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I've been an AMA member for quite a few years and have done LAB2V twice. My first time was 2011 on the GSA and I basically destroyed my rims (20 psi was too low obviously). I did it again in 2015 on the 990 and it was much more fun given I could actually ride better and had a more dirt-appropriate bike. I followed @motoguru and his buddy on small bikes and we finished quite early on day 1. Day 2 we split up but it was still a lot of fast fun tracks. Me in 2011. Such the Starbucks noob in my BMW whale foreskin suit and Schuberth C3 touring helmet! I think there were about 60 adventure bikes this most recent event and unfortunately I know of at least a few who had some unfortunate spills with injury like @William Howard and Evan Brown. I met the AMA D37 director, Kieth Huff, that year in 2011 as well and he's been trying with some degree of success to build a better ADV showing each year. He's asked for help putting together a route before and I did give it some consideration but I was concerned the BLM was just going to say "no" and force us down the same power line roads they always go; roads I'd never choose to ride on a weekend fun ride let alone an adv-appropriate trail. But this time Kieth says don't assume that's the case; that this event brings in quite a lot of fees to BLM and they've actually been very cooperative. He's confident they'll work with us and may even prefer the more road-friendly motorcycles on the more tame roads out there. End of first day So LAB2V has been historically quite the experience, for small bikes and especially for adv bikes. But that's also meant not many can ride it on an ADV bike without a considerable risk to injury or damaging their bike. Whoops and deep fluffy sand aren't really the type of terrain that's going to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for the average ADV rider. "But Eric, THAT'S THE DESERT!" many crusty old dirtbikers will say. "SACRILEGE!" they'll say at the idea of creating "some kind of Starbucks poser route!" Exactly!!! This really strikes at the core of what XLADV is all about from the beginning. Our motto is "size matters." It does! Bigger adv bikes are made for different purposes. They're made with stiffer rear subframes to carry gear, bigger tanks for longer range and more power and wind protection for long distance comfort on the highway. They don't handle the same way as a dirtbike and aren't designed for the same terrain/riding style. This is apples/oranges to compare big with small and somehow say "big bikes don't belong." Bent my paralever strut in to where it was rubbing on the tire. Found some ATV people camped with their RV who loaned me a pipe to bend it back out. This is nothing more than tribal bs akin to a "locals only" mentality that says unless you live and surf there regularly, don't bother trying to surf here. The fact is that our public lands are public and belong to no particular group. They are there for everyone's enjoyment. Except for quads and side-by-sides! Just so we agree on that! lol Last day I hit a rock early in the morning before Baker and couldn't find a tube so used Slime to no good result I think this is a great opportunity for the AMA D37 to expand further in to ADV. After all, it's the American MOTORCYCLE Association, not the American Dirtbike Association. I'm sure there will be much blowback and wailing as well as "Starbucks" jokes thrown out there but I'm actually counting on that! I'd love to leverage this in a number of ways. I'm sure we can get sponsors and volunteers to set up "Starbucks bistros" along the way for photo ops that are then leveraged on social media (Instagram, Facebook) for points. Prizes will be awarded the final night for those with the most points. I'm sure many sponsors will have an interest here and perhaps each coffee station could be sponsored/manned by a particular company who'd LOVE the opportunity to also display their wares under their EZ-UP. With over 100 riders posting snapshots of each coffee station (and sponsor) online I'm sure they'd be more than willing. You'd need a selfie of you holding a Starbucks cup with the sponsor's sign behind you. Managed to limp to the finish via highway from Baker stopping a few times to add air to the front wheel. I'm aiming for a truly tame course that the average rider on a GS could do with minimal "difficult" sections, no more than 10% of the total miles even. Like the stretch between Husky monument and Inscription Canyon can be sandy (depending on time of year) but not impossible. The route would be even a bit easier than the BDR-style Beyond Starbucks Gold route I came up with. That would be a good practice run for those wishing to get some practice in. I will be scouting routes with Mike Neagle who does the dual sport and hard routes for LAB2V in the next few months. He's out of town this weekend but I'm going to do some scouting myself this Sunday if anyone would care to join? Meet at 8:00 am at the Starbucks (of course) in Adelanto on Hwy 395.

Hey kids! Don’t forget to bring your shower tokens leftover from last year...

I did end up with a set of RallZ on the 990. About 2700 miles on them so far. Did about 1500 of that riding the TCAT. Ranged from sand to easy gravel to nasty loose gravel, to rock infested hills to pavement. All of the miles two up with full camping luggage I'm very happy with how they have performed. Excellent traction. Yeah, sand still sucks, but that's my lack of skill! On pavement, predictable lean in, zero traction issues even on wet pavement (though I don't push it on the wet stuff). I did discover they don't offer much traction on wet logs though! [emoji16] Longevity is a bit to early to predict, but I do think 5000 miles or more is reasonable on the rear. Front maybe not. It actually is seems to be wearing quicker than rear. I'll post some tread depth measurements once I get a chance to get them...a bit of objective data is always good. Compared to my prior favorite, the GT723, I'd say they perform as good maybe better off pavement, clearly better on. My biggest complaint? The front is one noisy tire at 65 plus mph. Really noisy....way more than GT723.

So there's a new adventure tire coming out from GoldenTyre that will replace their 723 series. Apparently it's mostly wider spacing of knobs but it will be from a different compound and harder carcass so more durable with better traction. I hear it will be here in Oct of this year (2019).