Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

cows are cool. They' re very trustworth y." He' s right abo ut that - for some reason they don't spook or make an y sudden moves like cows back home. I notice that two fresh sets of motorcycle tracks leav e the road and head off to the right, up and over the hill. Smith see ms to have found a cow path and led Lo vett o ff d own il. Even at 70 mph, Smith does not miss anything. Not qui te a quarter of a mile later, I see where the two of them came barreling back down · a sandy wash, hit the road skidding, and kept on going . A short time la ter, we negot iate a series of switchbacks and drop d own into the valley we've been skirting. The group pu ll s in to a nother tiny town, Pu erto Cuadal, for gas and beverages. "Malcolm squ ared off against a bull out there." Lovett say s, turning off his bike and removi ng his helmet. "He looked righ t at me and started charging," Smith contin ues, "b u t he tu rned off. That wa s lu ck y fo r me because I couldn't d o anything. And then I raced a rabbit for a stretch, but he turned off as soo n as I s ta rted to beat (Right) Lovett, no t known for slowing down, motors past a truck outs ide a village. (Left) Lovett (left ) and Smith fit handguards pri or to the ride. (Below) Harden, Smith and Lovett (left to right) cross a bri dge over the Rio Frio sout h of Chaiten. him." The group cas u ally pokes around, lookin g for something wet. Smith - who Harden once claimed knows onl y three Sp an ish words picked up in years of Ba ja racing: "g nso li na." " Iefto, " and "righto" - has nevertheless managed to s tri ke up a fri endshi p with tw o loca l kids , Marco and Marcello . The pair look on with deli ghted aw e at Smith's KTM 620 . He swing s Marcello up onto th e sad d le an d roars off down the street, Ma rcello grinning madly. "I can tell Malcolm's in touch with the wo rld arou nd him ," Lovett says, watching him rid e off. 'That jackra bbit knew it was Malcolm , I swear." Lovett sta rted riding d irt bikes w he n he was 12, the age w hen boys need heroes . That was during the height of Smith's d esertracing career, while he was making himself into a legend . Young Lovett would certainly hav e seen posters of Smith in m o torcycle s ho ps, and p r obably watched his movie, "On Any Sund ay." Tod ay , we s ta nd casua lly aroun d motorcycles in a d usty Patagonian town. For just a split second, I see Lovett looking at Smith wi th the eyes of a 12-yea rold in the p resence of his hero. ••••• I drop the bike in gear and head out, trying to limit how mu ch of a liability I am by pu ttin g a little d istan ce on them befor e th ey lea ve. Smith and Harden blow by in a few minu tes, followed by Lovet t. This tim e, though, Lo vett doesn' t keep on goi ng. He matches my pace and, riding alo ngside, starts moving his elbows u p and down and sha king his head. At first I think it must be something he a te, bu t then I catch on. He's giving me tips on my riding form . I emulate him as best I can, bu t within a few minutes, Lovett waves us to a stop. "Keep you r elbows up," he ad vises gen tly, in the calm tha t remains after we turn off the motorcycles. 'That way, the bike d oesn ' t p us h your bod y arou nd . A nd ge t for war d on the seat, further than yo u thi nk yo u should . It keeps weigh t o n th e fro n t ti re and gives it mo re traction . That helps you steer. And wa tch Malcolm. He has nearly per fect form." He starts his motorcycle. "You'll get it, " he says, I'm p re tty s u re s mili ng behind his helme t. Th e adv ice he lps as we m a ke o u r way so u th. All told , our group covers almos t 1500 miles of the most spectacular scenery Chile has to offer . It's un can- nily like the American West. It stretches to the south a similar distance from the equator, and receives a similar bath of weather pa tterns from the Pacific. The only d ifference is that it's emp ty, eerily and beau tifully reminiscent of 19th-eentury America . On the fina l day, as we close in to 18 kilome ters from the