What happened to your favorite 70s riding area?

The Rock
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The Rock
Edited Date/Time 5/20/2014 8:07am
This is what happened to mine Now instead of riding dirt bikes "down in the field" I go for walks when I am in Ohio. Never ceases to amaze me what has changed in the field and how being down there stirs up all these memories from when I was 13 to 15 years old.
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ATKpilot99
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ATKpilot99 5/16/2014 6:59pm
5/16/2014 6:59pm
I didn't start riding till the 80s but "urban sprawl" happened to most of them . In fact we used to ride at some of the sites where they broke ground for new subdivisions.
gsxrcr28
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gsxrcr28 5/16/2014 7:45pm
5/16/2014 7:45pm
The Miami Dolphins Stadium sits on top of it.

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jeffro503
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jeffro503 5/16/2014 7:57pm
5/16/2014 7:57pm Edited Date/Time 5/16/2014 7:58pm
Well dang it....my 70's riding area was around my house before I started racing in 82'. BUT....the mid 80's sand track I used to ride on was called " Rainer beach ". And during the winter it was the most badass practice place you could ride at. And big company called "USG Sheetrock " bought all the land and now they produce drywall there. Which is kind of ironic.....since I do drywall for a living. It makes my living.....but took one of my most favorite places on earth away from me as far as riding goes.
FLmxer
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FLmxer 5/16/2014 8:23pm
5/16/2014 8:23pm
gsxrcr28 wrote:
The Miami Dolphins Stadium sits on top of it.
How about Copans road?
When I was a kid we could ride out our garages in any direction. It was all just everglades that was being mowed down and we were one of the first neighborhoods. Lakes were dug to dry up the swamp and they left huge mountains of dirt every where. It was perfect for making tracks on. Paradise really. Now that town is one of the busiest areas in the world and there is not one tree in that whole city that was not put there by man. Boca Raton
gsxrcr28
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gsxrcr28 5/16/2014 8:31pm
5/16/2014 8:31pm
gsxrcr28 wrote:
The Miami Dolphins Stadium sits on top of it.
FLmxer wrote:
How about Copans road? When I was a kid we could ride out our garages in any direction. It was all just everglades that was being...
How about Copans road?
When I was a kid we could ride out our garages in any direction. It was all just everglades that was being mowed down and we were one of the first neighborhoods. Lakes were dug to dry up the swamp and they left huge mountains of dirt every where. It was perfect for making tracks on. Paradise really. Now that town is one of the busiest areas in the world and there is not one tree in that whole city that was not put there by man. Boca Raton
I don't think I ever rode at Copans Road, but like you said there was lots of places to ride down here in the late 1970"s and 1980's, we just rode mostly where the Dolphins stadium is, we called that area the Ponderosa.
Beast666
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Beast666 5/16/2014 8:40pm
5/16/2014 8:40pm
Looking at Google earth my first ever riding area on Holloman AFB is now a Power substation. Then in the late 70's I lived in Albuquerque and a lot of the areas are now housing developments, golf courses and such.
BAMX
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BAMX 5/16/2014 8:56pm
5/16/2014 8:56pm
Early 80's but Palomar Airport Road. It is now LEGOLAND and some stupid golf Course.
JeepnMike
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JeepnMike 5/16/2014 10:02pm
5/16/2014 10:02pm
Wow.. Fun thread. "80 Acres" is where I learned how to ride in the late 70s... the riding area formerly known as 80 Acres in Redmond, WA is now where Microsoft's main campus sits.
WhipMeister
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WhipMeister 5/16/2014 10:18pm
5/16/2014 10:18pm
Mention "360" to any N Texas old school motohead and watch the smile spread across their face.

It's now houses, shopping centers and a golf course. Mostly. There's still a little of it left. Just a few miles North of 6 Flags, south of DFW Airport.
mxpappy711
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mxpappy711 5/17/2014 5:10am
5/17/2014 5:10am
Been riding in coal country for about 35 years. When an area gets closed down another new area opens nearby. Thank you China for having the sense to burn coal. Keep it up please.
fast willy
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fast willy 5/17/2014 5:40am
5/17/2014 5:40am
Hundred foot hill in Millville Nj. You could ride there a full year & still find new areas. Must be 6 big pits with bad ass natural train MX tracks & endless trails. J-law, Barry Carstens, & other fast guys rode there. To this day it's all still there but nowhere to park without big fines.
jimmie
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jimmie 5/17/2014 5:41am
5/17/2014 5:41am
Big Lenny wrote:
It's a park now... [img]http://www.eventsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/hahn.jpg[/img]
It's a park now...

