Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

T h is is the ridi ng area in the Los Padres Nat ional Forest that may be lost if riders don't respond to USFS la nd m an agement pr oposal. ~Wbat ever happened to the High Mountain Enduro?" By Ron Schne iders SANTA MARGARITA, CAL., MAY 19 The Cal Poly Penguins' 24th Annual Hi Mountain Enduro happened this weekend, b ut .it was a drastically reduced scale and, of course, almost three mo nths later than usual. The U.S. Forest Service, which co ntrols the land which the Pen - 18 guins have use d for the past q uarter cen t u ry , closed all the lan d in the Lo s Padres National Forest within San Luis Obsip o Co unty- to m otorcycles with the exce pti on of o ne 18-mile long "Designated two-wheel Ve hicle Trail." Back to th is closu re p robl em in a m omen t , b ut first: the endur o . With on ly 18 m iles of t rail, and con side rable uncertainty ab out bei ng able t o hold th e run at all, th e Penguin s we re afraid to ad vert ise i t ver y far in advance. T h ey gene rally draw rider s fr om as far away as Oregon, Sa n Fr ancisco and San Diego and they fel t it wo uld be u nfair to ha ve these riders come so far expecting a " normal" Hi Mo untain enduro when in fact it was goi ng to be very short, and could even be cancelled . On top of this, they had another problem: Local riders co m plained that they never got a chance to ride their own run, so this year the Peng ui ns decided that the local riders would be given p reference and to ld about the enduro first. T he result was typical of such sit uatio ns: After all the co m plai ning, many of the local riders did n't bother to ride this weekend or, they wen t somewhere else. So the Penguins wo und up with an almost totally local b unch and only 50 entries. The 18 m iles of trail was used well. By splitting it into segments and using most of it twice, the Penguins managed to construct a 71- mile enduro that was actually both fun and challenging. The different segments of the trail were linked with fi reroad, and pavement, some of ~h ich was almos t m or e challe nging than the trail as it was covered wi th loo se sand and b ad ly pot-holed , T he de epl y ru tted trail, the o n ly trail in t he area tha t's open this year, went up an d do wn some steep h ills. Early in the year these hills are wet, b ut they are dry no w and ruts are baked in, hard as co ncrete, an d covered with a loose surface of sand. G o ing up d idn ' t present too m uch problem bu t go ing do w n was a sometimes fearfu l ex perience, as brakes only served to aggravate whatever dangerous co nd itio n you happened to be in. Using severally different schedule speeds; 18,20,24,30 and 33 MPH, plus the three·miles -between-checks in-s h o r t -r u n s rule, the Penguins ensured that no one zeroed the course in spite of its relatively easy natu re . The first check was at about 3.3 m iles. Since that section was tra il sche d ule d at 24 MPH, m an y rid er s fail ed to ze ro th e first check. If the y then stopped to fool wi th their wa tches and speedos , they gal eve n far ther behind by t he next check, which was only 3.3 m iles farther o n. A nd the third check was only three m iles fro m the second, less than 10 m iles from the start! The riders who t hought they had it all figured out - just get it on ~ th en found they had it figured wrong as they blasted into the next check early. The las t check was the m o st cu nni ng of all. As the rid e rs were returning to camp fo r the second ti me, at the end of At some checks of the Hi Mountain e nduro , t he checke rs outnu mbered the riders. It was a gre at effo rt for m inimu m return. the ru n, on a ro ad they had used bcfare , they were suddenly flagged in t o a ravine. In the ravine was a check. exactly three miles from the finis h! They even caught now-graduated past president of the Cal Poly Penguins, Paul Beck on that one. With e ve ry th ing going agains t them, the Penguins deserved one good break and they got it: the weather. Normally in this season, that area is hotter than hell, b ut this weekend it was beautifully cool and pleasant. E ven m ore unusu al, the vegetation area has n o t sta r te d to dry a u t and tu rn tha t m id -summer li feless gray. It was still green with flowers remai ning. Th e w ild grasses w er e not yet straw-colored . Up high on the mo untain the wind carried the smell of the ocean wh ich contrasted sharply with the alfalfa sme ll of the farms along the asphalt stretches lower down. Just as Easter-S unday perfect kind of day for riding, even though it is supposed to be summer. If you stayed home, cat your heart out, 'cause there ain't many suc h perfect da ys to ride. The fo rest was closed in o rder to give the Forest Service a chance to st udy the area and the impact of m ot or vehicles o n it . The Clos ure is of o ne year 's duration, starting August 6 of last year, so it is now about over - m ay be. The Forest Service is going to present the resu lts of their study, along with an OHV management plan, in a public h e aring June 19th. The Cal-Poly Penguins arc hopeful that much of the forest will then be re-opened. Club President, Tim Ashenfelter, says that he beli eves th e Forest Service is doing a necessary job and ac ting in good faith in spite o f ad verse effec ts on the club and its acitivities. It remains now to w ait for the June 19th pr esen tation and sec. Advance cop ies of the plan arc to be available abo u t two weeks before the hearing. After asking a co uple of unfriendly questions of the lo cal Fo rest Ranger, I was told he "wasn't sure there would be enough co p ies" for me to have one, but the Penguins have promised that J will get a co p y, so pertinen t details of the plan will appear in Cycle News in time for any in teres ted readers to write responses or. presen t responses at the June 19th meeting. First Overall in the enduro was Steve Hicks, President of T he Central Co ast Trail Ride r's Association , a newl y-formed group of 350 riders who se prim ar y prupo se is to se cure m o re t rails a nd ridi ng areas in the San Luis-San t a Mari a area. If yo u like to ride th er e , S te ve w ould like you to join. T he re's m agic in numbe rs -and th ey can use your m embersh ip fcc to goo d advan tage. Steve credi ts his win t oday to hi s fine Miller ' s-servi ced Bu lt aco SD Matado r. (There , S te ve, will that d o it?-Ron.) The Team T rophy was won by the Falstaff Racing Team . I a m to ld that Fa ls taff refers to the beer, n o t th e well- known Sh ak espearean character. All th e trop h ies th is year were won b y local riders (since they were virt ual ly all wh o en te re d) an d the re was an almost 189 0 's picn ic atmosp he re a t the awards p resen tation w ith e very one chee ring o r goodnaturedly booing in the case o f Cal Po ly's past p resid en t Pa ul Beck wh o t oo k a thi rd in class). The Penguins were a pologetic ab ou t this year's run and sa id tha t they hoped next year's Hi ' Mountain would be "back to normal." They needn't have apologized. All that can be asked of any person or club is that they do the best they can under the exis ting circumstances and, it seems to me, that they more than did that. It takes a lo t of in tegrity to cheerfully put on a superbly -executed ru n under such miserable cond it ions, w ith more people work ing o n the e vent than riding it , when yo u have go ne out of you r way to cater to a group whic h responds by going to a nothe r event. I hope nex t year rid e rs - and th e fores t • arc "back to normal." Results OVERALL : S teve Hicks ( Bu l) 8 . 250A [no 125 A riderS) : Dr . Tom Becker (Hus' 15. OPEN A: 8U1 Miler (HuS) 17 . 1258: 1. Mike Garret (Pen) 17 . 2. Chet Persons (DKW) 17 . 2508: 1. Leroy C r ew (Bul) 10. 2 . Jim LeWIS (Bul) 11. 3. Paul Beck (V am) 17. OPE N B : 1. Keith B u c h a n o n (Yam) 28.2 . Ge ne Hewett (Ho n) 32. . . • . ~ ,.,'It. TEAM : Falstaff RaCing Team : Bill Mi ller Dr . Tom Becker , Rudy Crane. '

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