Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

was tossed aside. Dirt had fall en into the cases. Ma rland clea ned out t he cases as throughoug hly as possib le with a towel and cotton swabs. dumped the transmi ssion oil a nd refilled it with a quart of fre sh stuff, The banana-split eating contest Later in th e even ing . after another • weight·t rain ing session . the gro u p trundled int o two vans to go to Swenso n's Ice Cream Parlor in Lak e Ta hoe. Two days before th e sch ool started. Marland had ea te n a large stea k dinner a nd announced he was sti ll hungry afte r he had finished . He headed to Swenson's where he at e three ba na na sp lits. The Swens on 's ban ana spl its arc qui te large: one is. enough for most mortals. Somebody ba ck at the lod ge had scoffed at Marland's three-split feat and a nnou nced he could consume four with no trouble . T he challenge was on . After the Support class had been run (Mary and Debb ie. had a little co ntes t -going as to which one could eat a whole bana na sp lit. Both di d ; De bbie won on elapsed time and e nt h usias m sco res .) . t h e inte re st tu rned to th e m ain eve n t. T he cha llenger was in trouble a fter th; seco nd split, despite the fa ct that Swenson's had ru n out of whipped cream. Marland was busy ordering him the sweetest things on the mc;nu· · watermelon sherbet (comp lete with seeds), bubb le gum ice crea m (with rea l bubb le gum ) and marshmallow topping. The challenger ground to a , halt on the third one and Whaley was announccd th e victor due to the whipped cream differential. Frankly , t he cha lle nger wa sn 't looking too well as we piled int o the vans for th e t rip hom e , Sure eno ug h. t he lead van pu lled over a nd a hea d came out th e door and puked. T he ride ba ck was quite brisk, no t too settling for a n upset sto m ach . Referring to th e " T ea m Hond a " painted on th e ba ck window. Ma rland sa id . " I probab ly kill more sal es th at . way .. .cutting pe opl e off. " Wednesday morning was sp ent doing a few more parking lot exercises and then dividing the class among the mstructors for more inst ruction on individua l problems and interests, I went with Lane to work on off-camber situa tions . while Wha ley a nd Egga r departed with students bo u nd for roc k ledges a nd other tri als specia lties , The session wit h Leavitt was very hel p fu l. O ne of W haley's students gave high rna rks for thei r session . W hen lu nch was finished . Marland , Mary and I set back and discussed Marland's career. It was laun ched seven years ago after Marland got an interest in b ikes because the neighbor across th e st reet had them . He rode h is first trails on a Hodaka 100 ; th en his dad bought him a 1970 Montesa Cora . He advanced to th e Am eri can Trials Assn . (AT A) :\iasters class 'in two ve ars . Ab o ut th at tim e Monr esa ~ta rted giving him a br ..a k on bikes and parts. In 197 3 he made his first t rip to Eu rop e . co m pe ting in th e Spanish r ound of t h e W orld C ham pio nship trials . He fin ish ed 33rd rid ing on an illeg al licen se .beca use he was on ly 14 years o ld . Lat r th at yea r. i he fir st U.S . tri a ls c ha m pio nship was held . a one -d av affair in Port Huron . :-'1ich . Ma rlan'd too k a fifth . T he foll owin g ye a r was t h e N orth Americ an T ria ls Coun cil ( NATC) series and 1\13 rland rod e to seco nd place in the se ries beh ind La ne Le avitt . The past three yea rs Marland ha s won : t h e National Tri al s Cha m pio nship for Honda. It has been said that Whaley isn't a " na tural rider" in the Bernie Schreiber mold . b u t rather a ti reless worker wh o devotes lo ng hours ' of pra ctice to becoming th e best. Marland scoffs at th e idea. " How ca n become number 't . ' • • IAbove) The National Trials Champ and his best gir l. (Below) Over a school obstacle. one without natu ral talent ? I proba bly practice. th e least of them (the top riders) . maybe two or three times a week . You can't practice that much, you get burnt out. I feel best wh en 1 tak e off for two weeks. " • Talking about people wh o are close to him . Marland said of his parents; "T hey' re th e most important fa ct or in m y success . There's no .wa y 1 cou ld ha ve been number one with out them ." Lo v e in .Driver's Ed Mary and Marland hav e been goin g together for nearly four yea rs . T hey met in a d river's ed uc a tio n class. a midst whi spers of "guess who likes ·s. M a r y yo u" a nd fu rt ive gl an c< ~a t he red her co u rage on" da y a nd d ro p p e d h e r ph one numb er i n Marl and's lock er. He call ed her th at n igh t. They've been togeth er cver since a n d now Ma ry goes with Marland to as manv Nat ion als as possib le. " I spend m ~st of my time with her." sa id Marland . So me t imes it's been a litt le dangerou s for Ma ry. On e time she was riding do u ble with Marland a nd they were rid ing up a nd down Sadd leback's Matterhorn . " My jea ns ca ught on fire a nd 1 co u ld n' t say a ny t h i n g . 1 wa s j ust go i n g " u h .. . uh .. .uh" a nd, Marl and was .. looking from one side to the other trying to figure if somebody was go ing to hi t us," Wh aley wants to get into stunt rid ing. " I was offe red the part in Freebie a nd th e B eml but 1 had to turn it d own because 1 was too young and couldn't miss any m or e school." he said . " I' d like to get int o it because it's qui ck mon ey and I ca n do som e pretty spect ac u lar things on a bike." Movie p rod ucers tak e note. 1\Iarlan d a lso thinks about get tinK into mot ocross. Last yea r Hon da gave him an Elsinore and he practiced on it of tcn.. sometimes riding with Ma rt y Sm it h . who lives ncarby--b ut he has never ra ced . La ter on in th e day, Marland , La ne . a nd Debbi... a nd two you'ngsters ' headed off on ska te bo a rds for a three

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