A bit of a different format today – which shows me on that first Yamaha IT 400 at the 1976 Moose Mountain 200 mile Cross Country race – we have told this story before, but the reason I’m posting this, is because I just watched a video on You Tube regarding the history of Hard Enduro – and it occurred to me that it may have been Albertan Mel Skaar who invented this!!! After all any Moose Mountain that Mel put on had very few finishers, ( maybe 10 out of 150 plus) – yes they were that tough.
Now if you ever got to meet Mel, you would certainly remember him (rip) he was a giant of a man and must have weighed around 300 lbs -one of his favorite tricks, was to drag a log across a deep muskeg swamp to give the impression a bike had gone through, then of course a lot of riders would end up buried up to the handlebars !! – another was to stand the opposite bank of a deep creek crossing and urge the unsuspecting riders to ” Come this way” then they would of course drown out and maybe get washed downstream!!! Meanwhile Mel would be killing himself laughing!!!
Yes those were interesting times, but with a lot of complaining riders, things had to change, and in fact the race that was held in 1976, was more like a “Hare & Hounds” – with 4 – 25 mile loops for both days – not that this was easy, even Jeff Smith thought it was a challenge, but for sure this really spelled the end of the traditional Moose Mountain, which the Calgary Club had been hosting for decades – in fact we were told that the original race, started near Bragg Creek, and ended at the lookout on top of Moose Mountain ( Hence the name)
Also, sadly we have lost a lot of those riders who were on the starting line at events, with us back then -Jeff Smith ,Danny Amor, John Arcand, Al Perrett, Murray Nutt, Bucky Johnson, Dean McFadden, Denny McBee, and many others.
So getting back to the Hard Enduro story – That all started when Moto X was on a bit of a decline and riders wanted something different – you may recall, that it was Trials riders who dominated all those early events, likely because they had a better understanding of how to read the terrain, and get grip in poor conditions.
Unfortunately, that “Go big” scenario got involved, with big money sponsorship and then more events- more travel. But as often happens, the money dried up and the various organizing bodies , were fighting amongst themselves – Yes the KTM problem had a huge effect. – remember that old saying – Win on Sunday -Sell on Monday!! – Well, as we all know the bottom has dropped out of the motorcycle market, and the money for race teams has to come from somewhere.
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Answer to the last quiz – Johnny Giles the very popular Triumph Factory rider. – Brett and Roger were quick on that one.
Quiz today – Guess who?
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Another “Proper” section for the upcoming Leven valley two day.
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After I wrote this blog – a fire was reported on Westside road – seems an ATV rider crashed and was hurt – but before they got him out the hot exhaust had set fire to the grass and that has now turned into a huge fire just South of the Westside road turn off at the head of the lake. – Very scary situation as I type this as the winds are blowing the flames across the road to the lake.
Here is a map showing in red the area they are evacuating – we are located on the East side of Swan lake.
Posting this at 3am – Babsy is sleeping – I will stay up & keep watch – thanks to Emily and others who have called to check on us.
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