Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

h e revelation hit me a t 5:45 th is morning as I was hanging by my fi nger s o u tsi de a seco n d -floo r apartment window while dressed in full Th or m ot a gea r: You ca n ' t plan fo r everything. I cert ainl y hadn't planned to be imitating so me sick mutation of Spiderman a n d Damon Hu ffman in a predawn, qui et Pasadena neighborhood. Not that I'm incapable of the occa sion al elaborate plan; i n fac t, I'v e earned quite a reputation among family and friend s for my co n v o lu te d schemes, and this weekend was a pe rfect example. Anxio us to pack the maximum amo unt of fun int o the two days, I had sched u led a seemingly impossible number of activities. Friday nigh t was to be spen t a t a movie w ith my friend Fo r rest, whil e t he bul k o f Sa t u rday wou ld be d evoted to a partme n t hunting (ad mitted ly not all that mu ch fun ), with that even ing se t asi de for watching the season's fin al speedway race at the Oran ge County Fair grounds with my friend Cliff. Sunday wa s the annual Cycle News Du al Spor t Jamboree , to start in Devor e, followed by a San tana conce rt at the Hollywood Bowl on Su nda y night. Wh en said planning first got underway, a few problems immediately prese n te d themselves: First, ed it ors Kit Palmer , Paul Ca rruthers and I were all plann ing to ride the dual-sport event , but we only ha d a Hond a XR650L and a Suzuki DR350S. A Friday-afternoon call to White Brothers sca red up a legally challenged ATK 605, which somehow mir acu lou s ly sprou ted a lice nse p la te over the weekend. Second, th e teac her of m y literature class h ad assigne d me to read a huge por tion of Moby Dick over the weekend, and time woul d b e a t a seve re s ho rtage. Undau n ted, I rented the book on audio tape, which I would listen to in my car w hile apa rtmen t hunting on Saturday. Third , m y fr iend G reg, with w hom I would b e atte nding the concert, ha s m in im a l parki ng space o utsi de h is Pasade na a pa r t ment - ce r tai n ly not enough for my ve hicle and motorcycle trailer. No sweat. I wo uld just ride the T Honda from Glen Helen to Pasad ena , lo ck the b ike in G r eg ' s ca r po r t overnight, then rid e it to work in Costa Mesa early Monda y mornin g . And to prevent having to leave my car a t Glen Hel en, I would talk Cliff in to riding the dual-sport rid e; that way I could hitch a rid e with h im o ut to De v ore aft er s pe ed w ay Saturda y ni ght. A re yo u keeping track? That's a movie, a hou sehunt, an American literat ure cla ssic, a speed way race, a dual-sport rid e and a rock concert all in one weekend - a full schedule, but nothing impossible, with a bit of planning. A r e y o u k ee ping track? That's a movie, a house-hunt, an America n literature classic , a speedw ay race, a dualsport ride and a rock concert all in one weekend - a full schedule, but nothing impossible wi th a bit of planning." /I It all started smoothly enough. Forrest and I took in a cool flick (American Beauty) at the cinema Friday evening , and I scoped out a few po tentia l abodes Saturday morning w hile simultaneously lis tening to the advent ures o f Ish mael and the w ha le. Cliff then swung by in his mot orhome to p ick me a nd two of the tes t bikes u p (Kit wou ld ride th e third to Devo re), an d Saturday evening was spent tryi ng to keep roost ou t of my beer in the Cycle News speed way box. Afterwa r d, wh ile bombing o u t to Devore in Cliffy's Mobile Traveler, I was smug wit h how well my weekend plan was running thu s far. Th e p lan s ho wed its fir st s ig ns of u nraveling Sunday morning, when Cliff a n d I - s ti ll tired fr om th e pre vious eveni ng - o ve rs le p t. Still, I hurriedly d on ned m y gea r whil e fie ld ing jee r fro m 12 or so rid in g buddies who had ga t he re d o u tsi d e, and afte r a la st minute spri nt to registrati on - wh er e I deservedly caug ht more flack from ride orga nizer Larry Lan gl ey for not preent ering a rid e my employer was sponsoring - I hopped on the Honda and departed with friends. We were a little behind sched u le, bu t the plan was still in place. For such a large grou p, the ride went fairly smoothly . Two mechanical problems d id cro p up - the ATK lost a brakepedal bolt, and Cliff's pilot jet fell ou t bu t a bit of MacGu yverin g had us near rid e's finis h only a littl e behind schedu le. At this point, I was forced to alter the p la n somew ha t. Kit and I h ad b e en swapping the Honda and ATK back and forth, while Paul had spen t the d ay on the DRS. Ori gin all y, I had intended to ride the big Honda to Pasadena, while Kit - w ho liv es near th e rid e' s route would leave th e course ea rly and tak e the little Suz u ki horne. Th is, however, would mean having bossma n Paul finish the ride on th e ATK, and after one look at his cras h-related carnage on the DRS, I decided it best to limit his handiwork to just one test bike for the weeke nd . H e n ce , Kit p e e led off on the Honda, a nd I finished the ride on the ATK. Unwilling to further test the legality of the ATK's license plate, I was just resigning myself to a long freeway slog to Pasadena on th e hammer ed Suzuki when I hit upon another plan : My dad , who had also do ne the dua l-sport ride, h a d a n o pen s po t in his tru ck , a n d Pasadena was ki n d -of-so rt-of o n his way horne (if yo u