Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

RUBICON RIVER BY MINI By Dan'l Mac Murray My dad had been planning a trip over a rocky old stagecoach route' in the Northern California Rubicon River countryon his Bultaco Loblto for quite some time, and we spent some time researching about the old stage route from Wentworth Springs to the site of the old hotel at Rubicon Springs. A few of my father's friends were telling my father how rough the "Lower Sluce Box" was so he asked one of them, "What would you think of Danny doing it on the minibike?" And the reply came back, "A person would have to be some kinda nut to even try!" So the day before my father left I asked if I could go with him on my Bonanza minibike with the hot Hodaka in it and he said, "Are you kidding?" I told him, "NO, I really mean it." He didn't say anything else so the next day we loaded UP the truck and we headed for the Rubicon River country; We camped just east of a ghost town cailed Wentworth Springs, all by ourselves on the bank of a brim-full river. We didn't join the four-wheelers in the slums .they call public campgrounds. When we got there my father Said, "I'm not sure how rough it is but just to put this trip in proper perspective you can come along on the Bonanza but the minute you start to get tired you turn around and head back to camp." All this was fine by me. The last t1)ing we did before we left was to make sure that we didn't leave anything important like the tools, the extra spark plugs or the repair links and chain breaker. After we checked this we took off. The real Rubicon Trip begins at the hardest part, the 'Lower Sluce Box' where the rocks range from the size of my fist to bigger'n Ice boxes •••which is pretty rough going on a minibike. Or anything on wheels, for that matter. The secret of traveling over rough terrain like this is getting off and walking and letting the biKe pull you so all you have to do is guide the front wheel and help it over the bigg.est roCks. That's the hardest part of the trip. Toward the middle of the Lower Sluce Box there's a road branching off to the left - in case you don't want to quite finish the Sluce Box, and I didn't! - that zigs and zags and then goes straight for a while then back to the zig-zag route, but eventually It becomes part of the original road again. I'm not saying the trip gets much easier but the rest of it just isn't really as hard as the Lower Sluce Box. Four-wheelers don't seem to have much confidence - they tI:avelin bunches like bananas and one seldom sees fewer than three or four In the back country, and the Rubicon gets 'em in groups of over 300 - any place those people go they make a safari out of it. So about a mile or so past the Lower Sluce Box we passed a passel of dune buggies parked beside the road with the drivers standing in the middle of the road so here 1 came down the pike right through the center of the mob.. Everybody in the safari saw me a.nd their mouths dropped open and their eyes got real big and one of the guys there said, "Well, I'llbeasonofa Beel" This made myoId man laugh so hard he ran the Lobito off the road into a brush pile. That made him quit laughing. The going wasn't too bad for the next couple miles so we kept plugging along, Dan'l displays how to ravel over rough terrain with a minibike while negotiating the Rubicon River Trail. VEGAS VALLEY M.C. NEVADA T.T. Championship . r.;;;, Dec.14 NO ADMISSION CHARGE FOR RIDERS!! Info: (702) 382·6600 9:30 Practice - 10:30 Close Entries - 11:00 First Race Don't miss the big Holiday Special Issue of Cycle News wed afte.r nex" fI K.NP.'lRO Jan_ 4 '69 MOTOCROSS DIST. 37 CHAMPIONS SCRAMBLERS PRESENTS •••• MOTOCROSS Last 2 Point Races 01 the year. High Point Club Trophy and Special awards lor class winners. Two great courses at BAY MARE, December 21st & December /'170 CERA ENDURO '1' " 100 MILES ., START THE NEWYEAR RIGHT! ~ ~?<-A-8-C ~ . Mail Entries: $3.50' Post Entry: $5,00 7439 Baird Street, Reseda, Csillornia 91335. Info: (213) 342-4231 Dec. 21 & 28 Motocross tre~eherous getting thirstier and thirstier. I think \IlY father and I picked the wrong day for the triP; it was gettin' kinda hot and I was really sweating under my helmet, so we were real pleased with our next discovery 'cause just around a couple of bends there was a six-Inch deep crick with the coldest water you ever tasted. Or maybe it was because I was never so thirsty before. My father told me to do the same thing thai desert riders do when they come to a crick: Get down and splash water on yourself and don't forget to wet a rag because It may get awful hot before you find water again and nothing feels better than swabbing yourself with a cool damp rag on a hot day. We rested by the crick for a while and found that there's a trall off to the left of the crick but we didn't have time to explore the trail, so we left. The old stage road would be kind of hard to lose 'cause you cane see it forty feet or more ahead of you but I suppose someone has done it. A little ways past the crick I really began to notice how poorly the m1n1bike ran at high altitude. My dad said It should be down about three main jet numbers for the altitude we were at. Well, anyway we were going good unW we came to what Is known as the 'Upper Sluce Box.' The Upper Sluce Box Isn't nearly as hard as the Lower Sluce Box but our problem was that a Jeep was wedged,.(n the road so neatly we couldn't get by on either side. We got to talking with the two jeepers and they turned out to be competition jeepers that actually knew something about how to use a Jeep. My dad said that they were the first four-wheelers he ever saw that knew their asses from second basel Some other jeepers came by while we were talking to the two competition jeepers and as the road was blocked they signaled them to go around and over. Then my father asked one of the com(Continued on page 18) cr"'~ /5-<. . ..u=£--;:~-"'" HUlYI5I-U, ~ -AI ".,(,u. ~ =-...:~. CUII.~......... ~- ~. - ~ MY.Z1', /9.'1 .l)Cc.zo, /'IV1 ~ • .Dee. 23. 19.9 ~ . ~~~~'1:~~~~ ...a..Ut: '/f!pu..~ I-~~U-.J ClIU/. I.'b../Jo, UO, C(X'$3, (j,f,l.,I,( ~30 ~;f":':"';:: .,"·&M,. ('hom!!I' l1nd I'un var,'" ~·"ur 111{'al VI·hidl' rl'l(i~lra'i"n hun·au. '('hp!," Wilh llenelli SOLE U.S. IMPORTER: COSMOPOLITAN MOTORS. INC. JACKSONVillE & MEAOOWBROOK RDS .. HATBORO. PA. CI:l ~ :

• Cover