Just three short weeks ago my friend Harold from Giant Loop Moto said to me “Hey, you should race the Desert-100! I promptly replied, “what’s the Desert-100?” Harold said to me with a straight face “it’s the largest race in the country and if you’ve never been there you owe it to yourself to attend!”

I went home that night and Googled the event and sure enough there it was in all its glory. After countless hours surfing the topic, YouTube video’s and other miscellaneous tidbits I decided to attend.

Titsy-Moto (AKA Jennifer Chesney) had no idea of such plans as she was busy earning a living somewhere off-site, I would have to break the news later that I had already signed up. The way I planned to sell it in was that we (Jenn, and our two schnauzers) could load up in the new Sprinter and camp in total seclusion for 4-days. I would also find a way to include her in the festivities.

It turns out that the Desert-100 has been going on for over 40-years! WHAT!! I’m a dyed-in-the-wool, hard-core off-roader and I’ve never heard of this event until 3 weeks ago? Anyway, they have this gig figured out. This is a full family affair, and if you don’t want to race the 100, you can participate in any number of other riding activities. It turns out the 100 is held on private land smack-dab in the middle of the desert near Odessa Washington. Participants can join in on several different Poker-Runs, a Dual-Sport tour or just ride the square (a six square mile off-road course) to their heart’s content.

Ok, Titsy Moto’s on board, now I just have to figure out how to get 3 bikes and all our gear to the venue. We need a trailer and we need one fast! Our initial thought was to go rent one so we went to the local Uhaul and looked at our options. This was a dead-end as the trailers didn’t have the proper tie-down mechanisms installed.

Finally, a few days before the race my friend Dale stepped up to the plate and let us use his EZ Hauler 6X10 enclosed trailer. But, there was still one small problem, I could only get two bikes in Dale’s trailer. With that, I called my friend Harold over at Giant Loop and asked him if he had room in his trailer for the KTM 1090? Harold was going to set up as a vendor for the event so I knew he may have some extra room and he did.

With all the stars aligned it was time to prep the bike, load the van and hit the road. Titsy-Moto and I worked for two days to ensure we had what we needed for 4 days on the road, camping off the grid and riding motorcycles for three of those four days.

We left bend on a Wednesday before the race and stayed in an ORV riding area just Northeast of the Tri-Citys in Southeastern Washington. The road back to the campsite was about five miles of dirt but fairly smooth. There was a big sand dune to the East and a large cattle feed-lot to the West. Guess which way the wind blew that night? PEEEEYOUUU!!

The information on the Stumpjumpers website (hosts for the event) was that riders couldn’t arrive on Thursday before noon or we would have to wait to enter the venue camping area. It worked out perfectly because when we awoke Thursday morning we only had a couple hour drive to Odessa. We found a nice little family cafe that had the best burgers and shakes in town–the only burgers and shakes in town!

After lunch, we headed West to the site of the 100 hoping to get a premium spot in the campground and we did. It was directly across from the beer tent and food carts. We set up camp and settled in for the duration.

Friday morning was the official beginning of the event and riders funneled in all day like ants on an ant-hill. To this day I have never seen so many campers, dirt-bikes, and riders of all ages in one location. It was truly a spectacle. Jenn and I went for a short 70-mile ride with a nice Canadian friend we met. His name is James Precious and he was there like I was to participate in the event for the first time. We became quick friends and are already looking forward to meeting up and riding again soon.

James Precious

We put a cap on the night early as old farts often do so we could get a good nights sleep and get ready for the dual sport ride/poker run in the morning. It turns out that I signed us up for the wrong poker run and Titsy-Moto would have had to navigate the BMW GS on the desert course with street tires so I paid a few extra bucks to ride the backroad course instead. The dual sport poker run was a total of 130-miles and included a stop at the local brewery for lunch. It turns out that the dual sport ride was still a challenge for Titsy Moto and her big GS thanks to a mile long section of muddy two-track that caused her to go down in a panic-rev and come up looking a bit like the whoop monster covered in sludge! She soldered on…

Back at the van we peeled off our muddy attire, put the bikes in the trailer and focused on some excellent grub Jenn had prepped before the launch of our trip. Ahhh the joys of camp food and a nice glass of wine after a ride, nothing better. Why is it that everything tastes better in camp? Time to hit the sack, we’ve got a race to run in the morning!

It’s 7:00 Sunday morning and I’m wide awake in anticipation of running my second desert race ever and my first desert 100.  We are supposed to be ready for the riders meeting at 8:30, on our bikes, and ready to race by 9. Last night I added the check-point stickers to my helmet and motorcycle, fixed my bib number to my chest protector and zip-tied the hangtag to the left side of my handlebar as instructed. I wouldn’t find out why until I actually started racing. They use these stickers and tags to verify riders hit all the checkpoints on the bike they started with.

It’s a funny thing how the mind can create adrenalin in anticipation of something. I remember as a kid driving to the races, I would get butterflies most of the way to the track but once I was on the starting line, engine revving wide open, they were gone. Why is that? At 58-years young it’s still exactly the same. I felt like a young kid again, all the excitement in anticipation of the start of the race was still there right where I left it!

