Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

----------~--------------~._- --~~---~-------------~~--------------------- ; DUAL SPORT Los Angeles-to-Barstow-to-Las Vegas ~ More than ~ riders participated in this year's Los Angeles-to-Barstow-to Las Vegas dual sport ride.' It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren /II 10 LAS VEGAS, NV, NOV. 27-28 t's a tradition. Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same without it." To most Americans, "it" would be identified as turkey, stuffing,or pumpkin pie. But to Terry Pratt, sitting astride a 1970 Triumph in the middle of the Mojave Desert, wearing a head-to-toe coating of tan-cqlored dust and a wide smile, and hundreds of others, "it" is the Los Angeles-to-Barstow-to-Las Vegas Dual Sport Ride, Known affectionately as LA-B-to-V, the two-day ride from the outskirts of Los Angeles to the glitter of the Las Vegas strip began as an off-shoot of the famous Barstow-to-Vegas Hare and Hound. Now in its ninth year and adopted as the final round of the AMA National Trail Ride Series, the cross country run has become famous in its own right. "It's probably the best known dual sport ride of the year," said Pratt. "I've done it four or five times now. Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving if I didn't do this." This year's LA-B-to-V drew 367 riders, including out-of-staters from as far away as Wisconsin, Illinois and West Virginia. One Honda executive travelled all the way from his home base in Japan to get in on the action, and Kenichi Koyama - Senior Vice President of American Honda's motorcycle division, was so enthusiastic he learned to ride a dirt bike so he could join the fun. "Mr. Koyama announced that he wanted to do (the ride) at a meeting earlier this year," said Bruce Ogilvie of Honda's product evaluation department, who won the Barstow-to-Vegas Hare and Hound in 1988. "He had never ridden dirt bikes so we took him out a couple of times. He had a big enough desire that he carne back from South America on Thursday and showed up at Colton for the start on Friday morning." The ride began the day after Thanksgiving at Honda's rider training center in Colton, 60 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Sign-up opened at 6 a.m. and, with nearly 200 miles of riding ahead before the overnight stop in Barstow, the riders hit the trail as early as they could. The morning was fine and cool, with a light breeze - a great improvement over the high winds that plagued the riders throughout last year's trek. The trail led straight into, the San Bernardino Mountains and the early start meant riders had to contend with patches of ice, especially in some of the shadowy turns. "1 fell down in the morning," said Rob Bertino. "There were several creek crossings that were frozen big sheets of ice. I was going real slow and I just laid down, so it wasn't a big problem." LA-B-to-V regular Bob Tartter, who got a late start after waiting an hour for a freeway accident to clear, was disappointed with the water sections he encountered. "We crossed the Santa Ana River about fiye times. I was mad because there was nobody to splash," said Tartter. The riders followed their route-charts along fire roads and mountain trails to the lunch stop at B.J.'s in Big Bear City, where a 5.4 earthquake had struck less than four hours earlier. The break for lunch took longer than many riders had expected, as a long line formed for the trivia game that would . determine day one's prize winners. Each rider drew a number and then tried to answer the corresponding motorcycle trivia question, which ranged from "What is the name of the 1992 AMA National Hare & Hound Champion?" to "What year was the Yamaha DT-1 introduced?" Pomts were awarded for each correct answer, based on the difficulty of the question. "We t'ave some pretty good scores, but there's a whole bunch of zeros in here, too," said Larry Langley, who compiled the questions and tallied the scores at the end of the day. The top score of 60 points earned. a Dunlop tire. at Sunday morning's awards ceremony. The holiday weekend brought increased traffic on the fire roads near Big Bear and the riders exercised' care as . they skirted four-wheel drive trucks and play riders on motorcycles. Many of them also took time out every few miles to survey the impressive scenery and the clean, clear air. Mechanical problems forced Richard Adarnar to take more. time out than he had planned. "1 had a vacuum leak and the idle kept creeping up and up. Thp.~ my brakes failed in the water and I had a runaway bike," said Adamar. "We tried fixing the leak - we even tried using duct tape, but there was nothing we. could do. Even with problems, you can't help but have a good time. I was heartbroke that I couldn't ride the secondday." BMW pilot Tim Hogle refused to let 'his bike get in the way of an exciting ride. Despite the handicap of the R80RS's wide cylinders, Hogle took every optional hard section on the course, except the one specifically labeled "No Beemers." Hogel reported less than a quarter inch of clearance on some sections of the trail. The course dropped out of the mountains down Grapevine Canyon and the run across the desert floor towards the overnight stop in Barstow began. "The course gets better every year," said ex-California resident Keith Tuilar, who flies in from Georgia to take part in LA-B-to-V every year. "The mountains up through Big Bear were a blast - they always are, but going through Lucerne Valley, we got a lot mor~ desert this year. It had more sandwashes, more cross country, and I loved that." The cross-country riding lost some of its appeal as the course left Lucerne Valley and headed into the Stoddard Wells riding area. A route chart error left many of the riders scratching their helmets near the lBO-mile mark. Some riders found the trail by themselves; others rode out on the tail of ex-desert· racers who knew the area. With 4 o'clock drawing near and the sun starting to sink low on the horizon, many of the lost riders opted for the easy way out. They abandoned the trail and headed for ~e freeway, completing the ride on the pavement as darkness started to close in. There was another long line for the final trivia questions of the day and some riders, like Les Johnson, wondered if the wait was worth it. "I've had hard questions all day, so there isn't any point trying to get a good score," said Johnson. "But I'm here, I'm warm and I'm ambulatory. That all that counts." The riders were up before dawn on Saturday for the second day in a row. Day two promised 240 miles of sandwashes and two-track jeep roads, with a final dash through Nevada's Spring Mountains and the historic mining town' of Goodsprings, and the riders were eager to be on the trail. It was a cool 32 degrees as the frontrunners headed out at 7 a.m., riding directly into the rising sun, as they tack-

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