Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"The one th ing that ha s been a real boondoggle for us. this year is that S21, Senator Feinstein 's Desert Oosure Act it's actually called the Desert Protection Act - passed," said event coordinator, Jim Pilon . "For du al spo rt, it's go ing to limit so me o f o ur po ss ibilities but it' s n ot going to shut u s ou t completel y. Da y tw o' s course used some open corridors th at we re specially set aside for mot orized vehicle use. We are the first motorize d group to utilize them and, from the feedback we've bee n gettin g, we anticipate there'll be a lot of people out there from the green moveme nt tryi ng to rea lly raise hell." The cou rse began with a run to the west, past the spectacul ar hu es of Rainbow Basin National Landmark, and then skirted three sections of tightly controlled wilderness. "I can't believe how mu ch the taxp aye rs are pa ying for people to stan d ou t there and wa tch us boys play in the big sa nd box," said Bob Tartter. "I cou nted seven official veh icles before I got to the fir st gas, which is a bit ridiculous. The cost must be incred ible." Larie Trippet wo uld have bee n happy to see any of the official vehicles. After a tro uble-free first d ay, Trippet's bike ga ve u p the ghost less than five miles into day two's course - lon g befor e he caught a glimpse of the first BU"I ranger. " I got four and a half miles and then I heard rattle, rattle, cru nch... and that was all she wrote," said Trippet. Larki n Wight's BMW ma de so me even mo re spectacu lar noises just a few miles further d own the trail. "I was rid ing right behind him. There was a pu ff of dust, then the bike kind of sa t down a bit, and then the rear tire flew off the bike 15 feet in the air . It was aweso me," reported MotoWorld 2's flamboyan t rep orter, Jerry Bernardo. " I look down and there's no whee l. I was doing abo u t 40 miles an hour an d the th in g just sp it me off the trail an d skidded off into the bushes . It was pretty excit in g," said Wig h t, who ma naged to stay aboard the mind -of-its-own Beemer. "The w heel w as wa y ou t in the desert, bu t (all four) lu g nuts had stayed on it. We put the w heel back -on , tig h tened everything up and we wer e only down for abo u t 10 minutes." A spee d limit of 25 mph throu gh the wilde rness-area corridors mad e the first sectio n longer th an so me of the rid er s had expected, and a 3O-mph speed limit through Teag le Wa sh pro vid e d n o opportu nity to ma ke up time on the way to the secon d gas stop at Tro na . "We ke pt occu pied during the slow times on the pavement an d th rough the to rto ise section by playin g rock, paper, scissors," sa id Alan Cohn. " It worked p re t ty well an d pa ssed the ti m e. I'm abo ut 15 ga mes up right now ." A brief patch of sunshine that the riders enjoyed on their way into Trona ran out as the roll chart led them toward the ghost tow n of Ballara t, but wea ther was the last thin g they were thinking about as th ey tackled th e tri cky terrain of Goler Wash a nd th en enjoyed a side tri p to Charlie Manson's desert hideou t. "Tha t part of the course aro u nd Ballarat is tou gh - it's the Canyon of Death for a sidecar - it's ro cky, tight, narrow and stee p," said Lance Brown, who had abandoned the three-wheeled mount he usu ally rides at L.A.-to-B-to-V in favor of tw o w heels, bu t was keepi ng a keen eye on the two sidecars that were traveling toge ther close behind him . . "The good bike is okay for that section," said Brown, looking at the brightye ll ow Hond a Wasp p ilot ed by Rich Sabol and Ron Whitaker . The off-road rig had a coo ler fu ll of sand wiches with a (Left) What could possibly be better than go ing for a dua l sp ort ride? Bringing a frien d along, of course. (Below) Cool tem peratures were th e norm for the Tha nksgi vi ng Weekend ride. Ice and snow were encountered on day one . pad ded top for the passen ger sea t. "Bu t the other on e - I don 't think that'll make it. It's too low." The "other one " was a Yama ha 750 street bike with a street-oriented sidecar th at was p il oted b y Mitch Hi niker . Hin iker' s so n, Dustin, had a bumpy ride in th e no- su spensi on sidecar, and the outrigger's win dshield and stereo d id not go a long way "toward compensating for the lack of springs. Sunshine was a di stant mem ory for ' ma ny of the riders as they lef t Charlie Ma nson's hideout and head ed into the lower reaches of DeathVa lley Nationa l Park. Rain showers tu rned to patches of sleet and then to snow." " If you have the righ t eq uipment - a T-shirt and a light jacke t wi th a Go rtex rid ing jacket over the top of it, like me - it wasn't rea lly co ld," said Ma rk Dunn. "The