Dual-sport riders roar back

I loved reading Dan Neil’s “Clutch Time” [May 24] about dual-sport riding on Southern California’s back roads. Rediscovering these old thoroughfares allows us to appreciate the men and women who worked to make this majestic landscape accessible for all to savor.

Dual-sport riders are reliving the spirit of early explorers who, via horseback and buckboard wagons, mapped routes through the local forests and mountains. Neil’s article is a tribute to those of us who fantasize about those simple trails that bring us closer to nature.

It’s a shame to imply that dual-sport riders are anti-environmentalists when, in fact, most of us rely on asphalt roads that create more environmental damage than unpaved roads. If it were up to dual-sport riders, there would be minimal asphalt and far less heat-reflective environmental warming.

Neil’s article merely points out alternatives for those who want to take a more active approach to getting back to nature.

Paul Hendrix

Los Angeles

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Dan Neil’s article was interesting; I live and recreate in the Mojave area every fall, winter and spring. It described something relatively close, cheap and adventurous that most people do not do every day. It gave me insight about new things to experience instead of an article on Orleans, France, and Joan of Arc Day.

In these economic times, France is way out of the question. It was nice, too, that it was not the same old trip to Napa Valley or San Francisco.

Kyle Boswell

Acton