Wrap Up

2024 Wrap Up

 And just like last year, at the stroke of midnight on 30 September, the 2024 Grand Tour was over.  Actually, it was on the stroke of 15:00 on 01 October here on the east coast of Oz, but you know what I mean.

Recently, the final scores were announced.  Bill Collins has been awarded 1st Place with a score of 679 bonus points, not so closely followed by Pat MacRoy on 176 and Charles Snyder on 175.

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Of note, about a third of all the riders who submitted photos for scoring seemed to have missed the requirement for including a bonus tally sheet / list, as mentioned in The Rules.  

If "plan the ride / ride the plan" is the No. 1 rally mantra, then perhaps "read the instructions, twice" should be No. 2.

Mr. Collin's score of 679 is simply incredible and is just so far ahead of everyone else that it should be considered exceptional.   I am not sure there are even that many "compass" towns in all of Oz, so I " dips me lid " to Mr. Collins.

I might also add that I think Mr. Collins has now won this event 6 times over the past 10 years. An outstanding achievement in it's own right.

After all my careful preparation, and then the execution of my "plan the ride / ride the plan" activity, all my submitted bonus photos were accepted, and I was awarded 7th place, with a score of 69 bonus points.  

I guess Mr. Collins has no worries about me challenging him anytime soon.

In many ways, my 2024 effort was a bit like the covid years, in that my riding plans were disrupted by health issues resulting in a 3 month hole in my riding schedule. (see French Connection )

Still, I did manage to complete 3 of the 5 multi-day rides I had planned for this year's event.


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I regret not being able to go north to the small village of North Star up on Queensland border,  as it has a really cool name,  and a ride south to the Victorian border area, which would include some great riding through the Snowy Mountains area,  will have to wait for another year ( 2025 GLMC GT ?? )

For this year's Grand Tour, I travelled 3,480 km, and consumed 174 litres (45 gal) of fuel.  If I add in accommodation charges, my total costs were about $AU 1,073 ($US 718) which makes my 2024 Grand Tour t-shirt a high value item.  Perhaps I should include it on my Home & Contents Insurance.

What did I learn from this year's Grand Tour ? :-

I still enjoy the challenge of identifying where the bonuses are, and then plotting routes to hoover up as many as possible. 

I have become quiet proficient in using my "go to" tools of Excel, Google MyMaps and Mappite.

I am getting better at taking one-handed photos, although I have learnt that it pays to (1) take multiple photos of each bonus and (2) double check the bonus photo before moving away.  

Here are 2 bonus photos that require you to zoom in, then squint your eyes and then you may just be able to make out the town names ( West Wyalong & Balgowlah North ).  

Fortunately, I had more reasonable photos to submit for scoring.



click on images to enlarge


I still dislike riding through large cities & towns looking for bonuses, so much so that I skipped a few bonuses this year which probably cost me several places ( Top 5 ?? )

My dislike for the M1 motorway is not decreasing.  It is a really busy road with peak-hour traffic all day and crazy drivers, but there are few alternatives, so I don't have much choice when I head north.  I'll just have to learn to grit my teeth, take slow breathes and "chill out".

That all said, I enjoyed the challenge and execution of the Grand Tour and look forward to hopefully doing it all again if there is a 2025 GLMC GT.

In the meantime, it is the start of our Summer here in Oz, and I'm heading off for a quick 2 day ride to Gilgandra.  My route will take the slow, bumpy back-road to Broke and thus avoiding the most of the dreaded M1.


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Until next time, " keep the rubber side down, the shiny side up, and may your lid never skid  . . .  "

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