end of the road, we e nco u n ter a ba rricad e . The s u p po rt tru cks stop behind us. Our guides haggle in Spa nis h w ith a so ldier ma nning the stop. A crew is still doing work up along the road, drill ing and dy na miting, an d not too keen on allowing us to pass. W e' v e come so far d own the road, it' s no t even finished . So me how the two talk him in to it , though, and with a round of muchas graciases we turn back towa rd the vehicles. As we walk away, the soldier mutters something in Spanish. "And especially watc h out for the big truck coming d ow n the road," our guide translates, "he wo n' t expect you to be out there." The road not being finished turns out to be about the coolest thing tha t could have happened for Lovett and Smith. Unfinis he d road grades, construction equipment and debris around every corner, washed-out culvert ditches, large beds of fist-sized river rocks in need of a d ir t- a nd -g ra vel surface. It's a fitting cha lle nge, ho w e ve r, for the home s tretch . Up a head , Lovett and Smith appear d ownrigh t exhilarated. Arou nd the corner, I see the others have stopped just short of a rise . "Just follow me," say s Smit h, gazing d own a lon g, s tee p stretch of road covered in so ftball-sized river rocks. 'Til pick the easies t lin e." Smith hea ds off dow n it, the steepes t and most technical section we' ve seen. I keep my front tire poin ted a t Smith's pa th , st and up on the pegs and follow. The bike comes alive unde r me, weaving and popping around. I jus t keep what Lov e tt explained in mind, though , and it doesn' t let me down . As we near the end, Puerto Yungay not far ahea d , Lovett fires around me on the right with a beep of his horn. The road ends, just as we've hea rd , at a ferry la ndi ng . The to wn of Puerto Yungay is deserted tod ay, only po pulated by gentle waves lapping at creosotecovered boards at the base of the landing. The m omen t is no t exactly anticlimactic, but it's nea r tha t - as if we kn ew before reach in g th e end of the road tha t the end of the road was just our excuse all along. Our guide po ps open a bo t tle of sparkling cider and passes it aro u nd. With a broa d grin, Lovett takes the first pull - straight from the bottle, naturally. That night, Lovett breaks ou t his gui tar and sings us a few songs in the ho tel bar. He had hoped to play some for us all along, but the hard d ays on the road a nd leis u re ly C hilea n dinn ers ju st ha dn' t left time. Jus t the handful of us ga ther o n th e cou ches, plus one w ideeyed Chilea n looking o n as he wi pes d own the bar. As his fin ger-picks flash across th e strings like ligh ts in his fingers, Lovett's voice fills the roo m. If 1 had a boat, I'd go out on the ocean. And if 1 had a pony, I'd ride him on my boat. And we would all together go out on the ocean, 1said me upon my pony on my boat. And if 1 were Roy Rogers , I'd sure enough be single. 1 couldn't bring myself to marryin' old Dale. Well, it'd just be me and Trigger. We'd go riding through them movies, then we'd buy a boatand on the sea we'd sail. It' s a w himsical tune wri tten from the per spect ive of a boy dream ing of hero es a n d a dventu re . And it sure seems to fit the feeling rig ht now, after this trip, what wit h the motorcycles and ferry boats, huasos and horses, the beautiful cou ntry and terrific compa ny. Or maybe afte r a tri p like this, it's the song th a t cha nges . I coul d see it in Smith's eyes when he picked the honeysuckle. Or hear it in Lovett's voice when he'd talk about ri ding. Ma ybe t hat song's not just about some child dr eaming of heroes and ad venture. Maybe it's abou t any of us. Jason Lathrop has written for web publica. tions since 1994, incl u ding Outside On li ne, ABCNEWS .com , a nd M u ng o Park. Duty has also taken him sea-kavaking in Newfo undland , climbing on M ou n t Rainier, and mountain-biking across Colorado. Mungo Park is on the World Wide Web at http://www.mungopark.com . 19

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