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CERA II:
U
if the refrigeratorhad saved
the burros they probably would
have been early
By Ron Schneiders
Photos by Ron and Ellen Schneiders
BARSTOW, CAL., April 9, 1972 About 540 people appeared for the
enduro that no one has bothered to
nickname yet, the California Enduro
Rider's Association's CERA II . This was
the second of the three graded enduros
that CERA hosts each year and as such
it was recommended for the " average
rider". CERA 1 is for beginners, and the
Golden Bear is their Championship run .
On the instruction sheet it was noted
that the schedule speeds wo uld be 18 .
and 20 miles an hour for the I09-mile
run but the speeds would be changed if
the weather changed. The idea was that
the weather had been u nseaso nab ly hot
the week before the run and there
It's that look of grim determination that does
it .
hasn't been any rai n out there fo r about
2 years so it's also dusty . The
combination of high temperature, d ust
and a tough, fast enduro can produce
lots of injuries and (in the past) has
been responsible' for a few fatalities .
CERA elected to take no chances in
that respect and kept the schedule
speeds down, in spite of the fact that a
40 mph wind was b lowing, which kept
things pretty well cooled off.
The wo rd on the first loop was
"When you get to the refrigerator, stay
on the trail." It was good advice. The
trail crossed Coyote Dry Lake and
exited about where the lake wo uld fill,
if there were any water to fill it. There's
a couple of mu ddy sink holes and some
quick-sand, just waiting for the brave
so ul who ventures off the trail. One guy
did and promptly buried his bike to the
handl eb ars in the mud. Two days before
the event two of the layo ut crew found
a co uple of wild burros b uried to their
necks in the quick-sand. They had been
there approximately four days and were
near death when the guys found them.
T hey dug them out and the animals
wandered away on very shaky legs, one
hopes a bit smarter than they were.
The refrigerator was just th at : an old
abandoned refrigerator with it s door
gaping open that someone sat uprigh t
on the edge of the dry la ke . It 's ab o ut as
incongruous as a Coke sign on th e
moon.
Loop Number one seemed like it was
primarily waiting broken up by short
sp urts of riding. Some of the guys that 1
talked to al ong the trail were a b it
unhappy. One of the younger members
who had his 400 Husky about 12
minutes early , made the remark that the
enduro performed a totally impossible
and most likely obscene action which is
typified by the producing o f a partial
vacuum and inhaling sharply.
It appeared , however, that riders were
at least enthusiastic enough to go on to
the second lo op , but they found the
pace just as slow and along the entire
Bodaka.'
II won'l 'r u n oul
of guls before
you do.
All the sudden you needed an altimeter .
course 'yo u could see little knots of
riders, standing quietly, or sitting on
their machines, glancing every few
seconds at their watches and looking for
all the world like busy executives
waiting for the co mm uter train from
Newhaven to Pe nn Stat ion.
Loop 2 did contain o ne neat rock
wash that someone had nicknamed
Mattress Can yo n , b ut just at the point
where it started to become interesting,
it ended and w e were b ack o n the road
agai n . Well , probab ly Loop No .3 would
really be the to ugh o ne.
Loop 3 was not m uch worse than
loops 1 and 2 but it did h ave an
interesting spot or two. Like this h ill.
From about half a m ile away you co uld
see this h ill w ith riders and bikes all over
it. And yo u could see why, too. The
trail went parallel to th e base of the h ill
right to the center and then made an
abrupt left tum to go up. With the tum
so sharp you couldn't get any run at the
hill at all. This late in the enduro 1
wasn't about to p ush up any hills if 1
could help it. 1 figured I'd just widen
out that tum a bit and hit that baby
wide open in third. Sure. About the
time 1 got up to 40 mph and was just
starting my tum the ground dropped
away and I needed an altimeter to go
with "m y speedometer. So that's why
they laid out the trail in such a peculiar
fashion,'cause th ere's a th ree- foo t led ge
to drop off if you don't stay o n th e
trailvI says to myself as I'm pl ummeting
earthwards. So mehow eve ry thing held
toget h er an d my strategy worked. I
h u rt led up to th e top of the hi11 an d
b las te d righ t in to a check, o ne minute
early . Sometimes eve n when you win
yo u los e.
Whe n 1 got back in my wife says,
"Hon ey , how come you didn't eve n
wave after you di d that nice ju mp for
me?"
" Yo u were out there at the hill taking
pictures?" 1 asked. She nodd ed . Quick
as a flash, 1 reasoned that she couldn't
possibly h ave seen the look of terror in
my eyes when 1 we nt off that cliff
because I had my green goggles on, so I
said in my mo st casual voice, "Well, I
The Hodaka is ' bu ilt lor on e
purpose. To o ut-last and outperform its competition." How
is thi s done? By refining the
same basic, s uperior design
year a lter year. Perfecting the
li ttle th in g s that mu lti-model
manufacturers don't have time
to notice .
Carefully examine the new Hedaka. Notice the trip-set od orneter . The Ieo ther-liqht clutch
operation and zpring pro! 0.-:t eri.
throttie cable. And the rubber
mounted gas tank.
Little things that add up to big
things . We o nly build one
b ike. But we build it beller
than anyone e ls e in th e world.
See the latest HODAKA at the 9th Annual
Cycle World Intern ational Motorcycle Show,
L. A. Spo rts Arena, April 13, 14, 15 & 16.
What lo oks like c rim inal assa ult is actually fi';e en d uro riders all try ing to get their ca rds marked
at the same time at the top of a difficult hill.
