motion pro nevada 200 2010

[oregon pampara rider]

Well we have returned and recouped from a wonderful 8 day riding adventure. we took off
from cottage grove, drove down and rode John's peak out of Medford Or. for our first day's ride, put in a 3
hour ride and headed off south, made it to Susanville Ca. for the night. we ate at a mexican
resturant- they had cheap $1.00 taco's, we ate lot's, later that night I started feeling
pretty bad in the tummy, come morning threw up real bad, had a fever and sweating, not
the start to the trip I was wanting. we next drove to Hungry Valley/ moon rocks about 15
miles north of Sparks Nv. It is a large riding area fairly open desert with many big steep
hill climbs with amazing traction and very little dust. I wasn't feeling so good so we
only rode about 30 miles but oh they were good. pretty good mix of mindless go fast with
"oh crap look at those rock's on that downhill" thrown in here and there. I
will go back again. we saw 1 other rider the whole time out there. There are supposed to
be about 200 miles of trails there.
We left there and drove highway 50 - the loneliest road in America to Yereka Nv. we went
over several 7500' passes to get there. It was about 9:00 at night when we got there. we
looked for the cheap motel and there were only 2 choices, best western for $129 + tax so
went to check at the next. we went in the lobby, no one there, rang the bell, no one
there, waited around and a very drunk couple came in, wandered around and said the motel
owner was probably at the gas station and we should go get her. we didn't know who to
look for so suggested they go get her, about that time she came from a back room. we
asked our drunk friends where they were from and said they lived down the street but
couldn't walk home. they strongly encouraged us to join them at the opera house for
bingo, the whole town was going to be there! I was tired as I hadn't eaten anything all
day, so we went to bed early.
The next morning we drove to Ely Nv. had breakfast and it had warmed up to 22 degrees by
8:30. after breakfast we drove south to Panaca Nv. now this is where the riding really
got good! we had directions to head out to Condor canyon. we took off from where we
parked making a hard decision on where to start as there were trails in every direction.
Where we chose to go was just up over the hill to the north east, as soon as I crested
the hill I dropped into a single track about 10" wide on a very steep side hill. If
you ate it the rest of trip would probably of been done!!! I slowly and carefully made
the trail all the way to a big hill climb that I was thinking might be a good spot to
loop the bike, but hey if there were tracks up it could be done and with a 300 2 stroke
the only limit is guts and skill. my buddy went first and made it, I went next and made
it within about 3 feet of the top. all the way back down and took the next climb up and
made it. we explored canyon after canyon, saw a nice heard of mule deer, 1 antelope,and a
few rabbits. from way up high we saw a really big canyon and found our way into that one,
it went for several miles, mostly 2 track, with a couple of good creek crossings. after a
good 5 hour ride we headed off for Caliente, where the motion pro 200 would begin. We
woke up to frost on the bikes, went for breakfast and the place was so crowded it took a
long time to get fed. While waiting we got talking with a couple of guys from Palm
Springs area that have been coming to this ride for 16 of the 26 years they have been
doing this ride, the more they told us the more I was ready to go riding. as we got ready
to leave the restaurant these guys told us they bought us breakfast! a nice way to start
our day. We went to the start area and got a little history of how this ride started as a
fun trip of a few fast desert racers just getting together at one of there favorite
riding spots, and over the years it grew to the point it was an invitation only ride with
a limit of 200 riders. Casey Folks and Scot Harden are the main promoters. Scot was a
factory racer for husky for several years and now is the head of husky for the U.S. Max
Schweitzer was introduced, at the age of 71 he was still one fast rider!
here is a link to a few pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/brooksau...J7DxMayo7q6OQ#
Now we finally get to get going. We started fro the R.V. park at the north end of town
and went up a canyon on a twisty loose rock road for a couple of miles and then got into
our first single track. while on the road I was shocked at how fast the guys were passing
me ( I was cruising along about 50mph) When we got on the single track my little gasgas
was right at home and knew just what to do, it was brand new tight twisty and I no longer
had anyone on my heels. this went on for about 10 miles and then opened back up to fast
open desert. it was amazing how the terrain changed in just a few miles. I soon was
introduced to a new type of challenge- deep twisty sand washes- for miles. I hadn't
crashed on my bike for several months but now figuring out the sand wash I figured I
should see how hard those rocks really were, in fact I tried it a few times. We had a bit
of everything the first day out, including riding in the snow, mud, rocks, drop offs,
hill climbs, steep pucker you up decents, and best of all rolling, twisty, single track.
