Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

", : (Above) Approximately 125 Southern California dual-sporters attended the Dual Sport Ride for Kids In the San Bernardino National Forest. (Below) Clay Hoenshell (P1) took over after Dean Lane (P2) crashed and ran away with the Pro class win at the Weatherford HS. (Below) Larry Sparks (7) and Ron Jones rubbed elbows In the Open class at the Hidden Acres MX. Jones went on to score the Open class victory. e$12,000 raised dual at eRide for Kids sport ride By Anne Van Beveren Photos by Tom Van Beveren COLTON, CA, MAR 20 esearch into pediatric brain tumors got a kick start from 125 Southern California dual sporters who raised more than $12,300 with an 85-mile bene- R fit ride through the San Bernardino National Forest. The Dual Sport Ride for Kids was the first event in this year 's 12-ride National series sponsored by American Honda that has raised $2.3 million dollars for research into children's tumors in the last 10 years. "We began in 1984 to try to fund long-term research," said Mike Traynor, Executive Director of the Ride For Kids Foundation. "In long-term research, you don't hit a home run over the fence every day. There's not much recognition and fanfare, but we're looking for the same sort of success tha t came with making leukemia known." The research funds made available by Hond a's program attract grant applications from across the nati on and Dr. Stuart Siegel, head of the cancer program at Los Angeles Children 's Hosp ita l, expects excitin g res ults as early as next year . " Ch a nges in the surviva l ra te a re already starting ," Dr. Siegel tol d dual sp orters, who assembled for the start of the ride at Hond a's Rid er Ed ucatio n Center. "I expect yo u w ill see so m e results coming up in the next few years tha t will make you smile, an d bring lots of smiles in the kids." There were smiles all aro und at the opening ceremony, despite rain the day before the event and overcas t skies tha t kep t attendance down from last year's 170 riders. Riders were smiling a t the prospect of damp trails and raisin g money for a good cause. Indiv idual con tr ib u ti ons we nt as high as $761 from Mark Pointer, who won a jacket for his efforts, wh ile club fund raising was topped by Team Dual Dogs with $2377. The Rid e For Kid s poster children had grins, waves and thank you not es for everybody, and Smokey th e Bea r was full of good cheer as he waved his way from one pho to opportunity to the next. Even the U.S. Fo rest Service was smiling, thanks to a special relationship with Honda that h ad uniforme d em ployees helping w it h sign- u p a nd some of the district's top brass mounted up and rea dy for th eir first -ever dual sport event. "We wan t to tr y to see the forest throu gh the eye s of th e riders to get their p erspectives. We are usually behind a desk," said Gene Zimmerman, su pe rvisor of the Forest Service's San Bernardino area . Honda took Zimmerman and fellow officials through two days of riding instruction in preparation for the event. "The three of us here have about 10 hours of riding experience between us, so it might be dinner for us (by the time we reach the lunch stop)," Zimmerman told his fellow dual sporters, before setting out on a Honda XR650L. "This ride is under perinit from the Forest Service, so don't roost us as you go by." The ri de began shortly after 9 a.m. and, with the opening 11 miles of pavement beh ind them, the riders enjoyed dirt almost all the way around the 85mile loop. "The grou n d was perfect - it was d amp al most the whole ride, so there was no dust, " said Dave Tonkiss. "And the weat he r was perfect too - it was cool, but no win d and no rain on us." The riders ran into mist as they made their way up from the va lley floor into the foothills o f the San Bernardino Mountains and it took full concentration to follow the trail and the route chart while reading signs placed at strategic spo ts along the way. "Starting up the mountain, I saw a sign saying 'Enjoy the view: but it was so foggy there wasn't any view. I could hardly see the sign," said Bob Tartter. The trail followed fire roads most of the way to the lunch stop at a campground in the Silverwood area, where th e r iders were served hot dogs and drinks. A fast pace put some of the riders in to the lunch stop by 11 a.m ., anda number of them chose to pass up an early lunch in favor of continuing the fun on the trail. Lisa Latham selected the easy option after the lunch stop because she hadn't ridden any long distances since a recent bout with pneumonia; but Greg Bates stumbled onto th e eas y option trail by mistake. "Somewhere, I got goofe d up and I missed the ha rd section," said Bates. "I thin k it was brain fade on my part after lunch." La ter riders found a course worker d irecting traffic at the easy/hard sp lit and those who decided to tackle the difficult trails found some of the best riding of the day, with roller-coaster do wnhills littered with rain rut s to keep them on their toes alterna ting wi th up hill sections for four and a half miles, and perfect traction all the way. "The whole rid e was incredi b le," said Greg Done, who was lured back to dual sport after a break of more than a year by the ride's fund ra ising efforts. "There was eve ry type of terrain a nd some o f it w as pretty slushy. There were water crossings too, and some of th ose were pretty de ep. It wa s all the way up to the top of my motor at one stage." Th e r ide concl uded w ith an unplanned d ifficult section due to road construction which forced a last-minute detour tha t took the riders through a 50ya rd tunnel under the ma in road and down a tricky was h tha t offered a choice of large rocks or foot-deep sand. "The tunnel was great. It was a big roun d stee l tube with d eep sand in the bottom, an d it ha d three turns so you couldn't see the end, " said Kawasaki KLX250 pilot Andrew Horton, who forgot to tum his headlight on un til he was insi d e the tunnel and then fo u nd it blocked by a stalled bike. "The guy's lights went out when he stall ed and he couldn' t get it started , so it was pretty dark. But once we got going, it was like doing the skateboard thing when you rode up the sides of it." Riders were arriving at the finish in a steady stream by 2 p.m., with mud on their boots and bikes to testify to the fun they 'd had in the slippery conditions. "I hate riding in the dust, so the mud was a nice change, even if I was slipping and sliding around . In the mud, dual sport tires are just like riding on slicks you really need knobby tires," said Danny Latham. A finisher ticket made each rider eligible for one of the prizes donated by the industry, which ranged from car wax, bike wash and degreaser, and a Bell helmet, to a set of riding gear including pants, jersey, gloves and kidney belt - donated by Answer Products. When the drawing was over, it was time to compare notes and plan for next year's fund raiser. "This was a first class event - hats off to Honda," said Tammy Lund , who circumnavigated the course on "...the only '79 Honda XL250 in existence. My odometer broke, but the bike made it, and it was a fun ride. " First-time dual sporter Mike Kula said the ride had changed his ideas about off-road riding. "The reason I didn't like dual sport was there aren't any girls in bikinis walking around like there are in motocross, plus the bikes are kind of heavy and slow - but it's still kind of fun," said the Kawasaki KLR250 pilot. "I had a good time and I think I'll be back." Mark Rendahl, who completed his first dual sport ride on a street-legal Honda XR600, said he "absolutely would do it again." Rendahl went on to say: "This has got my interest in dual sport riding. The relaxed pace was great and so was the fact that the ride they picked out was scenic. I can see why people enjoy doing this so much." Southern California dual sporters are not the only ones who can contribute to

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