Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

re the expert by contracting Universit y of Southern California 's Dr . Harry Hurt to build a crack accident investigation te am, investigate Los Angeles area bike acci de nts in p ar allel to the po lice, and eventually show the whole safety "establishment " how it sh o u ld have been do ne . Until Dr. Hurt 's resul ts are in (and that's at least a year and a half away), it's safe to say that mo st "safety st udies " done so fa r are p roducts of a statistical jungle - in which anybody can prove any thing, depen d ing o n ho w t he dat a (itself fa u lty) is rigged. For individ uals and respo nsib le organi zations that want to get furt her invo lved in stan dards revisio n , gro up meetings and discussio ns may be set up by calling Mr. Fred W. Vetter, Jr. , Asso ciation Administrator for Traffi c Safe t y Pro grams, . (202) 426-0 83;. Comment closing dat e is April 21. BLM 's proposed Eureka Dunes Plan This map say s in a nutshell wh at th e Bure au pl ans to do wi th Eureka Valley 's un ique san d dune fo rmat io ns . Ne arly two th irds of t he dune area will be close d and st udied for a possibl e Outstanding Na tu ral Area. The Op en Area (what the re is o f it ) will be restricted to day use only, and no co mpetitio n even ts . Deadline fo r p u blic co m men t on the plan is Mar ch 15, at th e Bakersfield District Adviso ry Board meeting. (See "Happenings. " ) Proposed open/closed areas . (inside dotted boundary ) " - - - - -- - - - -~ be havi our is underminin g t he good work done by the Trail Riding Fellowship . . . "The au tho ri t ies are inclined to lump all off road riding into one category. Hardly a week goes by without trials being referred to as scrambles by ill-informed county council officials, and the distinction between trial riding and trail riding is beyond their comprehension." Sound familiar? They've even got their own version of the Sierra Clu b , the "Friends of the Lake District," who spy on bikers' wrongdoings and keep the lo cal constabulary stirred u p. If yo u t hin k t he kind o f freedom we e njo y, eve n t ho ugh lim it ed , is not worth the effort to defend, chec k o u t the si tu ation where people live in each o thers' hip po ckets. It11 open yo ur eyes . HAPPENINGS BLM - UTAH STATE MULTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD Mee t ing Mar ch 4, Ro deway Inn , 129 2 S. University Ave. , Pro vo , Ut ah. ORVs no t o n agenda : b ut pu bli c m ay reco m mend to pics fo r fu ture mee t ings. Contact St ate Director , Utah St at e Office , BLM, P.O . Box 11 505 , Salt Lake City , Utah 84 14;. In fo Ph: (8 0 1) 524-53 1 1. BLM - WYOMING WORLAND DISTRICT MULTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD Meetin g Mar ch 11·1 2 9 a.m . , Stockgrowers State Bank, Worl and, Wyo . Or gani zatio n al meeting and survey programs. For public of BLM participation , contact ' Dist. Manager, BLM, Box 119 , Worlan d, Wyo . 8 24 0 1 or call (30;) 34;-6 151. BLM - WYOMING CASPER DISTRICT ADVISORY BOARD -- Meeting 9 :00 a.m , March 4- 5 at t he Ramada Inn, Casper, Wyoming. Open to public with limited time for oral st atements. To spea k, contact BL\I Caster District , P.O . Box 280, Casp er, Wyoming 82 6 02 . Ph: (3 0 7) 26 5-55 50 .ex t, 5244 by February 27. ~. BLM - COLORADO MONTROSE DISTRICT MULTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD / Mi o ~l-es _---I1 _ J. We're not alone Not o nly are California off-readers not alo ne with th eir problems, b ut things could be worse. Wit ness t he qu otes from English foll owing trai l/ tr ials co lumnis t Ral p h Venables: "On Dece mber 21 , a doze n idiots came over the open moors from Peni sto ne . According to the Peak Park warden wh o saw them , they were riding scrambles ma chines with kn obbly ti res and in efficient silen cers . . . " Few suc h m o rons unde rs tan d the diff er en c e b et w een foo tpaths, bridleways and byways and are too lazy to check .. . Th ese are the folk whose Meeting Mar ch 4, 9 a.rn ., Montrose Dist, O ffi ce, Hwy 550 South, Montro se, Co. Organizational meeting and re vie w of BLM programs. Op en to public ; to make written or oral co m m ent, co n t act Montrose Dist, Manager, P.O. Box 1269, Montrose, Co. 8 14 0 I or ca ll (3 03) 249·7791. BLM - CALIFORNIA BAKERSFIELD DIST. MULTIPLE USE ADVISORY BOARD Meeting Mar ch 25-26 a t th e Federal Bldg., 800 T ruxto n Avc ., Bakersfie ld, Ca. On agenda : J awbone Canyon and Du n e special desi gn E ure k a management, torto ise preserve . ha zard abatemen t. Op en to public with brie f time for o ral st atem en ts. No tif y o r send wr itten co m men ts to Dist, Manager, BLM , 80 0 Truxton Ave. , Rm . 