The following are responses to some of the questions I had concerning how the money is handled for the charities and prizes;

• We work actively with all of our charities on a daily basis, and have started a separate 501c3 Foundation for all charitable donations. It is The Guts & Glory Foundation. All of the proceeds from the RIDE A MILE program will be split as such: 50% to the Shriners Hospitals for Children; and the remaining 50% split evenly between our three Veterans groups (Not Alone, Able Forces and Project Healing Waters). None of the charity donations are being used to fund the rally in any way.
•  I can say that we are not looking for 1000 riders. In fact, we are limiting the number of long rally riders to 400. We are also limiting the number of RIDE 4 A REASON leg riders to 400 as well. This is due to organization logistics. We want a safe ride… And too many bikes out there, staggered though they will be, will create a mess…. That is something that no one wants, especially us.
• The entire prize package is bonded through One Beacon/Lloyds of London as part of our $100,000,000 insurance policy on the event. Again… The Guts & Glory Rally is about a SAFE long distance ride.
• We will be awarding the winner $100,000;  a custom motorcycle;  and a hand made Gibson Guts & Glory Trophy Guitar. These prizes paid for with 1) Rider apps, 2) Sponsor dollars, 3) our money.
• The Guts & Glory Rally will include checkpoint stops at two Shriners Hospitals for Children, with additional lunch stops at two more Hospitals along the route.  Camp Guts locations range from Speedways to Fairgrounds to private land…. We have tried to mix and match each checkpoint locations to make this a very fun experience for any rider.

The following is the press release;
Guts & Glory Motorsports Announces RIDE A MILE for the Shriners Hospitals for Children and three Veteran Charities.

 Nashville, Tennessee, November 30, 2010 –  The Guts & Glory Rally Across America is proud and honored to announce the Shriners Hospitals for Children as the leading charity in its landmark inaugural Guts & Glory Rally Across America in May of 2011.

 On May 17, 2011, The finest motorcyclists in the world will depart Los Angeles on a 9,000 (plus) mile, 11 day timed rally across America.  Crossing 48 States, and concluding in Bar Harbor, Maine, the Guts & Glory Rally Across America may well total up to 10 Million collective miles ridden by its participants. The Guts & Glory RIDE A MILE sponsorship program is aimed at National and International corporations that are proud to support the work of the Shriners, and the three Veterans charities already a part of the Guts & Glory Rally Across America.  Guts & Glory Motorsports seeks to raise up to, if not more than, $10,000,000 through marketing sponsorships of at least $1 per collective mile ridden for the Shriners Hospitals for Children, Able Forces, Not Alone and Project Healing Waters, with all proceeds from RIDE A MILE going directly to these deserving causes. 

 “It’s FEZTASTIC for the Guts & Glory Rally to be sharing the proceeds of this 9000  mile (+) ride with the  “worlds greatest philanthropy” as SHRINER’S continue the monumental job of giving a better life and future to our kids.   The lengthy and prestigious history of providing specialized care for almost a  million children in need has been the Shrine focus for the past 88 years.  It is my hope this event will reflect on all Shriner’s past success.  THANK YOU for being partners in our Shrine Family as all efforts are very much appreciated in support of the children that come to SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN for help” says George Mitchell, Imperial Potentate of the Shriners International.

 The RIDE A MILE program provides major companies an innovative marketing opportunity through the Guts & Glory Rally Across America phenomena.  Sponsors will be able to leverage the hundreds of millions of impressions garnered by simply committing to pennies per mile, or even fractions of a penny per collective mile ridden. 

 ”This marketing platform is both powerful and meaningful to our corporate partners.  It brings smart marketing and humanity together for what will be the Ride of Our Lives, as ailing Children and Brave Veterans fight for their life each and every day.  It is an amazing privilege to work with the Shriners, and our Veterans, on what we all know will be the Ride of 2011.  We are excited about making a difference in the lives of thousands of children and veteran hero’s … two things very close to the hearts of all of us creating the Guts & Glory” says Robert Swope, president of Guts & Glory Motorsports.

 The Shriners and staffers from the three Veterans charities will work alongside the Guts & Glory Motorsports production team in handling all logistics and organization of the 11 checkpoints along the route.

 Says Able Forces Executive Director Skip Rogers, “What an incredible event!  48 States, over 9,000 miles in 11 days, this has never been done and will undoubtedly capture the interest of our entire Nation.  Able Forces is honored to be one of the recipients.”

