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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141053
Dirt Diggers ed CD M ., t M alier ndur r- en o .~ <( ~ W Z w -' U > U , ' ... , OuCH . seven miles up the ro ad but th e riders covered 35 m iles and to ok well o ve r an ' hour to Ret there. Th e terrain w as gen era lly n ice tr ail, with so m e ridge running. There w as n othing p articularly difficult, bu t th e weathe r ga ve a few rid ers a bad time . The wind w as quite st ron g, prob abl y 40 MPH in th e pits a n d on the ridge , S ome rid ers said th ey th ought the gusts w ere up to 6 0 MPH . A few riders were Iitterly bl own off th e rid g es and spent a wh ile ge tting themselv es bac k up. Th ere was a 16 minute gas stop a t Red Mountain and then ab out 10 mil es .o f easy , but rocky ro ad. T he fifty-mile lo op circled th e Lava m oun tains in coun ter clockw ise fashi on w ith the last part m ore o r less pa rall eling th e Trona Ro ad. Jus t b e fore th e rid ers got back t o th e p its they were tre at ed to an inte re sting d ownhill, one of th e type th at starts steep an d ge ts p rogessiveJy wo rse - fo r abo u t half a mil e. One experienced ri de r told me th at o nce y o u got started th e re was n o w a y you w er e go ing to sto p, but he w as wrong. S ev eral rid ers fo un d very ef fective w ay s of st opping. They du g h andlehars in to th e so ft sand , wedged the gas tank up against a bi g ro ck o r sim p ly crash ed in t o other riders. A few rid ers were stopped b y Mother Nature. Somehow a ch u n k o f ro ck , ro ughly the sh ape of a c u be, and about two feet on each ed ge st arted down th e h ill gath erin g m o m en tum like a bowling ball. The mot orcy cles were bowling pins, an d th e ro ck took thre e o f them out befo re it cam e to rest. Fo r t un a te ly n on e of th e rid er s were seriously hurt. th ough o ne d id ta ke q uite a wh ile to ge t up. Conside rin g th a t th e "bowling ball " pr obab ly w eighed se veral hundred p o unds, they go t off p retty lu cky. Lun ch w as back a t the pits (2 6 minutes) and then the riders took off on the m o st d ifficu lt loop o f the run , 4 3 miles in the EI Paso m o un ta in s. There '. . - ," Gas sto p at Red Mo untai n in t he Red Garter. . t , -~---------------------------_.- ' \ ..' Opening" Specials I Enduro Tires - many sizes Reg - $16.00 Special - $5.00 Leat hers Reg - $54.95 Special - $49.95 ·MX Gloves Reg - $8 .95 Special - $ 7.00 Offer E xpries April 15 , 1973 McFadden at the Newport Fwy. 4 Center : , SALES· SERV ICE· PARTS • ACCESSOR IES -~ ~ 2110 Eas t McFadden Avenue, Santa Ana , California 92705 • (71 4) 558 -1511 I we re a number of Rood hi lls to clim b in th at section , an d o ne half-mil e section of balloon ro cks. (just h ow bi g they were depends on th e h o t air ca pa ci ty o f the reporter ). That th e y were fai rly big h owever is easi ly ve rified: th e sche d ule was only six mil es a n h our fo r th e sec tion . : Opinions ab out the run vari ed fr o m I:.arl Wilson's (" It was reall y gre a t, Ron, you gott a say so me th ing good abou t this one !" ) to one ' rid e r who ad mi t ted th at h e had reall y e njoyed it, but comp la in ed th at h e had be en ove r all th e trail " a t least a hundred times", m ost riders seemed to fe el th at it was easy, a fe w th at it was to o easy . T h a t it w a s easy see ms to substan ti a te d by th e scores . T h e re are at least fo u r ze ro's and four ones. The cl u b us ed th e flip ca rd syste m, but re sults as this is being written are n ot availab le. There are se ve ra l p rotes ts conc ern in g mil e age and fou r checks are in vo lved . On e o f th e mos t serio us protest s co mes from Stan Baldwin , th e En d u ro Steward o f Di strict 37 . H avin g an Enduro Steward lo dge p ro tests is a bou t as fa ir as h aving a j u dge sue so me body and try the case in hi s o wn cour t , but apparently it s allowed under di strict rules. Among th e ride rs wh o are go ing ' to he high up in th e sc o res ar e Tony Furtado , J ay Tull is, R alph Munyon and Di ck Knapp , all of whom hav e zero scores. If th e pro test s a re allowed, howeve r, ther e co uld b e six or seven other ze ro scores. Carl Pr ice. Fred Hayes and G ary Caukins have scores o f one at the m omen t , but th a t co uld c h an ge. On e of th e mos t interesting com men ts th a t I heard after the eve nt came fro m G ary Satterle e wh o had d riven all th e w a y fro m S an t a Mari a to rid e. He said, " I always li ke to rid e th e Dirt D igge rs e ven ts. Wh en e ver y ou get to a check, the y 're always fri e n dly. They reall y seem to dig wh a t they're