Being that it was my first year at trikefest, my input might not have too much weight... but here is something to thing about for next year.
I was lucky enough to get the time off to drive the three days down and back and be able to spend four days enjoying trikefest.
The first day was pretty much my meet and greet. The second day was getting to know the lay of the land (with a private night time tour the night before).
And the Friday and Saturday was to get more involved and watch the events.
A lot of the time the events were passed on via word of mouth or by ditchmud (it's ditchmud right?) announcing the event over the mic while ridding around on his Big Red.
I noticed that there was some writings on the whiteboard at the main building, but only general info was stated.
As stated above, we could tell for the most part if there was an event starting because others would pass the word.
The statement of "Follow the crowd" is well... misleading. (As was demonstrated for the bra tree meet that ended up at the shoe tree...)
With the gathering getting bigger every year, things will get more active. Groups of riders might take off for a run in the bush, so stating that
you should look out for a crowd moving to a location is again misleading if not false at this point.
The ISH statement might be a good way to go at it. Yes, the weather is a big deal, as I have seen, it can be sunny one minute, then torrential thunderstorms the next.
A large billboard or flyer that would be given at the office when we pay for out stay, would be am effective way to inform the people.
But going back to the ISH... if it were to be planned out to have not only the main events, but also mini events to get people together in the off hours, I think things would
move along and keep people active.
Some events that were kicked around while we were sheltering from the rains were;
- Minis only racing (Stock Class and Modified Class)
- Mini Drag Pulls (weights) - I may be wrong, but I thought I saw some drag wagons in the barn.
- Mini uphill/downhill barrel racing (personally I think a stock class race on the steep hill going down to the pond from the main gate would be good for a few laughs)
- Obstacle course race ( down log, 3 barrel weave and back through... kind of like the barrel race)
- Backwards drags 100 feet (sure... you think you are good driving forwards...)
- "OUT of GAS Races" (this one would be good)
* OGR Minis (riders sit on their mini and have to use their legs to "paddle" their way to the finish line.) so drag style
* OGR OPEN ( Participants have to get their machine to the finish line any way possible without use of any tools (including rope).. so push, pull, kick or whatever)
- "Seized Engine Pull" (Feel strong enough? With the E-brake on or engine in reverse, the rider must pull their trike to the finish line.
- Longest wheelie
- "Don't drop the EGG" (we have all played this I hope... but this time, one hand holding a spoon with a tennis ball on the end and one hand on the throttle.
So there are many events that can be introduced. Those are some of my favorite ones that I remember from the chats we had at the river and at camp.
If a few of these were planned out ISH wise for the evening and during the free time during the day, I'm sure people would be kept entertained.
Though I will add... the River was a daily event for me, good times!