After months of planning and prep' my friend Keith and I finally rode Death Valley. Four days and 442 miles of fantastic scenery and riding. This trip exceed my expectations in every way. The bike performed flawlessly, and it lived up to it's desert racing heritage. With fresh D606s on both ends, on the gravel roads it handled like a laser-guided missile, and climbed like a mountain-goat in the rocky rough-stuff (or at least I thought so until I saw a real mountain-goat on day two). I'm more impressed than ever with the machine. We left the South SF Bay area on Sunday at 5:30AM, and arrived at Stovepipe Wells at 1:30PM. We were too early to check-in to the Stovepipe Wells hotel, so we off-loaded the bikes and headed up Cottonwood Canyon for a warm-up ride. Cottonwood Cn. road start on 190 right at Stovepipe Wells, so it was no more than a few hundred yards of pavement before we were in the dirt. The first eight miles of road was deep silt, and was a challenge to ride. Fortunately, that was the last of the silt that we would see for the rest of the trip. As soon as the road started up hill, it changed to wash-boarded gravel road, which soon gave way to dry-wash river bed. This picture was taken at the top of the canyon where there's a spring, and a grove of Cottonwood trees. This is typical of the "road" in this and other canyons: Somehow on the way in we missed this giant hole in the wall. We stopped for a drink of water and a short exploration hike. After leaving the canyon we headed back to the hotel to check-in and get some chow. The food was much better than I expected. I recommend the shrimp pasta and the Knob Creak whiskey chased by any of the great beers they pour. Mmmmmm..... Snore....... The next day we headed out after breakfast (also real tasty) and rode up to Chloride City. The dirt starts about 10 miles up Daylight Pass Rd and a short seven miles later you arrive at the sprawling metropolis of "Chloride City". It looks like this: Apparently there is a larger area that is closed due to the old mine collapsing. We then headed over the hill and out to Beatty to top off with fuel, which was amazinly $1.50/Gal. less than on the valley floor. The words "gouging" and "sucker" came to mind. Heading back toward the valley, we stopped for a look at Rhyolite. This is a short-lived boom town that sprang up in the early 20th century and quickly went to seed. It was populated for a few short years. This is what's left of one of at least two banks that were there; We next headed towards Titus Canyon and Leadville. The ride up the hill was as much fun as I've ever had on a motorcycle. If I had to pick one leg to do again, it would be this one. Fast and fun. Great views too. This is Leadville. Another short-lived boom-town. It lasted all of six months in the mid 1920s. This is a typical view on the way in. Pictures don't come close to the real thing. A few miles after this picture a mountain goat jumped across the road in from of me. He bounced up a rock cliff and watched me from behind a bolder. Part two coming tomorrow......
The bike really delivered. I learned a lot about what makes it turn on rocks and gravel, and by the end of the trip I felt very comfortable pushing the bike hard. Sooth application of power is the prescription for proper handling in sand and gravel. Roll off the power a little exiting the turn and when the rear tire hooks up, it's like the bike was a rocket on rails. The close-ratio gear box was perfect for this type of terrain too. I'm really happy with the bike, and I can't wait for the next ride on long lonely desert roads.
Oh man...Make MY heart go pittr-pat.. I know exactly what you are a talkin about. I knida wish they had left that transmission with 5th & 6th geara tad higher. I get up to 60 and its almost at the end. Abouit 72 is max. My 1996 410 WXC will crawl past this 510 plus do 85 down the straights.And since that was my first Husky, I will not get rid of it. Darn thing still runs with the best of them. Took the 510 out Tuesday nite for short run, (bewteen rain storms) runs great. Suspension, I had to back off 2 clicks on from and rear. but I think it helped allot. So now I wait for the weather to clear up again. Pretty muddy now.
