Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

back under an old statue of a dentist who had led a revolution (his head was supposedly buried under that very monument). One of my favorite hobbies is people-watching, and here I saw teenyboppers smooching, old folks dancing, and an old bus driving by with a marching band playing inside. It was worth the missed hours oLslumber. he three missing riders were back for Day Three, and 1 spent the entire first loop eating the dust of the guy ahead of me. I was wondering why he was going so slow, until it suddenly dawned on me that 1 was riding 20 seconds early. 1 had been the fifth rider out that morning, and in the rush had apparently set my watch wrong. Oh, well, what -were a few more burned checks at this point? Even after 1 had corrected my clock, 1 still spent a considerable amount of time sucking dirt. On three separate dirt roads, 1 found myself following weekend drivers in Volkswagen Bugs, prompting me to wonder if they were entered on my minute. They were certainly going along at the correct speed average, which meant 1 couldn't pass them unless I wanted to ride early. It seems the region was in the midst of a long drought, and this day - the longest of the four - was particularly dry. After 230 miles and over 10 hours, 1 had enough dust in my nose to plant corn. By that afternoon, I had actually begun to get a grip on the navigation/ timekeeping process, and, though it was too late to do me any good, it was satisfying to feel like things were finally clicking. Day Four was just 95 miles, but it took us over some of the best trails of all - cool, tree-lined singletrack with some nifty descents. By this time, Steve had given up and was stopping along the trail to shoot photos with a disposable camera. Believe it or not, he actually had the top score through the first seven checks, prompting him to wish he had taken pictures n the first three days. I just laughed and called him Ansel Adams. The whole shebang finished in Belo Horizonte, the self-proclaimed capital of off-road motorcycling. The party there put all the others to shame, as everyone celebrated the accomplishment of completing four days and 550 miles on a motorcycle. Some people had particular reason to rejoice. Monica Curi. for example, was the sole woman finisher, and Joao Pedro and Gustavo Panisset - both 14 years old - were the youngest riders ever to reach the finish. Ericio Panisset won the Mauricio Moreira Award, a trophy presented in honor of an old racer (and Cristiano's former partner) who was killed this year in a trailriding accident. Steve managed a commendable 16th overall despite his troubles and I well, I honestly didn't even bother to find out how poorly 1 did. All were proud of their accomplishments, but our clique was perhaps the most delighted of all, since one of its members - Haas Moto/O'Neal-spon ored, Husqvarnamounted Guilherme de Oliveira Campos - had scored the overall win. At just 25 years of age, Guilherme has contested the famous event no less than 10 times, and this was his third victory. "It's a very special motorcycle race," said "Gui," as he lets his friends call him. ,"I wish they had made the speeds a little bit faster, but thi race is more than just a race. It has much history behind it, and for that reason, a win here is very important." • Maybe so, Gui, but 1 was happy just to find my way to the. finish. fN T "Excuse me, may I borrow y--=--O=-=---:b=:.....:T:-...=:;Q::.=:..:in..:::....:.?_"_ N :=::ol o matter how diverse your motorcyding background.. I'm willing to bet you've never been a part of anything like the Enduro lntIemacional da Independencia. That's because there is nothing like it - at least as far as I'm aware. Where to begin? Well. I suppose the start would be as good a place as any. Like the IntemationaI Six Days F.nduJo, Ell raJes demand that your IIlOlon:yde pass a technical inspectioo and be impounded lIeVerlI1 bows before the start. Oddly enough. we were allowed to make a few final adjustments to our in the roadbook POI'tugese. And just in cue you were2 Ilimpll:ot~ 01\ the same D' some and doiDg your Iceep him in your Cl'OllII-hairs, it:. Riders leave one at a time every 20 seconds, so you've got no one to due off of. The roadbook is so long that it won't all fit in the bolder, eo the ri4er has to change cbarts during gas stops. The system _ originally iiltended fw two-auIn - - . with one rider handling the Iii keeping and the other navigation. Nowadays. howeYet'. Expert and hdet llle'iiMe class riders are REFER~NCIA E INFORMAODES with medlanica1ly-driven, seIf-calibratins ados with big, easy-to-read display windows. 'Ihe mechanical drives an! IIlUCh more durable than the ftimsy magnetic geIlIlOIS on most aftermarket units, and there's even a digital dock on the rilI:ht side. Of course riders of anything other than an XR have to machine their axles to accept the drM!, and the ~ ters an! so expensive that Honda switched to a d1eaper model the following year; I can't even ~ what the units go fw in Brazi\, where a normal dirt bilce costs upwards of $7000. Even after you've got the general idea of how the rare fonnat themetica1Iy works, actua1Iy IIpplying the concept 01\ the trail is a different story altog2tber. In enduros, rm accustomed to remembering a IIliIag1e and a time; in tbeNe-:1a RaBy, I got used to rememberiIIIg a TEMPO DO NEUTIDESL t INFORMA ·SEMEDIAOU NEUT/DESL t . 1 J 20 0:00:00 ---+CUI DADO COMA ---+RODOVIA 0.00 2.45 KM A PERCORRER KM PERCORRIDO PERIGAO y TEMPO DE PROVA INFORMAODES D ~_-'~ABASTE A ---+RE~ SAN ---+- INFORMAODES D CUIDADO ATENOAO ---+- D ---+- TEMPO DE CHEGADA 6.50 0.00 0:22:00 36 2.40 PERIGO ---+- • 4.35 1·DIA eo required to soIo.~, llOIIleOIle coapIained that the old way Was too Measyw" In unfami1iIIr sihwUOIIIS, TV!! found. it's always a good idea to check out what the locals are doing. Of course it _ too late for any Iessoas 1eIImed to do me any good by the time 1 _ in Bnzi\, but I took an investigatory cruise through the pits ncnetheIess. Doing so made me £ee1 a. bit silly to be using a normaIlCO odometer and my wristwatch. Nearly everyone had a 00memade plastic "dashboard" clamped to their crossbar, with all the tricks of tnlde boltied thereon. Said "tricks" consisled of two Countdown rollchart ldders integrated into one (so that twice much roadbook cou1d be seen at one time); a digital clock; a small map of the day's general course; and in a surprisingly high number of cases, a trick digital odometer from an '85 Honda XR. In case you don't remember, Honda briefly sold their popular four-strolces 0:26:00 36 0:29:15 ---+- NUMERAOAO DA FOLHA m n p;e and a tum diaectiocL Ttying to DIeD' he a ? 8 (actaaIIy, a kiIcmetel" l'l!lIding). a tiaR and a spastic drawing of a tum diaildinn Jlftl'ft!CI a . .-re of a task than Jay paay brain to. -:.:r The wide proClI!8& .ell.b of trying to Imm an jljar Ioc*er alii\binaticn wlWe Ill'lIIIeIlIle shoaled phone numbers in my ear. Steve Hatch, on the other hand, \ikened it to playing golf with Randy Hawkins. "It's sO &ustrating, but it's also a lot of fun, "he said. "It's like you know you could do better if you could just figure e,erything out." On more than occasion, my mind aiecl "uncle" and SllDply quit, leaving my fingeJs frozen on the roadbook knob and my eyes starirlg blankly at the odometer - then fd be rudely snapped back into reality as my motorcycle '4". careened off-eourse. There's so much brain activity going on that actually riding the motorcycle becomes almost sec- ondary.

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