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/125979
3rd time's the charm-almost Coronado 100 By Philip C. Briggs CORONADO NAT IO NAL FOREST, A RIZ., FEB. 16 III c e "Hey, which way does the trail go?" At my quest ion, one o f t h e checkers walks over from the group at t he radio truck, "The other way, you've come in backwards." " Well, there'll be a lot more; you've lost a bunch of arrows, or those that are up have 14 been chan ged - or something." Trying hard to be nice to the dumb rider, the checker st arts to explain the error in my ways. Just as he gets warmed up, several more equally lost riders show - from the wrong way. Things had started out well enough; four from our club had driven down from Phoenix to ride the Coronado 100 - the renamed Mowery Mountain run hosted a third time by the Nomads M.C. of Sierra Vista. The first two runs were rather screwed up, but fun rides. Hopefully this one would be the charm. Camp was near Parker Canyon Lake, and the run was laid out in the rolling grasslands and surrounding oak-covered, snow-frosted mountains. The card turns to three, lady and baby wave good luck, and we're off. Even at 12 mph my face is soon numb from the co ld wind. About four miles out we stop to whiz, and wann our hands on the engines. Back on the road, putting along, fo ur grown men on 400 's trying to ride at a child's pace. We stop often to stay on time. Shortly we 'r e in a rocky sand wash, too tough for family riders, and hard to ride this slow. Around a bend and into check one. Bob the time keeper co n fid en tl y leads on in, but two is up. He's burned. A lady checker walks over smiling, hand out, to mark my card. It's inside my jacket in my shirt pocket. 1 slip off my glove, fumble with the j acket. She's still watching me, smile fading, hand-out , Over h er shoulder I see th e card flip. I grab my ca rd , hand it to her. Sh e glances at the flip card and writes down three. She marks Len the same; far out, that 11 drive Bob crazy. There's more to enduros than time keeping! We're riding the border road now, and stop again on Len's suggestion. "Hey Bob, what mil eage have you got?" " Wait a sec, ah, 16.7. "Jock?" "17.1, he '8 off." "Len?" "61.4." Crap . I've been running elapsed mileage and time, resetting to 0.0 and 12 o'clock at each speed change, so I can't compare. "O.K. Bob, where is the speed change to eight mph, on the next ridge?". "No, back four-tenth miles on the last one." Do 1 follow him, or stic k with wh at I th ink is right? Len and I decide we 're late, and leave. Down the ro ad a few miles, and m y wing man's Redline loses an engine. Circle back. " Give me your plug wrench ," he asks. " Why , don't you have one?" "No, I've two plugs in the head." " Well, why do you need a wrench then?" says I, before I realize this is no time to get smart. Tools fly. Must be the flywheel. Sure enough, it 's spun. Bob and Jock show while Len installs his spare key . Putting .my face up to Bob 's so he can hear me over his exhaust I explain the problem, and ca pit ul at e. "If it's dead for good 111 be along, and follow you back to lunch." " Righ t. " Ten minutes late and we 're running. 90 a: III U 0- J J: 0- > III III o tO .... ~ ~...;.,-----_ "Why me, Lor d ..... Jock's down in th e rough as some late r numbe rs come str okin' by . Race time. At the bottom of a steep downhill Len stops again. Foot push, the engine pops, backfires. With a wave, Len releases me to catch Bob. Our team is now dead, it's time to look out for my own score. Away from the border route, winding through the oaks on a two-track, heading towards the mountains. Sure there will be a check soon, I put the 400WR to work. Short full throttle bursts between the corners, 40-50 mph, then full stop for the turns. What a crotch rocket. I've no idea now of where I am or where I should be , except that Bob is still ahead of me. Faster. Check two, Jock is just leaving, and five is up. Not good, but not bad considering. Back at lunch, Bob and I both end up down four. I'm tending to the bike , drinking a Gatorade when there 's a tug at my knee. "What is it? Blow Bubbles? O.K." So there I stand, leath e rs, boots of many buckles, kneepads, elbow pads, kidney belt, helping a two-year-old blow bubbles. What