1,200 Miles of Nevada Dirt

Johnny Campbell’s “thing for Honda” started at age nine when his dad brought home an XR75. For me, it was riding my neighbor’s XR100 at age 11 that triggered my obsession. Now that we have a legitimate ADV option from Honda, it’s making some of us grown-ups feel like kids again.

- Paul Guillien

There’s no better way to test a new ADV motorcycle than to load up the camping gear and challenge it with 1,200 miles of rugged Nevada landscape. Outfitted with Pirelli Scorpion Rally tires along with luggage and protection items from Touratech, we set out off road from Oatman, Arizona to Jarbidge, Nevada. The plan was to spend about eight days riding a pair of CRF1000L Africa Twins the length of the state.

Taming the Desert

Honda has a long history of taming desert terrain. No other manufacturer comes close to matching its 25 wins over four decades in the Baja 1000. Eleven of those wins came at the steady hands of Johnny Campbell, who happens to be riding his Africa Twin with me on this adventure.

Although it’s mid-October, the temperatures are in the triple digits as we cross the border from Arizona into Nevada. The terrain is loose with gravel and deep sand, and I feel the benefits of the rally tires over the dual-sport knobby tires I would normally run.

The wide selection of tires afforded by the 21/18 wheels on the AT is something I have come to appreciate early in this trip.

Unable to resist the allure of dunes, Johnny points to Nevada’s “Big Dunes” and I follow him into this moto-playground. Although these bikes are roughly double the weight of a modern 450cc dirt bike, the 94 hp thundering out of the parallel twin engines allow us to ride up and down the dunes to our hearts’ content. As the bikes and riders begin to exceed recommended operating temperatures, we return to the two-track road with shit-eating grins.

Never Trust Desert Mud