The 11th Annual, 2002 Black Dog AMA/Suzuki National Dualsport Ride – The Prepared Dog!

By Tom Niemela

(click on thumbnails for larger picture) Click here to read Oregon_DSR's Davey B's report on this ride too!

            This year may well have to go down as something you would see on a Taiwanese dinner menu: the “Prepared Dog”.  For some reason we had most everything done ahead of time for this year’s event, which just didn’t feel quite right.  As usual, we (NW Tour & Trail) had been working on the courses months prior, but the snow was still massively prevalent in the higher sections, so last-minute rerouting to lower altitudes was the plan.  We had plans for a completely new riding area in Estacada, but due to the extreme snow pack, we were relegated to using the Northern and Eastern sides of Mt. Hood again. 

            This year we again did a magazine/flyer, but went big time, thanks to the help of Beaverton Honda-Yamaha.  We mailed it to our large database, but also sent it out via the AMA’s database of 11,000!  It was a lot of work and we think we did a good job.  We hope it was something worth reading and hope to do it again.  BHY is still on the fence with it and needs to get positive feedback to let us do it again.  If you got a copy and liked it, please send an email to: DSSTeam@aol.com   If you did not receive a copy, email a request for one to Roger Ansel (AMA) at: ransel@ama-cycle.org  or call (614) 856-1900 ext. 1245.

            Like previous years, Randy, Dan and I took an entire week off laying out the courses, basically working and playing hard the whole week.  This year we also had some help from Walt Koch, Jim Dukes and a new face, Milo Juenemann, who is now enlightened to dualsporting.  Problem is that with all this working/playing, ‘some’ people (Dan) really know how to snore (Dan) at night (Dan). Earplugs can’t compete with Danno, so yet another new nickname for Dan will be ‘Chainsaw’.

            Again the Black Dog was staged out of the premier campground facilities of the Mt. Hood Village in Zig Zag, Oregon.  The usual route options were available to the riders of AA, A, B or C courses (‘AA’ being the most difficult and ‘C’ being extremely easy). 

            Friday evening had the night ride going out around 7:30pm after a short rider’s meeting around the big rig of NOHVCC. They had again showed up with driver Joe Vance and director Russ Ehnes and were a wealth of help. This night ride was a very simple, but fun, trip up Still Creek Road to the summit of Multipor Ski Bowl for a Kodak Moment from Tyler and crew of Maddox Photography.  Then the course came back down to the lodge, where some eats and drinks were available for purchase.  Usually I’m stuck at camp during the event, so that I can coordinate in case of any emergencies, but this year I broke the mold and went up to the lodge with Walt and Randy.  I figured it would be an easy putsy to the summit, so only wore shorts, a t-shirt and tennies (nice riding gear, eh?).  Randy and I poked our way to the summit on our XR650s.  Once we reached the summit, I was in awe of two things: (1)the panoramic view of the valley and the majestic Mt. Hood looming in the distance and (2)the swarms of starving mosquitoes that came immediately to me when they noticed bare skin.  When I got to the summit I was wondering why Tyler and his friend, Nathaniel, where swishing small fur boughs back and forth.  That’s about the time the mosquito party noticed me and the swarm enveloped me.  I think I lost about two quarts of type O positive.  After about 10 minutes of feeble attempts at evading the buzzing masses, Randy and I did an about face and headed down the summit to the lodge.  Then a small party ensued.  Soon there were 30, 40 or 50 bikes and everyone was milling around, telling BIG stories and lies.  I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many stories of so many fast people!  Then it was time to head back to the campground and everyone was in a party mode.  Dualsporters are great people and like to have a good time.

