Farewell 2025 - Welcome 2026 and 2027…
- Jonathan Binnington
- Dec 31, 2025
- 7 min read
Last week in December, the scutt-end of the year. The mid-winter festivities are history again, the significance of the passing of the winter solstice has yet to become apparent. And there is snow. Sometimes it is the soft, compliant kind that provides some sideways grip for the front tyre, sometimes it is compacted, white-ice that is “not much fun”.
Time for a strong cup of tea and a plate of biscuits while I reflect on 2025 and anticipate 2026 and 2027.
The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally - aka GoldRiver XXV.
L to R. Yours Truly, Christian Pelletier, Owen Partaik, Neil Barbisan.
Way back in the summer of ‘25 we had another GoldRiver motorcycle event. The event continues to grow, both in terms of scope, of reputation and reach. I was very pleased to welcome a whole host of returning friends as well as new friends, some of whom had come from a very long way away, European visitors via Arizona and California and American friends from Washington and Oregon.
The format has now become settled, with two broad classes of participation - riders following the routes by Gaia GPS mapping and riders following the routes by tulip-diagram roadbooks with GPS regularity timing (see https://www.gr200.com/post/how-to-do-a-goldriver-vime-event-it-s-not-as-difficult-as-you-may-think ).
Bearing in mind the opening premise of delivering affordable, accessible motorsport to grassroots motorcycle enthusiasts, I do not see any advantage to be gained in the short to medium term by changing the format or the tech details. There is a service-delivery model of “good enough to work” rather than “strive for perfection and fail to deliver”. We continue with our suite of smartphone apps that can be loaded and run on your choice of hardware. Gaia map routes can be exported as GPX files for riders with a subscription to one of the other mapping apps.
Next is the question about paper scrolls versus pdf roadbooks. I am aware that some riders have invested in electric motor-driven paper scroll holders. Old technology with a certain caché! I have never contemplated providing scrolls and unless someone comes up with an affordable scroll-printing option, the roadbooks will continue to be provided as PDFs for riders to do with as they wish! Over the foreseeable future events, the roadbooks are going to get longer. Not only will the chore of assembling scrolls from sheets and sheets of paper, taped together continue, but there may come a time where the physical capacity of the roadbook holders will be exceeded.
The obvious step will be the adoption of roadbooks by PDF, displayed in a rally roadbook reader app (https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/rally-roadbook-reader/id1440988194 and wherever you get android apps from). For 2026, pragmatism will continue to apply. PDFs and cut-and-stick. 2027 will demand modern tech - but more of that shortly.
Part of the learning process for myself as event organiser and mentor to event participants has been to develop an understanding of the mapping technology and cartographic principles that govern and limit our application of the various techniques and technologies we apply in the backcountry. It is tempting to presume that the apparent precision of position, distance and speed measurement that GPS devices offer reliably translate into accurate measurements.
In ideal circumstances, GPS precision does equate to accuracy. GPS location is probably, mostly, usually bomb-proof. Except when the view of the sky is obscured by trees, mountains, poorly aimed GPS recievers. Measurements of distance and speed are confounded when switching between wheel-driven instrumentation and “Birds Eye view” GPS instrumentation and also when switching between different measuring systems at any given moment.
The customary question is “why do the odometer measurements never match the roadbook distances?”. It took a while to properly understand both the question and the answers and come up with pragmatic solutions, but the subject is more deeply discussed here: https://www.gr200.com/post/remote-gps-antenna-receiver-for-smartphones-running-mapping-and-timing-apps
We continue to enjoy the support and encouragement of the north island communities that we drag ourselves through - Gold River, Sayward Junction, Woss as well as the bemused attention of the forestry industry workers on the north island. The Village of Gold River has even gone so far as to write the Great Canadian (motorcycle) Rally into its economic development plan.
One consequential result of the growth of the VIME event is accommodation and site space. For 2025, the event was based in the Gold River municipal campground. We occupied about half of the site, which reached its capacity over the Canada Day holiday weekend. There are other inadequacies that need to be corrected if the event is to continue on its development such as access to drinking water and toilet/shower facilities. Conversations are in progress with two potential alternatives, seeking the best provision for amenities. More as developments, er, develop…
The 2025 event. The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally - GoldRiver XXV.
Look where you are going and you’ll go where you are looking!
26 riders signed up for the event with a further four staff riders and some groupies. Twenty five took the start on the first day, fewer on days two and three.
Eight hundred or so kilometers further on, the event was won by Owen Partaik at his fourth attempt. Christian Pelletier and Neil Barbisan came second and third at their first attempts.
Owen in his natural habitat.
Multi-day Reliability Trials.
Now to let you in to a thinly disguised obfuscation, VIME events have been heavily influenced by the Reliability Trials staged in various European countries since the early 1900’s which led on to the International Six Day Trials before the ISDT itself became a gloried six-day enduro. Granted, Regularity Rally and overland Adventure touring have also influenced the shape of these events demonstrating that you can’t keep good ideas down and there is nothing new under the sun.
