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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125972
U2 51 SlQ a= ... SlQ g ~ g 10 l'- O'l ,...., ,...., • C'J >~ ::l c :e ...., • Exploding the myth ot the 'sate' famil Frosty Cactus tragedy By Ron Schneiders CALI FORNIA CITY, CAL. , JA N. 12 About 1400 riders showed up for the United Racing Association's annual Frosty Cactus enduro. Riders were w arned to be prepared for co ld weath er and possibl y sno w, but only the co ld m at erial ized . Most families arrived on a - very chi lly Saturd ay, however, an d were very happy to see it warm up a few degress by Sunday - to the high fo rt ies. The camp area was spread o ut fo r miles . in th e "C" Camp area and loo ked mo re impressi ve th an Califo rni a City itsel f. Th e population s, abo ut 2500, were j ust about eq ua l! In trad itio nal fa m ily end uro sty le , the firs t loop wa s laid ou t in suc h a way th at anybody co uld rid e it . Th ere were even a couple really tiny tots, age abo ut seve n , rid ing min i-b ikes an d having no trouble. The lo op was appro xima tely 3 2 mile s long an d virtu ally flat. Th e co u rse just wov e in an d out o f the jo shua tr ees and cactus and th e o nly chall eng e was copi ng w it h some fairly abrup t changes in direc tio n. At o ne po int I pulled o ff the course to pass a slo w rider and then 6 had to brake hard to avoid hitt ing him as h e (an d the nutty course ) made a hard righ t tum fo r no disc erna ble reason, and passed right across my bow. With no ro c ks. no h ills an d no wh oop-dee-des, the gently wea ving tra il (m ost o f -th e time) was fun riding . The sched ule speeds were very , very lo w fo r the terr ain, n o ne high er th an 20 m iles per hour . Even rid ing a t a rel a xed pace, stopping co ns ta ritly to ta ke p ictures, to be sure th at so me sto pped ride rs we ren't in trouble , an d to gab with th e chec kers, I still ca me in 20 nu mbers ahead of where I sta rted! The URA used a new sco ring sys tem for th is loo p . A and B riders we re not penalized for being la te to chec ks, o nly fo r being early. This me ans th at the experi en ced Dad s co uld rid e wit h their kid s wit h o ut blowing their chance for a trophy . In spite of the nearly comic me asures the club ad op te d in ord er to have a safe-fo r-everyo ne first lo op , a tragedy occurred. Rick Little , 18 years old, was passing a gro up of rid ers at wh at observers said was "extremel y high speed . " lie eit he r didn ' t sec o r ignore d dan ger markings, hit tile road -crossing berm with out slowing do wn, did a very bad end-o ver-en d number and di ed almost inst antl y of a broken neck. Co urs es arc marked according to th eir in tended use. At th e sch edule speed in th at area, 18 mph , it was hardly ne cessary to danger-ma rk it at all, but it was marked with the c u s t o m a r y enduro m arking (down-po in ted arrows) a fe w feet fro m th e cr o ssing. If this had been a race co urse wh ere ride rs could b e expec ted to b e travelling at. 60 mph, differ en t markings wo uld have been used. and would have been p laced hundreds of ya rd s b efore th e ha zard. But it wasn 't a race co urse. I mention this because many fa thers co me to th e famil y endures and ride with their wives or yo ungest kids, an d let the teenagers ra ce the c o u r se , as Rick Little was ap pa ren tly doing. Racing on an en d uro co urse is mu ch, mu ch more dangerou s th an racin g o n a regul ar hare-and-hound co urse, not only for the kids themselve s but a lso for th e much slo wer riders th a t th e " rac ers " co ntinuo usly pass , and occ as io nally hi t. Loo p Two was fo r th e A and B rid ers." It went nort h and crossed th e Rand Mountains on a seri es of swooping ro ller-co aste r type hill s. Fro m the to p o f each of these hill s was a sweeping p a n o r am a o f th e n ot-quite-dry , sparkling whi te Koehn lak e, with th e darker El Paso mountains in th e background. The riders wh o rode in pac ks of eight o r 10 saw li ttle but their own dust. In b etween these pack s you co uld rid e in clear a ir by yo urself and it was reall y pretty . Before lo ng the tr ail took us right down to th e la keb ed and newer riders learned one o f th e firs t lessons o f desert ridi ng: Flat-l oo king la ke beds aren ' t necessaril y flat. 111ey can hide some of the mo st treach erous gulli es . washouts . and ditch es that God ever made. Near th e lake th ere is so me really ghastly riding through deep , uneven sand, bu t th e U RA trail avo id ed this and inste ad mad e its way to the foo th ills of the Rand Mountains and paralleled the range , go ing east. At a po in t ab o ut th ree miles west of Rand Mountain itself, the trail re-crossed the range and gave th e riders th e only real ch allenge of the day, a loose , rocky hillclimb. Actually it wasn't very d iffi cult. ~Iy sic kly Matador made it up in second zear, an d a 14 ·year-old girl named Lorri Farmer rid ing a sma ll bike ma d e it without any problem, but there were a whole bunch of people messing a bou t on it . Some managed to ge t down -in th e ravines to either side , so me looped their bikes, and some just seem ed to ge t tired and fall over . Several URA club members, with lo ts of energy and d edi cation, wer e helping th e more h opeless cases get to the top . Shortly beyo nd that was anoth er hill wh ich o ffe red so me difficu lt y, but acc o rd ing to the URA there was an alternate trai l mar ked aro und it. I didn't see it, but if I h ad any tr o uble ge tting over it , I might h ave lo o k ed a little . harder. After the two big hill s. there wer e so me smalle r o nes, a kin d of neat mining road th at wen t d own through a ravine , and so me rath er cho pp y stu ff. The last part of the run was so rt of west-south-west , and when I got to it, . the sun and dust were beginning to make things difficult. Staring right into th e sun go ing up a roc ky slo pe is not fu n. I was riding with th e 105 numbers so there were still 150 numb ers in ba ck of me. I im agine so me o f them had a good case of su nburned eyebal ls. In all , I th o ught th e co urse was reall y great fun . whi ch is what a famil y enduro is supposed to be . It was marked extrem ely wel l. Yo u were never out of sigh t of two or three pie ce s of ribbon. If you got lost, all I suggest is that you lake up tennis o n a fe nced co urt not too