Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Opinion An environmentalist views dirt bikers Editor's note: There are as man)' different kinds of enviro nmentalists as there are bikers. Some want us de stro y ed -at any cost and ref use /0 talk ration ally . Others, like Don M urchie , believe there 's still hope in a tuio-iaay dialogu e. Th ough you 'll disagree vigorously wit h many things he says (w e do, t oo), it 's benefi cial, we thin k, to get inside a Sierra Clubber's head and see wha t he th inks about us witho ut a lot of malice at /ache d. Part 1: My first run-in with "The Machine" The m o men t I drove into camp th at first aftern oon I felt like I was behind enemy lin es. It was disquieting, a totall y foreign experience - as if by some fluke I'd stumbled into General Rommel's he adqu arters at El Alarnein. Things bristled, like on the eve o f a great battle. I was surrounde d by sputtering machines and their riders, all in brigh t colors. There wer e chevrons. he raldry . fluttering banne rs everywhere. Eve n a wandering Irish se tter wore so me kin d o f a co at o f arms o n h is back. I almost ex pected to see a girl stroll by with mince pies for sale o r a ban d o f regulars off on a Crusade - Medieval pagen try in the 20th cen tu ry. Getting out of my ca r I was nearly cu t down by a long-haird Vi kin g type dressed in chartre us e a nd y ello w. He slid to a st op, d i sm ounted, leather cru nc h in g, and walked to a sign -in tr ailer where o t hers were line d up. Some w ere grim-face d, as if presenting themselves for ac ti ve duty. Th e camp w a s dotte d with pastel-colored pillboxes. 1 so o n learn ed these laven d ar , beige and ros e boxes we re privys. I though t th ey must have some military fu nct io n but ther e were no w eapons in sigh t, n o barrack s. My host was and is a friend. He promotes races and his -ope ration mu st be o ne o f th e cleanest in the b us iness. Few o f h is bike rs seem to get hu rt : on so me occasions no ne do . Yo u d o n "t fin d much litter in o r around his ca mp and afte r each event hi s cleanup opera tion is meticulo us. lie thin ks a mass of two-wheelers ripp in g across the 32 open sa nd and thro ugh gulleys is a legitimate use of the desert . I don 't, but we get alo ng any way. Besides, I' m out there to lo o k, list e n and learn - not preach. The first couple of weekends I spent time before the ra ces taking still shots and movies. J discovered that people rare ly walk anywhere; they co m mute across ca m p by m o to rcy cle. Feet see m to be obsolete . Rid er and bi ke are one . I guess it's like the co wboy and h is n ag: forever wedded. One mornin g, my friend Bill and I we re invi ted by Cycle Ne ws to ju mp on a moto rcy cle and see wh at the fu n was all ab o ut. I sa id I wa nted to take p ict u re s a nd decline d. Th at was n' t th e only re aso n . I was n' t sure I'd ever make it ba ck . Bill had m or e gu ts and fo llowed Chuck Clayton o ut in t o the bu sh pilotin g the o ff ici al Cy cle New s Ho nda T rail 90. Hitt in g sp ee d s up to 15 mph, th ey co vere d part of the co u rse in 50 0 per cent o f the tim e it would have ta ken a racer. Later Bill said the experie nce was akin to o perating a jackha m mer or drill but without th e un ion fri nge be ne fi ts. " M uc h m or e w ork than J'd exp ect ed ," he said. "They te ll m e th e faste r you go the e as ier it is. b ut I your su rvival chanc es diminish as your speed goes u p. So I kept it d own. " Bill also experien ced Fear. T his from ex pe rienc e d bikers c riss-cross ing all ab out. ··1 was petrified, especiall y by th ose co m ing at m e from th e rear ." One afternoo n, o n a we ek end wh en 1 u n de rsta nd was a so lo guest o ut th ere, I pu t on my h ikin g boo ts an d su m m it pack an d tr ekked toward a sm all m ountain abo ut t wo miles from ca mp . I'd never hiked thro ug h one of the Bur eau of Land M an a g em e n t ' s (B L ~ I) designate d "ope n " zones be fo re. There we re cy lists everywhe re. Their tracks a nd sound s invaded eve ry par cel o f de sert land and air space for mi les. I was wi tne ssing a legal war agai ns t th e environment. Th e invader, no t content w ith merely conqueri ng , was continui ng to punish. The desert to m e is a co mplex world o f infinite beau ty an d co mplex life fo rms . I think, to m o st rid ers it's just a Place a so rt of san dy vo id where no th in g im portan t ha ppens and n oth in g ca n be hu rt, where th ey ca n do th eir th in g u nres tricted. All bikers share an impo rta n t trait : pride. It 's in fectio us. Pride in engine, pride in vic t ory, pride in so n , fat he r. brothe r an d boyfriend. Sis te r and ol d lad y , to o. As I d rove ou t of ca mp o ne ' Sunday afte rnoon I saw two little girls tootin g aro u nd on m ini-b ike s, si nging happily , stra n ds of wild flower s laced to thei r ha n d lebars. For th em, I thoug h t, may be ' th er e 's st ill a chance. If o nly so meone would take the m as ide and teac h them prid e in the des e rt, t oo, before it 's to o late. Ted Sim on has faced worse conditions than th is during his 30.000 mile vo yage th at has covered four con ti nents in less than tw o years. Touring around the world Ted Simon, a 44--year·old British au thor and journalist , has found the lon gest route aro und th e world. Since Oct ober, 197 3 