If you are not familiar with the ISDT, it’s history and development a potted history of the event is to be found here: https://www.gr200.com/post/the-international-six-days-trials-1903-1913-1913-1980-1980-2025
Reliability Trials are one of the archetypal motorcycle motorsports, along with racing. Reliability Trials send riders on road/production machines over public rights of way (highways) that are in places barely passable. Along the way are tests of navigation, timekeeping and in the event of breakdowns, resourcefulness and problem solving. Update the formula with Dualsports and Adventure bikes, GPS mapping and PDF roadbooks with GPS point-to-point timing over north Vancouver Island Crown gravel roads and a full circle has been completed.
The legality of such events at North Island venues is settled and barring changes in BC primary legislation, we have the opportunity to continue.
and
The “journey” we have been on, in retrospect, has been the reimagining of the Reliability Trials of old and the introduction of this motorcycle motorsport to a new (and sometimes not-so-young) audience. Developing the format and sharing the vision with riders, some of whom have become participants, some of whom have attended every event!
And so to 2026 and 2027… The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally ‘26. Les 24 Heures du GoldRiver and The Great Canadian VI Day Trial 2027.
Ambitious? Yes!
Testing? Most definitely!!
Doable? You bet!!!
2026 events leading up to the 2027 VI Day Trial. The upcoming three VIME events will continue the developmental arc of the previous five years. Returning riders will find much that they are already familiar with plus some new features to continue to keep things fresh - new riders will find an easy to follow development that will over the course of 2026 position them well for the 2027 VI (six) day event. Riders who would like to experience part of te six day event but are unable to commit to the full Monty will have the opportunity to ride three of the six days.
The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally - aka GoldRiver ‘26. Wednesday 1 July to Monday 6 July 2026. Riding Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 800+Km.
The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally will follow the established format of two classes of participation (Gaia Touring and Roadbook Sporting) over three, single-day routes, each scored separately. The overall event winner being declared as the rider with the fewest Time Penalties summed over the three days. Introducing two pilot elements to the weekend, it is proposed to host a skills development feature - led by an acknowledged off-road riding guru alongside a for-fun Hillclimb test on Thursday before Rally Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Further, the Friday start order will be determined by a short, dusk/dark Prologue-shakedown on Thursday evening.
More details can be found at: https://www.gr200.com/post/vi-motosports-events-for-2026-the-great-canadian-motorcycle-roadbook-rally-1st-6th-july-cana
Les 24 Heures du GoldRiver. Day-night-day event. Thursday 3rd September to Monday 7 September 2026. Riding Friday (prologue) then Saturday through to Sunday. Rest Sunday night, go home Labour Day Monday. 800+km.
The second event for 2026 has been inspired by a 24hour event held in Greece. A day-night-day event. Run over the weekend before the Labour Day holiday, in September, this event will be one step beyond the previous events. Start-order Prologue on Friday afternoon, start mid morning Saturday from Gold River, riding Saturday afternoon and evening with a short overnight halt to regroup the field. A small-hours restart (with contingency for bad weather), riding through the dawn to finish mid morning (ish) in Gold River on Sunday morning.
This event will be “Sporting” class only, using the GPS timing system to track riders through cell-signal hotspots. Night riding techniques will seriously apply, tortoise and hare comparisons will abound.
Both these events will run to TheGoldRiver Rules: https://www.gr200.com/post/goldriver-rules-2026-draft-comments-invited
The Great Canadian VI Day Trial - aka GoldRiver ‘27. Wednesday 30 June 2027 to Wednesday 7 July 2027. Prologue Wednesday 30 June (evening), Day 1 Thursday 1 July, Days 2&3 (day-night-day) Friday/Saturday 2&3 July, days 4+5+6 (moto Malle marathon) Sun/Mon/Tue 4/5/6 July 2027. Event closes Wednesday 7 July 2027. 1600Km/1000miles…
So what do you do to top a three day reliability trial and a day-night-day trial?
Put them together of course!
For 2027, the summer event will be a week-long motorcycle festival. The Great Canadian VI Day Trial. Six days/Vancouver Island. The ambiguity is intentional. A night Prologue, a one-day stage, a day-night-day stage and a three day marathon stage. Open to Touring riders as 2 x three-day options and competition riders wanting the steepest test available in Vancouver Island, BC and possibly the whole of the PNW.
We have the venues, the routes, the format, the track record. Hell Yes! 1000 backcountry, gravel miles in six days. Highway-designated wilderness roads, road legal bikes and riders. High summer weather. North Vancouver Island with just enough civilisation to make this logistically straightforwards. In an affordable, accessible format! It will be churlish not to!
Entry details can be found here: https://www.gr200.com/shop
I hope to meet you over the coming years. Jonathan
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