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/127606
9DUALSPORl er • " Lf) T"'""'i l-< Q) ~ ' Q) u Q) a By Anne Van Beveren Pho tos by Tom Va n Beveren LAS VEGAS, l\'V, NOV. 26-27 ccording to the AAA, Las Vegas is 294 miles from Los An geles. The trip takes just under an hour in an airplane and about four-and-a-half hours in a car. But if you ask a du al sport enthus iast, Las Vegas is a lot further awa y than 294 miles. The rou te chart for this year's Los Angeles-to-Bars tow- to-Las Vegas Dual Sp ort Ride showed that th e d istance from the City of Angels to the gambling cap ital of the Silver State had stretched to 420 mi les and more than 14 hours spread ove r two d ays - proving for the tenth year in a row that the shortest dis- A 10 Los An eles-to-Bartsow-to-Las Ve as A an s tan ce between two points definitely does not involve a du al sport motorcycle. But a long, chall en g in g r ide w as exactly what the record 378 riders who joined this year's LA-B-to-V crossco untry trek were looking for. "This is the fifth time I've don e this ride," said San Diego residen t Greg Barbre. "I keep coming back because I enjoy th e ch a llenge o f it. The course isn 't a lways tha t tou gh b u t it' s an al l-day thing. You have to be able to keep going for mil es and miles, and you feel like you've really done something at the end of it." But before they cou ld get to the end of it, the riders had to face the beginning of this year's LA-B-to-V, the last even t in the 16-round AMA Natio nal Suzu ki Du al Sp or t Trail Ride Ser ies, and tha t was enough of a cha llenge for some. The day after Thanksgiving greeted the dual sporters with its usual mixture of gu sty wind s and biting cold temperatures, and the first day's 7 a.m. start on the northeast edge of Los Angeles meant many of the riders had to hit the road as early as 3:30 a.m, - long before they had recovered from the effects of turkey gravy and candie d yams . The star ting area a t Honda's Rider Education Center in Colton was bu stling by 6:30 a.rn. as riders checked their bikes th rou gh tec h ins pection and collec ted their rid ing packe ts , but there were fewer smiles than usual. A last-minu te change by the Forest Service had lopped a la rge section of dirt o u t of th e firs t With close to 420 mil es of trails, d irt road s and asphalt, the cou rse included some awesome scenery . morning's rid e and p ut the rid ers on pavem en t almos t all the way to the lunch stop at Big Bear, . "The Forest Service agreed to the route th ree weeks ago but, sev en d ays prior to the even t, they denied our use o f se ve ra l sectio ns of the previo usl y approved r ou te," sai d Larie Tr ippet, AMA District 37's Dual Sport President. "They claimed that the roa ds we re too wet an d eliminated two of the three dirt sections before lunch and the enti re easy way d irt section after lu nch. Witho ut significant compromise on the par t of