Hi David,
This weekend I was pretty sad when I read your last magazine column in Racer X. I know everything comes to an end sooner or later, but this time, to me, it was like losing a friend. And a funny one.
You were the main reason I decided to subscribe to Racer X back in 1999 and since then the first thing I was looking forward to reading when the magazine arrived in my mailbox. Followed by the Monster/Rockstar/whatever girl’s pictures and Eric Johnson stories.
Even if it makes me sad, I understand your decision to quit the column (having a full time job outside the MX industry makes it difficult to find topics to write about) and would like to take this occasion to thank you for all the laughs, the funny moments, the true-life stories of a Dad and the honest and sharp point of view you gave me during all these years.
Before I leave, I have just a last question for you. Next year me, you, and all the MXers born in the old 1975 are going to be 40. How will we face our mid-life crisis? Should we give up with jeans and shorts and wear Dockers pants exclusively? Should we buy a convertible or have a tattoo?
Please, help us just one more time.
Good luck for your future
Regards
Francesco
Milan, Italy
Francesco,
Thanks for reading all these years. Hopefully we can bring Electronic Ping back sometime down the road. I'm not sure how you know what year I was born, and I'd be lying if I didn't tell you that it's a little creepy. Stalker status aside, you have a very real question. The big 4-0 is coming soon and as far as I know, there are three different ways to deal with it. The first way is to subscribe to the "Age is just a number" theory. These zealous folks are the ones you see entering Crossfit competitions well into their 60s. Their upbeat personality is only overshadowed by their incessant positivity and smiling. These people will really piss you off. Another way you can deal with turning 40 is to throw yourself a little pity party. You round up a few of your bros and head to Buffalo Wild Wings (or a similar establishment in Milano) and sulk over the occasion with several pitchers of beer and a few thousand calories in chicken wings and blue cheese dressing. You and your pals tell a few dirty jokes and reminisce about the good old days for a few hours and then get over it and start working on the next forty years. Unfortunately, if you continue to eat wings and drink beer like that, your arteries will clog faster than Shaquille O’Neal's toilet and you'll be lucky to make it to 60. The last way you can handle turning 40 is to completely lose your shit. This is the typical mid-life crisis that includes draining your 401K to buy a Porsche, a younger wife, and a new wardrobe that is completely inappropriate for you. This route will leave you broke, desolate, lonely, and 41 years old. I can't tell you which route to choose, Francesco, and maybe things work a little differently over there in Italy. Fortunately for me, I still look like I'm in my twenties (Good genetics and clean living), so I'm not going to stress out about this birthday too much. However, the day my peep goes on the fritz I am going to have a meltdown over here that is going to make Chernobyl look like an Easy Bake oven. Sorry for the dated references but, you know, I'm almost 40.
PING
Yo Pingolo,
Le Motocross des Nations is one of the oldest and one of the best MX event you can find.
I've seen it at Budds Creek and the event was totally sucessful and the crowd was amazing with all the chainsaws and airhorns.
But that day, something very special happened: Villopoto ran away twice (and by far) on a 250F machine. OK, Villo (on Pro Circuit) did a 'once in a lifetime' performance in this two-moto format and he took advantage of Carmichael's better gate pick which is significant due to the gate arrangement at Budds. But still Villo has beaten the entire field (including Carmichael) while being in the MX2 class and Budds Creek is full of hills...
Now in my limited mind, I would have thought that an MX3 bike would have make that exploit impossible because MX3 class, for me, means 'Open' and 'Open' means that you should be able to come up with a machine that could beat anything lesser in displacement, at almost any time, given that it is ridden by a decent rider. Just like 500cc two strokes bikes were compared to the 125's.
In order to fix this, and to calm my limited mind, I am proposing the following rules for MX3:
- No fuel rule, bring what you can burn, nitro included. Rockets are prohibited.
- Paddle tires accepted at certain venues. Paddle/knobby height should be limited to 1.5 inch.
- Telemetry and 2-way radio. Yes, you can ask your mechanic to change specific engine and suspension setting on the fly to adapt to the changing track conditions.
So Ping, I'm divided, should I go on and bring this brilliant proposal to the MXdN commitee or should I take another beer?
Cheers,
Pat
Pat,
The format for this event has been a little off since two-strokes were cut out of the picture. When you had to have a 125, a 250, and a 500, it made sense to have three riders on a team and each size of machine represented. Now the MX1 and MX3 classes are pretty much interchangeable, and it's more about who gets to pick which starting spot. Your idea is weird and you probably "took" plenty of beers coming up with it, but at least you are making an effort to make MX3 make sense again. I like it. I wish we could demand that MX3 riders had to be on a two-stroke, but since only a few manufacturers build them, that wouldn't work. We could require the MX3 rider to be female. We could require MX3 to be a youth class (under 20). Or we could go your route and make it a freak show with paddle tires, nitro, and fireworks strapped to the back fender. I'll vote for any of these. Pass me a beer, will ya?
PING
Dear, Ping
Do teams/riders ever practice in major mud to be better prepared for a mudder?
?,
No, that would be too messy. Teams spend millions of dollars going racing, but if the track is too wet, they just pack it up and head home or wait for conditions to improve before going out. After all, mud is very difficult to clean and it can wear bearings out and such. Plus, the stains on the gear are really bad. Yuck… mud is icky.
Okay, that was a little heavy on the sarcasm. You can actually tell pretty quickly which riders still suit up and ride when its raining and which ones wait for the puddles to dry up a bit just by looking at the results from a mudder. Indiana National showed that Roczen still goes out in the mud, which earned him a number one plate.
PING
Have a question for Ping? Send him an email at ping@racerxonline.com.