A First Timer's Desert Ride, by Peter Sheppard
"That was a great week!" "Awesome week!" These were some of the comments heard as riders parked their bikes and opened a cold beer at the end of the sixth day of desert riding around Las Vegas, Nevada. The riders were participating in the annual Cliffshore Adventures Las Vegas Ride March 26 to April 2, 2006. Twenty-five riders had their bikes taken to Primm, a small casino town near Las Vegas in the Cliffshore Adventures truck. Two took road bikes to go touring; the rest of us were led into the wilderness each day by organizers Barry "Tractor" Ferguson and Warren "Jack Rabbit" Thaxter. Everyone flew in from Toronto, leaving the tail end of winter's cold for Nevada's hoped-for sun. It didn't quite work out that way as the weather turned out to be unusually cool and we even found some snow; but, to be fair, it was sunny and bright some of the time.
The planned itinerary was to ride each day in a specific area, some days leaving from the home base, Buffalo Bill's Hotel & Casino, and other days from a location to which the bikes had been taken by the truck. The first ride out of the hotel on Monday turned out to be a modest 100+ km ride that was taxing enough for those of us who had not ridden since last October. Cognizant of the warnings about cactus, rocks and sand washes, I was perhaps a little tense on that first trip and the muscles sure felt it at the end of the day.
Most of the riders in the group were experienced off-road trail riders; some also compete in enduros. The group included two exceptional women, whom I rode with most of the week; they met the riding challenges with great skill and spirit and both really enjoyed themselves. All of the riders, with one exception, had purpose-built off-road motorcycles such as KTM 400s and 450s, Suzuki DZ400s, Kawasaki KDXs, Honda CRFs and Yamahas. The bikes were mainly water-cooled four-strokes with a few two-strokes, with one exception (mine!). My '99 Suzuki DR 350S which, while to me is a modern bike, was the only dual-sport, air-cooled machine in the group! Fortunately my DR is a quite capable bike and dealt reasonably well with the tough terrain we experienced. But there were times when I wished I had some of that KTM-type suspension, the lack of which meant I had to ride some of the rougher, rockier trails at a bit slower pace than the others.
Prior to the event, I had read carefully Warren's "Desert Survival Guide," which provided invaluable information as to how to prepare and what to bring with me; among those items were really tough tires (I used the recommended Kenda 6-ply 760 Track Master II) and heavy duty inner tubes. I was spared any punctures; however, the two spare tubes I did bring were needed by others so were put to good use.
Quite a number of my fellow riders had been on this trip as many as five times previously, so they knew the plan and a lot of the riding areas. Some came from the same off-road riding clubs, and they teamed up and rode together as a group. While we all went to generally the same places, those who knew the areas often took off and explored on their own while the newcomers tagged along with them or rode with either Warren or Barry, the organizers and key leaders. The riders, even when heading into the same areas, were usually split into three groups to keep each group to a manageable size.
The reason I decided to take this trip, after hearing about it from Warren and reading a story in a national magazine, was to experience a totally different riding terrain from that which I normally ride on around the North Bay, Ontario area. And different it is, with sand, mountainous sand dunes, shale, dry lake beds, rocks, more rocks, bigger rocks and rocky hills. There are fast gravel roads, winding hydro line roads, and tricky single tracks through the scrub and cactus, all of which are back-dropped by stunningly rugged hills and mountains. There are trails with whoops that tax your quads, and mountains where you climb up and up into the snow - yes, snow! I did mention the unusually cool weather.
On a couple of days, the wind blew strong and cold which, for my air-cooled mount was not a bad thing, but meant I did need to wear an enduro jacket. At times we connected the trails with short sections of road or used the road to get to a gas station. The relatively short range of my stock gas tank, along with running with a one tooth lower than standard engine sprocket, plus blasting along often in the lower gears, meant my fuel range was diminished. I am sure this applied to many of the riders' machines, too; thus, a degree of planning was necessary to ensure fuel was available when needed. To that end, John, who drove the truck, and Joyce, his wife, who managed the hotel arrangements, lunchtime food supplies and probably a host of other details, would meet us some days at specific locations with sustenance for the body and our gas cans so we could make it back to Buffalo Bill's or the truck.
There are a number of funky bars scattered around the riding areas, and we managed to stop at these some days to down a cool beer or take a bite to eat. In my book, the Pioneer Saloon was a real hoot with a full house of patrons at the bar mid-afternoon enjoying their favourite brew and country music. The Mountain Springs Bar is popular with bikers, usually of the cruiser kind, where the coffee is free and a great blaze is going in the fireplace (did I say it was a cool day?). Our gang invaded for a while to drink their free coffee, glug a beer and eat a burger, before taking off again back to the trails that lead to the wildly beautiful Red Rock Canyon. This area was ruggedly stunning with great trails up and down the mountain, but there were a few ROCKS!
The routes we took each day lead us to a variety of locations. One, the Dumont Dunes, had huge sand dunes we could ride up and fall off, or get to the top if we had the skill and power. Some of those who made it - the young hot shoes in the group - took major leaps to get major air. The dunes were frequented by raucous dune buggies that had no problems climbing these huge dunes and, while it was relatively unpopulated the day we visited, we were told that as many as 10,000 congregate there on some holidays!
