Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

"KTM may well have sold a new bike strictly because of Pat (Garra ha n] and his inform a tion and a nd friendliness." The Cannondale It was g rea t to see Cannondale finally mixing it up with the Pro s at M t. M o r ris. I k no w eve ryo ne has budgets to dea l with , but I t h ink th e ir devel op m ent prog ram would go much fas te r if the y wo uld ra ce the N ation al round instead of playing with the A m at eurs. he m ud and co m pet it ion at Mt. Mo r ris uncove red clutch, wiring and over heat in g pro bl em s w ith th e M X 4 0 0 , and it will t ak e the pressu re coo k er of pro racing for Ca nnondale to whip up a batch of w hup -as s motocross bik es . KTM rac ed a 5 20 with Lance Smail wh en Do ug Henry was on ly be ginning with th e YZ400F. Years lat er , Yamah a is th e o nly ma nufa cturer w ith a prove n , r e liabl e and w in n ing f our stroke p rodu cti on p roduct , and KTM is in th eir first y ear with a co mpet itive production 5 20 . Ca n no n da l e is o bv io us ly st ill in deve lop me nt w it h t he MX400 , and 'I have to g ive t he m c red it for being so open ab ou t the problems th ey had at Mt . Morr is. M y loca l Cannondal e deal er rep orts that th ey j ust pu shed ba ck the d eli v ery of th e MX400 to July. I'm not su re I would w an t to pu t ou t big buc ks for a bike th at ha s y et to see a full seaso n of pro r acing . A ft er all, Su zu ki has Mi k e K iedrowski shak ing out the bu gs on the DR-Z4 0 0. If C a n n o n d a l e h as o ve r hea ti n g problems now , wa it until t hey run th e Blackwate r 10 0 when it r ai ns . Can nonda le has co me a long way from gro und zero, but th ey st ill ha ve a wa y to go . Jim Dueck VIa the Intemet Act Now There are so m e 60 miles of undes ig nated , u nc lass ifie d , u s e r - c r e at e d 4WD tr acks an d trails in th e Big Bear region of t he San Bern ardino (Ca lifornia) Na tiona l Forest. Many of th ese t r a v el ro utes a r e no w qui t e over grown , but are st ill used by du al-sport motorcycles . Th e F o r est Servi c e , i n order to provide habitat protection for threatened and end angered species, p lans to close these t r av e l route s, beginn ing this fall. In respons e , w e in v i.t e the " O ff - Road Community " to voice th eir opposit ion to specific cl o su r es . Under th e National Envi ron m ental Po licy Act (NEPAl. Endan g er ed Sp eci e s A ct ( E SA l. exi stin g State and F ed eral requirements f o r r esourc e prote ct ion, and pressure br ought b y law suits from envi r on menta l groups such as th e Center fo r Biodiversity in Ari zon a, t he Nati onal Forest Service has bee n instr ucted by the U .S. Fish and W il dli fe Serv ic e t o id e n ti f y sensitiv e areas , p erf orm impact studies upon th em and m ov e quickly to co m ply with th e law s. A s a resu lt, the Forest Service has creat - ed an in v entory of all u nc lass ified t rav el r oute s , and n o w i n t e n ds t o rest o re th em to a natural hab it at co n d it i on . Th i s m ean s th at a ll m o t or veh icle access routes in t he Na tional Fo rest t ha t do not hav e a Forest Ser v ice ro ute number are cons ide red to be unauthorized tra vel rou t es. Co nse q ue n tly, th ey wil l be cl os ed off and re ha bilitated in ways that will prevent any fut ure ve hicula r ac cess . Do not co nfuse th is iss ue wit h the Roa d less Area Con servati on Proposal and t he Draft En v ironm ental Impact State me n t ( D E IS ) oppo sed b y t h e Blu e Ribbon Coali ti