Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

GUEST EDITORIAL BK O y im rndorff imagine it 's not often that ma n y of yo u wan der ou t to Uta h for some trail rid ing - not that you shouldn' t, mind yo u. Co me on ou t, call me' up. The riding here is excellent and ranks right up th er e w it h sex , good food and perfect s us pens io n for satisfaction . We have everything from sand to slick rock, tight trees (comp lete wit h over-your-handle- ' ba rs roo ts), streams, washes , tec hnical goa t trail s, and w ide-open desert. You wa n t fu n for the family? We got it. You wa nt mach o, nasty, studl y. five -miles takes-ali-day stuff? We got it. You want to jump off so me sa nd dunes beca use either yo u're a teen ager or you have no bra in ce lls left a nd you lik e ho sp it a l food? We got it. For now, tha t is. But we are in serious da nge r of losing mu ch of what we ha ve. And if tha t ha p pe ns , few years fro m now , w hen you dec ide to tak e th a t familv vac a tion and tour this land that 01' Brigham You ng and his p la toon of s ig nifica n t others se ttled , well, yo u'd best bring your hiking boots and h ors e s . T hat ' s a ll tha t w ill be allowed. There is a n e nvi ro nme ntal trend , ba ck ed b y very pow e rfu l g r o u p s, to ward limiti ng O HVs at best, and at worst banning them altogether on pu b- lic lands na tionwid e. Out here in Utah , we have ood les of beau tifu l BLM land , and these groups will no t be ha ppy until they lock it all up by de sig na ting it as "wild ern ess." To be exac t, the current proposal by the lu nati c fringe is 8.5 million acres of wildernes s in Utah alo ne. Wha tever sta te you ride in, yo u ma y have lan d s designated as "wi ldern ess." The se lan ds w ere crea ted as a result of the 1964 Federal Wild erness Protection Act. The en viro nmen tal grou ps' propaga nda would lea d you to beli ev e th a t wit ho ut "w ild e rn ess" s tatu s. fed era l lan d s are in jeo pa rd y ot st ri p mines, subdivisions , and a lien land ing strips ; that , unless and u ntil federa l land s carry such status, the god less hordes of OHV rid er s, bicyclists, an d Jeep drivers w ill ri p u p e ve ry sq uare inch of la nd with their knobbies and turn the land in to a junk heap . Simply put, on ce land is des ig na ted " w il d e r ne s s," i t me ans tha t there are on ly tw o acceptable forms of travel: on foo t or on hors eback . N o Jeeps , O HVs , mountain bik es, s kateboard s, w heelchairs, ca rs - in short, noth in g mechanica l whatsoever. You can' t land a plan e or helicop ter, eve n if there is a life-threatening medical situation . Los t a nd /or in jured hike rs can only be resc ued on foot, horseback, or by magic fairy dust. Violation of w ilderness design ation for any reason is subject to fines or criminal action. Towa rd t he e nd of Ju ly 1998, the Utah Wi ld ern ess Coalition proposed th a t 8.5 mi ll io n -acre s be set asi de in Utah as "wi lderness." This equals 13,600 l a sq ua re miles . That' s more th a n 1 1/ 2 ti mes th e s iz e of New Je rsey , Emery Co u n tv, Utah , alone wou ld los e 48 .3 percent or all its land to 'wild ern ess if this goes through . Fi rst oi all , w h y sho uld you care abo u t wha t goes on in Utah ? The sa me reaso n I care if the Statue of Liberty get s knocked d own out in New York. or that your trails get closed in New Jersey: because we 're fellow rid ers . Because when vou or yo ur kids or yo ur frien ds come here, unl~s you have lots of time and some good hor ses, or unless you can hike a bazill ion mil es; you will be lock ed ou t of some of th e most bea utiful scenerv in the nation . Think about .it : How far d o you th in k yo ur 5-year-old can hike? And how far will your 15-year-old go withou t his CD player? And you : Are you ready to hike 50 miles carrying your ten t, food , bu g repellan t and TP? We need th e help of every ra tiona l human bein g out the re, whet her you' re east, w es t , n ort h . sou th o r living in Kan sa s. "Rational " wo uld be those of vou tha t be lieve ma n and na tu re ca n coexist and that two-strokes hav e not si ng le-ha nded ly d estroyed the ozone layer. Your voice to you r elected official is as powerfu l as mine, bec ause fina l decision s on wilderness areas are made by Congress, not by the citizen s of the sta te in w hich the wildernes s exists. Our nat ions' free doms are being decided by a handful of pol iticia ns (i.e ., law yers and / or people who have a higher credit line on their Visa