Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

DNF. By Mark H oyer e gin n er . Novice. Greenhorn. That was me. I've spe nt quite a lot of time riding motorcycles, but they have always had sea ts . And aside from having to stre tch m y legs while riding some ultra-cramped repli-racer, I a lm os t n ever stand on a motorcycle's footpegs. Wh en I s top, it alway s seemed best th at I put my feet down . After a ll, how else to rema in upright? In fact, effectively all my time on motorcycles, as id e from the Cycl e News Christmas Grand Pri x (my performance at which we won't talk abo ut) I ha ve always ridden on asphalt. This past weekend, I went trials riding and found almost all of m y riding experience - except how to crash - utterly useless. It was the Tecate Cup Trials event put on by the SDTRA (San Diego Trials Riders Association) in the Cleveland National Forest. I a rri ved somewhat late and found my CN cohort and our res ident man-of-tria ls , Donn Maeda, already out on the loop. I saw what I thought to be on e of o u r tes t bikes, a '95 Montesa Cota 314 (see pag e 14 for a full test) , but didn't want to just hop on for fear that it was so meone else's bike. Visions of som e poor gu y coming back from the john to find his rand-ne w $5000 trials ma chine gone and then me being "escorted" out of th e race site by park rangers after a (very) low-speed chase around th e loop dancing through m y head, I opted to ait and find out for sure th at it really as th e test bike. In the meantime, I we nt to take care of all th e requisite paperwork , none of which I have e ve r had to d e a l w ith efore, Signing up wa s my first expe rience with "trials people." As I w a ndered around aimlessly, unsure of w ha t it was I ne eded to sign, unsure of th e loca tion of the motorcycle I was to rid e, nd generally unsure of h ow a tr ials vent run s, som e very frien dly and elpful people, past pr esident John Bordeau to name one, came to m y assistance . H e go t m e thro u gh pl eas antly nd quickly, go t me into the No vice B las s and go t me ready to ride. Now if I ust had a mot orcycle... Someone had finall y found Donn out n the loop and he cam e back to tell me hat the Cota wa s indeed ou rs to use, nd to get going. I su ited up in my well-used, hande-down gear, m y borrowed cus tom - B p a in ted -wi th -sorn eo ne -el se : s -nam e motocross helmet - complete wi th face guard - and ju mp ed on the shiny new bike. Having kick ed the machine to life, I clic ked it in to firs t gear an d hi t th e roa d . Th e first sec tion was about a halfmile bac k up the en trance road, and tha t was the extent of my experience on a trial s m a chine b efore m y first m oments in compet ition . Al Ma lmquist, of Observed Tr ials Products, gave me a quick primer on how to find th e Novice route through the secti on. " Jus t remember, ke ep th e red on yo u r right," said AI. " And it's a good id ea to walk through first to know w ha t yo u'll be facing." I parked, d ismounted and walked through my first section. ''I'm s u p p osed to r ide up tha t ," I qu eried innocently. "Yeah. Th at 's the No vice route." Surel y, he was lying. Back to the bike, a quick kick, and I was off. I rode right up to the sta rt, right past the entrance markers and was riding m y first trial. Of course, what I didn't know was that I was supp osed to s to p and be acknowled ged by the section 's checker. Fau x pa s number on e. Calling them "d abs" is a bit too fra gil e- s ound ing a term, for what I w a s doing with my feet was se nd in g shocks through my femurs that blurred my vision. My first uphill was terminated by a rock p erfectly dished to stop the front wheel of a motorcycle cold. When I s to p ped, I was shivering. Kn o w in g tha t my feet should n't touch the ground I gassed it hard and fanned the clutch. " How come I' m not m oving? " I th ought. I wasn't