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/126537
• e " . co 0') ~ eN M QJ ..0 e QJ .... Q., QJ en The Rock Store, immortalized in canyon running fable and legend, is actually an unpretentious place. It's the place to gather for a shot up Mulholland Drive. By Tom Mueller EditM'S note: Roele StMe stories afe part of CalJ/omiG motMcycling legend. w. tlaoug1&J it would be interesting to see Mwa gf!1luine we·don't·cafe·howtM.MU-t1&ey-do-it.in-CalijomiG Cycle Nf!UJS/East staffer would ff!llCt to a tnp up MulholltJnd Drive. Assistant EditM Tom Muelkr 1144 plmcmd a trip to American Hcmd4, Mre in _f~ GGrdf!1IG, to piclc up a nf!lll CBX test bile. Til. jolJDwmg story -.s ifuWtIIbk. The lights and sights of the L.A. area were fme, but being a country boy at heart, a California mountain ride sounded just like the thing to do on a Sunday afternoon. Vintage race promoter Mike Lewis and friend Chris Christemen were to be my guides, taking me and my CBX to the Topanga Canyon area on the Rock Store run. 30 I was anticipatory of what was in store. I had been warned to prepare myself for a cruise into no man's land where only the strongest would survive, and where sometimes even the strongest succumbed to the circumstances. From what I had gathered from ~Jist friends in the area, kami· kaze nden donning only shorts and sandals running at 100 mph were com· mon on a Sunday afternoon Rodr. SCore run, pseudo-racen who sometimes couldn't cope with the course. "Oh yeah, a guy gets dusted up there every couple of weeks, .. one rider told me. Whatever the chain of events would be I was intent on a ride, 10 I began my trek acrOlll the series of highways which took me to Lewis' home. The intensity and compression of LA soon gave way to the elevation and beauty of the Topanga Canyon area, and we were soon on Mulholland Drive near· ing the start of the run. We arrived at the Rock Store at 10 a.m. A soda was in order, 10 we went inside the stone structure to get one. One would thinlr. he/she was inaide any normal corner market. except for the many photOll enfran..ed on tbe waU of movie stars who have visited the site. The store has been used for a Trapper John M.D. television segment, and also for a recent millr. commercial. We purr.hued our refreshments, and OIl the way out the cashier was ~ in a conversation that heightened my expectations of the ride to come. "Yup, there'U always be that two or three percent thatll kill themlelves," said the c.ashier. Kill tbem.elves, maybe. Kill me too? I sure as bell hoped DOt. We went outside, found a lIeat on a log in the smaU but shady area next to the store, and watt.hed thinp start to happen. Bikes staned rolling in, tint a few pairs at a time and then by the dozens. The ~thering lleemed to represent a mim Sturgis (South Dakota bike raUy), offering every IOrt of rider conceivable - the "dirty shirt" chopper rider, 'Johnny Road Race" frustrated type ID leathen on horsepowerreeking superbikes, touring riders on dressed·out bikes, sidecar-equipped rigs and owners, and a few guys nursing just one more season out of their gas-dripping, paint-fading, rubberneeding mounts. Yes, there were a share of crazies heading out from tbe store. Oneupmanship was the rule for many as groups of cronies pu11ed out to head up the road, each stirring their shifter as quiclr.ly as their motor would aUow to edge the others up the hill. No police were patroling the area 10 it was free flight for all. At night the street rod can rule the turf. Our drinks were gone, and it was time to head up the lane for a peek. The road itself was a pleasure, rounding curves taking you up one crest and down through the next. Good pavement with slight patches of sand and debris kept your guard up. It brought out what litde road race blood my body contains, and I was matching myself against the terrain. It wasn't a bike which got in my way after all the forewarnings - it was a truck. Through one of the tight (and blind) turns a mini truck came into our lane, trying to get around a pair of bikes. Lewis and I edged over and let the pickup pilot past. After that we checked out lOme of the overlooks very scenic, but also very sheer in the drop·off department if you were to be run to the edge in one of thOlle sections. Well, it was worth the experience but really not worth the ride. Maybe some other time during a weekday when a tranquil setting displaces the drone of headen charging up the thoroughfare ... Oh well, I got to ride through Beverly HiUs on the way back to Long Beach. •