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/141005
in bit Every once in a whil e th e go vernme n t of the land b ec om es aware of some th in g th at the p eople knew all alo n g. Wh at fo llo ws is a great outpourin g of words, p rinted and verbal, m any tiring sp eech sessions at wh ich little is accom p lishe d a nd th e sp en ding o f a n a mo u n t of m oney wh ich is prop ortional t o the go vernment's origin al ign oran ce o f the p roblem. Recentl y th e go ve rn men t dis covered Trails . Th e need fo r t rai ls is o b vio us. If yo u were purchasing a n a u to m ob ile a nd asked the deal er to guara n tee in writing that y ou'd h ave a pl ace t o drive it in two years, he mi ght thin k you were craz y, but he'd laugh and write yo u a guarantee. Afterall, what's going to happen to all th ose freewa ys and streets ? Ask the motorcycle dealer for the same sort of guarantee on trails for your new trailbike a nd you 'd see Stead y Ed become Stutterin' Stan instantl y. Th ere are pl enty of dealers a ro und wh o could not d irect their c usto mers to one honest-to-gosh trail right now, let alo ng guarantee that there would be trails two years from n ow. It would seem th at w e now have enough numbers and en ough money to insure the survival o f o ur sport, but the force of the ecology and its eventual direction are unknown and we could be wiped out en masse in a single fascistic stroke o f the pen. But we aren't alone. either in our uncertain fu ture or in ou r need . Ho rsemen, snowmobilers, bi cyclers, skiers and several other varieties of sportsmen also need trails. And if it helps any , at leas t one gr oup faces an even more hazardous future than we d o. The snowmobilers are at the very boltom of th e ecol ogi cal h ate list. When the go vern m e n t dis covered Tra ils. its minions saw an opportunity to "Do Something" that was vaguely in line with their const it uan t 's demands for eco logi cal improvement of th e environment. Mo r e o v e r , th e "Something" would a p p ar en tly not requir e the alienatio n of a singl e big businessman . It wasn 't o ne of th ose m ess y chore s lik e ge t t ing rid o f a n o il com pan y th at was polluting a th ousa nd miles o f wat erfr ont. Supporting trail s was an easy as co ming o ut for Motherhood. Then came th e rude di sc over y that all trail users are not co nsidered eq ual in th e eyes o f all o th er trial users. Some trail us er s thought tha t o t her trail users were as mu ch a detriment to the enviro nment as an o ff-sho re o il com p any. Ob viously build ing tr ail s fo r the wrong k ind o f tr ail us er would n ever d o . Sin ce th ey reall y k new almost n othing abo ut th e p roble m (t he fed eral gov ernm ent p ro babl y h asn ' t built 10 0 miles o f trail in th e entire cou ntry in th e last 200 years) th ey decided t o h ol d a sym p osium t o study th e p robl em. Web ster define s a symposium as ·· ...an entertainmen t characterize d by drinking, music , and intell ectual dis cu ssio n. The wo rd co mes from an cient Greece . T h e fir st trail Symp osium was held in Washington a nd lots an d lots of p eople were invited to att end . Th e occasio n was the dedic at ion o f 2 7 new t rail s around the co u n try . Before you cla p y ou sh ould kn ow th at no ne of these trails was m ore th a n 3 0 miles long. Mo st were less than three miles long a nd several were measured in fect! Onl y o nc permits m otorcy cle use. And on top of that , m o st of th em di d n ot in vo lve a ny o riginal const ruc tio n: A trail already in use was sim p ly "l egali zed." Alth ough certainly no e ffo rt sh ould be belittl ed : for a co un try with m illi ons o f miles of highwa y and turnpi ke, this was a sp artan effo rt . Following th e dedicati on were three days o f speeches by peopl e representin g every aspect o f every type of trail. Most of the speakers a nd people had little in common with o ne another. Most o f the talks dealt with situations that were lo ca l in nature with limited applicability elsewhere. In reading the proceedings one has th e feel in g that the prime purpose o f man y o f th e spea kers was to make sure their names and o rganiza tio ns were on re cord in case federal funds started flowing. people in t hat National Five Symposium tal ked o n th e Subject of Off-R oad vehicles. Let 's co nsid er each o f th em for a m oment. The Chairman o f that Section was George F og g, Ch airman o f th e State Parks, Pa , He started h is t alk b y ad rni tting th a t Pennsylvania h as b een fo rced to re cognize a ff-ro ad vebicles. Then he documented a brochure publish ed by his bu reau about sno wmobiles. lI e went o n t o say th at, surprisin gly, the sn owm obiles h ad ca used practically no problems . In sp ite o f th at, they wer e working to ge t several bills pas sed wh ich w ould tax the sn owm obiles, reg ula te them, enfo rce th e regulati ons a nd pl ace all th e revenues from such ac tivit ies in th e genera l fund. Snowm obilers in Pennsylvania, yo u've b een had. Fogg then turned hi s a t te nt io n t o o ff-r oad veh icl es. .Spea kin g o f trails in th e S tate U Motorcycle Trails: Where are they going? Park system , he said ... ... However. it is u nlik ely that m an y par ks will have areas w hich ca n be set asi de fo r th is type of ac tivi ty . One directi on th at is b eing co nsidere d in Pennsylv ania is to find areas within each major p op ulation co mp lex in th e sta te wh ere regio nal "m ec han ical" parks could be established. T hese p ar ks would be a hauen where all those who enjoy sno wmo biles, jeeps, minib ikes, trail b ikes, m ot or cycles t ote goa ts, ATV's, e tc ., cou ld co me a nd e njoy th em sel ves . These "mech an ical " or " Noi se Park" ar eas cou ld also b e c onsid ered for p ower bo atin g, rem ote co ntro l m od el airp lane flying, power ro ck ets a nd other noise pro ducing.. .' H ow's th at grab yo u, Pe nnsylv ani a cit izens? He d o esn't have a feedin g sched ule, but th at 's all th at's mi ssin g. Nex t t o sp ea k was R ob ert Lee Behme , veh icles ed itor o f Fie ld a nd Stream Magazin e. Mr . Behme . had a n in terestin g a nd we ll-th ough t -out speech, empha s i zin g some pr a cti c al co nsideratio ns such as "R etain Land Now Open ", "Vari ous vehicles have various requirem ent s" and "Th e best regulations co n trol least." E very t h ing he said made sense, although th ere was little that was creati ve or original. Nor was an ything offered in th e wa y of program. One wonders h owever, wh y the editor of a hunting and fishing ma gazine. was chosen to represent off-road vehicles . There arc over 30 motorcycle publicati ons and some of them have exceptional talent on their st aff. Wh y choose a man from an esse nt ially disinterested source? It is a cred it to Mr. Behme th at he was a b le to rise above th e mediocrity o f th e selection co mm ittee. Floyd L. Newb y, Bureau of Land Managem ent: "The a nsw er is n eith er definitive nor im media t e. Rath er it will be co m p lex , ambiguous, and time co nsumi ng: but it mu st c ome from a co mprehe nsively co nceive d inte ractio n am ong a ll segm e nts of socie t y ." Etc. Rober t N. My ers, Mot or c ycle Indust ry Council. Of th e fiv e p eople in th e o ff-road vehicle sec t io n, Mr. Myer s was th e o nly one gen uinely rep resentin g th e p eople involved (us). Our billi on -d ollars-a-vear industry and million or so enthusiasts w ere represented in th e 12 5 p age proceedings b y Mr , xt yer s' scant two-page speech . li e s ta rted off hi s speech b y th an king th e p romoters for allo wing us a p art in th e Symp o sium. Mr . Myers o u tlined som e o f th e things tha t th e ~II C has do ne in soramlllin'around" By Ma ur een Le e Wh at ever we 'v e all had t o say abou t th e A1\IA in th e past , you have t o ad mit th in gs a re happ en in g fast . Lat est is th e resignat ion of Dist rict 3 7 's Pres ide n r, Mike Hi nsh aw t o b ecom e th e Man age r of the AMA's R egio n Num ber T h ree. S or ry as we 'll b e to lo se 1\lik e as ou r lead er , I can't think of a nyo ne b etter su it ed for the positio n. \I' h en Mik e first came into th e runn in gs of the District as Vice Pr esi d en t h e was always righ t in the re alt hough a V·P usu all y doesn't have too much to d o. He " seaso ned" t hat first year a nd President R on Sl o a n allo we d him to co nduc t a meetin g o r tw o to ge t the feci of thi n gs. Al th ough a "d esert hound" Mik e came out to several o f ou r scrambles to see what o ur pro blems were and was instrumental in gelling the sc ra mbles chec k list o u t. Now I 'll wave a flag fo r him at th e risk of in curring hi s "wh y did yo u have to do th at for!" Bu t wh en ever yo u a re invo lved in dist ric t p oli tics th ere is infigh t ing a nd b ack bi ti n g th at goes on and you can easily mak e ene mies , but Mik e has sa iled through see m ing ly u nscat he d . Th e A!