snow only las ted abo u t five miles and, to me, the snow and the rain made it interesting. It kept the dust do wn but it wasn't enough to get miser able." Th e ride rs pa ssed another gro u p o f officia l observe rs as th ey e nte red the Death Vallev section - observers wh o had set up a sound check and an air quality check to monitor dust. The dust chec k seemed a little out of place to spectators wh o drove throu gh the central section of Death Va lley and fo u n d th a t 40-mph winds had whipped up so m uch "na tural" dust that the sand dunes jus t off the main high way were all but obscu red by the cloudy air . As the miles wo re on, so me of the ride rs b eg an look ing fo r b a il-ou ts . Bud Wright, the 73-year-o ld who received the awa rd for the oldest rider, bailed ou t at Shosh one and took the highway into the finish at the Shri ne Temple in downtown Las Vegas. "Th ese guys d id me in today," said Wright. " I bailed out. I have to admit it." The oldest bike - a 1966 Triu mp h TR6 Trophy piloted by Terry Pratt - ba iled out at Jean, Nevada, and spent the last 30 miles on Interstate 15. " I ra n out of daylight at Good Springs," said Pratt, who has taken the oldest-bike award three yea rs in a row . "The bike doesn 't go fast enough on the pavemen t to do this sortof d is ta nce before it gets dar k. I got up to 60 coming in on the freeway b ut tha t's tops. Normally 1do 50 to 55." Riders wh o were still on the trail at 5 p.m. were treated to a spectacular orange sky as the su n se t beh ind th e ran ge of jagged mo un tains to the west, but th e sunset was not greeted with much enth us ias m by th e tail -end riders, so me of whom were still trickling in to the finish as the pri ze-giving ceremony was en d ing at 10 p.m. Darkness added yet another eleme n t to th e long lis t of problems face d by Michael Louis, who had flown out from Boston to join the ride. Louis had become separa ted from his ridi ng partner s and rod e into Las' Vegas with no idea where the finish line was and no idea where he was staying. Louis tried calling motorcycle s ho ps th at w ere liste d in th e La s Vegas telephone book but none of them knew the location of the finish, so he tu rned to a motorcycle cop he fou nd in traffic on the Las Vegas Strip . . "He radioed in and somebody in a car came back and said wh ere the finish' was. I was on my way when I saw a van with an ATK sticker on it and I followed that the rest of the way," said Louis. "I was so happy to see it. For a while, I thought I was going to have to wai t by the side of the freeway and ho pe that a bike came by. I was getting really bu mmed. " Louis made it to the finish in time for the prize giving and wo n a 5-gallon gas tank and a grab bag of other goodies to take h om e with h im, just one of th e rewards in the hu ge stack of pri zes that took more tha n two hou rs to give away. The re was a lot of good-natured complaining as the dual spo rt gathering finally started to break up. " How co ld w as it ? Unbeli evabl e!" sa id Bob Tartter. " I'v e never been th at cold in my life. When I stopped at the last gas, I put everything I had on me. In fact, I was looking for bush es to tie arou nd me." Bu t every co m p lai nt w as accomp anied by a smile, and by a promise to be back next year for the rescheduled L.A.to-B-to-V, which wi ll take place over the Veterans Day holiday two weeks before Thanksgiving . "It's beyo nd awesome. I had decad ent amounts of fun ," said first-time L.A.-toB-to-V rider Jerry Bernardo. " I'd never ridden more than 100 miles at one time in my life but I'm kind of tough and I like pam . I thou gh t it was great." Even the BLM admitted to having a good time. " I h ad a rea lly fun da y," sai d Bob Bru no fro m the BLM's Stateline region, who rod e day two's course on a 250cc moun t provided by American Honda. "I ran over myself a couple of times and I b roke two (clutch le ve rs ) but I really enjoyed it. I fel t, overall, the ride was really well-managed and organized and I would say that the vas t majority of riders were very careful to obey all the notices a nd instructions on the ve ry ela bo ra te roll chart. It was good to see it from the rid ers' per specti ve and for the BLM to be see n out on the course." As the riders shook hands an d went their separ ate wa ys un til next yea r, event org anizer Jim Pilon declared yet ano ther L.A.-to-B-to-V dual spo rt success. "Ou r goa l is to have a good, fun eve nt th at puts a sm ile on everyb od y' s face and I mean everybody. That includes the riders and the officials," said Pilon . "Just look at all those smiles." l~ ~ 0\ 0\ ....... -<::t< ....... ~ OJ .o E 1::l OJ c 11

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