GOF
F ·ROAD Team Dual Dogs Yellow Umbrella Run
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By Anne Van Beveren
P hotos by Kinney J ones
t wasn't exactly the Mona Lisa, but
it was as close to great art as you
were going to get on a dirt bike.
Huge yellow umbrellas marched
across the hills on either side of the
interstate north of Los Angeles. They
perched o n steep ri dges, sat like stately
trees in the middle of sun-dried grassy
fields, and cast shadows on the roads
surrounding the small town of
Gorman.
Each of the 1760 umbrellas towered
nearly 20-feet high and th e bright
yello w canopies, more than 28-feet in
diameter. billowed in the wind that
funnel s endlessly through th e area
known as the Tejon Pass.
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The octagonal umbrellas were the
work of the eccentric one-name artist
Christo, whose other artistic endeavors
include a 24-mile fence of white nylon
erected in nothern California in 1976
and 1983's "Surrounded Isla nds,"
which encircled II islands near Miami
with pink fabric.
Christo 's latest exhibit, entitled
"The Umbrellas. Project for Japan and
USA, " scattered yellow umbrellas
along an 18-m ile stretch of California's
Interstate 5. and erected almost as
many blue umbrellas just north of
Tokyo. Japan , for th e sa me three-week
period. The two -nation ex hi bit was
funded entirely by the artist. at a cost
of $26 mill ion. and Christo claims th e
work was big eno ugh to be seen from
space.
The line of traffic on Interstate 5.
as an estimated four million visitors
travelled to see the free exhibit. could
also be seen from space. By mid-day
on Saturdays a nd Sundays. traffic
heading out of Los Angeles came to
a halt more than seven miles south of
Gorman.
But Team Dual Dogs - a dual sport
cl ub for Los Angeles area residents,
solved the problem for motorcyclists.
The club laid out a I 77-m ile on - and
off-road loop that took riders fro m the
Ro wher Flat ORV area in Ca nyo n
Country to a hill above Gorman. and
back by a different ro ute. The 140 riders
who took part in the event were on
dirt almost all the way to Gorman. and
took ' narrow , twisty trails in the
Hungry Valley O RV area for the final
climb to their birds-eye view of the
umbrellas. The hilltop pi wided four
massive umbrellas to she c.er the sun
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