Rally Frontera Report

The Rally was a great experience and I will give a detailed report next week after Im back home. Now its time to go to the beach!


John

full report

The Rally Frontera is an annual event for motorcycles and quads, and this was the 5th year.
The terrain ranges from dirt roads, 4 wheel drive roads to single track and some paved sections
Typically they do 120-140 miles/day for 3 days. They do a couple special tests which are
timed for trophys, but it's mostly for fun. The sponsors include the army, Suzuki, MotoXtreme
and MotoAventure? I think

Stayed at Hostal San Fernando in Monte Cristi- on El Morro, good view of the water, clean,
comfortable rooms w/ ac, and under $20, but no hot water. Decent restaurant. Others stayed at Montechico,
which looked nice on the outside, but not as nice a location, don't know about the inside

Day 1-
Started at military base in Monte Cristi, across salt flats- lots of cactus
through numerous small towns and into Moncion. Lots of nice scenery, but not much challenging
riding. Stayed at Hotel Las Americas- clean comfortable rooms with ac, around $20/night, but
shower was barely lukewarm. The restaurant was down the street- food was just Ok.

Day 2-
continued on through many small towns into mountains and Jarabacoa, up to a higher peak looking
down into the valley at Constanza- what a view! lots of farming, very green
Stayed at Altocerro on a hill overlooking Constanza- very nice! rooms have stove, utinsels
fridge and seating area downstairs, spiral staircase up to bedroom and bath, hot water!
I think it was closer to $40/night

Day3-
Started at military yard in Constanza, through mountainous terrain and more small towns,
on to Rancho Arriba, and into Santo Domingo. I think this was the best riding, lots of
variety- challenging 4 wheel roads, singletrack, deep river crossings, along orange groves
Finish was at Army base in SD, they had a band playing, and served sancocho and rice.
Stayed at Hispaniola, which has been reviewed elsewhere. I would stay there again-
quiet rooms, decent restaurant,, cheap internet access

I believe the entry fee for this is around $100US, and includes some gas, water,
soft drinks and jambon y queso sandwiches at a couple stops during the day
Enduro Adventure can rent you a bike, if needed- DRZ400's or WR250F's
At the end of each day, if you were riding a Suzuki, the factory reps would wash your bike
clean the air filter and repair/adjust anything necessary- no charge; they also served
Red Bull and Brugal Extra Viejo!

other reviews

Hamaca- nice beach, good service, mediocre food, decent rooms

Jaragua- way overpriced, good service in the hotel, poor service in the casino, great breakfast buffet for about $6, food at Champions is hit or miss, nice pool area, good fitness center

competition

Ken said:

Interesting report, JohnR. How did you do in the competition?

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I'm not sure. When I left on 2/26, they still didn't have any results. I probably didn't do very well, as there were a few very fast locals- those who race in DR. I also didn't really want to break someone else's bike or myself! It was a great time and I plan to come back next year.

John

driving at night!

Robert said:

Coming back from Puerto Plata last weekend on Sunday night passed lots of guys on 4-wheelers, maybe 40-50 of them in a huge line on the highway. The guy at the front had a light and the one at the back. Lucky I didn?t clean a few of them up!

You gotta love this country, you can drive around on a non road legal bike, no lights, no insurance and nobody cares, I love it

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Yeah, I and a guy from Colorado finished everyday around 3 or 4, but there were a lot of people who didn't get in until after dark. I certainly didn't want to be one of them! We had to do about 5 miles of Hwy 1 into SD, and I was glad to finish that part.

John