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/125884
Assault and sabotage on the Fool's Gold Enduro By Ron Schneiders GEORGETOW_N , CAL., OCT. 19 Gold The has best of the Cali fornia enduros. Riders are beginning to catch on, and this year the Fool's Gold had a record entry of 600, even though it was held on the sam e day as the famous Cowbell and a popular two-day trail ride. This year, though, most riders had a somewhat less-th an -gr eat ride due to an incredible number of unrelated, but all thoroughly miserable, circumstances. This year's Fool 's Gold was slightly longer than usual, 134 miles, rather than the normal 90-110 miles . It was broken into three loops of near-equal length. There were 12 speed changes ranging from nine to 27 MPH _ A lot of new territory was added, but most of the "old favorite trails were retained. There was still an interesting ride along an abandoned railway and the run finis hed with the well-remembered logging flume of last year , only this time there was no water in it. "But all the U rocks are st ill t here! " promised C ERA prez Don Stewart. A new feature this year was a club-eonstructed bridge in the shadow of a railroad trestle. Railroad trestles usually span gorges, and this one was no ex ception. The club buil t the bridge over the most dangerous part so no one would get killed, but that still left some pretty steep slopes on either side. Under the best of circumstances it would have been a very tough run. The first real calamity was th at there has been no rain yet this season. All the northern clubs get into a ticklish area in picking fall dates. Too early and there is no rain. Too late and it's too wet, so the Forest Service cancels the run. At any rate , there was no rain and the dust was just plain unreal. Some riders quit before the five -mile mark, Many quit at the first gas check. The dust is as fine as the talcum that Southern California riders experience near dry lake beds, This rider's helmet looks like a bauble o n a Christmas tree. but, unlike the Southern stuff, it is mainly organic material. God help you Off the logging trail and into the woods, Fool's Gold End u ro boast ed a variety of forest terrain. 34 if you are allergic to any of its many components. Sneezing becomes a way of life . Riders wiped goggles, changed goggles, and slowed d o w n, but nothing really helped. With trees and rocks an d no visibility, only the fact that th ere were so many non finishers prevented a lo t of injuries. Cala mity number two was a series of marking changes, which were probably done by a former enduro rider, as the cu lp rit cleverly ro uted riders into a circle several times. The sa bo teur was spotted driving a jeep, bu t as h e was hea v il y a r med, t here was n o confrontation. His license number was repo rted to the sheriff. The riders who completed the co urse were generally th ose with enough experience to realize what was happening and backtrack in tim e. Although at this po in t it's not clear just why the markings were be ing sabotaged, hunters were being blamed . This is right in the middle of the season and many hunters were openly h ostile. There were several unverifiable repo rts of cyclists being shot at. To this writer it see ms silly to have an enduro scheduled in a woods when hunting is being permitted. It's not fai r to either group. Calamity number th ree was the CHP , who turned up in this isolated area 20 miles northeast of Georgetown, with four (!) squad cars and began ticketing everyone they could find , mostly with straight h a r r a s s me rr r , equipment-violation no nsens e. This