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/127216
Meanwhile, I had ridden ahead a n d found a n arrow tra il th a t appealed more to my e n d u ro insti ncts. I turned o nto it a nd became aw are that Pau l a nd Bria n had followed me. It was here tha t Pa u l ga ve the KLR650 its second bas hing . of the tri p . ... 00 .... V ..0 S V ;> o Z / should have know n better. T he clues were all there - water bottles on his h ip, a fancy enduro jacket that, unlike my motocross gear, even looked like it had been worn before; Che ckpoint M.C. stickers on his helmet. Man, this guy's serious. Hell , he probably suppo rts the U.S. /SD E team . No, this Kit fellow definitely w asn't so meone / needed to be foll ow ing u p a trail that loo ked more appropr iate for a m ountain goat than a motorcycle. But, hey, / had fire-road experience no w. I'd sh own th ese boys what / wa ~ capable of. " I can tak e an ything th ey can dish o' cloc k, and th e su n was thinking abo ut setti ng. Even th ou gh the map showed th e roa d endi ng here, we could see, a t least for a littl e ways, th at it actua lly kep t on going dow n th e o ther side of th e mountain. Decision tim e. Shou ld we co ntinue explori ng, or start head in g back home before it go t dark? " Keep go ing," was th e una ni mo us decision. " We' ve go t headl igh ts!" Alt ho ugh th e d irt TOa d was rougher tha n before, it sti ll looked fairly well used. We started o ur descent on wha t turned out to be th e fu nnest an d most scenic dirt roa d we had ridde n on for the past two days. U n fo rt u na te ly, o u r wo rst fea rs becam e a reality wh en the trail came to an end all too soo n. We exp lore d alternate routes, but th ey all led to dead ends. Now . Now it was tim e to go hom e. The six of us back-tra cked to th e highway and made our way down th e mountain just as th e sun sank in the west. Realizing this would be our last bi t of dirt roads, I turned the throttle to th e stops to show th ese MX and road race guys how one's sup posed to ride in the woods. Paul, Brian and Nat e raced down th e road together, while T om, beginning to feel hi s oats after two days of pl aying caboose on th e ap tly-colored BMW, ga ve chase. I'd go tten a hand le on the big BMW, and was now at th e point w here / could alm ost k eep up wit h th e others. S liding th rough th e corners feet up, Sco tty Park er-style, / pursued Pau l and Brian, anxious to show them that my desert racin g ex perience had pa id off one way or another. Th en, as / rounded a blind, swee ping lejt-ho nder, the re was Pau l, looking like art deco as he hung on the canyon wall. ou t," / th ought, jus t as th e KLR smashed its skid plate v iolen tly on a rock . / was running on p re-mixed ego and adrenaline as / battled the KLR 's every move up th e ev ersteepening trail. " Y ou can do it, you can do it, " m y ego shouted. " He's wearing wat er bottles on hi s hip, you idiot. Don't follow him," my con scien ce pleaded. Wit h full-ego ahead, / toppled off th e left side of th e KLR and plummete d d ow n a steep incline. W ith visions of a Kawasak i parts invoice dancing in my head, / heard th e KLR 's n icely-paint ed, nearly -new steel gas tank smash against w hat seemed lik e th e wo rld's biggest rock. " I hat e th ose darn enduro riders . . . 8 Some of o ur bik es were begining to run a little ro ug h in th e thin air, as we reach ed th e 7500-foot level. Acco rd ing to the m ap , we had reached the end of th e road. hi gh on a peak overloo king th e vall ey a nd ' low desert a rea. The sigh t wa s spec tacu lar , We had lit erall y reached the high poi nt of ou r journey. But we were n' t ready to go hom e - not quite yet. It was getting late, about five It seems Paul and Brian had gotten into th e corner more than a little hot, and as Brian drifted to the very edge of the road, Paul netjed the wall. Unjazed and once again sm iling, we carried on . We gathered at the bottom of the hill wh ere we said "See-ya" to Nate and T om , both of whom headed stra ight home aft er hopping on Interstate 10. The rest of us head ed back through th e canyo n to wh ere we began our a dve nt ure the da y befo re in Redl ands. •••••• It was Thursday morning and I was double-looping the shoe laces on my Reeb oks. The shoes were m ore co mfo rtable but th e fun wasn 't going to be th e same. Reunited with my XT600, I turned right, and merged with th e usual flow of tra ffic. I was Big Cit y-bound. •