Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

," ... • - " " - I • I --- --------~- - -- - - Opinion [; .... 11II Guest editorial An10dest proposal A selfish motive -= ~ t l!') r--. Ol ...-< When you are asked to fill out a form to ex press your opinion fo r a survey, it should n o t be a diffi cult jo b, Th e questions are usually m ultiple choice, more likel y "yes" or " no," and final tabulation will yield definite resul ts. T his method, h owever, does not allow for the in tangibles. Man da to ry self-protection is such a great ide a that 4 7 o f the United States, the British Isles, Australia and all 0 f the Russian-con trolled co u ntries (except Russia itself) de cree d it for th eir bike rs. Wheth er yo u like it or no t, when you 're moto rcycling in th ese societies , yo u go tta wear a h ull o n your skull. 'This is not jus t for the pro t ect ion of us bikers. who are obviously too stupid to know what's good for us, b ut also fo r the good of socie ty. we are tol d , Yo u ,...o uld n't wan t so me d ru n k to ge t arr este d fo r manslau ghter when he sm ea rs you on the grill of hi s Mer e just because your du mb brains got hat ch ed. wou ld yo u ? It is far be tte r fo r yo u to live o n as a vegetable than have that o n yo ur co n science . Th is co m p ulso ry self-pro tec tio n ide a is very popular with gove rnme nts, at least as far as it co ncerns us bikers, and we are all flat t er ed by o ur go vernmen t's in terest in ou r welfare . In fact , I'm so moved by all this officia l co nce rn that I' d like to su ggest so me further steps in this direc tion th at co uld be taken toward the ultimate protection of us poor, dumb bikers , wh o can't loo k out fo r ourse lf. 1. Make bike rs wear guns. If helme ts are great p rotection, a big pist ol is even be tter. Wo rn o n t he hip o r in a sho ulder h a I s t e r , this accessory would immediately get t he attentio n of larger ve hic le drivers in the traffic mix and encourage the m to give bikers o ur share of the road . I reco mm en d t hat th e Highway Safety Department set o ur gu n standards at .38 Magn um or bigger, for I'v e bee n tol d th at guns o f thi s type can crack an automo bile engi ne block at short r a n ge , and th at kind of perfo rman ce co uld prevent a lot o f "accide n ts ... ' 2. Make galoshes mandatory when it is wet o u tside. Sta ti stics prove that the co m mo n co ld kills mor e bike rs th an cras he s. In light o f the new po licy of mandat ory sel f-preservation, it is on ly reasonable th a t stupid ' bikers be for ced to protect them selves aga inst this dr ead d isease. If their mommas won 't make 'em , th e p oli ce mu st. 3. Force bikers to wear belts and suspenders to hol d their pants up . 'The reasoning beh in d this follo ws th e sam e logic as a po pul ar argu men t in favo r of th e curr en t helm e t laws. Bikers wh o get injured take up valuable sp ace in governme n t supported ho sp it als and waste doctors' ti me wi tho ut bein g abl e to pay their medical bills. Those with busted heads at leas t con trib u te vital o rgans for transplant in othe r patien ts, but what abo u t the psychologically stri cken bi ker? lie is too well to cu t up fo r science , but st ill gets treatment at state cost. Therefore bikers mu st be preven ted fro m doing th emselv es psycho logical damage , and sin ce it is a kno wn fact t ha t most bikers have big be llies fro m dri nking beer, their pan ts are in co nstan t da nge r o f fal ling down , exp os in g th em to ridicule, wit h a strong probabilit y of psych ol o gical tr auma as a result. Few bik er s guar d agai nst this hazar d vo lun tarily , so we must be co m pelle d by fo rce o f law to fasten our pants on with belt and suspenders. I see there co uld be a problem where one-piece rid in g sui ts are co nce rned , bu t I think a Sam Brown type gun bel t (see su ggestion No.1 ) would satisfy the letter of t he law. I feel ce rta in th at th e Department of