rode motorcycles in the desert for
fun. We would drive out on Satur-
day and stay overnight. We would
sleep in a camper, in tents or even
on cots. We were just kids, and we
didn't care.
"When Mark started racing, we
joined the Rams Motorcycle Club.
That was just one of the clubs,
and we would all have fun to-
gether. On Saturday nights, there
would be these huge bonfires,
and we would all get together for
the fire. One night, Mark and I got
on his race bike and went off to
visit some friends. It was dark—
we couldn't see anything, and
the next thing you know, another
rider was coming at us, and we
hit them head-on! We weren't
hurt, but the bike was too badly
damaged, and Mark couldn't race
the next day. I remember our dad
wasn't very happy about that!"
Mark had a successful desert
racing career, often giving the
desert legends like Jim Fishback
and A.C. Bakken a good run. He
won a number one plate in the
250cc class and would go on to
qualify for the International Six
Days Trial in 1975.
"We all got to go to Italy for
that one," Linda remembers. "He
crashed into a tree on the fourth
day, and so he wasn't able to fin
-
ish, but it was still a great trip.
"I started racing in the Powder
Puff class, and they would just
put us in with the Old Timers.
But I did race with the boys a few
times, and I remember one race
where I finished second in the
250cc class on Mark's DKW 125.
"Mark also did some single-
seat car racing in the desert, too.
But then it just became too
expensive, and my dad said,
'We just can't afford this.' And
so that was the end of the
desert racing."
Mark Adent, who passed
away in 2011, played the big
brother role well, watching out
for Linda and helping her with her
riding and racing. He moved on to
a career as a building contractor.
Meanwhile, Linda was briefly mar
-
ried to Hollywood stuntman Danny
Rogers, who, besides serving as
Erik Estrada's double on the televi-
sion show "CHiPs," is also famous
for a well-known photograph.
"Do you remember the cover
of Pink Floyd's 'Wish You Were
Here' album, with the two men
and one of them is on fire? Well,"
laughs Linda, "Danny is the guy
who's not on fire."
After her marriage to Rogers
ended, she met a professional
fisherman from Minnesota and
spent a few years competing in
bass-fishing tournaments before
retiring and moving to Colorado,
where she now lives with her
partner and former desert-racing
buddy, Wayne Cook, whom she
had not seen for several years.
They are still riding today, with a
couple of Honda CRF230s to kick
around on the trails.
Linda has enjoyed a fun and
adventuresome life, one that was
kickstarted when a photographer
simply observed a tight-knit re
-
lationship between a girl and her
protective big brother. But while
young men may have had their
eye on the pretty blonde girl in the
pink sweaters, Linda Adent was
focusing on her own journey.
"Eyes on the road," the ad
states. "Because you're more
interested in the way you see the
world than in the way the world
sees you."
CN
(Left) That Cycle News cover caught
Kawasaki's attention, and a few
months later, she was featured in an
ad. That's her leaning out of a car
window, admiring the Kawi H2. (Below)
One of Cycle News' more memorable
cover photos taken by Jeb Wilcox hit
the stands in March 1974.
VOLUME ISSUE MAY , P147
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