Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

M AN EVENING WITH By Ron Schneiders It was nearly dark d own behind the hill whose flan k is scarred by th e Matterhorn hillcl imb. A do zen people stood around or sat o n motorc ycles as Mick Andrews' Ossa app roach ed the hill, wound out in fourth gear . For a bi ke moving fairly quickly , the sound was almost ridiculously low. Th e low-speed bike sailed over the ju mp near th e b ottom, and everything b ottomed out when it landed , 3 0 feet later. Mick fought briefl y for con trol but didn 't back off th e throttle. In credibl y, h e kept go ing, far ther and farth er until h e see m ed a scant few feet from the t op. Fin ally the b ik e sh udd ered to a st op, growled as Mick tri ed t o force it o n, and flipped over b ackwards, dumpin g Mick 25 yards down th e hill. Mick scrambled b ack up the hill , fo ugh t t o get th e b ik e p ointed downhill and rode back d own. He tried aga in. And again . Finally , a ft er ab o u t eight fu tile a tte m p ts to climb the hill , he said, "Now I'll ride down ." He and Bob Nickelsen went t o the top of the hill by road, looked briefly d own the Matterh orn , which looked a lot more like a cliff than a hill from the top, an d as he had said, th ey rode d own. They didn 't lose any marks eith er. It was th e end o f a long d ay during wh ich he had h ad two tri als classes. The next d ay was just abou t th e same, excep t for o ne d ifferen ce. One of th e Ossa p eople m et him a t th e b ottom o f th e hill with an Ossa Stiletto. Mick went to the top on th e first try, but he h ad t o paddle a b it . The crowd a t th e bottom cheered and good-naturedly held up three fing ers: a three. Mick cam e back d own an d tried aga in. This time the crowd gave him the closed fist: a clean. The first m an to go over the newly cu t Matterh orn w as a trials rider. As a trials rider I\li ck Andrews seems t o have a somewhat di fferent conce pt of his profession than most Americans, wh o w ould d efine the tri als rid er as a man wh o rode over very d if ficult te rrain a t slow speed wi th com p le te control. I th ink Mick Andrews would d efin e a trials rider as o ne wh o h ad th e ab ility t o tr av el an y terrain wh atever a t any required sp eed with com p lete control. Certainly th e d efinition fits him. He h as n ot only won th e title, "W orld Trials Ch ampion" by winning o u trigh t six o ut o f ten rounds of champ io nsh ip tri als, h e also won a gold m edal in this year's ISDT, and competed rathersuccessfully in three cham p io nsh ip European " enduros ", He has done well in mo to cross and is lo oking forward t o ridin g som e o f our more interest ing American events, The Mint 400, the Baja 1000 and th e Berkshire Trials ra ce. Interesting ambitions for a trials rid er... Chuck Clayton , Cycle News p ub lisher, a nd I, met Mick, his wife Liz and Cal Creft o f Ossa fo r a couple h ours of c o nversa tio n ov er brandy at th e motel where th ey were staying . The occasion was the 2 nd round o f th e California State Trials Champ ionship . Mick and Liz were very fash ionably d ressed in Mod-London style, and Mick in particular reminded me of Antonioni's Ph o to grap h er-h ero of Blow-up who first appears as a grimey workman leaving a Birmingham fa ctory. Mick, in th e field, w ears blue coveralls an d loo ks somewhat m ore lik e a me ch anic than a wo rld cham p io n. Chuck and I, b y com pariso n, m o re than did justi ce t o California 's shir t-sleeve tra d it ion. Mick w or ks fo r Ossa in Spain as an engineer. I as ked him h edid the design .. work on th e Ossa tria ls bik es. "No, work at it fr om th e o ther end," Mick said. One m ight ca ll him a re -design engi n eer. Many of his h ours are spent tes ting th e bik es. Re cently h e has been working on th e Ossa Pioneer, so I w ould gu ess we'll see some changes in th a t m odel before lon g. Alo ng with h is normal duties fo r Oss a , testi ng and winning tria ls , Mick also goes o n good will t ours suc h as this one each yea r, c o nd ucti ng trials schoo ls, visiting distributo rs and suc h . We asked him h ow th e American trials riders were com in g along, c o mp ar ed to the Europeans such as himself. "I w as re ally impressed," Mick said , " Whe n I cam e here tw