Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

quid City SRA Spring Fling Enduro: hat's that red stuff on your jersey, son? Gatorad e and fruit punch . Three loops were use d, with only A and B class riders co m ple tin g al l three loops for 79 mi les. The terrain was not im p o ssib le for children or women riding the enduro to get over, b ut they aid have p roblems kee ping the averages. ,,.. as it ! Do a wheelie! tory & photos by John Ulrich This was the best part of t he enduro. fRONA, CAL .,JUNE 2 nly 400 riders showed up to rid e the Sportsman Racing Associalion 's enduro today. That's understa nda b le as it followed the Greenhorn National by only o ne week , and pr eceed ed . the CRC Road run ner End uro by one week. T he rider s wh o did mak e it were treatd to so me nice SRA touch es, some bad ime s, an d an over abundance of fa mily ide rs cras hi ng th eir way in to eve ryo ne's eart s, G. Hoffer of Team Bultaco is th e ikely Sw eeps take s winner, seeing as h e howed up - t hat us ually m ean s a wi n or th e th umbs up gang. He di d it .ithout t he benefit o f a n early n umbe r, if h e d id indeed wi n . T he cou rse was a welcome b reak from man y family enduros because it vas nt just m ile afte r m ile of di rt ro ad . Inst ead , S RA used a lot of trails, so me sections first used by t he URA in th eir Lame Pu pp y enduro , and some ridg e · Come on , now, honey. that chec k had to be off." running. Ro ck wash d ownhills ca used p roble m s with women a nd ch ildren blocki ng riders t ry ing to s tay o n t im e, b ut n o checks were located befo re lost ti me could be m ad e up . They did try to p u t o ne in a wash, b ut the check crew ma de an error in lo cat io n and packed up afte r d iscoveri n g it . A ten m inut e break in th e first loop was stocked w ith a couple of children with a fo ld ing table, boxes of paper cups , and a tub full o f ice d free d rin ks - Trying to keep on time in spite of all the t ra ffic was interesting. It seemed th at in eve ry flat secti on a few brats would scream by on horrendously loud ring-dings, only to be found stalled or lo aded up sideways across the trail in the next section with an y th in g ap p roach ing ro cks or turns. The se cond an d third loops were p retty m uch like the first, with some more sand and silt thrown in (p lus a good o ld SRA ra u nchy up h ill , o f co urs e) run at 24 MPH ins tead of 18 MPH for equivalent te rrain in the first lo o p . Even the up hill , t hough nas ty, had a n easily found detour aro und it , with no chec k t o catch cheaters. The end uro was not boring, no t impossible for family riders to ride, yet kept better riders cooki ng in spo ts to ke e p on t im e. I think I wish it had been harder, though, T he squids were hazard ous. Keepin g on time didn't do me an y go od , even though I was doing j ust fine in th e firs t enduro I have ever rid den with full tim ekeeping equipme nt. With my ey e on m y class brass, I passed a rider who Was two minutes behind time on an old Yamaha 125. The rider didn't like b eing passed by a DKW with a fat yellow gas tank, it seems. He wicked it on off th e trail , passed m e obviously riding way o ve r his level of skill , a nd cu t back in twenty fe et in front of me a t a narrow pass between two roc ks. Having salvaged hi s honor, he immediately stood his bike o n th e f ron t wheel b y cen terpu nch ing one of the rocks and went into orbi t. His bike landed sideways across the trail just in time for me to centerpunch it right on th e bottom of t he engine. My DKW (scr eaming out all the ti me "Don't cra sh me again, you fool !") took off, tu rn ed 180 degrees in m id ai r, and came to rest 15 feet past the Yamaha, po inted back up the t rail. My check book an d back b led at the same tim e (Di d you kn ow th at tearproof jerseys are n' t?) as I go t up to p u nch o ut the sq u id , "b u t he wasn 't m o ving. He recove re d as I w orked to ge t my bik e run ni ng (annihilate d t hro ttl e cable a nd silencer, loaded up cran kcase), an d turned out to be ab out 40 years o ld, b leeding heavily fro m h is ch eek an d arm, wi t h a broken thumb . After appropriate m o an s an d co m p lain ts he picked up his bike and rode away. Mine refused to wo r k an d dreams of at last winnin g so meth ing in an end u ro tic ked away. J ust when I finally got it started an d set off to pick up 13 points at the nex t check a sh o rt d istance ahead, an o ld friend p ul led up an d yelled, "I see you fell off again, Ulrich. Why d on ' t you learn how to rid e a m o to rcycle ?" • The biggest problem in t he desert is not overpopulatio n. These products are the best. Ask yo ur M/C dea ler for: GaSket cem en t 2 -eycl e oil Engine degreaser Fork oil Air filter oil Gear oil Tire mount lube Chain lube Points cleaner Penetrating oil Starting fluid 4-<:ycle oil AII-purpose grease .¢

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