"It's a park now..."

It was a park back then also, Cerritos Cycle Park.

"same as it ever was" just a different type of park.

Kind of like riding at the neighborhood vacant lot....but only without the cops. @ thirteen years of age it was a really cool place to ride.
WhiteKnuckleV2.1 5/17/2014 6:57am
5/17/2014 6:57am
We still race at Rio Bravo. Rio Grande, Cyclesports, Fairbanks, Lake Whitney, Lockhart, Friendswood - all gone. But the ghosts of Rio past still hang around in the trees and cheer for us when we go by, whether we're fast or not. And every time I go down the back straight with the trees so thick that it's like an echo chamber pinned on my 500 in fourth, I remember Gary Jackson on a 400 CZ, pinned, head down ducking the roost, and never, ever giving up.

One of these days I'll meet him out there and we'll have a great time watching the young guys doing the same thing.
kevingent55
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kevingent55 5/17/2014 7:22am
5/17/2014 7:22am
gsxrcr28 wrote:
The Miami Dolphins Stadium sits on top of it.
FLmxer wrote:
How about Copans road? When I was a kid we could ride out our garages in any direction. It was all just everglades that was being...
How about Copans road?
When I was a kid we could ride out our garages in any direction. It was all just everglades that was being mowed down and we were one of the first neighborhoods. Lakes were dug to dry up the swamp and they left huge mountains of dirt every where. It was perfect for making tracks on. Paradise really. Now that town is one of the busiest areas in the world and there is not one tree in that whole city that was not put there by man. Boca Raton
gsxrcr28 wrote:
I don't think I ever rode at Copans Road, but like you said there was lots of places to ride down here in the late 1970"s...
I don't think I ever rode at Copans Road, but like you said there was lots of places to ride down here in the late 1970"s and 1980's, we just rode mostly where the Dolphins stadium is, we called that area the Ponderosa.
This ^^^ and the abandoned golf course near American High School and the Sunrise Jewish Center at Oakland Park and Pine Island, I-95 at Cypress Creek Rd, I-75 behind the Sunrise Music Theatre, and everything they built at the end of McNab Road. Also the Publix Distribution Center in Deerfield where SW 10th St used to dead end.
kevingent55
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kevingent55 5/17/2014 7:25am
5/17/2014 7:25am
Those were all places I used to ride until those items I mentioned were built on top of them.

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Tim507
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Tim507 5/17/2014 7:39am
5/17/2014 7:39am
JeepnMike wrote:
Wow.. Fun thread. "80 Acres" is where I learned how to ride in the late 70s... the riding area formerly known as 80 Acres in Redmond...
Wow.. Fun thread. "80 Acres" is where I learned how to ride in the late 70s... the riding area formerly known as 80 Acres in Redmond, WA is now where Microsoft's main campus sits.
80 acres...wow forgot about that place......lots of time spent there - there was Newcastle (Homes) , the Tank tracks east of Renton (Homes), Covington (Homes) Tiger Mountain (State Park now), West of Federal Way (Homes) Fairwood Powerlines and Trails (Homes)
Parris
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Parris 5/17/2014 7:44am
5/17/2014 7:44am
In the 70 I lived on Longwood Dr in Marietta Ga. I could ride east all the way to booth rd. before hitting another paved road. Around booth rd. was old terrace farm land. If your old school you might remember some of these names that use to ride there. Mark Warren, Allen Warren, Kirk Kirkpatrick. Dave Wilkerson. Then where Sandtown Rd. meets Powder Springs, most of the land going west to Hickory Dr. was the old North Ga. State Fair Grounds. All of this land was developed by the 1980 in to housing and shopping center stuff.
FLmxer
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FLmxer 5/17/2014 8:34am
5/17/2014 8:34am Edited Date/Time 5/17/2014 8:39am
Behind the FAU campus was an awesome sand track back in the day. Coral Springs was just a thought and nothing but everglades swamp and woods to ride for miles in all directions.
JeepnMike
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JeepnMike 5/17/2014 9:36am
5/17/2014 9:36am Edited Date/Time 5/17/2014 9:38am
JeepnMike wrote:
Wow.. Fun thread. "80 Acres" is where I learned how to ride in the late 70s... the riding area formerly known as 80 Acres in Redmond...
Wow.. Fun thread. "80 Acres" is where I learned how to ride in the late 70s... the riding area formerly known as 80 Acres in Redmond, WA is now where Microsoft's main campus sits.
Tim507 wrote:
80 acres...wow forgot about that place......lots of time spent there - there was Newcastle (Homes) , the Tank tracks east of Renton (Homes), Covington (Homes) Tiger...
80 acres...wow forgot about that place......lots of time spent there - there was Newcastle (Homes) , the Tank tracks east of Renton (Homes), Covington (Homes) Tiger Mountain (State Park now), West of Federal Way (Homes) Fairwood Powerlines and Trails (Homes)
Crazy huh? There used to be a riding area where Klahanie now sits in Issaquah, Jolly Rogers track is now all homes. There is still trails to ride illegally in Ravensdale which is 5 mins from my door. I spent a lot of time learning how to ride on trails off of Novelty Hill Rd. in Redmond which is now all homes. Most of the trails here are now either MTB trails or horse trails. Reiter Pit has re-opened for ORV use to refined controlled areas too if trails are your thing. It is still crazy that the city has grown completely over areas that used to be considered BFE. Luckily we still have a few tracks..