            Saturday morning came bright and early as the signup crew started stirring around 5:30am to get the line started at 6am.  Coffee was brewing and donuts were available for the 160+ riders.  It seems like we’ve always spent so much time on the routes that we save the signup process till the last minute and it always seems to go slow.  This year Gunny Claypoole did his usual ‘take charge’ mode and asked his lovely wifey, Laura and her friends, to take over – and did she!  Signup went extremely smooth and timely right up to the 7am rider’s meeting.  After a few words about the course, the first riders started trickling out at 7:30am after tossing a few horse shoes for the start check.  The Saturday course is generally the longer, tougher course and this day’s longest section was around 164 miles.  All the riders started on single-lane pavement to the summit of Lolo Pass, which is where the courses separated. The usual gravel couldn’t be used due to logging, but the ‘A’ riders descended down the infamous Daisy Trail and made their way across the classic creek crossing.  Many, many people have let the fire go out in their engine, and/or went for a swim, over the years here.  Of course there are also many people that won’t admit it!

            From there the ‘B/C’ riders had an easy ride through some old 2-track and everyone came through the first photo spot that Maddox Photography folks were waiting to surprise the riders.  Then everyone joined on the same course again and rode up the Wahtum Lake section and descended down a scenic/rocky ridgeline and came to the first checkpoint, where Joe and Julie Barrell had a game for the riders to acquire points.  Local trail master ‘Rocket’ Rick Higgins was also there for awhile and then ventured onto the course as a mid-event ‘A’ sweep rider.  Then the courses split again: ‘B/C’ riders taking a dirt road into an extremely fun aqueduct road section.  Only heard of one rider taking a bath in this section (initials K.B.), but I cannot say who it was.  She has officially named that section the “I-Hate-You-Tom” Trail!  The ‘A’ riders took their respective route after the checkpoint into “Rick’s Rockin’ Railway” trail section.  Nothing but fun single track trail here, and there was about 10 miles of it.  There was one particular uphill section that bottlenecked, and even our sweep crew dropped a few buckets of sweat getting up it.  Rumors of carnage ran rampant later about KLRs and many other flavors of bikes rolling back down the hill in the frenzy.  We try to give the ‘A’ riders something to swear at us by, and this was only the first section!

            The riders then came to the first gas option, then worked their way to the town of Mt. Hood for a great lunch at the Mt. Hood Store, a checkpoint and another gas option.  Along the way was an ‘AA’ section that, didn’t appear initially as that tough, but part way through it was a nosebleed drop off that had the riders sucking up all the vinyl from their seat.  By the time everyone hit the lunch stop, they were really starting to get pooped.  Here they had the option of taking the route back to the finish or a final challenging ‘B’ section first, or a final, lengthy ‘A’ section called ‘The Kitchen Sink Trail’.  This ‘A’ section was just over 11 miles of bodacious single track, with an attitude.  Those experienced riders that had energy rode it and loved it.  Those that thought they could and were short of energy, beat themselves to a pulp, but loved it afterwards.  And yes, Martha, there was a kitchen sink on the trail.  The ‘B’ course went backwards from the usual route across the panoramic Bald Butte and both courses met again at the top of the “Stairway To Heaven” section, but since the route was going backwards of times past, it was dubbed this year appropriately the “Stairway To Hell” section. 

            For the ride home from all this, it was mostly single-lane pavement, due to the snow issue, but you won’t find any pavement more beautiful.  At the finish the riders were presented with more chances of points with a slow test, which provided entertainment for everyone.  That evening there were plenty of tired bodies roaming around the campground and at the Saturday-only riders awards.  Northwest Tour & Trail provided plenty of pizzas and sodas/water for everyone to fill up on.  In typical fashion, David Van Riper kept me and others lubricated with margaritas in the warm sun.  Once again Ilse & Jerry Schoffstoll provided their incredibly soothing massage services for many tired bodies at the end of the day.  After dark it was quieter than normal walking around the campground, other than the log cutting that was prevalent in each camp space.

            Sunday again came bright and early at 5:30am and 120+ weary riders again signed up for the final day.  Again they trickled out around 7:30am and made their way up Still Creek Road to the epic Trillium Lake for the first photo opportunity by Maddox Photography.  Now THIS was the Kodak Moment!  After that the riders all made a little out-and-back South of Trillium Lake on a fun section, then made their way up Highway 26 to the first gas option and continued by Frog Lake, bouncing around on some fun, rolling 2-track, culminating to Allison’s Tunnel Of Love.  Even the lone sidecar entry, Vernon Wade, made it through this point for a quick photo opp!  A note about Vern: his Triumph sidecar rig is very cool and goes just about anywhere with the only limiting factor being width. 

            From here the ‘B’ riders went on a little fun romp on an old skid road, venturing their way through the trees and to the first checkpoint.  The ‘A’ riders went through the tunnel and then were routed to ‘The Wet Spot Trail’.  Yet another opportunity to make the ‘A’ riders sweat and work for their efforts, but what a cool trail!  Yes, there was one wet spot. 

            After the first checkpoint for an option for points, the ‘B’ riders had a short, wide trail section before combining with the ‘C’ riders and meeting at the McCubbin’s Gulch OHV Area.  The ‘A’ riders had about seven miles of McCubbins to beat them to a pulp, which they then also ended up on the other side of McCubbin’s Gulch.  From then on everyone was on the same course and almost immediately descended to a place we call ‘The Devil’s Mile”.  Why the Devil’s Mile you ask?  Because the ‘A’ roll chart mileage at the start of this section had the exact mileage of 6.66!  Yikes!  It really is a simple 2-track road topped with rock that is only crushed to about three or four inches wide, therefore making it loose to ride over.  Everyone hates this section, but it is the only non-pavement option to Pine Grove. 

            Then the riders were dropped down into and across the ethereal White River crossing (don’t want to miss the turns here!) and made their way to a tasty barbeque lunch, Ron Rice and Ken Murphy’s checkpoint and gas stop in Wamic at the Sportsmans Grill. 

            After lunch everyone paralleled another aqueduct again and then rode the historic Barlow Road (the final stage of the original Oregon Trail) back to Mt. Hood and back down Still Creek Road to the finish.  For the first time, The Barlow Road was ridden backwards for the full length.  Every year I think the riders must tire of the same road, but every year they request it again.  It really is a gas, plus the history along the way makes it an epic journey.  Riding it backwards was a whole new experience.

            At the finish the riders were again challenged with a slow race, and an obstacle course.  For another 200 points they could write a letter to the district forest ranger about how much they enjoy dualsporting in the Mt. Hood National Forest.  This is one way to get riders to actually write letters!  After the event the letters will be presented to the district rangers to support and promote our sport.  After a cold soda and a chance to get cleaned up, the riders started milling around for the awards presentation.  A cool spot in the shade was a welcome sight to most.  Sherry Kaczka and crew were busy adding up the points and her daughter; Casandra was busy helping me record times on the slow test. The Sunday-only awards were presented by trophy queen, Casandra and then the big two-day awards were presented, such as first through tenth places (Ed Grant got first!), plus long-distance trophy won by Mike Barnes from Kentucky, youngest-rider was won by Mike Medick’s boy, Ryan Medick, Oldest Rider at 76 was Cal Bottom from Reno, NV, etc.  Then a random two-day entry name was pulled out of a helmet for the $300 prize, and dah winnah was: Brenda Miller – and this was her first ever dualsport event!  Ilse & Jerry Schoffstoll again were busy providing their incredibly soothing massage services for many tired bodies at the end of the day.  So busy in fact, that next year they may need more help! Gunny Claypoole again promoted his Team USA ISDE t-shirt program (very cool shirts!). 

            John Knepp, a former vintage bike trophy winner and riding a 1982 Honda XL500, said, “Another great Black Dog event.  My 8th year running the Dawg and they were all fun.  I didn't break my body or the bike, so another successful year.  Always lots of good people, great scenery and fun trails. I had my own ‘shark’ water gun for the event and the shark attacked many riders during the weekend.  Because of the heat, nobody seemed to mind very much.  The Tyler Maddox photos were great again this year and I purchased all three. Thanks for another great event to you and your crew.”
            Dan Burkett commented, “I was riding a [new to me] '99 KTM LC4. This would be the first time I really tried to ride a bit aggressively as previous rides included the wife and fairly low speeds. My riding buddy Loren Terrill and I set out to ride the Friday night ride and arrived about 8 PM to discover Gunny and Julie telling us to hurry as we registered. We thought night meant after dark. Wrong. We got out of the village just in time. I'm afraid that we ended up doing Still Creek Road a bit fast, but we made it to Ski Bowl with enough time left that Walt let us go on up to the top. Nice view!  Everything went smoothly Friday so I was amped for Saturday’s ride. We arrived a bit earlier and got registered and left the village early in the pack. Loren and I had not ridden at all yet this season, except the night ride, so we were cautious about our stamina. We made the first A loop and as we panted together at the first check point we opted for the B course. Well, long story short I tipped over at least five times, three of which I ended up upside down stuck in the brush or under the bike. Thanks Loren.  In my own defense I must say that the KTM is a tall bike and I only have a 28" inseam. Other highlights for me was getting across the big creek crossing without last years U571 experience. Getting through the Devils Mile unscathed and getting to know the new bike. After we finished, Loren discovered an oil leak that looked like a countershaft seal. He mentioned it to one of the Beaverton Honda guys and they told him to bring it over. Their mechanic checked it out and found not only was the seal leaking, but that the bushings were shot on the dog bone of his rear suspension. I always wondered why the back of that bike flogged all over the trail.  It was very difficult to get out of bed Sunday, everything hurt. I was still excited because I knew the Barlow Road was on the course for Sunday and we would be eating at the Sportsman's Cafe in Wamic. Loren put a quart of oil in his fender bag and we were ready to go. We had an excellent rip Sunday.  We rode the A course and I didn't tip over. I ended this year’s Black Dog experience with a little bruised pride, some scratched plastic and a seventh-place trophy. Woohoo!”

            Kim Butt said, “What I like about the Black Dog, and dualsporting in general, is the great variety of people who enter the event and camaraderie between riders.  Even though I was unable to keep up with [hubby] David, even on the C course, I was able to hook up with a riding partner who also rides at my pace, and now I have new friends in Eric [Schneider] and his wife Elizabeth.  Never has anyone ridden so slowly or muttered so much under her breath on the "I hate you, Tom" section.  I also spent a few minutes in the aqueduct, a cool and refreshing dip, the reminders of which should fade in a couple days.  I was very happy to take second for the Saturday only riders; however, I am still curious about the evil snicker from you, Tom, just before announcing my name.  The Black Dog offered the riders challenges and spectacular views of Mt. Hood.  I encourage all dualsporters to enter the next one.”
            Kim’s other half, Dave, said, “You folks rock! Once again you put on an excellent event, full of great trails. From easy scenic two track, to challenging, yet fun, single track, and all this in the shadow of the majestic Mt Hood. Great stuff!  I know a few of the dawgs, had to make a quick visit to the vet for some paw licking, but nearly all of us had happy, wagging tails, showing our appreciation for what you do for us, and dualsporting. Us dawgs are renown for being man’s best friends, and you are the man.  Many thanks to you, BHY, Maddox Photos, NWT&T, and everyone else that helped in putting on The 2002 Black Dog.”

            “As usual you and your crew did a great job running the Dawg!” said Jeff Nicholson.  “I think that I'll have to buy a trials bike and practice my slow riding skills.  The roll chart was perfect, the weather was perfect, and yes, the sign up was much improved!  No complaints here. See you at the Rat Dog!”

            Riding a 1967 Hodaka Ace90, Jim “Biscuit” Klaas said, “I had a great time, even if I didn't finish. I should have known better than listening to Vern [Wade]. I mean what kind of a nut takes a sidecar on a dualsport ride. It is pretty clear that a 90cc bike can't take my fat *&^&() at full throttle up a big hill in 100 degrees. My advice: don’t trust Vern!”  Unfortunately, Biscuit only got about halfway through the Saturday course before he ‘holed’ the piston in his pristine Hodaka.  By the way, ‘Biscuit’ gets the name because he and his wife make and sell organic dog cookies at the local harvest fest in Hood River.

