Hello, my name is Kristi Lane and I live in Texas. I was asked to write an article of why I enjoy dual sport riding and in particular the Ozark Fall Color Tour that is held in Clarksville, Arkansas annually the first weekend in November. At first, I was hesitant to write. After I thought about it, I knew I had to do it. There are so many things that I enjoy about dual sport riding, but mainly it’s the times spent with my family in the great outdoors.

I actually started riding dirt bikes, a Suzuki 90, about 11 years ago with the help of my husband Dean. I practiced at the Cross Country races that my husband was very involved in. I then started racing the Cross Country circuit on a Kawasaki 200. In 1995, my husband surprised me with a new KTM 125. I was still racing the cross country circuit and having a lot of fun. In 1996, we ventured over to see what motocross was all about. The first time I rode a motocross track I didn’t care for it at all. I then tried it again a few years later, after taking off a while having two wonderful boys, Zachary and Cameron, it was incredible!

Dual sport riding came about for us in the summer of 2002 when we borrowed two KTM 640’s. My husband, our two boys and I took a vacation to Colorado. We totally fell in love with being able to ride on the road and if we wanted to venture off on the trails we just went. Dual sport riding has brought a whole new outlook on motorcycle riding for the whole family. After coming back from Colorado, we went down to Cycle Town South (my husband’s sponsor at the time) and bought two (he couldn’t have one unless I got one) KTM 640’s. Needless to say it’s an annual trip to Colorado now. We are anxious now for our boys to get old enough so we can get them on dual sport bikes of their own.


After the purchase of our KTM dual sport bikes, Curtis White from Cycle Town South told us of a really cool dual sport ride in Clarksville, Arkansas, The Ozarks Fall Color Tour. I got on-line and looked up this dual sport ride that RL Lemke puts on each year, the first weekend in November. My husband and I decided to register for the ride. It sounded like something that we would really enjoy.

We arrived at the hotel in Clarksville Friday afternoon. The ride takes place Saturday and Sunday. We met RL Lemke at the hotel (base point), checked in, and got the GPS waypoints and maps. We looked everything over and got the maps loaded into the roll chart. We woke up Saturday morning and it was drizzling outside and very cold, not a good way to start off. We took off on our KTM 640’s from the hotel and were on the way to a very cold, but awesome ride. I really didn’t know what to expect. There was quite a bit of road at first, then we hit the dirt roads, which were extremely fun. Then we hit the single-track trails. The only thing bad thing is that I couldn’t feel the handlebars and I was soaked from the rain and did I mention it was 36 degrees? We only went a few miles on the single track when a guy in our group broke his leg going over a huge tree that blocked the trail. After our group took turns carrying him on a backboard to the ambulance (two hours later), we went back to the hotel and got ready for the banquet that night. We then left early the next morning to head home. We didn’t stay for the Sunday ride, we were still frozen from Saturday’s ride. On the way home we were already talking about next years ride (2003) and how fun it should be, especially if Mother Nature cooperates.

It’s time, the 2003 ride is here, already. We’ve been looking at the weather for the last week and it looks to be perfect. I think Mother Nature is going to cooperate. We checked in Friday with Ron and got everything ready so we could get up first thing Saturday and hit the trails. Saturday – The weather was awesome, it was going to be a superb ride. We had about 10 people in our group, there are around 75 all together. We took off from the hotel and rode until we hit the first of the dirt roads. The day consisted of 125+ miles of paved and jeep roads and trails. We all stopped to take a little break, chat, admire the scenery, and take a few pictures. Then we all took off again. It was so fun to be in the open country, in the mountains and see bikes ahead and behind me. It was a wonderful day! We kept riding until we got to the lunch break, which we didn’t make last year due to the accident with a co-rider. I was so ready for a good lunch, I had worked up an appetite. They offered homemade barb-q sandwiches, potato salad, beans, and drinks. They did a wonderful job, I think I had two!! We then took off for the rest of the ride, which went by so fast, we were back on the paved road heading for the hotel. We all had grins from ear to ear and couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful everything was and how much better it was than last years ride. We all got ready and headed to the banquet. It was so neat hearing all the stories everyone was telling around us as we ate dinner. RL then started calling out raffle ticket numbers for gifts that motorcycle companies had generously donated. I won a can of chain lube and some goggles. We all parted and headed back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep for the next day’s big ride.

RL kept saying we didn’t want to miss Sunday’s ride. I was sure it was going to be just a cool relaxed ride, oh boy was I wrong!!! I could not believe what I had to ride through and I actually made everything. I only tipped over one time and got a few scratches on my shrouds. I kept thinking to myself why Ron was so adamant about not missing Sunday’s ride. How could he enjoy all these big, moving rocks? The more I rode the more I liked it. It was quite a challenge but I enjoy a good challenge, especially when I can pat myself on the back for making it. There were some guys that couldn’t go as fast as I did. Now, if I were on my motocross bike it would have been totally different, but I was on a heavy, wide dual sport bike. My husband couldn’t believe how good I did considering the bike I rode. The Sunday’s ride was only about 75 miles, but you had to be paying attention the whole time!! There was one stop on the ride that overlooked the Ozark Mountains, it was beautiful. We were at the top of one mountain and you could see for miles and miles. We hopped on our bikes to head back to the hotel to clean and load up to make the trip home. The whole way home we were talking about the trails, the banquet, and how we can’t wait till the 2004 Ozark ride.

For me, dual sport riding is the best and I could never give it up. It is wonderful being able to feel the wind, breathe the air, and be a part of nature. I see myself riding motorcycles with my husband and our kids until I can’t throw my leg over a bike, which is a long way off!

Kristi Lane
KTM 200
KTM 640