Why is the Not Superman Rally enforcing the no excessive speed and/or reckless motorcycle operation rule prominently included in all competitive LD rally rules; not just the NSR?
There are a lot of differing opinions among experienced competitive LD riders regarding NSR's proposed "no excessive speed" enforcement policy because every individual's personal definition of excessive speed and where and when it should apply to them is different.
For example 10 mph under the posted legal speed limit might be unsafe for one set of road and/or weather conditions and 10 mph over the posted legal speed limit might be safe in certain places on Hwy 2 in Montana where you can see 2 miles ahead in good weather and may not encounter another vehicle for an hour at a time. There are major differences in rider ability. Nicky Hayden certainly can ride infinitely better than I can.
In California you can be cited for impeding the flow of traffic even if you are going the posted speed limit. I've witnessed the prevailing flow of traffic running well over 80 mph on sections of I-405 and on I-75 south of Tifton, Georgia on a regular basis.
So what is the problem? Based on personal observation and that of many other competitive LD rally participants, there are more than a few rally participants running 90 mph and higher when they feel like they are being safe, riding within their ability, AND won't get caught.
A friend of mine put it best in a recent post to the NotSupermanRally Yahoo Group ...
It is frustrating to ride a 24 hour rally, and have other riders ride 300 more miles in the same given time with an "x" amount of time mandatory rest bonus. That means they are averaging over 12 mph faster than I am. A hard pill to swallow, but I am slowly accepting the fact that I am not willing to ride that much faster.
My bonus gathering time is probably better [than most], since I ride in many AMA Grand Tour events where where I may have 20+ stops in a riding day for very similar photo gathering requirements, and as Ken Meese discussed ...preparation. I am well ahead of the group on practicing that phase of rallying ...that's all I do all riding season.
It is hard to be a competitive individual and accept the fact that there are riders who are better than me ...better by being willing to ride faster and ride with less sleep!
I see Darrin's point and I see all the counter points. For me, I have the same frustration Darrin has ...at the advantage others gain by how they CHOOSE to ride ...but accept the fact that is the "what it is". I will still rally for the fun, the personal challenge, and to hang with all my friends.
Technology to the rescue. With SPoT 2 satellite tracking, average speeds between 10 minute apart locations can be computed (using Mapsource or Streets & Trips to determine actual road distance between the 2 points) and used to identify flagrant speeders. The US Fleet Satellite Tracking System records location, direction and velocity at 10 second intervals and stores that data until it connects with a cell phone tower and then transmitts the accumulated data to US Fleet. The US Fleet Tracking data really makes it easy for the rallymaster to identify flagrant speeders. I am in discussions with them about rental units.
Obviously judgment and reason must be applied when looking at the data. We are looking for repeat serious offenders; not some rider that occasionally wicks it up to get around a motor home with several cars stuck behind. Even though a multiple vehicle pass may be dangerous depending on the exact set of circumstances, that is a very infrequent occurance and not the frequent and much longer duration flagrant speeding behavior we are looking to eliminate.
Defining flagrant speeding without specifying specific numerical limits is not unlike trying to define pronography ...I can't come up with a good written definition, but I sure as hell know it when I see it. And that's the way I'm going to run all future Not Superman Rallies.