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/126250
(Op p . page) A l Martinez and Brad Oxley pos e in what th ey thought would be one of th e last photos eve r taken of them alive . (Inset) Larry Huffman after the ordeal. (A bove lef t) Wat er that saved their lives lies behind a visibly happy Harry Oxley. (A bove). Ma rtinez and Brad Oxley at th eir ca m p near Pole Lin e Road. Th e group survive d and returned to th e Unit ed States. But one of th eir TT500s was go ne when th ey returned to retrieve it. small spring. but the water didn't look worth drinking . They were low on water and gas; but. they thought. their destination was near by. Harry stashed his glasses in a pocket a nd t hey were on their way . It was. 5:00 p.m. when they should have reached the ranch . Instead. they were just completing a trea chero us descent down th e side of th e mounta in and were on 'their way across the d esert when Al became th e first to run out of gas . H is 200 ·plus pound weight had decreased the m ilea ge of his bike more than th e others. No trouble , the ranch cou ld n' t be that far away. they thought. Huffman sta yed behind with AI as th e Oxl eys went on a hea d to see jf there was a pla ce where they could find some gas. Twenty mil es out , Harry and Br ad finally realized wh ere th ey really wer e. and it was not good. "I felt that we screw ed up when AI ran out of gas." sai d Harry about their prelude to disast er . "a nd felt th at a lilli e scouti ng would find OUI where we wer~ . I felt th at ma ybe we went a little too far in looking for a ranch o for help. We popped over a little hill , and that's when we rea lized that we were in Laguna Salada . And I said , 'Oh, Christ !" And that's when the light popped. " Oxley transferred what lit tle fuel that was in his b ike into Bra d's . hid the empty Ya ma ha in the bus hes of an arroyo . ana doub led up with his son for the trip back. As they got within sight of Larry a nd AI. Brad's bike became th e th ird machine to run ou t. Oxley was sha ken by the knowledge that all four were now in grea t danger , The situat ion as it stoo d. with th e darkness closing .in . l:IJ>Pn them .. w:ts that they were almost out of gas and water with no hope of finding a ny where th ey were . The on ly possible solution was to get out - som ebody had to get out - and find help . gas . and wat er soon . T his wou ld make a ll the differen ce between su rvival and wait ing to die. Harry Oxl e y . while bein g e x pe r ie nced with the area. wa s su fferi ng from a bad shoulder and knee . aside fro m the fa ct th at he co u ld n ' t see without hi s g lasses. Martinez was too ou t o f sha pe to m ak e it on his own. Br ad , whil e being th e best rid er of th e group . was co nsi de red by his fa ther to be too you ng to go it a lone . Huffman , th en. was no t on ly th eir last resort . but the onl y hop e th ey h a d . L ar r y's e xce lle m phys ica l co ndi tion made him th e only logical cho ice for th e trip back . The o nly drawback, however , was h is rel at ive new~ess to bi ke rid ing wh ich co u ld be a decid ing . factor to his success . All things co nsidered eq ua l. he had to go ba ck up the mount ain as far as possib le on his bike and th en hike to Independen cia for help. It was now night and very cold as everybod y tried to get some sleep. All a ny body could do was hope and hope for the best. 6:30 a .m . . Sunday, February 6th ; With the ground sti ll damp from the night before. Huffman started up and began his journ ey for help . H is m ission a nd fu ture were uncertain a t best. Wit h Larry gone . the import ant th ing for everybody to do was to ma intain th eir morale .' Good mor al e is an important fa cto r to su rviv a l. Harry set up a pool to see wh at tim e Huffman would re tu rn . The need for wat er became critical .. as the ' hot " 's'u ~ began te: dn ve" th e tem perat ure up to 80·. With no wat er around . cacti had bec ome appeal ing . Experiments were made: ' sm all cacti produced lOIS of juice: but wer e 100 biller to drink . Larger spe cimens were too dry and pu lpy. Barrel cactus was d iscover ed to be just perfect : not biller at all. not too pulpy. and the ju ice tasted re asonably good . A ch unk of cact us would be wrapped in a cloth. th en sq ueezed to extract th e j uice. At .noon . Larry had nor' returned . and everybody was unsure about his fat e . Perh aps, wh ile riding for hel p . he h ad slippe d off a dew covered ro ck on the narrow tra il and fall en int o the rocks at th e foot of the mountain . No body co u ld tell . and they decided to . hike to th e top themselves and try to make it there by sunset. Before leaving. Harry. Br ad and -At a rra nged their discarded helmets . leat he rs a nd motorc ycles int o an a rro w that po inted in that d ir ect ion that th ey would be travelling - just in case an a irpla ne came by, The hike proved to be mu ch more difficult than they had hoped . The course that took them down th e mounta in ra n into a sandwash. The uphill hike . along with th e deep.. soft sand of th e wash . quickl y drained them of th eir ene rgy. For 12 mil es th ey hel d on until the heat . d ehydration and ex haust ion made them too ragged to go on an y more. Brad co lla psed . a nd AI co uld no longer move. Ox ley searched for more cactus 10 replenish th e fluids tha t th ey had swea ted off. T he barrel c a ct us that he ha d fou nd qu ickl y restored their spi rits. T hree m ore cac ti were stri pped , cu t a nd squeezed fo r th e ir j u ice . whi c h p rovid ed eve rybod y wi th e no ug h strength to sta rt. a [ire .a ntl pit ch ca mp for the nig ht. . . .~ . , . Concurrent to the expe riences of his three companions, Huffman had made it over the top and down th e side of the mo untain on h is bike unti l it ra n out of gas. The spot where he stopped was near th e water hole tha t had been discovered the day before , Larry checked it out . but the water looked too ba d to drink. Not knowing that' a perfectl y good supply of drinking wat er was sta ri ng h im in th e face . Larry hik ed on to find help . Several miles out. the effects of the o rdea l was beginning to take its toll on Larry - he began to feel faint from heat exhaustion and deh ydration . Ii was enough to try his faith : Would God give m e some . gas and water' thought Huffman. But the demand was reduced to JUSt water as his desperation grew. As he was preparing to colla pSI' and ultimately cash in his chi ps. Larry rounded a turn a nd d iscovered that, though he didn't know it at the tim e. he was back at Rancho Nuevo . The shack that had always been there seemed to have appeared out of nowhere . A miracle perhaps? Maybe, since nobody had not iced it on th e way up . The shack was bare inside . except for a chair. 'ta ble a nd a n oil drum sto ve . In back . Larry thou gh t tha t somebody was sta ndi ng outside ; but it was really a cow a t a t rou gh toking on a sa lt lick . The heat and dehydration had bee n pla ying tricks with his mi nd. . La rr y walked out b ac k beyond th e tro ugh a nd m a de th e greatest . if not th e m ost ·sign ificant d iscovery of the da y: a pon d of wat er . After spending som e time at the pond to refresh himse lf. Larry returned to the shack a nd found a Sparkletts plastic water ju g . Fo llowing }!