Caliente is a small, historic railroad town located roughly 155 miles north of Las Vegas in east/central Nevada. About 1000 people call Caliente home these days and the town sits at the base of what is essentially a three sided canyon at 4,300 feet above sea level.
20 years ago, Casey Folks, founder of the Best In The Desert racing association, and Scot Harden, desert racer and executive with KTM USA, began taking a group of freinds to Caliente each year for three days of trail riding. Over the years the ride, now called the Nevada 200, has evolved into an invitation-only event that fills the town with over 200 dirt bike enthusiasts, industry professionals and legendary off road racers for two hundred miles of fun.
I've attended the Nevada 200 for the past five years and can honestly tell you that this event is the central date on my annual riding calender. Each year Casey and Scot put on an epic adventure that combine lots of single track trail, two track jeep roads, fast sandwashes, awesome scenery and variable weather conditions. This year was no different.
My son and I rolled into our traditional Caliente base camp, the Agua de Caliente Hot Springs Resort, around 6:00pm Thursday evening. In the truck this year was an 02 FE501 with a fresh engine (thanks Fletch!), my 15 year old sons KX250, also with a new engine (this would be his first year on the ride) and my trusty 1997 KTM 360MXC as a backup for anyone who needed it.
This was Caliente Base Camp, and don't let the word "Resort" in the name fool you. This aint no pansy-assed resort you'd find on the Mexican Riviera, with swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses and massage tables. This is a Caliente resort where you're welcome to camp in one of a dozen trailer spaces, some with hook-ups that may work, most with neighbors that have called this place home, year-round, for eons. Every year our neighbor has been a character named Barry, a retired Air Force guy that has lived here for 15 years.
Anyway, since we got a late start, camp was already set for us, steaks on the barbeque and crab in the pots by the time we got there. Our little group has grown to 12 people, six of whom comprise "Team Husaberg". Thursday evenings meal is always rib eye steaks, Alaskan king crab and copious amounts of malted beverage. No better way to start the weekend.
Sometime around 1:00am Friday morning, I awoke to the gentle sounds of rain pattering on the roof of the trailer. "Right on", I thought, "a little moisture on the trails...no dust!", and went back to sleep. At daybreak, most of us stumbled out of our temporary homes and made our way into town for breakfast. Friday's ride was to start at 11:00am and would be about 50 miles, getting us back to town with plenty of time to clean up before the welcoming cocktail party that evening.
At sign ups, we had the opportunity to check out Scot Harden's and Paul Krause's Paris Dakar race bikes (660 and 990 twin), and chat with Scot about his adventure in the sands of Africa. All was going very well for him and he looked likely to have a podium finish until a broken ankle ended his race. Next to the impressive race bikes were a small collection of KTM 950’s, available for demo rides. Needless to say, I signed up! Team Honda was present with an armada of CRF250X’s.
The Nevada 200 is really three trail rides in one. There is a route for the A/B riders and a seperate route for the C level folks. I'm normally on the A/B ride with the rest of the group, but since this was my sons first year, I decided the prudent thing to do would be to ride the C ride Friday with him to see how he'd do.
As we left the start line in groups of two and three, I couldn't help but notice the dark, gathering clouds on the horizon directly in front of us. About 20 miles in, the sky opened up, the wind started in and the real fun began. Before the end of the day, we’d find ourselves pummeled by marble-sized hail and soaked in a wintery-mix of snow and sleet. Goggles, even with roll-offs, became useless as you could only see a few feet in front of the front tire. I realized at one point that I’d run over a deer laying in the middle of the trail. Granted, it was the long-dead carcass of a deer, but the fact that I’d run over it before I could see or knew what it was funny.
My son was doing well, but went over hard in a rocky/muddy uphill section and sprained his wrist. Still, we made it back, wet and muddy, but with big smiles on our faces. When we turned in for the night the rain was falling, hard.
