Wilsons Sandbox

Well, went to the first annual Enduraid 2000 upper midwest dual sport rally this weekend. It was pretty cool. It wasn't a really large, highly organized event, but fun nonetheless. Actually, three guys from Minnesota got together and decided to try and attract dual sport riders for a get together. Some internet advertisement was accomplished, but most of it seemed to happen through a flyer system that was used to send flyers to area bike shops. Like I said, there wasn't a lot of organization. But what there was a lot of, was riding and fun. I'd say that somewhere between 40 and 50 bikes and people showed up for this event. From what I heard, it sounded like we had a couple riders from South Dakota, and another pair from Thunder Bay. Saturday was a day of open riding and two semi organized group rides. After a morning of open riding through the areas multiple motorcycle/atv trails, fire roads, and gravel roads, it was time for the organized rides at about 12:30 PM. (After I helped dig out a stock Suzuki DRZ400 that was up to its tank scoops in the swamp) One group was to hold primarily to a street ride with some gravel roads thrown in. The second group would start out with a motorcyle/atv trail complete with damp sand, dry sand, small whoop-de-doo's, and several muddy water crossings (fairly deep in a few places). Boy do these stock tires stink. Although this trail was rather short (we had to wait for the street crew to catch up), it was fun and showed me the potential of the KLR. I saw several KLR's with decent tires just make a coffee break of this trail. I also saw the effect of poor tires on a brand new KTM. Suffice it to say, the KTM is not infallible. Once the road going crew caught up, we rode down a few gravel roads to a little play place where a few riders tested the water worthiness of their rides by playing in the available excess water pond. We continued to ride through the areas gravel roads (all forest) stopping at a very nice river bridge overlook of the Black Hills River. After that, we became road going machines and spent the next hour or so riding through the area's back country roads with an occasional atv trail thrown in. We stopped at a local motocross track so that the daring could take a few laps, but alas, there was to be a race the next day so no admittance to the track was allowed. After the motocross track we rode some more back roads back to the gathering area, where a cookout meal was planned for. All in all, the days organized ride lasted about 4 hours. Saturday evening there was a cookout of chili dogs, chips, soda's, and cake for desert. After dinner was complete, the organizer threw a little gift raffle. Items had been donated to this rally by Dennis Kirk, Aerostitch, and Torque Specialties of New Berlin Wisconsin. Items like handlebar grips, T-shirts, and chain lube were given away. Then a few "big" prizes were raffled off. One rider received a $50.00 gift certificate from Dennis Kirk, another received a $100.00 gift certificate, I believe from Riders Warehouse. The final runner up won an Ortleib Dry Bag. The final winner, and to me the grand prize winner, was lucky enough to win a pair of Aerostitch Tank Panniers. Not bad for a first time event, eh? Sunday was a day of travel for most of us. However, some die hards went riding Sunday morning and traveled later. Meanwhile some folks that didn't have that far to go, stayed even later. So, Sunday was an open, ride while you can, kind of day. Like I said initially, this wasn't a large, highly organized event. But it was a lot of fun. The cost for the weekend was the $12.00 access sticker (county has to get it's two cents) and two dollars for the cookout. Some people camped for a very reasonable fee, while I stayed in a local hotel for $41.01 for each night. The motorcycles in attendance came from many brands. We had 2 KTM's, several Honda's (Transalps and XR's), a couple Yamaha's, one Triumph, a passel of BMW's, a bunch of KLR's, and a group of Suzuki's DR's. The place the event was held (Black River Falls, Wisconsin) is a very beautiful place with a lot of riding opportunities. Our stay only touched the tip of the iceberg when it comes to area rides. I am sure that future rally's will allow for the miles of other riding opportunities. So, next year, if you get a chance, you may want to check this one out. Fun, is what this riding business is all about, for me anyway, and this weekend was fun. Could it have been better, maybe, maybe not. For the first time rally, I think it was a great success. Hope to see more of you next year. Jim Sherlock