I am racing, have been for nearly 4 years and only missed the last meeting due to injury.
I heard a story about a classic quote by a relatively famous actor in the UK when asked in his 80s something like, what would you have done differently if you had your time over again? To which he replied, in his dapper, high brow English accent,
"I would have F#*cked more!"
If I make it to my early 80s, and someone bothers to ask me, I think my quote will be "I would have F#*cked more and raced Motocross more"
Fair enough if money is an issue to make it difficult to ride, don't run that one by Jens in the Heaven Club though. In his early 60s, he is one of the grittiest riders I have ever seen and most of us would spend something equivalent to his yearly race budget just on new riding gear each season. To treat yourself to this unique and exhilarating experience we call MOTOCROSS, is to commit to only one weekend a month, 7 - 8 months a year, which I think you are entitled to if you bring to your family a healthy income and you are a good parent and husband for the remainder of the month. If you admit to laziness being the reason, the pain of regret is going to be more than the pain of inconvenience. Get off your backside, wash and prepare your bike and enter the next meet. There is going to be a time when you look back and say to yourself,"what was I thinking?"
We are so lucky to have lived through the 70s and 80s and experienced that Golden Era, but now with the benefits of wisdom, to be able to work on, prepare, ride and race those same bikes, how damn lucky are we! Czeck, you are spot on, and I am with you all the way.
I run my own business and yes it is a huge burden at times making sure the bikes are prepared, especially when you have the problems I have had, aka 'The Steam Train', and getting to the tracks is sometimes a lot of driving, but that is what keeps you young in spirit, living your life to the fullest. At times, it is a pain in the ass when I am tired and exhausted at 10pm, and still have to clean my air filter before I get to bed, and then get up at 4.30am to be at the track for scrutineering in time. Nothing worthwhile is easy though, and nothing compares to that after race glow you have as you drive home Sunday afternoon. I live in a suburb which has been invaded by bankers, and as I see them shuffle in and out of the coffee shops in their Gucci Ostrich leather sun slippers, and climb into their Porsche Cayennes, I pity them, as I know something they don't, the absolute rush of lining up shoulder to shoulder with my racing buddies, dropping the clutch as the gate drops and blasting to that first corner, every sense in my body on high alert, looking for that spilt second advantage as we wrestle through the first few corners. They can keep their Soy Lattes.
At our age there is nothing that measures up to that feeling of adrenalin when you open up a nicely prepared 70s or 80s 2 stroke or soar through the air over a nice floating jump like the one before the finish line at The Lakes or the step up going up the back straight at Cessnock.
The states that have splintered clubs, which dilute memberships, this is a trap, and by the sounds of it, it is effecting some of the clubs. One reason why I am a strong advocate of the NSW Clubs uniting as one strong club. We must also welcome with open arms the 40 somethings who are just mellowing enough to begin to see life as we do, to not be so intense, get their egos under control, chill out and have a bit more fun. If this means embrace Pre 90 bikes, then so be it. It doesn't seem having the clubs shrink to a size where it is no longer viable to run events, is a good alternative.
There are also some out there that had one or two bad experiences and decided it is all too hard and not to race any more. My message to them, times change, people change, committees change. Don't cheat yourselves out of the experiences of this great sport because someone rubbed you up the wrong way back in 2009.
There is another Xmas around the corner, another year has sailed by... Get out and Race MOTOCROSS
