Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

help the ca use, because we ain't got no Our clubs rent a hall to meet in or inv ade members' h omes. Most of us never meet other AMA members ex cept at ra llies or al o ng the trail, sin ce most o f us be long to no cl u b exc e p t th e national associati on. I think we shoul d co nside r wh y th e Sierra Clu b is hi king all o ver th e off-ro ad rider becau se we can 't get o ur stuff together, and keep it toget her. long en ough to sho w wh at stuff we a re m ade o f. They 've go t a focus here a nd we have none ; we are as dedicated as they are , but fuzzy, o ut of foc us, sp un out. Is it asking too m uch , AMA, to give us an o ffice ? I don't kn ow how lo ng we can keep using th e Sierra Club p remises befor e conscience co mpels us to make a co n t ri bu t io n o f so me so rt . Weste rville, we need you r help. plac e. Charles Clayton I What the Sierra Club has that you ain't got Did you ever wonder why the Sierra Club is able to get its way in most of the struggles over off-road vehicles recreation? With fewer mem bers an d less of a budget than the Ame rican Motorcvcle Assoc iation ; the hikers are pretty mu ch calling th e tune that the govern- : 26 ment land manage rs pl ay on the off-road riders. I thin k now I know what th ey 've got, and we haven 't, th at m ak es them so effect ive. The Sierra Club started as a hiking and m ountain-climbing club in northern California a t about the same time Harley and Davidson we re b uil ding their first mo tor-bicycle, The club flexed its political muscle early and . wrote or helped influence many of the laws that govern the great American outdoors. Today, several takeoffs of th e Sierra Club are wholly dedicated to legal and political "defense" of the environment, historic monuments, endangered species, et c. Organizations such as Fri ends of the Earth, and Environmental Defense Fund have split off from the Sierra Club to concentrate exclusively on political pressure and th ey should not be confu sed with the Sierra Club itself, which is still at heart a h iking a nd re creation club with a strong political arm. (It is true, of course, that many individual Sierra Club members endorse a nd support the aims of the more strident splinter groups.] Why , then, is the Sierra Club so powerful against the off-road rider, when they a re no different than us ? Individual Sierra Club members th at I meet are no different than dirt riders. They are working people or students just like us , who have just as gre at demands on their time, who vo lu n teer, like som e of us, to work for their cause in spare time, evenings or when the y aren 't m aking a living. None of those I've met derives any income from the sale of hiking supplies or compasses. To that degree they are less concerned commercially with what they are doing than some of the AMA volunteers who also work in the motorcycle industry. That fac t alone would seem to give AMA volu n teers an edge over Sierra Clu b workers if our organizations were equal. But the L.A . Ch ap ter of the Sierra Club has one big advantage th at its coun terpart s, the AMA clubs in so uthern California, do not, and never ha ve had - a re al, pe rmanent office , with a "rich uncle " (t he national association ) wh o pays the rent. We AMA m ember s have no local fo cus like the Sierra Clu b has. Un like M IA. the Sierra Clu b p ay s money to its loc al ch ap te rs. Me m bers h ip dues are co llect ed by the head o ffice in San Fra ncisco a nd budgeted back to ma in tain offices fo r th e local chap te rs, co m p osed o f vo lunteer m ember> wh o ca rry out the Clu b 's activities such as pr omo t in g h ikes , lec t uri n g nat u re classes. co u ntin g birds, e tc. Po lit ica l acti o n is o ne o f t he p ro grams the local chap te rs engage in . Right now, the Sie rra Clu b is su fferi ng dee p b ud get c uts because o f th e recess ion. The Clu b los t it s tax exempt status ove r the Gran d Cany o n Dam issue 10 ye ars ago, and donat ion s are hard to