Final Instructions for participants and crew - The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook rally 2026. Venue: Sayward Valley Resort, Sayward Junction Hwy19, Vancouver Island.
- Jonathan Binnington
- 4 days ago
- 14 min read
The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally 2026. Moto-TSD.
Final Instructions
Venue, The Sayward Valley Resort, Sayward Junction, Highway 19, Vancouver Island BC. Canada.
Thank you for entering The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally - bringing road legal, competitive, enthusiast and backcountry travel to Vancouver Island under the ægis of motorcycle Time Speed Distance (regularity) rally. You are here because you can’t do this anywhere else in BC, The Pacific Northwest or perhaps even Canada.
In order to produce a safe, slick and systematic event, there are some ground rules we need to follow - otherwise chaos and disorder will follow. Please take time to read through the following and understand. There will be time enough during the event to mentor on any points you are uncertain about.
Event Timeline.
NO MOTORCYCLE ENGINES BETWEEN 2200 AND 0800.
CAMP QUIET BETWEEN 2300 AND 0700
FIRE BAN: EXPECTED
Moto-TSD timing by Richta.
At sign-on, all participants MUST show their driving licence, insurance and registration documents. For personal identification data security, no record of the document details will be made other than the documents were produced and they were found to be in order.
THIS IS NOT A RACE OR SPEED EVENT. It is a navigation trials event within the limitations of BC Road Traffic law and ICBC insurance. You ride this event on the strength of your road licence and insurance.
950km over five routes in four days… “never leave them wanting more!”
Thursday 25 June. Send out by email, Roadbooks, Gaia, Passwords, Final Instructions.
Weds 1 July - Canada Day. Crossroads pub NOT OPEN!
1500hrs. JDB arrive at bivouac with bike, three 10x10s, table, chairs, office equipment,
Set up the VIME registration desk
Visit the Sayward RCMP desk as courtesy.
1700. Bivouac opens for participants. JDB to collect tent fees ($8 per tent per night), campsite to collect RV fees.
Thursday 2 July.
0900. Registration, sign-on, Indemnity form signing and bike scrutineering opens.
Information boards up with QR codes to Roadbooks, GoldRiver Rules, Indemnity Form, Richta passwords.
Route for the “Thursday Loosener” up with sign-in/sign-out sheet for tracking.
1000 - 1500. Thursday Loosener route open. 108km
1600. Rider briefing - for the Prologue and days 1,2&3.
1700. Crew briefing.
2000. Prologue road crews and spectators depart.
2130. Prologue start FOR Moto-TSD riders ONLY.
Prologue = 68km
Riders at 2 minute intervals. Prologue start by lottery. Results of prologue set the start order for Day 1.
(Day 1 start order. Winner of the Prologue chooses their start position, then the moto-TSD start order is the reverse of the Prologue finishing order (ie the Prologue last place is first off on Day 1 unless the Prologue winner wishes to start first, the the Prologue last is 2nd off).
Gaia solo riders start after the moto-TSD riders.
Gaia group riders start after the Gaia solo riders.)
2300. Last Prologue rider expected to have finished.
Day 1 start order to be finalised before bedtime!
Friday 3 July.
0600. Uptime!
Confirm start order.
Moto-TSD. Solo Gaia. Group Gaia.
0800. Rider briefing. Road crews depart for their positions.
0900. Starts from the gravel area opposite the petrol station. Moto-TSD, solo Gaia, group Gaia, course sweep.
Record made (spreadsheet) at the start of the names and bikes of all starters - to be shared by email with all road crew. Count all riders out and in at all census points.
Day 1 = 280km, fuel at 180km.
1000. Last starter away.
1500. First finisher expected (+6hours)
1800. Last finisher expected (+8hours)
1900. Results Day 1 published. Set start order for Day 2 as per Day 1 (leader chooses their start position then the field in reverse order).
Saturday 4 July.
0600. Uptime!
Confirm start order.
Moto-TSD. Solo Gaia. Group Gaia.
