The 2016 Grand Tour will run from April 1st - September 30th, 2015.
Entry fee is $25.00 (Individual) or $50 for 2-Up. To be considered a finisher you must accumulate 20 points. You will then earn a Grand Tour shirt and entry into the first prize drawing (additional prize drawings for higher point levels).
You do not need to be a GLMC member to participate; a rider number will be assigned to you if you do not already have one.
There is no cut-off date for entries. We've had riders sign up for a GLMC Grand Tour in August.
Locations
The tour this year will consist of two types of locations: General and Specific. The rider can choose General locations while the Specific locations are chosen by the Rallymaster.
All (Specific and General) locations are worth 1 point. All locations require a photo.
A rider could ignore the Specific locations and only visit General locations, or vice versa.
General Locations
- Murals - Painted art people make on the side of buildings or other structures in a town.
- County Courthouse - The name of the county needs to be visible in the photo.
- Veteran's Memorial - This could be a statue of a soldier, monument to a battle, or vehicles.
- Race Track - Bike, dirt track, Nascar, horses, etc. The name of the track or sign of the entrance of the track needs to be in the photo.
- Something Cool or Important to the Rider - This can really be just about anything, an interesting story would be great too.
The location photo must be labeled with the state and the nearest town. This will help with scoring and can be done by labeling the photo or including a separate list.
Riders can collect up to five General locations in each state.
Each General location can be used only once per state.
Specific locations can't be used for General locations. If we specify visiting the Simpson's mural in Oregon, you can't also claim it for your Oregon mural.
Specific Locations
Specific locations will be announced before the Grand Tour begins (Plan for end of February).
Expect about 2-10 Specific locations in each state. The northeast states will be lower due to their proximity to each other.
Nearly all the Specific locations have been verified using only Google maps & street view. If you can't find what we asked for get a photo of something near that location. This could be a business, intersection sign, etc. It would be helpful but not required to add the date you visited the location. It also wouldn't hurt to post on the forum or email the Rallymaster.
Some Specific location descriptions will provide a street address and others the GPS coordinates. We hope not to make a mistake but it happens and riders should use their own ingenuity and judgment to claim the location.
Some Specific locations ask for a photo to an entrance to a National/State Park or museum. The goal is not to require riders to spend any money on entrance fees (But we won't stop you if you want to). Keep that in mind when visiting these locations as you may find a better spot to take the photo.
A few Specific locations aren't really anything but a place in the middle of a really cool curvy road. (Your welcome).
We are trying to avoid gravel, if a Specific location requires riding on gravel we will tell you. If you find a gravel road anyways your GPS doesn't like you very much.
The goal of this whole thing is to have FUN and ride to some crazy out of the way places. Keep it simple and use your best judgment. We are not trying to trick anybody on these rules or be complicated. But also remember it's okay to ask questions if you have any either via glmcgrandtour@gmail.com or the forum at the GLMC Garage.
Rally Placard
Due to rising shipping costs and the desire to keep this tour at $25, a PDF file will be emailed to each rider instead of a towel. We recommend taking the file to an office supply store and have it printed on white cardstock and laminate it. You can print from home too, it doesn't matter to us.
Placard size: 9X6 works pretty good but it can be whatever size you want, just make sure scorers can see it.
Your numbered rally placard may only be used by you. It will be emailed to riders a week before the start of the rally. This will allow riders time to print them off.
If you lose your placard, print a new one! What if you lost the original email or pdf? Email the Rallymaster and we can help out.
Luddite? Contact the Rallymaster and we can talk it over.
Photos and Submissions
MUST be in the photo (in order of importance):
- Your rally placard.
- Whatever the instructions tell you to take a picture of.
- A significant portion of your bike unless stated in the directions for that location.
- Any bike, regardless if you own, rent or borrow, is acceptable
- What we want should be clear in the photo. This is the most important thing.
- Some locations may not be safe to park your motorcycle. We understand this and will allow photos of just the location and your placard. Limit: within reason.
- Multiple photos can be taken to claim a location. See example. Pic 1 has bike, flag, and sign. Pic 2 is zoomed in to read the sign.
- Some spots might be tough to park right next to the Specific location. So take a picture of your bike and another of the bonus location. A shared landmark in each photo is helpful too:
Additional for 2-Up Riders:
- 2-Up riders will share the same placard.
- The placard and either the driver or passenger must be in the photo.
- Submissions of the same photo are not required for each person, you can submit one photo for both riders.
- Riding 2-up is not required for the entire summer. For example, the driver may visit 35 locations and score 35 points while the passenger was along for 25 locations and score 25 points.
Polaroid photos, digital prints, or standard photos are all acceptable.
Photos may be submitted on CD, flash drive or SD card. CD's will not be returned to the rider after scoring. Every effort will be made to return SD and flash drives.
Photos may NOT be emailed.
List state and nearest city for General location photos.
When submitting your photos, consider putting them in alphabetical order and including a spreadsheet. People have also submitted a handwritten piece of paper.
Online albums will not be allowed for submitting photos (it's harder for me to score).
All entries and photos must be sent to:
Mike Heitkamp
706 Jackson Ave.
Spirit Lake, IA 51360
Photos sent elsewhere will be ignored.
Submissions must be postmarked no later than September 30th, 2016.
Awards and Prizes
To be considered a finisher you must accumulate 20 points. You will then earn a Grand Tour shirt and entry into the prize drawing.
The amount of door prizes is determined by the amount of entries, i.e. the more people sign up, the more prizes.
Riders with 40 or more points will be entered multiple times into the prize drawing, one entry for each 20-point level. (For example, with 133 total points, you would be entered into the drawing 6 times). You can win multiple prizes. A tire donated by Fun Sports of Hutchinson will again be a prize in the drawing with other prizes determined later but likely gas cards.
Prizes for the top three finishers will be gift certificates to Fun Sports of Hutchinson:
1st place - $200, 2nd place - $100, 3rd place - $50
GLMC Rider of the Year points will be awarded to all finishers. 50 ROTY points for the highest-scoring rider, 49 ROTY points for 2nd place, 48 ROTY points for 3rd place, etc.
Questions?
All questions or inquiries can be e-mailed to glmcgrandtour@gmail.com. You can keep updated and post messages at the GLMC Garage.