The Annual Teddy Bear Rallye - 2001
Peter Schneider, Rallyemaster, John Groot, Advisor

More Pictures to follow

Peter Schneider was again took the responsibility for our annual Teddy Bear Rallye. Every year MCNJ collects Teddy Bears as donations to the Marine Corps' "Toys for Tots" (click here for more information) campaign and the entry 'fee' for our December Rallye. Co-sponsored by MCNJ and Saturn of Morristown the Rallye begins at the dealership on Morris Avenue in Morristown. Twenty-five teams and lots of Teddys began the Rallye with a drivers meeting with Peter. Pete made sure that everyone understood the use of the photo clues (seen below) and an unusual feature; a TSD (Time/Speed/Distance) section.

The Rallye began simply enough with an OD check down Route 287 to River Rd. The first trap was built on the instruction R at STOP. STOP is not a sign but an intersection. The first "STOP" sign was at the corner of River and Cowperwaite Rds but Cowperwaite on the right is a dirt road within sight and therefore not a legitimate Rallye road. The correct execution would have been a forced left to avoid the dirt. The Rallye was made to self-correct by the use of the rhino picture shown below. With everyone back on-course, the teams had another chance to make a R FOPP, but the first road was dirt and the correct execution was to continue to the first paved road. If a team turned onto the dirt road, they find an off-course control for which the 200 point normal penalty was waived in the spirit of the season. The teams rejoined the on-course route at the Tewksbury Inn and continued to the CHECKPOINT at Belair farms (see below).

After a few more turns, the teams encountered the beginning of the TSD section during which the teams were to drive at one MPH below the posted speed limit. Two tricks were buried in the instructions. The "STOP" Photo shown below was to cause a short pause (which added to the correct time). Some teams felt it meant all "STOP"s but the exact scene was only seen once. The second trap was far more 'expensive'. Traveling on dirt, teams were looking for a R at STOP, but again the first chance was unpaved. Even though you are on dirt, an instruction can only be executed on legitimate (paved) roads unless unpaved or TTU is specified. Teams that forgot that were under four miles and early for the end of the TSD section.

One Photo clue (shown below) was the sign on the fence that was visible for only a few seconds as you passed it. Even if you missed it, the Photo instruction caused the route to self-correct. Following that, the instructions called for a L onto Foxhill Rd. but the first chance was "E FOX HILL" and was the wrong turn and another no penalty off-course control. Later the teams were looking for a L on McCan Mill Road. The first apparent turn was at "McCann" which was incorrect. The Lamington River Photo clue bought everyone back on course.

MCNJ prides itself in making Rallyes finishable by trying to make all tricks self-correct. As usual, Peter did a great job and our thanks to him and all of the workers that made this event fun and interesting. The results are below.

click on the thumbnails to see the BIG picture

The October rallye was centered on a local charity event named "Horse Play in the Hills". This event involved a group of 50 ornate horse statues created by local artists. The horses were auctioned for charity on November 10 but, until then, were on display outdoors throughout the Bernardsville / Bedminster area. The rallye took contestants on a course past 24 of the horses; rallyists were required to identify each horse as they passed it. Almost all rallyists correctly identified the horses.

Only 13 teams assembled at the Burger King to find a multi-format Rallye running along the hills along the border of Orange County, New York and Passaic and Sussex Counties, New Jersey. This area is still pretty rural and offers some beautiful views of the countryside including New Jersey's Highpoint Monument.

The Rallye began running north on Route 23 as the OD check to Clinton Road. A format that many of the contestants may not have seen before, TSD (Time-Speed-Distance) was next. The teams were directed to drive at the posted Speed Limits starting at 25 MPH, then 35 MPH, then back to 25. One way to handle the challenge was to try to run at the speed. An alternate was to compute the required time. It takes 2.4 minutes to travel a mile at 25 and 1.714 minutes at 35. The correct time was 20.8 minutes. A Special Instruction called for a L FOPP when you went from NJ to NY and a R FOPP when traveling back to NJ. The first time the Route self-corrected onto Route 94 if you forgot.

An interesting trap called for a L LOPP before SOL RIP "WALLING". You first came to an SOL RIP "WALLING" at the near side of the intersection but although a L FOPP after could be executed there, that was not the instruction. If you continued straight as possible you came to the correct turn.

The next format was a map that required following the shortest route from Point A to Point B to Point C with almost no tricks except the Post Office in Pine Island, NY - Point A had been moved. If the old PO was used at the CHECKPOINT, a penalty of 30 Points would have been the toll. Several other traps entertained the Rallyists for the balance of the 93 miles. Many were based on the Straight as Possible priority and one was based on the fact that the S instruction must be The Rallye ended at a crowded Emerald Point Restaurant on Greenwood Lake.

All but one car came to the end.

Pete Schneider and Marc Lees combined to put on our annual shared event. Those of you who have been on one of Pete's Teddy Bear Rallye are familiar with the format that had the contestants looking for a picture while they navigated the route. For those that noted the scenes in these pictures had an extra Route Instruction added .

