Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

packs ar e more durable than the nylon variety. The idea of the pack is not to ca rry the gr eatest number of too ls, but to ca rry on ly what you'll need for on-the-trail repairs (most racers aren't going to sp lit ca ses in the middl e o f th e desert). T o th at end, a Six Da ys-type wrench th at co m bines a number o f tools in one sho u ld be tops on th e list. Mak e sure th at it's easy to use eac h of its features, th ough , o n yo u r particular bik e. It als o mak es things easier to find if yo u sepa ra te th e sma ller spa res in th e pa ck by pa cking th em in small homemad e cloth-typ e envelo pes or 35m m film ca n isters, gro up ing sim ilar items together wh ere po ssible. Make up yo u r own " filin g" system, and mak e sure to p rot ect th e threaded part of items th at scre w in, les t th e threads become damaged . A co u p le of tire irons, p lugs, jets, nuts, bolts, screws, zip ties and money are other items you migh t co n sider including. As for spare tubes, both Harden and Ro esel er agree th at a spare front tube - as well as a C02 cartridge or two to infla te it - should ' find a pl a ce on th e bike. Th e reason? It will work at eith er the front or back en d. Foll owing th e " classr oom " tim e, we ventu red o u t to .practice " barrel turns" a board o u r bikes. In stead of barrels or 55-ga llon drums, th ough, H arden a nd Roeseler had us ride up to a puckerbush , slap a quick left arou nd it , acce lera te through a co u p le gears to anothe r p uc kerbush , mak e a nother qui ck left th en head back to puckerb ush number o ne . After de mons tra ting and tal king us through th e exe rcise , we were sent ou t one a t a ti me to do it whil e being vi deo ta ped by Wa yn e G al es. Th e seemi ngly simple, quick , tigh t turns are much more difficult wh en yo u're tryin g to do it smooth ly, rem emberin g co rrect bod y po sit ion ing (ge t for wa rd ), braking and u se o f clutch a n d throttle. This was made more diffi cult due to th e loose, sandy soil. You ca n end up look in g pr ett y silly , no matter wh o yo u a re. T he n ext section co nsis ted o f four san dy berrncd turns, right-left-rightleft. H ere again, a s in all o th er sections, either Hard en or Roeseler went through first to demonstrate the correct wav to ride th e section. Then ea ch s t ~dent wen t through, one at a tim e, whi le being taped. After we had a ll ridden it severa l times, the o ther instructor took a run through . Section three added some straightaways - a n d m ore speed - between corners with a coup le of large whoops/ sma ll jumps and ro cks to keep us o n our toes . After running through there a bo u t three times each, we tackled a hill, running up its deceptively soft, power-robbing side , 'stay ing on top of a ridge, turning downhill, hitting a couple of small jumps a t the bottom fo llo wed by a left-ba n der and a rutted run up another hill. That done, we made a co uple more runs down the hill and over th e jumps before Harden and Roeseler sent us ou t for 10 la ps o n the ent ire track they had put together using the different sections. Our tota l ridi ng mi leage for the day was a bo u t 20, going by a KDX I75 odometer , but it was the most tiring 20 any of us had done. Period . Afte r a little bench raci ng, it was ti me to go into town, clea n u p a nd have dinner. Harden and Roeseler sent their wives, Chris tie and Kevi n, out for pizza while the rest of us settled into a ho tel room and started watching videotapes, a BC ca rtoo n first fo llowed by tapes of eac h of us riding the different sections. Witho u t a doubt , th e videotapes rea lly make a difference. Besides being _ . r ; , -. l." \. ." (O pp . page) Roesele r (far left) an d Harden (left) co nduc t t he " classroom portion " of their school. (A bove) They fly. and late r everyo ne checks out the videotapes. (Ri ght) Cornering is taught. co mica l a t tim es, th ey ar e most helpful in letting you see you rself o n th e bike in different situati ons. You' re a ble to chec k how your bik e's sus pe n sio n wa s workin g a nd how you p ositioned yourself on the ma chine in - different si tua tio ns. You ca n a lso see what o ther s a re doing, both good and bad, en abli ng yo u to make m ental notes of what to do or what n ot to do. When you sec th e tapes of Harden and Roeseler sli cing through the sections , yo u really have something to measure your own form by. The next morning, foll owing a hearty breakfast, we headed bac k out to Superstition for more instruction and riding. First , Harden and Roeseler took us out in the sand d unes, giving us a few tips on riding in the