In August of 2016, I was in Julian, California at the launch of the Yamaha SCR950 for RideApart. It was there that I met Spurgeon Dunbar from RevZilla. We kept in touch, and after the launch of the BMW RnineT Scrambler, we decided to try LA-Barstow-Vegas, the iconic dual sport ride. If you’ve been following this site for a while, you probably understand why I wanted to do the ride on something different.

Enter Ural Motorcycles. Frankly, I did not think Ural would say yes to my request, but kudos to them for being up to the challenge and letting us use one of their rigs in this demanding event. Even better, they offered up a limited edition Gear Up Sahara. It’s equipped with racks, lights, even a shovel – all the stuff you’d want on an adventure. Probably.



I’ve shared the story in several parts over the last few months, so here’s one place where you can catch it all. Hope you enjoy:

Part 1 – Preparation

Part 2 – Day 1

Part 3 – Day 2

Part 4 – The Return

But wait, there’s more! We also created a video for this trip – I hope you enjoy it!



Cover comic by Boggytown_USA, who drew it after he followed our trip on Instagram accounts. I ended up asking him to make another copy of it so I could throw it up on my wall:



And remember – if you want more ride reports, feel free to check out my Travel page!