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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125849
.c u .... . - , .,..... ~ " Why, shucks, ain 't nothin' to these loose, 60 degree, one track uphills. There probably isn't a check for m iles. " Crunch: Ughh. " Well, almost nothin'... Arizona's toughest enduro By Ph ilip Briggs CORONADO NATIONAL FOR EST, ARI. , FEB . 17 Well, they did it again . The Nomads I\LC. of Sierra Vist a host ed their second annual Mowry Mountain 100 Enduro, arid again put on a po tentially fine run that was flawed by lack o f attention to details. The Mow ry is held in South- 16. cen tral Arizona, near the US of A Mexico boundary. The co un try is unique for Arizona, a rolling 5000-6000 foot hi!(h ' oak-grass land ; roc k-filled , narrow and twisty, the roads co nc re te hard with a lo ose t opping. Beautiful co un try by any sta nda rd and outstanding bike riding. Thirty mi les west, in the next valley, thi s kind of scenery sell s for S I 0,000 a lot, but her e it's still Bonan za-sty le ca ttle ran ch es, boundless blue sk y, cry stal clear a ir, and a star-studded roof at night. Twice now, the No mads have gone to the Fo res t Service for th eir sp ecial use perm it, and twice they've ob tained it with little hassle fro m the land managers o r the environmentalists. Their first try was the firs t for this ยท fo rest, th e Coronado, and their receptio n was less than en th usiast ic. Bu t wit h reaso nab le people in both groups wo rk ing toge ther the cl u b go t th eir chance. That fi rst run ca use d little d am age, eve n o n the virgi n ground traversed, an d th e club's post race clean u p and re pair efforts so the Cor onado ' s i m p r esse d administra tion that this year's rou te request an d permit ap plication sailed th rough w it h little change o r co m men t. T he bitchin ' ride th at first year was spoiled by po o r mark ing, in accurat e times and m ileages, an d ina ppro priate speeds. T his , the club 's first enduro, was the w or st I' d ever ridden - that was un til the Billy the Kid in Las Cru ces . If yo u rem ember, t hat's the one wh ere they sent the sheriff's p osse o ut t o resc ue 200 of us from t his damn canyon , four peo ple were a lleged to have finis he d two loops, and the winner lost ove r 800 minutes! This ye ar found six of us en tered in the Mowry - hope sprinp- . !'tC:'T'ilt :-. an d .i t . [s .b.i t c.h in~ co unt ry . And b esid es, it and the T o n to are th e o n ly end ure s in Arizona and my club h osts the Tonto. The pit and cam p ing area for this year's Mowry w as spread a lo ng the crest of a gra ssy rid ge, fri n ged wi th o aks , overlo o king Parker Canyon Lake. T hree miles south , as th e smu ggler flies, was the Me x ic an border. We arri ved Satu rday , and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon of pit racing and beer drinki ng. Team Bultaco, alias the Rover Take a number and wait to get served. There was this bottleneck. Boys, pull ed in and un lo ad ed Bob Steffan 's trick -trick-t rick 400 Pu rsan g. It' s go t th e ex perimental G I' MX engine with the back wa rds kickst arte r, and looks po sitiv ely o minous in its sand cast cases. Ot her t ha n t he m, the entire fie ld was made up of Arizonians. Sunday dawned co ld , windy and overcast. Four to a minute, ) 04 o f us headed south on a two track tr ail d own a grassy ridge at 24 ~IPII . ~I y bunch is o n minutes 5 and 6 , Te am Bultaco is two. m in u te s ~ad~.. Five miles out . y.rt! stop fo r a lea k (En d uro ists are m uch ' more gentle than desert racers, Mr. Hazelwood.) and th ey b uzz by. Te n m iles o ut, now on fireroa ds leading into the footh ills, w e smell a ch eck an d stop again. Sure is hard to ho ld down th e average on t hese roads. Anot her co u ple of m iles, and we're off the roads, into a little wash, on time, and no check. Dam n, sure wis h I had so me time in hand now, as 24 MPH is mo re than I can rn a n a ge i n t he ro cks wi th m y co ld-numbed a nd weak en ed hands. A shou ted "Comin ' t hrough " be hind me , and Steffan b lasts by . I'm two minutes late and off the p ace. T hat 40 0 sure throws roc ks. A co uple of m ore mil es of this and there 's the check. T he clu b is usin g flip cards , th ey show 28. Not t o worry , the club starts their ca rds 15 min utes before key t im e with one, th us if your n umb er is up . you're 15 min utes early, and disq uali fied. Doe s that co n fu se you? Well, you're not alone. So I'm down seven already. Neat. What a way to start a d a y , Back o n the road, and there's my wing m a n . H is Red-Line Yamaha has developed an auto matic transmission and is choosing gears at will. I give him m y truc k keys, and after 20 m iles of the run he's ba ck to the ca mper and the cold beer. My han ds are th aw in g o ut, and they h urt! Down the road , o nto ano ther two tracker, and int o the trees. I'm on ti me, b ut not th rough my o wn efforts as the cl u b is usin g the New Engla nd interv al system. T he dust an d the heavy t raffic (Road hogs!) begin nib b ling away at my tim e and I'm pressi ng h ard t ry ing to th rea d between ,two riders - o ne in eac h track - wh en 1 ove rcook a c o rne r , sp ino u t and slide