Dual Sport Shake Up

Trollhaugen Fades, Sasquatch Reawakens

OK, what da ya want first - the good news or the bad news? Well –we don’t have any bad news – it’s all good news. Here goes.

The Trollhaugen Dualsport event as we know it is no longer. Due to a number of issues, the event will no longer be run.

For starters there are unresolved differences with the current facility management. The prior facility managers were a dream to work with, the new folks – not the case. Until things change in that regard we don’t foresee using the facility for an event.

Secondly, in case you haven’t looked at the Doppler radar lately it continues to snow heavily in the Cascades so June is getting on everyone’s nerves as a time to do the event. We’ve never had the chance to utilize Pyramid Pass because of the white stuff hanging around the late June date. We’re looking forward to running our event later in the year to take advantage of more pleasant weather and more open roads.

Thirdly, because of its location, Trollhaugen does not lend itself to having a wide variety of route choices. We like to mix it up every year, but we’ve probably hit the wall on keeping the routes different from year to year. We’re looking forward to expanding our multi-day dual sport event to include a broader range of routes that change every year.

Some of you recall back in 2006 when we ran the Sasquatch Dual Sport ride down the Olympic Peninsula. We never found the fuzzy beast although it’s rumored that David Hough was abducted the next winter near where he relieved himself on the road during the summer trek. (That’s just a rumor and no one can confirm it. Hough says he blacked out for several months and remembers nothing.)

So we’re going to take the name out of retirement and give it a new life. The plan calls for running the Sasquatch Dualsport every year with a different route through the Northwest and we won’t limit ourselves to Washington alone. There may be years when we venture over to Idaho or to Oregon. We’re leaving our options open.

For 2009, we’ve got a great route and a number of options. We know that many of you like Trollhaugen because it’s held over a weekend. But some of you have more time and would be happy to ride a few more days, so we’ve developed a four-day route that starts on Friday August 28 and runs from the Washington/Oregon border and arrives in Osoyoss Canada Monday afternoon August 31 (Happy Birthday Mom!). Those who can’t do the entire four days can meet the group Friday evening or Saturday morning near Packwood and overnight near Ellensburg together Saturday evening. Sunday everyone rides out to Lake Chelan where the weekenders depart and the long haulers awake Monday morning to finish the ride into Canada. We plan to have a support/cartage truck along to carry camping gear for those who choose to camp along the way.

Incidentally, the ride begins in Skamania County, the only county on record with a law forbidding anyone to kill a Sasquatch. Of course for this quest we encourage you to bring your camera!

That’s it in a nut shell. We’ll be working feverishly during April and May making arrangements and creating the Sasquatch 2009 Route Pack. Those who sign up for the event will get the route pack shipped to them immediately which will include daily descriptions, maps, turn-by-turn directions and lodging suggestions to book along the way. Can’t ride that weekend? The nice thing is once you have the book, you can ride the route on your own anytime or with a smaller group.