Tran sport ation and th ose legislators who vo ted for the present hel met laws will gra sp th e logic o f m y su ggestions and enact them o n our be half. Th e helmet laws have pointed the wa y, let's not stop progress now. CC Ou, boy th,ows caution to the winds-you should stand upwind when you do that Last week I fished my AMA Report out of my mashed p ot at oes (where the Wife had tossed it) and chanced to see that nominations are open for Class "A" members on the A.J\ IA Board of Trustees. (One for ea ch of three regions). No w let's see . . . wh o do I kn ow that I'd trust u p t he re in Weste rvill e ? I tho ught and t ho ugh t, for all of 30 seconds, and nom in at ed myself. Yeah , I kn ow, goo d sp ortsm an shi p says you sho uld wait fo r so mebody else to nominat e you , but I'm n o t ge tt ing any yo ung er . Beside s, they'll on ly put th e top five nominees (in terms of no min ati on s received ) o n t he ballot , so I imagine the A:' IA is safe this year. In the same A~IA Report Ed Youngbl oo d lam en ts abo ut ho w t he Association's budgeteers are agonizi ng over raising t he dues nex t year. He 's righ t about everything costing mo re money. 'The AMA Report itself. even though the A~ IA ge ts a cheap bulk mail rate on it, probab ly gobb les abo ut a do llar out of each member's d ues in a year. And those special mailings like the one that aroused Florida bikers to save the Croo m area and those o th er special political alerts, the y all ta ke a first class stamp . If you've eve r sent out club flyers. yo u 've got at least a small idea ho w much m on ey in postage a mass mailing ca n go b ble u p at 10 ce n ts each. It co st s S100 to 5300 to fly Gene Wirwhan or Ro b Rasor across the co untry to pu t out a po litical brushfire in yo ur state, and we wish we co uld affo rd to send more guys to mo re, plac es . Well, we can ' I. Not with only 140,00 0 m em bers - n ot rep resen ting a bare o ne percen t of Am erica's bi kers . Th e AMA 's impe nding budgetary crisis is a membership crisis in disguise . Facts are fac ts. Out o f the total th at dues brin g in, you pay fo r t he fix ed costs like t he building and th e ele ctricity ; you pa y every body's salary and figure it like it was a fix ed cost; then if there's no th ing left o ver , you go t to find more money . That means hi gher dues or more members. if you want m or e serv ices . I thin k we 've already seen in the past year alo ne wha t an aroused , politicall y-ac ti ve AM A ca n do for riders ' rights. Saving Bar sto w-to-Vegas. Avoiding land-closure. Buck ing th e helmet laws. Givin g the lie to ligh ts-o n laws where they ex ist. If t here 's any co m p lain t about the acco m p lishmen t so fa r , it ca n only be "lao li ttle, too lat e. " And that , m y fri en ds, is where m oney makes the difference. So if yo u 're a card-carrying AMA mem ber, you like what's been do ne so far , and you 'd rather not see your dues go up, yo u go t o ne thing yo u ca n do for yo ur own benefi t - sign so mebody up! An d th at's my "platform," su ch as it is. If elec ted (h rump, kaff) I promise (wheeze) to pu t the AMA on a mem ber sh ip drive . Do n 't give me th at " the AMA is gro wing nicel y " stuff, eit her. If the MI A dou bles its mem bership t his year it will re pre sen t a whopping tw o percen t o f th e b ik ers and st ill be str apped fo r cash. I'm ta lking abo ut starti ng righ t now, without any big, expensive ca mpaign. to use the st rength the A;\IA has righ t no w to b ootstrap itse lf to a hal f-million me mbers o r more . It wo n 't cost any more th an it takes to obtain a stro ng commit me nt fro m the k \ IA heirarchy and mo nit or the mail. The program is simplicity itself. At ch ar ter renewal ti me, every club is asked to pledge itself to sign up 100 new k \ IA mem be rs during ' 19 76. Note I say "asked," not forced. Rather t han beat any bo d y over the head , just set up an " honor ro ll" w i th app ropriate re co gn it ion