0800. Rider briefing. Road crews depart for their positions.
0900. Starts from the gravel area opposite the petrol station. Moto-TSD, solo Gaia, group Gaia, course sweep.
Record made (spreadsheet) at the start of the names and bikes of all starters - to be shared by email with all road crew. Count all riders out and in at all census points.
Day 2 = 237km, fuel at 124km.
1000. Last starter away.
1500. First finisher expected (+6hours)
1800. Last finisher expected (+8hours)
1900. Results Day 2 published. Set start order for Day 3 as per Day 1&2 (leader chooses their start position then the field in reverse order).
Sunday 5 July
0600. Uptime!
Confirm start order.
Moto-TSD. Solo Gaia. Group Gaia.
0800. Rider briefing. Road crews depart for their positions.
0900. Starts from the gravel area opposite the petrol station. Moto-TSD, solo Gaia, group Gaia, course sweep.
Record made (spreadsheet) at the start of the names and bikes of all starters - to be shared by email with all road crew. Count all riders out and in at all census points.
Day 3 = 261km, fuel at 148km.
1000. Last starter away.
1500. First finisher expected (+6hours)
1800. Last finisher expected (+8hours)
1900 or earlier. Results Day 3 and Final Results published.
Early departures from bivouac. Event close with awards of trophies
Monday 6 July.
1100. Bivouac closes. Participants leave or stay on by arrangement with the camp operators.
The event routes will have cutoff times this time. The purpose is to keep the event manageable for the event crew tracking rider progress around the routes.
CONTROL POINT CUTOFF TIMES.
Running through each of the routes is Highway 19 - the only arterial road (to use a UK road term) running up and down the island. Hwy 19 provides a fast, easy return route from the event routes to Sayward Junction.
As previously explained, the Prologue on Thursday evening will be used to set the start order for Day1. The winner of the Prologue will choose their start position, then the start order will be the reverse of the Prologue finishing order - the slowest rider starts first (unless the winner opts to go first). Understand?
Each day has a lunchtime halt that has a target time of around 2hrs 30 mins riding time.
The first start of the day will be at 0900, then at 2 minute intervals to allow the dust to settle. Solo competition riders first, then solo non-competition riders, then non-competition riders riding in groups.
Each lunchtime halt serves as a Census Point where all riders get counted in and counted out again.
The first cutoff time is at each lunchtime halt. If riders are unable to make their restart by 1400hrs they will be Out Of Time and directed to return to the finish poor by way of Hwy19.
A lunchtime cutoff at 1400hrs gives the slowest riders 4 hours to cover a course that has a target time of around 2hrs 30mins
Beyond the lunchtime halt, the timing Control Points (in VIME-speak they are RCPs, Richta Control Points) will close at 15 minute intervals up to that last RCP.
The final cutoff times typically give riders 8 hours to cover a course that has a target time of around 5 hours.
Cutoff times will be given in the roadbook and also repeated at rider briefings.
Riders stand to gain more progress around the courses with steady, accurate navigation than higher speed riding with inaccurate navigation. “A thousand miles per hour in the wrong direction is somewhat sub-optimal”.
Riders failing to meet the cutoff times on any particular day WILL be permitted to commence subsequent routes.
Riders who fail to meet cutoff times as a result of stopping to Render Essential Assistance will be able to request and receive “Time Allocation” based on their recorded Time Penalty scores up until the leg where they stopped to render assistance.
In the extraordinary situation where a substantial portion of the field stopped to render assistance, the results for the day can be called at the point where the route was essentially abandoned.
From Richta…. Update your Richta competitor app
Competitor 1.32
New releases of the Competitor app for Android and iOS are being released today. These releases include a small change to the way the Restart Nearest Minute CP is handled. Now, directional sensitivity is only checked 150 feet before the CP location. Formerly it was checked 150 feet before and 200 feet after the CP.
Leg Scoring: Missed CPs count as maximums
This note is to advise riders in the competition class that for the coming three events there will be a change in Time Penalty scoring with the intention of reducing the handicap presented to riders whose tech equipment does not trigger their presence at the gps virtual timing gates.
