Here’s the bottom line: IT’S UP TO YOU AND ME TO SPEAK UP!! NOW!!

It will take you longer to read the rest of this article than it will to get your voice heard and squash the ban on youth bikes and ATV’s. Read below to find out what’s going on and how you can stop it:

The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) originally targeted this legislation to help control and stop unsafe levels of lead in children’s toys. If you have kids you know that rule #1 is everything goes in the mouth. Shoe? Sure it fits on my foot but I can also put in my mouth! While the CPSC had great intentions, like most of our government agencies they failed to read between the lines accomplish this goal with precision. How many kids have you ever seen lick the crankshaft out of PW50? So our faithful friends at the CPSC failed to exempt youth age dirt bikes and ATV’s from these new laws.

What we’re fighting for now is to amend the “Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act” of 2008 to exempt off-highway machines from the lead law restrictions. So how will this affect the Motorcycle Industry? Land closures, private tracks won’t have a new generation to pay gate fees, and it will certainly come down to having a huge impact on your local Motorcycle dealer. Think about how it will affect the manufacturers. Who is going to be around to move up to the latest 250 & 450’s if the youth of tomorrow doesn’t have the smaller, age appropriate models to learn and grown on? You can almost guarantee that if this happens there will be many irresponsible parents putting their children on larger machines due to the lack of availability of the smaller ones. This is going to sky rocket the injury statistics in our sport and will have an even greater negative impact. I almost forgot to mention: the sale of parts for the existing models already on the market will be illegal!!

I know this may sound like some kind of crazy government conspiracy and I wish it was. This is real and it is going to happen is we don’t all stand up for our rights and get our collective voice heard. Do your research and check out the links below. It’s speak up now or kiss this website goodbye and your favorite hobby… and of course the best sport of all time!

Here is how you can help:

Go to the following link:
http://www.ama-cycle.org/legisltn/rapidresponse.asp

To the right you will see an area to enter your zip code. AMA has a letter all ready to go, all you have to do is enter your personal information. Most of Congress you can send an email to. Select the appropriate person and then click the contact tab. Choose to contact them via email if possible and there should be a menu to select the appropriate issue: look for CSPC or HR1587. It is also very important to contact your Attorney General. In you live in the great state of NC will have to send a letter via mail. Once again AMA has done all the work for you: enter your info and hit the print button on your computer! I know this isn’t as easy as sending an email but it extremely important (and will most likely have a great impact than an email anyway). In less than 3 minutes and maybe a $.44 stamp, you can help save the Powersports Industry from Extinction!

HR1587 Information and Links:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/HR1587Support/172592816091215
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.1587:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-1587

How can I work so hard and so consistently in the off season and after a 2 hour tree battle he still finished ahead of me and doesn’t seem to be any more exhausted than I am??? I am honestly starting to think that natural skill and talent will beat out the racer that trains more and has better nutrition. Now granted, the guy with natural talent who trains will win every time. First off, I’m not saying you shouldn’t train. Training makes your time on the bike more enjoyable and also keeps you safer (and keeps you from being sore for 4 days after a race). Maybe this whole article is just one last attempt to vent my frustration about the guys that don’t train and keep beating me, it’s just not fair!! (Time for some perspective: I wonder how many people from other countries look at us USA dirt bike nuts and say how unfair it is that we have not only a ton of places to ride but also the freedom to do so!)

So now it’s your turn. I want to hear from you dedicated ORJ subscribers. Am I just being too emotional or are you with me on this one? Balance is the key to just about anything, so there’s no doubt the balanced rider that trains and has natural talent will always be on top. Racing a dirt bike is so much about rhythm, balance, flow, and not fighting it (Mr. Miyagi would tell you to become “One with the Bike”). Who will win in the epic off road battle: Mr. Fitness or Mr. I was born this way?

Eye protection. Have you ever thought about the risks our eyes take at an offroad race? Knobby tire propelled rocks, mud splatter, tree limbs, and roost spray that makes tough men cry like little girls. That’s why we put so much thought into the goggles we wear. The fact is, if they don’t fit good and work right, they aren’t going to stay on your helmet and then our eyes become perfect targets for a laser eye surgery commercial. But then comes the style side of the equation. Will people think I’m factory sponsored because of my goggles? Do the colors match? Do they NOT match? Do these goggles make my butt look big?