than the average perso n' s mortgage). That 's w ho makes u p Co ngress. That should scare you worse tha n seei n g a d e ad , fer m en ti ng cow lying in the middle of your trail. These politician s decide it you can own gun s, if you ca n ride yo u r mo to rcycles on tr a ils t hey'll nev er see and d on 't care about, if vou have to wear helme ts and sea tbe lts; how much tax you pa y, a nd w hether or not you h av e th e r ight to bu rn a flag , discip line you r child ren , or send ha te mail to the IRS. These ele cted o fficia ls ha ve a fairly sim ple age nda wh en it comes to passin g legislation: Will it get them more mon ey? Will it get them reelected so they can get mo re money? That's fact. If you, I, and a few mill ion other vot in g citi ze ns out there don't make ou r voices heard, then gobs of beautiful land are goin g to come under lockd own. So I'm adding to your list of thin gs to do . Write editorials; send letters to yo ur represen tat ives . Inf orm yo ur frie nds and neighb or s; wa tch out for yo ur ow n st ates . What happens in Utah sets a precedent for other states and their wilderness decisions . Nex t timeit might be you r back yard in trouble- and you' ll wa nt help . . But don't go yelling fro m your pulpit - y o u n e ed t o sound in for med . He re's some very basic history. Back in t h e earl y 1960s , publi c land s we r e affo rded lit tle, if any , protection . Most en viro nmenta lists were in d iapers. In 1964, the Fed eral Wi ld erness Act was pa ssed , and si nce 1976, a ll la n ds remaini ng to the governmen t are to be ow ned by th e federa l govern me nt in perpetu ity . All these lands are now su bject to all federa l env ironme ntal laws , the majority of which have been passed sin ce the 1964 Wil derness Ac t. For exa mple, since 1964, it is im possible to even build a road on fed eral land wit hou t federa l permission ; min ing operations mu st now prove that they are economically vi able ; a n d t her e are s tringent requiremen ts for min e reclama tio n. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 has provided ad ditiona l federal protectio n for th rea ten ed bird s, mamma ls, insects, and yes, eve n plan ts. My poin t here is this: Because of current 'land -ma nagemen t techniqu es, and beca use there is a lot of land to ride on. the BLM lan d in Utah currently open to trail rid ing looks pretty m uch like it d id 30 years ago . Ther e are some Jeep trails, mo torcycle tr a ils, o ld m inin g trai ls, abandoned railroa ds from the late 1800s, but, in short there is a wo nde rful his torv and legacy ou t her e tha t is av ailabl e to every person in this nation wh o can hop in a Jeep or tru ck, ride a mountain bike, OH V, hike, horseback, ride a mot orcycle , ro ll er-b lad e , ska tebo a r d , ride a camel, wha tever. This mean s that evervon e has the opportu nity to view m uch of Utah 's spectacu lar count ry, includ ing those disabled by ph ysical and / or medical prob le m s : W e cu r r e n tly h a v e wilderne ss-study areas, and most of us wou ld agree with designating bet ween 1 and 2 million acres of wild erness here in Uta h. Despite w hat you ma y ha ve hear d or read , no one is carving sw athes 0 1 mines, trail s or building McDonalds to dest roy the view . Man y trail s in Utah are often decades old . They are the very sa m.e trails that our a ncesto rs used . Fifty ye ars from n ow , w e can co n tin u e to w a lk d o w n thes e trail s and some ho w con nect ourselves to the pa st. The radical en vironmentalist groups would have us believe tha t preserving the past is more im po rta nt than living in the p rese nt. Aren ' t we - as a cu lture, as a people - every bit as importan t as any cu lture or civiliza tion that wal ked before us? When d id some one decide tha t all that has been created - the roadways, the trailways, the pa ths wa lked for years - we re thi ngs that we re of no value? Have you ever carved your nam e on a tree? How abou t on a school d esk? (C' rnon, ' fess u p.) Have you put yo u r handprin t in the cemen t and left yo u r name and d ate? Isn ' t th ere so mething inna tely human in leaving beh in d the proof that we ha ve been here? Is th is desi re any less wrong beca use we live in t he 20 th ce nturv ? W hether covered wagon or motorized vehicle made the roads, th ey are still tra ils th at ca rr y a his to ry . T o pro tect ou r lan d a nd reso urces is necessary - and is cu rrently being do ne even now , wit ho ut wil derness designa tion . Wilderness