            Riding the most awesome ‘Red Menace’ Triumph sidecar (with Amy Wheeler as sidecar monkey), Vernon Wade commented, “Monkey Girl and I had a blast. I can't understand why I couldn't get any of my sidecar buddies to join me. The two-tracks you sent us on where perfect for a dualsport hack. The scenery was great, the roads were challenging and the company was excellent! We particularly liked the photographer at the far end of the mud holes. I was so busted when that photo was printed! Amy was completely submerged and you could clearly tell by my expression that I thought it was the funniest thing I had seen all day.  The snowmobile trail leading to ‘Allison's Tunnel of Love’ was pretty cool, too. I looked over at the sidecar and saw Amy giggling inside her helmet as we rollercoasted through the brush.  Thanks again for another excellent rally!”
            With three broken toes, Bryan Townsend lamented, “Basically I was working my way through some of the downed timber just before the pavement and the second check point on Sunday, and I must have come too close to a rock, as it smashed my foot while it was on the peg. I'm not really sure how it happened, but obviously I came closer to the rock than I ought to have.  There's nothing else to chock this up to other than ‘user error’. The fact that the majority of the people had a great time and no serious injuries is a testament to the quality and safety of your events. Motorcycling can be a dangerous hobby, and as long as the grins outweigh the grimaces, I'll still be doing it till the legs won't swing over the bike anymore.  I'll recover fine and hope that I can ride as early as the weekend after this one. Maybe sooner with a stiff pair of boots. Mostly just bad bruising as I don't think the toes are going to change too much, my foot is pretty much black right now. I'm getting around and all's well that ends well.” Heal fast, Bryan!

            Jason Mosiman said, “I have been riding dirt bikes for 25 years and street bikes for the last 10.  The ‘02 Black Dog was only my third dualsport event, but in those two days I saw more scenery and rode more trails than I ever have before in a 2-day period.  When I started dualsporting this year, I was afraid it would be a boring experience - too much road and no challenging trails.  Attending the Black Dog has changed my mind about that, what a perfect course, incredible trails linked up and scenery like I've never seen.  Thanks a lot, see you at the Rat Dog in September.”

            “I had something very strange happen on Sunday,” said Mike Hanson. “I had stopped at Sunday’s check point two and was waiting for my turn at the badminton bounce, when I noticed some people walking down the road. Looking closer I noticed someone that I hadn't seen in over three years.  They were camping in the area for the weekend. We talked for about 30 minutes and then I set out again with a smile on my face.  What are the odds? Thanks!”

            Never at a loss for words, Doug “Cyborg” Bragg had plenty of comments.  Doug gets his nickname due to the helmet camera he attaches to his helmet. “The 2002 Black Dog event was everything we expected, and then some.  Jon Bridges and myself drove down (from Omak, WA) together in his truck and took my trailer and rode together both days of the event.  We kept in contact with each other while riding by using our helmet mounted radios.  For anyone that has ever thought about the various helmet radios, I highly recommend investing in them.  They are a great way to warn each other about upcoming hazards in the trail, or to tell your buddy he/she just missed the last turn.  I can't imagine riding without them.  We have been using them since 1995.  We decided to do the first A course option on Saturday's ride and do B course the rest of the day, so we didn't wear ourselves out so much that we'd be tired/exhausted on Sunday's ride.  At each checkpoint we scored very close to each other in the amount of points we got.  By the end of Sunday's ride, we were only five points apart, but didn't score high enough to earn a trophy.

