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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 ride event will have you chasing after bonus points on some great roads. It runs from about 6:00 AM to 3:00 PM and is followed by the banquet, with award certificates and a speaker.

For 2012, our banquet speaker is long-distance riding legend John Ryan. 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, 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 Melissa (who also wrote "The Perfect Machine" and a lot of other Motorcycle-related work) in Rider Magazine's October, 2011 writup.

We will be asking for a minimum donation of $50 per person for PolioPlus. Details on how to submit your donation will come when registration opens. PolioPlus is a tax-exempt charitable organization and your donation may be tax-deductible. Nonprofit tax ID number 01-0674510 for Motorcyclists raising Awareness for Children's Health, www.mach4kids.org.

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