Day 1 was a short day of about 45 miles. I didn't hear of anyone getting hurt or broken
bikes, a good start!
at the finish of day one we were greeted with a nice spread of pulled pork, three
different kinds of chicken, potatoes, salad, and all kinds of fruit and berry's, several
wine and beer choices. In talking with some of the other guy's I was quized how I liked
my alpinestar bionic chest protector by a guy named bobby from L.A. who turns out to be a
product designer for alpinestar, I told him the only thing I would love to see (Kace and
Yodis this is for you) is better protection for the ribs. He told me they have played
with several designs but aren't happy with the results yet, but have been playing with a
flex-able foam that may be out soon. Also met Ken Hutchenson from motousa magazine, they
will be doing an article and are based out of medford oregon. I had a good talk with
Stephen Anderson with the T.V. show "on the trail" he was out from west virgina
(www.onthetrailtv.com) he is planning on several episodes from this ride. There were 2
guys who came from Kent england- thy flew over, rented a couple of older ktm 450's and
soon found out what desert riding was, they had never riden anything but mud, roots,mud
and hills before. We rode with them a fair bit, they were both pretty funny.
Day 2. We started at 8:00 sharp, below freezing and perfectly clear. we were off on a 105
mile day today. it started out fast again for about 10 miles, then we hit epic single
track for about 20 miles, it was some of the best I have ever rode, it just went on and
on. As I was pushing it harder and faster I realized the tree branches were hitting me
harder and harder as I was straying from the track, I chose to slow a bit before I hit a
tree hard. We had more snow today as we were running in the mid 6000' elevation. When we
dropped back down lower we had quite a bit of a mud section, then a nice lunch and gas
refueling. Right after lunch they ran us on a dirt road for about 15 miles as there was
too much new snow on the trail they had laid out and there was too much trouble trying to
get through it. after the road some more mud, then miles of sand wash in a real pretty
canyon, I rode it way better this time. as we got close to the end there were several fun
creek crossing, one with a steep muddy bank on the far side, we made it fine, but talking
to others several went backward back down for a little swim! This was our 5th day in a
row of riding and at the end of the day I was tired. Best in the Desert had a nice steak
dinner with all the goodies for us to end the day.
day three: Breakfast provided this morning, eggs, pancakes sausage, juice and coffee.
9:00 start today was a 45 mile ride mostly all single track again. I tried to chased this
guy from atlanta. I do pretty good in the single track but this guy was unbeleavable fast
on a brand new husaberg. we were done by 11:00 packed up the truck and headed up the
road.
We had tried to make it a point to not drive too far before we take a break and ride to
loosen us up. We didn't see any where interesting till we got to the intersection of
hiway 93 and interstate 80 at Carlin N.V. just befiore we turned onto the interstate a
ktm came at us riding a wheelie, as we rounded the corner we saw a bunch of quads, so we
figured it was time to ride. mostly open desert, and not too interesting after what we
had rode the last couple of days, we did come across a motocross track out there with a
lot of little kids getting big air on the jumps.
here are a few more pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/brooksau...NzhzLKKt4zfJw#
We drove on to Winnamucca for the night. we got directions from the motel lady of her
favorite place to ride about 15 miles out of town and that was our plan for the morning.
When we woke up it was our first day of the trip with crappy weather, a mix of rain and
snow, so we decided to head up the road. our only ride spot of the day was out at
Christmas Valley, didn't know where there were any trails and didn't find much. Back on
the road to Bend.
Our last day we went to cline butte and rode our home turf. it was great as always. it
was nice to get close to home and have a bunch of really fun trails again. was home to
see the wife by 7:30 with no truck or bike problems the whole trip, no blood loss or bad
bruises. all need a trip like this once in a while. Bruce