8;35 am, time to go! I hop aboard the new 2019 KTM 300 TPI, thumb the starter button and hear that familiar 2-stroke symphony ringing in my ears, it’s singing my favorite tune. The smell of race-gas on a Sunday morning. My Church is in service!

I kiss Titsy-Moto, snick the smoker into first gear and roll patiently up to the riders meeting. Once there I can see a few hundred riders already in front of me lining the road leading to the exit where a pace-car is ready to take us to the starting line. Several minutes pass as we wait patiently for the riders meeting to start. Hundreds of riders continue to file out of the pits behind me in a sea of colors and sounds of 2 and 4-stroke harmony. The official word on the street is that there are over 1,200 riders for the race today.

With riders meeting now over the official word is to start your engines and follow (not pass) the pace-car to the starting line. Just then 1200 off-road motorcycles fire up in unison, what an absolute thrill, gave me goosebumps, and even now as I type these words.

If you have never witnessed the start of a desert race, there is nothing quite like it. We had three waves of starts. The first wave (and the largest group of about 700 riders) was the 100-mile class in all age groups. The second wave was the 50-mile classes (old-farts, girls and kids) and the last wave was the 100-mile team riders.

The officials line up the bikes in a field, side by side until all riders have a spot to start. The riders have to shut the bike off and stand about 10 yards behind and wait for the cannon to go off signaling the official start of the race. The rider then has to run as fast as he/she can to their bike, start it up and head down the start straight for about a mile until the course funnels down to about a 20ft wide section of the race course. They then have to navigate the course any way they can without going outside any pink ribbon course markers. 100-mile racers will make 2 complete 50-mile laps. The fastest riders can do the full 100 in under 4-hours.

My race was next, they pulled us forward where the first wave took off, had us shut off the bikes and walk back behind them for the start. This process took about 15-minutes. There was a young boy, maybe 10-12 years old standing next to me and I could tell he was really nervous about the start, I told him I was too but not to worry, we all were! Just then we looked to our right and saw the big cloud of pink smoke from the cannon go off signaling the start of our race.

I started running as fast as I could while trying to dodge other riders who somehow got on the wrong side of me (see video below) and are now crisscrossing in front of me. I reach my bike, throw up the kickstand, thumb the electric start and I’m off! Running gingerly not knowing what to expect, I try and carefully weave through the sagebrush without hitting someone or getting hit. The first several minutes are chaotic with bikes and riders jocking for position on several racing lines that developed from the first 700 riders.

Once we passed the pit area where all the spectators stood, we quickly rode into the backcountry and disappeared from view. For the first several minutes I was trying to stay calm with the notion that I was going to ride conservatively until I could figure things out. My plan was to stay smooth, consistent and out of harm’s way. After all, I wasn’t running foam inserts (called bib mousse) in my tires and a flat would definitely take me out of any thought of a top spot in the race. I was viewing my efforts this year as a learning curve and not to get too serious.

So much for that plan, I had my watch on and my odometer set to zero at the start so I could gauge my progress and at the halfway point realized that I was in the hunt for a podium based on last year’s winning times. “Shit, I could get on the podium if I can keep this pace so I dialed it up and was soon picking off riders one by one. This is fun! I had a grin under my helmet that was child-like. Then it happened, the rear tire flatted at mile 38 with 12-miles to go. All I could do was hope to finish. My goals had suddenly changed. I can’t come back without a shirt! (only finishers get a shirt) so I rode the rest of the way just praying that the tire would stay on the rim while trying to navigate the deep greasy whoops and lava rock that littered the course.

It seemed like an eternity before the campground and pits came into view and even then I had no idea where the finish line was? All I saw was bikes pitting for gas (100-mile riders) and no checkered flag in sight. Was that it, is the race over now? I’m idling along looking for some sort of clue when up ahead I can finally see a course marker and checkered flag with officials signaling 50-mile riders into the winner’s circle. It was finally over! Whew, what a relief, I couldn’t do another lap, no way in hell! My hands were raw with multiple blisters and I was cramping up. As I pulled through the finish line I saw the most beautiful site, Titsy Moto was waiting patiently as I made my way through timing and scoring. The official result, 2:37 minutes. Not bad for riding the last 12-miles on a flat tire at 10mph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hwiBVMLFms

The staff and volunteers from the Stumpjumpers Motorcycle Club are all first class and did an outstanding job of organizing this event. I can’t say enough to show my appreciation to those fine people. They had the course carefully marked, people on ATV’s with medical supplies and equipment in every corner of that 50-mile course, and sweep riders to make sure no one got left behind. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!

I would also like to thank Harold and Ryan from Giant Loop here in Bend for sherpaing my 1090 too and from the event, you guys are awesome! Special shout out to Dale Navish for the use of the trailer for which made this trip possible in the first place, thank you, Dale, I’ll buy you a frosty beverage soon. Last but certainly not least I want to thank my wife Titsy-Moto for all the love and support, you enhance my life in ways that can’t be measured here with words! Love you forever…

I will be back next year with bib mousse in my tires and a serious look on my face, that is until I start the race, then I will be all smiles 🙂

MM