3 11, Bakersfie ld. CA 9 3301 o r ca ll (805 ) 86 1-4 19 1 for mo re info . .' Oh, if I were King • • • I finally figured out what's w ro n g w ith us bikers. It came to m e aft er I re ad J ohn Huet t er 's lament on how shu t-out we are fro m the halls of p ower in Washingt on ; o n top o f so meb ody else's lamen t o n how ineffec tive we 've been in saving the de sert for desert racers; o n top of some dealer's lament on ho w mo t ocross is dying be ca use th ere 's no pl ace to ride in Greate r L.A. ; on to p of a par k operator's lamen t on how useless it is to try t o ge t a wor kable use p ermit hidebound o ut of his co unty 's bureauc racy . You kno w what o ur problem is? Democracy ! Yeah, we m otorcyclists have to live with majority rule where the majority co uld care less about motorcycles. It 's d isgusting. And since th e majority is ac t ually horrified by the responsibility o f governing itself, it has abdicated pretty m uch t he whole mess to bureaucrats, who in turn behave like ersa tz ki ngs in th e name of the great nameless m ajori ty . So we go pleading to o ne set of bureau crats for land to ride on, be g ano t her set n ot to outlaw o u r mo torcycles a lto gether, and snivel a lot. Now if we had a real King, we co uld quit sn ivelin g an d do something. Sin ce th e last real Kin g perished in some d amned re vo lutio n, most o f us have forgotten how o ne o pera tes; but I've b ee n doing so me historical res earch. Here 's the scoop. A real no-nonsense Kin g would ga t he r him sel f a well-disciplined, fanat ically loyal army of bikers and march on the seat of power [p rovid ing he can find it) to de clare his kin gdom. Having done th at, he would reward each of his lo yal followers with a fiefdom o f not less than 10 ,000 acres, co mp le te with fiefs to do the wo r k. (Which tends to explain the afo resaid fan atical lo ya l ty. ] He would then rule wi th an iron hand, making decisions for the benefit of his loyal followers and putting down unrest with the even-handed ruthlessness good Kings are noted for. I know the logic of such rule m ay dismay some of you; but before yo u denounce the whole idea as anti-so cia l, co nsider the advantages . First , t here'd be far Jess crim e th an there is today. The main reaso n th ere 'd be less crime is t hat there'd be fewer laws to br eak. In fact , there'd be only o ne basic law: don' t displease th e Kin g. Second, there'd be less poverty may be no p overty a t all. Sin ce bikers wo u ld be ca rd-car ryin g nobility under the King's r ule , they'd be rich in the th ings t hat matter ed (o pen land, open ro ad s, plen ty of moto rcy cles an d the to enj o y the m ). The free dom co m mo ners get to hu stl e aft er everyth ing e lse (d u m b th ings li ke mo ney , fancy houses, jewelry) : and sin ce t here 'd be n o bureaucracy to define poverty, wh o 'd know they were po o r ? There 'd be less p ollution and less energy waste be cau se o ne of the first thin gs to go down under the King's rule would be the abo lit io n 0 f all those leadbarge ca rs. As every bo dy kn ows, walking will improve th e public health of the co m m o ners. As to the King and his nobility, th ey11 be he al thy be cause they ride motorcycles. There 'll be less unemployment, be ca use the Kin g and his n ob ility will keep any vagrant co m m oners busy building mo t orcycl es - by hand, of course , to fu rther save energy. . Yes , having the right Kin g aro und co uld really solve a lo t of o ur co n tem po rary problems. But in case yo u've no tic ed , good Kings are hard to find, although there 's no lack of volunteers . Since I've given up on be ing a Democratic candidate for President (I hate crowds) I think I'd make a pretty OOd King. I'm fairly tall, stem of .Visage when I'm not laughing), loud of voi ce an abso lu t e must for a King), and stubborn. Good Kin g's go tta be stubborn. f But like I sa id, th ere 's no lack for can d ida tes. When Jody Weise l ca me to work here , his job ap plica t io n read : "Po sirion desired - King. We m ade him an editor instead , and Weisel's been o w ly ever sin ce . Bob Bitchin over at Biker , he stands six foo t three , wei ghs 3 0 0 pounds, and . is firm ly ' co nvinced th at he is Kin g. Or at lea st a reasonable facsim ile o f Attila th e Hun . No ne o f us are b ig eno ugh to convince him t hat th is is a del usio n . All of which brin gs u p the other problem with us b ikers. We all want to be Kin gs. And deep down , when we 're riding fr ee , we all are. H Lane Campbell ... 37

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