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/126068
ENORTHERN DATE~ ~ t ~ rO"l ,...., :-. V .0 o ..... u o (Above) Tahoe at dawn Sunday. Boy , it's early! (Below) A road ride, enduro-style with clock & flip cards. Everything ran from dressers to knobb ies. Something different: CERA's road enduro: By Mike Kinsella LIVERMO RE, CAL., SEPT. 18-19 What when rid es riders does an enduro ride r do he has a free weekend? He a street enduro. Abou t 60 se t out on the weeke nd gran d tour ro ad ride set up by th e Californ ia En duro Rid ers Association. It was a to ur wit h checkpoints. time cards an d plenty of time-distance figuring. Classes we re de te rm ine d by engine size ' -as well as so lo an d partn er. Two to a bi ke was the b est se t up. Most riders de pe n de d on wives and girlfriends to navi gate and do "th e mathem atics while th ey conc en tr at ed o n p ilo ting. The co m pe ti t io n began to leave Livermore at 10 :00 a.m , Satu rd ay mornin g. T he firs t day 's t rek wou ld take th em . to South Shore, Tahoe. .T h ey began by go ing n orth acr oss t he ran geland of the Livermore V alley by " way of two lan e co u n ty road s which angled toward th e San J o aquin River in long, stra igh t st retches. Across t he river was th e fir st chec k and then the road swerved through th e coastal hills to Lake Berryessa wh ere the se co nd chec k was loc ated. This cool, sunny m orn ing was perfect for a ride through the low, brown moun tains wh er e th e roads weaved and glided onward like the ba ck of a Iong bla ck sna ke. The road ride is a smooth , calm , forward progression acro ss y iel d ing terrain . A t La ke Berryessa th e cou rse turns east to head for th e high Sierras. It 's aft ernoon now and th e riders shed jac ke ts to soak up th e warmth th at sp read s over th e n at landscap e. Travelin g on throu gh sm all valley towns like Winters and Mary sville u ntil in the east the mo untains appear ove r the ho rizo n and above the crests the re are bi g, fat rain cl ouds jumbled up like whipped cream on sh o rt ca ke. Time for a qu ick lun ch a nd a gas up in Grass Valle y. T hen it's th e third ch ec k in th e foo th ills. Up u ntil now th e ch ec ks have been far apart, buL the fourth chec k is on ly 25 m iles up th e ro ad. T h is litt le tric k b y C.E .R .A. bl ows a lot of zeros! T he rid ers are havin g too mu ch fu n to car e mu ch, though . With eve ry th ou sand fo ot rise in elevation eng ine s ' run a littl e richer u ntil th ey ' begin . to blubber a nd th e ri der s are start ing to fee l a litt le so re and hard pressed the m selves. But so o n they are looking down on La ke Tah oe an d the end of th e first d ay . Food, rest and