Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

'" " '" " '" '" ell C>. FREEl ' o Puzzlements T he re we re interesting aspects of the Shamrocks end u ro (May 6) th a t I wasn ' t ab le to cover in m y article o n the eve nt. Monda y is d eadline da y a t Cycle Ne ws so any articles that com e in on Mo nday are k ep t to essentials . Nu mbe r One puzzlement is wh y the Shamroc ks ge t so fe~ entries to their eve nt. Th is time th ey h ad 28 0 en tri es an d the y were mo d erately happy b ecause th at was up fro m las t year. Here was a good even t , pUI o n b y an e nth us iast ic and capab le clu b , in a su pe rb riding area le ss th an an h our' s drive fro m Lo s Ange les , a nd th ey b ar ely made e noug h to cove r ex p en ses. Th e y had p ro bably fo rt y o r fi fty pe ople o n th e co urse so that there was no wai tin g a t chec ks, andthere were pe ople 10 he lp a t th e gas sto p. I t's q uite a lo t o f work to pu t on an enduro li ke that. Lots of pe op le mus t be co n tacted fo r permissio ns an d th er e is a lot of paperwo rk to be done. A good de al of hard ph ys cial work had t o be don e on th e tr ail, sh ov el and saw work , n ot j us t throwing lim e . An d there wi ll be so m e work to be d one before th ey are finish ed wi th the run a nd can h ave th eir pe rformance bond back. A coup le of areas of tra il must be patc he d up, again shovel work. T o m e, thoug h, th is is where it's at in Amateur competi tio n , a clu b p u tting on in te restin g ru ns because th e y like to h ave p eople like their events. And cl u bs bei ng responsibl e fo r th e land. The land that the Sham rocks used is no worse off fo r h avin g be en th e si te of their event an d in fac t the ca mp a rea is mu ch cleane r that it was. T h is is as it should be. And with efforts like th ei rs o u r sport can con tin ue. Let's take an oth er exa mple , call it the XY A . T his is o ne man wh o h as fo u nd an easy way t o make a livin g b y being an associatio n . H e pu ts on en d u res ove r the m o st b o ri n g, worn trails in th e world. His ribbonin g is haphazard at best an d when everybody ge ts lo st, it 's alw ays because "so me b ody tore d own hi s ribbon. " I gues s really it ' s a good thing th ey d o, be cause so me how he never ge ts ar ound to it. Far fro m fixing up trail , h e'd qui te willingly runs 1500 rid ers throu gh botanical gard e n if th at were th e easiest wa y to ge t th e required 32 miles per loop. He cal ls them "famil y type" o r ufun type " or so m e o t he r suc h , and e ncourage s w omen, ch ild re n , passengers, sidec ars , and kiddy cars, and offers a class for practically anything that can move o ver the starting line under its o wn p owe r and pay PJe entry fee . Res cue facili ties ar e an am b ula nce, if it 's required an d it mi gh t ge t y o u to a hospi tal if you don't die before you ge t b ack to th e starting area whe re th e arnbulace is and if it 's not stuck in th e san d. If y o u' re riding for o ne o f the plush outfi ts, he ma y have a four-wheel-drive o u tfi t th at mi ght re scue y o u if a ny b o dy knows yo u're mi ssin g and if the gu y driving the jeep isn' t too busy delivering beer to the checke rs . And eve ry time XY A wants to put on a ru n , th ere will be from 5 0 0 to 2000 en tra n ts, while the ' Shamrocks work th eir butts o ff t o get 280. We all kn ow why, o f cou rse . It ' s the all-Ameri can ge t-so me th ing-fo r-n o th in g do-it -the-eas y -wa y tradition a t work. Forty , fifty , sixty percent trophies they give away . If en tries drop , they up the per centage o f hardware. It 's a math ematical formula . My riding ability is far from outstanding. In the District runs and the northern California runs I can ex pec t a trophy ab o ut once out of six 'o r seven rides when ['m really workin g at it. In th e family type runs, if [ finish I get a troph y. Whoopee . Of co u rse , a' T t o f time s the trophy isn' t o worth as mu ch as the en t ry fee , but ever mark's a winner, . You might th ink from that that I am d own o n the promoter-for-profit, bu t th at isn't so. There a re not en ough cl u bs t o p ut o n the numb er o f enduros that see m to be required, especially in the beginner category. A nd a co uple of the p rofi t o u tfi ts, name ly th e CERA ' s, no rth and so uth , ar e puttin g o n events th at are every bit the equal of th e AMA events (CE R A Nor th 's re cen t end uro w as b e tte r th an m os t of the A:l-IA e vents , in fac t.) T he SRA , whic h is essentially a o ne- m an o u tfi t pu tting o n be ginner runs, als o seem s t o be d oing a good job. Some more family oriented a riders I know th in k the SRA runs are the be st in the area. [ fin d th em a b it o n th e tame side , and I so metim es doub t Ron Vin celle tte''s judgment (should 2 00 0 ri de rs eve r be run on th e same co u rse?) , but [ must ad mi t th at he puts a great d eal of effort in to his runs and tries very hard to m ak e th em a go od ex perie nce fo r his custo mers. No, it's th e ope ra to rs with n o co nce rn fo r safe ty , p articularly o f th e beginners , women, and kids th e y e nc o u r age to ride , th at I find o bjec tio nable. And those with n o con ce rn fo r o u r pl ayground. And I suspec t that a documented report on so