Carson deputies go to extemes to sweep Harley class in event

Motorcycle officers from several states and more than a dozen jurisdictions spent Saturday doing things on their bikes for which they'd arrest any civilian rider - slaloming their bikes through a block-long obstacle course laid out in front of the Carson Nugget.

When it was over, Carson deputies swept all three top spots in the Harley-Davidson category at the ninth-annual Extreme Motor Officer Training Challenge.

Deputy Daryl Cowley finished in just over a second ahead of Sgt. Mike Cullen. Deputy Steve Olson placed third in the event.

In the BMW category, Quinn Rodeker of the Ventura Police Department in California was the clear winner with an averaged time of 109 seconds, nearly 10 seconds ahead of the closest BMW rider.

A total of 34 riders competed in the event. Rodeker said that being a motorcycle officer "is far and away the most dangerous job in law enforcement."

That's why, he said, events like this to sharpen riding skills are so important.

In addition to the dangers of traffic, he said, the officer has to be looking for violators, paying attention to the radio and dispatch and everything going on around him all at once.

"Your riding has to be good enough that you don't even think about riding," he said.

In addition to Carson City, Reno and other area jurisdictions, competitors hailed from San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Roseville, Gilroy, Citrus Heights, Alameda and Folsom, among others.