Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

When did the "daddy's little girl" thing stop? Debbie: When I went up to Lane's school at Donner Ski Ranch in 1976. Lane: It was when Bob Nickelsen (Honda Enduro Coordinator) accepted it, I think. (Laugh.) He gave us his blessing. Debbie: Lane was scared of me at first.. We went to Michigan in 1977 and he was afraid to hold my hand. Or he'd give me a quick kiss on the cheek and run off. Lane: All the guys down here were afraid to ask her out because they reo membered her as little Debbie and because they thought everybody would make fun of them. How did you get into stunt work? Debbie: I received a call. I had gone to Montesa to see Art Barda and met Gene Hartline, who used to flattrack. He remembered me when a job came up. That was in October of 1977. What was your first job? Debbie: A movie, Deathsport. Lane: The bikes were DT·Is with 50 pounds of metal on them and sissy bars. Everytime you'd get the bike off the ground it would nose dive. Debbie: We had to jump a ravine 28 feetacross and 10 feet deep. What happened then? Debbie: I worked on that into February. I also got'a job in American Hot Wa.x:. And I learned various skills and met the stunt coordinators. What has your training covered? Debbie: I'm a certified. scuba diver now. I practice high falls with the fel· low who does Circus of the Stars for TV. I'm not an expert horsebacke.r, but I can get by. When was the CBS Stunt Competition? Debbie: October of 1978. It was shown in January of 1979. And that really opened the door for you? Debbie: Yes. Wonder Woman was looking for somebody to do some motorcycle stuff for Lynda Carter. I got the job. And then I got several more Wonder Woman shows. That really helped. What other shows? Debbie: There was the The Jerk with Steve Martin and Heaven's Gate and TV shows like CHiPs, 240 Robert, Barnaby Jones, Vegas, The HuLk, Fantasy Island and specials. I've been working solidly the last year. I've been extremely lucky. What about the CBS Stunt Competition? You won the dirt autocross car race. Debbie: Yes and then in the motocross somebody fell right in front of me and we tangled.' Lane: She went from last to second and was dosing on the winner. Debbie; And 1 finished sixth in the horse race. You went over to France for ltIoto Verte, the French dirt maJr-lzine. Debbie: I went for two weeks. I was supposed to go ag;tin for the 24·hour motocross., but I couldn't make it. We went riding through vineyards and in the Alps, rode street bikes in the south of France and did some motocrossin~. You were on the cover of ltIoto Verte too. Lane: 'You have to remember that trials may be the biggest participant sport in Europe and it's super big in France. That's why they made a big deal over De.bbie. Debbie: 1 did a funny thing while I was over there for Bol d'Or, the 24hour road race. I was to do my demonstration just before the big race. I talked to Lou Lou Gean Louis Bernardelli, the trials editor of Moto Verte) and told him to introduce me: "this is Debbie Evans from the states and she's supposed to be the best girl rider in the world but I don't know. I haven't seen her yet. But we'lI see." So I come out and I'm sitting on my bike with my legs crossed and fluttering my eyelashes and smiling. I pretended I couldn't start my bike and I could hear the snickers start. So I revved it up. popped the clutch to make it jump up in a wheelstand and I started runninll' behind, chasing it. Everybody was laughing. But then I jumped on and kept doing the wheelie and then I did all my trick stuff. When did you do your first headstand? Debbie: I was still on an Ossa then. It must have been '74. My dad said Elliott Schultz could do it and I didn't believe him. My dad showed me a picture. I said "if he can do it, so can I." And the second time I tried it, I did it. Lane: Elliott Schultz was an outstanding high school gymnast and quite an athlete. He was also a flattracker, an Ascot record holder and one of the first to do trials schools. Can't Desnoyers of France do the headstand now too? Lane: He just sort of gets up and falls right over. Debbie: I think a lot of people could do it if they took the time to' try it. I learned balancing when I was 10 years old. I'd tum around standing on the seat. The headstand was just a new thing. And now I do the back flip dismount from the headstand. Do you ever run into what's-a-girldoing-riding characters? Debbie: Maybe from an ex·desert rac· er who's big on macho. They come out and ride a trial and I beat them and they sell their bike and go back to the desert where it's really macho. There's been very little of that in trials. So in the ttiaIs community you're just one of the guys, except cuter. Lane: Ex,ctly. Debbie: I'm not trying to prove any· thing. I just do it because I enjoy it. What about triala riding for girla interested in biking? Debbie: It's exciting, fun, inexpensive and a good way to socialize. A lot of girls like to observe sections. But riding is no problem if you have ambition. Doing the nationals is a fun thing. I'd recommend trying it to any girl. Lane, what was triala like in the early days? Lane: It was a bummer because there was no strong centralized organizing committee. There were no standard rules. I was the first rider to travel and everywhe.re I went I had to learn a completely new set of rules. The NATC has done a great job of standardizing the rules across the country. That's just been accomplished in the last year or two. And there was little information about English trials? Lane: No, nothing. Every club was try· ing to figure things out for themselves. They were even riding on knobby tires. I won my first trial because I put trials tires on. Then I made the mistake of letting a couple of guys ride my bike. The next week they had trials tires and I was back in third place. I was always the guy who experienced and r ~ I'm still the only guy who experillle!lts, like with the long travel now. Bultaco always told me you can't change your bike like that. Then two Of three years later they'd have it stock. Exactly what I had done. For instance? Lane: Well the engine position for one thing. When they came out with the '76 Sherpas, I couldn't ride that bike at all. So I moved the engine back and changed the frame and geometry. It was virtually the same geometry as the '79 Sherpa T. What about moving the shocks forward? Lane: The first trials 'rider to do that was Curt Mayfield in 1973. He moved them forward at the top and I moved them forward at the bottom. That's when everybody in motocross was experimenting with shocks. -The suspension I had then was longer than what they're running now on the stock bikes. But Bultaco told me I couldn't run it anymore so I had to go back to stock. It's just now that I'm back into long travel. Last year I ran seven and seven. The bike I'm on right now has about 7l-! in the front and about nine in the rear. The whole problem is keeping the seat low so you can dab. That's the big problem with trials suspension. It'll just keep going like motocross until they get to a point where the bike won't o 00 0') 15

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