Rev Up: Decade of Dirt, and Beyond
December 10, 2009, 6:56pm
Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Rev Up. Sorry I've missed you guys the past two weeks, the holidays caught up with me, but it felt good to take a little time off. That said, I felt a tingling sensation the other day as I was staring at my dirt bike. She has been sitting dormant for a month now because of old man winter. Sometimes it's cool to just stare at the bike on the stand. I like to look at the scratches on the radiator shrouds and stare at the blood stain on the throttle grip from my never ending thumb blister. I sat with my arms crossed and smiled at my brand new FMF Factory 4.1 muffler. I went over and pulled the front brake a few times and checked under the rear fender to see where my rear tire bottoms out. That's when the tingling hit me...
Then I thought a little more about how quickly 2010 has arrived. I mean... think about it. I remember the movie Space Odyssey 2010 when I was a kid and thinking about how far and away that date seemed. At that point (1983) even the year 2000 was hard to grasp. Be that as it may, I remember being in the Anaheim pits for the 2000 version of Anaheim 1. Jeremy McGrath was still the King, and he won that night with ease. Meanwhile, David Pingree won the 125 class over Casey Johnson and Greg Schnell. Ol’ Ping would end up losing the title to Derrick Shae Bentley by 2 points. Burn! 2000 also marked the arrival of Travis Pastrana. I was at St. Louis when he ate crap on the parade lap trying an Indian Air over the finish line. Look at what TP's done since then. Wow.
Now we're staring down 2010 and things aren't so peachy. There will be no Factory Yamaha Team, and Factory Suzuki is almost toast. Heck, in 2000 team Honda had an army of riders and on January 9, 2010 only Andrew Short and Davi Millsaps will line up under the mighty red wing-and-a-prayer awning. Factory contingency is almost extinct. And, damn, what happened to Arenacross?
What's to blame? The global economy? Lead laws? Deaths and Injuries? All three took a bite. Though, I think it's just the natural order of peaks and valleys. I don't want to get off on a negative tangent, just thinking out loud...
The Supercross goblet isn't overflowing like it was in 2000, but it's still a mighty cup of blood-pumping mash. It's time for a new decade of dirt and I find myself already wrapping my head around what 2020 will look like. There is so much opportunity on the horizon!
Motocross and Supercross will never die as long as we have the passion for it in our hearts. When you can look at your dirt bike and not walk over and pull the front lever a couple times, then we have trouble. But, there isn't one person reading this that can resist that urge. There isn't a man or woman among you that isn't feeling that tingle I spoke of above. Who's ready to smell the smoke and feel that first charge into the first turn? Seasons will come and go, and decades will fly by like sands through the hour glass, but that first spark will always be there for the few and the proud that know it. The dark clouds are gathering and if you listen closely you can hear the crackle in the distance.
Man, I can almost taste it...
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
Then I thought a little more about how quickly 2010 has arrived. I mean... think about it. I remember the movie Space Odyssey 2010 when I was a kid and thinking about how far and away that date seemed. At that point (1983) even the year 2000 was hard to grasp. Be that as it may, I remember being in the Anaheim pits for the 2000 version of Anaheim 1. Jeremy McGrath was still the King, and he won that night with ease. Meanwhile, David Pingree won the 125 class over Casey Johnson and Greg Schnell. Ol’ Ping would end up losing the title to Derrick Shae Bentley by 2 points. Burn! 2000 also marked the arrival of Travis Pastrana. I was at St. Louis when he ate crap on the parade lap trying an Indian Air over the finish line. Look at what TP's done since then. Wow.
Now we're staring down 2010 and things aren't so peachy. There will be no Factory Yamaha Team, and Factory Suzuki is almost toast. Heck, in 2000 team Honda had an army of riders and on January 9, 2010 only Andrew Short and Davi Millsaps will line up under the mighty red wing-and-a-prayer awning. Factory contingency is almost extinct. And, damn, what happened to Arenacross?
What's to blame? The global economy? Lead laws? Deaths and Injuries? All three took a bite. Though, I think it's just the natural order of peaks and valleys. I don't want to get off on a negative tangent, just thinking out loud...
The Supercross goblet isn't overflowing like it was in 2000, but it's still a mighty cup of blood-pumping mash. It's time for a new decade of dirt and I find myself already wrapping my head around what 2020 will look like. There is so much opportunity on the horizon!
Motocross and Supercross will never die as long as we have the passion for it in our hearts. When you can look at your dirt bike and not walk over and pull the front lever a couple times, then we have trouble. But, there isn't one person reading this that can resist that urge. There isn't a man or woman among you that isn't feeling that tingle I spoke of above. Who's ready to smell the smoke and feel that first charge into the first turn? Seasons will come and go, and decades will fly by like sands through the hour glass, but that first spark will always be there for the few and the proud that know it. The dark clouds are gathering and if you listen closely you can hear the crackle in the distance.
Man, I can almost taste it...
Thanks for reading, see you next week.
