Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

T he re ' s o ne now,leaving h is mark o n y onder bush. pl ay Shamrock for a day . So , on a very co ld Saturda y morning, fe eling very much alone, I pull into the p arkin g lo t o f th e La keshore Inn in California City . This is wh er e th e event is go in g t o st art , and it 's nice . Restaurant, bar, swi m mi ng po o l, en t e rtain men t , com fo rt a ble rooms. Over b rea kfas t Steffan gives us the skinny . Things are re ally go in g to be super this year. Every body - is cooperat in g, even the Cali fornia City pol ice . The pl an for t oday is ve ry simple. We 11 just ride ar o u n d the co u rse and Bob 's two kid s will foll ow behind the last man so no one ge ts lost. We're a co ngenial bunch as we gat he r o u t in the parking lot to start o u r en gin es . My Bul is purring happily, producing its full 16 an d o ne-hal f horsepower, and every body starts. The Bul st ops. Wh at a wa y to b egin . Everybody dis appears, while I kick frantically . Mike Hannon (What's a go-fas te r like h im doing her e on a fu n ride ?) no tic es th at I'm st opped and comes b a ck . Us i ng th e foot-against-t h e-p eg bit he pushes m e acr o ss the parking lot, bu t Bul re fus es to fire . Mike, not knowing an y m o re ab ou t the co u rse th an I d o , leav es to ca tch up. " T u rn right o ut o f the parking lot ," he sa ys . "Okay ," says I, but sin ce th e co u rse isn't m a rked , wh at d o I d o then? I gu ess 111 just p lay it b y ear. Change plug, Bul starts, belches raw gas for four minutes, and finally de cides to run. Going out of the parking lot , I see one of th e friendly California City p olice. Since he's be ckoning me to sto p a n y way, I figu re I'll as k him wh ich way the crowd went. But befo re I ca n sa y anything, the Cal City Kojak say s, " Yo u ca n' t ride dirt bikes on ci ty st ree ts! " Since he is about two seconds awa y from busting my ass, I say very politely, "Uh, did you see a bunch of rid ers just a few minutes ago? Sir? " " Yeah, an d I t o ld th em the sa me thing." He scans the bike a nd gives me the impression th at he had memorized an d noted every sin gle thing righ t down to the p ar t numbers on the flywheels . Finally he no t ices th at I h ave a license pl ate. " I think th ey're headed toward C Park, " he growls, nodding hi s head north, " abou t 13 miles stra igh t out th at ro ad. " Thar's left, not righ t as Hann on had sa id , but sinc e right would take m e very sh o rtl y into th e m iddle of Cal City (and p robably the Cal City jail), I d ecide to go to C Park. On the road at 7:30 on a J anuary m orning th at is one co ld ride. Even m y Barbour jac ket is no barrier, and in minutes t he chill h as sliced it s way to the ve ry epicenter of m y being . I wonder vaguely if I'll ever see an y o ne fr om t he Shamro cks agai n . In C Pa rk the URA an d roughly half a milli on ca m pe rs are getti ng ready for tomorrow's Frosty Cactus. I am riding aro und aim less ly, wonder ing h ow I a m to find the Sh amrocks, when sud den ly I see Mike Hannon. He beckons me to follow him, a nd pretty so o n we are with the whole b u nch again . " Did you ge t stopped?" one of th e Sh amrocks as ks me. I nod, and he says , "I guess he hasn 't gotten the word ye t." I am th in kin g a bou t last year wh en th e Barst ow cop s stopped ab o u t half the riders and cited them for everything under th e sun. The Shamro ck seems to see wh at 's go in g through my he ad. " No , they 're going to be co ol," he says . " Cali fo rn ia City re ally lik es us. They want us to h old our event here. " I can understand th at . Fifty Sh amrocks plus 3 0 0 riders and th eir pit crews stayi ng a t the Lakeshore Inn co uld ab ou t double Cal City's gross inc o m e for the year. Aft er a drink and quic k fill with gas , we 'r e ready to start again . I as k Steffan about th e sweep crew. "They weren't behind you? " Behind m e? This is the first time I've laid ey es on them. I sha ke m y he ad. " Kids .... " Bob sa ys philosophically. We star t out again, in a p ack with motocrosser Jim Lane in front , fo llowed by Hannon and Steffan . T he re are literally dozens o f trails n or th of C Park an d all kinds of t ra il riders . In about three miles I co uld n't see anyone and I had no idea where they had gone. Was I unhappy? Not on your life! Only three mi les from civili zation with m y bi ke still running a nd u n h u rt , I co u n te d myself pretty lucky . All I was unhappy about was that so far I didn't seem to have m uch m aterial for an article. As I wa s about to return , alo ng co mes a Sh amrock; as lost -as-l-am e wi lh 6ft ly ll - vague idea o f th e t rail d irectio n. He d oes kno w t he a re a so mew ha t , so we de cide to go for a t rail ride. Havin g twice lo st th e Sham ro c ks before m id -m ornin g, I am fe eling a so rt of paran o id possessiven ess abo ut th is o ne . Rod Lawrence is his n am e. La wren ce of Arabia. La wr ence of t he Moj ave, be tte r. G oo d Irish nam e. Afte r hours o f d riving, rid in g, wait ing a nd all sorts of psy ch ic t ension , now I'm ju st ho m bing alo ng m ak in g ac id co nn ec t ion s. Fu n ny the way t he Sham roc ks kee p p oppin g up and di sap pear in g again . It so rt of half-triggers some so rt o f primal m em ory . We sto p ped o n th e top o f a hi ll and Ro d Lawren ce tell s m e th at we are on rou t e, he thinks, b ut he d oe sn 't kn ow whe the r we are a he ad or be h in d the o the rs . The su n is wa rm, or a t leas t as warm as it 's go ing to get today , and Rod L awr en c e ta kes of f hi s Shamrock-decorated helmet. Seeing him sitting o n th e ro ck, with his cr aggy fac e an d shoc k o f unrul y h air, spin ning a t ale of AI Rodgers for whom t h is ridge is na med , it comes t o me sud de n ly that I have ti ed into a wh ol e go dd a m tr ibe o f - lep rech auns! It all fit s from th e way they popped _ up and th en di sappeared, t o th e tal es th ey told, t o th e go ld they were promisin g to an y o ne who could hang in wit h them long enough . And leprech auns are well -kn own for th eir m ean Irish se nse o f humor . TIle trick o f co u rse was t o hold on t o one o f them o nce yo u ca ugh t h im . How co uld you hold a leprec haun? I was a little short in the my t hology d ep artment. Put sal t o n th eir tails? Und e r the p re sent ci rcu ms t ances it see med de cided ly impracti cal. I had noted th at th is particul ar leprech aun had a d istinct ave rs io n to steep d ownhills, so m aybe th at was t he ch arm . As long as we kept in th e m o untains, I h ad n o trouble holding o n t o this Sha m roc k. When we go t d o wn to th e n at land th ough, I alm o st lo st h im seve ra l times. Before long we go t back to C ca m p and fo u n d th at th e mysterious tribe h ad reassem bled. Did I want to go o ut with th em again o n the third loop ? No way! But t he n J im Lane ca m e up and asked if I would like to rid e o ne loop wi th him. Aft er be in g reassured th at he wasn 't trying to see h ow fas t he co uld go, and that he did indeed pl an to ride with me, I said su re . It turned ou t th at it was indeed a very nice lo o p. It went along the ridges in the Rand Mountains, over to Rand Pea k, down a st eep but so ft taili n gs pile, th en out t o some hard riding along th e edge o f th e dry lake (which was wet at the time) an d fin ally returned ove r a se ries o f roller coaster rid ges. T aken a t a reasonabl e speed it was ve ry e njoyable , and I m igh t add , th ankfully unlike th e las t tw o years Sh amrocks ' co u rses. T hat o f co u rse is only one loop. Each day th e con te stan ts will leave fr om th e m otel in California Cit y , rid e to C Park, ride two lo ops o f a bo u t 4 0 miles each out of C Park and th en re turn to the Motel a bo u t 160 miles total. Pit cre ws will have a n easy time o f it , having o nly to drive each morning t o C Park. According to Bob Steffan , th e sched u les will be set so th at an yone can fiVish the first d ay . The sec o nd day th e schedules will be quick to m ake the qualifier a re al qualifer. They are not requirin g street legal b ike s th is y ea r, nor are they requiring any lighting. Either a plate or stickie is required. T he entry fee is a rather stiff $30 but if y ou plan to ente r th e t ime is now, because post entries are $50. Club team entries are bargain priced at $10 co m pared to t rade team entries at $ 25. Entries Close March l st, With the u sual Shamro ck o rgan izati on (which h as bee n sup erb in the p ast) a nd a go o d co u rse, this should be a neat event this year. You don't get too much chanc e these d ays to hobnob with real live leprech auns, so d on 't p ass th e o p portu n it y . If y o u're re all y lu ck y yo u mi ght do like I did. When I got back to the m otel th at night I ca ugh t an o t he r one ou t in the p arking lot , kind o f a plump li ttle fellow he was , and he had a whole bottle of brandy . By th e time we h ad finished the French gold, I believed in Ireland, Sh am rocks, the Ho ly Mother o f God an d even Bob Steffan. It •• - had "tu rned oat t o be-a fine -Irish 'day: ' 00 IS WORTH A 1000 'WORDS •••••••••• f~st ~~Cif)~ fr~m~s 4848 Azusa Cyn Rd., Irwindale. CA 917 06 Universal Shock Mount Move up kit ! 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