Other trips took us to the Nelson Hills, which really did have awesome hills. It impressed me no end to see Barry and Mike "Fearless" Pflug ride up a hill I would have deemed near impossible and then ride back down by the same death-defying route! The area was great fun to ride with hard-packed gravel trails, shale and a few rocks, lots of hills and really whoopy trails. My riding partners, Kellee "Awesome" Irwin and Najua "Mighty" Medina led me astray that day and we all got lost, we realised this upon reaching a high ridge where we had a stunning view down to the Colorado River. As we had later planned to ride down to the river, we had to use my compass to thread our way back through the hills to eventually find our way back to the road and the truck. We later rode a short paved route to the River at a point where it flows very calmly; no white water rafting here. Other groups took a sand wash route back which, from the comments, was quite a challenge. Near where the truck was parked is a very funky old gas station turned nostalgia pit store where they seemed to have everything from old machinery to rattler skins.
For those of us who had never been in an old-style mine, the trip to Delamar Valley Ghost Town created that opportunity. There are the ruins of the old mining town, a graveyard and a neat old mine which we all scrambled through equipped with our flashlights (another recommended item from Warren's Desert Guide). It was a neat creepy scramble, but I was surprised to see only one lonely inhabitant, a bat; many commented how hard a life the miners must have experienced working here. Joyce and John brought lunch and gas to Delamar for us and, when we were all suitably filled, we proceeded to climb Applewhite Mountain Pass, which is where we ran into the snow (did I say it was a cool day?). Riding in snow was never one of my favourite things to do, but the faster guys had laid a track so, with a bit of foot paddling, we all made it through to the 7200 ft top of the pass; I did managed to dump the bike softly once. The ride down the twisting trail was a blast except for those who hit the odd patch of snow going too fast!
On the first day of riding, Barry took our group on a 110 km trip that included a visit to an old open pit mine, a pretty vast hole in the ground filled with emerald water. Gino, our Italian pizza guy, decided to ride down the spiral trail to the the emerald water at the bottom. We could see what looked like a big stone on the trail but, when Gino got there, he found that it was a rock as big as himself!
Later we rode up to a small mine shaft that made us wonder how the heck they worked in such tight quarters. A bullethole-ridden shack stood outside; whether it was a miner's home or work shed was hard to tell.
After each day's ride, we would either return to Buffalo Bill's to clean up and eat or visit another location such as the World's Largest Buffet (so claimed) at the Fiesta Casino in Henderson; surely a place to get stuffed! Some of the group took trips into Las Vegas to ogle the wonders of that artificial world. Those of us who felt lucky could gamble everywhere; one-armed bandits abounded, along with the usual card games and crap shoots. Buffalo Bill's is a riot of entertainment that includes a scary roller coaster, live bands, a water ride (only at weekends in winter), all sorts of restaurants and bars, a swimming pool and a curiously cold "hot" tub. We also visited Whisky Pete's across the street. Visitors could get around by monorail or complimentary shuttle; walking seemed a bit off limits! The group spent an evening at Whisky Pete's looking at all the digital photos taken to that date (Thursday). These, showing our smiling faces at locations all over the area, had been compiled onto laptops by Nicole, a very technically smart young lady. The tech whiz and Joyce also burned a CD of these photos for each of us and provided two 8" x 10" photos of the group, one with bikes and one doing an IGNITION photo op!
This year, sponsors came on board and IGNITION provided each rider with free riding pants, gloves and jersey. SIXSIXONE offered a 40% discount on their gear and Inside Motorcycles gave each participant a free subscription; all in all, a great deal.
Sunday, our last day and departure day, turned out to be the sunniest of the week. I, and many others, had elected not to ride, although some did a half-day jaunt. After that, it was time to pack up, tie the bikes in the truck and make tracks for the airport and the night flight back to Toronto.
There are many memories that will forever linger about this experience, and experience it was! It is physically demanding, perhaps especially for us older riders, but I couldn't hide the smile on my face from the sense of accomplishment and sheer riding enjoyment. Apart from a last-day foot injury to one of the senior members due to an odd no-speed tip-over, and a few bruises experienced by some, there were no lasting injuries. I had a few falls, myself, largely due to my own ineptitude, but all were without damage or hurt.
The trip was well organized, but casual and elastic enough to allow participants to do their own thing if they so chose. Participants don't have to ride every day, but I chose to ride six days and, apart from a few blisters on my hands due to a lack of winter riding in Ontario, and the odd sore muscle, it was great. The riders with GPS equipment were able to explore widely and not get lost!
From a cost standpoint, the 2006 base fee of $2100 was well worth it, but there were some additional costs. For me, living in Northern Ontario, there was also the cost of trucking the bike, gear and tools to and from Port Hope, the truck departure point, and getting myself to and from the airport in Toronto. In addition, I shared the cost of a vehicle to get around in the Las Vegas area with Barry and several others. The accommodation at Buffalo Bill's Casino was good; it is, of course, double occupancy so that you share a room with another rider. I was happy to share with Guido "Fast Guy" Knieling; a great way to make new friends and share experiences. We needed some US cash for food, and cash or credit card for gas and incidentals and, for those of us who wanted to gamble, some money to lose!
Would I do the Las Vegas trip again? At my age, I may not, but Cliffshore Adventures do have a January trip to Baja Mexico....…