fo r the clu bs th at co me thro ugh o n th eir pledge-, Next , spon so r a co m pe tition for the firs t cl u b to top 1000 ne w sign-ups. Give a pri ze tha t's reall y worth it, lik e a free t our to Daytona fo r the whole club. Hey, wh y not ? The first club 10 do it will h ave bro ught in $6 ,000 to $ I 0,000, not co un t ing th e take from the efforts o f all the other clubs trying to win it . You co uld afford to sp lurge a bit. Now there are abo ut 1500 chartered AMA cl ub s. If most of them' ho nored a 100 new mem ber pledge, the AMA wou ld d ouble in size. ' An d if the (say ) t op 100 clubs in t he coun try re all y hump to win the bi ggie , the Association co uld almost double aga in. Hey, wh y bother to elect me ? Do it anyway, AMA. Lane Campbell Take, for instance , the " Manage men t Alternatives for the Kern Plateau Planning Uni t of th e Sequoia National Forest." It consists of four alternatives presented to th e public for opinions on wh ich one would be the best for future use of "Kennedy Meadows " and adj oi n ing lan ds. For a motorcycle rider Alternative D would seem to be the logi cal choice as it provides . for the most trail m ileage in th e area. Reading closely , it proposes a road into Casa Vieja and access thereby to Mon ache Meado ws. It provides for year-round access to a "winter sports" ar ea in the Sherman Peak area and it proposes a Wilderness study area for the Rock House Basin adjacent to Dome Land which could mean limitation of veh icular use in the fu ture. Alternativ e C di ffers in that it maximizes usage for recreational activities with additional facilities and would em phasize increased commercial timber activity. It also provides for development of the Sherman Peak win ter sports area, if needed. Since the o ther two alternatives are p ro gressively more restrictive of vehi cle use throughout the Kern Plate au , either o f these two, C or D, would appear to be the preferred choice fo r a motorcycle rider. Just a m in ute , though . As a long time user of the area I feel a sel fish motive co m in g on. I picture the var ious are as in which I have ridden - to J ackass Peak, up to Monache, across the tr ails to th e west, Indian Rock, the views of Smith Meadows and Casa Vieja , the clear air and fre sh waters in the river and st reams and I suddenly become very possessive. I h ave watched the re cent en croachment on these areas by in creasing nu mbers of people and I do no t want to share it with many more. The inroads from timbering interests, th e overcrowding of cam ping areas, the increasing two and four wheel drive traffic and the resulting increase of con trols due to these numbers can only double and triple in th e year s to come. Recreational activiti es increase with the year s, as witness Yo sem ite as a prime examp le. The Sequoia Natio nal Forest has been fortunate in that its use has bee n somewhat minimal by comparison . However, its proximity to the L A. area m ar ks it fo r future inundation. My sel fish interests said : Leave it closed in the win ter as long as possible because sn owmobiles, skiers, sigh t-seers and esp ecially snow plows will invade it. Discourage overuse of th e roads and trails by great er numbers of users. Do not publicize it in an y way . Remove all signs th at point th e way up Nine Mile Canyon. Insist th at the Forest Service implement Alte rnative A which ad vocates the strictest limitation on recre ation in and access to the Kern Plateau. When finally filling out the form I therefo re dis regarded my feeling as a motorcycle rider who would wish fo r more trai ls to ride and more campgrounds and m ore roads to get there' and voted in favor of leaving it as it is. I am not an avid environmentalist, but I can see the value of preserving this area as long as possible against the onslaught of bikes, campers, trailers, lo ggin g industry and the people who go with them. Nancy J ohnson C'J ~ !l) ..Q E !l) ..... 0.. !l) Cf'J ~ .. 41

• Cover