o n. A cc ording to th e Na tional Forest Serv ic e, under th e Conservatio n Proposal all in ventoried Roa dless Area s in th e Natio nal Forests wo ul d ha ve a ban o n t he co n st ructi o n of new roads a nd m a in t e nan c e of exi sti ng roads. No existing roads or t rails wo ul d be cl osed , and areas that ar e p resen tl y o pe n to offr o ad ve h icles w o u ld r em ain o p e n . T he immediate effect of th e Roadl ess Area Pr o p o sal w ould b e t o r edu c e co m m erci al loggi ng . Ou r loc al situation is ve ry d iff er ent, as it in vol v es the im pend ing closures of al re a dy existing v eh i cul ar trav el routes in th e N atio nal Forest , so me of w hich are ve ry popular for dual-sport m otorcycling because they o ffer an idea l co m b ina ti o n of cha lle ng ing ter r a in and sp ec t ac u la r sc enery . Th e cl o sures ar e sc hed ul ed t o beg in in Sep tem ber 2000 , an d ca n be co nsid ered a " done deal" if we do not m ove quickly to o ppose th em . I h av e d is cu ss ed t h i s matter at len gth w ith Geo rge K enline at th e Big Bea r Range r St atio n . He indic ate d th at if a suffic ie nt nu m ber of people pr ov id e goo d e n oug h rea so n s, it wo u l d be poss ib le t o hav e so me o f th e ro ute s t hat are now slat ed fo r clo sure reclass ifie d as " F our -W h e el D r i v e W a y s ," as h as a lre ady b een do ne in th e Ang eles National Fo rest. T hat w ay , the tr ave l routes wi ll not be add ed t o the Fore st D ev el o pm ent Roa d Syst em , requ irin g a su b se q ue n t l y high level of ma int en ance which is intended to permit passenger car travel. At the present t ime, none of the routes under consideration ar e classi fi ed or manag ed as t rails or forest ro ads . Road and trail m aintenance is ex p ens ive, and having th ese uncla ssi fied tr av el ro utes ad de d to th e Road Sy st em would pl ac e a fu rt h er stra in on th e Forest Servi c e' s limited bud g et , However , with a " F o u r -W h eel Drive Ways" designati on , t hey would be maintained b y th e Forest Servic e's Rec re a tio n D epartm ent , a n d a t a muc h lower leve l th an a desi g nat ed fo rest ro ad. Th e y co u l d e ve n be ad opted by OHV Us er Gr oups , to fur th er reduce th e costs of mainten an c e. So , to make our protest against the proposed closures more palatable to the F or est Ser v ic e, we no t o nl y need to be sensitive to the env iro nment , we m ust als o be sen sitive to th eir budget! W e encou ra ge off -road and du al spo rt m otorc y c l e rid er s t o expres s th eir opposition to sp ec ific closures . A n ac ro ss -t he -bo ard p rotest again st this proposal would surely b e futile , as the Mountain Top Ranger District i s h om e t o a d o zen t h rea t e n ed or e n da n ge re d pl ant s pe c ies , whi ch mu st b e protect ed u n d e r F ed eral Law. Howev er , we tak~ the position that keeping a select few o f the more po p u la r un cl assi fi ed t r a v e l rout es o pe n will n ot adve rse l y af f ec t th e pl ant p opu l ati on s as a wh ole, and therefo re sho u ld not be opposed for str i c tly eco l og i ca l r eas o ns . Whil e enviro nm ent al pr eservati on is a priority , th e F orest Servi c e is w illing t o ma k e so m e c ompro mises w ith th o se of us wh o want to use specific unclas sified routes for legitimate recreation a l pu rpos es and/or retain acc ess to the fo rest ar ea s th at they ser ve. Only written c om m ent s reg ard ing the proposed c losu re s w ill be gi ven c o n s i de r a t io n, a