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/141065
o -< o r m Z m ~ '- . e ~ "I ride for fun, and when it stops being fun I'll quit." I've got t o put up a building. because that's all people rel a te to ." Wha t these people arc not seeing is the estimat ed 520,000 a y ea r Dav e has been puttin g in t o th e park, things lik e the 54000 d rilled well (6 0 0 fe et deep , 3 0 0 of that through granite). th e six w ee ks of time it took t o m ark all the boundari es so rider s wouldn't b e tresp assin g. the $1200 worth o f trail signs Dave has had to buy . and Pat Ha gerty . Do e Run 's fulltim e ca re t a ker (Dave h as also furn ish ed h im with livin g quarter s). Pat has b een mostl y resp onsibl e for trail layout an d wh at cle a ring needed t o be done in th e open Miss ouri wo ods. A f orm er co ns t r uc tio n co m pa ny sup erint endent . he is very co nscious of the land d am age p o ten ti al the trails p o se and has tried to work th ings o u t .to minimize this (trails almos t never go straigh t up o r d own h ill . fo r exam ple). Dave estima tes th a t p ro perly cleari ng a n d m ark in g th e tra ils has cost s o m ew h e re aro u n d S 150 a mil e. counting th e m an -h o u rs that ha ve gone i nto it. An d then there are the i nci de n t al ex pe nses. like insurance. liability release forms, the so un d m et er that had to be bough t to chec k muffl e rs and so forth. We hear a good deal about ho w pro fi table m o t o rcycl e par ks can be, including requests from land m anager s t hat we d o it all o urselves, get rich an d no t bothe r th em for lan d to ri de o n. As Dave's investme nt shows . these pro fi ts are a lo n g term p ro sp ect at best, an d eve n then it takes competiton eve n ts to m ak e them po ssib le. " We fou nd that the o nly way you'll ever eve n get close to b reaking even is co rnperirion-we can throw a mo to cro ss one Su nday and m ay b e m a ke $4 00 or 550 0 that day . where if yo u reli ed o n the $2 a head you charge for ad mission it wo uld take six m o n th s to get th e sa me kind of mo ney ." Dave did not origina lly wa nt any com pe t it io n at all-she sees Do e Run stric tly as a family park. " Yo u know, th e racers are never going to come here. Th e t errain is to o cha lle ngi ng fo r the racer- he wants to go o ut an d bl as t ar ound , so th ey go up to Leadwo od [abou t 10 mil es away 1 where there are wide o pen spaces a nd san and th ey 'll pl ay there. They have to b e seen, wh er e th e trail rider, he l l get h is kicks and h e doesn ' t' care whe;ther anyo ne 's watch in g him or not. He·l-.go o ff in the solitude of the woods a nd have a good time." It is li ke Da ve Mungenast that hi: should care m o re abou t families t han about co mpetition riders, a nd when yo u rid e around Do e Run y ou begin t o sec what he is tal k in g abou t. The trails a re m 0 s tly nar r ow a n d r o cky, yet negotiable for an average rid er. At the same ti m e th ey ar e to o rough and twisty to en courage much racin g. They are clearly d esign ed fo r the per son who goes out a nd rides to enjoy th e ex perience of riding. not th e hero-driver who goes riding to sh ow o ff b y beating o th er peopl e. T he highest point in the park is 1582 fee t , wh ere th e trail runs along a rocky hilltop with fm e views of the foothills fo the Ozarks wh en leave s are o ff the trees . Dave sees Do e Run as a n ideal place for observed trial s with graded sec tions set up . " I think th at wh en Honda's 125 Trials hits the m arket it's go in g to crea te an en tir ely new co ncept in 0 ff road riding-every emp ty lot you drive b y some Kid's going t o be plPnking aro un d on one of those th ings. th eY're so quiet a nd cheap. Tha t's wha t we're reall y going to work on at Do e Run," Other plans include go o d ca m p in g facilities and perhaps a building with storage fo r b ikes an d a pl ace to sell fo od a nd parts. Davc: s b a s i c co m m i t me n t to re creational trail rid ing go t him in vol ved in working with the U.S . Forest Service ab o ut four years ago. Missouri has two National Fo res t , Cla rk a nd Mark Twain, and Dave has had a lo t t o d o with maintaining go od rel a tions wi th Fores t Se rvi ce officials. It is u nde rstanding th e need for cooperation and co m promise th at has m ade this h appen. "You can't win figh ting with th e government... 