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/141025
N N ~ '" N ,... ~ 0- Cl M N >- " ::< ~ w Z W ..J U >- U I ~ , -L Somet imes waiting in line gives you a chance to look around and see what Mom Nature has done for you . A fun day in the woo ds, pushi ng your bike up hill s to keep in shape. By R on Sc h neiders Photos bv Elle n S chneiders GEO RGETOWN , CAL. , ~I ay \ 3, 1972 - An en d u ro o n S aturday ! Well , why no t? Sunday was Mot he r's Day wh ich wo uld guaran tee tha t a ce rtain n umber of riders w o uld s tay h ome and besides, the re was another endu ro no t too far away a lready sc hedu led for Sunday. But even beyond that, wi th an enduro o n S atruday, it would give the ride rs Sunday to ge t th eir bikes au t if necessary, and they w o u ld n ' t have to miss work. Of course, it was a bit tough on LosA ngeles riders driving 500 m iles Friday night for an eight o'clock start Sa turday moming... Tha t seemed If) he th e reasonin g behind th e sc h e d u ling o f the CERA X orth Fool's Gold Enduro on Satu rdav an d it wasn't far off. They attra c te d some 5 60 entries. :XOI m an y were fr om S outhern Californi a . thou gh . S in ce drivin g a ll night before a run isn 't my idea o f fun , I'd h ave probabl y el ec te d ' to s kip this one too . e x cept th at some o ne in tha t CERA bun ch h ad th e bright idea to send d own a co up le of paid en tries to Cycle I'\ ews with a Ii t ti e n o te on the bottom that said, "Ron , arc Somehow . in the middle of a northern Dine wood stream, you don' t mind running out o f gas. y ou re ady to rid e a R EAL enduro ?" Can a mouse resist cheese ? I lo aded up rnv wife and Matador and head e d up in credibly dull In te rst a le 5. A ll th e way to Georget own . Got th ere at f ive a.rn . Whoopee, \" arm up fo r this run was 8.4 m ile s of fire ro ad at 24 miles art hour an d a first tas te o f Ge orgetown's famou s red dust. Th ey have n 't had any rain fo r aw h ile so the du s t wa s a fair!y st e ad y th in g. 1t w asn't really th a t b ad. th o ug h. \l' e rearelv had 10 slo w d ovv n fo r i t. T he first tr ail wa s a kin d of trenc h about six feet w id e and 1() feet deep w ith qu ill' a 101 of bru sh and sm all tree s w owing" in it. Unfortunately, it was only 1.5 mi les lo ng Out it was rea ll- a run trail. You ha d to he a magici an to got:t around anyon e o n it thou gh, and the schedule - nin e mph - was fast enough that you didn 't want ( 0 find yourself stuck beh ind so me klutz wh o wa s d ra ggin g bo th feet. T he re s t of the m orn in g sec tion w as fire ro ad, p owerlin e ro ad and fairly ea sy trail at 24 a n d - are yo u ready fo r this - 2 1 mil e s an h our. Weird sc he d u le speeds ar c kind of fun when y o u ' re ridin g fir e ro ads. Gi ves th e club a chance to sort out th e time keepers . and the racers too. T he b est section o f th e Fool's Gold En d uro ca me a lon g rig ht af ter th e I 5-minu te ga s s top. T h e club fou nd an o ld railbed that had been used fo r loggin g so me 3 0 to 50 yea rs a go b y th e ~ l i c h igan Rail way Co. (I think !). Th e rails wei e gone and , in some pla ces noth in g but - th e be d w as left. Oth e r places . the tics were s till ju st as th ey h ad be en. Bu t mostl y the re were intermittent ties jumbled at craz y angles and overgro wn with brush. Ther e were some go od d owned logs for j u m p ing an d lo ts o f mud puddles to tr ap the unwary . In pl a ces where th e railbcd disappeared . ther e wer e nea t narrow littl e trail s through the timber with barely room for y our handleb ars. I c an 't remember o ff -hand rnanv b etter en d u ro tr ail s. And the sc he d u le; were just righ t to o. Yo u h ad to really move hu t the y weren't imp os sible. All go od things end , an d o ur tra il d id 10 0 . We went back to fi reroads and easier trail for a long 5 4 .0 mil e se c tion . There was just enough raunchy road and trail in thi s se c tio n to make the 24.mph schedu le p rett y diffi cult to kee p . :-;ear the end of i t w e fi na lly got to ' the se co n d gas che ck. a hit la te fo r so me ride rs. The gas truck bT(ly wound up haulin g - gas to a coupl e o f them who cou ldn't quite make 5 0 m iles . To wind things up, the club had found anent bit o f trail lead in g b ac k to the c am p . It crossed a creek . wen t lip a nea t s idchill game track , th rou gh some tight woods w ith fa llen lo gs and generally fun riding for the las t s tret ch . Unhappily , a c o up le things co ns pircd ro wre c k th eir plan s. First. a bo t rlenec k d eveloped. I found myself in line wi th a c o up le of dozen hi kes in fron t o f m e and nowh ere 10 g o. \\'e were go ing up th e sidehill game track. pretty narrow. wi th a ste ep drop-off. I figured there w as some b ig log or s teep cl im b ah ead. T urne d O UI th ere wasn "t any th ing except a bu nch of guys w h o c o u ld n ' t ride . Apparently about halfway up the trail th e begit and ge t off th O r th e y 'd s t \\'h atev cr, th e w heel over t h. of lu c k, thev down , to o . T h the t ra il try in ,' of powe r an d easy trail tha an von e anv pretty b adl v w and it got war line deve loper ch ec ke r a t th bottleneck f happening an, st arted se nd in bottlenec k o n di fficult si tu ati One discour .. Four months But it w asn't , r for r iding en d i and challengi important co m an and terrai skills. \l'ith w eather, te rra l the c o m pc tit ix always going 1< don ' t think I'v years where th . q uest io nable irregular ity . C I ex tremely cn j i c o m pe te n t job timekeeping. a had bad lu ck , b thei r run. The winners up o n wh at th e check . Po ssible .J im J en k in s, B A lec " 'c issm a Cl inton a n d rnv be ou t in a we co ; T he F o rest. inv olved in th i-, the layout s ta;. s ta r t , check ing and one o f th e wi th hi's 17ยท \ cr ed ita b le job, '1 an d th anks ir cooperatio n. so