There really is only one way to get started in Rallying, and that is to pick a rally, and enter it
Yes, I know it sounds obvious, but bear with me.
Ride Reports are great. I write them regularly, and people pay me the great compliment of enjoying them, and saying so. That said, if you read my ride report you are getting just a flavor of what was MY ride. It wasn't, and never can be, your ride. You only ever get to experience that if you get out there and ride.
Prior to an LD Rally, make quite sure you are up to the distances involved. In a 12 hour rally you will ride more than 500 miles. This is not 500 Interstate miles. On my last 12 hour rally I rode 630 miles and that involved zero interstate, and about 6 miles on gravel ... and everything in between. All the while collecting bonuses. It is a tough schedule and there are few ways to recover from any mistakes you might make.
In a 24 to 30 hour rally, you will ride much further, but the pace is not quite as relentless and you can sometimes make up lost time.
Here is the thing to bear in mind about a rally. There is nothing mysterious about it. An LD Rally is a motorcycle ride. Nothing more, nothing less. You make a plan for your ride, usually with at least a week to do so, then you go out and ride your motorcycle. You have done this hundreds of times before, and you have lots of relevant experience already.
Sure there are intricacies. Planning is often half the battle, but for a newcomer the best advice I can offer is simply to enter a rally. Make a plan you feel comfortable with and go out and ride it. Pay very close attention to the feedback you get at the finish. Many of the riders will be vastly experienced, and willing to share..
If you want any more ride reports to read, some of mine are here:
https://lifebehindbars.bracken.name/html/ride_reports.html
One key thing .... Leave the start line of the rally slowly, deliberately, and carefully. You cannot win a rally in the first hour, but you sure as hell can lose one then. Adrenalin is your worst enemy, although it comes in useful later when you find yourself in Dallas, stuck in 5 lanes of stationary traffic and you need to make a rally finish in Cedar Hill ... in 15 minutes. That is when you decide to show Texans what "lane-sharing" really means .... What a blast
