meeting at future rallies and rides.

Hats off to Kate and Anthony and all the volunteers for  making my first Team Lyle Garden State Rally a success and I can't wait to do it again next year!

Arriving back at rally head quarters