What a weekend ride! Day1 Palmdale to Barstow - 6 KTM's an me on my TE510 - Fun day of riding. Quickly came to the realization that this was not going to be a very technically challenging ride but more of REALLLY LONG adventure ride. The route included a fair mount of powerline roads, sand washes and a few rocky sections. The mornings were down in the 30's but by 10am it was warm enough to enjoy riding as long as you had some decent cold weather gear on. Two bikes in the group got flat tires in a rocky section (one was running a trials tire) but luckily we had a chase truck nearby so we didn't have to do a trail repair. The roll charts that were supplied were challenging to use for a first timer like myself and seemed to have almost too much information causing me to have to keep looking at chart to anticipate a bend that would have been intuitive anyway. Time management was pretty critical if you wanted to do the hard ways and get in before dark (we didn't). We found ourselves spending more time at stop points than we should have and wasting valuable daylight. Day 2 Barstow to Vegas - We took the hard way on the first section and probably should have taken the easy way just to allow for more time to do the 100 mile hard way loop in the second section and still have time to do the Red Rock Canyon route at the end of the day. As we did it the 1st section hard way was mostly sand wash and sand whoops and took longer than expected causing us to have to ditch the 100 mile second section hard way and do the easy 60 miler so that we could get to Red Rock before the 3:00 cutoff. That easy way was mostly all powerline roads at 55 - 60 mph which could easily be considered boring but cruising at that speed with nothing but wide open desert but 50 - 100 miles in all directions around you and some really cool scenery in the distance was a different kind of fun. I put my earplugs in and enjoyed the ride especially in the section with these big rolling hills that you could catch some air on at that speed. The decent into the town of Sandy Valley was again very easy but really spectacular. We got some gas and blazed out of town to hit Red Rock before it closed. After the first section, 5 riders in the group took the bailout to Vegas and just one KTM rider and I headed off into Red Rock at 4:00 much to the dismay of the ride officials I must say. We spotted a few others in front of us and a few more coming behind so we knew we wouldn't be back there alone, but it was still a risky choice. The weather was getting cold and storm clouds were forming. It would likely snow at that elevation and being stuck back there would have miserable. We rode as quickly, but safely as possibly not wanting to risk a flat tire or a tip over onto a rock pile or worse yet falling off the edge of the trail and being stuck after dark. Especially with the magnificent headlight that a 2009 TE has (LOL). We made it through without a glitch and cought some of the awesome scenery that Red Rock Canyon has to offer. Unfortunately it was head down riding to beat sunset and we didn't really have the opportunity to enjoy it or stop for photos. We rolled into Vegas (about 20 miles from Red Rock) about 6pm and were just about the last ones in. To sum it up, it was a great opportunity to participate in this legendary event and although not very technically challenging there were significant other challenges involved in completing it. Time management skills, bike and gear preparation required to be comfortable on a bike for 8-10 hours a day two days in a row in a wide temperature range. I think it will be even more fun the second time now that I know what to expect and go in with more of an adventure ride perspective as opposed to a enduro marathon mentality. Having said that, don't take LA - B2V too non chalantly because if the desert throws a little bad luck your way 50 miles out things can get ugly pretty quickly. Thanks to all the volunteers from AMA D37 and the event sponsors for putting on a great event, I met some awesome people over the weekend. Great prizes at the banquest too. It was announced that 17 Husky's entered and I an honestly say I didn't see one broken down. My bike ran bitchin' all weekend (about 420 miles in 2 days) with a power up kit installed, IMS tank, Acerbis handguards, Husqvarna Special Parts Skid Plate, 14t front sprocket, heavy duty tubes, Pirelli Scorpion DOT tires and a real solid race prep. During the event I changed air filter after first day and that was it. Heres some photos. Sorry there arent many (we always seemed to be running late!). more in next post. 2nd, 3rd and 4th are at the hotel in Barstow Saturday just prior to departure. Yes, that fountain is frozen!
Excellent write-up! Thanks for posting! Love the photo of that frozen fountain I remember wanting to do the real B-to-V race in the 80's but by the time I was ready (so I thought) it was no longer being held. It's good that there is still the dualsport ride to keep it fresh in people's minds. Thanks again! WoodsChick
Yeah... it's "called" a "Dual Sport Ride" but if you don't ride it like a race you won't see Barstow or Vegas before dark!!! Some cut the course simply to save time....
Heh. Is there more than 10 miles of pavement even? Seems like many dual sport rides are really mostly dirt rides. Which is fine, but I prefer accuracy in advertising. Sounds and looks like it was a good ride. I need to get down that way and do some desert riding.
The course is almost entirely off-road, however there are optional hard routes (usually more difficult sand washes, rocks, or hills) and optional bail-outs to the highway listed on the roll charts. You got to keep a good pace, but really not race-speed. There's guys on big adventure bikes (GS1200's and 950/990 KTM's) finishing the course, and even taking the hard routes. It's extremely well organized, and a great ride!
Great shot GalacticGS! I saw your bike (or one like it ) at the Quality Inn @ Barstow. The Safari tank looked proper. I was wishing that I had a little more fuel than the IMS provided. Those 510's are thirsty buggers. Glad you had a good ride. Sounds like I owe you a Rider Support Kit. PM me your info.
Hey TCP. I just picked up the bike you did this ride on at Tri County from Hutch. Other then the cracked front fender it's nice. What kind of mileage did you get from the IMS tank? My old 426 got around 35 mpg. Remember this ride?