Previously, finishing positions were decided by ranking riders firstly on the maximum number of timing gates they “pinged” and secondly the minimum number of Time Penalty seconds they accrued over each course for being ahead or behind schedule.
The net effect of this was to relegate riders whose presence at a timing gate was not recorded to the second order. Although no protests or complaints about this were formally registered, in conversation it has been noted that this scoring scheme feels a little unfair.
The scoring scheme will be modified in the following manner…
Instead of ranking scores first by the maximum number of gps timing gates pinged, each timed leg is given a maximum time penalty score - so that if a rider exceeds the target time + the leg maximum time they be awarded that many time penalty seconds. There will be no sorting by total number of timing gates pinged.
So, if a leg target time is say ten minutes and fifteen seconds (615 secs) and the maximum time penalty is 300 (five minutes), if a rider completes the leg in 10’30” they will score 15 time penalties.
If a rider completes the leg in 15’15” or more they will score a “maximum” of 300 time penalties.
If they fail to ping the gps gate, they will also score a maximum - but not put themselves into the “second order” of results.
Now the detail. As each timing gate ends one leg and starts the next (with the exception of “flying start” or “flying restart” timing gates), if a gate is not pinged, not only will a maximum be scored for the preceding leg but a maximum will also be scored for the following leg. A “double maximum” but still the penalty will be less than with the previous scoring scheme.
“Why not start each leg with a flying restart gate?” I hear you ask…. I’ve thought about this. The usual cause for gates not being pinged is an obscured gps signal problem. If I were to “co-locate” flying restart gps gates and leg end gates, if the end gate did not register due to overhead conditions obscuring gps satellite signals, there is no reason to expect the flying restart gate would be triggered if the leg end gate was not.
Further, if a situation occurs where a majority of competitors failed to trigger a gps gate, there is always the option to drop that leg or legs from everyone’s scoring - as has occurred before to everyone’s satisfaction.
Finally, the possibility that an enterprising participant may deliberately miss legs out, cutting the course, taking maximums and hoping to score less that riders who complete the course. If you think about this for a while, you will realise that a scorecard full of maximums will be bound to total more that the riders who complete the course in the intended manner. The key here will be to set the leg maximums to balance the different needs of mitigating for equipment “glitches” and setting a reasonable leg maximum time. I will do some maths to game out some of the potential possibilities.
Event Regulations 2026:
Event Liability Release and Waiver:
And in words….
Vancouver Island Motosports Events - VIME
PARTICIPANT RELEASE OF LIABILITY. WAIVER OF CLAIMS. ASSUMPTION OF RISKS. INDEMNITY AGREEMENT. SIGNING-ON DOCUMENT.
(hereinafter referred to as the “Release Agreement”)
Event:
The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally - GoldRiver ‘26. Prologue, Day 1, Day 2, Day 3. 1-6 July 2026
Les 24 Heures du Gold River. Prologue and Day-Night-Day. 3-7 September 2026
The Great Canadian VI Day Trial. 30 June - 7 July 2027
(Delete not applicable)
Participant name:…………………………………………………………………………..
BY SIGNING THIS RELEASE AGREEMENT YOU WAIVE OR GIVE UP CERTAIN RIGHTS, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO SUE OR CLAIM COMPENSATION FROM VANCOUVER ISLAND MOTOSPORTS EVENTS, THE VIME PROPRIETOR(S) AND INDIVIDUALS ACTING ON BEHALF OF VIME (the Released Parties) FOLLOWING AN INCIDENT OR ACCIDENT, REGARDLESS OF HOW IT MAY HAVE BEEN CAUSED.
YOU WILL ALSO BE SIGNING TO DECLARE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT THE EVENT YOU ARE ABOUT TO PARTICIPATE IN IS NOT A RACE OR SPEED EVENT and YOU UNDERTAKE TO RIDE THE EVENT IN A MANNER CONSISTENT WITH RESPONSIBLE AND PRUDENT MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATION.
