Act Sane In Spain Or Don't Get On the Plane

ACT SANE IN SPAIN OR DON'T GET ON THE PLANE

UP FRONT

Part of being a motorcyclist is being a member of a minority. And that means that motorcyclist misbehavior receives an inordinate amount of adverse publicity. Frankly, we can't afford this, especially when we're getting it from a so-called select group. Consider the following case in point.

Bob Atkinson

Our boys are climbing up in this world. Yessir, they sure are. Where as little as five years ago the top American riders could only dream about competing in Europe against THE men, we are now sending riders over there with alarming regularity and in surprising numbers. Motocrossers, road racers, ISDT aces and our trials experts. These are the lucky ones among us who compete. They are the best we have and we proudly back them in their efforts. How they perform in return is what we look for.

For the most part, these riders’ performances have been excellent. But there is one place where no one has taken the time to note their performances. That is, away from the race track, where they are tourists who carry with them the ability to either make or break it for other motorcycle competitors or just plain tourists who will succeed them in future years.

The road racers and ISDT riders are mostly older men who, we assume, have behaved in a manner that would make us feel proud that they are Americans. The same goes for motocrossers. They are much younger, but they are a widely-traveled bunch anyway, having been on their own and competed in just about every state before they ever make it “over the pond.”

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of our trials competitors. Having had the opportunity to witness the behavior of these young gentlemen (or so I thought); who, through the fund-raising efforts of El Trial de España, were able to compete in Spain, I could not believe their atrocious conduct.

While not all of the American riders who went to Spain were ill-behaved, the majority acted in a thoroughly disgusting manner. Now, what can be done to insure against such behavior in the future?

What comes to mind initially is the idea of a chaperon to accompany our riders. A person whose trip is paid for out of the funds of El Trial de España so that he would be obligated to stay with our riders and help them whenever possible, and not go traveling around Barcelona seeing all of the sights because he had to pay for his own ticket.

But there is a definite drawback to this particular solution that could make for some very angry situations and people. Who would go? How would it be decided?

El Trial de España has been run by very selfless, giving people who have donated not only their time and effort, but a good deal of money, as well. People like Joe Kiggens, who ran the event this year. These kinds of people are not your everyday types.

There are those who would take advantage of a chaperon situation and use whatever powers they had to maneuver themselves into that particular position. Afterall, a free trip to Spain is a free trip to Spain. And once there, who’s going to make sure he chaperons?

This leaves the entire organization of ETDE up in the air and exposed to political battle from the different trials clubs and from individuals within the same club. I’ve known trials people for the last seven years, having formerly been a weekly competitor. And, while they are some of the greatest folk in motorcycling, there’re always a few rotten apples in every barrel. Not only might this

problem arise, but using part of the ETDE fund to finance a chaperon, would be denying one of our boys his chance to compete over there. Is that fair?

While in Spain, our riders are picked up at the hotel by their respective factories, and when the day is over, they are dropped off. The factories welcome the American riders and are glad to help by providing them with motorcycles; but they can’t do much more. They have many, many motorcycles to prepare for their European aces and do not have time to see to it that their U.S. visitors stay out of trouble.

There is another way to tackle the chaperon proposition. That is, to make one of the riders (preferably the old^M, responsible for the behavior of all the others. While ^ms would allow all who earned the trip the chance to go, it really isn’t as sound as it might seem. Sometimes, the chaperon might do his job, if he were much older and commanded a great deal of respect. But the riders this year ranged in age from 15 to 23, they ride together several times a month, and are great buddies.

We all remember our buddies when we were that age. They didn’t tell us not to do things, but rather, went along with what we were planning. And the age and maturity level of the riders going to Spain seems to get lower every year. Can we, in a few years, set a pack of minors loose in Spain where no one will keep an eye on them? While it would be nice to be able to say yes, the answer, as I see it, is no.

Hey guys, you are gonna blow it. One of these times one or a couple of you is going to end up in trouble over there and it is going to be difficult to untangle the mess from over here. You have slipped the noose around your necks and with every dumb childish move you make, you are pulling it tighter and tighter.

In Barcelona, go bowling, go to the arcades and ten-cent soccer. Since it is legally available to you, have a couple of beers, but don’t overdo it. Go out to the carnival bump cars and have a war, if you like, against the local Spanish kids. They’d love it. There are dozens of things you can do without being deliberately destructive.

Go out and practice riding until you can’t even walk anymore. Afterall, that is what you’re over there for. To become better trials riders. Go ride the terrain that World Champions ride.

If you don’t, someday there will be no more trips to Spain. There will be no more lunches or dinners at the private homes of the heads of the factories. There will be no more riding on St. Llorenc del Munt, that Godsend of a mountain made especially for trials riders.

And someday, when those novice trials riders, with whom you are just becoming friends, beat you and earn their own trip to Spain, and can’t go because of your precedence, what then? Or are you all really that childish, that ignorant or that incredibly foolish to think that it won’t happen? It will. Or don’t you care?