3rd Annual Death Valley Bike Ride March 24-25, 1990 Igor and Suzanne Mamedalin with Ron and Leora Jones

After two successful road bike outings in Death Valley, we decided to sponsor a mountain bike adventure for our 3rd annual desert event. It's another way to enjoy and appreciate the vast desert expanses. Ron already owned a mountain bike while Igor and Suzanne exchanged mountain bikes for Christmas. Leora Jones was recruited to commandeer the 'Le Burro' sag wagon, the event was scheduled, and Saturday morning 20 eager bikers congregated at the junction of highway 190 and the Greenwater Valley road. Heading south about 10 miles on the Greenwater Valley road, past the Death Valley Monument boundary, we claimed a site in the middle of a wash as our campspot for the weekend. After unloading the mountain bikes most of the group headed northwest to Dante's View for the morning ride. Most of the way was paved with some elevation gain. This little ride separated the tigers from the desert tortoises with the leaders falling into the lame jack rabbit category. After taking in Dante's Views (!), it was a pleasant coast downhill for lunch at our campsite. Seeking shade in all imaginable places as the day warmed up we ate lunch and prepared to set out for our afternoon ride. Heading southwest, most of the group rode toward the site of Furnace Greenwater Ghost Town. Deceptively the road lured us uphill through soft gravel and sand. Suzanne and Igor ended up sweeping rather than leading while Ron and Leora headed further south to view some Indian petroglyphs and to meet the rest of the group. The 'site' of the ghost town is truly just a 'site' -- not much left to see. From there we headed southeast, downhill!, to the rendezvous with 'Le Burro'. Enroute, perspiration mixed with sunscreen lotion got into Suzanne's eyes effectively blinding her for a couple hours. This forced her to walk the bike along the desert roads until the wandering 'Le Burro' spotted her and evacuated her back to camp. Back at camp various treats were laid out around the campfire for the tired riders. With salt deposits encrusted on their faces, everyone gathered around the campfire to socialize and recount the days events. Fatigued, some retired early to bed and, thus, are unable to report as to what went on around the campfire late into the night. Sunday morning everyone packed up and some of us made an excursion to the petroglyph site that Ron and Leora saw the previous day. After regrouping, we headed north through Furnace Creek and on up to Daylight Pass where we left the cars and mounted our bikes for that day's ride through Titus Canyon. Tired from the previous day's ride, Suzanne decided to assist Leora with sag wagon chores for the day. From Daylight Pass we coasted east along the highway into Nevada before heading back to California up the Titus Canyon dirt road. The road being excellent for mountain bikes and most vehicles put us at the pass shortly after lunch. From the pass we dropped quickly down the canyon passing through the mining ruins of Leadfield and into the narrow high walled (and cool) part of the lower canyon. A few of the riders experienced flats and minor breakdowns as we bounced down the rocky road through the canyon. Upon reaching the mouth of the canyon, the drivers for the group were transported back to Daylight Pass to retrieve the vehicles for the rest of the group thus ending another successful bicycle outing in Death Valley. Look in the schedule for a continuation of this tradition. We apologize to everyone for our lack of 'true' leadership and thank everyone for thier hearty and enthusiastic participation in the weekend events. We are especially thankful to Leora Jones for driving the 'Le Burro' which made us all feel a bit more secure. The participants for this weekend were: Dean and Pat Acheson, Claire Beekman, Campy Camphausen, Ron Frankiewicz, Jon and Dan Inskeep, Bill and Gisela Kluwin, Jeff McAllister, Rod and Ned McDevitt, Steve Molina, Gerry Newton, Kathy Shapiro, and Rod Wylie.

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