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The No Polio! Rally
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Folsom, California
Guest Speaker: John Ryan
On September 8, 2012, we will have the third running of
the annual NoPolio! Rally and Banquet.
This event is an eight-hour fun motorcycle ride and
Ride-to-Eat banquet to raise money and awareness for fighting polio. The
event generally runs from 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and is followed by a banquet
with award certificates and speakers.
For 2012, we are pleased to have long-distance riding legend
John Ryan
as our speaker. John is the current record-holder for the shortest
time to ride from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Key West, Florida on a
motorcycle: 86 hours
and 31 minutes. This beat Gary Egan's previous record by over
nine hours.
John is the subject of Melissa Holbrook Pearson's
book "The Man who Would Stop at Nothing." You can read
more about John and also about Melissa (who also wrote
"The Perfect Machine" and a lot of other Motorcycle-related work)
in
Rider
Magazine's October, 2011 writup.
More details and a registration form will be rolled out
on this page in the coming months. See you in September!
Notes from the 2011 NoPolio! Rally
Here are some notes from the 2011 Rallymaster, Allan Pratt:
On September 3, 2011, nineteen riders and passengers enjoyed a daylight romp through the northern Sierra, ranging northwards from Folsom to Alleghany, California.
Andy Mackey won the rally despite returning to the hotel seventeen minutes into the penalty period. (Note to self: make the penalty points more punitive.)
Eric Jewell and the two-up team of Jim and Caroline Wilson tied for second place. (Note to self: don't use round numbers when assigning bonus point
values.)
Dave Biasotti got Special Recognition for getting the right answer off a marker, but failing to see the bell that was attached to the same marker. There was a Bell Thread, and this one was was supposed to be a gimme if you got the bonus at the same location.
I want to extend special thanks to our biggest sponsors: Rick Mayer of Rick Mayer Cycle donated a custom saddle for the biggest PolioPlus donor, and Kim Leong of California Sport Touring donated a very generous door prize: a set of tires of the winner's choice.
Our Rally HQ hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn of Folsom, outdid themselves with their support and substantial in-kind donations. We also had door prizes from A&S Cycles
in Roseville,
Road Rider in San Jose,
and Santa Clara Cycle Accessories
in Santa Clara.
Bob Mutchler handled all the logistics and fundraising, and his wife Patti provided our lovely and talented Roving Bonus during the day. Thanks go out to Bob for his work and to and Rotary International for their ongoing fight against polio.
Keep an eye on http://bestbits.org/nopolio and we'll see you next year!
Who are we?
Bob Mutchler has been active in both long-distance motorcycling and
fighting polio for a long time. Everyone who knows Bob is aware of his
passion to see polio eradicated from the earth. This event is a fund
raiser for PolioPlus, a
program from Rotary International to
eradicate polio worldwide. You can read more online about how and why Rotary
International fights Polio.
Besides Bob, the other organizers and rally masters for the 2011 No
Polio! rally are Mr. Cal24 Tom Melchild, and
rallymaster Allan Pratt.
In 2010 we saw the first running of this rally,
from rallymasters Reiner and Lisa Kappenberger.
At the banquet we heard a presentation from Bob Higdon, architect of the 2009 Iron Butt Rally.
In 2009, a previous PolioPlus ride-to-eat/awards banquet was attended
by almost 40 people, some from as far away as Massachusetts. People who had
contributed or raised $1,000.00 or more for PolioPlus were presented
with a special award from Rotary International. Included in that list
were such great riders as Jeff Earls, Tom Loftus, Tom Melchild, Robert
St. George, Joe Zulaski and Mike Kneebone, President of the Iron Butt Association. On the heels
of that successful fund-raiser, Bob decided to make this ride-to-eat an
annual event, and to add an 8-hour fun ride to the day's
festivities.
For more info
For more information, please email Bob Mutchler, rpmutchler@aol.com.
Nonprofit tax ID number 01-0674510 for Motorcyclists raising Awareness for
Children's Health, www.mach4kids.org
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