GARNETT Off-road motorcycles from around the region will head to Garnett in June when the Garnett Lions Club will host the Kansas Dual Sport Safari, featuring trails and back road motorcycle riders throughout Anderson and adjoining counties.
Organizers expect between 40-70 participants in the June 1-3 inaugural event.
Dual sport motorcycles are rugged bikes built to withstand trail riding, but still include headlights, taillights and turn signals to make them street legal. Riders have to be licensed and insured the same as any other road bike.
Sometimes referred to as Adventure Rides, dual sport rides gravitate toward trails and backroads, avoiding or minimizing exposure to pavement and highways. Their participants extol the virtues of seeing sights not typically seen from the standard thoroughfares and the rich Americana of some of the countrys smallest backwater towns. A mapped ride known as the Trans America Trail, which runs some 5,000 miles from starting points in North Carolina coastal areas and ends at locations in Oregon, attracts numerous riders every year who either do all or portions of the trail.
The TAT bisects the Arkansas Ozarks, Oklahoma and Colorado but doesnt traverse Kansas or Missouri, so riders in those states typically attend a variety of organized and rendezvous rides across their respective regions.
Garnett Lions president Dane Hicks said the local areas position as a transition point between different types of Kansas terrain makes this ride particularly attractive to dual sport riders from across the region.
You can drive west 15 miles and its basically the beginning of the Flint Hills, Hicks said. and east of here 15 or 20 miles it gets hilly and more like western Missouri. Were right at the overlap area where you can combine lots of different terrain in a single day ride.
The Safari rides will total between 140-200 miles and will be led by an experienced rider and will be graded to beginner, intermediate and advanced riders.
The event also features an evening Safari party at the Anderson County Fairgrounds with food and live music, to which the public is invited.
For more information on the Kansas Dual Sport Safari, see the Garnett Lions Club Facebook page or download the information sheet at www.garnett-ks.com/safari.pdf.
