Bikes, not balloons
Notorious spring winds halt balloons in weekend rally

Jeremy Madrid, riding atop Gerald Valdez's Harley-Davidson, wows the crowd with a tire burn-out at Larry Brian Mitchell Recreation Center for the first Route 66 Bike and Balloon Rally on Saturday. Gusty winds forced the cancellation of the planned balloon launches. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Adron Gardner

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff writer

GALLUP — Gallup’s notorious spring winds grounded the hot air balloons on Saturday and Sunday, but they didn’t necessarily ground the spirits of the hot air balloonists.

Albuquerque balloonist Mike Korfe, a regular participant at Gallup’s December Red Rock Balloon Rally, said he knew the weather conditions would prevent the hot air balloons from going up on Saturday morning even as he was leaving Albuquerque on Friday. He and his crew showed up anyway, he explained, to show support for Gallup’s first-ever Route 66 Bike and Balloon Rally, and because he’s a hard-core balloonist.

“Even if it’s raining, I show up so they can tell me to go back to bed,” Korfe joked. Korfe spent Saturday afternoon watching the rally’s motorcycle rodeo and relaxing with his crew chief Mistie White and several of their friends. Whether or not the balloons were able to fly on Sunday (they weren’t), Korfe and White said they would enjoy their time in Gallup and probably find time to catch a meal at their favorite Gallup restaurant, Genaro’s.

The bikers participating in the motorcycle rally had a little easier time with the weather although windy conditions forced organizers to modify some of the bike rodeo events on Saturday. The weather did reportedly contribute to a minor spill involving one biker and his passenger, who while riding in Saturday’s poker run, overcorrected for the wind and sustained road rash abrasions.

The poker run, a memorial run in honor of Andy Carabajal, a longtime Gallup firefighter who died from cancer on Sept. 11, 2008, was perhaps the most successful event of the rally. It attracted nearly 90 riders, along with accompanying passengers, said Alice Perez, who was helping with registration.

Gallup resident John Carabajal, one of Andy’s brothers, was pleased with the event and its turnout. “It really means a lot to me for them to throw this for my younger brother,” he said.

“It really touches my heart.”

Sara Steadman, Andy’s sister and one of the rally’s organizers, said her brother’s involvement in the community reflected the rally’s melding of bikers and balloonists. Her brother belonged to a couple of Gallup bike clubs, she said, and helped crew Bill Lee’s hot air balloon. Surveying the large crowd of bikers gathered after the poker run, Steadman said, “It’s just wonderful to belong to a community like this.

We’re just proud to be part of Gallup.”

According to Gerald Valdez, president of the Sundance Iron Riders, the rally had four main sponsors — the city of Gallup, Gallup-McKinley Chamber of Commerce, Premier Distributing, and Gallup Propane — and about 50 smaller local business sponsors. The three main bike clubs that helped organize the rally included American Bikers Aimed Toward Education or ABATE, the American Legion Riders, and the Sundance Iron Riders, added Maria Ramirez, coordinator for the Red Rock Chapter of ABATE. Some of the goals of organizing the rally, Ramirez explained, included bringing tourism money into Gallup and providing a Gallup event for local people to enjoy.

Money generated from the event will go back to the city to help reimburse Gallup for the cost of staging this first rally, Steadman explained. “This year we’ll be lucky to break even.

In the future,” she added, “we’d like to donate money to various local charities.”

As the rally wound down on Sunday afternoon, Valdez talked about plans for next year’s event. Organizers want to keep the rally on the first weekend of June, he said, and they liked awarding cash prizes for the different contests. However, he said, they are already talking about moving the bike rally events to the McKinley County Courthouse Square and switching the bike scavenger hunt to Saturday and the poker run to Sunday. Because many people didn’t know what a bike scavenger hunt was, Valdez said, they didn’t stay through Sunday. Valdez explained scavenger hunt participants were given a map of Gallup and the surrounding area, along with 26 questions that could only be answered by riding to specific locations and finding the answers.

“It was a great turnout considering the weather,” Valdez said of the overall response to the rally.

“Phred” McAllaster, a “phlight” attendant from Albuquerque — otherwise known as the pilot of the Str8Up hot air balloon, said despite the weather he was still enjoying the weekend because of the kinship and camaraderie he shares with other balloonists. A pilot since 1993, McAllaster said he’s been coming to Gallup’s Red Rock Balloon Rally for years and particularly enjoys navigating his balloon along the “fingers” of Churchrock’s red rock formation.

McAllaster said he has attended a fun rally in Utah that also combines motorcycles with hot air balloons. That rally holds an evening balloon glow on a state highway, he added, something that Gallup balloonist Bill Lee is hoping to do during next year’s Route 66 Bike and Balloon Rally.

That is, of course, if the winds comply.