o y ears ago, things were just , b eginning, more or less. Since then there's be en a very big impr ov ement." Chuck aske d if th e quality o f eq u ip men t that w e have here is com parab le t o what the y h ave in Europe. UN' o, th e rid ers her e have go t b etter equipmen t than th ey have o ver in Europe. Her e th ey all se em t o have n ew equipmen 1. " It seemed like time for a provacative question , so I said, "Y ou sa y th e trials riders ar e good h ere but I saw the best of them last week at y our trials sch ool and there wasn't a one of them could clean any of the sections that y o u laid out. It would se em to me that they've got a long ways to go before they 're up t o European standards." "They've go t a hell o f a long ways t o go, but th ey 'r e c om ing alo ng nicely. I think so me Euro pean com peti tio n wouldn 't hurt. Th ey sh ould get t o Europe." "B ob Nickelse n was tellin g me th a t they 've go t to get go ing a nd rid e so me lon ger th in gs to devel op so m e , endurance ." .~'tS\» : -'/:".\.~ ... ' \' ~ .)~. ut . \.• :J. , ~v. \ 1 "S: -1' ~ ., '"1 ,,#. .:t: ' -, . ,. .' <'. ;-' w ",f " . ' { ., . ,-;.,,:~ ." '" C1. .... C> o " Yes a lot longer secti ons and a lot more di ffi cult for longer periods when you ge t into th e sectio n. A IOO·yard section wh ich is di ffi cult all th e way through . Keep rid ing it an d ri d ing it un til yo u're worn o u t and yo u st ill keep going . " I asked Mick if h e would predic t the win ner o f th e t rials th at was t o b e hel d th e fo llo w ing day , th e 2 n d round of the state Championshi p . "I th in k Lan e Leavett;" Mick sai d , but he ad d ed, "I think Bob (N ickelse n) is th e best rid er fro m Cali fornia, th e b est overall rid er. He's been riding endure s an d he's off-form you see." Mick's prediction was c o rrec t: Lane won, Bob cam e in fourth. Mic k is com p lete ly candi d. You d on't ge t th at feeling with him th at yo u d o with many p rofessionals that you're being " p u t o n" as soon as you w ander a b it b eyond yo ur d epth . Chuck an d I both tri ed t o find ou t what th e new Ossa tri als b ike w ould lo ok lik e. Mic k was n ' t alking o n th at subject o ther th an t o say it wo uld b e com p let ely d ifferent, that it would not lo ok like any o th er tri al s b ike now in p roduction. He was obviously very happy with the design and p ro sp ects for the new Ossa bikes h owever. Materials were something else. I asked if the new trials bikes would have th e light, steel-tub in g frames. " T h e frames will b e th e sam e as o n all Sp an ish bikes, water pip e." Mick said ra ther wr yl y. Cal Cr eft winced and said, " I w ish you hadn 't said that." Mic k h as had more th an his share of problem s with prom oters and officials d uring the last yea r. "Sec, w e wen t to th e Min t this year and go t refused. I th in k it was even d own in th e pro gram. S om ething about th e AMA an d th e $50 for th e sa nc tion. Th e Mint w ouldn 't p ay fo r th e san cti on." . "You ca n 't rid e unl ess the eve n t has an FlM san ction ?" "N o. I'd get susp ended." Ossa alrea d y had th e motorcycl es o ver ' h er e when th ey fo und o u t Mick was n't go ing t o b e ab le to ride. Mick 's problem w ith th e Min t WOolS noth in g, th ou gh , com pared t o th e internati onal sq uabb le he b ecam e in vol ved in over th e 6·Days Trials. As an Ossa factory rid er , Mick na tu ra lly wanted to ride an Ossa in th e Trials and he w as counting o n riding o n o ne of the club teams. As a British citizen he is n o t eligib le t o rid e fo r Sp ain. But with Britain virtuall y ou t of th e. m otor cycl e manufacturing busin ess, she fo und h ers elf sh ort of go od riders for th e Trophy Team so Mick was " req uested " to ride a Ch en ey Triumph o n the T rophy Team. " It was bl ackmail, th is year ," I\Iick •.said ••~'''I14,.A ngliih Aaid .w.~ .waat.YOli t o ride on th e T rop hy Team ' and th is year, to rid e on th e T roph y T eam you h ave to rid e a T rium ph .l\ly con trac t says I ca n' t ride any other machine but Ossa. So th ey said , If I d o n't ride o n th e T rop hy Team , if I d on 't rid e a Triumph, th ey won't accep t m y en try in any o ther . class, So I w ould not ride anything a t all. Th en th ey said th ey co uld make it awkward for me in Eu ro pe. Th at ty pe of thing. So I told th is t o Oss a an d th ey said, "Okay we will rel ease yo u fro m your con trac t (for th e even t) ." T h e situ at ion ca used Mick to go throu gh q uite a bit of unnecessary p ain. He had a fairly serious back inju ry th at h ad b een giving hi m periodic t ro ub le an d it started h urting sh ortly afte r th e tria ls b egan . But b ecause of th e circum stances under which Mick h ad be en coerced onto the team, h e could n't j us t quit, an d say h is b ac k was hurtin g h im. They 'd thin k i t was jus t an excuse. lIe kept h opin g each day th at th e bike w ould break , but it d idn't and h e won a gold medal for Britain. Of co urse th e mo st important ev ents for Mick Andrews are th e champ io nshi p tri als rounds and there were rules hassles in that co mp etitio n , to o " "Y ou see , a ft er the firs t fo ur even ts I had w on th e champ ionship. I could n' t lose b ecau se I had w on three and b een second in o ne. Then halfway through th e season - the ch am p io nship season is 90 days - it's five out of nin e. Th en they sa id , 'We 'll ad d an ex tra o ne' so I had to go for an o th er one, si x o ut o f ten. I w as a bit d isappointed in that re sp ect. If yo u set regulat ions wh ere it' s five o u t o f nin e , five o ut o f te n ... '" But it didn't matter mu ch . He won th e last round, to o. Mick ' felt th at th e tough est event this year was the Sp anish round, the o ne th at Bob Ni ck elsen and Kev in Walker rod e. Age is usually a prime c o nc ern of any professional a thelete and Chuck aske d Mick, in d irectly , for h is thoughts o n th e su bjec t. Mick had said th at Sammy Mill er had come o ut of r etirement, as of th e la test re p orts. " Wo uld that see m to in d icate th at there isn't any age lim it fo r a tri als rider to be com petitive in Europe?" Chuc k as ke d . " I th in k yo u ca n b e com p eti tive as lo ng as yo u' re fit an d y o u feel yo ung . We 've go t good tri als riders wh o are 40 years old. It 's like motocr ossin g. Dave Bic kers and J eff Smith , they 're in their 30s and th ey st ill go very well . If the good rid ers hav e a b ad day then Bickers a nd Smith , th ey're alw ay s there. And particularly in en d uro riding, I th ink the older guys are b etter be cause of exp erie nce. Lik e in . th e S ix Day s, they're best fro m 28 t o 38, m aybe eve n 40. " O ne of Mic k's m ost in te res ti ng comments w as o n the subj ec t of " kiddy rac ers". "I'm glad I didn't st art b efore (16) . I thin k you can get co m p letely seized up w ith bikes if you st art ea rly . By the tim e y ou 'r e 18 or 19 you 're fini shed wi th th em . You hav e n o int erest left. " Chuck said, "I take i t y o u 've n oticed th e kiddy racers aro u nd here?" " Yes, the y ride really well , but I don't thin k th ey'll be aro und wh en they're 19 o r 20 . I kn ow a lot o f guys in Englan d (who) at 16 an d 17 are reall y good riders. But b y th e time they 'r e 19 o r 20, th ey 're nowh ere t o b e see n. In fact if th ey are aroun d, th ey're n o b etter th an what they were then. It 's reall y strange h ow it works , isn't it?" Mic k and Liz haven't started o n a fam ily yet. Accordi ng to Liz, "We haven ' t go t time, ye t." Accord ing t o Mick , " We h aven 't found the way ye t. We're st ill learning." Th eir ' h ome is in Engla nd, bu t they don't get to spend mu ch tim e th ere. "I sp ent ab o u t eigh t we eks a t h ome this y ear. We'r e go ing to arra nge things d iffere n tly en tir ely next yea r, spend more tim e in Spa in an d Europe." Liz say s. " Really?" " y 'eah , w here th e weath er's h o t. " He laughed , th en said, "N o, w e 've ' go t the h o use and everythi ng so we have t o k eep popping back to see h ow things are go ing . " "Pay the b ills .... " says Liz. "Oh , Christ, d o n' t m e n t io nth e bills!" "Hardly worthwhile t o main ta in a h ouse in En gland if you're o nly go ing t o b e th er e eigh t "(ee ks a year , is it ?" I as ked. "Yeah, but if w e don 't h ave a h ouse over th ere , th en wh o are we ? \V e want to stay Briti sh , d on't we "Liz ? Th e y'r e . giving us a hard time but we still want to stay En glish . " Even a World ' Champion ' ,meeds a h om e . .... "" g c ~ w Z ~ ~ o

• Cover