Hotshots

HOTSHOTS

Trailgate

Editor-in-Chief David Edwards started the summer off with an environmental bang! His June editorial, “The Great Clinton Land Grab,” caught me completely off guard. I’d been resigned to the belief that Edwards was hopelessly liberal.

But this. Like, wow! He really called it like it is.

The sooner those of us with IQ’s higher than our tax brackets realize the goal of environmentalism, the sooner we can get about the business of changing it. All the great scientists-Gore, Danson and DiCaprio-aside, the DNA code of the environmental movement spells s-oc-i-a-l-i-s-m. Gore even calls for the creation of an international “Green Police” under the auspices of the United Nations! Read his book.

Like my good buddy, David Edwards, said: “Write your Congressman today, remember to vote this November.” David Reid Chenault Mount Sterling, Kentucky

Dave Edwards’ excellent Up Front column was extremely important to all of us who ride off-road. The big problem with the Forest Service’s proposed “Roadless” plan is that many of these areas are not roadless. In typical Clinton double-speak, the USFS has simply changed what the definition of a dirt road is. The plan is to decommission (bulldoze) these roadsactually trails-thereby creating defacto wildernesses without Congressional approval. All of these new programs are designed to severely restrict access, particularly for those of us who enjoy motorized recreation.

I assume your readers already belong to the AMA. Also consider joining the Blue Ribbon Coalition (800/BLUERIB), whose entire focus is preserving recreation on public lands. We all better get involved very soon. Ed Wing Chester, California

Dear Dave...

In response to your June editorial, “The Great Clinton Land Grab,” I have the following thoughts:

First, let me say that my political affiliation makes me a member of the vast Right Wing Conspiracy, so I have no doubt that your assessment of Clinton’s motives is accurate. Second, I am a seasoned rider and enthusiast of motorcycles, both on road and off. I understand and share your passion to ride trails.

I believe, however, that the preservation of U.S. land in its natural and unmotorized state is a worthwhile goal much larger than our need to see the Grand Canyon from the front seat of a Toyota 4-Runner.

As the Editor of Cycle World, your position on this issue was predictable. What would be exceptional is for you to do what many Americans need to do more of: Think beyond your special interests.

Matt Kolb Bronxville, New York

I, too, recently enjoyed the beauty and solitude of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. I didn’t ride in; I hiked, probably over the same trails and dirt roads you used. I’m glad I missed you, happy that I got to experience the North Rim, at least for an hour or so, with no internal-combustion engines around.

I don’t like Bill Clinton very much either, and I ride a motorcycle almost every day, but is it so crazy, so elitist, so “preservationist” to want our grandkids to be able to see a little bit of what once was, the way it once was, to keep a few places free from machines? I’ve decided that it isn’t.

Jack Mynatt Austin, Texas

Please cancel my subscription. If I wanted to read Right Wing nonsense, I’d subscribe to the New Republic.

Greg Jehue Redlands, California

I wish you’d keep politics out of your magazine. I get enough of that already. I will vote in all elections, though, and you can bet your ass I won’t vote for any union-busting, labor-hating, Bible-thumping, landraping Republican S.O.B.s.

Mike Miller Everett, Washington

What an incredible editorial. I can hardly believe that you have the chutzpah to print such a collection of misinformation. Just because a machine is invented, someone succeeds in selling you one, and you have the desire to use it, does not guarantee you the right to use it to the detriment or damage of other things.

Such irresponsibility just invites further attempts to control our sport. The AMA’s similar stance is one of the reasons I am no longer a member of that organization. Lee Maddox Waunakee, Wisconsin

Your irresponsible tirade against changes in USFS regulations regarding use of public lands is ludicrous. Hopefully, your provincial, narrow, selfish attitude is in the minority. Off and on over the years, I have subscribed to Cycle World, and have long considered the magazine “the only game in town.” You have undermined my faith and while I am hesitant to punish myself, my inclination is

to let my subscription lapse. I’ll wait to see how I feel in a few months. Larry Rayner Chelan, Washington

I cannot recall an editorial as slanted and one-sided as “The Great Clinton Land Grab.” Mr. Edwards seems to have little derstanding of the larger issues at stake. His sense of self-entitlement and his stubborn clinging to the rubric of individual freedom ignores the larger responsibility and obligation for all of us to provide for the common good and preserve a palatable future and environment for our children. Raymon Elozua New York, New York

I read with dismay and disgust, “The Great Clinton Land Grab.” I’ve been riding in the West for 20-plus years, including dirtbike and dual-sport rides in Colorado, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming, but I am becoming ashamed of saying that I own an off-road motorcycle.

The disrespect exhibited by, and the general lack of concern about the damage caused by many OHV riders, is ap-

palling. If you are going to do any campaigning, you should be pleading with riders to obey the rules and quit being such irresponsible morons.

Cancel my subscription immediately.

Richard L. Eversole Timnath, Colorado

What do the “family-oriented recreational attributes of off-roading” have to do with anything? We’re talking about possible damage to the environment here. Do five kids in the back of a Lincoln Navigator lessen the impact it may have on the environment?

Ultimately-and unfortunately-a lot of this comes down to economics and one’s personal pleasure. You argue that a multibillion-dollar OHV industry would be negatively impacted. Does that mean that when big money is being made that the industry involved should be exempt from regulations that cut into their profits? And personal pleasure! How can some of us be so immature, so greedy? Nobody should restrict my fun, my pleasure. Who cares about the environmental impact / might have? For me, for me. That’s all that matters.

Oh yes, thanks for the reminder. I will > remember to vote this November. And I also thought of a better way to spend next year’s Cycle World subscription money-I’ll buy a copy of AÍ Gore’s Earth in the Balance.

Phil Thomas Aptos, California

If you want your very own pristine view of the Grand Canyon, without having to rub elbows with the hoi polloi and their “cardboard cameras,” get off your fat ass and walk there.

Jim Mason Witchita, Kansas

Allow us, Jim, to cancel your subscription. Seriously, no one at this magazine is suggesting that OHVs be allowed free access to any piece of virgin forestland-in fact, anyone caught riding off limits or with an illegal bike (noisy, lacking a spark arrestor, etc.) should be dealt with severely. What we object to is the leader of this nation being led around by extremist special-interest groups, making sweeping decisions about public land without so much as consulting the land ’s owners-the public.

Been there, done that

I am writing in the hope that you and all other automotive and motorcyclerelated publications will soon begin to run editorials alerting enthusiasts to the importance and dangers of the upcoming presidential election relative to automotive issues.

In his book, Earth in the Balance, Al Gore clearly expresses his hatred of and wish to eliminate the internalcombustion engine. All hot-rodders, antiquers, motorcyclists, NASCAR and NHRA fans-anyone with an interest in any form of motorsportsmust join together to defeat Al Gore.

Widely read publications such as yours need to take a stand and spearhead the effort to protect the future of our vehicles and our sport. Please step forward and take the lead in this important fight. Lanny Liggett Moon Township, Pennsylvania

View from the fjords

Just a note to thank you for the superb June issue. About the only thing I could do without was the “Land Grab” editorial-in Europe we’ve lived with those kind of restrictions for so long, we’ve forgotten how to be incensed. Eirik Skjaeveland Norway □