Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• 0 M " '" a- '" M .... ~ ttl > ::; '" (J) ~ W Z W ..J 0 > U <' , • • C N : H o w d o e s Da l t on a n d the surro unding area view our partici patio n in t he Six Day s? Are yo u run nin g into any ob sta cles ? AE : Yes, Dal t on is critica l of m y activities. T he two day qu ali fier last year pl eased all t he p eop le involved in t he area, but since th en , with the ex pansion from a two day eve nt' to one th at runs six day s (ac tually eigh t) , the p e opl e i nv o l ve d have had sec ond th ought s - -pr im ar ily a b o u t t he sp ec tat ors. They feel th at the sp ect at or is th e i r r esp on sib le pers on in the o rgani za tio n o f the event , but I think we can ov ercom e thi s bec ause the trail riders ' bas ic ap proach t o other people's prop erty is far above the image th at we get tacked upon us . I don't try to excuse or explain away the fact that there will be many, many people in the are a for the even t , that has to be t aken as a fact but I .think it will work out well. We ran into a problem co nc erning use of the American Legion facil ity that was our main base for the qualifier. I felt that we might damage the land where we would be parking, and that in doing this we would be open for criticism and also be hurting the Legion's image. The problem has been solved by the us e of a 50 acre lot another half mile down the road th at will serve as the impound area and the spe ctator/participant parking lot . There are many other places where I could set up th at are perfectly adeq uat e, but a t th is point I don't want to leave the Dal ton are a. CN: The original site for the ISDT was Fo r t Hood, T exas . Why th e chang e? AE : I was h eavily involved in the decisi on t ha t th e Ft. Hood location be changed, fir stly because it does no t typify t he Am eri can scene . Ft. Ho od is a he avy military base and because of th at you cann o t get away from the military attit ud e, no matter how far you ride . S e c ondly, it's a c o u rse m arker's n i g h t mare b ecause th e tan ks make tr a ck s e ve ry w h ere. The terrain is c h a ll e n ging because it' s stric tly an o ff-road type of pl ace, and th e recent qu alifier was well ad m inist ered wi th th e excep t ion of a few p ro bl ems because of in exp eri ence. Fortunately th e qu alifie r was held wh en th e we ather was ideal a n d t here w as n o rai n , but in Sep tember , wh en t he te m p erat ures ar e near t he 100 degree mark fo r six days , or if t he site suffered a heavy rain , it c o u l d t u rn i nt o a c a tast ro p he --a sit uat ion yo u just can 't have . T h er e 's n o q u e s t io n th at the Be rk s h i r e s i s s l a nted t oward the Eu ro pe an type of t errain and th er e are so me peop le wh o thi nk t ha t this will give them an adva nt age. However, I am mo re conc erned with sho wing th em o ur ad m inist ra tive ability, the ability to do a go od j ob, t han I am o f za ppin g t hem th eir firs t t im e her e in th e U.S. I don' t thin k tha t's t he app ro ac h to take. CN : Bob Hic ks ' (edit or jpublsiher of T rail R id er and Cycl e Sp ort m agazin es) has exp ressed th e op inion t ha t we are n' t seizi ng the in iti at ive t o m ake th e ISDT a un iquely American even t in t h e sen se th at we are follo wing the FlM (m ore o r less) to t he letter. AE : I feel t hat whatever com es o u t o f the Six Day eff o rt is goi ng to b e p ositive in t erms of th e Am erican involvem ent in it. We can ' t ch ange th e F1M in a y ea r 's time b ec au se we are neophyt es in th e organization. I wo n't know what our situation is until Russ Mar ch returns fr om the F IM co ngress; th en we will know ex actly wh at o ur po sitio n as organ izers will b e. I think th at m aybe Bob has so m e go od p oi nt s but I d on ' t think they are b ein g well exp ressed. CN : How far alo ng in t o planning and ac tual lay out ar e y ou ? AE : I'm probably ab o ut half way alo ng, wit h th e r o ute yet to b e firmly est ablish ed . The weather is ju st star ting to break h er e so that I'm n ot to o c o n c e rn e d ye t. T he pressure will increase as the eve nt approache s. C N : Wh a t a b o u t o u tside help ' in p lan nin g and layo u t ? . AE : I'm no t going t o get in t o o utsid e he lp that m uch b ecause I te nd to be a loner, so I'm go ing to have my work cut o ut for me . I' ll have to accep t so me help, but there is a prob lem in that ve ry few people are really fa miliar with the area. T he m ar kin g resp onsib ility is g o in g to be staggering . I have some very d edi c a t e d fr ont r unners wh o have offered to do this b ut to educate the m t o th e area will be a chore. The en th usias m here in New England is high and t he majority of the eve nt will b e vo lunteer, b ut again th e p robl em is the lack of go od, ext re m ely kn owledgeab le riders. CN : Is the sta te o f Massach usetts lending its coopera t io n to t he event? AE : I am using no m o re than 15% o f st at e lands for trails an d the st ate. au tho ri ties are co opera ting 10 0 %. It's th e envir on me ntalists that I 'm not sure abo ut at th is p oin t in the arne . T he re is t o b e a nature walk lat er this m onth to chec k for alleged da m age of tr ails, but I don 't b elieve it will b e ser