Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127790
Ne~ Hampshire Classic Trail Ride By Paul ClipperlTraii Rider Magazine LOUDON, NH, JUNE 8-9 or the 12th year in a row, the Merrimack Valley Trail Riders of New Hampshire sponsored a charity turkey run for the benefit of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Originally, the run was known as the Leon Dube Memorial, then it became the Jack Noga Memorial, and now it is simply the New Hampshire Classic. Along with the name the location has changed from time to time, and now the starting point is from the grounds of the New Hampshire International Speedway, north of Concord. The New Hampshire Classic is what is known in New England as a turkey run, although there are no turkeys involved, as far as we can tell. NETRA has a whole series of turkey runs every year, where a fun trail loop is laid out for the benefit of all the riders who aren't interested in a weekend of competition, and for the price of your entry fee you get to ride some of the scenic yet challenging trails of New England. In this case, your entry fee and pledges you raise go to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in its endeavors to find a cure for CF,. a debilitating and deadly respiratory disease. In 12 years, the MVTR has done quite a job for CF, raising to date a total of $400,000 for CF research. Attending the (Above) This Honda XR600 rider carefully negotiates this stream crossing in Bear Brook State Park. (Left) Approximately 300 riders participated in this year's amual trail ride. F ride this year were 300 hardy souls from around New England and the northeast, and by the end of the two-day ride $33,000 had been collected for the charity. Not all of the money comes from private pledges. The event also has substantial support from American Honda and participating regional Honda dealers (33 of them, at last count), in the form of direct cash donations and prizes for the riders. There is also support from Spectro Oil, American Airlines, Trail Rider magazine and New Hampshire International Speedw.ay. Along with the chance to ride the course, the Honda dealers involved got together and offered a brand-new XR400R to be given away to a lucky rider at the end of the weekend. In order to have a chance at the bike, you had to raise pledge money - $75 for the first chance, $100 for two, and you got another chance for every additional $100 after that. The only downside to winning the bike was that Bruce Ogilvie was attending from American Honda, and he was going to ride the bike that was being given away. So it's a little muddy; who cares, right? Boil that all down and it makes for a very generous weekend for a worthy charity, but when the bi'kes are unloaded, what's the most important thing? The riding! The trails opened on Saturday with a large possibility of riding entertainment. There was a short parentichild loop laid out around the grounds of the New Hampshire International Speedway, a dual sport ride for the road and trail set, a mountain bike loop for the strong of lung, and an 8O-mile trail ride for the hard core. The trail ride was the main attraction, and it was a ton of fun. Making a giant loop north and east of the speedway, the trail was mostly two-track, in some places very muddy from a hard rain on Friday, but all was passable. The majority of it was fast two-track through the typically rocky New Hampshire woods, with every now and then a rain-filled mud hole just for fun. Our group enjoyed a remarkably trouble-free ride and finished up at three in the afternoon feeling like heroes. All the spare time was spent washing bikes, working on them and generally getting ready for a longer day on Sunday.