Welcome to day 2 on the Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route.
This is the daily log of six novice adventure riders tackling the new #NVBDR route. We are riding Honda Africa Twins and Kawasaki KLRs.
Broken Pegs & the Happy Burro
Our planned route for day 2 was completely on the NVBDR which meant lots of unsealed roads. Well, that's what we thought we had planned.
We rejoined the NVBDR after a restful night in the Primm Casino hotel and a quick breakfast at McDonalds. We got a few good comments and questions: "Are you guys racers?" Haha, far from it!
Initially the track runs North, parallel to the I-15 highway, before turning to the North East and onto Pahrump.
Broken Pegs
20Km later and we had a broken foot peg on the Africa Twin. The track had a number of sections damaged by flood water and as a result large boulders lay scattered on the track. One of the Africa Twin riders followed the inside track on a left turn and had little room to maneuver to avoid a few large boulders. The front tyre clipped a rock and milliseconds later the rider was on the floor. The rider and bike were ok except for the right foot peg.
On small vital piece off the Africa Twin was crucial in changing plans... the NVBDR was over. We needed to return to Las Vegas to repair the Honda AT and rethink our plans.
Making that call to GSMA... we needed help
Decision made... we would use the highway from Las Vegas to the old mining town of Rhyolite and onto Beatty for the evening. Nevada also decided to change weather patterns and the 38Deg C heat wave turned into strong 60km gale force winds. It was not a pleasant few hours as we fought the North Westerly winds towards Beatty.
Head down, we wobbled our way North West to Beatty. A quick bite to eat at the Area51 Alien Center roadhouse before pushing onto Rhyolite, an old mining town.
Rhyolite was built around 1905 but quickly faded as miners moved to Beatty. Infrastructure resources was pretty scarce so the town folk dismantled buildings and carted them to Beatty.
The Happy Burro
When you visit Beatty as part of the NVBDR, be sure to have a bowl of chili at the Happy Burro. The food is good, the beer is cold and the atmosphere is outstanding. We spent an enjoyable few hours detoxing from the gale force winds and talking through the broken peg incident and being thankful that no one was injured.
Happy Burro Chili & Beer in Beatty
No rest for those on international business trips... day 3 needed planning!
What happens when you take a bunch of newbie adventure riders half way around the world to ride an established North American Backcountry Discovery Route?
Firstly, you get Nevada to welcome you with 38Deg C weather, then 60km/h gale force winds, add in 3Deg C weather at 1600m above sea level and not to forget huge dust storms as you cross the border into California and Death Valley!
Trans-continental overland travel brings the world alive. Intercontinental flights dull the emotions to new countries and cultures but are needed when time poor. Patience was needed as we hopped from one flight to the next - two flights in total and more than 24hours travel time. Our first stop in Las Vegas was Great Southern Moto Adventures.
Great Southern Moto Adventures
We met Curtis and Jeff, owners of GSMA and part of the team responsible for creating the NVBDR. A lifetime of adventure riding has contributed to the development of one fantastic route. Jeff, the GSMA operations manager had two KLR650 and four new Africa Twin's setup and waiting and all that was needed was to sign the final paperwork, pack the panniers and hit the road South.
I had opted for the Kawasaki KLR 650 as my adventure riding experience was limited to smaller bikes and shorter distances. Curtis had advised the following: "The KLR’s will be much more fun, easy to operate and probably provide a better overall experience for the less experienced besides being more safe for them". It sounded like the perfect bike for me!
Kawasaki KLR650
This YouTube clip sums up the bike nicely:
Six riders in convoy are not easy to manage. We had one mantra. Always try remember who is behind you and wait at each major junction for the person to arrive. Well, this was hard to manage as we attempted to leave Las Vegas. 5km later and one of the Honda Africa Twins suffered a front tyre puncture. Our group of six riders were now split in two.
The group I was in made the decision to push on and follow the original plan and let the two other riders meet us at the accommodation in Primm. Thankfully they were close to GSMA which meant that Curtis and Jeff could drive over with a spare wheel and replace it.
The NVBDR has two unsealed sections between Searchlight and Primm, however the first section had suffered damage due to flash flooding and Curtis advised us to re-join the trail at Nipton.
Quick drink stop in Nipton
The Nipton to Primm section follows the rail road tracks which allow for a quick escape from the soft sandy track sections. The trail caught a few of the riders out as the conditions quickly changed from compacted stoney gravel to loose gravel including a few sandy sections. The temperature was a whopping 38Deg C! This section was only 20km long but took the four of us an hour to complete!