Ah, decisions, decisions. Let’s face it people: We are nothing but a bunch of winey, picky, Diva like weirdo’s that must have the perfect fit, the perfect look, and of course the perfect price. What if one goggle could do it all? Well, that’s what the guys at Dragon Alliance are trying to do with their new line of MX goggles, and looks like they may be on to something. Dragon is no new player in the goggle market. They’ve had years and years of experience making some of the best goggles for not only us dirt bike guys but have taken the snow market by storm! Not to mention some of the most fashionable sunglasses around…

Dragon has two adult model goggles: the MDX and the Vendetta. The MDX goggle ranges from $34.95-59.95 and the Vendetta starts at $69.95. Both goggles feature 4 layer face foam that functions similar to memory foam. The first few times you sweat in them they start to take shape and remember the contour of your face. All of this leads to a better fit and a better seal, leaving no room for unwanted dirt and flying roost to creep it’s way in. The quad layer face foam in the Dragon goggles allows you to leave the strap looser compared to its competitors.

Since the goggle doesn’t need to be very tight to function properly, the dreaded nose pinch is reduced significantly! However there is still quite a bit of foam there which leaves the riders blessed with a big ole honker the potential for a little pressure from the goggle. The MDX goggle has a medium fit and the Vendetta has larger fit. Both goggles worked well with my helmet. The MDX was right on the line of being too small to fit my face while the Vendetta was a perfect match. The other differences between the two goggles are that the Vendetta uses a removable outrigger system for the strap and also features 2” silicone strap versus the 1-1/2” on the MDX. Dragon plans on offering the Vendetta in two separate parts to allow the rider style options without having to buy an entire new goggle.

It doesn’t take long to see that Dragon put a lot of thought into the materials they use on the MDX and Vendetta goggles. Both feature an anti-fog, anti-scratch, and 100% UV protective lens. All Dragon lens are highly flexible as well as the MDX frame. So far, the Dragons are rock solid and are holding up great! Dragon offers a full range of tear off options for both goggles, including laminated ones that comes in stacks of 7 (so looking through 7 laminated tear offs is like looking through a single standard one). You can also get a complete roll off system for the MDX goggle. Although some of the Dragon goggles are on the high end of the price range, they have several that are priced right for the value minded racer too (although the lack of graphics on the lower priced ones might not grant you a kiss from the trophy girl).

There wasn’t much to gripe about when it came down to the fit, style, and function of the goggles. We felt like there could have been a little less foam in the nose area on the Vendetta, but it was still better than most of the other goggles out there we have tried. Also, a rider may need to stock up on lens and tear offs if their local race shop isn’t stocking the line. You are not going to find it in every local dealer right around the corner like you will the Scott brand. As of right now, there aren’t any of the top off road guys sponsored by Dragon. We’d love to see some of that money going to Josh Hill spread out over some top off road racers too.

If you’re looking for a great combination of style, comfort, performance, and different price ranges: then look no further! Dragon’s got you covered! (at least your eyes anyway…)

Function: 19/20
Durability: 20/20
Price: 17/20
Style: 20/20
Materials: 19/20
Total Score: 95.00

See the full Dragon MX goggle line at: www.dragonalliance.com

So here is the deal. Life got a little crazy and I took a break. Okay, this time it was a short one, only about 2 weeks. But you know what ? It worked! I was sick and tired of the never having a moment to just sit down and chill out. I was tired of getting up early to work out and train. And then prepping the bikes, driving to ride or race, then washing the bikes, then fixing whatever I broke that time. And it never stops there: you gotta clean up all your gear, clean up the transport vehicle, and then… guess what? The cycle starts all over again in just a couple days!! Man, this wears me out just thinking about it as I write this article.

So I took 2 weeks off from not only riding but overall anything dirt bike related (except for my job of course). After 2 weeks I went and rode some MX for half a day, and of course was sore for three more. I was starting to get the itch again. I really decided to ride just to make sure I didn’t lose all my conditioning as the Perry MTN 24Hr Enduro was only a few short weeks away. So as the itch came back I decided to ride again the following weekend. Mother Nature had other plans, so I had take another week off. And now I CAN’T stand it anymore!! I WANT to RIDE!!!!

So if your riding or racing career starts to resemble anything even remotely close to work then follow these 3 quick and easy steps for ensured happiness:

1. Wash your bike and prepare it to ride again (the worst thing to have during a break is a dirty wore out motorcycle glaring at you every time you walk by. Wash it, service it, and let your mind rest knowing it’s ready to go for the next time you want to ride. This step is essential, do not skip!)

2. For the first week do not read or watch anything dirt bike related. Pretend like you don’t even care about it anymore.

3. After week 2, sit on your bike in the garage and make 2 stroke engine noises (this does not matter if your bike is a 2 or 4 stroke)

Follow these 3 steps to wind up your emotional “I wanna ride” power bands. You won’t resist it, you can’t resist it! MOO HA HA

The offroad world is very different from what most people are used to in the automotive industry. It seems like 99.9% of the aftermarket car parts are made in China. There are two sides to the offroad parts: Big name apparel manufacturers and then everybody else. Apparel is trendy. Designers can only hope that racers will like their new creations and very little input comes from the riders themselves. I know for a fact that some of the brands out there actually do take rider feedback into account when it comes to fit and function, but style is anybody’s game! As soon as the newest flavors hit your local dealer’s shelves, designers are right back at it working on next year’s fashion statement.

So what about everything else? Unlike the auto industry, most of the cool new Farkles (Functional Accessory Really Kool Likely Expensive) come from offroad racers just like you and me. Let’s take Devol Engineering for example. There might be 2 people that make up the whole organization! Enduro Engineering is a small racer run company. Dubach Exhaust is another US company of racers and offroad enthusiasts.

These smaller companies are run by offroad junkies just like you and me. They just found a way to make a living at it! It’s really hard to even come up with something you would want for your bike that someone out there isn’t already making. The difference is whether or not you can afford it in your race budget. Hmmm let’s see… New billet chain guard or replace your favorite pair of worn out underwear with more holes than material left? Obviously the wise choice is to get the new billet chain guard to bling out the bike a little. Honestly, there really is something terribly wrong with all of us.

So to answer my first question: Yes. Our opinions do matter. The manufacturers do care what we want for our bikes. After all, most of them can be found at a local race somewhere around the country on any given weekend. Take a few minutes to stop and think about how unique and interconnected our sport really is. It’s rare and it’s what offroad racing is all about. A bunch of adrenaline starved crazies with apparently way too much time on our hands (note the sarcasm). So who will start the next super cool offroad parts company and become the new king of Billet and Carbon Fiber? Well, you never know, it might be you!

MXers have no endurance! Who races for 6 laps anyway??? Woods guys are sissies and get scared if their tires leave the ground. Besides they’re not really racing out there anyway, it‘s just a 2 hour trail ride. The MX races are full of wannabe “pimp daddies” with oversize Lady Gaga sunglasses and saggy britches. But look at those woods guys! It’s nothing but a bunch of flannel shirt and overall wearing rednecks!

Let’s face it though, are we really that different? Don’t we all ride the same dirt bikes but with different suspension settings and handlebar configurations? Don’t we all love to blow up sandy berms and scrap footpegs through rutted out corners? Do woods guys love the smell of premix in the morning more than the MX guys? Well, maybe. But either way we all love 2 strokes whether we are still racing them or not. After all, aren’t 4 strokes just some sort of wacky conspiracy theory planted by the manufacturers so will spend more money maintaining our bikes?

Maybe it’s time we call a truce. Maybe it’s one of those agree to disagree moments? No matter how you look at it, we all spend way too much time and money keeping our bikes going and traveling to the races. We can’t really be that different and we can certainly find a way to get along and appreciate the other side of the sport.

So here is my take on the sibling like rivalry we have going: The MX guys that don’t appreciate woods racing are the ones that lose all riding ability when trees get within 20 feet of their bike. And the woods guys that don’t appreciate how much energy it takes to go throw down on the MX track for a 6-8 lap race, well, they can barely jump their bike safely over a log in the woods yet alone hit the smallest jump on the MX track. You see it’s not that we are that different, but our inability to appreciate the other side of the sport is just a defense mechanism. You remember the spitting dinosaur in Jurassic Park that would spit in the eyes of its prey which would in turn blind them? No? Well, never mind… My point is defense mechanisms come in all kinds of different forms and most importantly it’s natural to feel that way until you have been on the other side of the equation.

Being from the woods genre of racers, although I ride about as much MX during the off weekends as I do woods, it’s all about what you are used to. I can go do a 2 hour offroad event and be just as sore from going to the MX track and turning a few 30 min motos. Actually, I raced the amateur day at the Hampton Arenacross event this year. It was a total of 4 practice laps, 4 heat race laps, and 6 main event laps. So, maybe 12 minutes of actual seat time. I was just as sore after 12 minutes of AX as I was from a 2 hour woods race! Granted it was a different kind of soreness, but still sore nonetheless.

It’s time for us to join together as a group of obsessed 2 wheel knobby tire adrenaline junky enthusiasts and come to the honest conclusion that we’re all in the same battle together, on the same side. Finding new places to ride and keeping the existing ones open!

Did you ever feel like you were meant for a specific purpose? Even when you tried your best to not do an above average job, somehow, you managed to do it better than anybody else? Either you have it or you don’t. We’ve all heard that expression before. But what if what you have isn’t exactly what you expected?