Where you live now, you probably have better luck for places to ride Cool
Brent
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Brent 5/17/2014 10:54am
5/17/2014 10:54am
BAMX wrote:
Early 80's but Palomar Airport Road. It is now LEGOLAND and some stupid golf Course.
Yep, just west of the airport. I went there sometimes twice a week back in the day.

I got a chance to spend part of a day there with Brad Lackey the week before the USGP, he just showed up on a YZ and started riding.

Great guy, as a 20 year old kid I was in awe of getting riding lessons from the world champ.
jmb227
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jmb227 5/17/2014 11:42am
5/17/2014 11:42am
My personal track my dad built for me is now a housing addition and one of my favorite race tracks is now a Boeing Facility attached to the Air force base here.
neverwas
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neverwas 5/17/2014 11:43am
5/17/2014 11:43am
Holister,Carnegie are still open,Sounds like Sandhill is reopening.
But most of the tracks or riding areas are now business parks,housing developments or just closed off from riding.
Back in the 70's and early 80's riding was simple and close by,racing happened 3 times a week.
Cygnus
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Cygnus 5/17/2014 11:51am
5/17/2014 11:51am
Houses. I hope some day my kids or grand kids can get the kind of money for the property my track sets on someday if they want to build houses here. I heard 2.5 million back in 1998.
Sir Roostsalot 5/17/2014 2:30pm
5/17/2014 2:30pm
The Boneyard in Madison CT, used to be a cow pasture and every now and then a cow skull would get roosted up, hence the name. Had a big drop off we called the "devils drop" after the one in Carlsbad. Spent many a moto pretending I was Hannah or Glover on my YZ 80. It was situated very near the shoreline and has a few million dollar homes on it now.
Sully
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Sully 5/17/2014 4:14pm
5/17/2014 4:14pm
There's a junior high school, apartments, houses and a business park (including Green Flash Brewing) where I used to do most of my riding. A few of the trails are still there, but I doubt anyone rides them anymore. I also used to ride at Palm Ave. quite a bit in the 80s. A few of the trails are still visible on Google Earth, but it's mostly housing developments now.
PFitzG38
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PFitzG38 5/17/2014 4:56pm
5/17/2014 4:56pm
I had 3 solid places to ride right from my garage, one of them was National caliber, and I live in Newport Beach!! We had a track at the intersection of MacArthur and San Joaquin Hills Rd called the Red Barn. I'd ride side-saddle and lug my bike through a couple neighborhoods and then through the "Ford Plant" an aerospace campus that's McMansions now The barn got moved to the OC Fairgrounds and the track is multi-million dollar McMansions as well now. My friend drove his parents VW thing through head high mustard grass one summer and then we spun some laps and walla a Nat. Caliber track with long uphills, and downhill ski jumps, a sky shot Gravity Cavity section, a long sand section. The "Red Barn" was epic for years, it enabled me to become the rider I am today I could ride at lunch in HS. A good friend fell out of a jeep and died there after I told them how to get there, when I saw them at a gas station in Corona Del Mar. RIP Glen V.D.

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