Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125549
Lined up and walllnc lor lite "ac·oll as lIteir num.... comes up .e &Joups 01 Hllh Mounlaln endurol sts, soon til be ..I by _ Story & Photos by John Shedd long over much the same trail as last year. It wound through the Santa Lucia Range In the northern portion of the Los Padres National Forest, and stopped for noon check a couple of mUes south of Pozo. The riders lett the noon check heading for the La Panza Range before ' circling and using the same slippery mountain to come down to the finish that they had used for the start. The sun bad dried It out quite a bit by this time so It wasn't as treacherous as before. The 1968 Hi Mountain Enduro separated the men from the boys, but perhaps It was the boys who succeeded in finishIng. Or was it? We won't know until the results are tallled. Oh well l It wll1 provide plenty of conversation (even for those who only managed three mUes from the start) until time for the nineteenth annual Hi Mountain Enduro by the Cal Poly Penguins M.C. If one word could describe the Cal Poly Penguins eighteenth annualHiMountain Enduro, it would be muddy. It rained heavily in the San Luis Obispo area Saturday, and by the 8 LJ!I. start on Sunday, mountain roads which oormally would have been considered the easy part of the course, became a.n insurmountable obstacle for ma.ny. The start - finish was at Rinconada Ghost Town, which Is about seven mUes north of San Luis Obispo. With the number of entries was li mited to 500, cars, trucks, trailers, bikes and people jammed the tiny picturesque reminder of the old west. Rlnconada merchants had their biggest business sin ce the last Hi Mountain Enduro. This has become the North Califor nia enduro that you justhave-to-ride , and It attracts r iders fr om hundreds of mUes. -DISTRICT 31 SETS UP MOTO-CROSS POINTS Owing to public demand and the gr owing popularity of the moto-cr os s type of raci ng, the AMA Dis t. 37 (L.A. area) Spor ts Committee has es tablished a new categor y to keep points and awar d numbers for Mote-Cr oss. This is in addi tion to the Desert, Scrambles and Endur o categories and will be conducted under AMA rules (see page 95 In current rule book). Rulebooks will be available at the next District mee ting, March 7. Club delegates are ur ged to cons ult with their cl ubs befor e the meeting to come prepared for selecting Moto-C ro ss event dates on the calendar. A moto- cross competition card, enti tling r ider s to be listed In point s tandIngs , is available for $4. This price Includes three number plates, requIr ed by District moto- cross r ules . Riders may apply for moto-cross cards by sending $4 with a district application blank (available at Cycle News cIea1er stores) to Dave Lewis, 11339 Moorpark, North Hollywood, Callt. 91602. Cycle News joins in the chorus of praise to the wide- awake district officials for instituting the moto-cross system with minimum delay . MUd,mud,mud.Dlsc whools werelltolashlon as litis Triumph with lito solid fronl hoop Illus tra lils. For those already accustomed to the beautltul, green, mountain country the enduro is pe r haps jus t a good ride, but to the large number of fla tland r iders, the trees and abundanl follag e wer e a plea,sant change from their br owndesert. The r iders trek began on a paved r oad leadi ng south fr om Rlnconada, After about a mUe, course markers pointed to the r ight, and the riders began their journey up the mountain In the gener al dir ec tion of Pismo Beach. The muddy, s naking road leading up the mountain got worse as the bikes plodded thr ough. One s hort, steep up-hill section near the s tart became so very bad after many bikes had passed that It was an Ins uperable obs tacle, and trattlc had to be routed ar ound It. Even the road was s o deep in gummy r ed mud, that probably as much as 100 riders bogged down, never to make It to the top of the fir s t mountain. They actually logged less than five mUes, before It was all over. Those who lasted until the last halt of that enduro weren't able to travel more than 50 feet without passing a stalled r ider scraping , poking and picking mud from his mount. Numerous riders stuck their machines so deep that they just s tepped ott, and the bikes stayed standing. It wasn't long unW the tratti c downhill was as heavy as the traiflc up-hill toward the fir s t chec k. There wer e so many that just couldn' t make the first hill , that the Penguins Club cons ider ed finishing the enduro at the noon check. After a quick look through the rule book, they found tha t lhis couldn' t be done so the r iders were left at the mercy of the mountains. . Those few skilled riders whomanaged to. climb the mud trails to the clouds, which enveloped the uppermost pari of the mountain, before giving up, they could hardly beli eve their eyes . When the cloud lifled they saw the enormous number of stranded bikes. Mud- cover ed motor cycles were every where, and In some pla ces there were so many that the road was blocked for oncoming riders . Tires seemed to make li ttle difference as knobbies soon became as s mooth as drag slicks . The sm aller mac hines appeared to have an easie r go of It then the big Irons, but perhaps this was because that the riders were still able to hold them up after acquiring an extra hundred pounds of weight in the way of mud, The riders who made It to the top of the first mud-covered mountain continued on a rou te that was III mlles Problem: how til mako II. . while carrylnc an Illra 100 Ibs. 01 mud. ATTENTION · ALL CLUBS Rough Scr3l1bles Course NOW AVAILABLE Contact: Tom Paschal ELSINORE RACEWAY P.O. Box 696 . Elsinore, Calif.