Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

worked. And most important, his slides showed j ust how beautiful the river could be , so th e co mmittee would realize why this trail would ap peal to people . On e im portant thing. Dale Wilson is a fair ly y o ung athletic guy. My guess is that while he enjoys the peaceful type o f boating he was d escribing, h is rea l love is boating more on the order of th e De liveran ce m o vie scene. T he b oa ter 's eq uivalent of m o tocr oss, rig ht? Bu t what h e showed was a trail t hat would appeal to m illion s of people, includi ng every peron in that roo m. \\'h en he finishe d , t here was a scram ble to get his map s. Another st udy was for a bicycle trail from Ve n tura to Los Angeles along the coast. This st udy was an official one, but agai n the guy doing it, Bob Deer ing, was a b icycle enth usiast. His approach was differen t. Si nce the number of bi cycli sts who appear along the beach es has already demon st rated th at such a tr ail would . be useful and ap p recia ted , his job wa s to sho w th at w hat he had in mind was feasi b le an d tha t the problems co uld b e so lved. T he Depar tmen t o f Transp o rta tion already has a bike ro ute marked ou t along Highway lOl, so Bob's firs t tas k was to show tha t thi s was in adequ at e. T hat was eas y. He took a member of the Committee, Mrs. George Obern , whom I ga ther is no t a particul ar ly experien ced bike rider, alo ng the D.O .T . route. Like m a n y s uch ro utes it is almost inc r e dib ly dangerous. Sometimes the bike rider had t o challe nge traffic movin g at 55 MPH for a piece of lan e to rid e o n at eigh t MPH . In Mrs. Ob ern , Bob had an enthusiastic exp e rt wi tness that w h en h e sa id it was dan ge rous, it d amn well was ! His no tio n was to b uild a bike path ab out 10 feet wi de apart from 101, following the shore as much as possib le. T here are lo ts and lo ts of pro blems wi th this . For instance, ho w does a bi ke r id er get his bi ke ho me o nce he had rid den this 50-mile trail ? There are several bo d ies of water, ma rin as an d estuaries to be crossed. How t o cr oss th em ? How mu ch w ou ld it cost an d where wo uld the fundi ng co me fro m? Deerin g had a m ap 'strung all th e way across the room . H e wen t along it, point to po int analyz in g th e probl em s an d suggesting so m e so lutions, man y o f which we re highly im agin a tive. A t one po int, to cross a st ret ch of river the st ud en ts of t he lo ca l schoo l co uld run a fer ry service. Across ano the r prob lem sp o t t here was a railroad brid ge . A bi ke tr ail could eas ily be ca n talevere d from th e sid e of th e bridge. One marina was shallow enoug h that he thought a ch ea p plastic tunnel could b e put under it th at would be sufficie n t fo r bi cy cle s. To ge t bikes t o and from th e en ds of t he trai l, an Amtrak tr ain with two or th re e special stops , just like a ski trai n. And so on. Ano ther man h ad a proposal fo r a trail along Mulhollan d Dr ive from near Ven tura all the way into Lo s A nge les via Griffith Park and Elysian Park. This p resen ration was no t as successfu l as so me of th e o thers, in m y opinion, because his solutions to prob le ms weren 't as well t hough t o ut, and his ap proach wasn't totally hon est. He t rie d to present th e trail as a multipurpo se trail for hikers, horseback riders an d bi cyclists, bu t in fact it wa s d esign ed to ap peal stric tly to ho rseback rid ers. Bicyclists were to be asked to traverse Griffi th Par k west to east for instan ce . (In case yo u don 't know, th ere 's a m ountain in th e way.) T here is n o doubt in m y m ind th a t m ost if not all o f t hose tr ails will be come real iti es. T he Parks pe ople want to build a tra il system ; it's the pol icy of the Go vernmen t to fos te r tra ils an d ther e is grea t p ublic demand. But the Parks people have to have so m et hing t o sin k th eir tee th in to. If they j us t started off to build a trail o f any so rt or othe r with no real en th usiast o f that kind do in g the plannin g, th ey co uld wind up lo o kin g like rea l je r ks. But with somet hing like th at b icycle tr ail o r the river tr ail, ho w can th ey go wro ng ? What we ne ed no w is fo r so me bo dy , o r so me cl ub, to sta r t pu tt in g together a motor cycle trail so t ha t t he nex t time one of these workshops co mes alon g we'll have someth ing to presen t. Any vo lu nteers? Ron Schne iders & PERFORMANCE SPECIALTlES,NO- FOR FOR HONDA ELSINORE CAllS SOO N AVA.ILABLE FOR CR250 S U P E R I O '~ COOLIN G ANNOUNCING THE Mc Dougal bring s in Honda 125 tc r FIRST in CMC ! Bruc e McDougal . reno ..... ned 125 noer . ca ptures a tus r-ume ever Win ' to r a Honda 125 In CMC co rnoeuucn McDougal. now ridIng for Amencan Hon da . IS onl y one 01 the many grea t names haVing noc en on rac ing teams uncet the expert gUId ance of tea m manager . Dan Hangs! eben RADIAL HEAD! The Rad ia l Head IS a re vo lu t io na ry mn ovauon for the Hon da. Developed by Dan Hanq ste ben . ttus new app roach 10 head design p r events he al b uild-UP by p e rrru tttn q hea t to d ras tp a te m o r e ettr cren tty . The radial app roach to Inc reasing perf orm ance by co nIr o ll in g heat w as, dev eloped for the Honda by Dan whi le he .. ·.. ..,5 mrmaqmq winn ing teams co nsisting of such ri d ers as : Bru c e M cD ou ga l. Ma f k Tvr e. G reg Bar toc k . Tim L unde. Mark Ande rson . Rick Bean a nd Dave Pessev . No w In hi s o wn en terp rise . DG Per formance Sp ec ia lties , Dan exte nds Ihe we lco me mat to co me In or ca ll abo ut the Rad ial H e ad a n d othe r perf ormance scecrames . DEALER INOW RIES INVITED SO Q ME UALITY PERF O RMANCE AC CESSO ES W OFFER, RI E • SWING ARM BUSHINGS I" CR

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