'say s 9 .... '" '" -e . . "" Dav e, " you've go t to coopera te wi th them. a nd t hen when you get yo u r chanc e you can make suggestions-b u t if y ou go in th ere bullh eaded you're going to get absolutely no th in g. '" '" • " G uys th a t ac t lik e tha t a re d oing th e same thi ng that we get so angry abou t th e Sierra Club d oing·· th ey're being irr e sp onsib le an d irrat ional o n the subjec t a nd yo u ca n 't d o that. It 's a co m prom ise; everybody has to work toge t her. T he guy th at 's b ack th er e hunting has go t j ust as much right th er e as you have , a nd so has th e horseb ac k rid er. If we can 't all get along j he n so mebody's goi ng to suffer, and it will probabl y b e us b ecau se we 're th e least o rga nized ." • A final p olicy fo r the Forests is sti ll pendin g because of p ro bl ems in gettin g th e b ike trail ne tw or k together and p ro perly m apped ; currently riders are rest rict ed to existing two-track trails an d special permi ts a re required for com petit io n events. Dave gives a lo t of the credit for the good relations to Eddie Vie rmann, the man who has been m o st res ponsible fo r the Busted Pist on en duros an d t rials. Ed die has b een wro king with the Fo rest Service for seven years no w . " Before he went in and used the Fo rest he went and asked th e p e opl e. Co opera ti o n-vth ar 's t he who le thing. Yo u d on ' t go out an d throw an eve nt and tear everything up a nd then when they co me and find you say ' I'm sorry, I d idn 't know about it.] Ed die d id th ings righ t , he went there first. " \I'e posted a 550 0 bond th e first co uple of years we ha d en d uros in th e Po t o si area, and th e District Ran ger would go out and he'd say '\I'ell, that hill 's erod ed a li t tle bit.' an d t he next S un day we 'd be o u t th e re and dig it up and stake it with' lo gs and p ut some see d o n it. and he'd go out and look a t it an d give us our money b ack." Curren tly ap p ro val of the ro ute is re quired before the special permit is issue d-the District Ra n ge r checks it and the n forwards it to the Forest Superviso r' s office, where final a ppro val is gran ted. Dave has a very strong sense of what p eople like Vie rmann ·are d o in g for the sport . "Lookin g at it justfrom the sport sid e o f it. th e little guys are st ill the ones who keep thi s thing alive. I' m in the b usin ess an d I m ake a good livin g a t it, and I sell 70 o r 8 0 H uskys a year becau se guys like Ed die go out and c ho p trai ls t hrough the wo o d s for m y cus to mers to ride on, and go work with the Forest Service-sand what do they get o ut of it ? Ed d ie 's got a nice b rick contracting b us in ess in St. Louis. an d he just le ts it go to hell for four or five mon th s a year while he's putting on these events . " The Busted Pis t o n is an AM A qualify in g eve nt. b u t yo u d on't see an y b o dy from the AM A · o ut there c h o p pi ng a n d n ail ing up a rro ws . It's-like Ed d ie says. " lbe A.\ 1A ta kes cre di t fo r al l th e w or k that I d o '-he gets a little bitter abo u t it." Dave 's so lu tio n i s for th e AMA t o honor these o rganiz ers: " At the en d o f th e ISDT qualifying se ries, eac h o ne o f these places wh ere th e even ts are held sh o uld sub m it the n am e of th e m an respons ibl e an d t h e AMA shoul d give them som e so rt of a wa rd . Tha t's w hat I'd really lik e to see so me d ay . is to see th ese guys get so me rec ognition. an d I'd be m ore th an h appy to co ntribute to it my sel f." An d you can b e su re that Dave won ' t just st op with ta lking abo ut th is pl an ; he'lI go o u t d wo rk to m a ke it happen . Becau se t he key word here is involvement, whe ther it's trail riding, t he ISDT , buildi n g organizations. o r w o rking wi th th e Forest Service. To Dave M un gena st , it's no t w hat you say tha t counts, it's whether you back it up a n d m ake it a u thentic by getting in vol ved. • •