Cars, trucks and SUV's will not be permitted on the parade route between the hours of 9:00 PM and 2:00 AM.  Make sure you get back to your camp before 6:00 or be prepared to park it until after 2:00 am.

Spirit said:

Cars, trucks and SUV's will not be permitted on the parade route between the hours of 9:00 PM and 2:00 AM.

What areas are closed off.  Also, how far down on Congress Ave is it closed off? Thanks.

The entire parade route is closed on the rally grounds to all but bike, cart & atv/utv traffic.

I've never been downtown during ROT so I have no idea.  Maybe somebody that's been can tell you.

Different parade route.

The ban on cars is for the Expo Center. Basically be a good neighbor and just park the big vehicles before 9:00pm

The Parade to downtown on Friday night is probably open to cars if you really want to drive 10 miles an hour.

If you are going to 6th St. in a car, head out early to get a good spot.

Definitely Loved the parade to Downtown last year!!!!!!!!!! It was my first time to ride in it and it went pretty fast but all the people gathered on the streets to watch was too cool!!!!!!!!!!!!

tomcat said:

 

 

 

 

What areas are closed off.  Also, how far down on Congress Ave is it closed off? Thanks.

Im not sure exactly what area they close down, I'll see if I can get that info, I know 6th St. is closed from around 6:00 or so until, I think 2:00 am, to all but bikes.

Congress is usually closed from 11th st on the North end all the way to the river.  6th st is closed from Congress to IH-35 to all but foot traffic.  If going by cager, go early to get a spot in one of the parking lots.  If going by bikee you can usually park in the bike parkinf area.

Actually the parade route inside the ralley should be closed to ALL four wheeled traffic from 5:00pm till 2:00, the ATVs are the worst for clogging the parade route, after all this is a "BIKER RALLY" they have four wheeler and ATV rallys at mud creek in Jacksonville, Tx. I tried riding my bike through a couple of times, it gets frustrating with people stopping all the time, it gets too hot for a Harley Idling in all that traffic. bunch of schmitt if you ask Me.

kennyshark said:

it gets frustrating with people stopping all the time, it gets too hot for a Harley Idling in all that traffic.

Agreed. That was one of the most frustrating things about ROT for me. If you want to run down to a store, or to the other side of the grounds to hear some music or something, the only way back to the campsite was by going through that ****ing parade mess. Moral: RV or tent, CAMP BY THE FRONT GATE.

Sometimes a cart would stop and the driver would actually turn off the motor, get out and walk around to give beads to some girl, while traffic backed up in the heat and humidity.  Then there were those trailers; I counted 26 people on one, and of course every time it stopped it took 10 minutes to pass out all the beads.

Unfortunately,  the tits-and-beads thing is a major part of the ROT party experience, and it's not going away.  I just wish they'd manage it better so it wouldn't be such a blasted headache.  I wish they could have the whole thing in a specific area or something, leaving the rest of the grounds open for other people. Or develop some kind of alternate routes for entering/exiting the grounds that lets you bypass the parade. 

I made a BIG BIG mistake camping behind Paradise Bar. Nothing wrong with the campsite, but several times I wanted to hop on my bike and run somewhere, and I was just trapped.

This year was my first year that I actually went into the rot rally.  For the last 7 years I have worked as a firefighter in the Travis county area encompassing the location of the rot rally fair grounds but I have never had the chance to go in and enjoy the event for myself.

It was a lot of fun… I went with a friend of mine and we were watching the parade of bikes that evening.  And I noticed that there where an extreme amount of ATVs.  I told my friend to count all of the ATV type vehicles while I counted the bikes for five minutes.  And to my dismay; there where actually almost just ass many ATV’s as there were bikes.  TOTAL number: 29 ATV’s and 30 bikes.  

After we compared numbers; I looked at my friend and laughed and said that “I thought we came to a bike rally not an ATV convention.”

I have read all of the other comments in regard to this issue.  And I suppose all angles of the issue should be considered.  However, there should be some way to divert or limit the amount of ATV’s on the parade route.  

Solutions

1. Charge a substantial amount of revenue for a permit to drive the ATV’s.  

2. Simply limit the amount of ATV’s per rally.  

3. Make an ordinance that requires ATV’s to drive on the right side of the parade route.  While the bikes stay on the left side. 

I personally prefer the last option.  This option would probably be the most feasible ordinance to accomplish.  This would be much safer for everyone involved.  Persons wanting to view motorcycles could position themselves accordingly while at the same time all the other madness that follows the ATV’s diverted to the outside.  

In my opinion ATV’s should not be allowed in the shopping areas period.  It makes the area much more unnecessarily congested. 

Well folks that’s my two cents...  Talk amongst yourselves…

kudjoe said:

3. Make an ordinance that requires ATV’s to drive on the right side of the parade route.  While the bikes stay on the left side. 

 

I personally prefer the last option. 

That's been suggested a million times, but it never happens.  Everybody gets out there going wild, and "rules" just get forgotten, if they're enforceable at all. 

It's all about money. The beads-and-tits thing draws a lot of people, i.e., makes a lot of money. You couldn't have it without carts for the girls to ride in.  So the carts will stay.  The hell with motorcycles. 

Another factor is the heat. You'll die walking all over those mammoth grounds on foot; a cart is a huge luxury for getting around.

Your best bet is to camp or RV in one of those areas up near the front gate, AWAY from the parade route.  Then if you want to take a cool evening cruise, run to a restaurant or store, or whatever, you can easily zip in and out.

I don't think having them all to one side of the road is a good idea really.  Then the folks that camp on that side of the road would have to walk out in between the carts to see the bikes...not a great idea.

I think you could definitely have it without carts.  There are plenty of girls riding around on bikes...sometimes two to a bike which is kinda neat I think. 

I think carts are great during the day for getting around the site, perfect actually.  But at night I think they, along with the cages, should be parked.  They are the cause of congestion during the nighttime hours, period.  The hell with motorcycles you say.  LoL... well, it is a biker rally and one would expect to see motorcycles there as well as people getting around on them.

What kind of pics would we have afterwards if all we had were hot chics on golf carts?  ROT Cart Rally?  Nah uh...just doesn't work.  :)

I also think it could be enforced.  There is enough Law Enforcement there to make you park after a certain time.  I saw them doing it to cages and other vehicles (golf carts, ATVs and the like) without lights (which I also thought was a great idea).

There doesn't seem to be a way to make those that operate the golf carts yield to or make sure there is enough room for bikes to pass, so park them!  Two golf carts side by side on that route is a traffic, and air cooled engine, nightmare!  There's gotta be a solution.

Older topic, but I think they need to make the 'no vehicles on the parade route' earlier than 9 now. There were too many people already parading around and the cars and trucks were really getting in the way. 

too many bikes still cause traffic jams.. I think they just need to ban nudity.. then NO ONE would be slowing down to look or take pictures or holding up the race track that the bikes want....

I'm still trying to figure out which side of the road is the "Inside Lane" with regard to the Parade Route.  The instructions said 'Carts to the Inside; Bikes to the Outside'.  Well, since the parade route is a left-turn circle as in NASCAR, the 'inside' of the left-hand circular route is the left side of the road.  On the other hand, for North America street traffic, the 'inside' lane is to the right.  Maybe the staff unintentionally confused us NASCAR-types with that definition...using Left/Right would have at least let us know where we were 'supposed' to drive

It will certainly be interesting to see where the ROT goes from here, in more ways than one!

Rockett