The next morning, there was talk at the start line about the course be re-routed to avoid some of the snow that had fallen in the higher elevations. Casey told us to be careful, as much of the course was very muddy and we started off. The first five miles took us right up a creek, now swollen with rain. Several of what would’ve been 12â€Â
20 years ago, Casey Folks, founder of the Best In The Desert racing association, and Scot Harden, desert racer and executive with KTM USA, began taking a group of freinds to Caliente each year for three days of trail riding. Over the years the ride, now called the Nevada 200, has evolved into an invitation-only event that fills the town with over 200 dirt bike enthusiasts, industry professionals and legendary off road racers for two hundred miles of fun.
I've attended the Nevada 200 for the past five years and can honestly tell you that this event is the central date on my annual riding calender. Each year Casey and Scot put on an epic adventure that combine lots of single track trail, two track jeep roads, fast sandwashes, awesome scenery and variable weather conditions. This year was no different.
My son and I rolled into our traditional Caliente base camp, the Agua de Caliente Hot Springs Resort, around 6:00pm Thursday evening. In the truck this year was an 02 FE501 with a fresh engine (thanks Fletch!), my 15 year old sons KX250, also with a new engine (this would be his first year on the ride) and my trusty 1997 KTM 360MXC as a backup for anyone who needed it.
This was Caliente Base Camp, and don't let the word "Resort" in the name fool you. This aint no pansy-assed resort you'd find on the Mexican Riviera, with swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses and massage tables. This is a Caliente resort where you're welcome to camp in one of a dozen trailer spaces, some with hook-ups that may work, most with neighbors that have called this place home, year-round, for eons. Every year our neighbor has been a character named Barry, a retired Air Force guy that has lived here for 15 years.
Anyway, since we got a late start, camp was already set for us, steaks on the barbeque and crab in the pots by the time we got there. Our little group has grown to 12 people, six of whom comprise "Team Husaberg". Thursday evenings meal is always rib eye steaks, Alaskan king crab and copious amounts of malted beverage. No better way to start the weekend.
Sometime around 1:00am Friday morning, I awoke to the gentle sounds of rain pattering on the roof of the trailer. "Right on", I thought, "a little moisture on the trails...no dust!", and went back to sleep. At daybreak, most of us stumbled out of our temporary homes and made our way into town for breakfast. Friday's ride was to start at 11:00am and would be about 50 miles, getting us back to town with plenty of time to clean up before the welcoming cocktail party that evening.
At sign ups, we had the opportunity to check out Scot Harden's and Paul Krause's Paris Dakar race bikes (660 and 990 twin), and chat with Scot about his adventure in the sands of Africa. All was going very well for him and he looked likely to have a podium finish until a broken ankle ended his race. Next to the impressive race bikes were a small collection of KTM 950’s, available for demo rides. Needless to say, I signed up! Team Honda was present with an armada of CRF250X’s.
The Nevada 200 is really three trail rides in one. There is a route for the A/B riders and a seperate route for the C level folks. I'm normally on the A/B ride with the rest of the group, but since this was my sons first year, I decided the prudent thing to do would be to ride the C ride Friday with him to see how he'd do.
As we left the start line in groups of two and three, I couldn't help but notice the dark, gathering clouds on the horizon directly in front of us. About 20 miles in, the sky opened up, the wind started in and the real fun began. Before the end of the day, we’d find ourselves pummeled by marble-sized hail and soaked in a wintery-mix of snow and sleet. Goggles, even with roll-offs, became useless as you could only see a few feet in front of the front tire. I realized at one point that I’d run over a deer laying in the middle of the trail. Granted, it was the long-dead carcass of a deer, but the fact that I’d run over it before I could see or knew what it was funny.
My son was doing well, but went over hard in a rocky/muddy uphill section and sprained his wrist. Still, we made it back, wet and muddy, but with big smiles on our faces. When we turned in for the night the rain was falling, hard.
The next morning, there was talk at the start line about the course be re-routed to avoid some of the snow that had fallen in the higher elevations. Casey told us to be careful, as much of the course was very muddy and we started off. The first five miles took us right up a creek, now swollen with rain. Several of what would’ve been 12â€Â
