Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126291
apparently chosen to rid e on e of the old former race courses. The rock road to Coliseum Gorge was its old cobby self; but the Gorge itself was, well, d iffer ent. Those who knew the Gorge remember it as one of those fine n atural deser t -Facing ca nyo ns: rock -lin ed and im perv ious to tires, with a spring and some straggling greene ry part-way d own. It was a trials ri d er 's delight going down , but a handful on a race bike . No more. Ther e's now a steep gravel mine road from top to bottom. The spring is a damp spo t in the gravel. The original , natural gorge had withstood thousands of race bikes and othe r ORVs without los ing i ts character , yet our ra ce was shu t down. Now this ; and it 's perfectly legal. Think about it . With that , and a new powerline road to Stateline, Nevada we were well ahead of our previous years' pace. Then , on the Nevada side, we got lost . Again. (We got lost last year, too.) It was a new route this year, across the mountains, bypassing Roach Lake, headed for Jean Lake on the other side. However, the Duck's course and ' the Gambler's Paradise Enduro course got intertwined on the other side of the mountain, and riders started batting off in all directions . It was the classic scene of dust clouds in the distance and wondering, "who's lost , them or us?" It was us. However, for one brokendown rider (also lost) it was pure luck that we came that way . We heard him holler when we shut down our motors for a "whi ch way do we go now?" confab. Took us almost half an hour to loca te him b y yelling an d homing on his voice. He was that far off, and the light was going fast. Thus we hit J ean Lak e a t nightfa ll, and ta ckled that much-used stretch of the old Mint 400 course in fu ll darkness . Hu m ong ou s ru ts kept comi ng ou t of the d a rk to gra b th e wheels. Very hard on th e Doctor's Missus , bu t she kept goi ng. T his was to be her yea r to finish , all th e way . (Las t year she cracked som e ribs; year befor e that she broke her hand . Game lad y.) We a lso found th e Nevad a troop ers to be very alert , and also very understanding . On the Cali fornia sid e , p oli ce power h ad been conspicuous by its abs ence, a hopeful sign that the Duck and all his fellow riders are on the good side of the law. (Knock wood.) . Blue Diamond truck stop looked so good. I decided to hitch a ride back to the start area whil e the ot hers loaded bikes and trucked into Vegas . I'm back now , hanging my heels out the side door of my van , watching the sun come up and tum the world pink. Place is virtually empty. We left a clean desert behind us at Harvard Road ; and the dude in the toy pickup who came to spot environmental disaster sure looked annoyed when he d idn't find any. Flocks of bluebirds were feeding on our empty campsites . I saw something else this momingafter , and I have to mention it. I was bumbling about on foot , look ing for ev idence tha t 3,000 bikes had "destroyed" the desert last time the race was run. Couldn't find any . Desert's still there. What I did find was this "born- w z :5 > III ~ The sign said please. so Pat Rice closed the gate at the Phantom Ducks unorganized B·to-V trail ride. again" puckerbush. It was a weatherwhitened , splintered, half-shattered stump. Must have been dead since we dirty bikers killed it back in '75. Out of it was growing a sp rig of greenest green , and damned if th e sight of it d idn't stick in my mind. W hat's happening with the desert plants is also happening with the ' magnetism, the appeal of the Barstowto -Vegas trip . Whether it' s to be run as a race or a trail ride , whatever. Some things are so vita l you just can't kill them . • 11