Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

., paC Inq Makin' tracks at Coyote Creek By Donald E.L. Betsworth How does a forty five 'm ile ro und trip summer ride , starting at 4300 feet and topping out at 10,350 sound to you? This ride is possible as my son and I have had the pleasure of making it all the way once and two -thirds of the way the second time. On the t '. N I F'ORO FLAr ", - , r' 1'1, H , ' H~"'C."'IIACI( 12 110u,..0 ".... Mor. ;,~ "" I') second trip we ran into a slight problem , weather . You start out on the outskirts of Bishop, California and ride a lm ost due south , but with , it seems , a thousand turns to end up in a beautiful heavil y for ested and boulder-covered area . There are a few conditions that you should meet before a tt em pting this ride . 1. Stay on th e roads, and don't chase th e ca ttle or wild life . 2 . Go prepared for any kind of weather. It could be hot, cold , wet , or perfect on any given day. 3. The biggest and most important . a silencer and spark arrester that works. Items 1 and 3 will cause you NO HASSLE as you never know where you m igh t run into Forest Ra ngers. BLM , or Fish and Game people . This is too nice ' an area to screw up for ot her scooter riders. Usually you will not see many humans . O n both of our trips we sa w a total of six people on the road . and we were the only bikers. This area is rather different as it has so many jurisdictions. You start in City of Los Angeles land , cross into BLM land . then into the Inyo National Forest . and then about half way you cross bits and pieces of private land (p lease observe any signs ). Start with a full fuel tank and you r bike jetted down. W e use premium gas. a 210 jet on m y son's 360 Yammie and a 110 on my 185 Suzie, They' seem . at least to me . to run super , Carry basic tools, extra plugs as some bikes seem to have a tendency-to foul out on the long down hill run. My Suzuki handles this OK with a regular plug but the Yamaha needs a gold one to keep running, One other item you sho uld carry is a good tow rope. Take a lu n c h as there are no McDonald's or De nny's along the way. Take a canteen as the water at the start and at th e end is OK, but in between the cattle use it for a bathtub, O n our first trip here in 1975 the weather was excellent for bike riding. the sky was clear with just a few fleecy clouds , th e temperature was warm at the start and quite cool a t th e end , At about twenty miles in we went through a cattle gate (please close after go in g in or ou t) , then watch the bou lde rs in the roa d , I th ink th ey have a com plete dislike for bike riders. O n the way in I kissed a nice ro und. half buried piece of granite. m y rear end kicked around and I slid into a beer barrel sized hunk of rock that made my shift lever into a corkscrew. Luckily it didn't break off; neither did my foot. On the way out my son and riding partner tried to copy my act, hit a similar rock (they look like half buried medicine balls). and tried to ride parallel to and three, feet off of the ground . This type of showmanship was not successful and he landed upside down in a bed of rocks . He was very lucky, one bent lever , a small dent in the pipe. a skinned knee , and a few gree n spots some people call bruises , We also had an interesting incident in 1975 , as we came upon a small group of Piut e Ind ians ca mping at th e end of the road . Most of them were very sh y and would not talk or even come near us , but two old women were not afraid and talked with us at some length , They found it hard to believe and a little crazy for us to hav e ridden that far to suc h a beautiful place, stay about one hour a nd turn around and leave , We thou~ht so too , Our chat with them was very Interesting. as t hey were reservation India ns and the older ones were teaching the little ones how to be Indians. The oldest of the women told us that the biggest town or city she had been in was Bishop and that her father was born just a mil e awa y on Baker Creek. If you like to camp and can carry the necessary gear, camp at the end of the road or lock up you r bikes and hike a couple of miles to Baker Lake. The scenery is superb and th e fishing is great. ' How to get there - To find th e starting point , drive to the middle of Bishop. tum left on Highway 168 (W est Line Road) and proceed 2.7 miles to Reata Roa d . This is just after Izaak Walton Park. Tum left and go about one mile. The road will start bearing left , continue left 0.1 mile to the intersection of Coyote Valley R oa d and Underwood Lane. Follow the dirt road south past the power co mpany installation and park under the power lines. . Now to start the ride , We began this year on August n ineteen th wit h the weather not looki ng to good. In fact it was a "stay home with your girl a nd a bottle of wine" type day. The b ikes un loaded and gass ed up. we kicked them into life and went up the dirt road keeping that "Ya ney" mine on our (Continue d on page J2)

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