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Who Dares '];0 Ride The Golden Bear? .. ~ ~ : o ... Cll ~ course remained tough from beginning to end, the tough sections were interesting and the sections in between were just great fun. From a technical point of view (as opposed to the soit of emotional one above) the course layout was really good. There were four loops, roughly in the shape of a four leaf clover with the start and finish of each loop at the same place, This is really appreciated by the pit crews. It also takes a lot of thought and planning by the layout crew because it is very easy to have riders on the adjacent loops if extreme care is not taken. I found out after the run that it was just a combination of circumstances that caused the early morning foul-up.• Somehow some marker cards indicating a tum had been knocked down. The· ribbon was sort of pinkish in color and in the rosy, dusty haze of the early morning it became perfectly camouflaged. It didn't help that we By Ron Schneiders LUCERNE VALLEY, CALIF., October 4, 1970 - The Golden Bear World Championship Enduro turned out to be one of the best runs of the season, but if you had asked me about 8 a.m. Sunday, I'd have told you it stood a middling-good chance of becoming the world championship fiasco. Picture, if you will, 25 riders scrambling up a steep, rocky hill - not because the trail goes that way - but so that they can see which way to go. And from the top you can see five miles in all directions and everywhere you look there are riders scurrying back and forth trying to find the trail. My sharp-eyed partner finally noticed tha t some riders were disappearing over a ridge and not returning. We made it over there and sure enough there was some ribbon down in a sandwash. Up the sandwash we went, to the most impossible deep sand hill that I've ever had the pleasure (?) to push my little Sachs over. It took me 20 minutes to get up that hill and I think I was one of the faster ones. There was some kid on a little bike with very skinny tires who was literally bawling in frustration. That'll teach him to ride something like that in a World Championship Enduro. In less than an hour I had been thoroughly lost and almost buried in deep sand. I had thoughts about demanding my money back, burning my CERA card and running a 72 pt. head for this article - GOLDEN BEAR BUMMER!! But then things started leveling out, we actually found a check and were told that we were indeed on the right trail and it became possible to notice that we were riding in a very beautiful section of the. desert. As the day went on things got better and better. We covered every type of desert terrain known. There was some of that neat desert trail that you can really wail over, the kind that has one good bump every couple hundred yards so that you have a feeling of floating-flying over the desert. There was a lot of choppy stuff that checked out the suspension, and some rocky downhills that checked out the rider. Off-eamber hills, both up and down were common and always covered with rocks to help keep your mind on the game. The course was always changing character and contained a variety that I found hard to believe. It didn't hurt any that the weather was about as close to perfection as possible, with cool temperatures and great ~ ilJowing clouds backdropping the desert scene. If you gather that I was turned on, you're right. Although the HUSQVARNA BEACH CITIES CYCLES Distributed b)' MelHnternational 4190 Palm Ave., La Mesa, Calif. ~ 2103 SOUTHERN ORANGE COUNTY MOTO. CROSS HEADQUARTERS HUSlIvna - Yamaba - Greeves H.da ACCESSORIES-SPEClAum Complete Engine Rebuilding Triumph-Honda Specialist Complete stock of Honda parts • Dealen write for price list CRANKSHAFT REBUILDING 10555 Beach Blvd.• Stanton. Calif. 90680 (714) 826·6002 525 II. £1 Cami.. Real SIll Clemeale, Calif. 92&12 (1l4) '412-&141 MOTOIICYCU TV·DOWNS 1"1111011 .tr.p with sprln~IluCkl' 6 II. $1.65 ••. , III. $1.95 II. ",c'. ". C.IIf......dd 5lO t..··· b.ck I••r.nt.. pi.... Inc Iud. lOt .. r mOMY " ('. Ty,Oown lor post... FAMCO O.pt. Cn P.O. 110. 1417 Ros.da CII.91335 .}" :::v: Miteo B,'taeo aSAeHSOSSA We speelalilt in only Bullaet 1241 W. Orangetllarpe, Buena Pat (14) 522-&189 TRIUMPH SUZUKI MOTORS YAMAHA, MA,eO, SACHS, el, HODAIA Yamaha of Fontana 9008 Sierra Fontana. Calif. Parts & Accessories 1049 W. Mission. Pomona, Cal. 714·629-8642 WUDeA r ••• a reliable molorcycle Bikes .nd parts av.llable Immediately. Deal. inquiries Invited. Wlldcat1>lslrlbulor: FRANK WHEELER 659 W. Lancaster Blvd., Lane,,"r, Ca. (805) 942·2312 were riding straight into the sun. No one after number 30-something made it to the Ill'St check. Apparently CERA Association rules state that if 50% of the riders make it to a check, it's left in; otherwise it's taken out. (This is generally a good rule, but should only be applied when random numbers miss a check. When everyone after a certain number, misses a check and that rule is applied, it simply penalizes further those riders who, haye late numbers.) The CERA tried some new rules in this run, Dlany of which I found to be much more enjoyable than the traditional AMA variety. First of all, the bikes were impounded on Saturday night, which kept noise to a minimum. Riders had to push their bikes to the starting line and, at their departure time, they were given 1 minute to start their engines. Afterwards, there was a penalty. Riders lost the same 1 point per minute at a check; whether thc:.y were early or late, which eliminates a lot (Please turn to pg. 29) M u 0 ~ w Z ~ ~ u