Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

c: chal lenge. T hey d ropped off a tw o-f o o t ledge back in to th e gu lley and had to rna k e a hard righ t turn o ver some b oulders. It was a case of h old th e right line o r els e be cause ,righ t b eyond th e b ould ers th e path cros sed a gigantic rock ab out eigh t feet long th at was tilted at about 4 5 degrees. If the rider cam e o u t o f the b oulders wrong he got too hi gh up o n th e ro ck wh ere severa l kinds o f dis aster awaited. 'Comin g off th e b ig rock, th e p ath continued over some smaller ro ck fo r a few feet an d then made a sharp left to climb out o f the gu lley straight up a nother immense tilted rock. 6 _ .. . . . 'A..,; .., Kim Koski e showed th e ladi es how to do trials beat ing her neares t rival b y a smashing 15 pointsI That trap was so di ffi cul t th at rid ers sp ill ed in spec tacular fash io n on every part o f it so there was no co ne ens us ab out which wa s th e w o rs t part, but th e last bi g ro ck see me d t o claim m ore victims than an y oth er single p art. Specta tors watch ing th e trap saw Lan e Leav itt p ick a lin e up the far edge o f th e ro ck. where th e ro ck joined th e b ank and said , "Ah hah ! th at's the way to t o it. Th ere 's more tractio n over th ere." Then alo ng came Bob Nickelsen an d went straigh t u p the face. The ri gh t line is the line that works fo r you. Altogether the Experts an d Amateurs (as th e Masters and Experts are called in PITS territo ry ) r ode 16 sec tio ns in the af ternoon while tw o classes of Novices rode 12 sec ti ons each . T he re w ere also classes fo r women and kids, who a re Juniors in PITS land. The w in n er of th is week's trial, a fine six points ahead o f h is ar ch rival, ","a s Rich Bledso e wi th a score of 3 3. In sp ite of th e fact th at h e won, Ri ch wa sn't terribly en th usiast ic abou t th e trials. " I d on' t th in k it was n ecessary to mak e us ride t hro ugh all t h ose n ovice sec ti o ns," he said . Rich also had a coup le o th er o bje ctions. He wante d Cycle Ne ws to spe ll h is n am e right a nd I promised th at w e w ould - if he won. We o nly gu aran tee co rrect name-sp ellin g to th e winn ers. He also o bjected to a referen ce that I m ad e to h im las t wee k as the " Sa n Diego G obbler" for wh ich I sin cerely apoligize. It really was in very p o or taste, esp ecially it b ein g this close to T ha n ksgivin g a nd Christmas an d all.. . ma tch p oin ts d own o n La ne Leavitt, so in o rder to win the champ io nship, h e no t only h ad t o wi n this tri als, bu t so m eo ne else had to b eat Lan e as well . Rich did his p ar t, riding a fin e trials but b oth he and Lan e were mil es ahead of th e rest o f the fiel d . Next best wer e Laud ema n , wh o o ugh t to b e just abou t at th e end o f h is No vic e r ope, won the Novice A class. Th e trials was spo nsored by th e sec ti on of Paci fic Sierra/Fre sno In tern atio nal Trials Society . It seemed to me to b e ex tre m ely well d o ne an d consi de ring the lov ely co un try th at th ey hav e, I ex pec t th at n ext year, whe n w ord ge ts aro und, th ey'll have a lot more th an th is y ear's 8 7 entrants. Th e o nly crit ici sm th at I h eard conc ern ed the course mark ing wh ich could have b een done more th o roughly. Most o f th e sp ecta tors n ever found exper t tr aps 13 and 14 an d even a c o up le o f th e co mpetitors were wande ring around lo o kin g fo r section 15. Otherwise , a Mar k Eggar s with a score o f 4 7 and Bob Nic kelsen wi th a sc or e of 50 . I asked Bob if h e th ought th is tri al s was of t ru e ch am p ionsh ip calib er. "Any trial s wh ere I lose 50 poin ts , I th in k is ch ampio nsh ip cali b er" he said , revealing a pure st rain of modesty . Bob has an iro n grip on fo urth p lace th ese d ays, b ut h is sunn y di sp osti on survives an d he th or oughl y enjoys himself even at th e cost of 50 points. H e th ou gh t it was an exc ellen t trials. T w o Walters were in th e n ews today. Dw aine Walters won the Junior class with 39 an d Na ncy Walters beat all those gu ys in th e N ovice "13" class with a score o f 8 7. You 'll h ave to tu m to th e results pa ges though, to fin d o u t w he re Big J ohn p lace d . Mar tin Bela ir w o n th e Am at eur class with 82 p oi nts an d J im . .~ . grea t ev en t. (R esu lts o n p age 48) ')~ .;,...,. .." " SRA Enduro Collects Family-type Crowd Ph oto b y Dale Coat s CALIFORNIA CITY , CAL. , Dec. 5 , mp h average th ro ugh mo re' rollin g ~ 97I .- As each of th 700 rider s sat foo th ills, san d ca nyo ns, fire roads, et c. , 7 etc...until th ey hit t he p it s fo r an imp atien tly o n th e start m g lin e fo r th eir turn to ride in to th e ca nyons n orth east enjoyab le 3 0 mil e lo op . of Ca lifornia Cit y , th e single th ou ght A 45 minu te lu nch b reak and it see m ed th at m ost every o ne was back on th at see me d t? lo om in their m in d s was 100% un an imous. It was co ld , th e star t ing lin e fo r the afternoo n run. Th e co urse wound aro und through th e tem p eratures,!?f a b o ut 3 0 d egees, rolling h ills an d lava b ed s toward When th e n umber one r id ers we nt o ff at 8 :01 sharp , th e group was led b y Bob Ra ndsburg at 20 mph and th en h ead ed proprietor of for the radar site on a moun tain top Bat es, 59-year-old Mayw ood Ho nda . Bob typifies th e S RA way, wa y up th ere. A gain th e feeli ng of following ~ n his zest for fu n r iding. imp endi n g d oom h u ng o ver everybody . After gettmg cen ter-p u nc he d on th e We knew ins t in cti vely th at w e were no t going aro un d th o se m ountain s! Wh at we Barst ow-to-Ve gas, Bob's son h ad to weld a special brace on to th e b ike fo r wen t th rough was one of the m ost his leg to fit in to . With th e bad leg an d fasci na ting ca nyo ns that I have ever seen in the Mojave. Lo ng d eserted gold an d all , Bob h it th e fin al chec k exac tly 12 seconds la te ! Wo nd er w hat h e would d o q uar tz m in es lin ed th e ver t ical walls on h ealth y ? b o th side as w e cl im be d o ver th e crest. On e mil e d own th e ro ~d f~ und th e Re lics th at predated , a nyone ridi n g today b o re mute test im ony of an era wel l ma rk ed course veermg mto th e th at h as p erhaps vanishe d forev er fro m t ules and em er gin g in to a lo ng d ownh ill ~~nd was h leadi.ng t o .Koeh n D!')' Lake. t he de sert sce ne . Road s up th e sid es tha t Ih e . s~enery m thI S . ~~a IS tr uly wer e b uil t by min ers han d car ry ing magnificen t and th e in itial 24 mph every sto ne , sh a ft s sun k de ep into th e pure ro ck mountain s, old h ouses and aver age gave all but th e greenest riders shacks still sta nding wh ere men tried in p lenty . of ti me to en jo y th e sigh ts . Exiting fr o m th e canyon in rolli ng vain to car ve a livin g in th e relen tles s footh.~lls a n ~ th en an easy uphill wa sh to desert h ea t. We go t so engr ossed tha t ten m inutes had elapsed fr o m the rid ing th e five m ile m ar ker fo und ever y o ne (alm o st ) on time . sched ule b y th e ti me we emerged . lI ard Th e cou rse swoop ed th rough th e ridin g fo r five miles got m ost of it b ack, but at ch eck three, t wo mi nutes late was canyo ns and th en b ac k up to th e ri m fo r th e verd ic t. Dra t ! a short stint and the n into a tigh t tw ist y d o~ nhill canyon th at mad e man y Reall y fu n riding o n varied terrai n for ano th er ten m iles b rough t us to the pi ts beginners go very slo w. T he ar ea proved n ~t t o b e a b o tt leneck to the s.ix ri.ders a to en d th e sec o nd 30 -m ile lo op . A m i n u te sch edul e and all made It with out lo vely yo ung thi ng took m y score card , patted m e o n th e b ac k. an d handed me mish p a. SRA provided two o utride rs at the b ad spot~ j us t in case b ut they had th is o range an d silver fin ish er pin de p ict ing a rid er di sappearing into th e an easy m ornmg. sunset , I w o nd ered if she saved them for By t his time the sched ule had reverted to 12 mp h a nd sta y ed th at way th e o ver-S O gang as a tribute to for ab o u t fo ur mil es. After t he ca nyo n te nacity? an d about two m iles o f saw too th SRA officials finally cleared t h e last riders abou t tw o h o urs afte r dar k, te rr ain , I b egan' to w o nd er why t he clea ne d th e a rea up , and secured th e sch edule ' didn't pi ck up. .1 b egan to day. T hey felt th at their first a tt emp t a t co nj ure up images o f ver ti cal hill s and putt in g o n an end uro tu rn ed o ut o ka y torturo us b o ulder p iles. J us t abou t th e and are p lan n ing to make it a three or time I really started sw eatin g each n ex t b end in the course, I saw it ! T he real four times - a y ear sho t. With th e incr easing . di fficulty of local end uro s, reason fo r th e slow average, and I could n ' t bli eve it ! Ch eck o ne withi a we n eed some one who th in ks ab o ut th e ra n k. be gin ners a nd th e weekend fun ca tering tr uc k , pl en t y of free h o t c o ffee an d chocola te . orange jui ce, d o nu ts ; an d riders who ar e in teres te d in finis hin g a fif tee n mi nute lay o ver! _ ~ events .v not beco ming nation al F ully rested , fed, an d wa rmed, th e champ ions. Loo ks lik e this should fill rid ers th en pi cked up a fairly easy" 24 th e bill : " • ~.,/ . " .., '" ~ w Z W ..J U > U

• Cover