The Rebelle Rally- Thayer Low

The Rebelle Rally

My Land Rover was buried up to the axles at Big Dune, a lone sand dune somewhere outside of Death Valley. As I pulled out my MAXTRAX and started shoveling, I realized that the Rebelle Rally was no joke. The almost year I had spent training and preparing for this event kept me calm. But on the other hand, getting traction in the sand dunes with a 7,000-pound vehicle can take a few tries! However, throughout this endeavor I realized I was having the time of my life!

The Rebelle Rally consists of eight days off-road, traversing some of the most diverse and untouched terrain the United States has to offer. It starts in northern California, in Lake Tahoe, and winds its way through the California and Nevada deserts before ending 2,000 kilometers later in the Imperial Sand Dunes, also known as Glamis, at the border of California and Mexico, making it the longest off-road rally in North America. Sound fun? It’s a blast! And the best part, “this just so happens to be for women because, if it weren’t all women, women wouldn’t sign up to do it,” Emily Miller (founder) says.

Miller, who has competed for years, had finished the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles, a female-only rally in Morocco, and wanted to bring that same opportunity to women in the States. Most recently Miller won the Carta, another navigational-based rally! Miller has trained thousands of drivers, many of them women, and loves seeing the confidence driving off-road brings to them. The Rebelle is designed this way for women to be able to use the car in their driveway and learn the skills necessary. No tube-chassis vehicles needed.

In case it crossed your mind as it did mine, after I started training with previous Rebelles, the idea that this was something feminist, or girl-power was wiped away. These women were so far beyond that. They are hard core! They have made me want to push myself further in every regard, off-road or on. As I’ve heard Miller say many times, this is not a “painted pink” rally.

The Rebelle Rally is map and compass-based, with absolutely no technology allowed. Everything that is Wi-Fi enabled is sealed up before the competition begins. My partner for 201819, Penny Dale, and I drove with caution tape over the dash of our 2013 Land Rover LR4 as mysteriously (even though unplugged) the navigation seemed to be working and we didn’t want to take any chances at being disqualified!

Each day competitors are given 15 to 20 latitude and longitude checkpoints that they must plot and then devise the best course to each. It is not mandatory to get to each one, just the “greens.” Checkpoints are marked as green, blue and black, like ski runs, and the greens are always marked with a tall flag, thus easier to find. Every competitor must find the greens in order to keep competing that day. This is also a way to keep track of everyone as they move through the course. Blues are marked with a smaller flag or pole, and blacks have no physical marker. Penny and I went for almost every checkpoint every day, except the few that we knew we didn’t have time to make it to.

A huge part of the Rebelle is time management. There are situations when you simply can’t push your truck too hard on rough terrain and therefore forfeit a few points. However, making sure your rig is in top condition for the duration of the rally is a priority. Blowing tires or puncturing an oil pan on day one just to get an extra point is not worth it.

Personally, one of my favorite challenges in the Rebelle are the Enduros, also known as Time, Speed, Distance (TSD) challenges. They combine extremely precise navigation and mileage with precision driving, usually at given speed, or being able to compensate for any loss or gain in speed. The last year I competed (2019), the course director, Jimmy Lewis, threw in some painfully slow speeds on smooth roads (driving slowly is sometimes is quite the challenge!) as well as faster speeds on roads that really were just rocks. We were rattled to pieces but loved the challenge.

However, if you ask any Rebelle, the one of the most memorable parts is probably the camaraderie. Any rig you pass on the course will give you a thumbs up, just to make sure everything is ok. After all, you can drive for hours and not see a single soul during the rally. When a truck gets seriously buried in the Glamis dunes, other teams will come running (after all we are competing, and time is of the essence) to shovel and get the truck out! A group of women that began with an adventurous attitude and a willingness to try something new end as a solidified tribe that will be friends for life. There are very little things that this can be said about. To sum it up, it’s like summer camp for off-roading women! That’s what keeps many of us going back!

The Rebelle continues to grow and change, with funds being sent to help women overseas with small loans to start businesses. In a time when women are standing up for women, Emily Miller is showing that there is so much more to this event than just driving.

And as for this year? I am already signed up for the 2021 rally in October! I absolutely cannot wait to see good friends, my truck and I covered in dirt, and enjoy that summer camp feeling for another eight days!

Thayer Low

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