The infamous and sleepless Conga Line made a return to the test to provide a night shift for the many KTM entries. After he caught one test bike parked alongside a boxvan in the pits, Lewis quipped that the desert rats are like a bunch of girls going to the restroom: They won't go out alone. That cost a couple of the KTMs a few hours on the meter and ultimately some laps and mileage.
The Course
Once again, we selected the Hungry Valley SVRA to conduct the test, and staged out of the I-5MX track in the special events area. The track was prepped and open but was not part of the final 32-mile loop. Virtually all of the trails out of the special events area are fully maintained, fast and wide routes easily traversed with a quad, so the beginning and end of the loop was predictably fast and easy but very scenic, with a fair amount of elevation change. Once into the main valley of the park, much of which is designated as open riding area, we were able to use the terrain to suit bikes. When you look in every gully, crack and crevice for single-track trail, you'll find it. Most folks would expect that a 32-mile loop in an SVRA would take no longer than an hour, but we located enough tight and twisting trail to make the 16 miles in the open area take approximately an hour by itself, with most riders completing the entire loop in 1hour 45 minutes to 2 hours! The loop kept things interesting for heroes and provided a memorable if eye-opening experience for average riders.
An optional endurocross section was built in the pit area, consisting of K-rail, tractor tires and dirt. The section became optional after it became apparent some people weren't going to necessarily get over without risk of injury.
As an event, DR's 24-Hour is socially as strong as ever and intense enough to reassert itself as the standard in off-road testing. When this year's test results are published in the June issue, they should be interesting at the least and informative at the most. We're proving that bikes are a lot tougher than in the past and running 24 hours isn't really an issue anymore, even with ridiculously modified machines. But it is sure is fun to try and push them, even if it is us who gets the workout.
 This picture is evidence as...  This picture is evidence as to why narcoleptic people aren't allowed on dirt bikes. |  You would need one really...  You would need one really big Ratio-Rite to measure the midnight oil burned at this 24-hour! | 
Joel Albrecht |