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/126344
to ... Q) ,.D a Q) u Q) o Death Valley is beautiful and lonely, but it can be deadly. Support vehicles carried necessary extra supplies. J ~ Death Valley Veni (I 'c am e) Vidi (I saw) By Donald E. L. Betsworth Ii .n£ai~ (I conquered~;f Vici .J bali 0:>2 lliv M We beat Death Valley, conquered Saline, whipped Eureka and Cowhorn Valleys, skirteQ; around Hunter Mountain and ,th en crossed' over a high snow capped ridge of the Inyp! Mountains. The ride was a long 7' 232 mile kidney jolting, bun busting trip ranging in elevation from 1 000 feet to a little over , 7.600. Once upon a time Death Valley was a lake. 100 mi. long and 600 ft. deep. 18 We had ridden m any miles in th e Mammoth a nd Owens Valley area and looked lon gingl y at th e possibilities of a ride here . W e almost tried it t,:"ice before but because of the desolation. d istance and logistics involved (gas . food . water . etc .) it was too much for m y son and I to tackle alone. Our sta nd a rd p rocedure has been to search out an area that is int eresting. somewhat challenging and . if possible. seldom sees a motorcycle . This is such a place. On this ride we saw only two bikes, both at Scotty's Castle , a couple of pick-up trucks , a road grader and a herd of burros. . I finally got a few buddies tog ether , took them on a cou ple of short local rides , and then suggested we take on Saline and Death Valleys, all in one shot. A couple of th em thought a mental evaluation was in order and one just laughed . T hey did allow me to explain th e cha llenge of suc h a ride while I expo u nde d on th e j oys of t~e grea t out doo rs, a nd t hey were still smil in g wh en th ey ag ree d to go , A new proble m popped up whe n I mention ed a few cond itio ns a nd restriction s - I became a n insta nt Capta in Bligh . We had to lim it the size of th e gr oup and ended .up with five bikes. two su pport vehicles an? our cook as .~: passenger. The vehicles wou!d carry extra gas, food , water. campmg gear and spare th is and that . Two vehicles were us ed for a trio of re asons; ' regardless of what the Auto Club says~ there is no guarantee of gas or water' anywhere on this trip. A couple ~of bik es had a range of 75 miles or l~~ and ga s and wat er cans do take up a' lit tle space. The other reason I'll cover la ter. The route I selected would be a' loo p wh ich spli t the 232 miles t!' approxim a tel y 114 miles on day one' and 118 miles the next. "'~ Now. " T he fi rst annual Death Valley , Saline Valley, start and end in Darwin, ca rry our. own gear, sleep in ' the dirt. motorcycle ride" was dialed l , in. The date was postponed once. d ue. to gas tank deep snow and .washou.ts that would stop even Parnelh Jones In his Bronco, and was rescheduled to die first week in Ma y. msn Prior to the ride 1 went to th e Be office in Ridgecrest and the Dea th Vall ey N ati onal Monum en t Headqu arters at Furnace Cr eek ' fe N information , just to keep problems ~~ _ a min imum once we got underway. Rid ing inside the m onument you m uSt have a st reet legal bik e (e ven on th € back roads) a nd a Class 4 license . Yoti must stay on the road an d obey all signs. Som e of the roads are not to be n~