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/125974
Top : Fint figure out what this guy is doing crossways on a 10-degree slo pe . Then figure out why the other guy ran int o h im. If either answer makes sense, it 's wrong. Above: This is the enduro equalizatio n system in practice . Take one trick $2000 scooter, add 8 pounds of gas right ove r the front wheel and it acts just like a f ine Nipponese lead- p ipe twin. Don't add the gas and you have just about enough for a forty miles loop which only leaves you nine m iles to wa lk. At right: What was really needed was cold wet rain m ixed with sno w. It's just too nice for a proper enduro. By Ron Schneiders COALINGA, CAL., J AN. 26 No, it wasn't that' famous band of octogenarian posie pickers and warbler watchers, but a genuIne dyed-in-the-mud motorsickle club 8 what hosted the Sierra Enduro No. Three. So rivet y our ey eballs to the p age whilst we tell yo u all abo ut it in glo win g, livid color an d outrageous (Ed. no te: cantan kero us prose. can tan kero us, fro m the Latin cantus firm us m eaning stiff co n tainer, gen erall y of tin, and tank-ur-us, or U.S. tan k; first use of word bel ieved to be by an obscure tribe in Minn eso ta to describe primitive transportation device. ] In response to a growing clamor for less strenuous en du res, Sierra Endur es reluctantly eliminated their traditional first obstacle, the hidden campground, and so if you managed to find your way to the western ou ts kir ts of Coalinga , it was simply a m atter of following the lime to th e camp nestled high in th e Diab lo Mo un tai ns. What a cha nge fr o m th e glo ri ous da ys of y esteryear when o ne cou ld re duce a stu rdy n ew van to a quiverin g mass of junk jus t searching for th e campgroun d's devilish hiding spot. The sorry b u t pred ict abl e co nseq ue nce of th is lac k of mo ral fiber was that 384 ri ders fou nd th e camp and th us were able to ride the following day. In an effort to recoup so me of their lost prestige, the club set the starting ti me at a ca pricious 8:30 and then decreed th at 8:30 ierra ti me could be translated to approximately 8 :48 U.S. ti me. As might be expected, this play didn't rea lly confuse anyo ne. and the club was thus forced to start everyone. Manfully hiding th eir embarrassment, they di d so, six at a ti me, m o re or less. The enduro t o this point had been ridiculo usly easy. and eve n t he weather was unco operative. Al though it was almost co ld enough for an enduro it was much too dry. There wasn 't even a drop of fin e cold vin tage rain , let alo ne the . snow everyone desired an d th e sun warmly moc ked t he efforts of those who wo ul d mount a fitting challenge to God and the mo untain. Thus it was expected that club would reso rt to the world's oldest enduro ga mbit, "the unfindable route. " This they did, and with some cleverness too, even enlisting the aid of so me strange perverted habituees of mountains in their efforts. The pl an was simplicity itse lf', T wo t ypes of cardboard arrows were used. Correc t Dire ction arrows (sy mbolized by an arrow) and the In co rrec t Direct ion arrow symbolized by "w" whic h is actua lly a truncated abbreviation for th e Germ an lVeinen lVegw eiser, or we ep ing guidep ost. with obvious sy mbolism. Th e Inco rrect Direct ion arro ws we re all pl aced so as to be easily seen , bu t were of co urse o n the wrong trails. The Correct Directio n arro ws were all very cleverly hidd en . and in fact it was not until this writer dismounted for th e purpose of photographing falli ng bodies, that we even discovered t h e existence of the correct direction arrows. This of course is an old tried-and-true m et h od of adding mirthful confusion and might