neversurfaced
Husqvarna
AA Class
Greg (07 TE 510) & I (08 TE 450 ) accounted for two of the 8 Husky's in the AMA D37
LA to Vegas DS ride this weekend:
So a couple of months ago my buddy Greg calls me and proposes running the LA to Vegas Dual Sport ride Thanksgiving weekend. Now in all honesty I wasn’t too interested; after all, what fun is riding all the way to Vegas on power line roads? A dual sport ride conjured visions of “Adventure Bikes” all decked out with heated hand-grips & oversized panniers riding countless miles of washboard roads…
I’m not THAT old!
After doing a bit of reading on the District site, and realizing that it was the 25th annual run however, I figured what the hell. It’s got to be better than eating Turkey with the in-laws…
Another buddy, Rod was planning on attending with a friend as well. We had loosely planned on joining forces, but in the end decided to keep it two separate groups of two.
So enough with the set-up, here’s some pictures:
Here’s Greg loading up his roll-chart for day #1, this thing was nearly a mile long and hardly even fit in his chart thingy. Neither one of us had ever used one of these before (and we still haven’t):
We took off just after sunrise and it didn’t take long to get off the pavement and into some dirt. With the recent rains the conditions were perfect. No less than an hour into day 1 and Greg takes a wide turn , nearly takes himself out on those damn aquduct concrete ribs (what the well are those things for anyway) and puts about a 2” crack in his helmet! Luckily his head absorbed the blow so no damage done:
After hopping around on various dirt roads and double-track we take our first “hero loop” option of the trip.
(Allow me to explain – there are basically 2 different primary routes for this trip. One option is the “Adventure Bike” route (remember those heated hand grips) for the larger bikes. The other option is the “Regular Route” with two optional “Hero Loops” each day. These loops add mileage and spicier terrain to the “regular route”. Other various “bail outs” exist along the Regular Route which allow you to shave off miles to save time…)
This hero loop took us up into the hills above Jawbone for some killer singletrack in the tress & a nice hill climb.
Here’s Greg on the way to the “hard stuff” (anyone else notice a pattern here?):
The hill climb had already claimed plenty of victims by the time we got there. I completely ran out of skill on my 1st attempt and had to make another go at it.
Here’s the only picture of Rod I got on the entire ride cleaning the hill:
Greg:
OK, Greg’s not the only victim:
Over the hill and off to the Jawbone Store for gas:
Complete cluster-****:
After gas we headed across the highway and towards the El Pasos:
After some fun stuff, it was off to Joanesberg and lunch hosted by the Orange County Dullies:
Now, we didn’t waste a bunch of time shoving cow into our face-holes, but apparently we wasted too much. By the time we finished and headed back out to the 2nd (and final) Hero Loop of the day, we were stopped by race (oops, I mean ride) officials and told we had missed the cut-off by an hour.
Bummer! We wouldn’t have enough time to ride the hero loop and make it to Barstow before dark.
Now normally, being on DS bikes, this wouldn’t be an issue, but at some point along the way my Husky suffered a fatal electrical problem and I lost all of my electrical doo-dads. My computer & lights were done!
So dejected, Greg & I left to continue on to Barstow via the Regular Route.
Unfortunately, (completely unintentionally), Greg and I became very temporarily confused and ended up ON the Hero Loop (what are the chances?). At first we were scared, worried, and frankly ready to lay down and die, until we realized we were on some of the best desert single track EVER!
Now, I didn’t get any pictures in this area because we were either too busy grinning or trying to pull our poo-butts off of Gil’s hill-climb (who happened to be watching us struggle from above). After clawing, cheating & steeling our way to the top of the toughest obstical of the trip, we took a few minutes to catch our breath and shoot the shit with Gil. Apparently this loop was his baby - he took a lot of time laying it out and IT SHOWED!
Two words: Kick ass!
Unfortunately, not more than 5 minutes after biding Gil adieu, I completely spodded out and launched my bike over a bush. Fortunately he was there to wipe my butt :bonk:
The rest off Gil’s loop was again, some of the best desert ST I’ve been on, unfortunately the day was waning on and the sun was well on it’s way to setting by the time we got to the Husky:
We didn’t make it into Barstow until 90 minutes after “oh shit, I can’t see”. I alternated between taking off my goggles and going blind from sand and putting them on and going blind from the tinted lenses. Greg and I rode the last 30 minutes side by side using his 3 candle power headlight until we finally hit Barstow.
I’ve never been so happy to see street lights in my life.
A few bikes locked up at the “Quality” Inn:
After a steak & salad bar at the Sizzler, Greg & I cruised Barstow for nightlife. A few beers and a glass of Scotch later, we settled in for an early start in the AM.
