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/127291
L.A.-to-B-to-V This year's L. A.-to-B -to- V dual sport course too k the nearly 400 riders through the Pinn acles National Nat ural Landmark in the Moj ave Desert on da y two . Getting thr the fun eeisall· By Anne and T om Van Beveren 'I LAS VEGAS, NV, NOV, 23-24 f there's more than one way to skin a cat, then there's certai nly more than one way to get to Las Vegas from Los Ange les. Sure, you can tak e the bus, or hop in the family truckster or fly the friendly skies" bu t anybody can do these. Forthe mor e advent urous, well , there is a' better way - on du al spo rt m o torcycl es via dirt ro ad s, ,sandwashes, canyon s and, yes, even pavement. Sure, it might take a day 'or two longer to get there_compared to your standard options , but who cares when you' re having the tim e of your life. T hat's what a lmost 400 riders decided to do at th is year's Sevent h Annual Los Angel es-to -Barstow-to-Las Vegas AMA District 37 Dual Sport rid e. This year's co u rse promised a longer-than -usual 530 mi les in the saddle, which attracted rider s from all over the Uni ted States and from as far awa y as South Africa. " The dual sporters ranged in age from four years old to 69. They rode everything from th e latest BMW Par is Dakar model to a mongrel Yamaha built from leftover parts in a dealer's service area, and their rid ing abi lity was as varied as the ir mac hi nes. The only th ing the 381 riders had in 'common was the p romise of two days of dua l sport riding and the grea t big smile that wen t wi th it. " I loo k forward to this all year. It's the best th ing abo ut T hanksgivi ng," said Roy Coe, owner of the mix-andmatch Yamaha. " It's hard to say what year my bik e is. T he oldest part is the rear wheel, it's a '74, but the basic bike's an '80. It's got over 2000 miles of dua l spo rt , events on it and this is its thi rd B-toV," said Coe. " I do th is every year becaus e it's fun. It' s a no-pressur e ride and all you 've got to do is finis h, " . T he Honda XL 600R r idde n by Sou th African entry Gary Smith had an eq ually colorfu l hi stor y. . " I found it in the park in g lot at the airpo rt," said Smith. " I saw it when I arrived and it was still th ere a cou ple o f months la ter wh en I dropped somebody off, so I found the registra tion and ph oned the owner in Michigan. It had been sitt ing there for two year s and I paid him $400 for it. It 's on ly got 3000 mil es on it." . The L.A.-B-to-V event was so important that th e rider from Durban , Sou th Africa, overst ayed his visitor's visa to make the starting dat e, " I' ve always wanted to ride B-to-V so I stayed here illegally to do it, " said Smith. "They may never let me come back here now but there's no way I was goi ng to miss the ride after comi ng all this way. It' s a really big th ing back home." Among the most unusual starters wer e three dual sport sideha ck s , incl udi ng a Honda 600R pi loted by three-time L.A.-B-to-V rid er Lance Bro wn a nd his fir st -time co -ride r Nan cy Lu cero. , " It 's the ultimate. It goes back to th e o ld days when they used to desert race sidecars," said Brown. " Wi th a sidecar, it's a prett y long distance, It's pretty taxing bu t a lot of fun ." " I'm not sure what to expect, bu t I' ve got my instructions," said co-rider Lucero . T he instruc tions were painted on the sidecar above her handhold and it read, " Get in . Sit down. Sh ut up and han g on.·.. The ride began sho rt ly after dawn on the day after T ha nksgiv ing. The riders head ed out from the bustling sig n-up area a t Foothi ll Yamaha/ Kawasaki in Sunland, California, and were cruising the winding roads of the Ang eles Nati on al Forest just minutes later. Veteran du al sporter Ron Co le hit the roa d early to keep hi s first-time L.A.-B-to-V buddy in front of the du st. " We sta rted about 6:45 a. m. and apart from one person we passed three or four miles from the start, we haven't seen anybody all morning, " said Cole wh en he stopped at check on e, 80 mil es int o the first morning's ride. "The only thing we've seen was a ' bunch of deer, big beautiful on es, running down th e road. " The 80-mile route to the first check was about ha lf pavem ent and half dirt, and th e trai l was familiar to som e of the season ed L.A. B-to-V riders. "W e rode thi s part once before ," said Rolf Strau ma nn. " It's not a hard ride, but you 've got to keep moving because there's a lot of miles to cover. If it was any harder we wo uldn 't ma ke it to Barstow in time. " " Day one was design ed for a rider of average ability, It could be comp leted by mos t anybod y," said AMA/ District 37 Dual Sport Organizer Jim Pilon. "T he trai l was mos tly U,S. Forest Service roads and there wasn 't anything that was reall y dema nd ing. We tried to emphasize scenery and . went into a lot of areas that are not normally open to the public." , Clear , windy conditions made view from the mountain road s spectacu lar. " It's such a beautiful day that you can see forever. We couldn' t have asked for more," said J essie Go ldberg, who travelled from Minden , Nevada , for th e third year in a row. " I normall y ride ,all the way fromMinden. Last year we did over 1500 mil es in all, but I ran ou t of tim e thi s year and had to drive down ," said Go ldberg. , The firs t day of the ride 'developed into an u n u sua ll y warm on e fo r November an d the dual sporters were shedding their ,jackets as they ' gassed up at check one . The next stop was for burgers and live music at th e Scotland Store in Lytle Creek near the Cajon Summit, where a Hond a support van waited to help wit h mecha n ical problems, " We're here to sup port dual sport riding and to try to help anybody out, no matter what they'r e riding," said Honda's Ch uck Miller, whose father I I was rid ing in the event. , " H onda 's hoping to get more manu- I factur ers interested in the fut ure to bu ild th is thi ng up. If they close our desert any more this migh t be all we' ll I have left," said Mill er. I T he afternoon's ride head ed north I from the Angeles Forest and across the II desert to Appl e Valley, then conti nued I north to the end of day one's ride at Barnes Honda/ Yam aha in Barstow.