Simon has rac ked up some 30 ,000 miles traveling Euro pe . Africa, So uth and Ce n tr al Ame rica o n a Triumph motorcycle. With an other year-and-a-half of travel through j apan, Indonesia, Chin a, India and the Near East yet to co me , what has Simon learned of the world so far? "Th e world is a much nicer and friendlier place than we realize ," said Simo n while taking a breather in Los Angeles. " Even the most primitive groups in Afric a and South America we re friendly, but every gro up tol d me the next bunch down the Donald Murchie Guest editorial I Ideas lor IreD Ed. 11 01 1.': Yo u f amiliar with ARCO 's heauiiy-publicizcd "Send us y our ide as " progra m ? Dtcight johnson pulled 110 pun ches with his ide a. 11'1.' th ink it's good eno ugh to share. Sou th ern California, by virtue of its usually good weath er , can deal with mass tr ansit us ing ap proaches no t applicable t o other sections of the coun try . T here is an approach to our tran sit p ro blems that could be implemented with negligible public fund ing. This approa ch would redu ce o ur petroleum co nsu mp t io n sign ifica n tly and likewise conse rve . steel, rubber . plasti cs, and other mat erials c urrently co nsu me d In the man ufact ure: and maint en ance of auto mo biles. Re tail service facilities currently occu p ied by Atlantic Rich fiel d and o the r o il companies wo uld play a vita l part in th is p ro posal: goods and services offered by th e statio ns would be broade r in scope th an a t p resen t. Li tt e ring of o ur freeways and hig hways wo ul d be red u ced , smoking a nd d ri nking while driving wo uld be red uced. a nd the p hysical fi tn ess of the co m m ut i n g pop ula tio n wo uld be imp ro ved. Traffic co ngest io n and overloaded parking facili ties in the down town area would be relieved, and bes t of all, th is approach is an e njo y able experience for the participant. It sounds too good to be true minimal investment, energy and m aterials co nse rvat io n . relief o f traffic a nd pa rking congestion . and an en joyable means of co n veyance all in one package . TIle ans we r is to encourage the safe use of m otor cy cles. T here are r o u ghl y t w o m illio n m otorcycl es regist er ed in the state o f Ca lifornia. Easi ly 20 % of the m otorc ycles regist er ed are in th e Los Ang eles basin and are sui table (in type and locat ion) fo r t his program . The m ajor obstacle to th e expanded use of m ot orc y cl es fo r c om m uting has been bad P. R. b ro ugh t o n by th e en te r ta in men t industry and the " I1ell 's An gels" ele me n t. Consequently th e t rea t men t give n motorc y clists by mot or ists ranges from ig n o r i n g the b ike r to bei ng d an ger ously co n te mp t fu l o f h im . An in te rest ing sta t istic is th at of ve hic le accide n ts inv ol v in g an a ut o mobile and a m otorcy cle . the ca r driver is at fault ove r iO % of the tim e. All to o o ften it see ms th e typical driver confuses proxim ity with size. Iinc were villains, sco undrels and murderers." .. An o ther thing," Simo n continue d. · ·u n de rdeve loped peopl e are not necessarily as underprivileged as we industrial na tio ns o ften thin k. They have their own adjus tm en t to the wor ld and we sometime s project too muc h o f o ur own standards on to these people. It is possible for o ne to live as contentedly in a mud hut as in a high rise: ' D o cs Simon re c ommend motorcy cl ing as a way of travel for o thers? " what 's importan t:' Simon co ntend s, "is ho w you present y o urself to other peoples. If you could ride up on a horse. that wo uld be best. But in modem time s, the motorcycle is the best way o f approaching fresh new ex periences . I chose a Triumph be cause it' s one of the ligh test 4·stroke bikes and, of co urse, Triumph handling is famo us and so is its reliabili ty. Bes ides ," Simon added with a smil e, "it's British ." Wh a t ca n A t la n tic Ri chfi el d Compan y do abo u t it ? Firs t. a p ublic relations progra m should be sponsored b y Atlantic Ri c h fi el d ( w i th participation by ' Ma nu fact u rer s and Dea lers Associat ions) to change the im age and respec t given to th e co m m u ting m oto rc ycl ist. I bel ieve the p ublic attitude towards motorcycl ists can be c ha n ged fo r th e better through the kn owledge t ha t besides having fun, this co m m u ter is co nse rving re so urce s, and rel ievi n g the co ngestion problem. Possibly a helmet de cal program through participa ting A RCO stations would wo rk we ll with television and newspaper advertising. Second , provide assistance in the creatio n o f new traffic law s th at give preferen tial treatment to m o to rcy cl ist s. An automobile ca n stop and swerve m or e rapi dl y than th e typ ical cyclist. Righ t-of-way legislatio n similar t o t hat governing sai l boats and po we r boats is sugg es te d, a nd possibly an excl usive freeway la ne during ru sh hours. Th ird, At lan tic Richfi eld Compan y sh o uld participate through it s A RCO se rvice station s in the sale o f safety equ ip m e n t (hel me ts , riding ap pa rel, ligh tin g eq uip me n t , re flective m at erials, tire s , e tc .) and se rvici ng o f motorc ycles, a g a in stre s sin g sa fe t y-o r ie n t e d m ain ten an ce . Th at is my i d e a o n p ubl ic transpo rtat io n. Dwight N. Johnson President. JH Industries

• Cover