Sideburn lives

Sideburn has retired the blogspot but their website is full of action. Check out the stories section here.  I am super stoked to share some of my writings and blog posts there plus there are some more great pics from Wallace. While you are there pick up a copy of the new issue #32 that has a feature article I wrote about good old dirt hill climb racing. It was probably one of my most fun stories to write ever.

Baja supervises as I test a big bore top end. Because 500cc is not enough?

Backing it into the first turn of 6 miles of twisty dirt. Read about it in the new Sideburn mag.

Jon Brapp_Snapps Wallace captures some essence.

"It is not about the bike". - Lance

Whenit came out, I enjoyed reading Lance Armstrong's book: It Is Not About The Bike. I think He went and later proved that point very well. Now I am not advocating dope or maybe I am but I am quickly wandering from what point I want to make. My red headed 2009 CRF450X is not a motocross purpose built bike but rather a toned down fat old man version of its fire breathing 'ARRGH' brother complete with electric start and lights. I like to race motocross on it and I really like to beat Monster Energy 'Bro's' with their brand new super tricked out over priced bike and fancy matching power ranger outfits. This bike is now ten years old and when I thought about upgrading to a new bike like before this one I would do every single season religiously, I thought not. We have grown a bond that is strong. This bike has won the over all in enduros and cross country hair scrambles, moto, and even been on the podium at pikes peak and flat tracked the Stockton half mile. Maybe it is about the bike. I love this bike. Much.

The year I drove a BMW

It was a $600 20 year old four door 317I with over 340k on the clock. I wanted to escape the small town trouble I was getting into and follow the national off road WORCS series. I found that my bike fit quit nice into the back seat after I removed the wheels, forks and handlebars. At 40 mpg the I wonder why I don’t still travel to races in such a fashion. I would arrive to a race pit swarmed with giant semi trucks and grey hound bus sized RV campers and easily find room for my bike stand. While I would assemble my bike with a special pride. Some people would strike up a conversation about how I was keeping the soul of the sport while most people would just stare. At round 3 of 12 such a conversation was struck with the Maxxis tire support truck and before I knew it I had a job spooning on 50-100 tires at every round of the series. At $10 a tire I was now paying my entry fee and some of the travel expense. By the halfway point of the season I was a known face at the WORCS races. The races were spread across the western USA; SoCal, Utah, Arizona and up to Washington state. Washougal MX was the first destination of many for my then 6 week old Border Collie pup Baja. I remember showing up to the locked front gate in the middles of the night and like always I slept out beside my car in my old mummy bag. I tied some nylon chord around my pup and held it in my hand but when I awoke to the procession of big rigs entering the gates my pup was gone. As soon as crawled out of my fart sack to the laughs of passer bys my little black and white buddy came leaping out of the dense forest to lick my face with the pungent stink only puppy kisses hold. I ended up taking a job in Seattle for a month and a half followed by two weeks working in Vegas on a big trade show while being put up in the now demolished Sahara casino. I returned home to Colorado a man that the boy I was could never have become but from following a dream. That summer I stuck that little Beemer axle deep in Pismo beach as the tide came in and filled my floor boards as the local Cali bros filled my pockets with hashish in admiration for my mode of travel. On a lonesome blistering hot stretch in Nevada I punched out my broken sunroof in a desperate rage to get cool air. Within a mile the pulsing wind made me turn around to retrieve my sunroof and duck tape it back into place. I would often pull off into truck stops, driveways, and vacant fields and dump out onto the ground to sleep only to awaken to a bustling California fruit stand or a lot lizard in a crack come down frenzy. Many a midnight songs were cranked through that CD player. Many friends were made at the races. Even a pit tootsie or two snuck some naughty in that little car. My hard sweating work on the tire truck changing tires between my races helped my push myself. My racing results were on par with some of the top racers. I was invited to eat diner with the best of people in the paddock from the everyday mom and pops to people like Destry Abbot. The late Nathan Woods once let me sleep inside the back of his toy hauler. I was pickep up by some sugar daddies to race for Team USA in an FIM Asia Enduro round in Thailand. Simply because of how I did things. By the final round of the year I won an amateur over all class championship. All this with no real source of finance. Just the desire to race. That winter I bought a van and since then I have chased my never ending dream. The adventure will always be whatever we make it to be…

The Land's End Hill Climb 2018

Read all about it in the new issue of Sideburn Magazine. Pictures by Brapp_Snapps Wallace. Get it here http://www.sideburnmagazine.com -Do it now!!