Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1534665
April 2025 What's cool is how so many adhere to this ideology, and this guy from the woods of Maine was wel- comed with open arms throughout the en re event and the town in general. Yes, we seem to be living in the strangest of mes, and it's refreshing to find so many down-to-earth, good people involved in the sport we all love so much. The weekend began Friday morning with a hear elt riders' mee ng celebra ng the life of Scot Harden's close friend and event founder, Casey Folks. With a huge "Boo-yah", close to 200 riders sent love, respect and recogni on to Casey while le ng him know we're doing our best, riding in his honor. I would ride a fresh-out-of-the-crate 2025 Beta 390 RR Race for day one. Of course, I was excited, as I had yet to test the newest RR Race or Race Edi on models. On the other hand, the fact remained that before this event, your editor Kurt had zero expe- rience riding in the desert. Truth be told, I'd never ridden west of New York, and I'm not shy to admit, I did have some concerns. In discussing the condi- ons with my friend Suzy Moody, who's ridden the Nevada 200 several mes, I was told there would be a lot of deep sand, whoops, along with some sweet flowing mountainous single track and a fair amount of rocks. Did she say rocks? Given our boney New England loca on, I'm quite comfortable with rocks and roots. Roots? I was also told there might be one or two, but that's pre y much it. It appears there are no roots in the desert… The start was a jumble of pent-up excitement. All A-riders and generally fast guys were chomping at the bit to get on the trail and twist it. Being held in the dry desert, all are not let loose at once. Riders were released in pairs about a minute apart to keep dust to a minimum. I thought it best to hang back, watch the show, and head out toward the back of the pack in order not to hold anyone up if I proved to be ridic- ulously slow. Since I was on a solo tour, I waited a bit and soon paired up with another rider who was also riding lone wolf. Out of the gate, we both ramped it up and soon found a comfortable groove in a canyon road leading into a long sand wash. This is where it got interes ng. Yes, I've ridden my fair share of sand over 55+ years of dirt riding, but this was something different. The sand was like moon dust and required lots of thro le, a rear- ward stance to keep the front end light, lots of con- centra on, and I had to forget about using the front brake whatsoever.