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/126344
Jl,j ~ • a' rw ill soon deadend. Just stay on the m road that shows the most use . Soon we .,d d rop pe d into beautiful, ro cky and II narrow Whippoorwill Canyon. Jlo. 1 The I nyo County road crew has ru done a super job with road repair. .q Heavy rains and snow really did a as number in here . Although th ey hav e ~~ gra d ed it was still plenty rough. Snow - was still hiding in the shady spots and a co u p le of th e gu ys ambushed the bug "bs d ri ver with a barrage of snowballs. bs Cont inu ing on 27.8 miles we came to ~d W ill ow Creek. This is a talc mine , slowly getting back int o operation. w (Stay out ; it's private.) s ei t After a short break we continued rll south to the Salt Lake we could see in air't he distance and the site of the old ." Saline Valley Salt Works. 13.1 miles ni from Willow Creek . A 13~ -mil e o tramline reaches over the Inyo l~,M ou nt a ins to Owens Lake where for la even years it carried 20 tons of sa lt per .~rl hour over the mountain. It was used .,wco n t in u o u sly until 191 8. the n qn ~pora di ca ll y until 1930 . Loo king west bltfr om the lake you ca n still see l.., rem n a nt s of th e towe rs as they snake as Jh~ir.way over the mo untain . ali w Salt La ke was the lowest point of our lwride . at an elevation of 1090 feet, and be the temperature was ' a bout 90 °. aidRemember - a ' few miles back we q il~ e r e tossing snowballs and the lh eleva tion was near 7600 feet . w.,l "Cont inuing south we headed toward w~J h.e Hunter Mountain junction . Unfortunately . about 10 miles later lu the old bug gobbled a couple of valves. 11 Remember when I mentioned the be value of a second vehicle? The driver .1£'!a n ted to burn it on the spot. but I .s suggested that the BLM would ,(:)/p rob a b ly take a dim view of that . so we 0 1 hooked it onto the Bronco and towed es , it 40 miles back to Darwin. The bikes '(I1 ~~re running great. not even so much 1~ as a fou led plug. Soon we passed the III "by' pass" again and started ou r 3000 .afoo t climb up Grapevine Canyon to re o bn.trace our route 35 miles back to our pit ,.,.site . nrd ;rwo riders went up the Hunt er mi Mountain Road , to try and locate the boulder or rain gully. and met a an >royota Jeep who said he ha d no -gn :tro u b le on t he mountain . So much for ,.,lIroa d informa tion. I do n't blame th e 01 Monument peopl e or t he road crews ..~ ( tJiou gh . Conditions change fro m day s Ixo day , and they might make a run on G 'these roads once a week or so. ",~w As we pulled into Darwin everybody -,rl was glad it was over. but we all agreed it was a fun . interesting ride. I had .,rl·estim a ted the mileage would be 230 qO'm iles, but it endedat 232 .1. An error tl.. O£ less tha n one percent ain't too bad , lI:Xbu t they ribbed the hell out of me. I 01 told t hem it was off only due to tire .,w wear. This writer, on the Suzuki 1'5 .,rlJ185. and "W ild Bill" Collins. on the .,rl Yamaha 250 . rode the entire distance. l~T he others took an occasional break in .,'I 't he 4 ·wheelers. o.,rh After the ride leaving us hot . dusty 10 ~ nd a bi t weary, we headed for Dirty ".n.Sock Hot Springs on Owens Lake. The • '.r algae was a little on the heavy side but 111 the warm water worked wonders and eb the clean clothes made us presentable enough to hit th e cafe in Olancha for w(,din ner . ern s ··lf you d ecide to make th is trip , ,lI Aprj l -M a y or October -November .,d. -ould be the best mo nths . Check on . "mroa d conditions before you go , travel ~.,I sel f- co n t a i n ed a nd be prepared for any b n type of- weather. We are already ' .e la n ning for the "second annual. " nWNext time we hope to go over Hunt er '(fl Mountain , stop at Ma rb le Bat h , and 10 check out some interesting places we ~rLlf.:tii to pa ss up . The next trip should J~ e even better. I'll know the route , the II 'roa ds should be in better shape, and bs most of all . maybe I can watch the scenery a little more. • . Don't do your Xmas shopping until you check out C.N.'s Chrlstrnas Buyers Guide Next Week! I would ai . to addres. this mnsav- to the ri d.,. k and dMi..,. of the fol1owing brenda. SUZU KI : The 2 new models of RM 250"s are the fines'! Suzuk i, ever mad e and are probably the best 2 stroke racers in the world 1Od8v. HONDA: You Honda peopMo have complained for yean about no! having a racer • weB, the CR 25CYs . e greet end they are din cheap - there are thousands of used ones around , if you cannot attord a I"I8W' one . CAN AM;.. This is the most powerful 250 engtne going . They "'8 the resuh of years of power development and are m&d e righ1 ne xt dOOf. KAWASAKI: The KX250 Kawasatti has the largest transfer port area of the new generation of bikes and has • treme ndous potent ial as a wilVlPf . I did not mer.t lOf'l Yamaha, Harley Da..ndson, Bult8COor Ossa because we already know they ate proven w inners. Any of these 8 engines are ready and wil ling to win a NatIO Cha mp onship. ~t I am trying to say is - let', nal get to wor l(. I one am tired 0' seeing 1 or 2 brands WIn every ti me , arM 't you? .If I left out your brand , don 't despair, ther e are 4 mor e lust 8Sgood as those noted. 'Of 2415 Brown Rd ., St. Louis, Mo. 63114 Phone 314/426-6959 0' callCharleyChapple 31 3/735-5453 -(9)- TERR }'CABLE The Teflon Super Smooth Cable " Co m ple te line for ra cinq Husqvarna Sales. Service. Parts 1979125CR 250 OR. &390 OR now in stock A few 78 250 OR lett. prices reduced We have o ne of t he mo st complete lines of Hu sky parts and acce ssories in the cou ntry T&OYamaha 24020 Narbonne Ave. !Torrance/Redo nd o areal Lomita . CA 90717 213-534-2311 Van Leeuwen Ent. l nc . Di. trlb ul o , A MPRO Helmels Goody••, :~~A"I Aeor......tint K.,liler Lesl., Wh••I• W~ s l)fM. " 111 35 Van owen S t . Nort h Hollyw o od . CA 91605 / 213 ·985·5000 quality and accuracy One of the most accurll1eTIMING GAUGES recomended by motorcycle rnanufaetur. . 2 strok e: point gap clearance .. str ok. : valve gap durance Mt indudn: bi k es · Requir es no o iling · Sm o ot hest pu lling cable · Flexi ble throttle w ire gives lo n g li f e · Heavy duty housing. r esi st s stretch and abuse RUGGED, DEPENDABLE OtAl INDICA TOR Write for Free literature Terrycable 1"""" st eel coIle1 . .t ~ lOW PRICEonly '39.95 lop bonel set WIth SW ISS-MADE ind icat or only "9.951 aend chec:k or mooev order to : DEAD N UTS cJ HMS Associates o 3)1() De ~ Quz Blvd.. Sna CIn, CA 95CP5O PO Box 1321 , Hesper ia. CA 92345 Calif. T esidents ad d tax . Add ' 1.50 tor shi pping and handl ing. Out of state call toll free (8001854-4691 ~Hiie5alu y ~20 Mfg. Co. W. Cypress Ave • Burbank, CA 91502 213·845·7161 .. // .(( . Service. Motorcycle Sales 7 eacl: ''Jt 7zQvet, Wedt 2JIIlI3 E. CoIor8do Blvd. Paudena. 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