NEVADA 200 TRAILRIDE: THE WRAP
Last week, I rode the Nevada 200 for the first time. I don’t know how I missed it for so many years–it’s now in its 40th edition. It started off as a collaboration between Scot Harden and Casey Folks. Now, Scot carries on, but he’s not alone. His wife Christy, Rodney Smith and guys with names like Corndawg all pitch in to organize 200 miles of incredible trail over three days of riding each spring. The trail is 100 percent single-track. It starts in the micro town of Caliente, Nevada and covers about 55 miles on day one, with splits for A riders and C riders. Riders depart two at a time and get back with plenty of time for stories. Day two is a little more intense. It’s more like 90 miles, it starts early and goes long. There’s a lunch stop in the middle of nowhere with a few random activities for those who have the energy. Then, more riding followed by more stories. The riding is good. But, I gotta confess, the stories are great. At one time or another, I found myself deep in story-telling mode with a bunch of characters from my past.
Anna Cody is a desert-racing legend. She still rides like a kid. Photo by Miguel Santana
Most of the stories went like this:
“At the Nevada rally, wasn’t there some German woman …” I started to ask Anna Cody.
“Jutta Klienschmidt!” she said, as if the name had come up in conversation every day since 1983. “I can still picture her puffing on those unfiltered Camels at the gas stops.”
Anna was the picture of a petite, professional athlete in 1983. She was tactically savvy, never taking unnecessary risks and riding responsibly. Jutta was a beast who would drink and party. They were involved in a close battle until day four, when Jutta lost her time card. That mistake cost her a massive penalty. After that, Anna, being a smart racer, rode at a relaxed pace to become the top Women’s Pro.
Fred Hoess has ridden the ISDE 29 times. Oh, the stories he can tell once you get him started. Photo by Miguel Santana
Fred Hoess had stories of his own. “You don’t know what it was like …” he said. The topic was the Spanish ISDE in 2000.
“What do you mean? I was there,” I protested. The year 2000 marked the final ISDE in my Six-Days career, which consisted of seven attempts and zero gold medals. It was number 12 in Fred’s career, which would culminate with 29 rides and 27 gold medals.
“We were the first ones through all those sections,” he clarified. “By the time you guys got there, they rerouted everything. It was raining, there were rocks all over; it was almost impassable. It was the toughest one I ever rode!”
I remember a few tough sections, but it was mostly a vacation. Fred was on the Trophy team, which started first. I was on a club team, back in the pack, and apparently, we rode a completely different course. Plus, by that time, I had no illusions of greatness. I was there with my wife, we visited all the tourist destinations and had a wonderful time. “They had great Paella,” I offered. Fred was disgusted.
Rodney Smith has stepped up to help organize the Nevada 200. Photo by Miguel Santana
Rodney’s memories of our early relationship were even more humbling. “Don’t you remember?” I pleaded. “We rode the first Arenacross series in history together. It went to Calgary and Edmonton, about 1983 or so.”
“Oh, I remember the races, but…” he trailed off, stopping just short of saying “I don’t remember you.” That’s fine. I didn’t do anything memorable. It was a four-race series with nothing but American riders. Stu Peters organized it and apparently really made the Canadian Motorcycle Association angry. They forbid their riders from attending. It was called Supercross at the time; years later someone coined the phrase Arenacross and it stuck. Rodney, Donnie Cantaloupi, Jim Holley and Gary Denton all won overall races. I got hurt. I told Rodney all about it, but he never pretended to remember.
Alexander Smith doesn’t just look like his dad Malcolm. He thinks like Malcolm, too. Photo by Miguel Santana
One of my weirdest story-trading sessions was with Alexander Smith. He looks just like his dad Malcolm. I feel like he should remember things his dad and I did together. Scot Harden, Malcolm Smith and I all rode the Incas Rally back in the late ‘80s. At the time, Malcolm was 49 years old and still very, very fast. Beyond that, he was smart and smooth. He would burn less fuel, use fewer brake pads and get lost less often than anyone else. Whenever I got a flat, Malcolm would ask “why?” In his world, you only got flat tires if you deliberately hit rocks and things. After talking with Alexander a short time, I could tell he felt the same way. As far as I could tell, interacting with Alexander today is like interacting with Malcolm in 1988, except he’s young and I’m old instead of the other way around. In either case, he’s still much faster. It doesn’t seem fair.
Scot is the master of ceremonies at all the rider gatherings. Casey Folks would be proud.
Scot Harden and I met at that same event. His gear bag was lost en route, so he wore my extra stuff for most of the event. Scot had previously earned the distinction of being the first American to win an international rally, and he approached the Incas Rally quite seriously. His secret, as far as I could tell, was to ride angry. It paid off. He finished on the podium. Today, the anger is gone, but Scot still takes his role very seriously. The Nevada 200 is meticulously organized, flawlessly marked and massively entertaining. The riding is great, but the feeling of community is the real attraction. Scot was the master of ceremonies at each gathering of riders and he generally held the crowd in the palm of his hand. It wasn’t just about providing rules and instructions, it was about storytelling and entertainment. He says all this is a tradition set forth by Casey Folks, but in truth, Scot has a style all his own. The 2024 Nevada 200 was truly a great adventure that will generate stories of its own to be told in years to come.
After 40 years, Ron rode the Nevada 200 for the first time. It won’t be the last. Photo by Kit Palmer
Despite a combined age of one million, Pete Murray and Kit Palmer are still fit and on top of the game.
UPCOMING IN PRINT
Each and every month we have a long list of very diverse bike to test. We love every minute! Here are a few of the photo shoots I’ve done just in the last two weeks alone. They include an electric off-road bike, a motocross bike, a dual-sport, a two-stroke off-road bike and an adventure bike. All will be featured in the July, 2024 print edition of Dirt Bike.
The Arctic Leopard Cheetah E-XE880 has the biggest battery we’ve yet seen in an electric off-road bike. It sell for $11,000 and is incredibly fast.
Jarred Hicks is all over our 2024 Honda CRF450RWE test bike.
Jacob Tilley is following in his dad’s footsteps as a Dirt Bike test rider. Here, he’s on the 2024 Honda XR150L.
In 2023, we put almost 200 hours on our KTM 300XC-W test bike. KTM wasn’t happy, so we rebuilt it as a project. Pete Murray is on the result.
The KTM 790 Adventure is assembled in the CF Moto factory in China, but it’s 100 percent KTM parts and engineering. The quality is high, but the price isn’t.
See you next week!
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