I took a job at Touratech in the fall of 2010. The funny thing was that I didn’t know anything about adventure motorcycles. During my first week at the desk, I connected some dots between my previous role in the motorsport world and my new one in the motorcycle industry.

A few of my friends were working for the newly opened Dirt Fish Rally School, and I suggested we partner up and use their massive facility for ADV training and possibly the forthcoming Touratech Rally. “Great idea!” is how Paul Guillien, then General Manager, reacted to my proposal. “Let’s ride out there and check out the place!” I had just signed up for a frigid winter ride and little did I know, it was about to be a proper adventure that ended with my BMW F650GS Dakar buried in a few feet of mud.

Teaming up with local training organization in earlier years of Touratech Rally.

 

What transpired from the ride to Dirt Fish was not only my introduction to ADV but my connection to the Touratech Rally, which at the time was scheduled for its second iteration later that year. The Dirt Fish idea didn’t work out, so Paul and I returned to the drawing board, hoping to secure a new location.

For the first few years, the Touratech Rally was a small gathering of adventure motorcyclists who traveled to a private piece of property in the Wenatchee National Forest owned by Touratech USA’s owner, Tom Myers. Camping and self-guided adventure rides are what filled the weekend. It was low-key and uncomplicated.

Paul Guilien at the 2013 Touratech Rally.

However, earlier that year, Touratech had partnered with RawHyde Adventures to expand the event to 75 people and planned to provide some additional ADV coaching and clinics, as well as showers and other amenities for the guests. Tom’s property, while perfect for the three dozen or so ADV riders that had attended the year prior, was a little cramped for a full 75 and their camp kits. But unable to find a fresh spot, it would be Tom’s land that played host to the expanded Touratech Rally the following summer and again in 2012 before the event was moved to a massive field in the sleepy town of Plain, Washington, where it is still held to this day.

Those first two years—while the Touratech Rally was still being held on Tom’s property in the woods outside of Wenatchee—is when I cut my teeth as an adventure motorcyclist. In late spring, on Friday afternoons after the last shipments had been picked up and sent out, the Touratech-USA office would load up their motorcycles and head into the mountains. We spent the weekends scouting trails, exploring new areas, camping, cooking meals, and around campfires. It was both an exercise in office bonding and a crash course in adventure motorcycling. How to pack, what to pack, and whether you could ride with everything you had packed were some of the early lessons I learned ahead of the event that would take place later that summer. When the Touratech Rally itself rolled around, the office crew was closer than ever and prepared to guide our guests on epic adventure rides in the Pacific Northwest backcountry.

The first few years, Touratech Rally was a small gathering of adventure motorcyclists at the Wenatchee National Forest.

Fast forward to the summer of 2022, and I once again found myself at the Touratech Rally, but this time not as an employee. I have spent the better part of the last decade working as a photojournalist documenting the motorcycle and motorsport industries. So, this time I was attending as a journalist, with the hopes of documenting how much the Touratech Rally has changed in the 10 years we’d been apart.

The 75-person cap had swelled to nearly 1,000, with dozens of vendors and a handful of motorcycle manufacturers who’d brought demo bikes to test ride over the weekend. The formula had stayed the same since my first time attending, however. Both guided and self-guided rides were available throughout the day, as well as clinics and classes taught by a variety of seasoned ADV riders. The days were book-ended by delicious meals and cold beers around the campfire.

The originally 75-person capped event has swelled to nearly 1,000 attendees.

The time-honored tradition of seeing who can ride the slowest around an obstacle course took place on a penultimate evening, while a full-on “funduro” course created by the legendary Jimmy Lewis challenged skill levels the day before.

Unlike the early years, where we would scramble through the woods and pitch our tents as far away from one another as possible, the Touratech Rally now has a system where riders can arrive, set up their campsites, and enjoy the weekend without too much trouble. There are a variety of food vendors onsite, including a wood-fired pizza truck that was a huge hit.

The riding, like always, is incredible. Touratech’s staff still scout the surrounding area and has created an assortment of rides that range from mellow gravel roads to proper adventure experiences, not for the faint of heart. Sign up for a ride and test your skills with like-minded motorcyclists, or grab a few friends, download the available GPS tracks, and take off into the woods.

The rides explore the backcountry of the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

After more than a decade, the Touratech Rally continues to provide both new and experienced ADV riders with the opportunity to explore the backcountry of the beautiful Pacific Northwest, pickup useful techniques ahead of their next ride, test the latest adventure motorcycles, challenge themselves in the slow race or on the funduro course, and bond with like-minded motorcyclists set to a backdrop of epic evergreen trees.

Riders challenge themselves on the “funduro” course created by the legendary Jimmy Lewis.

I spent my time at the 2022 Touratech Rally chasing some friends through the woods on a Touratech-equipped Harley-Davidson Pan America . The rides were, like those I’d done in the past, the kind you keep buried in the back of your mind for dreary days stuck behind a desk. I exchanged stories around the campfire, watched as my dear friend Donni nearly take the trophy in the slow race, caught up with old co-workers, and genuinely enjoyed every minute.

Justin enjoyed the Touratech-equipped Harley-Davidson Pan America at Touratech Rally 2022.

So, how much has changed since my first time attending in 2011? Has the size of the crowd and massive campground sullied the rally’s reputation? No, not even a little. The Touratech Rally continues to provide ADV riders with an event to look forward to all year—a weekend filled with adventures in the woods, old and new friends, and the opportunity to explore an amazing part of the Pacific Northwest.

Touratech Rally 2023 west will be held on June 22-25, Plain, WA. Registration is open at TouratechRally.com.