“On Sunday's ride we chose to do some of the A course options.  We geared up and departed by about 8 a.m.  I decided to run my helmet cam on Sunday's ride and record the event.  Unfortunately I missed recording about the first 35 miles of the course because I forgot how to run the helmet cam since I hadn't used it in a while. We always look forward to riding through Allison's Tunnel of Love and this year was no exception.  By the time we reached this point in the course, we had grouped up with some riding friends from the Lake Wenatchee area of Washington state.  We followed them and rode the Wet Spot Trail.  After missing several turns on the trail, we were finally back on course and thoroughly enjoying the ride.  We arrived at the next checkpoint and Jon and I decided to ride a C course option in order to bypass a section of road called Devil's Mile.  This section used to be a fun dirt road, but in 1998 the landowner dumped a bunch of sharp, jagged lava rock on the road to prevent it from turning into a mud bog during the winter.  Most of the rock is about softball size and larger, which makes for a very difficult ride.  The rock has been affectionately called ‘Oregon Gravel’ by numerous riders who are familiar with the volcanic activity of the Cascade Range and the large amount of rock in the area.  Over the years, this rock section has claimed a few broken bike parts and several stiff riders as a result of them crashing.  There is a very fine line between riding slow enough to keep control of the bike, but fast enough to keep up enough momentum to carry you over the rocks that always seem to move into your path just as the riders approach them.  I've heard stories of a few expert riders blasting through this section in fourth gear!  Jon and I had no desire to risk broken bike parts or injury, so we were glad to see that an option existed to bypass this section.  We took a short pavement scratch through Pine Grove and crossed the White River and thoroughly enjoyed the views of the river valley.  As we were descending into the valley below, we saw a note on the roll chart that said "CAUTION, SHARP TURN AHEAD!"  We slowed as we approached the turn and saw that one rider was obviously not reading the roll chart and came into the turn way too fast.  There was a very long skid mark that went across the road and came very close to edge of the road, where there was a sharp drop off into the canyon below.  We continued on to the lunch stop and checkpoint and were greeted with a big, juicy cheeseburger and cold soda.  After the visit to the local gas station we continued on to our favorite section of the course, the Barlow Road, which is a section of the old wagon road (Oregon Trail) used by the pioneers who traveled west.  I stopped briefly to make sure the helmet cam had plenty of tape and that it was still working correctly.  Jon and I rode a moderate pace on the eastern half of the road because it was very dusty and had plenty of rocks to avoid.  As we traveled further west, the dust lightened up and there were less rocks in the trail, so we picked up our pace.  We always look forward to the Barlow Road and consider it the highlight of Sunday's course.  At the top of the pass, we decided to take the highway back down to the finish point instead of riding Still Creek Road.  This seems to be our usual option for Sunday's course, since by that time, we have only two things on our mind - getting back to camp as soon as possible and hitting the showers after a long hot dusty day of riding.  After the awards presentation, a group gathered around to watch the helmet cam footage of the day.  As always, there were plenty of laughs as we watched the video.  We always find a few sections of the ride where we had to rewind the tape and watch it over to see how close I actually came to hitting a tree as I came into a corner a bit too fast.  A huge round of applause goes out to Tom and his crew for another awesome Black Dog event.”     

My old college buddy and ace rider, Larry Lake, said, “This years Dawg was SWEEET!  You need to have a confirmation ribbon clothespinned to the bill of your hat because you are definitely going the right way.  The funniest thing that happened this year happened to be the Hood River trailmeister, Rick Higgins.  Saturday, everywhere we went he was already there. We would ride a cool trail section and he would be standing at the end of it. Not once, not twice, but damn near every time.  It was starting to get a little creepy.  The best part however happened as always just to the right and down a little bit from the middle of nowhere.  I'm blasting along smelling the flowers and petting the cute furry squirrels when HARK - my foot starts getting wet.  Due to years of extensive training I identified the substance as premium Texaco distillate at $1.69 per gallon. Immediately I locate a shady spot in which to perform the inquiry as to the displacement of my XRL's food supply.  Me and my cousin, Mike, are totally alone and haven't seen another soul for some time, however instantly after dismounting, there is this voice really close to me 'Got a problem?' Now I have gas in one boot and pee in the other. Yep, it’s Rick without his motorcycle materializing from behind my shade tree.  Spooky! This is starting to qualify as an alien encounter.  And yes, that was straight water in my Camelback.  The source of my detainment was an unattached fuel petcock at the tank.  Rick watched as I performed trailside surgery and, upon my completion, he walked off into the brush, presumably back to the spaceship.  I finished the day with gas still dripping slowly down my leg.  I corrected the problem properly Saturday night with a trip to Ace Hardware (the place with the helpful hardware man), where I obtained the proper faucet washer with which to bandage my faithful steed.  I then began to administer a series of therapeutic barley pops to calm my nerves and ease the shock of the alien encounter.  I'm sure the people from the National Enquirer are on their way right now.  Awesome ride!”

