The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally - 2025. The epilogue.

Jonathan Binnington
3 days ago
9 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

L to R. Christian Pelletier (2nd), Owen Partaik (1st), Neil Barbisan (3rd)

Where to begin…..?

Now that the dust has settled on the GoldRiver XXV, The Great Canadian (motorcycle) Roadbook Rally, and with the benefit of a little hindsight, the story of the event through the eyes of the organiser can be told…

Four years ago, when the world was in the grip of the Covid pandemic and just about everyone was forced into an involuntary life go-slow, those of us with a very low tolerance of boredom had the opportunity and the need to Just Do Something!

I had been lurking on motorcycle social media sites, observing wistful conversations about the motorcycle section of the Dakar rally and “why can’t we do that?” comments.

Chains of thought were triggered and I realised that while “we” couldn’t do a multiday desert rallyraid (think about it….) I realised something similar could be done by putting together Crown land Forest Service Roads (FSRs), road legal dualsport and adventure motorcycles and the age-old motorsport genre of Regularity road rally (also known as Time Speed Distance rally). Conversations elsewhere suggested the Strathcona village of GoldRiver as a central location and the gravel roads of the north of Vancouver Island.

The format was developed and refined over three events, the GoldRiver 200, a winter test event behind Port Alberni and the GoldRiver 300. The hordes of timekeepers, traditionally associated with TSD rallies were replaced by a smartphone GPS timing app and a community of rallyistas was mentored through a learning process that established the rules of engagement.

The GoldRiver rally format.

The intention at the outset was to develop a entry-level motorsport that was accessible to motorcycle motorsport novices, was as low-cost as possible yet provided an on-ramp to higher level rallysport for those who discovered they had been bitten by the bug - without having to spend a small fortune at the outset of their motorsport career. This design brief continues to be fulfilled with the GoldRiver rally format - although that doesn’t stop some riders from bringing fairly exotic machinery.

The event routes are run exclusively over public rights of way. Riders are required to hold ICBC or equivalent insurance for road legal machines and they are required to hold a full-entitlement motorcycle licence. Each rider signs on with a liability waiver and an acknowledgement that they are riding the routes at their own risk and on their own insurance. All the BC motoring legislation is complied with and thus the event is fully road legal.

ICBC insurance exclusions - none of which apply

Road-legal competitive motorcycle motorsport…

The competition element of the rally is provided in the grand Regularity way by dividing each day’s route up into legs, setting a GPS timing gate at the start of each leg and using the next gate as a timing restart point. Each leg has an average speed assigned to it and knowing the leg length it is possible to calculate the expected elapsed time to complete that leg.

Completion of each leg ahead or behind the target time generates time penalties, one penalty per second ahead or behind target time. Add up all the time penalties over a route and you have your score for that day. The winner is the rider who triggers tha most or maximum number of timing gates and accrues the minimum number of time penalties.

Sounds simple and exactly like car tarmac rallies - but there are some major differences.

Each rider rides solo. No co-driver.
The terrain over which the course is set is rough, backcountry land
The roads are gravel, often unmaintained, steep, loose… every kind of “not for cars”.
The terrain within each time leg can differ wildly, making it impossible to drive at a steady speed. The rider will need to anticipate difficult terrain every time they are riding through easy terrain.
The rider will have to interpret the route roadbook while monitoring their speed and riding the bike.

The TSD car rally mantra is “stay on the course and stay on time!”. Winter rallies have a first directive of “stay on the road” before staying on the course and staying on time.

Bike TSD rallies have as the order of operations 1. Stay on the bike! 2. Stay on the road…. 3. Stay on the course. Lastly 4. Stay on time.

Similar but very different.

The winning GoldRiver format.

The GoldRiver rally appears to have settled on a three day format, overnighting in Gold River and travelling out each day to new gravel road routes. The modern logging industry convention is to not put FSRs over watersheds. Many of the gravel roads on the north of the island predate this convention, meaning there are many long distance route options to roam about the north. The only limitation is fuel availability. The routes are designed around the reasonably expected fuel range and the location of fuel supplies.

The event has been steadily building a reputation as a very good motorcycling experience as well as a genuine motorsport competition. Previously, participants have been drawn from the island and the lower mainland of BC. This year seven riders from the US, including European US residents, joined the Canadian riders to make up an international field.

The day before Dustmas, and all through the camp….

The event bivouac occupied about half of the municipal campground, bikes, tents, vans, trucks, campfires from Thursday afternoon to Tuesday morning. The relationship between the event and the local community has also been growing as the events have gone by. This year the curveball thrown to test the event organisation was that the petrol station electrics went on the blink Thursday evening. While the crew and field were having breakfast at the Uptown Cappuccino cafe, discussing possible plan b’s, a local resident known to us only as Bill offered the use of his fuel keycard for the commercial fuel pump in the industrial park. All he asked was that we pay honestly for any fuel we drew on his account.

We were gobsmacked at his generosity, trust, faith, that we would do the honourable thing. We had a test run and filled a car belonging to one of our party to satisfy ourselves we could work the strange system and prepared to fuel the field. As it so happened, the petrol pumps were fixed by Friday teatime and we were able to return Bills card without further use.

Thank you Bill!

Pitch inspection.

If you are unfamiliar with gravel roads, they are mostly puddles when the weather is wet and very dusty when dry. The weather on Thursday and Friday had been cool and wet with intermittent rain. The forecast was correct that the weather would improve from Friday lunchtime and get increasingly warm and sunny. The consequence of this was that the road conditions on Saturday were just about perfect - damp below the surface binding the finest particles together for predictable grip and an absence of dust. As the weekend wore on, the roads dried out and became more dusty but without the washboard surfaces that apparently feature on gravel roads elsewhere.

