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/140926
'" " C> e .... '" '" By Ron Schneiders MARIN COUNTY, CAL., Jan. 9,1972 - What do you call it when you have a good trail motorcycle, live in a fine country of woods and creeks an d seasons that change a nd yet canno t ride? No t at all. Nowhere with in 100 mil es or m ore. If th at's no t h ell , it'll d o until the real th in g comes alo ng. But t ha t w as th e state of the trail riders in Mari n County, Calif., fo r two solid years. Marin County lies just to the nort h of San Fran cisco . between th e ocean and th e m ounta ins. It is fertile agr icult ural land, a lan d of vineyards not unli ke northern Italy b ut it was . in danger of being "developed" by th e p urveyers of suburbia. Fortunately some o f the ecologically minded people in the area man aged to get some much needed help fro m t he government. Farmers wh o resisted the developers go ld would rece ive so me aid in th e form of a tax ex emp tio n as an "agric ultural preserve, " but o nly u nde r the condition that they rem ai n ed as legitimat e farme rs. No farme r wa nted to risk his tax exemption b y leasin g or renting to motorcyclists wh om the go vernment migh t consider to be inc om p at ibl e with farming. To add to the heat, Mari n County passed an ordinance effectively prohibit in g off-road m o t orcycling. Mo t orcy clists had two choices: han g up th eir h elm ets or take their b ikes to a d ifferent county. T his state of affairs lasted tw o whole years. But the cyclists of Marin Co unty were n ot idl e durin g th at time. They kept their associat io n to gether and worked for so me relief o n several fro nts. Fin ally after an en d less series o f meetin g s wit h th e Z oning the P l annin g A d m i nis t rato r, and the Boar d of Commission Th e son of a rancher earns his fi rst " gold." Supervisors. th ey man aged to have m otorcycling d eclar ed a co mp at ib le farmin g use alo ng wi t h h orses. hunting and fishing. Th is classifica tio n meant th at farmers wh o allo wed m otorcyclist s t o use their lan d wo uld n ot lose th eir tax exemption. TIley still di dn't have any lan d b ut they had cleared a legal path . T hey next raised enough mo ney to be able to talk to landowners in a mutually und ers t o od tongue: cold cash. After talks with many different farmers who had suitable land , they were finally able to conclude a deal on a tria l b asis. T hey wer e able to use the land of A lvin Gambon ini so me 14 00 ac res, for a sum of $5,000 a year. Mr. Gam b o nin i d id n o t en ter in to the agreem ent w ith ou t so me fear . li e did n't kn ow what the cyclist would do to his lan d. His was a wo rking farm , comp lete with all the anima ls no rmally found o n a farm. No doubt he had visio ns of riders p laying cowboy with one of his prize bulls. The cyclists were naturally overjoyed at having a place to ride again and they have treated their new home with the resp ec t that only those who have been homeless have learned. Riders ride only on the trails; they don't cut up hillsides at will. They ride only with ' quiet mufflers . They have a grassy picnic area on which no one rid es. It is a beautiful p lace to ride and it looks like it just might stay th at way. T he Marin County Motorcycle Asso ciati on was p rimarily a racin g club b efore Marin C ounty was closed . They h osted the famo us Ch ina Camp Har e '" '" c ..., '" en ~ w Z W ...J U >- U Every thing on the ranch is don e with an eye to conserving the natural beaut y of the place. For a big bag of pop corn , can you find the ecol ogical outh ouse in the pictu re? Many would be custom e rs co uld n't see it when they were this close l . Scrambles. On their new land they're n o t staging any races ye t. They're going very carefully, feeling their way. They d on ' t wa nt to be h omeless again. Today th ey hos t ed a trials. Many of their memb ers have never even seen a trials bu t for a club that had successfully un tied government red tape, putting on an even t they wer~ not familiar wit h wasn't eve n m uch of a challenge. Their tria ls we n t o ff virt ual ly without a hitc h and it was a fine eve n t as we ll. A loop of a bit mo re th an six miles was laid o ut and the traps we re spaced alo ng t he lo op . T here was q ui t e a var iet y. Not pu rists, the club had no qualms about throwing in a few un-natural challenges , like a plank step about two-feet high to be negotiated and a muddy, slimy off-camber water pipe to be crossed. Most of the traps were made more difficult by water and mu d in quantitites to satisfy even an Engl ishman. Unfortunately for the several Englishmen who attended, h owever, there was no rain, or even fog . Th e su n shone: and it was fairly warm . Alan Bydgness, a guy wh o has fOUght for land other places, pauses in his tr ip around the traps to survey the new ridi ng area. Expert bota-bagger competes for attention with expert trialist Biscuits Verbiscio. At the moment it looks like the bota-bagger is ahead. Just really awful weather for a trial.. . One of the most interesting of the day's traps was a slippery downhill section with an entry over large muddy root. The pitch was steep enough and slimy enough to give a rider some serious concern for his safety. But it wasn't enough to simp ly go down this ste ep ravin e : in the middle o ne had to stay h igh o n th e b an k w hich was markedl y 0 If-camber and wet. Lane Le avitt got to th e section and stared at It tor a mmute, nodding his head up and down and looking like he was trying to charge his psychic batteries. Then down he went like a motocrosser, about 30 mph or so it seemed without a single touch of the brake. It was the right approach; he cleaned it. Most others slipped down into the gulch for an out-of-bounds 5. Lane won th e event with a score of -13. Second was Britishe r Derek Beluver with ยท23 . These two will have another go at it nex t week at the British American Cup T rial. T he resu lts are a t the bottom of th e page b u t o ne o ther contestant should b e me n tione d : B ob G amb oni n i, l O-y ear- old so n of th e lan d o wn er , won his first trop hy, third place in Novice C. N one of the fa mily rode before; no w all of them are getting interested. Je rry Diaz was the man most responsible for securing the land. He attended most of the meetings an d worked out many of the problems. A soil engineer by profession, he is working very diligently to see that things stay just as nice as they are n ow . But surprisingly, it 's not the soil erosion that worries him most; it '5 noise. He is very dis-satisfied with what he refers to as the "cheap ju nk accessory sile ncers ". Through his infl uence, man y of th e motocross bikes that we re in evidence were sporting welded-o n Triumph mufflers and they were quiet. He is hoping the manufacturers will get together and produce some really quiet expansion c h a m b e r / s i le n c e r combinations. .vwh ile they still have a place to ride. (Results on naze 2R) Wanted lJ\/' AMembers To rep resent in government Motorcycle Owners. Riders. a nd Enthusiasts PO Bo x 26062. Sacramento 9 58 26