to a stop . Frien d Les, five minutes back looms o u t of th e dust - "Are yo u all right?" N od . - " Are yo u a ll right ?" No d, he be lieves me th is tim e , and is off. T he S O fires o n the second kick, another mile and we 're back on a road and ca tc hi ng up. I'm cooking so well I blow by t he turn , trail's no t marked real well - and get lost fo r ten m in utes. Back on co urse do wu .a two track and there's che c k two - 53! Co me o n now - you' re kidding? Dou ble damn. Another mile or so and we 're on the border road. Funny, it d oe sn ' t lo o k Mexican on that side ! It 's a jeep trail, and not too_ ~.e! l_ !Y!3:.i!.1 t,!i~e~._ J!ot_ !C! watch those washouts. Betcha we're driving th ose ele ctronic surveillan ce gizz ies crazy. A lo ng in here I pass Gerry Hoffer of th e Bultaco bunch , loo ks lik e they're in tro ub le. T he country in here drains n o rth -so uth, th e road is draped across it east-wes t, so it's screw it on ac ross the ridge, bra ke an d p ick yo ur way d own into the was h, blast up th e hill, e tc., et c.. fo r a long way s. Fin ally, abo u t 50 m iles o ut, t here 's check three, tucked away in a wash ; 55 - neat, I tho ught I was four minutes late. Rese t t he watch and speedo and it's up a sand wash - real o ld fashio ned desert sand wash, but it's nea ter , st raighter, an d fas te r o ut in the grassy m ead ow alongside it. A few miles of th at, an d it's up th e h ill to a two tracker, down a ridge towards ca m ps . Slo w d o wn, an d get on time as the re can ' t be any thi ng rough betw een her e and t he re. Perfec t, and ease o n into chec k four at mil e 59 and th e end o f th e firs t lo op - 51 ? What ? Down t o the truck a nd while my pit cre w tends to the bike, I gra b a Gatorade and start co mparing notes. Wha t d id yo u t hi nk o f th e t im e a t check two - late IS m inutes, right? Did you bum fo ur - yeah , four mi nutes. So did Steffan. He's in agree m ent, th e clo ck s are off. I talked with seve ral r id er s, and th ey a ll confi rm m y su sp icion s. Alt hough th er e were no pro t ests later , it's significant to no te that the lo west score at t he brea k was a 22, (15 + 2( 4) = 23), and several were in t he 24-26 range. While t his sort of t hing effe cts every o ne , it 's p ar t icu larl y frustrating to the tim e-k eep ing rid ers. Leaves you trusti ng your fate to the will of the gods, as a per fec t ride by an Expert migh t well net a worse score th an a lucky Novice . At the break , Steven Nelson was leading the pack with a 22 for a possib le high overall, and Curt Lahring, Do n Zobel, and Darrel Cale were leading the Open , 250 and 125 classes with 24's. As Arizona doesn't have a cadre of classified enduro riders, t he clu b was awarding trophies only b y displacement classifications. Only two-three points separated the leads and the nex t two places in each class . Time to go . Let's see, how'd he explain that at th e riders meeting? Add 15 to yo ur n um ber, t ake t hat from yo ur last sco re , su btract th at from yo ur 6 0 m inute lu nc h br eak , ad d tha t to yo ur last sco re an d th at's t he time t o leave 81? O ne of us doesn' t understan d all they know abou t th e New England int erval system. Back to the restart line, and 83 is u p - far o u t, two minutes late before I start. T he re's 8 0 of us still runn ing. Down the p it road t o the main ro ad and the re 's a W sh o wing b o th ways. T he m ar king agai n - t o o mu ch . I' ll t ry n orth I guess, an d I'm off trying to get back o n the 18 MPH average. Se ven m iles out I'm getting o n t ime and it's off the road o n to a trail and into check o ne . A 19 is u p , and I was loo kin g for a 8 1; Ruess that mean s I've lost another fo ur poi nts , Down into a boulder an d co b ble filled twisty wash . T his we nt on fo r 15 mil es! T he tr act able SD power, and neat Bul h an d ling really shine here as I outran those near me and ran dow n several mo re. We"re a ll tired , but I always liked rocks, and soon I' m all alone - an d 10 min ut es late. Finally ou t of the was h and o n a road. Catch u p tim e, b ut it does n't las t lo ng. T he road dege ne rates into a wash ed out jeep road, the average drop s to 12 MPH, a Fo rest Serv ice sign says de ad e n d , a n d we ' re head ing to war d a mounta in . Smells lik e a kille r hill is co rning up. Now I'm a ble to ru n above the pa ce and I'm o nly three minu tes d own wh en the jeep road ends at a wo o ds y tr ail th rough th e oa ks th at would look lik e home to a n eas tern ride r. T he lim bs are lo w and cro ss tha t trail. it' s c roo ked as a snake, and cl im hi ng. Ger ry Hoffer ca tch es me in her e, and I le t him by. So o n we mee t two rider s corning down the tr ail, wh ich by no w is o n th e edge of a 3 0 foot cl iff. Suspicions c on firmed. We d rag o ur bike s o ff th e t rail to the very edge of t he cliff to let th em by and p ress o n. A littl e furth er , an d th e Irai l pit ch es up steeply. It's no t th at ste ep , hut the altit ude has sapped the bi ke's pow er. I stop to get so me p ictu res of guys d o i n g wh eelies r u n ning downhill ba ckwards wh ile st raddling a bike (t ha t sho uld be an Oly mpic event by the way - very