Day one of Dustmas…

The event starts. 250km.

The event opened with a riders briefing on Friday evening and announcements about the start order. Gaia riders would start first followed by the Richta riders after a respectful pause in whatever order they finished their breakfast. Very Rock and Roll! The road crews had left well ahead of everyone and we all set off for Woss (Vegas).

The route was intentionally straightforward, to introduce new riders to the conditions, the scenery and the “house style” of roadbook. One section of the field came from car TSD rallies which have their own way of doing things. The GoldRiver rally is similar but many of the details are different.

The first Passage Control marked the end of the easy stuff and the start of the need for close concentration. Unfortunately this point was missed by some, who took tumbles and were forced to retire “hors de combat”. The route passed over some interesting bridges and high mountain meadows before returning to Woss (Vegas) for the second Passage Control and back to Gold River. All found their way back but some by unconventional routes…..

Thus ended the first day with one further retirement due to a collapsed rear wheel bearing. The attrition had begun!

Results at the end of day one.

Scoring is by the most Control Points and the fewest Time Penalties

These were the day one riders who were ready to start day two. Those riders that for whatever reason expressed the intention not to start day two were not included in the day’s results.

Owen Partaik led the field, followed by Neil Barbisan and Matthew Roddis.

Tanya Zilberg, the only lady rider also triggered all the timing points and was ahead of approximately half the field.

Day two of Dustmas…

Day two. 300km

If day one was a gentle introduction to the road conditions on the north of Vancouver Island, day two was fully into the typical GoldRiver rally conditions. The roadbook was devoid of the extra, helpful instructions and repetitions intended to help new joiners get the feel of the “house style” of writing roadbooks, the route distance was back up to what is generally considered a-good-day-out and the terrain now included some testing dualsport and adventure bike “hilly bits”.

The day started with an unexpectedly difficult climb up to an apparent chockstone. The difficulty of the climb was a combination of grapefruit-sized round pebbles in a sandy soil, the recent rain and traffic jams up the climb forcing riders to stop and have difficulty starting again. About half the field needed a shove from Stuart and Gary, the two unsung heroes of the road crew who endured sweaty heat and the exsanguinating attentions of the Gold River mosquito population.

The grapefruit-grind was quickly followed by the apparent chockstone. The stone itself was 100% real, the fact that it was a chock was only an apparent fact - there was a narrow way round to the right.

Then up and over the Gold River - White River watershed and on to Sayward Junction for the first Passage Control of the day, food and fuel.

All did not go smoothly for the event road crew on motorcycles….

After the pause, the route dived into the catchment area of the Campbell River, some especially twiggy bits to test rider’s speed management and the first major test, the Dalrymple descent. 4km of steep, rocky straight down that is as severe as any element of any GoldRiver route.

Then back to the Passage Control before the second testing mountain of the day. Rooney Lake main. Turn right at the bottom and keep going. You feel like you are a thousand miles from anywhere.

Back over the watershed and back to Gold River.

After a 9am start, the last riders made it back at 9pm. A good day out!

Day two and aggregated scores.

Kelly Whitehouse won day two.

Aggregating days one and two, the event was led by Owen Partaik, followed by Christian Pelletier and Neil Barbisan

There was much snoring in the camp that night - many sorely tired riders and two further retirements.

A note on scoring.

Each day’s route is divided into legs. Most of the legs have a target average speed attached to them, those that don’t are time neutralised legs intended to get participants from one timed leg to another usually through a Passage Control or a rest stop.

Each leg is timed and scored in isolation from every other leg. In this way, if a rider totally screws up a leg perhaps by getting lost or getting a puncture - or even stopping to help another rider, lost time cannot be made up in subsequent legs.

Given the nature of the event, being relatively low-key, the event organisation cannot run to an extensive fleet of following rescue and recovery vehicles. If a rider comes across someone else who is in some kind of difficulty the required response is to stop and render assistance. In order not to dissuade riders from rendering assistance, should the “helping rider” request, lost time cannot be made be returned in the scoring up to the maximum time penalty for that leg.

These scoring adjustments are made once all riders have returned and are made as the scores from the day are collated to give the final result.

Thus, there may be some differences noted between the Richta Scoreboard results and the declared results of the day.

Day three of Dustmas - the finale!

Day three. 150km.

Sharon Charette, owner of the Uptown Cappuccino cafe opened specially for us! Yet another example of the astounding support afforded to the event by the Gold River community.

Sharon, thank you very much indeed!

The field was further reduced due to overnight aches and pains. Two pairs of Gaia riders started after the competition Richta riders. Owen had the first start (as overnight leader) and everyone else drew a lottery to determine the start order.

The route began once again with a tricky uphill section before opening out into majestic valley vistas. Then the Passage Control and a high mountain section, back to the Passage Control, a further forest section before the finish, generously hosted by the Gold River Golf club.

While the returning riders were counted in, riders who had finished enjoyed the refreshment of beer and burgers.

Once again claims for time allowances were heard and weighed and the final scores were tabulated.

Kelly Whitehouse had once again won the day, but not by enough to win the event.
Sasha Sabinin, last year’s winner came fourth overall riding a Kove 450
Neil Barbisan came third overall riding a KTM 690 Enduro
Christian Pelletier came second overall, riding a mighty DR650
Owen Partaik won the event overall riding a Husqvarna FE501

So ended another event. Sore, tired bodies left sooner or later to catch ferries back to California, Nevada, Seattle, the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver.