VOLUME ISSUE DECEMBER , P83
Bikes have always had a tenuous relationship
with America's Mountain, and, unlike the cars,
had not run every year the classic hill climb event
was staged. Indeed, its 156 turns and 12.42 miles
have only seen motorcycles compete 41 times.
Until 1991, the race was not a time trial but
a mass start, hordes of madcap racers roaring
off on the dirt road all at once to see who would
win The Race to The Clouds. The Isle of Man TT
learned its lesson with mass starts in the 1960s,
but Pikes was determined to be different.
Floyd Clymer was the first rider to take the gold
at Pikes (while the road to the summit was still
under construction, no less), his winning time a
touch under the 22-minute mark. This was about
a century after Lt. Zebulon Pike declared, falsely,
that no man would ever be able to reach the top
of the 14,000-foot-tall mountain.
Following the outbreak of World War I, no race
was staged. When the race was again given the
green light in 1920, motorcycles were scratched
from the program due to the race not being sanc
-
tioned by the American Motorcyclist Association.
It would remain this way for the next 34 years.
It didn't get much better, as bikes were only
to see the checkered flag for two more years in
1954 and 1955, before being put on hiatus again
until 1971. A near catastrophic accident in 1976,
in which one of the two racers contending for vic
-
tory at the Peak's summit collided with the pole
supporting the finish line banner, caused the wire
holding the banner to fall and stretch across the
road, nearly decapitating the third-place racer as
he approached.
The fog was so
bad in 2017,
qualifying day,
the riders could
hardly see 10
meters in front of
the bikes, yet the
session still ran.
