Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

What's the most important factor of being a good trials rider? Being able to do what we talk about as "clicking a switch. " For insta nce , you ride around the trials loop from sec tion to section, wound out , going just as fast as you possibly can so you can spend more time at ea ch section. Then, when you get there, you have to click a switc h and slow down - take it real easy and go through the section easy , not rushed or hurried. You just do it to the best of your ability. But sometimes you r time is so tight that when you get to the section you do n' t even have time to look at it. You just have to ride right through it and get your score, But, when you get to that section, you should be able to click that switch and slow right down , relax and let everything be fluid instead of jerky and fast. What's really important in trials is not to lose your concentration. .Concentration, conditioning and a decent piece of c;,quipment are the basics. AbOut getting into stunt work: . 'd always wanted to get into doing stunt work, but I'd never said much about it - thought it seems like that's what I've been training for all my life, I've always been very athletic. So , in October, somebody (Art Barda) calls me and says, "Hey, how 'd you like to be in a movie? Yeah , this friend of mine, Gene Hartline is going to be stunt coordinator." I said, sure! So Gene called up and said, "Can you come down on such and such a day to see if you can ride these bikes?," and I said , surel Well, they had me on a DT 400 Yamaha - oh I>rother - I guess they were '74 models , and they had about 50 pounds of metal panels, a sissy bar and all this prop stuff hanging all over and off the bike. Everytime you'd tum the thing it would want to take a dive into the ground, They had us doing jumps on rnem and all kinds of other stuff. It was pretty dangerous, but the most important thing about it was iliat I got into the Screen Actors Guild, That was the first big step. I got about three and a half weeks work out of it too . That movie was "Death Sp?rt" with David Carradine and Claudia Jennings. It's supposed to be out about April 19 . In that movie I get to run through explosives and swing swords at riders coming at me, I ran out in front of bikes and did all kinds of riding too, I doubled for Claudia, As it turned out, when I tried for the part, I was almost a rfect double for her - same height, weight , almost c: act same color and length of hair. I also worked on "America n Hotwax. " I did a stair fall in that one, and I got pushed around by acrowd , But when I went to see it , I couldn't even tell if they left.that part in, it happened so fast. I just spent five days doing a "Wonder Woman ." It was really fun . The first day, I spent out at Indian Dunes in the rain, wearing this underwater Wonder Woman suit. It's a skin tight, polyester type thing that covered me up completely. But when it gets wet and a 1ittlebit of breeze blows through, it's like an ice cube! ~~ r.ather not have anythmg on than have that thmg on! Boy, I was frozen I It was raining, and we were Jumpin' around on the motocross track and I was supposed to be chasing this guy - it was really fun! Or a t least it would have been if I hadn't been so cold. They gave us Kawasaki 175 enduro models with all the lights still on them for that one, and we even had to?jump a jeep with those thingsl But, you know, it's weird how you get jobs in stunt work, You have to be a round and talk to different people, but a lot of it has ta ldo with who you know . You have to get to know people and then let them know what you can do. ,T here's always the possibility for this job or that job, but you never know until the last minute . They ca n always say , well, we changed the script and now we don't need you after all, or this person fits the actor better. Being small doesn't seem to matter too much , Heck, I doubled for Linda Carter (Wonder Woman) and.she's six foot tall in heels, but I'm only 5'4 " at the most. I went to college for a little wh ile and took some general educat ion cou rses, but nothing seemed to lit into what I wanted to do . I didn't want to work very much , I just wanted to have all kinds of fun . So when this job came along where I could do all these fun things , I didn't have time to go to school anymore, I me an the stunt work is so neatl I never thought .a't?yth ing like this would come along. I came home one day.after working on "Death Sport" and said, "Mom , 'this is the greatest job in the world. I get paid for goin' 'ou't.'m d playin' all dayl" You just go out and play chase . i ·an ds words , you know , just like I did when I was a littl e Ie:i J::" and I get paid for itl ll n I 6 . About the Scottish Trials ? h e Scottish Trials , just like being an Expert, was kind T ofi-i;my dream" not too very long ago. I always thought , wow, if I could only be an Expert - and it came true. And then , wow, if i could only be an EXpert and go to ScotlandI I'd think , nah, it'll never happen, never happen . . .T'll never get good enough to ~- ~'l "Y7 • • do that. Then Bill Emmisson from Berm Specialties in Hull , England got hold of Len Weed and kept buggin' him saying, "H eck , I'll sponsor her , just get her over here," So , I wrote him a letter in January ask ing him all about it and he wrote me back saying he would supply the bike, give me $500 and pay my entry fee . I told him what kind of bike to get and that was it. He owns an accessory business that handles mostly American products , so sponsoring me in the Scottish Trials will be great publicity for him. H e thinks I'll get a lot of publicity from the European press , I really don't know how well I'll do. I hope my bike holds together, that I don't break something and that I finish . But it all depends on a lot of things . You just don't know what will happen, especially in six days. Weather conditions won't make too much difference. I've ridden 50 miles in the desert during a freezing blizzard without the right clothes or anything. Over there, I figure at least I'll have the right equipment, clothes and all that stuff. It shouldn't be that bad. When .you get into it, you kind of block all that out anyway. The adrenalin really starts flowing, and you're really concentrating. I've ridden some really radical enduros where maybe half the entries didn't finish , but I came in, I'd be tired, but I'd come in. I just don't give up . I get into a kind of trance - I think I'd collapse before I ever gave up. Determination has a lot to do with it . I've always wondered about what it might be like to ride the World Championships but like a lot of other things, I don't worry about it. If and when the opportunity comes up, I'll decide then what I'll do. I usually let people know what I would like to do, but I don't push it . I don't like it when people. are pushy because it just turns you off. But if you let people know - hey, I could use some help doing this, or I sure would like to do this someday, you hope they get the hint. On conditioning: I've been running about two mi les every day. I rode the two -day trial and there's two Nationals before I leave. I have to watch what I eat , too, Partly for the trials, but mostly for stunts. Most actresses aren't fat, they're skinny. Anyway, I like feeling thin , I feel .better then. I do a lot of Kung Fu exercises, some push ups, knee bends, stuff like that. The riding alone keeps you in excellent condition, and being in good condition has a lot to do with how well you do, What happens after Scotland? I'll have to get ready for the Nationals the first part of .June, but mostly I'll have work. I have things I have to do - like going skiing. In stunts you have to be good at everything. Or at least I want to be. I should go buy a skateboard and spend a couple of days at - the skateboard park, I want to learn how to parachute, climb mountains, I want to get in some good water skiing practice - there's just unlimited things I have to do. I have to take scuba; there's so many things you have to keep up with . A full time job doing stunt work is what I really want to do. I don't think it will be short term thing either, By the time I'm 30 years old I don't think I'll be past my prime, I'll probably just be better. I will have had that much more experience and knowledge about a lot of things, A lot of stuntwomen are between the ages of 30 and 40. After that, a lot of stunt people go into coordinating which involves setting up camera angles, setting up the stunts and all that stuff. About gehing married: Two summers ago I went up to Donner's Pass for a trials school , and Lane Leavitt was there. At first I didn't even like Lane, but by the end of the week I found out he wasn 't the nerd I thought he was. It turned out he was really nice! He started coming down to southern California to ride the trials , and from then on we saw each other almost every weekend at the Nationals. Last summer we taught the trials school up at Donner's Pass , so we really knew each other well by the time we were engaged in Dec ember. I don't know when we'll get married , though. Lane lives up in Sacramento, and he doesn't want to move down here. I'm trying to get established in my stunt work down here, so I don't want to move up there - who knows what'Il happen. In comparison with what other female competitors do on a track or course: I can't help but wonder how I'd do against another girl. Like I used to wonder how I'd do against say, Sue Fish on a motocross track. But now, it doesn't make . any differance to me. We're the only ones out there. There's just me, Sue and Diane Cox . ~ To tell you the truth, I'd be embarrassed if a girl i3 beat me . I mean , I've been riding trials for so long, I g;; feel like I'm just one of the guys when I ride. Right ~ now , if some girl popped up in the Expert class in 0 trials, I don't know . . . I have my image to keep up, you i£ know. 8 What is the image you would like to promote; 0 That of being the best woman trials rider in the world~ - 25

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