Day #2 coming up… :ride:
LA to Vegas DS ride this weekend:
So a couple of months ago my buddy Greg calls me and proposes running the LA to Vegas Dual Sport ride Thanksgiving weekend. Now in all honesty I wasn’t too interested; after all, what fun is riding all the way to Vegas on power line roads? A dual sport ride conjured visions of “Adventure Bikes” all decked out with heated hand-grips & oversized panniers riding countless miles of washboard roads…
I’m not THAT old!
After doing a bit of reading on the District site, and realizing that it was the 25th annual run however, I figured what the hell. It’s got to be better than eating Turkey with the in-laws…
Another buddy, Rod was planning on attending with a friend as well. We had loosely planned on joining forces, but in the end decided to keep it two separate groups of two.
So enough with the set-up, here’s some pictures:
Here’s Greg loading up his roll-chart for day #1, this thing was nearly a mile long and hardly even fit in his chart thingy. Neither one of us had ever used one of these before (and we still haven’t):
We took off just after sunrise and it didn’t take long to get off the pavement and into some dirt. With the recent rains the conditions were perfect. No less than an hour into day 1 and Greg takes a wide turn , nearly takes himself out on those damn aquduct concrete ribs (what the well are those things for anyway) and puts about a 2” crack in his helmet! Luckily his head absorbed the blow so no damage done:
After hopping around on various dirt roads and double-track we take our first “hero loop” option of the trip.
(Allow me to explain – there are basically 2 different primary routes for this trip. One option is the “Adventure Bike” route (remember those heated hand grips) for the larger bikes. The other option is the “Regular Route” with two optional “Hero Loops” each day. These loops add mileage and spicier terrain to the “regular route”. Other various “bail outs” exist along the Regular Route which allow you to shave off miles to save time…)
This hero loop took us up into the hills above Jawbone for some killer singletrack in the tress & a nice hill climb.
Here’s Greg on the way to the “hard stuff” (anyone else notice a pattern here?):
The hill climb had already claimed plenty of victims by the time we got there. I completely ran out of skill on my 1st attempt and had to make another go at it.
Here’s the only picture of Rod I got on the entire ride cleaning the hill:
Greg:
OK, Greg’s not the only victim:
Over the hill and off to the Jawbone Store for gas:
Complete cluster-****:
After gas we headed across the highway and towards the El Pasos:
After some fun stuff, it was off to Joanesberg and lunch hosted by the Orange County Dullies:
Now, we didn’t waste a bunch of time shoving cow into our face-holes, but apparently we wasted too much. By the time we finished and headed back out to the 2nd (and final) Hero Loop of the day, we were stopped by race (oops, I mean ride) officials and told we had missed the cut-off by an hour.
Bummer! We wouldn’t have enough time to ride the hero loop and make it to Barstow before dark.
Now normally, being on DS bikes, this wouldn’t be an issue, but at some point along the way my Husky suffered a fatal electrical problem and I lost all of my electrical doo-dads. My computer & lights were done!
So dejected, Greg & I left to continue on to Barstow via the Regular Route.
Unfortunately, (completely unintentionally), Greg and I became very temporarily confused and ended up ON the Hero Loop (what are the chances?). At first we were scared, worried, and frankly ready to lay down and die, until we realized we were on some of the best desert single track EVER!
Now, I didn’t get any pictures in this area because we were either too busy grinning or trying to pull our poo-butts off of Gil’s hill-climb (who happened to be watching us struggle from above). After clawing, cheating & steeling our way to the top of the toughest obstical of the trip, we took a few minutes to catch our breath and shoot the shit with Gil. Apparently this loop was his baby - he took a lot of time laying it out and IT SHOWED!
Two words: Kick ass!
Unfortunately, not more than 5 minutes after biding Gil adieu, I completely spodded out and launched my bike over a bush. Fortunately he was there to wipe my butt :bonk:
The rest off Gil’s loop was again, some of the best desert ST I’ve been on, unfortunately the day was waning on and the sun was well on it’s way to setting by the time we got to the Husky:
We didn’t make it into Barstow until 90 minutes after “oh shit, I can’t see”. I alternated between taking off my goggles and going blind from sand and putting them on and going blind from the tinted lenses. Greg and I rode the last 30 minutes side by side using his 3 candle power headlight until we finally hit Barstow.
I’ve never been so happy to see street lights in my life.
A few bikes locked up at the “Quality” Inn:
After a steak & salad bar at the Sizzler, Greg & I cruised Barstow for nightlife. A few beers and a glass of Scotch later, we settled in for an early start in the AM.
Day #2 coming up… :ride:
I too had misconceptions about DS rides and didn’t want to do them initially, thought they would be lame and boring. They are no cake walk though, especially the hero sections. 