EXR Treasures of Yosemite Rally

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Expresso Riders invite you to join us in May for the Treasures of Yosemite Rally.

Visit http://expressoriders.org/2010%20Rally.htm for links to registration and video of the 2008 Yosemite ride.

Expresso Riders of Northern California will host the Treasures Of Yosemite Rally on May 14-16, 2010 at the Tenaya Lodge of Yosemite; located just south of the Wawona entrance to the park on Hwy 41. The rally is a BMW road touring event encouraging couples both two-up and one & one, plus riding buddies of every stripe to ride the scenic byways of Yosemite National Park, while comfortably lodging in the fabulous, four star Tenaya Lodge.

A weekend of fun, food, frivolity, and friendship awaits you just minutes from one of our greatest national treasures, Yosemite National Park as well as the back roads of the western Sierra Nevada.

The Rally begins at noon on Friday, May 14th and runs through noon Sunday, May 16th. Renown motorcycle safety expert and AMA Hall of Fame inductee David L. Hough will be guest speaker at several seminars during the rally. Group room rates have been established at $169 per night (you will receive the Group Rate booking code with your paid Rally Packet). Registration for the event is $89.00 per person which includes Friday chef's hors d'ouvres reception, Saturday banquet, and all scheduled events, tours, and trinkets. In order to preserve a quality experience space is limited at this event. Registration is now open!

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Howdy, while confirming everything for the Rally, we checked with the Tenaya Lodge. They put a block of rooms aside for us and discounted the rooms as well. ((A savings of almost $100)) If you have not checked into staying at the resort, I’d suggest you get after it. The resort coordinator said that they are sold out of King rooms, however if you book online the system is a little more flexible, as they will allow the reservation. They still have a good selection of deluxe doubles and double queens but the resort coordinator said the bookings have been steadily increasing. Also She did mention the entire hotel could be sold out by mid-March.
Registration runs for about another month but room accommodations continue on a first available basis. Time to make that decision!

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The Tenaya Lodge is running out of rooms for our rally weekend and they now anticipate selling out the weekend in the next 30 days or so. If you call to reserve they have stated that they are out of king and queen rooms. However, I just grabbed two King rooms today on-line. They are currently pricing the remaining deluxe doubles at $245 per night to the public. The lodge feels public reservations will naturally slow due to the lack of room selection but can make no guarantees. There are about 50 deluxe double rooms left at this time. If you want to get in to this If you have not made a reservation for a room at Tenaya, now is the time! You must register to get the group rate code...

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T-minus 67 days and counting.
Just to check in as the rally is firming up on the offerings. Registration is set to close off by the 15th, and space at the lodge is getting sparse. Not that the ones on the fence can’t get in, but it is getting limited. A few of the group has reserved additional rooms in our names to hold until the last minute to help those that can’t/wont commit by the registration deadline. There may be some offerings that will not be available to those last minute riders, but the room and rate will be the least of you worries.
That said we are on line with Dave Hough. He will be presenting three different seminars. “Bossing the Bike”, “Why Don’t They See Us?” and a debut of a brand new seminar called “Second Rider”. This is on top of “Coffee with Dave” each morning.
A group tour will also be offered to include all of the sights and sounds Yosemite has to offer, up, down and sideways through the valley with a stop for lunch.
As for the location, the lodge has graciously agreed to set up a special and secure parking area. Friday night (check-in) will kick off with a Welcome reception, goodie bag and rally specific information as well as a roaming photographer to catch us during our travels around the park. Also of note, the Silent Auction continues to grow. Bidding on the many motorcycle and non-motorcycle related items as well as taking your chances with the 50/50 raffle. A percentage goes to support MOA Camp Gears.

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Well then, it’s been about a week since the rally concluded. We had a just under 100 people (46 couples and a few odd balls) showed for our little shindig. Most noticeable was Gale S. From Texas to Yosemite on her F650 GS and who could forget Bill B. who almost did not make it due to what was suspected as operator error (overfilled the tank) but had to let us all know after he’d gotten home that it was the fuel pump. Ya, right sure it was! (A special side note: Ron M. - If you have not seen an LT mounted to a flatbed truck via a 3ft Tommy gate, look this man up!) The Rally was just small enough to meet everyone yet large enough to avoid the “odd” folks! (You know who you are!) That said, the venue, while a little on the pricy side, bent over backwards for us all. Not once did they complain or order the drinks not to be served!! David H was ever present though out the event. While I only saw him from a distance, he was seen mixing with the newbs as well as discussing his wares with everyone, mostly in small groups throughout the weekend, this was in addition to his 6 planned get-to-gethers. The weather cooperated nicely and the storms that left a little snow earlier in the week had passed. If not for the construction at the intersection below Glacier point, the road would have been open. (Oh well, always next year I guess!) Two organized rides were on for Saturday. One into the park to experience water levels not seen since the floods and another south through the Sierra National Park (Mammoth Pool Rd- OMG- all those twisties!!!) Photogs were in place to capture everyone along the park ride and throughout the event, made available through the website for free (expressoriders.org) surprisingly most thought this was a highlight. For me, it’s just a chance to gawk and laugh!!! (Yes, I will burn!) The event was capped off Saturday night by a proper dinner and yes more libations, a 50/50 raffle (that I won and no it was not rigged!), silent auction of several good deals and of course more drinking and mingling. All in all through both first had and written reviews that were received EVERYONE had a great time and thought that we (Expresso Riders) had been doing these things for years. As the inaugural rally, I sure can’t wait to see what we come up with next year!!!

http://expressoriders.org/gallery/v/Unc ... mite+2010/

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A few pictures of the rally and its goings on are in order...

http://expressoriders.org/gallery/v/TOY2010/