get. The he ad office ordered th e c ha p t ers to cut 15% fro m th eir already ba re-bon es budget s. The Lo s An gele s chap te r h as had t o find so me way to trim its 1975 budget fr o m $ 7 7,8 0 0 to $69,000, with $35,0 00 co m ing from dues allocations. But , e ven wit h a tigh t ened belt, the L.A . ch apter will have so mething to hold its pan ts up. Headquarters will pay th e rent on their chap te r offices on Beverl y Boulevard and vo lunteers will still have a pl ace to do th e j obs. Contrast the Sierra Clu b o rga niza ti on with the AMA , wh er e natio na l he adquarters remits none o f the dues money back t o the ch artered clubs. I th ink th is fact exp lai ns why the Sie rra Club has been a ble to generate m o re horsep o we r in off-ro ad politics o ve r the long run than the motorcy cle clubs. On e has to atten d the mon thl y meetings of the Sierra Clu b ORV Committee to find out wh at the . governmen t is doing to help o r h inder motorcycle recreation ! I attended o ne such meeting last week. There we re 12 Sierra Clubbers, all members of the ORV Committee (ou t of 80) in attendance and four of us motorcycle fiends. A BLM ranger named Steve Smith t o ld m an y things that I would not o therwise have found out until to o late. We a re grateful to the Sierra Club members for our welcome and thank the whole o rganization for lettin g us use their office while we motorc yclists haven 't any. But I think it is time the Al\IA break loose with so me fu nds an d sta rt t ry ing to esta blish a local office near a fre eway in L.A. We need a permanent m eeting-sp ot and i nformat ion clea rin g-ho use , with a real str ee t add ress (not a postoffice box ) and a tel epho ne number li ke o u r co m pe tit io n h as. Local deale rs. d istrib u t o rs and the mo to rc ycle press have len t th eir o ffices as clea ri ng-hous es fo r info rma tion that th e sport must have to compete fo r su rvival. b u t there is no one place y o u ca n go and Squirrel racing must stop! Elsewh ere in th is issue there is an art icle abo ut a farnilv end uro in wh ich a rider lost his life. Apparen tly the 22-ye ar-old rider 'snored a flagman an d sailed straigh t across Old Bars tow Road without lo o king . He was h it by a ca r. Sche dule speed a t th at poi nt was 18 mph, slo w enough tha t th e rid e rs co uld have st op ped. killed th eir engi nes, and walked across withou t jeopardizing th eir co mpe titi ve chances. Alone it is a regrett a b le incid en t. b u t it is not alone . Not a mo n th ago an even yo u nge r rider wa s ki lled in a fa m ily e ndu ro sponso re d by anot he r o rganizatio n. again at a road c ro ssing. No ca r was involved . he jus t cra shed a t a very h igh ra te of speed an d b ro ke hi s neck. Co incidence ? I d on 't t hi n k so . I to ok a look at the inj u ry list fr om th e last even t. There were ap poximately six broken co lla rb o nes, a co up le of b roken legs, a dislocat ed sho ulde r , a back inj u ry of undertermin ed severi ty . a b ro ken arm, a nd a hos t of m inor injuries . No tough Distric t e nduro tha t I can re call has had suc h a n ex ten sive inj ury list, even all owing for the d iffere nce in the size of th e e ntries. On the basis of th e record , a ride r wo uld be sa fer riding t he Barst o w-to-Ve gas race, o r th e Baja 500 than one of th ese fa mily endu res. The stati st ics in th is case, however, are no t te lli ng t he story. These famil y e nd u re s, as organized by th e major p romoters. a re as sa fe a fo rm o f m ot o rcy cl in g as y ou co uld des ign . The co urses ar e so easy tha t l O-yea r-olds o n m inibikes are m aki ng it a ro u nd without much d iffi cult y . The sched ule sp eeds are slow. Da nge r m a rk in g at such speeds is hard ly needed. b ut there usu ally is da nge r marking, need ed or n ot . It is not th e runs th at a re at fa ult. Is is th e people who are riding th em. Eve ry fam ily enduro that I have a tt end ed so far has be en lit er y all w Z

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