moving beca use I was digging a trench as deep as th e ax le w ith the rea r wheel. I stopped, both m y feet on th e g ro und, and I dragg ed the bike through the rest of th e section. My firs t trial and my first five. Fau x Pas number two. At that point , Al said it all : "You 're on yo ur o wn from here. Good luck ." There wa s a short rid e in th e transfer section that afforded me a little tim e to grow mor e accus to med to all the th ings . th at trials is. It also gave me a little tim e to repair my ego. Section two was more of th e same, o nly more ex tre me. A ste ep uphill to the left, seeming impassabl e. Th is time I sto pped at th e entrance an d waited my tum. I felt that perh aps I had been too te ntativ e in t he firs t sec tio n, a n d I shoul d really have a go at it. Not wanting to hurt anyone (or my ego) I waited for so me of the crowd to di sper se, got m y closed-fis t cue from the checke r, , and I gassed it. As I dragged the bike throu gh the rest of the section, I mutter ed the odd epithet ab ou t d irt and how civiliza tion is built upon as phalt. Then the checker wh o was punch ing the cards at the exit offer ed me some encouragement, and , above all, to " have fun." So far th ings weren't goi ng so well, but I d ecid ed to relax a bit. Enjoy th e sce nery, as it were. The third section went much like the first and second , but I had given up on m y ego, and w a s starting to have so me fun. And riding was really only pa rt of it. The people of tria ls, the other rid ers, the ch eck ers , pretty much eve ryone there was friendly and helpful. Th at made the biggest difference for me . After th e third section, the Novice riders wer e to skip the fourth and fifth because of th e di fficulty. I headed fo r the sixth. Th e transfer was as d ifficu lt as th e last section a n d a ft er a ti me it seemed like the b ike was rid ing me more than I wa s riding the bike, what with all the walking and dragging I was d oin g . Sect ion si x m ade th e wh ol e d a y wort hwh ile for me. I wa lked through, planned a s b est as I co ul d with m y three checks of experienc e, went back to my bike (waited for the crowd to di sp erse) and w ent fo r it. No femur-jarring foot-plants, no blurred vision and no s talled bike . I rode thro ugh th e section, and I dabbed one time. It was fantas tic. I really thou ght I had done some ma jor ca tching on, wha t with my am azin g sec tion-six p erformance . Th en the ne xt transfer reared its serpentin e and cobbled head . Cactus everyw here, ruts, a mud b og that I a u g ered th e fr ont wheel into, but perhaps the most humilia tin g th ing was being passed by th ree guys on mountain bikes . I was crush ed . Th er e I wa s, draggin g th e bike around aga in. I wa s exhaus ted, mentally.and physically. Section se ven was really crowded so I decided to rest. I had no ego anymore, so crowd o r no crowd, when I was ready, I was going. I went. I carded a three . But I d idn 't drag the bike, I rode the bike . All the way through. " Another one of th ese d amn tr ansfers, " I th ou ght. Th is was grue ling stuff. I mot ored along, slowly, to number eig ht, try ing to pr eserve w ha t little energy I had left in my body and mind, and ca me upon a small sign that read " KEEP MO VING." Th e sign was just in front of a s ma ll strea m and I th ou ght that the b ottom might be soft a ft er m y prior mud-bog experience, so I ga ssed it. No p roblem, Then I round ed the bend... Up hill 20 feet of the greasiest, most cobbled bask etball-size boulders I had ever s een, and I had no run-up. " KEEP MOVING ," I cu rsed to m y self a s I s li p ped ev e r backward , d espite my aggressi ve throttle hand. This was cruel. A s s oo n a s I saw sec tio n nine ' s stream and mud, I decided I had had en ough. Back to the p its, I'm gonna tum in my card and call it a d ay . I (more slow ly) rode pa st 10 and