Raw video showing sections of the track:
Trip Stats:
Accommodation: Primm Valley Casino Resort (Good enough but don't eat in the hotel as its rather expensive)
Ride distance: 161km
Total trip time: 3hr30min
Rever.co Track:
Our route from Nipton to Primm. We stopped many times to reveille in the fact that we were riding the NVBDR and to enjoy the moment. This track should not take you this long.
2017 is all about adventure motorcycling and to kick off the year, I will be heading to Nevada (in May) to ride the newly established Backcountry Discovery Route.
The Backcountry Discovery Routes aims to establish off-highway routes for adventure motorcycle travel. i.e think of those big adventure touring bikes following cross country trails.
Thanks to BDR for creating Off-Road Routes for Adventure Travel
The big benefit of the BDR is that the team have scoped out some of the best adventure riding across seven states (todate) and have published maps and GPS tracks (which are downloadable) to enable adventure riders to explore off-highway routes.
A post shared by Backcountry Discovery Routes (@ridebdr) on
I first heard about the North American Backcountry Discovery Routes through the Adventure Rider Radio podcast - it was an interesting interview with Paul Guillien (Founding member of BDR).
Jim Martin introduced the podcast with a few thoughts: "Humans crave adventure. We love the idea ; the feeling we get ; but who has the time and how do we manage adventure with our schedule?"
Introducing Backcountry Discovery Routes.
Take a listen to the podcast via Adventure Rider Radio.
One of the interesting conversation points on the interview was the financial contribution the BDR has bought to the remote towns and communities.
"The best way to protect access to these areas is to create economic stimulus for these small towns and communities."
According to Paul Guillien, this has lead to the small towns actively encouraging routes to traverse their towns. Fantastic commercial viewpiont which I think many small towns could benefit from.
Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route
There are many benefits working for an American company - one of them usually includes trips to the USA for annual sales and technical conferences. The end destination is usually Las Vegas as the city can support a thousand plus employees in a single conference venue. It was my turn to travel from Sydney to Las Vegas for the annual conference so I added a few extra travel days, recruited a few colleagues and hired the adventure bikes.
The plan: to ride parts of the Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route.
A post shared by Backcountry Discovery Routes (@ridebdr) on
"The NVBDR is a scenic ride across Nevada, beginning in Oatman, AZ, and finishing in Jarbidge, NV. Created for dual-sport and adventure motorcyclists, this 900-mile south-to-north route primarily uses dirt roads to lead riders through Nevada’s expansive deserts, open sagebrush valleys, and seemingly endless mountain ranges.
In rural Nevada, you’ll experience historic saloons and relics from it’s rich mining history. The state’s maverick spirit remains, and you’ll see ghost towns, artifacts, desert sculptures, murals, the world’s largest car forest, jackrabbits, antelope and even wild mustangs." Source: http://ridebdr.com/NVBDR
Pre-trip prep:
Balancing family life, a career, hobbies and sport often means that my overland adventure travels needs to be planned and thought through so as to maximise the time.
Thankfully, I love planning and don't quite enjoy the unpredictable nature of spontaneous travel. I love the research involved - everything from pouring over maps, reviewing budgets, recruiting willing participants and sharing the adventure to willing ears.
Logistics and Route:
Bike Rental: We opted to rent motorcycles from Great Southern Moto Adventures. The company is based in Las Vegas and were part of the volunteer team to establish the Nevada BDR. They offered two types of bikes: The Kawasaki KLR and the new Honda Africa Twin. All the bikes are equipped with soft panniers, and tank bags with optional accessories available like GPS and helmets. Curtis, one of the owners, was very patient with our many emails and provided insight into alternative routes back to Las Vegas.
Equipment: This has proved a tough decision as many of us are new to adventure motorcycle touring and don't have the clothing or additional equipment like GPS units. We have opted to borrow and purchase 2nd hand equipment. Everything from boots, protective gear and jackets. We have mostly hired helmets.
GPS: I have opted to test the Rever.co motorcycle app (iPhone & Android) to plan, track and navigate the route. One of the benefits is the ability to plan a route on the website and then use your mobile phone or tablet to start and track the route. More on the app usage later.
Day3: Beatty to Tonopah following the NVBDR. This is a combination of Section 2 and Section 3.
Day4: NVBDR Section 4 to Route 82. Then back to Tonopah.
Tonopah back to Las Vegas via Extraterrestrial highway (and past Area51).
Link: https://goo.gl/maps/cvG3ip4NRNT2
The full #NVBDR route on Google Maps as published by RideBDR. The downloadable GPX file contains plenty of information and detailed route tracks.
That's it for now. I will endeavour to provide a daily log... links below:
