Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

(l!; THE .SURYIY AL LI E g "o M .... en Q. ai . I: .., ~ w Z W ..J U >- U FIG. lA. Going up a "step" trials style. bring the front end up. by Ron Schneiders Illustrations by Ben Egbert Over the past years much has been written about the proper line to be taken in various tYpes of racing and Trials but nothing at all has been written about the proper line for enduro or trail dders. Enduro riders or those out cow-trailing, unlike Trials riders, do not have to be elegant and there are no marks to be lost by putting one's foot down. Unlike racers, they are not generally interested in taking the fastest line through a given section. In most enduros, the idea is to get through the section quickly, safely. and with a minimum of effort. So let's take a look at some common situations with these objectives in mind. I n the discussion that follows you will note that me proper line for an enduro rider quite often has little to do with the actual terrain! HILLS Getting up hills probably offers' the beginner more problems than anything else, so let's see what can be done to make it easier. Difficult hills are generally pretty easy to spot: They are usually covered with riders in distress. The more difficult the hill, the more riders you see stuck on it. I t almost always pays to stop a short way from the bottom of such a hill and study the situation. First, what can you tell from the riders who are stuck? If they all seem to be beginners, it may be that the hill is not really difficult, but just requires careful riding. II all the bikes seem to be small ones. and you're on a 250 or 360. again you will probal;>ly have little difficulty. You can assume that tt's a power problem and keep your own engine in its maximum power band. But suppose you can spot some good riders on the hill and that there are all kinds of bikes, big and little. One thing you can take as gospel: I f you just go charging up there you too witt be part of the ja~up. Remember, the good riders that you can see up there had less congestion to deal with (At least you weren't there!) and they didn't make it. First look around and see if there is a good alternate route. I n an enduro last spring I saw about 35 riders jammed on a hill that they could have ridden around on almost flat round going either left or right! You must be careful in this situation that you don't miss a check, or come into it from the wrong direction, and sometimes it turns out to be a bit of a gamble. Learn to tell the difference between a hill and a ridge. You can often skirt a hill quite easily, but if you try to 90 around a ridge you can be in more trouble than you ever dreamed of very quickly, particularly if the ridge curves gradually back toward you. In that case when you get around it you might be going at right angles to the course, or you might find yourself in a divergent canyon unable to ride in either direction and off the course where no one c~n find you! If alternate routes seem impractical for one reason or another, you might be able to use a technique known as "side·hilling". Side~illing is similar to the skiing technique known as traversing. Traversing is actually a _more acurate and descriptive term. The principle is simple: If you go up a hill on a slant course, your average angle is less but you travel a greater distance. Sometimes you wnl make several traverses, following a zig·zag course up the hill. A skier using this technique can go up or down any slope that will hold snow which can include some almost 60 degrees from horizontal. But the skier has an advantage over the motorcyclist in that his principle "bite" comes from his steel edges, while the motorcyclist's bite comes from the bottom of his tires. The skier can also turn much more effectively. For a motorcyclist to use this technique effectively he must keep his tires reasonably flat against the hill. He can do this in two ways: He can run low tire pressure so that the tire conforms naturally to the surface, or he can lean the motorcycle outwards a bit. In either case, though, he must fide standing on the pegs. I f he sits down, the motorcycle will slide out. The cyclist's weight can be either evenly distributed over both pegs, or may favor the outer {downhill} peg, but as soon as the riders puts most of his weight on the inside peg, down he goes. The turn at the end of each traverse is a delicate operation requiring precise throttle and weight control. As soon as the rider starts to turn uphill, the rear wheel will have a tendency to start to spin and lose traction. I n an extreme case the motorcycle might actually start sliding backwards with predictably disastrous reSults: The trick is' to keep the weight far forward on the bike for traction and steering and to get maximum torque by varying the engine speed continuously. T,he rider's weight should be gradually transferred from the original downhill peg to the new downhill peg as the bike comes around. The side·hilling technique is particularly useful on some of the rocky slopes of the California desert, but there are many places where it can't be used. (There are also many places where it shouldn't be used out of respect for the environment. Never cut diagonally up a grassy hillside; particularly never when it's wet. (The subsequent erosion will ruin the entire hillside.) Sometimes there is just no room to side.·hill and no conventient way around a hill. _ If the main problem seems to be lack of traction (as it usually is), you can gain enormously by lening some of the air out of your rear tire. If you have some way to pump it up again, you can let the pressure down to about 4 lbs and go put..putting past all those straining wheel·spinning hot rods. When you're doing this, steer as straight a line as possible. Look far enough ahead so that you can note the big rocks that you must miss and go over the smaller ones if necessary. If '/Ou're ever stood on a rocky hill you've surely seen the beginner who goes through all kinds of contortions to miss a rock he could tlave bounced right over, only to slam into one FIG. 18. Then, once the front end is over the edge, roll your weight forward to allow the rear to clear the step. that you couldn't get over in a tank. While a rider might have a choice of "lines" or approaches in going uphill, his chojce going downhill is pretty narrow. Usually there is one narrow trail and little advantage in getting off the trail except to pass slower riders. That, however, is a big exception. It seems there are always a number of riders creeping down any steep hill at approximately one yard per minute, which doesn't work out to anything like 24 mph. If you want to get around them you must get off the trail and into the trees or boulders. The big p'roblem with getting of( the trail to pass slower riders is that you will surely be on a more difficult line and possibly a more dangerous line. A spill will cost far more in time than can be gained by passing, so you must weigh the possibility of a spill against the time you can save. Another thing to consider is whether you can keep the bike under control without the front brake. In passing the slower riders on the more difficult line you will have to steer around objects, at least around the slower riders themselves, and likely around boulders. cactus or trees as well. A motorcycle steers very poorly with the front brake on at all, and won't steer if the front brake is locked. I.f the trail is so steep that you dare not release the front brake. forget the passing. STEPS Another common problem for enduro and trial riders is the obstacle in the trail. Perhaps you're going up a sandwash and you come suddenly upon a "step" that must be climbed. First of all, don't wait until your front wheel is butted up against it to decide how you are going to get over it. Some~imes there will be a rock up against the step and you can simply ride up if you can get positioned right before the attempt. It gets a bit embarrassing, though, if the front wheel goes right on over and the back wheel misses the smaller step. You could wind up putting a nose print on your speedometer face. Usually, though, if there is any such natural help, you can bet somebody will be trying to horse a TA-6 over it. . A better bet is to use a Trials technique. When you come to the step, approach it in first gear, slowly; depress the front fork and lift sharply while rolling on the FIG. 2. On an oH<:amber hillside or traverse, the bike-is inclined outward JO keep maximum, contact between wheels and dirt. Weight should be on the downhill footpeg.

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