me o f th eir a ctiviti es wi th names an d pictures is n ot far in the future. No one can blame th e promoters for tr yi n g to provide a service if th ey do it in a responsible . manner, but the riders who patronize th eir events and skip t he ' Sportsman club events can be blamed. T he y are real dodos. I t's sim ple lo gic . How much in centive has a club to work h ard on an eve n t when they kn ow that so me fi fth-rat e outfit is goin g to o u td raw th em 4 t o I be cause they don't give away a bushel of brassw are ? And if th e clubs quit puttin g on eve n ts, wh at kee ps the e ntry fees in lin e ? With ou t the cI u bs th e re would be the sa me com pe ti tio n amo n g the promote rs th a t th ere is between major oil co m p an ies. A nd wi th o u t the cl u bs, wh ere d o we ge t n ew a nd i nte res ting terrain and ch am p ionsh ip-q uali ty events? T here 's no pro fit in hun tin g up neat pl aces to ride, especially.if you real ly h ave t o work to ge t it like the Sham roc ks did. In th e Sportsman cl u bs we have a qual it y th at can' t be b o ugh t but it ca n be sold ou t. 1 $10.00 2 T. HALLMAN 3 M ICRO-T IME 4 TUNER CHEST $10.00 DISCOUNT COUPON ON ANY CYCLE HO US E ACCESSOR IES PROTECTOR $15.95 Value $16.95 Value FR I FREE! Genuine Bryan Kenney Throttle MAVRICK Shock Fastest . smoothest. quick throttle io th e West. Absorbers D ISCOUNT COUPON ON CHICKEN LEATHE RS Du rable baked on color finishes .~ ,~ in RED, BLUE , BLACK or GRAY . ""'R!:5.10 lI5... • A LUMINUM ALLOY ?/ 1m 4 CYCLE & FORK OIL ~ I ""'R!:&.S340lL Any Size: · ~ •. RayonlCotton RACING JERSEY TORCO OIL D&S 2 CYCLE! Carriers 300 lb. ~ HIGH QUALITY-SMART LOOK INGSingle ~ Won't shrin k o r fade. Pop ul ar , bike- matching co lo rs. 500I b. ~ Red & White So ngle ~ 500lb, ~ Double ~ MONARCH FENDERS GUAR. Unbreakablee. •.A.~l'lIr,r;"~ Fron t onl y Black. White, Yellow. Silver Light Blue & Blue Yellow & Blac k White & Blue Orange & Blac k Green & White BDII FREE BONUS· THIS SALE ONLY Your name , 8 " raci ng n umbers & Club name FREE w ith purchase of Jer sey . NO print ing char ge- Bike emblems 89¢ TIE DOWNS 2"' Red. White Nylon + = ,. N I Puzzleme nt Number Two I've o nly been riding aro und h er e fo r th re e of four ye ars, so I c an't write abo u t what happened befo re th en , but since I 'v e be en here I ' ve n otic ed two trends. Wh en I first star ted ridin g th e re were vir t u al ly n o end u ros in th e National forest s. I beli eve th e fir st year I was here a tr ail club th rew a smallevent for th e benefit o f MORE but wh en the same clu b tried to do it again the following year, it wasn't abl e to . For about two y ear s there wasn't any event at all in th e lo cal fo rests u nless you want to co un t the Hi Mountain Enduro , whi ch is all th e way ou t in th e San Luis Obisp o ar ea. Durin g the same year cl u bs we r e th rowing even ts all ove r th e d esert. I can remember with particular pl ea sure th e So Cal Hare and Hound that we nt wa y up into th e pin e trees, th e R ams en d u ro near Hart 's Pla ce and th e Sh amrock en d uro th at went up Cottonwood Creek. Now things see m t o be reve rsin g. T he Sh am ro cks, the Pr o spe ctors, the Dirt Diggers, and th e Pasadena M.C. have all had runs in the forest in th e past ye ar o r so . Ea ch h a s repo rt ed sple nd id cooperation from th e Forest Se rvice an d there have been several cases of help fr om the FS b e yond what wa s required or expected. ' On the other hand, the usable desert land has sh ru n k and shrunk until there are practically n o unworn tr ails to ride. The BLM pe ople appear to be as friendly and as c o ope ra tive as th e FS people , but the plain fact is that we have fewer places to ride eve ry month . If y ou play go lf, you pay to us e the go lf co u rse, If you ski , y ou pay handsomely to get up the mountain . ' Et c. So now we pay S 1.00 to ride fo r a day. It seems to me we sh ould qu it fighting the fees and concentrate o n gelling some value fo r our money . Righ t now we h ave. mo re pl ac es to ride in the forest than we did a year ago . To m e that's valuable . We have less place s to ride in the desert. A law that puts at least a part o f the fees we pay back in to th e lo cal age ncy would give us a reall y p owerful to ol to us e in ge tting places to ride. Both the B LM and t he FS Districts are ch ro nical ly short of m oney for th e p roj ec ts th ey want to accomplish , If th ey co ul d see the m oney th ey need for so me of t heir p et proj ec ts comi ng fro m .. us, they'd be fi ghting each o the r to get us to h old o u r runs in their district. A s it is, the money we pay goe s in to the general fund. How about somebody ge tti n g with th os e agen cies an d draft a bill. A re y ou Iistening. Russ Sanford? ~ Wit h purchase of a BEL L ST A R o r SUPER MAGN UM , your choice of O NE o f it e m s 1.2,3 or 4 below Bell 120 also available in lim it ed quant it ies - We'll order for you if nec essa ry. = n ~ ~ ;; ? & Blue ~!:a . 58 115.. OPEN DAILY 9109 CLOSED SUNDAYS 1111 Stop by and pick up your ticket for the drawing to be held. JULY 6, for a 250. MOTOCROSSER. No purchase neeessery. AL ANDERS BULTACO 1140 Cypress#G; La Habra, Calif. 90631 (714) 870-9990 > " ~ ~ w Z W ..J U ~ U .

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