 “We’re pleased to join Guts & Glory Motorsports in this inaugural event and we’re looking forward to the awareness the Rally Across America will generate for the organizations who do so much for deserving individuals,” stated Ed Nicholson, president of Project Healing Waters.  “When America’s warriors participate in a Project Healing Waters activity they’re involved in a great national pastime.  Plus, there are also significant therapeutic and rehabilitative benefits associated with fly fishing, and for a while these injured soldiers forget about their injuries and feel good about themselves.  And, that means the world to them.”

 As a key component of the Guts & Glory Rally Across America, Emmy Award winning Sunrise Entertainment will be filming a reality television series throughout the course of the rally.  This television series will chronicle the joys, struggles, challenges and most importantly, the personal stories of many of the participants.  Filmed in High Definition using cameras mounted on motorcycles, chase vehicles, helicopters and even an ultra-light aircraft, viewers will not only feel as though they are a part of the rally, they will also see the amazing scenery and vistas of this great country as seen through the eyes of each rider.  Fast moving and engaging, the programs foundation is the overwhelmingly compelling personal stories of victory and defeat, joy and hardship, camaraderie and competition.

 For further information about the Guts & Glory Rally Across America and/or to become a RIDE A MILE Corporate Partner, please visit:

 www.GutsandGloryRally.com

 Contacts:
Jane Crossman
Marketing & Promotion
Guts & Glory Motorsports, Inc.

As I get information I will be printing it. Hopefully I can get a heads up and some pictures of the custom motorcycle that they are having Dave Perewitz build. I am sure there will be one one lucky person who will be a very happy biker. I am still looking for someone who is doing the ride to send me updates on the ride and a few pictures. I plan on giving someone $100 for their time. Contact me through this link; Open Road Biker contact form

Related Article; Guts and Glory Rally Across America

This year the good ole US of A will play host to two very large rally rides across its great land among the scenic highways and byways. Both pledge to cross all 48 lower states, be over 9,000 miles, and rewards to the best finishers. They also have a $1,000 entry fee. I don’t know about you but that’s a hell of a lot of money. One of the rides has a sort of notoriety that it picked up from its last outing. It is called the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge. It had its challenges all right, from fatal wrecks, tons of scam rumors, and a photo finish with two riders arriving at the finish point in Alaska at the same time. The ride publicized a half million dollar grand prize with the rest of the proceeds to benefit the Oglala Sioux Tribe providing water to the Pine Ridge Reservation. There were stories of motorcyclist mortgaging their homes just to compete for the grand prize. This year they are back again but with Harley Davidson as a major sponsor.

The other rally ride, the one we are here to talk about today, is called the Guts and Glory Rally Across America. It will be a competition with the winner being decided by who has the most points remaining at the finish line. The organizers will have a company ride the route from checkpoint to checkpoint to determine a safe time in which to complete the ride. That time will not be made available to the riders. If you come in over or under that time you will be docked points. At each checkpoint there will be some type of lodging that is paid for with your $1,000 entry fee. You will be on your own for the rest (food, gas, repairs) but they will provide information for those conveniences. The grand prize will be $100,000 and a custom motorcycle by Dave Perewitz. There will also be prizes awarded at the checkpoint for the rider coming in closest to the appropriate time.

There will be a few charities that will benifit from the ride.  The charities being advertised are;

• The Shriners Hospital for Children
• Able Forces (Benefits Veteran)
• Not Alone (Benefits Veteran)
• Project Healing Waters (Benefits Veteran)

I like the thought of the ride supporting charities that benefit Veterans me being in the military and all. Even more I like the thought of support going to a children’s charity. 

I have visited a few forums and sites and they are all buzzing about the ride. Another thing I have noticed is that there seems to be a fair amount of people that are polarized on this ride and the Hoka Hey. Some say it is a rip-off of Hoka Hey, while others believe that while it does cover all 48, the way they go about it makes it original. I don’t care one way or another, hell they both seem to be loosely based off of the Iron Butt runs.

If there is anyone out there who is planning to do it, I will offer $100 to someone to cover the run for me (can’t do it from Afghanistan). Use the contact form to send me and email and I will discuss the details of what I want you to do.

I have sent a series of questions to the chairman for the run; I am currently waiting on him to respond. Once he does I will post the questions and answers on the site.

Saturday January 16th 2010

Days Inn, Spring Street Nashville

$50 motel rooms if you mention CMT/ABATE Motorcyclist Party call 615-254-1551

for more information on the party call 615-944-9797 or use my contact form for the email addresses to contact.

If you are already a member it is free, if not there is a $10 fee. This is also a dinner so bring a side dish. I guess it will be sort of a potluck. You can also join at the door if you want to become a member. It says this is also a BYOB.

