Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

20th L.A. -to-Barstow-to-V egas Dual Sport Ride open s paces w ith sandy washes . T h e r e were deserted uphil ls and eq ually deserted downh ills, p lus a wicked rocky c a n y o n ha lfway through day one t hat co uld 've done with being a lit tl e less deserted. Th at way , there would've been someon e to help pus h o r pi ck up yo ur bike wh en things went aw ry. Th ere were no t-so- dry l a k e s, m u d dy p u d dles , an d petro glyphs. Th ere was the occasiona l rusted -o ut , abandoned c ar m iles from anywhere, and a whole lo t of dus t, but, with th e exception of BLM Rangers and voluntee rs out rem indin g everyone to slow down and be on the looko ut for the e ndangered (and l on g -h ibern at in g ) desert to rt oise, there was no one an d no thing to get in th e way of a who le lot of fu n. T he t rai l headed o ut from Rider' s Choice in Lan ca st er th e m orning after Thanksgiving and , with 225 m iles to cove r b efor e da y one's f i ni sh in Barstow, an early sta rt was essen tia l. Riders started heading out as early as 6 :30 a.m . an d 36 -d egree t empera tures kept spe eds low, fa ces free zing and noses run ning . "I was really excited with the trail I thought it would be a lot more road th an it was ; it was all off-road ," said K TM-r i der Pau l Krause , who was using the event to warm up for January's Daka r Rally. "We r o d e som e By ANNE AND TOM V A N B EVEREN PH OT OS BY TOM VAN B EVEREN LANCASTER, CA, NOV. 28-29 aliforn ia is not an overpop ulated state. You'd k now th at if you'd ever r i d d e n L .A .-B-to-V - the Los An g e l es - t o-B ars t o w- t o - L as Vegas d u a l-sport r i d e th a t s tarte d two decades ago as a n o ffshoot of t he l ong-s in c e -g on e B a r st o w -to -Veg a s Ha re [, Hound. Fo r it s 20th a nn iversa ry, L. A . -Bto -V drew 36 0 d ual -sport enthusiasts, and th ey came fr o m as fa r eas t as N ew Jersey and as fa r wes t as Japan. Th e ri de drew dozens of flrst -t lmers, as well as "old faithfuls" who had rid den a doze n or m ore of the events. It drew riders as yo ung as 1 1; th at was K evin B rav erman , w ho tackled day one in a sideca r attached t o a 198 6 Husk y 51 0 p il ot ed by his fa the r, Mik e Brav erman . It a l so d re w di e -h ard s such as Ed Crow ell , who t ac kled the tw o -da y , 550 -m ile t rek at age 73. And , from th e st art in the freezing col d of low-d esert Lanc ast er until the co urse cro ssed th e Neva da bo rd er for the final blitz through th e mounta in s and down th e Las Vegas Strip to th e finish, it showed th e dual -sporter s that th ere 's an awful lot of nothing in Ca lifornia . Which is good, be cause lot s of nothing is fas cinating to dual ·sport ers. Th ey appreciated wide-open spaces wi th ro cky trai ls , and wide- C 72 JANUARY 7 ,2004' IE: U IE: I e n eVIl's great sa nd -wash stuff, and got in t o some areas that ra ces haven't been in for a lon g ti me." And the markings were as good as the trail. " I got lost once for about t wo m inut es right befor e lunch , and t ha t was m y fa ult, bec ause I never rea ll y loo k at my roll ch art until I get lo st - I j ust ri de alo ng, foll owing w ha tev er trai l the re i s, " sa i d L ar k in W i gh t , who was piloting a 6 50 BM W Dak ar b el on gi n g t o B ra t t i n Mot 0 r s . "There we re good m ar k ings - lot s of It r i b b on . wa s hard to m iss it." D a y o ne's t r ai l t o ok th e r id ers un d e r th e w indmil l s o n t he »,0IJJ out sk irts of Moj av e and · '1 as' lic e nse a I o n g sa n d y Je ep t r a t s Th ere were t owar d J aw b one C anyon . . . roilin g t r a i l s and a detour t oward Bu rro Schmidt's tunn el o n th e way t o th e lun ch stop in Ridgecrest. There was also a tun nel tha t allowed the rid ers to go under a ma in ra ilroad line, and plent y of 3D -mph "to rtoise area ." "The biggest ove rkill we saw this " "Ii). year w as the BLM obse rvers in th e to rt o ise area. There we re six truc k s out there wi th m on it orin g sig ns tell in g us to keep our spe eds at 30 m il es an hou r," said B uddy Perc in , p resid ent of AMA Di stri ct 37 Du al Spo rt . But the trai l was i n t e rest i ng en o ugh - an d du st y enoug h - t h at even 30 mph was fun . "This was v e r y d us t y I' v e n e v er se en so m u ch d u st i n m y l i f e , " said Chris M a k yn en , w ho was one of a g roup of r i d ers w h o had flown in fro m cen t r a l W i s cons i n to t a ck l e L .A . B -to-V for the f irst time . " A fri end o f our s brought 11 b ikes ov e r here . He ~\\. IF'\\. plate sa char ged us S100 for both ways, and tha t m ade it easy fo r a lot of us to come ." "I was reading ab ou t this w hen I was a kid; I'm gla d I got to do it ," said Dave Fulkerson, another of the Wis consin r ide rs. "It w a s challengi n g enoug h, but I t hink it ' s so me t h ing that most abilities ca n han dle well ."

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