\IA m adc a good ch oice in him. Well , I stayed out o f the Werner Schutz c on tro versy but sin ce it still ge ts discussed at th e office when I deliver my co lu mn a nd m y publisher made mention of it agai n last week, I gu ess I may as well ad m y pen'orth. Now as far as I understand, your F1l\! license stands for a year so if you are a Norwegian and come here two weeks after you receive that license y.ouare st ill a No rwegia n u ntil th at year is u p . If yo u the n decid e to remain in Am erica the n yo u r licen se will b e issued by the Aill A and should you go to Europe t o ride a few, yo u will b e listed as an America n ride r. So whe n Sc hu tz came her e he was a rider carrying a German lice nse a nd as suc h shou ld no t have b ee n in th e Na tional Support classes. The other races he entered are anot her b reed of cat, and frank ly , I thi n k Fran k Cooper was on the righ t track in trying to b ri ng in some tougher competition. You are on ly as good as your competition and if yo u rid e against the sa me guys week after week who are all about as good as yo u are , how ca n yo u ge t a ny b ett er ? You 've n o way of gauging yo ur progress. Lars Larsson got hi m self in tb e same sort of si tu ati o n a few years back when our motocrosses here we re run under al most a ny o ld rules. Th ere was o ne tim e I h eard folks com p lai ning because Lars, who b y t hen ha d ta ken up residenc y here and was rid in g as an America n, was so e nte red by h is sponso r, altho ug h his FIM Swedish licen se had yet t o ex p ire. (I believe Westl a ke was the occasion of th at o ne .) Vet o n t he sam e d a y o r it m a y have b een a no ther da y - it h appen ed a lo t of races ago - wh en names were ca lled, Lars , who was sta nd ing close b y me, turned down his prize money a nd said something like "G ive it t o th e first American, I'm still Swedish." Now that, ladies and gentlemen, was cric ket. Schutz's situation is a little different but it will all come out in the wash. As the .2.5 0 ,Su p p o rt. w,as not. FIM sanc tio ne d t here w ill , n o do ubt , b e so me q uestio ns asked b y Sch utz 's German Fl~1 governing body. I can' t exactly say I stayed out of it th o ugh , I must ad m it, I whis pered a bit in Ka rl " Pap a" Wca ley's ear about the AMA needing a seeing eye d o g t hat was n't a German Shepherd. Bu t in this case I thought I' d stay out of another battlc between Fathe rla nd and Motherland! S t ill, I wouldn't want you og Werner to go h o m e fe cling America is h ostil e t o hi m. lI e got caugh t in so meth ing and I hope it doesn't sour him. We're all im migra nts here whether we came early or la te a nd I'm a pretty recent one, Wern er, so do n' t take us tau h ar sh ly. . On the Wid e Wo rld of Sports that showed the Carlsbad motocross there was also an Int crnat ional Ski event that the Ame rican tea m need to atte nd desperate ly for exp erience. T he announcer even me ntio ned th e A ~l X team and ho w the ave rage motorcyclist donated small amou n ts t o ge t o ur boys to Europe. Did m y heart good a nd no w I'm goi ng to so und reall y nast y. Too b ad th e sk iers can 't d o th e same . Ilia ybe t he p la yb oy im age of a s kier with Porsch e, $ 175 b o ots, la yer s o f fan cy duds, etc . ca n 't affo rd a b it to h elp th eir o wn because their image cos ts to o mu ch . Th ere arc man y average skiers but le t's face it, it's an "in " sp ort and w e're not very " In but w e support o ur o wn . Rememb er when we continued to send tw o scramblers to th e winter O lympics a few years back. Believe one go t a medal too. We ca n be proud o f ourselves ! . . OJ . th e in teres ts o f t rai l rid in g and ecology a nd some of t he things th e ~IIC en visions. He also k nocked so me h oles in som e o f the arguments o ur o ppo ne nts h ave p ut u p. A good workmanli ke talk, but lacking a feet-o n-the-ground, no n ons ense p rogram for p ro m o tin g trails . Bill Re a vle y, Directo r F ield Services, Na