would Jay Tullus say if he could see me now? Out on the second loop, the route winds down from graded road, to two-track, to 'p ac k trail. Bob leading, then Jock, then myself. Around a curve, there 's Jock, re ar wheel off the trail di gging a hole. It's a short, but nasty climb across the face of a hill, narrow, loose rocks, short steps. I wait a second to see what he 'll do, and then try it . As I go by him I shout, "Hold on, 111 be back to help. " Parking the bike at the first possible place I start down to help. I do need some pictures to go with this, so I dig my camera out of my jacket and stop ju st up the t rail. He's moving now and looks like he 11 make it . Just then another rider loses it , and his XL350 heads for Jock's XL250. The bikes wrestle one a no th er to the ground like impassioned lovers, taking the other rider down with them. Jock pirouettes out of the way, then sees me film ing rather than helping. Making the universal hand sign he shouts something I ca n't hear. " Yo u 11 do fine; ' I say , snap a few more, and he ad back for my bike. Just as I get goin g, Jock comes snarling b y, showers me with rocks, misses the next turn, and stuffs it into an o ak bush. He sure gct s excited easily. Even at eigh t mph I can't get back those few minutes I spent watching. The trail gets progressively better as we co m e down the m ountain, b u t so does the ave ra ge; 24 mph, now th at 's cru el . Well, let 's go, big Husky. I'm running fast now, but I'm fatigued enough to be making m ist akes. At the apex and crest of a climbing turn I'm upon a cross rut, going too fast. I loft the bike, clear it, but land in a longitudinal ru t. I can 't ge t out, I'm behind the bike, a nd the rut grows into a boulder filled di tch . Down. Sliding o n our left sides, the fen de r goes, the speedo takes a knock, my leathers burst over the one knee pad and I stuff my hand and watch into the bank. Up , and the bike lights on the second kick. Back on the trail, slowly at first till I regain my bearings, and then faster as the t rail turns into a gra vel road. Tapped in six th now, I'm gettin g back on time. Just p ast the last arrow I catch up with Bo b at an intersection. He 's los t. We 're lo st . In a minute we 're joined by several riders, co m ing back from di ffe re nt direc t ion s. About that time a Bronco pulls up, with someone who looks official . Bob talks with him, and then splits. Pied Pip er-like we all follow. To nowhere. A lot o f riders get lost. Later riders figured out the route, and remarked the intersection. Still, since nearly a third of the riders were victimized, the Club th rew o u t the last three chec ks. Happy ending. Lat er I talked with John Osbeck who had handled the ad m in istrative end of the run. "W e had 98 starters, about 50% finish ed. Overall it seemed th at the riders had a good time. Many felt the first loop wa s too easy, and too slow, which it was. Generally they liked the second loop , except getting lost. We' ve a problem with a rancher in that area. We marked the trail twice there and the arrows were up when we checked first thing Sunday morning." "We 've an excellent relationship with the Forest Service though . They like our cleanup, an d the fact we 've been ab le to run this event without damaging the countryside. We're working on the locals. We had the Patagonia (local, very small, community) 4-H Club and Junior High School Band manning the gates along th e trail, and are donating $I 00 to each group. Those are all local rancher's kids, so I'm sure that will help." "We 've made some mistakes this year, like the speed change signs, but we 11 take care of those things next year. • Results HIGH OVER ALL: Jerry Findley 4 . OPEN A: 1. Jon M il ler 7. 2. Bob Edward 8 . 3 . Jim Halford 8. OPEN B : 1. Ph i l B r i g~ 5 8. 2. Mel Oown 10. 3. Todd Pi ll o w 11. . 25 0 A : 1. T om SChornlg 14. 2 . J ohn F ox 1 7. 3 . B o b Kerry 2 8. 25 0 B : 1. Norm Tessman 8 . 2 . D i ck Sebastian 8. 3 . Don Zobel 9. 125 A : 1. Bob Cline 11. 2 . N o ne. 3. None. 125 B: 1. Ed Blough 8 . 2 . Wes Holmes 9. 3. Tom Jones 13. POWDER PU F F : 1. Sandy Brumel. JR : 1. Richard Varner. 2. Tommy Ray. 3. Mark B IShop. TEAM : Norm T essman. Joe Berfield, Dick Sebastian. total team points 24.