When you wish upon a star

2013 was the first year I did not make the podium at pikes peak since 2008, my rookie year. I had won it the previous year so I was a bit disappointed in my self/bike preperation. Sideburn #13 came out later that year and when I saw the BOTT XR1 in it's pages I was glued to them like a 12 year old and a dirty magazine. If only I could hold her in my hands, I thought, I could destroy the competition on the hill. With her I could be king of the mountain. I emailed Sideburn Gary and told him my fantasies. I think He even offered to get me in touch with BOTTPOWER but I was too shy. Fast forward a couple years and Gary planted my seed of intention with the Ronin crew. Being planetary aligned and all around good crew we found our selfs battling for the overall motorcycle victory, nearly beating HRC backed American Honda. It was a day right up their with getting married to my high school crush. I feel like a man can see many days and very rare are the days that he can feel true greatness. Don't get me wrong, I think every day is a treasure worth devouring but there are only a few times that I have felt absolutely alive in a moment of greatness. The race on the Ronin made me think a lot about how selfish my quest to be great in life is. Carl's passing had left me asking a lot of questions about what was important. I made a decision to walk away. I even accepted the fact that I was never going to get that high again. I was lucky enough to help Paul last year and still be part of the show. I swallowed hard when I watched him leave the start line, still trying to figure out what it all means to race at such a level. A lot of people asked me about returning and I started to realize I was flat out lying to people. Maybe it was the honor I had about keeping my word to the ones I love. Maybe it was my pride for not wanting to deal with the race committee. Or maybe it was just me becoming another fellow giving up on his dreams and becoming another grown up adult that is forced to forget about childish dreams. Whatever it was I knew I was lying when I told people I would never compete again even if I was allowed to. ...Life is what we make it... I am lucky in many ways. I also am very picky about who I surround myself with. I believe very much in this and I try to be somebody that can lift up the people who choose to be around me. This has opened many doors for me and taken me places I never dreamed possible. It started with Alta wanting to race the electric. Gary got us in touch. I wrote a letter to the race committee apologizing for my words to the press regarding organization of the event. I got a reply a few hours latter. I thought it was a sure decline but to my surprise they were happy to remove me from my suspension. I checked the next email in my inbox and it was from Alta. They decided not to race because they would have to compete in the unrestricted exhibition class against bikes with four times the horse power. Oh well. but wait, what is this in my inbox- BOTTPOWER... I have been very tight lipped about this as the race committee only selects a few bikes per class now. One week ago I received the official green light from the people of the hill. DOG WILL HUNT!!!

I give a huge thanks to Sideburn and everybody else who has supported me along my road of racing to my dreams.