IN ORDER TO PARTICIPATE IN THE UPCOMING EVENT YOU ARE REQUIRED TO AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND SIGN THIS WAIVER.
BY SIGNING THIS RELEASE AGREEMENT, YOU (THE RIDER) ALSO AGREE THAT:
- You are at least 19 years of age,
that you hold a full-entitlement motorcycle licence and are a competent rider,
that your motorcycle is “plated” for on-highway use,
That you hold current, on-highway use ICBC motor insurance for your motorcycle - or equivalent if you are from a Jurisdiction other than British Columbia.
- that you have (to the best of your knowledge) no illness or disability that will impair your ability to participate in the event which you have entered,
- that you undertake to NOT operate motor vehicles while under the influence of intoxicating substances,
- that you undertake to obey all reasonable instructions received from event staff,
AND
- that you undertake to obey all aspects of the motoring legislation of the Province of British Columbia.
VIME backcountry navigation trials are solo-rider tests of routefinding through the backcountry of BC.
- The routes follow “gazetted roads” - that is backcountry gravel roads designated as public highways within the legislation of British Columbia.
- As such, these roads are open, public roads and other road traffic must be expected at every moment, in addition to unpredictable wild animals.
- Given the routes will be “highways”, you the participant, agree to wear and/or use at all times, personal protective equipment required by law and prudent motorcycle operations, including (but not limited to) safety helmets, eye protection, gloves, boots, appropriate protective clothing.
- The roads, despite being designated highways, are likely to be unmaintained. The road conditions are “as found” and not altered by the event organisers.
- Within the context of BC law, road users of backcountry roads assume personal responsibility for their safety and vehicles when using these roads.
Other traffic is highly likely to be oncoming and unaware (and potentially indifferent) of your existence on the road.
AT ALL TIMES RIDE AS IF YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE IS AROUND THE NEXT CORNER!
The average speeds called for in “regularity rally” classes will ALWAYS be equal to or less than the posted speed limits. Regularity Rally is a motorsport discipline that tests the ability of participants to ride to a set speed over a variety of changing terrains (not their ability to ride at high speed). THIS IS NOT A RACE!
You, the signer, acknowledge that participation in Motorsports is potentially hazardous to the extent of physical injury and/or death in extremis.
You understand the dangers and risks and that you ACKNOWLEDGE AND ASSUME ALL INHERENT DANGERS AND RISKS.
Communicable diseases - Covid19 and other infectious illnesses.
VIME, it’s proprietor and agents are unable to control risks associated with communicable diseases and illnesses. You, the event participant signing this Release Agreement agree to follow all health signage/warnings/guidelines, stay away from the event if you are ill or experiencing symptoms, and wear face coverings/wash hands if required by public health authorities.
Photographic and video agreement - permission to use.
As signer of this document you grant the Released Parties the right of publicity to own and use any image of you, reasonably collected while participating in the event.
BY SIGNING THIS AGREEMENT YOU WILL WAIVE CERTAIN LEGAL RIGHTS INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO SUE VANCOUVER ISLAND MOTOSPORTS EVENTS - VIME, ITS REPRESENTATIVES, JONATHAN BINNINGTON AND ANY INDIVIDUAL ENGAGED IN PRODUCING ANY VIME EVENT.
Participation in any motorcycle event staged by Vancouver Island Motosports Events, referred to as VIME requires participants to be:
1/ 19 years of age or older
2/ to hold a full (not suspended or restricted) motorcycle driving/riding licence (described in BC driving law as a Class 6 licence)
3/ have full ICBC (or equivalent out of province) road insurance (off road vehicle road-crossing insurance is NOT acceptable)
4/ their motorcycles must be road legal and
5/ registered and plated with ICBC (or out of province equivalent)
6/ present their motorcycle, driving licence, insurance documents and this signed Waiver for scrutineering before they are accepted into the event at Event Registration.
7/ payment of event entry fees are taken as indicators that participants accept and agree to the terms and conditions contained in this document.
8/ entry fees that have been paid will not be refunded on the grounds that a participant is unable or unwilling to give event organisers sight of their motoring documents and this signed Waiver.