use your imagi nation). He cou ld drop me and the Suz uki off at Greg's hou se, the reby decreasing the amount of sa dd le tim e I'd have to pu t in on the DRS. Sure enough, Pop got me to Pasade- na on time Sunday aftern oo n, and after u sing Greg's lock to secure the bike in his ca r p o r t, I s ho we re d, cha nged clothes, and accom panied my buddy to the Hollyw ood Bowl. Santan a was cool, and as I co ntented ly drif ted off on Greg's cou ch afterw ard (just eight ho urs ag o as I w ri te th is ), I congratulated myse lf on having actually imp roved my original masterpiece of a plan. Yes, there had been a few hitches, but the solution had been obvious - more planning. When the alarm sounded this morning at 5:00, my sleepiness was assuaged by the fact tha t upon completing this final (and most sim ple) step of getting to wo rk, my p lan for the per fect weekend wou ld be in th e book s as a success . I d onned my mota gear, put a change of clothes in m y ba ckpa ck, then quietl y locked the door behind me and mar ched d ownstairs to find the DR safely secu red with a lock - Greg's lock . . To you, it probably seems lik e a minor bl emish on suc h a n o the rwise brill iant pl an, but you' re not fa miliar w ithmy friend 's sleepi ng hab its. I ra ng the doorbe ll; I po u nded on the d oor ; I yelled; I threw coins at wi ndows; I even attempted the afo re mentio ne d Spi der. Hu ff man eu v er. Nothing - no thing could rouse Gr eg fro m hi s co n tended slu mber. Finally, I cu rle d up and we nt to sleep on my pal's doorstep, waiting for him to get up for work. Abou t 45 m inu tes later, I was awakened by the sou nd of G reg 's a larm (I sleep less sou n d lv th an he) , a n d fra n ticallv jabbed it the door buzz er in an effo rt t;' get his attention . Too late. Greg was alrea dy i n t h e showe r , and it was ano ther 15 minutes before I was on the roa d . You' d think such an inciden t would teach me to back off a bit on the pla nning, but as I buzzed d own the Golde n State freeway th is morning - lat e fo r work despi te the best -laid plans, fighting a high-speed wobble, looking at my navel in the bent rear-view mirror, substi tuting shea red-off blin kers by ha ndsigna li ng each tu rn - w ha t d id I fin d myself d oing? Planning this column, CIf Looking Back 30Y AR E SAGO... October 21,1969 20 YEARS AGO••. OCTOBER 17,1979 10YEARS AGO... OCTOBER 11 1989 , y cl e News expand ed with this vers ion of Issu e #40, ad di ng a Cycle News North edit ion ... Pag e 16 featu red a n in te res ti ng " I n ne r- View " d is cuss ing th e A MA's alleged court ing of the F1M in order to be that w o rld - s a n ct i on i n g b od y ' s a ffiliate in A merica . H ead ed b y Wes Co ol e y , th e M ot orcy cl e In te rnational Committee, U.S. (M ICUS ) was th e current F1M affiliate in the USA, and Cooley vowed legal action agai nst bo th the AMA and the F1M if the affiliation was gra nted ... Mike Patrick (Yam) won the grueling Check Ch ase Har e & Hound in Lucerne Valley, California ... Gene Romero (TrD spent so me time figuring ou t the fast way aro und the IT course at Ascot Park in Gard ena, Ca lifo rnia, and it paid off, as Rom ero bea t Asco t IT ace Sk ip Van Leeuwen (Tri) and a host of ot her top Amateurs an d Experts at the second of the weekly Friday nigh t ITs ther e. he Latest Poop featured an item r el atin g to t he Ch eck Chase Ha re & Hound eve nt. Basically, the Ch eckers M.e. w a s fo rced to cancel the classic d esert event a fter th e BLM refused to approve th e co urse th at th e Checke rs ha d se lect ed , and in stead offered the club a ro u te th at woul d h a ve b een more road r a ce th an des ert ra ce . The BLM cited environmental conce rns. Th e Ch eck er s canceled the eve nt in the interest of rider sa fety... Brad Lackey (K aw) bla sted to 3-1 moto scores for the overall win at ro und th ree of the Trans-USA Series in New Berli n, New York. Ken t Howerton (Su z) was second, and Mark Barnett (Suz) was thi rd ... Bob Carpenter (Kaw) beat Terry Vance (Suz) to nail down the NMRA Pro Stock title at O ntario Mot or Speedway. Jim Berna rd (Yam) downed Pee Wee Gleason (Kaw) for the Top Fuel title at the same even t... Mike Bast claimed his seventh U.S. Nati on al Championship Speedway title in Cos ta Mesa, California. cott Parker (HD) ro lled to the San Jo s e Mil e wi n by over 6.6 seconds, clinchi ng hi s seco nd s traig h t Ca mel Pro Se ries ti tle . Jus t o ne w eek pri or, Chris Ca rr (HD ) s to pped Parker fro m cli nchi ng the tit le b y w inning th e Ascot Half Mile... The Jeffs were the men at the Steel City Nati onal 125/500cc MX, as Jeff Maliasevich (Kaw) sco red his firs t eve r 125cc Na tiona l MX ov erall win, w hile Jeff Wa rd (Ka w) w on th e 500cc clas s... We previewed the 1990 Honda model lineup, which included wha t we la b e le d the "RVF 75 0 endurance bike:' Urnm, yea h, okay. It was actually the RC-30 Superbike, but hey, wh o was really paying attention anyway? .. Garth Sweetland (Ka w) ra n away with roun d th re e o f the Best in th e Des ert Se ries , the Mesquite GP I n Mesquite, Nevada... Rod n ey Smith (Suz) and Tallon Vohla nd (Kaw) each sco red a CMC Pr o-cla ss win a t th e E-Stre et M otocr oss T rack in Marysville, Californ ia. Smith wo n the 125cc Pro class, CII w hile Vohla nd wo n the 250cc Pro class . C B4 T S

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