(and probably the same spectators, too)
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Sometimes the tra il is pretty nice ,
like a stretch n o t far o ut of Pe ar bl o ssom
where: we wove our sandy w ay be tw e en
infre q uent b ut sh ad y tre es and up b ro ad
smooth sandwashes. Th en th ere are
d ep sand hills th at mock the m id ge t
r ower of th e trailb ik es. Even m y
Matad o r signa ls it 's w orkin g h ard b y
dropp ing its exhaust n o te abo u t tw o
oc taves as it shovels its w ay furio usly to
th e top .
.
T he n , fo r m e , d isaster. Fla t tire. I 'm
still lo n g mil e s fro m m y tru ck a t II i
Vi st a. 1 limp in very late a nd change th e
ti re . Being n o ISDT sta r, it takes m e
ove r a h al f h o ur to fix th e fl at. By th e
tim e I go th e ne x t 4 0 m ile s to Four
Comers , I'm out of m y hour and
dis q uali fied . Next year.
O th ers are o u t too. Only one o f th e
sta rting sid eh ac ks h as m ad e it th is far."
O th er d ej ec ted riders sit arou nd th e ca fe
at Four Co rners sopping u p d rin ks lon g
aft e r th cy should h ave go ne . Th e
su rvivors arc battling the ro c ks an d
so me are get ling lost.
Sunday is the same ori ly in reve rse.
St art ing a t Rid gecre st , th e riders pass
near G ar lock, get a lm os t to C aliforn ia
Ci ty, d o ub le back an d cro ss th e
Randsbu rg ro ad and again h it Fou r
Comers. The fi rst rider is at Four
Comers b y 9 :06 an d he's go n e 73 miles.
'{'he y leave Four Corn ers o n th e East
side of 395,go so u th for 25 m iles or so
and then cro ss under the h ighway to
parall el Shadow Moun tain Road into IIi
Vista.
Th ere arc thousands of trails in this
area and it takes close attention to stay
on the righ t o ne. A nyone wh o 's rid den
the Grcenhwrn m ore than onc e knows
the w av b ac k fr o m H i V ista to
P earb l o s~ om . They fo llo w th e same path
each year so the riders ca n enjoy
bl asting through a twi stin g cany on with
high verti cal wall s. Each year J.
sprinkling of spectators line s th e way .
Probabl y the same spectat o rs ea ch year,
too .
.
Go ing b ac k through th e fo res t th e
riders discove r that the Pasaden a d ub
ha s up ped th e ante , T h e fir st stretc h is
n ow 30 m p h instead of 24 . It's to o fast
and severa l ride rs ge t into bad si tua tio ns
try ing to keep up . One rid er tr ies t o p ass
me on a tum go ing mu ch loa fast. He
shoo ts over th e b erm a nd hig h in to the
air. His luck is good . Thi s isn 't o ne o f
the tu rns w ith a thousan d fo o t drop ..
He boun ces, crash es, and gets back up
with no inju rie s.
'
For ma ny rid ers , lu c k ju st w asn't
a ro und on that last stre tch. I saw several
flat ti res . Bud H o we srna n , bac k on h is
bi g No r ton for this trip, h ad a flat front
wh ich made his heavy scooter almo st
u n c o ntro lla b le on th e last :, 5-m ile
stretch. I1is partner, Ma x Bubeck, had
p o o r lu c k also. He broke a th rottle c ab le
and h ad to j ury rig a su b st itu te from
so me b alin g w ire .
Bob Steffan and Dave Ekins, bo th
riding Bu lt acos these days, look lik e
win ners . Bob lost o n ly i poin ts
{u n offic ia lly } and D ave probably los t
on e m ore . Th ey' had luck go ing with
them . The y got lo st o n one sec tio n . go t
on the hi ghway an d sh ort ci rc u ited the
course a b it. There was supposed to be a
chec k in th e se ctio n th e y mi ssed bu t the
chec kers fo u le d u p and th e ch e c k w as
in operat ive .
I t was a b it ch y sec tion an d th e guys
wh o rod e th e wh ole 73 mile s w ith out a
ch e c k we re fa irly well p eev ed a t th e
luck of those who rode it on th e
h ighway without penalty. It's j u st h ard
to ge t a way from th e lu ck in th e
G ree nh o rn . S ome guys try . O ne b ike
h ad a t lea st th ree ride rs o n it in th e tw o
day s an d so me riders rode several b ikes.
The cl ub m a ke tok en efforts to stop this
by p u ttin g a stic ker o n th e fo rks an d
fra me but th ey o n ly ch ec ke d it a t th e
be ginning an d e nd of th e run so it
w asn't very effective.
All in all, i t se em e d lik e th ings w ere
ver y w ell run th is year . Th e tim es w ere
ap p ar e n tly righ t o n th e m o n ey and n o
one W as comp laini ng abou t the di stan ce
me asu rem ent. Markin g w as qu ite good .
in spi te o f th e fa ct that so m e riders
ma n aged to ge t lo st. In 5 0 0 miles it's
inevi ta b le that so me rid ers are go ing to
ge t lo st. T o add to the p roblem, th er e
w as a c o n flic tin g rac e th is week end and
th er e arc a b un ch of d ing-a -lin g
pl aybik er s ar ound Hi V ista th at tear
down th e rib b o n and c a rd s as fas t as th e
clu bs put it up .
It wo uld take a pre tty weird person
to say that rid in g the Green ho rn was
fun. It's an experience, and finish ing it
seems to be so meth ing like a tes timonial
to manhood w ritten in blood. 1 won't
even ha zard
guess ab out winning it.
Ma ybe it's like being ca n on ized or
something. A t any rate. it seems like a
lot o f gu ys fee l lik e it 's wort h doin g
ea c h year. Eve n me . T his w as my third
-
-
a
o ne.
( Re su lts whenever
res te d up .)
Bob
Greene
gets
Bill O cheltree fini shed after seizing'- is engine onlv- 20 mi les fro m the start.
h
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