nd th ey mus t b e rec eive d by t he cl os e of bus in ess on Friday , June 16, 2000. Please send t he m t o : U .S . D .A . F o r e st Serv ic e ; Attn : George Kenline Big Bear Rang er Station; P.O . Box 290 , Fawnskin, CA 9 2333 . Be sure to inc lude yo ur na m e, add re ss and t elep ho ne number. Yo u can also fax your commen ts t o (909 ) 866 -286 7 . If y ou wan t to speak with George Kenlin e, he will g lad ly prov ide y o u w i th f u r t h er in f o rm ati on a nd answer yo ur questi o n s. Gi ve hi m a ca ll at 9 09/ 866 -3 437 . W hether o r not y ou rid e in t he San B ern a rd ino N a ti o na l F o res t, pl ease su p po r t o u r f i gh t t o r et a i n publi c a c ce s s to th e a re as th a t we h av e b een r i d ing in an d e njo yi ng f o r so m an y y ears. Mlck Skolnick fawnskin, CA Sko ln ick is a m em ber of the Big Bear Trail Riders... Ed itor Baja Bound I rec ently had the opportunity to ride in Baja wit h Tim Morton's B aj a Bound. It was , by fa r, the most enjoy able off -road rid e I have ever been o n . Show up in San Diego , and eve ry th ing else is taken care o f. Ba ja Bou nd pi cks you up at th e airport w ith a tr ail er fu ll of fresh Honda XR s re ady to ta ck le som e of th e most sp ecta cu lar t rail s in th e world . From th e hotels, t o the m eal s, t o the support c rew, eve ry th ing was first cl ass. Ta lk abo ut sp o ile d - wh il e eatin g a deli c i ous lu nch in th e middle of Baja , th e suppo rt crew che cks and fu els the bikes. T im M orton kn ows Baj a like th e back of his hand and c at ers the route to yo ur riding abi lity. We rode beauti cue I e fu l t wo- track tr ail s do w n th e Pac ific c o a st and chall engi ng si ngle -trac k t rai ls i n th e m ou n t a in s near M ik e's Sk y Ran ch . If you hav e never ridd en in Baj a, tr eat yo ur self. If yo u have, and dread th e pl an nin g and orga nizing , c all Baj a Bound . Brian Com e ffus RIverside, CA B aja B ound ca n b e rea c h ed at 888/664-BAJA ... Editor Garrahan Fan On an unseasona b ly damp M ay da y in Cen t ral California , I had t he pl easu re of mee ti n g and ridi ng with a f irst -cl ass profession al. His nam e is Pa t Ga rr ah a n . I h ad n ev er m et Pat before, but I ha d seen h im race and k new he lived in th e Santa Cru z area (Bou ld er Creek, specificall y ). W ant ing to t ak e adva nt age of t he m o i st co nditi o ns at Holl ist er H i ll s, I load ed m y bike and head ed o ut aft er wo rk . By chance, I park ed next to Mr. Ga rrahan, not rea li zing wh o he w as at the t im e . We talked br iefly and head ed out to hit so me tra il s. In st antl y , I wa s st u n ned at Pat's awe so m e rid ing skill s. What he w as doing on his KTM 2 00 simp ly blew me awa y . Despi te h is ob vious skill , I was very impressed at what a pe rson able guy Pat is. His sponsors should be proud of him . He is ve ry levelh eaded and was very in fo rma t ive about the p roducts he u s e s . I learned a l o t ab out rid ing in th ose co up le of hours, and I guess, in a wa y, this is a th ank y o u to him. I feel f o r tun at e to have had the opportun ity to rid e with and t alk to an all -a round nice guy . KTM may w ell have so ld a new bik e st ric tly bec ause of Pat an d his in form ation and fr iend li nes s. T h is is th e ki nd o f beh av ior that sponsors sh ould be proud of and see k as w ell. Good lu c k , Pat , a nd thanks for waiting for me on the tra il. Jim Pe"elra Hofffster, CA neON S • JUNE 14. 2000 5

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