Starting in Wayne, the OD Leg brought the contestants to River Road off Route 206. The first trap occurred almost immediately thereafter. The photo A (click to enlarge) became active, calling for a R FOPP if you saw the picture. The active Route Instruction was R FOPP after "LARGER CROSS RD S." The first road after the sign was unpaved and contestants that forgot unpaved roads don't exist, found Marc at an off-course control. Please note on the enlarged picture that there is a paved road. Contestants found a picture that was very similar but along the unpaved River Rd. If you turned incorrectly because of the wrong picture, you found Pete at another off-course control. If you continued, you came to the first on-course control, manned by the Groots, made a right and found the correct picture (yes, there are two signs). About 10 of the 17 teams did it correctly.

Self correcting loops or traps were the order of the day. Peter is a master at creating self-correcting loops. Another trap occurred when you were legitimately traveling on and unpaved road, looking for a left at a T. You came to a crossroad but the road beyond was unpaved while the arms of the crossroad were paved, making the intersection a T.

Pete used the familiar extra instruction that "clues or questions will not be found on mailboxes or their supports or trees.....". Please note Photo D. If you click to expand the picture, you'll note that it's on a tree, making this clue non-existent. Also note that he said questions, not answers to questions causing many teams to avoid correct answers on mailboxes.

Later in the Rallye, another Photo (E) became active and again sharp eyes were needed to avoid a penalty. If you click to expand the picture, you can see that one of the "L"s is out of line. It happened that although the contestants passed two Fox Hill signs, neither of them matched the picture.

All the contestants came to the ending spot in Long Valley. Scores are shown below and more pictures will follow.

Clicking on the Links in this write up take you to our new Rallye Tips page for further discussion.
Brian and Lynn Beckman put together a great Rallye for the eleven competing teams on Sunday, May 20. The OD Correction Leg took us west on Route 80 about 30 miles to Route 206 near Byram Township. The first trap iinvolved Priority 2 in the General Instructions. Priority 2 says that when put onto a road by name or number, you must follow that road until the execution of the next numbered instruction. Our instructions read

After the R at Stop, there was a forced left because of a Dead End and there on our left was a Ridge Rd. sign. Correct execution would have been a left to stay on Ridge Rd. since we hadn't come to the next numbered Route Instruction #13. (the first of four expensive mistakes I made).
The next trap involved a L onto Route 605. The 605 sign indicated that 605 was 8/10 ahead. The road which had no Route number signs occurred immediately. Correct execution would have been to continue S looking for 605. In reality, you would have come to Brian Beckman who would have explained how to regain the course. (another 200+ points for the Groots).
A few more traps are worth noting,

It's a good thing for us there were only two Expert teams. Check out 1st & 2nd Intermediate!

The pictures below are courtesy of Vic Franco

It was a glorious spring day as 16 teams lined up for our Annual Rallye to determine "the Rallyist of the Year". Tom and Mike crafted a great route that used "Grab Bag" format instructions. Grab Bags are effectively multiple Either/Ors. The differences were that, for this Rallye, the contestants were told that they would not execute all of the choices and they must execute the one that included the phrase "and exit the Grab Bag" (remember that.)

We started from Bridgewater Commons and the first trap occurred almost immediately. A fundamental premise is that an onto can only be cancelled by the execution of the next numbered instruction. Since each Grab Bag was the same numbered Instruction, once onto a road by name you had to continue to try to stay onto that road throughout the Grab Bag. If you simply went from one choice to the next it cost you about 200 points.

Several more traps reared their ugly heads during the morning session including an Instruction to R at "RIVER RD.". If you check the pictures above, you'll see that there were two River Rd signs (one with and one without a period). The last Grab Bag of the morning contained an un-executable Instruction - R onto "RYMON RD".  - Sorry! One cannot turn onto a sign so you should have proceeded to the lunch break at the A&P/McDonalds in Hampton. Even if it had been executable, it couldn't since you 'would not execute' all the Grab Bag Instructions.

The afternoon was equally interesting with beautiful Rallye roads in Hunterdon County. One trap involved a L 2nd OPP as we were following a road by number. The first L occurred when our route went left following the Route number. The correct turn was McCathern Rd. (see above). A easy to miss "T99"(see above) caused many teams another 200+ points. A final trap that was very well done was the instruction PU Route 623 and FWL. FWL, being part of the numbered instruction, takes Priority One and causes you to follow FWL until the next numbered instruction. ONTO is Priority Two and as such the correct route followed the line instead of the numbered route. There were many, many more great traps. Mike and Tom deserve a great round of applause.

Unfortunately, there was a protest involving a picture of  RIP VAN WINKLE, not Reads In Part but a drawing of the famous character. Although we awarded ties for first Expert to 3 cars, because of the protest, an official ruling was not made. Please watch this space for an official ruling from the Rallye Committee.

Invitational Pictures