Clayton 2006 is History

Morning mist rises of Clayton Lake

By now the dust has settled, the wounds are healing, the hunters are back in the woods, and the campground is eerily quiet. The 5th annual OK Dual Sport Clayton rally is now nothing more than a memory - a memory of dust-filled riding, campfire camraderie, and tire-shredding rocks.

What a turnout this year. More than 60 people feasted on the Saturday night BBQ, quite an increase from 40 last year. Bikes of all types were in attendance, although the venerable KLR and DRZ was most prevelant.


2006 saw a large increase in female riders

This year we saw a tripling in the number of female riders - I believe we had 9 over the entire weekend. That was quite exciting and something I really hope improves. Sunday morning I lead a "women oriented" ride that was much slower paced, without the pressure to go fast and furious. The gals had time to sightsee and talk, and even started practicing wheelies so they could show off to the guys. I plan to make this an annual tradition so we can encourage more women to ride with our group.


Friday morning saw temperatures in the mid-30's, but warmed up the remainder of the weekend

Friday morning was a bit chilly, with temperatures in the mid-30's but it warmed up quickly and the rest of the weekend offered perfect weather. On Friday we had 20 riders and over 50 riders on Saturday. Next year I plan to change things around and offer "self guided" rides so that riders can break into smaller groups and use GPS coordinates to explore the area on their own. This will help cut down on the dust and reduce the problems when dealing with large groups of riders.

Unfortunately I broke my wrist in a fall Saturday morning, but since I had promised to lead a "he man" ride on Saturday afternoon, I gritted my teeth and led the way - or at least pointed them down the correct trail while I bit my lip and followed in severe pain. The challenging riding was fun, even if it brought tears to my eyes a few times!


The video/pizza/bookstore in Clayton is a great Friday night destination

The best part of our Clayton ride is always the people I get to meet, both new and old friends. We all get to bench race around the fire or at the pizza/video rental/bookstore in downtown Clayton.


Bench racing around the campfire was a favorite pastime

For more pictures of our ride, click here, and for various ride reports, click here. Hope you are able to make it in 2007!