A Couple of Days in Nevada!

By Ben Rush

Ben Rush wrote this after his third ride with Nevada Motorcycle Adventures.

His friends and family kept asking about his obsession with Nevada 

Sunday…Rain. Lots of it. We're supposed to ride the DR 350's from Reno, but we go to plan B and truck everything to Virginia City in an attempt to escape the rain. It works and we are in the saddle about 1 p.m. For about three hours of riding. Familiar with opening-day, I stay at the back of the pack getting used to the bike.

After the ride we head back to town and drink beer in an old saloon and listen to a band called "The Comstock Cowboys". People wander around in cowboy hats and six-shooters and lend atmosphere (we are polite to the gun-toters). Dinner is found in a local restaurant, then we spend the night in a newly built motel.

Monday…No rain, but the clouds in the distance look ominous. No matter, It's not raining here! My voice is scratchy this morning from trying to converse over loud music in the bar last night. This is ok, since it is not a bodily function required for riding. Five miles of paved road and we are on the trail at last.

This is a nice challenging jeep trail with lots of twists and ruts that snakes into the mountains. Everyone who has not been here before is having to reconcile their mental image of Nevada as a bleached desert with the reality of mountains, streams, and grassland. We stop a lot to admire the view. Mike from Wales is agog at the sheer size and panorama of the country.

Tuesday…Everyone is up early and anxious to ride. There is a black thunderstorm behind the hills to the west and a spectacular rainbow just in front. We wolf breakfast and skip out just ahead of the rain. We are looking for Big Horn sheep, but none are seen today. This is technical riding, and we are all having fun. After numerous peaks and valleys, the day ends at a small town out on the flats near a dry lake. There is a sense of having gotten in a good day's ride. The motel turns out to have a superb shower with politically incorrect high-flow nozzles, tremendous pressure, and water hot enough to flay skin. It's wonderful.

We head for a drink at a local saloon, a place that has to be seen to be believed. The ramshackle building is crammed with old desert brick-a-brack: license plates, animal skulls, bottles, and old copies of "True Crime" magazine - all under a heavy layer of dust. Dick (the 70-something owner) is a true Nevadan, the very definition of a crusty desert rat, with strong opinions on just about anything and a 357 under the bar. Later at the local cafe, we eat delicious beef, from locally raised longhorns

Wednesday…We head into the mountains again. The trail is an absolute blast to ride! The view from the mountain top is spectacular, with thunderstorms tracking down the valleys on either side. The ride back down is more laid back, and we check out some old mining camps. It's amazing the numbers of old buildings out here in the hills that miners built, then just walked away from when the ore was gone. More amazing that many of them are standing after so many years. We cross an open valley with storm birds wheeling in the sky and finally run out of luck.

Thursday…Sun! The rain has gone. This is the most spectacular country! We head up a ridge trail runs for miles and you can see forever along the valleys to either side. We finally drop down into the canyons and there are trout to be seen in the crystal clear streams. Crossing the valley to the east, we get up into the next range. This is really remote country. There are no houses, power lines, or people. We spot some mule deer in the high country. To get here by horseback or even jeep would take a full day, but a motorcycle can do it in a few hours.

We head down the canyon and emerge on the east side of the range. A spectacular rock dome houses a 20 foot diameter pool of  steaming hot (180 degrees F) water, said to be very deep. On the road back we pass the only ranch in the valley, and Matt takes a few moments to talk to the rancher. We end the ride at a hot spring and a soak with a cold beer, while watching the sunset. This is hard to beat.

Friday…The last day here so soon? We spend the morning winding our way up to an old Pony Express stop for lunch. On the way, we negotiate a challenging road. There are a lot of wild horses around here and they stare at us, and then gallop off. After lunch its up to a hill overlooking the naval air bombing range. This is a valley in which the navy has built a fake town & airfield for the purpose of bombing it.

Today there are three F-18 Hornets practicing bombing things. It's quite exciting. We can see the flash and explosion where the practice bombs hit. Todd climbs a steep hill near the Navy Bombing range that Matt says has never been successfully climbed by any rider on his previous trips. Todd makes it to the top by the skin of his teeth and we can hear his yell from across the valley. Mike, who's never been closer than thirty feet to a firearm in his life, takes advantage of the opportunity to shoot Matt's rifle at a nearby hill. The hill is expected to survive. Ben Rush, Albany New York