Let’s take a minute to think about this one:  “I was born to ____”. Bruce Springsteen was “Born to Run”, Steppenwolf was “Born to be Wild”, and Joe Biden was “Born to be an idiot” in front of all of America.  Sometimes in life things just click. Like a perfectly lined up air filter, it goes into place and life seems complete. But what happens when things are just slightly out of balance? Frustration sets in. Frustration leads to sweat beads running down your face and knuckles that look like they just exited a street ball with Mr. Mike Tyson himself.  As the frustration grows and the sweat begins to leave our porous grease soaked skin, then our emotions start to exit the body as well.

But why fight it? When things don’t line up just right and we aren’t living out our definite purpose, it’s time to be who you are and do what you were meant to do. This is where “Joe Crash” comes along. You see that is his name, or at least that’s what it is in my cell phone. So who is this mystical creature that you’ve only heard about in secret online Moto chat rooms and in tight huddled circles around the factory big rigs?

Joe Crash has one purpose and he’s good at it. Crashing. Remember what I said before? Either you have it or you don’t? Well, he’s got it! And man is he good at it too. Everyone has their place in the Moto world. Carmichael is the GOAT, Stewart: either you love or hate him, and either you are good at crashing or sometimes it just happens. I even forget Joe’s real last name sometimes. Is he really that good at crashing? Yes. Has he crashed any of my bikes? Yes. So when you are good at something and you just know you were born to do it: I say DO it. Crash away my friend. True happiness comes from using your talents to their fullest.

So why the Jeremy McGrath figurine? I’ll never forget that photo of a broken legged Jeremy McGrath action figure lying in the middle of the trail after getting unwillingly ejected from Joe Crash’s front number plate during another violent crash. So why did Joe leave Jeremy strapped to his front number plate in the first place? I’ll never exactly know for sure. If I had to guess I would say it was for some sort of riding good luck charm, maybe once last ditch effort to stay upright. But when you are that good at something, crashing for instance, even the Supercross King couldn’t stop what was destined to be!

Inevitable: Impossible to avoid or prevent. Invariably occurring or appearing; predictable: the inevitable changes of the seasons. Insanity: Doing the same thing over and expecting different results.

Some things in life we just can’t avoid: taxes, tacky inflatable Christmas yard decorations, a greedy government, and tight intake valves. These things happen, whether we like it or not. However, some things in life we can avoid. For instance: getting fresh tree bark jammed into your knuckles making you cry like a little schoolgirl, otherwise known as a “Bark Infection”. So you want to know the story behind the photos?

It was a freezing cold, rain saturated start to the National Enduro down in Sumter, SC this year. But as always, Sumter lives up to its spectacular reputation as a race to never miss, kind of like your anniversary but without the cheesy “You mean the world to me” generic greetings cards. For confidentiality reasons, I will refer to my friend as “Moe”. Actually, we do call him Moe (After all, who doesn’t like be nicknamed after their dog?). As you can see by the brutal beating Moe’s pinky finger took at Sumter, his race didn’t go as planned. Rolling through the 2^nd section of the Enduro, dodging pine needle beds and plush sand whoops, Moe misjudged the room he had between a couple trees and the rest is history. Honestly, who shatters a pinky finger in 10 places?? Well, if you knew Moe then you would understand it’s just par for the course.

But you see, it shouldn’t have gone down that way, as a “Bark Infection” is avoidable. Moe’s exploded pinky was preventable (he did finish the race, so I gotta give him the “iron man” award for that). He was running a set of generic, never stay tight handguards. It was inevitable that his handguards were going to pivot out of the way if he hit something hard enough, therefore leaving his knuckle and fingers exposed to torture that would make the hardest of criminals spill their dirty little secrets.

I know you’ve got to be wondering by now where I’m going with this whole thing?? So here goes: Make sure you don’t get a Bark Infection when it comes to where you ride and race at. Fact is, no matter what we do, sometimes riding areas are going to be shut down. It’s part of life and will always be a battle in the off-road world. So what can you do on a local level to keep riding areas open and race series going strong? It’s simple: Find out who is behind it, support it, and maybe even offer financial backing as a sponsor. The internet can be a great thing (without it you wouldn’t be reading this right now). However, it can also lead to the demise of your favorite track. We all know it’s way too easy to shop online and have our broken and worn out parts sent right to the front door. But where is the money you spent really going? Find out which local shops are supporting the tracks, riding parks, and race series that give you a place to ride and compete at. Without your support they won’t be able to give back to the racing/riding community, and will be more likely to just try and keep their doors open. Remember what the true definition of insanity is from the beginning of this article? If we’re all not careful and start to change our buying habits, we are going to inevitably end up with what was an avoidable “Bark Infection” when we have nowhere to ride or race. And what we will people say when we complain about it??

“You’re insane!”