Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Rolf pays close attention to student progress, here he works with Jack ie O'Leary. Later he watches over the barrel races. Someho w we ma naged to stumble o u t of o ur roo ms by 7 :3 0, but no co ffee an d b re a k fa st ye t. "First ve goi ng to r un a little to gel an appeti te." "Yeah Ro lf , bu t I'm hungry enough already. " 1' 0 usc . We " Y0 l:lle d " u ntil the pa in in our legs and t he wind in ou r lungs went away .. . th e n we had brea kfast, Ne xt stop w as a Y~I C A gym w he re we repeated yes te rday's w o rko ut plus a few m ore of every thing, Ro lf d oc s every ex e rcise right alo ng with yo u an d hollers "eeeeaaah h h h " e very o nce in a w h ile. Probab ly an o ld Sw edi sh m ating ca ll o r so m e thi ng . Nob ody e lse coun ts o r t alks. You are to c o ncen tra te o n the exe rci se and J{ct to know y o ur muscles. Min e kept screaming ba ck a ll da y . After lun ch we he aded o ut to Ri o Bra vo t o learn th e p r in ciples o f co r n eri ng . It had ra in ed during the ni gh t an d Rolf sai d , "I t's very slip pery so ve J:oing 10 crash a litt le b it .' When T ibblin w a s satisfied th a t we knew the pr inciple of starting. w e began a series of three ' lap "matos" aro und Tuesda y 's short cornering c ourse. Good starts and squared co rn ers using the front brake be came sa l' fo r the Dirty Do zen plus one. After that we m o ved to the "jump school.' Ro lf is a qu ali fied ins tr uc t o r because he used to j ump ca rs with lI e lldrive rs of Sweden, O ne drive r chi ded hi m fo r always deari ng th e cars by so m u c h . So Rol f eased u p a bi t and landed righ t o n his h ood ! A n yw ay , th ere are tw o m eth ods of ta king j u m ps , ac cord in g to Tibblin , Th e first is th e common rear w heel landing. I. DurinJ: yo u r a p p roac h , line up th e mo torcycle st raigh t a t the jump. 2. E xh al e just a s y o u h it t he jump a n d rel ax w i th a feding o f weightlessn ess. "Kars mak e rs Flies ro o hi gh be cau se he do esn ' t d o th at ." 3. Gi ve the "j.rot t l c " a b lip jus t as yo u' re goin!: off for a li ttle push forwa rd. 4 . S trai ght e n yo ur legs a nd da mp them against th e bike. Keep your e lbows in . 5. Lean over th e tan k. 6. A long , smoo th , fla t jump IS m u c h better than a h igh long o ne . 7. On la nd ing, you r to e s . knees. wrists and suspension c o m bi ne to absorh the im pact . Ro lf sa ys "j urn ping a m oto r cy c le is the same thin!: as ski ju m p ing . I've b een ju m p ing For years just fo r fu n . I t's so n ice l ' T he second type of jum ping wa s a littl e m ore d iffic u lt to gr asp , alth ough every rider d oc s it b y acciden t: fro nt wheel land in!:. :\ fron t wheel lan d ing should be us ed wh en a turn must b e mad e a t th e botto m of th e ju m p. on al l d ownh il l jump s a n d wh en e v e r i m m e d i ate con tro l o r braking is req u ired. The o n ly differen ce in pr o cedure is o m itting the blip of th e thrnu lc at take off a n d lean ing a little farth er o ver the tank. \Ve must hav e tak en that jump 2 0 lim es each u n Iii Rolf fin all y gave hi s smiling approval a nd favoritc e x pressi o n "Supe r!" For o u r final instruct ion we mo ved o ve r to Ri o Br av o ' s infamo us oo c sc me thod he re is so e ffect ive, it' s a wonder none of t h e class had he ard it lx-forc . T he whole thi ng -a m o u n ts to kl'epin g your wei .~ht h ack , the po w e r on an d tlra~/I(in g you r rear brake. "The re ar brake is vour trot tic, ,. he said . T hi s one sim ple' trick ke eps the re ar wh eel on the ground and makes any Usin g some tras h barrel s, he set up a very t i.~h t cou rse con sis t ing o f le ft an d righ t g O·degree tu rns. A ccord in g to T ib b fin. the best W

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