Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125881
00 .... ~ ..c o .... o o Quality products for the rider The CRC Cock's Crow enduro had th is m irac le ingredi en t kn ow n as dust. It covers up all t he d irty bikers roaring through the san ds of ti me. Chaparrals Coyote Chase Enduro: Couldn't see the coyotes for the dust By Larry Langley ANDERSON DRY LAKE, CAl.., SEPT. 21 Less th an 100 rid ers turned o ut fo r th e Ch ap arral s night enduro here in the Lu cerne Valley. The Lu cerne Valley is probabl y th e wo rst pl ace to th ro w a ni gh t endu ro . There's' nothing but sa nd , wh oop-dee -docs an d rocks - not exac tly the best riding at night. At 9 :0 1 p .rn, th e first ride rs blasted off in to the dar kn ess for ,75.3 mil es of " co y ote cha sing. u It was soon apparen t we would never see a ny coyo te s. When you put yo ur wri st wat ch up to yo ur face and ca n't see it, that's dusty ! The first check brought good news and bad news. T he bad news was we were a minute late to the ch ec k. The good news was their clock was off a min u te. (Had us confused for a whi le. ) Somewhere out there in the vast l. ucer ne Valley, on some windy fireroad , I unloaded right hard. Skidding alo ng o n my rig ht shoulder, futilely trying to kic k my scoo ter away from me, I tried to see if t here we re ot he r ri ders co ming from behind. Sure enough, one was beari ng down a t a pre tty good clip. I jumped up and di d so me fran tic waving to try to keep him fro m crashing in to m y poor b ike'. It's a good th ing that rider kne w how to use both brakes. He lo cked them up a nd missed - just barely . 'I pi cked it up and disco vered my front brake lever w as bro ken. J ust great. My shoulder was starting to ache and my arm was skinned up . . . an d I was la te. Sigh . . . The Chaparr als had the kn ack to lead you a lo ng righ t o n ti me an d th en ba m ! All of a sudden yo u were ru nni ng almost o ut o f yo ur minute with a chec k righ t there to catch yo u. Th e rou te chart w as in terest in g in tha t th ey d id not ca ll the lunch (d inner?) chec k a known check, rath er it was an unnumbered "gas check. " This me an s th e three mile rul e did not ap ply to th e finish an d so th ey had a chec k abo u t a m ile o u t t o ca tch the rid ers who d idn't read th eir schedule closely. Th ere was a n ice d ownhill before th e chec k to slo w yo u down. Rem ember my broken lever ? It was fu n tryi ng to get down t ha t hill at nigh t with out a fron t brake. It 's reall y bad wh en th e engine dies and all of a sudden you 've no lights. Scary. A fte r a 30 minute break for gas and rep air s it was tim e for the 39 mile second loop. T he first eight mil e's were the sam e as . th e first loop but th e avera ge was 24 MPH instead of th e 18 MPH o n the first loop. They even had a ch eck in the sam e spo t as the first lo op. Tricky , thos e Ch ap arrals. By now we were getting a litt le wear y, not bein g able to relax for a seco nd. Th e second chec k was right in a rock fie ld and di saster struck again : I sma c ked a ro ck with my left foo t between it and th e foo t peg. I t ho ugh t fo r su re I had bro ken it. A ft er a little whimpering and suc h, I lef t the check n ot eve n c aring th at w e were t wo m inutes late. Som e o f th e rid er s had qu artz-iodin e headligh ts wh ich make the stock ligh ts who knows the difference seem like ca ndl es by co m parison. Ho wever . t he d ust was so bad a t ti mes it was like ri di ng in pe a soup fog . Just ho rr endous. Com ing o ut of a sand was h th e co urse t urned righ t an d a lo t of ride rs missed th e tu m. One rid er ca me back on the co urse just in fr ont of me as we entere d a sect ion o f cros s grain ravin es. He was late and real ly hooking it. The third ravine had a bad d rop off on th e othe r side an d sai d rid er went flyin g t hro ugh th e air a nd di sappeared . I slowed down fearing the worst an d came over th e c res t to find him u nd er the b ike . Afte r pull ing " he b ik e o ff o f t hi m. we discov ered h e wasn' t hurt, just sha ken up. The Chaparrals used st ak es dipped in 31\1 refl ective paint to mark the co urse an d they worked real well. They must ha ve hauled a ton of th em out there. Th ey also had ribbon and arro ws but o nly the sta kes sh owed through the dus t. Just before the fini sh t hey led us up a rid ge and dropped us o ff o f an oth er d ownhill into th e finish check. Everyth ing was pretty loose with none of th e pressures of a D-37 run. T he co urse was cha llenging for a nigh t run but no t o verly diffi cult. T he du st aga in was t he biggest probl em b ut th at would tak e a p rett y good size wateri ng t ruck to so lve . It was n ow thre e a. rn . a nd time to load up and head ove r to the CRC enduro. W~ did th is a month ago an d haven 't lear ned o ur lesson ye t. (Least no w y ou kn ow w hy Papa do esn't rid e kn obbies at night . . . Ed. ) • 1031 West Brooks St., Ontario, California 91762 17141 986-4537 Ah h ... a shot o f the great"American Desert wit hout th e miracle ingred ien t ... almost. > W .J e Z et .J , > a: a: MOTO-X ~ MACHINES SALES & ;E; • SERVICE Green Tank ~I 206 In y oke rn Rd .• Inyoke rn. CA 9 3527 714·377-4663 "I o. Who d id how? Read Resu lts . ~I """=__ 1: ; """"-"=::;",.:::..~ 0. • 17