![]() Friends and family of riders greeted the participants as they arrived, and we got to have our pictures taken with showgirls and Santa Claus. The finish line was in front of The Orleans Hotel & Casino, with quite a hero’s welcome waiting for the riders. I finally arrived in Las Vegas just before sunset. After that mess, there was the lunch stop past the halfway point to Las Vegas, with some very good food provided by the event organizers. I was lucky to have had no one following close by, as they definitely wouldn’t have seen me in there. The section had very silty sand, creating thick dust clouds with no wind to clear it. So, I bit the dust twice on the Rally on one road. Dunlop D606 tiresĭay Two was more difficult, and there was an unexpected deep crossing of the Mojave River. The Rally crawled over rocks with more ease, took turns with less slipping, and I felt that I was performing much better than the previous day. Beginning the second day on a cold Saturday morning, I rode through the desert with a newfound confidence given to me by the improved traction provided by the Dunlops. The Dunlop D606 tires greatly complement the CRF300L Rally’s off-road abilities. So, I had a pair of Dunlop D606 tires fitted to get something with more off-road capability while staying street legal. The stock adventure-type IRC Trails GP-21R and GP22R tires are adequate, but I could have used more bite in some situations. However, the CRF300L Rally needed a change if I wanted to improve its performance and keep up with the rest of the riders. ![]() My dad and I met some of the other riders, talked about the day, checked into our hotel, and prepared for the morrow. I arrived in Barstow at the final checkpoint of Day One at a decent time. By the end of the first day of riding, I was starting to get the slope of the desert. Taller riders will likely want to move the bars forward a bit. The Rally feels like it was made for my size, and I haven’t felt the need to make any adjustments. When you need some support when you’re going over difficult terrain, you have to be able to reach your feet down to the ground. The seat and suspension settle in with a rider aboard, which lowers the effective seat height. I stood 5-foot 6-inches in my boots, so the relatively low seat height (35.2 inches) on the CRF300L Rally is confidence-inspiring. I lack the years of experience most other riders have, and I’m shorter than most. Hill climbs and technical terrain are naturally the most challenging for me. I was rather amazed, and it almost felt like I was just on any other dirt bike I had ridden. I approached a few rocky hill climbs, and the Rally brought me to the top one after another. Honda styled this bike after its HRC CRF450 Rally that competes, and wins with Ricky Brabec aboard, in events such as the famed Dakar Rally. With the challenging terrain, I couldn’t focus on anything but trying to stay on the bike.Fortunately, the Honda CRF300L Rally chugged along at good speed and was in its element. I also had difficulty keeping track of my location on the roll chart, as I’ve never followed directions like that before. I hadn’t experienced deep sand until then, so I immediately struggled. ![]() ![]() As soon as we left the predictable pavement, it was almost all sand, rocks, or rocks mixed with sand. Reading and scrolling through the directions as I went on was going to take some time to get the hang of, though I wasn’t expecting it to be that difficult. As I don’t have my own GPS, my dad lent me an old roll chart box. All riders are supplied with either downloaded GPS track data, old-fashioned paper roll charts, or both. 2021 marked its 38th running, with the annual ride starting on the day after Thanksgiving.On November 26, about 450 diverse riders took off into the desert from Palmdale just after sunrise to tackle the first day. It’s a grueling two-day, rally-like off- and on-road ride through the Mojave Desert. It put the bike and me to the test, as LA-Barstow to Vegas was my first organized dual-sport ride. I was very impressed with the capabilities of the Rally on weekend excursions into the diverse terrain of Southern California. I prefer to ride off-road, as dirt bikes were my first encounter with the world of motorcycling. With my dad, Damon, riding the Beta 500 RR-S, Ultimate Motorcycling Editor Don Williams, who reviewed the 2021 Honda CRF300L Rally on its debut, assigned the bike to me for the ride.I didn’t complain, as the CRF300L Rally has built a reputation of being an easy machine to handle as it just tracks over almost any terrain. When Honda updated the CRF300L Rally for 2021, it seemed like the perfect bike for the iconic LA-Barstow to Vegas ride, part of the AMA National Dual Sport and Adventure Series.
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