Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

and then left for a session with the weights. They did pull-ups on a conveniently-located sprinkler pipe , I and forearm curls in front of the mirror behind the bar. Marland's I girlfriend, Mary Slobig. matched him , I move for move during one series of exercises . Marland had a 12'pound bar in each hand . Mary used a pa ir of ta ble candles. Aft er weight lifting and showers, the group expanded to include Debbie Evans and me . Piling , into a Toyota four -wheel drive Landcruiser , we headed for a campfire on the upper meadow. Marland kept the group in hysterics with tales of misadventures ' on th e National trials ci rcu it. On the way b ack , he decided ' to "trials ride" the hood of th e ' car. Leavitt , th e driver. did what he could to make it a most difficult section. but Whaley, .clea ned it. . "It's a lot smoother out th ere, " said Marland after dismounting in the parking lot. I, Uttle red schoolbikes ' Three days at the Donner Trials School Hangin' out with Marland .Whaley By Dale Brown Two weeks after Marland Whaley clinched his third National Trials Championship with a come-from-behind win at the two-.day trials held at Donner Ski' Ranch in Norden, Calif., I journeyed up to the site to meet with Marland and to participate (for three days, at least) in the week-long trials school that is held at the ski resort during the summer. "Marland and Lane are out riding. Dinner should be around six o'clock," said Mitzi Sayler, turning back to her cooking. I had just finished an eighthour drive from Southern California, and as on most weekends, Donner Ranch had just finished hosting a trials. • ... 26 There seem to be two seasons at Donner. One is filled with Kneissels, .sn ow, poma lifts, apres skiing and ski lessons. The other season i; filled with •Bulracos, Montesas , Hondas, Yamahas, traps, observation points and the trials school. Marland Whaley, along with Lane Leavitt , Mark Eggar and Debbie Evans , we r e this week's "guest instructors." Norm Sayler, who operates the ranch, is the school's director. With an extensive background in teaching , skiing (his students have included the blind, deaf, amputees and double' amputees), Sayler got' involved in trials. Using his teaching experience, he isolated the basics of trials riding and a program to teach it. The program has expanded from a oneshot deal to several schools last year with Lane Leavitt and finally a summer-long program, with the top trials riders in America as the guest instructors. I Two ' of the guest instructors, Whaley and Leavitt , came in for supper (very tasty boneless chicken) ' T h e scho ol started Monda y morning. Not having a trials bike of my own, I got th e Donner rental bike , an ex-Yrjo Vesterinen /Lane Leavitt Bultaco 350 Sherpa . The morning session consisted of parking lot exercises and a rock climb off one edge 'of the parking lot. Sayler directed the morning session, but work rrquired that he leave after lunch. The afternoon session was devoted to use of brakes, off-camber turns ("Keep the weight on the outside peg, " said Leavitt to me time after time as I tried to break old habits) and wheelies. After the school was dismissed, Leavitt , Whaley and Mark Eggar adjourned to a mud-bog near x the lodge. There was a section marked up and down a steep gully with a deep - mudhole in one end. Running the section one way, with the mudhole at the beginning, the three made it fairly easily. But with the route of travel reversed , they stalled and slipped trying to make the steep climb out of the goop. In a display ' of precision , Whaley slipped between Mark Eggar and a ledge next to the exit of the trap with inches to spare. , .Everybod y' attacked the mud flats like a motocrosser off the starting gate, full throttle, ' weight out back, front wheel pawing in the air. Revs dropped suddenly on W.haley's RTL 300 short stroke prototype Honda as he hit the bog.r Braaawwwwwhhhh ... uhg. " The loss of rpm and speed made the exit difficult. "Whoever said four strokes are better in the mud is full of it ," said . Marland after one unsuccessful attempt. Eventually most cleaned the section, but they left when the rock in the exit became so undercut that the section was practically impossible. Eggar and Whaley were the ones who tried the section most often and they were covered from head to toe wit h mud . After hosing their bikes down in front of the lodge , they went to . a nearby swimming pond for a clothes-on dip . Monday evening was much more subdued. Denny Anderson , one of the school's students as well as summertiine bartender and director of the ski school during the season , mixed a blender full of Golden Cadillac, a mixture of ' ice cream and various goodies, many of which are alcoholic. Leavitt & Co. beat most everybody to the punch. Tuesday morning, the intrepid students (aJI five of us compared to 17 the previous week) took off for the woods to. practice making turns on the sides lff rocks and negotiating logs . That completed, the students were given their first section to try, with logs, tight turns, and a rock face to climb -- all of the basic manuevers (Above) Marland. (Left) Debbie. Lane and Marland rode downhill to Truckee on skateboards. learned earlier. Whaley demonstrated more precision by lofting the front wheel to negotiate a tight right hander and bouncing the wheel off the same point on the facing rock each time he tried it . Debbie, Marland and Mark rode in and out of the section with the ' students, first demonstrating, then adding obstacles to make the section more difficult. Trials riders are often \ much more spectacular to watch while they're practicing rather than when they compete. How to break a $21.000 bike The class accompanied the experts to the section 25·26 mud, after running their first section. The rut in 25- was getting really deep , but two kids on TY80s made it through with I threes. Whaley, trying to keep his momentum up for the following section, was dabbing when his bike was kicked around by a bad bump in the middle of the rut. Finally riding in the section ground to a halt when Marland's chain came off and wedged between the countershaft sprocket and the swingarm .p ivot , Poking and prodding with sticks didn't dislodge the chain, so the trailing end was wrapped around a footpeg and Marland coasted back to the lodge. "My bike hardly ever breaks during a trial . .. always in practice. I broke the swingarm i!1 two last week," said , Marland as h~ struggled to free the chain from the $21 ,000 Honda proto. (The cost includes ' design, development and construction . American Honda bought three RTL 300 short strokers from Honda of Japan for $63,000). Unlike the major motocross teams, Honda's factory trialers (Whaley, Eggar and team manager Bob Nickelson) have no separate practice bikes. They practice on their competition bikes and prep them before each event. The bike Marland was struggling on -in the Donner Ski Ranch parking lot is the same one he will use in World Championship competition starting . August 28 in Sweden. Finally the case cove.s removed, the exposed orifices were covered with a towel and duct tape, the countershaft was removed with , borrowed snap ring pliers (there is no countershaft nut , just spined washers and a circlip) and the offending chain

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