tio na l Wild life Feder a ti on, As y ou mi ght ex p ect, Mr. Re avely was n ot on ou r sid e. His o rganiza tio n p assed a resolu tio n stating , .....recomm ends th at Federal Stat e a nd Local land managin g agencies adop t an d str ic tly e nforce regul ati on s whi ch zone go vernm ental areas in manners so th at all uses of multi-t errain veh icle s will be restricted to su ita b le lo cat io ns of tr ail s whi ch will result in th e least possible impact o n th e enviro nment o r imp airment to o the r legit ima te uses o f public properties." Parkin g lots, ball fiel ds a n d a bando ne d air st rips w ould fi t this descripti on, I think. These, th en , w er e the p eople wh o ad d re sse d th ems elves to th e . p rob lem s co n fro n t ing us. I di dn't see much to be ent husiast ic abo ut. Sin ce th ey felt that th e :'II ational Symp osium was suc h a tremendous su ccess, the y de cided to have several regional symposiums . Virtuall y anyone co uld a ttend who paid a $6 registration fee. Th e $6 fee bought yo u a st raigh t-back chair fo r the d a y and a mediocre lunch. Most of the speakers simply re capped the most interesting points of several speeches that were delivered in . th e Washingt on meeting. Un appetizing speeches become even more so when inelegantl y regurgitated. Our sid e this time was represented by Mrs . Marjorie Gills . Mrs . Gills, a very pleasant lady in her late 3 0s , started her speech b y sa y in g th a t sh e was not go in g t o d efend m otorc ycles . T hen sh e spent the ne xt 3 0 minutes in an impassioned defen se o f m otor cycles which she referred to as " O U T recreati on ." Her's was b y fa r the best of the speec hes that da y, but th at is faint praise. Mr s, Gills represents the "Citize ns Council o n Motorc ycles ," wh atever that might be. Of o ne thing w e ma y b e fairl y cer tain : The CCOIlI d oes n o t, at least as ye t , represent as man y m o t orc yclists as the A~ I A . N ot , 1 w ould suspect, b y a fa ct or o f 1000 times. On e w onders , th erefore , why Mrs. Gill s, ra th er th an so me speaker fro m the AIIIA, is representing tr ail ridin g in terest s b ef o re this se m i-offic ial gro up . Co ns ide ri ng h ow littl e was acc om plished, h owever, it scarc ely ma tt ered who represe nte d us. Recentl y our Cal ifornia off-road motorcycles b ecam e su bjec t t o a fai rly h eav y tax. (Th at's wh at registration is, in case you didn't kn ow. ) Some of th at tax is ear-marked for trails and it 's go ing to amount to quite a lot o f mo ney . Wheneve r th er e is governmen t m oney aro und , th ere will be people aro u nd to ways b en efici al to spe nd it in th emsel ves. It see ms to m e th a t ei th er the A ~ I A o r th e Californ ia Dist ricts should ge t someone on the scene to represent us and to ac t as a wa tchdog over that money. Governmen t agencies arc muc h more adept at generating paper th an trails. and bureauc rats would m u ch rather hold meet ings than work . Someone should see that we get at least a few trails fo r our money. A friend of m ine has a term fo r th ings like these Sym posiums. lIe calls them " In t ell ec t ual masturbation." Ta lking as a substit ute for doing. T here a re a dozen th ings th at can be done by anyone who wa nts to ac tually do some th in g. Every fo rest ranger I've ta lked t o is short of money for trail and campgrou nd co ns tructio n. E ither money or physical labor would d o wo rlds of good. O ne particular ranger that I know would like to have a three-m ile trail b uilt in th e Angeles Natio nal Forest. It wo uld lin k up about a 35 mile lo o p of trail. Any clubs wan t to vo lunteer? Se vera l ra ngers t ha t I'v e ta lke d t o would b e quite interest ed in learning t o rid e a bik e so th ey co uld see jus t what we need in the wa y 0 f tra ils. T hey mi gh t ex pe rimen t with th em in fire con tro l, to o. How about a manufacturer wh o w ould len d o r d onate a sco oter t o ea ch o f th e four d istri c ts in th e An geles Forest. I'll guara n tee e no ug h publicity to make it w orthwh ile. And h ow abou t th e ch an ce o f a c on tract if th e rangers discover that motorcycles are really useful for firefightin g? If we get so m e bikes for the ran gers, [Please t u m to page 35) e "n ., e, N .... en co .c " u, ~ w Z w G >- U