extremely soft stuff. We ended up at one particularly large wall of sand where Roe seler showed us th e correct way to turn around...on the side of a h ill you 've j ust failed to climb. Actually, it wasn't that bad. If you realize you 're not going to make it up, simply turn th e bik e toward the side that th e brake peda l is on, the right side in most cases . Once stopped, you ca n get on the brake with your right foot. leaving your left foo t a nd your center of gravi ty on the uph ill side, then wigg le th e ha ndl ebars left a nd right u nt il you 're poi nted down the hill. You ca n then rid e back down for an othe r try or bu lldog it . That task " m astered," H arden led u s through a na rrow, twisty can yon on a two-track jeep tra il th a t was fu ll of sa ndy berms and rock s. We co u ld go at whatever pa ce we felt comfortable at , a nd, fun as that was , it was on ly th e beginning. The jeep trail led o u t o f th e ca ny o n and around th e base of Superstition. The terrain there wa s h ar d-packed and rocky, like you'd imagine "typi- cal" desert co u rses to be. Harden sto p ped an d let everyo ne ca tch up a fter a few minutes on th is, poi nting o u t th at he reco m me nds being in th e outsid e groove of a two-tr ack tu rn . That wa y, yo u ca n see farther a ro u nd th e co rner , and your body isn ' t brush ing up aga in st a ny wall th a t ma y be on th e in side o f th e co rn er. We th en proceeded to ride a littl e fart h er until coming to a seri es of sma ll whoops. Here, Roeseler explained and demonstrat ed the technique used by both desert racers and motocrossers fo r double jumping them, thus making the ride a little easier o n yourself. T he same technique is also used when coming to a washout o r road crossing. Bascially , wha t yo u do is hit the firs t whoop, or find a sma ll bump to hit at the edge of th e ditch, and upon hitting it , compress the bike's suspension by sort of bou ncing on th e pegs so that the bike rebounds as it 's leavin g the ground. A q uick blip of the throttle at th e same time wi ll hel p ex ten d the suspension . In effect, you've got to "bunny hop" over the obstacle. It does take a bit of practice before you're doing it anywhere near the right way , and H ard en recommends that students not try jumping ditches before they've got small whoops down first. What followed was more ridi n g through rock beds, down was h outs and along trails - before H ar den stopped a nd poi nted o u t a few th ings th at, wh en yo u stop a nd th i n k about it. should have been o bvio us before. " T h e closer you get to a mountain, the bigger the washouts will be. O n th e flats, everyth in g's pretty fla t. " That 's good to remember. "If you're ridin g alo ng (belo w a mountain) and see a string of green in the di stance, that means there's probabl y gonna be a wash there. You 've got to watch o u t for things lik e that. " Later th at a fternoon, we ga the red for one la st ride which took us over a ll types of terrain , from slo w, tr ial stype drop-offs to ro cky, whoop-filled roads to fast sand wa sh es. All that we had been ta ug h t over th e weekend came into p layas we tried to keep our instru ctors in sight. It was wo rk , but it was al so a genuin e p leasure playriding w ith tw o of th e best i n th eir eleme nt. . For $ 100, is th e Harden /Roeseler desert ra cing sch ool worth it? By all means, yes! The school is geared more toward the Novice or Ama teur rider - a s H a rden says, " O bvio u sly, we're not going to teach somebody how to bea t us" - and these are p recisely the kind of riders who will derive the most benefit from it. The structure of the school - starting with the basics a nd progressively putting all the techniques together, aided immensel y by the use of videotaping - makes it easy to comprehend what is being taught, a nd si nce you practice it immediately with H a rden and Roe seler keep ing close tabs on yo u, the lessons are reinforced. Bo th instructors patiently and thoroughl y answer any questions tha t a re raised, and neither ridicules yo u, no matter how much of a slug you think you are. T hey give yo u pl enty of encouragement and little tips tha t wi ll hel p you im p ro ve in that area. In th e sma ll (atten da nce- wise) school I attended, each st ude nt (myse lf i n cluded ) felt th at t heir ri ding kn ow ledge had been greatly enriched. We knew what our strong points were and how to work on our weaknesses. On top of a ll that , we couldn 't help but feel more enthusiastic abou t riding, and any school that gets you excited a bo u t its curriculum like that is inva luable. • 21

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