areas are essen tia l for a reas whose cont act wit h man has ind eed been so in fre quen t or rar e as to leave scan t trace of ever having been ther e, or for area s whose ra re ecosystems are truly endangered . But to wipe out established trai ls, to insist that becau se a road or trai l exis ts we have somehow da maged th e la nd and we must allow it to re turn to the wild , is to ma ke u s burn the tree that bears o ur na me. It is saying tha t we are not entitled to our connec tion s to the past, an d we ar e no r ent itled to share these connect ions with our fu tu re . It is taking away the freedom of many because of th e wishes of a p owerfu l, eli te grou p w ho th in k gra nol a bars are a delicacy and know bo ttled wa ter by its bouquet. I think that as use rs of trails , we can all agree tha t we a re no t asking to open new la nds, bu t we are asking to lea ve th e tra ils we have n o w . We need to demand tha t all people be allowed continued access to cu rrently open federa l lan d s and fig h t th e pres sure be in g applied by those who th in k tha t only they can make the bes t d ecision s for the rest of the world . An d if tha t doesn't wo rk, by God, I' ll start blockading gra nola bars and bo ttled water. So , w ha t do you do w h ile I' m b lockading? You become ed uca ted on la nd iss ues and the trail s you rid e in y ou r own state . Fi r st a nd fo re m os t, ever yone mus t be ac tively con cerned with his or her own little corne r. As time passes, you will find that OHV use will becom e threa tened nationw id e. I will stake my brand. new mot orcycle on that. Use y ou r lo cal clu bs , y our AM A districts - even you r mean Uncle Fester - as co llective me an s to figh t tra il clos u res where you live. Don't ju st allow it to happen by you r own passivit y. Th ere are organizations now w hose purpose it is to fight to keep trails open. And pick up that pen or com p u ter mou se and send a letter to your political re p resen ta tives . Tell th em that you oppose increasin g federal co n tro l in land -usage issues. If you wa nt to help us in Uta h now, then specifically mentio n the 8.5 million-acre proposal and plagiarize this article as m u ch as you wa nt. We are a m in or ity - we ha ve to ba nd toget her for the future of mo torized offroad use. But co me on o u t to Utah , and I promise to ta ke you on the ride of a li fe t im e - and s how y ou why th es e tra il s are wo r th every ba ttle we are goi ng to fight. 0 30 YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 26, 1 968 20 Y A SAGO... ER SEPTEMBER 13, 19 78 10YEARS AGO... SEPTEMBER 7,1988 art Markel (H -D) was the "miracle ma n" at the San Jose, California , 14-mile National. Mark el took the lead with a bold hig h- line man euver in turn two and was never headed . Defendi ng series cha mpio n G a ry Ni xon (Tri) fin is hed second a nd regained th e p oin ts lea d . Ch uck Palmgren (Tr i ) was third ... O ne week earlier, Fred d ie Ni x (H-D) won the Sed alia, Missouri, Ha lf Mile Na tional, w hile Nixon had cras hed an d thus hand ed the lead over to Cal Rayborn ... Ron Nel so n (Mon) scored the 500cc O pen Amateur /Expert victory at the Spok e Benders European Scrambles in Southern California 's Mojave Desert. ssu e #35 was our Laguna Seca preview issue... The latest Poop section of Cycle News carried info on the rainplagu ed ISDT in Sma lan d, Sweden, where the Ameri can trophy team finis hed a creditab le four th, and Frank Ga llo was the top American rider ... D a le Sing leton (Yam ) edged out Mike Baldwin (Yam) to win the Laconia, New Hamps hire , Ca mel Pro road race... Bel-Ray took out a full-page ad to tou t its role in the new 318.598-m ph mo to rcycle land -sp eed record , set by Don Vesco... We interviewed the Maico factory's hot yo ung Na tional MX star , Darrell Shultz . Ub b a Shobert (Ho n) finis hed second a t theI ndy Mile to clinch his fourth stra igh t Ca mel Pro Series titl e, but race wi nner Scott Parke r (H-D) pa d ded his GNC points lead in what was turning out to be a tigh t due l 'between the two riders for tha t title... Led by " Su d d e n " Sam Er mo le nko, th e American speedway team defeated the World team, 174-114, at the Budweiser American Cup Speedway Cha llenge a t Ascot Park in Gardena, Californ ia ... Fra nce 's He rve Moineau (Suz) locked up his fourth World Championship Endurance Road Racing crown at the Spa-Fran corchamps circuit in 0 Belgiu m: B I B 79

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