ious. Ou r im age is a bit at sta ke because there is a co nc ent ra ted effo rt on t he par t o f a few in di vid uals t o zap us--t rail riding in gene ral--on e way or th e o th er. T he st ate peop le d o n ' t feel t h is way be cause the ad mi nistra to rs o f public land have This area will be the Parc Ferme and will have adjacent spectator parkln"g. Cr ane an d Co. produces th e rag st ock on w hi ch ou r U .S. cu rrenc y is pr in t ed . bigger fish t o fry . T he enviro n nie n ta l law s are ma kin g p oli cem en ou t o f all of us, but so me of us aren 't qu ali fied beca use we ca n ' t obj ectivel y lo ok at a situatio n. CN: How do you go ab out obtaining lan d fo r t rails? AE : I get in t o conversation with p eo p le an d talk ab ou t t he area . Som etimes someo ne will say . HI can rem ember when a road used to go th er e." From thi s in fo rmatio n I try t o establi sh the st at us of th e ro ad and wh eth er it ' s still a public way b efor e I actually exami ne it. I try t o utilize trails that used t o be roads because they h ave a basic road b ed wh ich will stab ilize after use. It 's bound to hav e deteri orated over the years but it will have stabilized in a co nd itio n that ca n still b e ne gotiated. The drain age charac terist ics are there and all that remains is t o re-estab lish the erosion control of it. This is where the t rail riders' responsibility lies . .Every trail rider sh ould have a folding shovel to carry on the handlebars and it should be put t o a little ditch dig ging exercise on every trail ride; if eve ry o ne did this we w ould have no drain age /eros ion problems. The trails are t here and avail ab le to us if we show that we are cap ab le of main taining them. This is where our image lies; th e st a te pe ople don't have en ough m oney t o co n tro l their own lands and they never will. On private lands y ou have t o kn ow the person you are dealing with, and here aga in my biggest responsibility (and that of th e t rail rider) is t o re-establish th e erosio n co ntrols so that the water drainage will tie prop erl y channeled. CN : Would you enc o un t er as many problem s if this were jus t th e n ormal two o r th re e day Berkshire eve nt ? AE : No . On ce the Internat ion al aspect was brou ght ou t t he locals visu alized hordes of people. T he Berkshires are a h eavily used vaca t io n area and this has an effect , but b ecause of the tim e o f year when th e ISDT will b e s t aged-sa slac k between summer and fall-m ost business p eople sup por t it. It 's j ust a few conce rne d locals' wh o are voi cin g o p p ositio n , and wh en you get ou t o f the area th ere's very littl e concern be cause. i n m ost cases , the natives do no t consid er us objec t io nab le. CN : Ar e the Berkshires really gea red fo r t his ty pe of event as far as ho us ing an d fee di ng th e co m p et it o rs and sp ec t at ors? AE: Th ere will h e a prob lem . Housing facilities will b e a probl em as ti me goes o n be ca use, sad ly eno ugh , th e area facili ties don 't see m t o be gea re d up t o thi s type of event and th ey're no t reall y too ent h used abo u t us. By th e middl e o f th e sum mer we are going to have to tal k to th e foo d facilities, one b y one , p e rso nally an d advise th em of th e amo unt o f people an d t he t ime sit uat io n b e c au se it's goi ng t o b e an early morni ng resp on sibil it y to feed everyone. In te rms of th e b usiness p icture I feel th a t every one will co op era t e; I base th is o n th e few people I have alrea dy ta l ke d t o o n a casual basis. CN : Wher e d oes your resp onsibility actua lly lie? AE: I'm resp onsibl e for th e ro u te, th e sco ring an d all the related facili ti es; th e housing I go t in to be cause I live here. I will functio n as Trial Dir ect or. C N : E xactly what is th e direct or responsible for ? AE: Th e ch oice o f th e route, the admin istration of t he chec k p o ints, the physical lay out o f the t rai ls and th e peop l e u se d in s cor in g and th e printouts. The main fu cntion is th e lay ou t of th e trail, an d that is why I was named as Trials Direct or rather th an Clerk o f th e Course. Th er e was a lot of co n troversy , m ainly from Bob Hic ks , wh en I was not nam ed Clerk of the Course. It is d ifferent in each co un try 's organi zat ion al struc ture. The reason I d idn't ge t the Clerk p osition, and I subscribe t o it, was that I want t o be out o n the ro ut e every day and any place els e that I have to be because tha t's where my resp onsibility lies. Th ere are m an y o ther people wh o can handle th e rest o f t he things. I do n 't d oub t o ne bit that Don Woods as C. of C. will use m y opinio n stro ngly in his decisi ons. This is all that I would ask o f him ; he h as eno ugh t o do and his resp onsib ili ti es wi ll be q uit e grea t. I t hi nk t he organizatiorral st ruc tu re will work just fine. CN: Yo u 're going t o need a lo t of people to put th is event to geth er. AE: We fee l th at it wi ll tak e about 15 0 people t o admi nist er th is eve n t--t he c h ec k poi nts , ro u te m a rk e rs, m arsh alli ng, ro ute c hec ks , spec ial t est resp on sib ility-ven d we alrea dy have t his n umber o f pe opl e e it he r alread y

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