Now that that is out of the way I guess some of you may be wondering what CMT/ABATE is huh? Well the acronym stands for Concerned Motorcyclist for Tennessee / A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments or (A Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education) and many others. It is a Motorcycle Rights Organization. Sort of an organization designed to lobby for your rights as a rider. If you want more information about MRO’s or CMT ABATE head to the following links;

Motorcyclist Rights Organization

CMT/ABATE

If you are a biker, rider, motorcycle enthusiast, or whatever you may call yourself, it may be in your interest to belong to some group that is thinking about your rights.

Check them out,

36 Special

This is the time of year when bikers get together for charity runs or other motorcycle events such as toy runs. If you have any events you need to advertise let me know and I will try to post them. Get them to me fast though, I know there are a lot of them out there.

Keep on riding,
36 Special

About two weeks ago we went to an event at the Local Harley Dealer Ship I met several women who ride their own motorcycles. This is a picture of two of the women that I met. They talked to me about some of the problems that women faced. But they also gave me some more courage to learn to ride. I was truly amazed at the amount of women at this event who rode their own bike. They also have rides out of Landers Harley Davidson that are just women. And then something else I found cool was they do things as a group of just women that are not on the bikes. That is so that women who do not know how to ride or do not want to learn, they just enjoy being passengers can spend time with other women who l love to ride. I did look at bikes while there to see which ones I thought I might be able to handle.

The other picture is of me and my friend Bobby Rice. Bobby was a legend in Arkansas. He was one of the best muscians around. He was our house band at the bar that my husband and I use to own. Plus he played at my wedding reception. This is the last picture that I will ever take of him. I have some videos that I am working on and would like to post when I have them put together. He played at the bike event and a couple days later we got a phone call that he had died. In his better days he rode bikes. At his funeral there were all kinds there, including the bikers that he used to ride with.

The riders all meet at my favorite bike shop, Short “T’s” Cycles in Richwood Ky, and take off on an 80-90 mile run through the scenic back roads of Kentucky.

The CMA organization is worldwide, and all the money they raise goes where they say it does. If you get a chance to go on your local Run for the Son, please do and support these great bunch of people. Ride free………………….

Continue checking back here often for more articles by Kenny Lee especially with the upcoming rally season approaching. Between me and him we should be able to do some good coverage on the rallies located in our neck of the woods.

We are still looking for a few more writers to join us. If you are interested please use the contact link at the top of the page to send me an email. I am looking for people who ride so browse around the site and if you feel like this would be the right place for you get in touch with me.

The riding season is coming close too; get your motorcycles ready and get out there and ride. Be sure to come back and tell us about your rides and post some pictures in the biker forums for us to see.

My sincerest thanks go out to Jack Lawford of bikerhotline.com for inviting me to the Expo. Jack travels the country to bring biker’s all the latest news and updates in the biker world. For more pictures and information on this year’s Expo in Cincinnati, make sure to stop by his site for a visit.

• Smoke Out – This one is in it’s 10th year and is being changed up a little this year. For a while it was held in Salisbury NC for a few years until the city council decided they no longer wanted it in their fine town. So the next year (2008) it was held at the Rockingham Dragstrip in North Carolina.  From everything I read in the magazine (The Horse Backstreet Choppers) it was a big hit. This year they are trying something a little different. They are going to be starting it in on location at the beginning of the week and then picking up and moving the whole thing to another. They will start at the home of the Smoke Out West ( Cottonwood Arizona)on Friday and have a launch party and then move on that Sunday towards Rockingham. They are planing an overnight  stop every 350 miles or so and partying at each location. It sounds like fun, not sure about riding 350 miles with a hangover for a few days straight but hey it is worth a shot right.
• Little Sturgis – Starting on the 16th of July and going through the 19th at the Union County Fairgrounds in Sturgis, Kentucky. I have been told by many that this is a better alternative to the actual Sturgis rally plus hey it’s closer to my home and it is happening during a time that may allow me to go.
• New Orleans Bikefest – Held in October this may be one of the later rallies in the year to attend that is worth your time. The list of events isn’t published yet but being a music festival also there should be some great acts there. Bikes, babes, beer, and bands what more could you want? Now if you are planning on staying in the campgrounds you may want to register now. From what I understand attendance is high and campground space may run out.
• Southern Thunder Rally – This is one that I am going to try and make this year. Held in Adams, TN and sponsored by the Tennessee ABATE it may just be my local rally of choice. I will have to wait and find out the dates because if it is around the same time as last years then I will be away for a short time during it.

Well that is all for now, just a few rallies in and around my area. If you have a favorite just head over to the biker forums and tell us about it. Anyone can join and we accept anyone no matter what style or brand of bike you ride.