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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125754
~ " '" '" SADDLEBACK· T SADDLEBACK Masters Sunday afte rnoo n. In each class afternoon. class Mick would se t up several problem w ould set up sections, ride thro ugh th em himself through them h imself sec tions, several tim es to show how it was to b e times be done and then all'ow the students to try allow st uden ts try do ne an d it. It was t he classic Euro p ean the European It ped agogical ap proach: put th e student pedagogical approach: the stude nt in the environmen t of a master of th e wh atever whatever art, in a very mil dy structured very mildy form,, and allo w h im to [earn as m uc h or allow him learn much o r fo rm as little as he desires. Mick would h e d esires. w ould encourage the riders to as k questions th e ask ques tions -- • -A .. ~, ~.." . .~ ~\ .... done and Lane Mick Andrews when they had problems, but didn't th ey h ad offer criticism. When they asked Whe n th ey as ked q u esti ons, he questions, h e would answer very fully answ er and th en would try to decide wh eth er de cid e whether an d then the st u d en t understood If he th e student und erstoo d or not. If he decided th at the student was st ill stu den t still d ecided that confused . he would rephrase the answer confused, th e ans wer and try again. Th ose who didn't ask t ry aga in. Those wh o di d n 't ask quest io ns probably got little from the go t fro m th e questions school. Th e The sections were each engineered to fea t ure o ne o r two basic problems. feature one 0" tw o b asic p roblems . One amateur sectio n ama teur section for instance,, required ins tance the student to rid e uphill making a tight th e studen t ride righ-h and tu rn N ear th e th e righ·hand turn.. Near the middle of the turn he encountered the end of a log h e en co untered th e en d log (actually a sec tio n of teleph one p ole). section o f telephone pole). (ac tua lly The student w as to lift the front wh eel st ud en t was wheel over the log while missing it completely comp le te ly with the rear wheel. To make sure the rea r To su re th e maneuver was done under complete d one control, th e student was then required co n tr ol, the to make a sligh t off-ca mber tum and slight off-camber traverse the hi ll. A ll told,, quite a ne at hill. All to ld neat problem. By Sunday the students were getting ge tti ng better and the problems were getting tougher , but Mick was not b ey ond rougher, beyond lightening things up with some dry ligh tening British h urnor. He had all th e expert humor. He had the expe rt riders down in a deep gully with de ep rid ers near-p erpendicular just near·perpendicular sides and just to make sure th e section was going to b e the sec tio n be tough enough, he had a bunch of the en o ugh , th e riders clamor up the sides of the gu lly th e of gully and roll rocks down into it. After a bit A fter the path was choked with a jumble of th e was of rocks for a distance of 20 yards or so. fo r 20 yards o r so , The riders asked him what line he'd take wh at lin e h e'd ta ke through the rocks. "Now in a trials, I'd b e the first tri als, be th e " Now rider," sa id Micl<, "and I'd look at this said Mic k, ['d at section and I wouldn't like it , b ecau se it, because sec tio n I'd know th e last rider through would kn ow the th ro ugh had a clean run through th e section." had the sec ti on ," (All the rocks kn ocked o u t (A ll th e ro cks would be knocked out of the way by the previous riders.) "So I'd th e b y th e previ o us " So have to pick the easiest way t hr o ugh. I through. pic k th e eas iest cou ld rid e through the middle maybe could ride th ro ugh and have a 3 or a 1 or m ayb e even a 5.. or maybe 5 But now I've found a different way ." n ow I' ve fo und di ff er ent way." Q. ;@ ~ w w Z W w ...J -' U >- U Mick shows how it's done... shows don e... didn 't of th e ...but somehow it didn't work for some of the students. .......,.. ~ He then proceeded to get on bike and th en pro ceeded ge t o n b ike an d alo ng th e rid e it up along the side of the steep ride it ban k, missing the rocks entirel y! ro cks entirely! bank, m issin g Afte rwards, though,, he rode t hro ug h Afterwards, th ough h e rod e through the rocks backwards and forwards r ocks b ackwards fo rwards several times , ta king several differen t times, taking different lines without pi cking up any marks. w ith out picking ma r ks. In th e afternoon Mick taught the the a fte rn oo n tau gh t the cream of California riders: Nickelsen, rid ers: Eggars, Bledsl oe, Koski, Wal ker, Walter s, Walker, Walters, Egga rs, Bledsloe, Grove, all of them w ere there. Even th em were Lane Leavitt, the th e very intense in tense the North drove Champ io n Champion from the No rth drov e down the San Fra ncisco all th e way from San Francisco for the afternoon's school. And they all tried in tr ied vain to clean th e sections that :' [ic k the Mick Andrews cl ean ed. The spectators now Andre ws cleaned. T he were cheering wh en o ne of the cheering when one California riders got a "I" b ecau se none go t "I " because of them wer e getting cleans. were getti ng Fo r th e secti o n For the last section of the day Mic k th e Mick and Bob Nickelsen (who was helping an d Nick else n (w ho him with the school) found a canyon th e canyo n h im that was so tigh t and steep and long that a nd a nd th at the spectators, for once, didn't get th e spectato rs, do wn into the riding area . Vic Wilson,. down int o area. \Vilso n Saddleback's host, commented that Saddl eb ack's h ost, co m m ented tha t even he "had only b een down in that he had been th at canyon o nce and that was when some once so me girl dropped h er bike over th e edge and d ropped her b ik e ove r the ed ge he had o u t. " It h e had to go down and drag it out. "It d own a nd never even occurred to me tha t any o ne even that anyone would ride down there, " he said. But rid e there," But they did. o ne the th ey did . From one end to the other b ank, an d and then out, up - a very steep bank. After man y tries, [ th in k one rider A fte r many I think o ne finally cleaned it: Joh n Walters, one of cleane d John Walter s, o ne o f the gu y s wh o trials starte d th e guys who helped get tr ials started in Southern Califo rn ia. South ern California. After the school, Mick fel t in need of th e ~ick felt n eed a little rela xati on so h e tried climbing litt le relaxation he trie d clim bing Saddleback's Matterhorn a few tim es. Saddle back 's times. He couldn't quite make it on h is trials could n't ma ke on his t rials bike, so they gave him a factory special h im fac tory bi ke, Ossa Stiletto and h e roared to the top he the on th at one, with a little paddling. Not o n that o ne , littl e ot satisfied, h e tried it again and got a sa tis fie d, he an d go t "Clean". T his is a new Matterhorn and " Clean", This Ma t terh orn he had the distinction of b ein g the fi st h e had dist in ction being th e first r 25 0. over the top.. By the way, if you 250. th e top th e want a thrill some day, fo llo w Mic k and wan t so me follow Mick Bob Nic kelson down .th e Matterhorn ,the Matterh orn Bo b Nickelson fro m th e recomm ends trials from the top. Mick recommends a tri als bike for going down.. d ow n bik e fo r . . ,. , ~, ;