BACK IN THE DAY

Where the photos are blurry but the memories are clear!

I’ m enjoying your Back in the Day section and wanted to share photos of me riding in the sand pit right next to Spyglass Hill golf course, circa 1972. Few recall that Pebble Beach was still private back then, and the DMV code did not apply in the “Forest.” I would ride my Bultaco 250 in the sand pit (getting

there on public roads), and on the far side we had a small flat track around a tree where several of us raced. Most times we could outrun security!

Now, as a serious golfer 50 years later, I cringe a bit when I tee it up on the first tee of Spyglass Hill, and can almost hear the wail of a two stroke in the distance… great memories! Yes, those are leather work gloves. A year later the helmet had a football face guard screwed onto it, popularized by desert racers back then.

A co-conspirator, Larry Dick, whose family lived in PB, eventually sponsored me on the Colorado 500, which I’ve ridden 14 times…so from Pebble Beach to Imogene Pass, and ironically, California Pass. California had early days too, before we went crazy…

—Douglas Keyston

I (and many others, I’m sure) have always dreamed of ripping around a pristine golf course on a motocross bike, and while your story isn’t that, it certainly brought it to mind…so thanks, Doug! —Ed.

Here I am on my Kawasaki Vulcan 500. It was my first bike and proved the old saying, “it’s not if you go down, it’s when you go down.” After totaling it I bought a Harley-Davidson Softail, which I ended up trading for a Street Glide Special.

—Rob M.

Here I am on my 11th birthday, sitting on the 1978 Yamaha GT80 my dad got me for my birthday the year before. I rode that bike everywhere, and I find myself unable to part with it. My brother got it running again for my 50th birthday, and the sound of that little two-stroke takes me back in time.

—Rich Rossmark

Gotta love that sound and smell, Rich! —Ed.

Me at 15 years old on my first bike, a 1970 Harley-Davidson 125 Rapido. I bought it new because of the 1969 TV show Then Came Bronson. Mom centered me in the photo instead of the bike! The second photo is me in 2019 at age 64 with the Harley Sportster I bought new in 1975. I rebuilt it into a “Bronson” replica for the 40th anniversary of that show and rode it from Illinois to Reno for the 50th anniversary to meet with other collectors and their “Bronson Bikes.” I’m still riding it because of that TV show.

—Bill Weder

My 1971 Kawasaki F6 125cc rotary valve trail bike, complete with Preston Petty replacement front fender. In 1974 this was my everyday source of recreation and exploration. A huge improvement in the woods over the modified Honda Cub 50 I had previously.

—Charlie Hamberg

Shocker, that! —Ed.

Getting what I thought was massive air on my 1971 Honda SL70, and then posing with my 1973 SL100.

—Robert Griffin

Dude, you are Evel-worthy!

Thought I’d send along a picture of yours truly at the infamous Rifle River Crossing at the 1966 Jack Pine 500-mile enduro. The bike is a 1965 250 Maico Enduro, which I still have. I first entered the Jack Pine in 1961 and each year thereafter, but always managed to run out of time due to a variety of reasons: a bad mud hole, broken battery, jammed fork leg, smashed brake pedal, and other things I can’t remember right now. I feel very fortunate to have ridden and finished that year, as that turned out to be the last of the 500-mile, two-day Jack Pine enduros. There was no Jack Pine in 1967, and when it was run again in 1968 it was a one-day affair, nothing like what it used to be. It was wrenching on my bikes that started me on a career first as a machinist and then as a service technician and service manager for a major pump manufacturer. If it hadn’t been for motorcycling, I don’t know where I’d be today.