534 Mile Vegas to Reno Off Road Race Completed, thanks to firearms industry support!

I wanted to write a note of THANKS to Crossbreed Holsters and Laserlyte for their support of my team’s efforts at the 2010 Vegas to Reno Off Road race. I crossed the finish line after 24 hrs, 534 Miles, a few crashes and some electrical problems early this morning.

The Vegas to Reno Race is organized by Best in The Desert and is the longest off road race in the United States.

Here’s our story:

My team mate, John Kirkendoll, and I raced a Honda CRF-450X that was set up and supported through the race by Baja Bound Moto. Tim Morton is a world class racer and guide. He and I met at the Baja 1000 in 2009 and we hired him to support

us through this race.

Both John and I ran strong first legs and were significantly ahead of expected pace. In fact, it was possible that we could finish in daylight, given our average speed of about 38mph. Which was good, because we had a ghost electrical problem at the starting line that meant we couldn’t run headlights.

On his second leg of the morning, John put the bike down and broke the left radiator. It took awhile to get it fixed and by the time I got on the bike for my first leg, we were already mixed in with the 800 horse power trophy trucks and other 4 wheeled vehicles, which started 3 hours after us. Anyone who races in the desert will tell you that that changes everything. The track is different (torn up, rutted, deeper silt and dustier) and they will pass you with inches of clearance if you don’t figure out that they are behind you (while navigating the terrain at speed) and get out of the way quickly.

I dumped the bike hard on my first leg as well, no major damage to the bike, but it definitely affected my performance through the rest of the day. I likely owe being able to continue (and maybe walk) to the EVS Race Collar.  About two thirds of the way

through that 150 mile leg, I got into the toughest part of my race, in the middle of the desert afternoon. While fighting the sandy, rutted whoops, I was also being passed almost constantly by trucks, so I actually pulled over for about 20 minutes, rested, hydrated and then fought on to turn the bike back over to John.

At that point, after the  fighting to survive in traffic an having lost almost two hours to the radiator, we knew we had to fix the electrical problem. Tim Morton went to work dissecting and found the culprit: our regulator had randomly gone bad and needed to be replaced. More time lost in the pits, but we would have a headlight when we needed it. Tim Morton’s dedication and diligence (and knowledge and mechanical ability,

of course!) is what made it possible for us to complete this race. Tim has a 100% Finish record with teams he takes under his wing… his professionalism and “just get it done” attitude is why we are with him.

John got on the bike for his longest and hardest leg of the race and fought through some rough terrain and deep silt beds. By the time her turned the bike over to me for the final 80 miles it was after 3 am. The race cutoff time is about 24hrs and we had started at 6:35 on the Friday.

While the rutted section of my middle leg was the hardest on me, the steep rocky hills of the final leg and

the switchbacks winding down towards reno with steep drop-offs presented some significant physical and mental hurdles. It took about 3 hours to complete the last section, including one last Baja Pits fuel stop. I crossed the line and was met by John with the race Organizer to receive our Finisher’s Pins.

This was a big adventure and we plan to more with I.C.E. Motorsports. Again, it would not have been possible without support from our Industry Sponsors, Crossbreed Holsters and Laserlyte! There is a lot of crossover between the motor sports world and the shooting world and many racers and spectators took time to comment and ask about our sponsors. If you’re into motor sports yourself, we have a limited number of Team Support shirts available at the I.C.E. Online Store. If you’re on Facebook, check out our page and you’ll be able to see a lot more pics!

-RJP