to th e p its, saun tered to th e scoring table and turned in my score shee t. "So, how 'd I do?" "What d o y o u m e a n, th is ca r d is from the fir st loop," the score keeper said . " First loop? There's more?" I came to fin d out that I was su p p osed go around t w o mo re ti mes . I cou ld n't believe it. Three times, up that on a mo torc ycle? I took my card for my seco n d loo p a n d I was b a c k to the d auntin g first check, which I must say I started with st yle. I stopped , waited for m y signa l like a seaso ned ve teran, and en tered My section. It was "My " secti on becau se I wa s there to clean house. No feet . Goi ng though, th e checkers w er e saying I lo ok ed like a rea l dirt rider, and I felt great. "M y first clean. Yes..." Well, I went a little wide going down th e last steep face that led to the exit of th e sec tion, and I ha d my only d ab in the sec tion...with my face. Th at was the end of my d ay. All of the m isery an d exhausti on - a n d m y lim p - was worth it, because like any sp ort, w he n yo u' re su rro un de d by nice people, yo u w ill have fun . Tria ls was great. Trials people wer e great. I'll be back in the d irt . On my face or 0 on a bike - I'll be back . LOOKING BACK... CMC North MX at Plymouth Raceway in Plymou th, California. he Easter Bunny could be found on the cove r of th e fi rst April is su e of 197 0...Bob Sa nfo rd rofil ed d irt tra cker David Ald ana, to utin g him as the ri der '--"""", o b e a t du rin g the 1970 AMA Gran d ~_ ationa l Champions hip sea on ...Jim Wil son wo n the 250 and 500cc Expert classe s a t Int ernationa l Raci ng nterprises' Ea ster motocross on the nzac course in Palmda le, California, b oa r d Greeves m o torcycl es ... Cycl e News tested - of all things - a Tri um p howered Wasp motocross sidehack and ad a blast...Gary Bailey, John DeSoto nd Dick Mann were on hand for the vich scored his first AMA Camel Supera water skiing acci dent...Mark Barnett and Kent Howerton won th e 125 and cross victory at the ina ugural Las Vegas Super cro ss...Jeff Russell wo n the Sand 250cc Pro classes, respectively, a t th e Hangtow n 125/250cc N ationa l MX . Flea 100 GNCC event in Sanfo rd , North 15 YEARSAGO ... ~~ff'j~F ~=:zb:mPhotos on page 13 sho wed a sig n Caro lin a ...John Myers domina ted th e April 2, 1980 ri of things to come as th e Japan- rl-t " Pro Stock Bike class d uring o rld Observed the N HR A Fram Superna ese facto ries we re concen trating :;I:,J. Trials Champi_. ~'" tionals a t Ho uston Raceway h e a v il y on wate r-cooled ~ ' ii? ;:- ;.. _ o n Bern ie mo t oc ro s s e ngin e s ...Dick ,Il Il~el.lcbbits lhe jac~~t Pa~k aboard ~ Star Raci~g Sc hreiber shared the Bu r el son continued his wi n IJJLas ~J bu i lt Suzuk i, ..JT Rac ing co ver with wheelie s treak by topp in g th e Foggy debuted its JM B Clas si c MX king Doug p ants in the " N ew Produ cts M 0 u n t a i n Two - Day Do m o ko s and dis Qua lifier...Team Kawasak i's section". The pants replicated cu ssed the m aneu Larry Wo s ick wa s i n t e rthe design w orn by reigning v er - a m o n g o the r viewed. World 250cc M X Champion t h in g s - in a join t Jea n-Michel Bayl e...Our Wo rk p rofil e on page bench column discussed proper 5YEARS AGO... 24 ...T h e Latest Poop air filter ma in tenance .. . Bob reported that Bob Hannah had signed a March 28,1990 W o rd e n w o n the Pe ople 's photo of the Ducati 851-powered, dea l w ith the Tracy Valenta Off-Road Choice Awa rd with his im macuhub-steerin g Bimota T e s i ID Racing Team to cam paign an Unli mitlate 1966 Tr iump h Bonn eville a t the ed-class bug g y w hile o n hi a tus fro m appeared in th e "In T he Wind" Northern Ohio Classic Cycle Club's vin section...Team Kawasaki's Jeff Mati asemotocross a fter suffering a broken leg in l~ tage swap meet. W V egasSUpe rcross, A

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