            Interesting items about this year’s event was that there were a number of injuries.  Weird.  My bud from Montana, Russ Ehnes (NOHVCC) broke his foot on Saturday, Bryan Townsend broke three toes on Sunday and elected to drive himself to the hospital (ironman!), along with more injuries to others like dislocated shoulders, fingers and thumbs, plus various scrapes and bruises.  Walt slipped and augured exiting his camper.  Ouch!  There were sweep-crew stories of interesting radiator repairs on the trail, a skid mark that went right to the berm EDGE on the first-turn cliff of the White River crossing (scary!), multiple skid marks going off the pavement on road #16 into the ditch, and another skid mark went off another turn and tagged a fence post (ouch!).  This year Gunny and crew thought twice and didn’t order a monster-sized milkshake at lunch, so they didn’t feel sick this year.  It was also witnessed by ‘B’ sweep team of Jim Dukes and Ron Saunders that Gunny Claypoole and Mike Ellis decided to not go through the big creek crossing.  Wimped out.  Don Week’s 1983 Honda XL600 hit the 62,000-mile mark during this year’s Dawg, wow!  I understand there were a few ‘custom’ temporary signs on the course, but I haven’t a clue what they said. One can only wonder. Brian Alberts brought down 20 ‘custom’ t-shirts for the crew that rocked!  Very cool design and we may have to use it for next years!  Unfortunately, Brians bike lost compression during the ride and didn’t finish.  Two dads rode their boys on the back for the entire two days: Mike and Ryan Medick, plus John and Kevin Kaczka. Ken Murphy was able to salvage Lee Riddle’s ride by finally finding the culprit for Lee’s bad running XRL; a bad air filter.  Sunday evening, after most everyone left, we had an impromptu helmet-cam party, where pizzas were aplenty, Van Riper kept the margaritas flowing, Frank had the accommodations and Doug Bragg/Jon Bridges displayed the videos.  What a ball!

            There is of course many people to thank and the event WOULD NOT happen without their support (especially the upper echelon of help they provide!): Randy Beadle, Dan Hatcher, Jim Dukes, Rick Higgins, Joe Lawry, Walt Koch, Frank Noe, Gunny & Laura Claypoole (and friends), Joe & Julie Barrell, Ron Rice/Affordable Trophies, Milo Juenemann, Ron Saunders, Mike Ellis, Ken Murphy, Ilse & Jerry Schoffstoll, Sherry & Casandra Kaczka, Jerry Lenz/Beaverton Honda-Yamaha, Clarke Plastics, Steahly Off-Road, OMRA, USFS, Tyler Maddox (www.maddoxphoto.com), and Russ Ehnes and Joe Vance of NOHVCC.

            Please visit our website at: www.blackdogdualsport.com for updates on next year’s events and information on the upcoming Rat Dog Dualsport Ride on September 21, 2002 in the old Trask ISDE area!  Hope to see you there!

 

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Jul 13 2002
2:39:10 pm
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Jul 13 2002
2:56:29 pm
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Jul 13 2002
3:35:33 pm
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Jul 13 2002
4:18:43 pm
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Jul 13 2002
5:50:48 pm
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Jul 14 2002
12:45:35 pm
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Jul 14 2002
12:46:23 pm
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Jul 14 2002
12:46:34 pm
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Jul 14 2002
12:47:06 pm
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Jul 14 2002
2:14:35 pm
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Jul 14 2002
2:59:48 pm
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IMG_1381.JPG
Jul 14 2002
6:30:52 pm