RELEASE. I, name(……………………………………………) warrant and agree that I am familiar with and accept that there is the inherent risk of injury, severe injury and death during the participation of motoring activities through no fault of any party.
I acknowledge that VIME and all its representatives have exercised extensive duty-of-care actions to secure my safety and well-being. Also I acknowledge that VIME and its representatives or land owners have not done anything to cause the deterioration in the condition of any road, track or route I may ride over in the course of the forthcoming event.
I declare that I am fit and well enough to participate in the forthcoming VIME event and that to my knowledge and admission I am not unwell. Also my personal protective equipment is in good order and I will comply with BC motoring legislation including speed restrictions and motorcycle helmet requirements.
I agree to follow all reasonable instructions of RCMP officers, event workers and should the circumstances dictate, other participants. Failure may result in this participant being ejected from the event.
I acknowledge that I remain responsible for my own safety and should I experience fatigue or any deterioration in my physical or mental wellbeing I will withdraw from the day’s riding activities.
I agree that a general condition of event entry is that I as the participant assume all risks related to participation of the forthcoming event. This includes VIME event and route preparation, casualty or vehicle recovery and any consequential losses experienced by myself.
This is a full and final Release and Waiver of Liability and all Claims that I may have, now or in the future against VIME, it’s representatives and partners. This includes claims of Negligence, Gross Negligence, Breach of Contract, Breach of any Duty of Care. I agree not to sue VIME, it’s business owner or it’s representatives and partners.
I agree to indemnify and hold harmless VIME, it’s business owner, representatives and partners from litigation, legal fees, liability, damages awards or costs.
This document will be governed by the laws and courts of British Columbia, Canada
To summarise, by signing this document you agree:
You are participating in this event at your own risk, as a competent, registered, licenced, insured motorcyclist;
You understand the roads you are going to ride on are open, public roads and that you can expect to meet, at any moment, any manner of other road user travelling in the opposite direction, possibly occupying most of the width of the road;
Also, you undertake to comply with BC motoring law, wearing legally required protective equipment (approved safety headgear) and also other reasonable protective equipment (eye protection, gloves, boots and body armour);
Further, you agree you have read, understand and agree to comply with the event rules and regulations, the event final instructions and the event Standard Operating Procedure to be followed when encountering other traffic on event routes and that you have received these in writing.
You acknowledge this event IS NOT A RACE OR SPEED EVENT and you undertake not to treat or ride it as such.
Signed………………………………………… Print Name………………………………..
Date…………………………………………….
Address………………………………………………………………………………………..
Your emergency contact:
Name……………………………………………………………………………………………
Their contact details:
Telephone number …………………………………………………………………………….
Email …………………………………………………………………………………………….
Address………………………………………………………………………………………….
Self-adhesive bike number stickers will be provided at sign-on in exchange for completed Release form
Standard Operating Procedure when encountering Forestry Industry Vehicles.
As a motorcycle rider, you are a “vulnerable road user”. Forestry Industry Vehicles are large. Very Large. Up to 80,000kg at times. You will not come off well if you have a “coming together” with one of these vehicles! It is in your interest for you to take care of your own well-being should you encounter one of these vehicles.
This is the expected sequence of events if you encounter large industrial traffic on these roads.
Do not ride so fast that you are unable to stop in the distance of road that you can see ahead.
If you encounter large industrial vehicles oncoming, move to the extreme right hand side of the road and STOP!
Look at the driver of the oncoming vehicle and follow any instructions you are given, for example, you may be asked to change your road position to make progress easier for the driver of the large vehicle.
If you encounter an industrial vehicle travelling in the same direction as you, do not move to overtake it unless you are specifically instructed to do so by the other driver. They may be initially unaware of your presence and may also be making a large dust cloud that obscures your forward vision.
Remember, while your progress may be slowed by a moment, failure to follow these precautions could result in you being a long time DEAD…
Jonathan Binnington 19 May 2026
Any questions? Entries on www.gr200.com/shop
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