It’s been a minute hasn’t it? I bet everyone thought I’d never come back, but honestly I can’t stay away forever. The pandemic has hit so many people hard, but I’ve been very lucky to come out unscathed. In fact if anything, we’ve done really well in the last two years. Not only in my personal life, but also in relationship to my business life. I have a few great paying jobs and I’ve successfully started a film scanning business with my boyfriend. He’s been heavily involved in my hobbies as well, from scuba diving to photography. Our lives are very busy, but there still seems to be something missing. 

We lost our van earlier this year, it was a tremendous loss because that was the only connection I had left to my riding/racing life and it was gone. It felt like closing the book, putting it on the shelf and letting it collect dust. Since then however, a lot has happened that’s allowed me to re-think some of my decisions. The biggest thing is my weight, I’m getting fat and I’m honestly tired of it. I’ve tried dieting, but my schedule is so complex and busy, it’s been hard to exercise on a regular basis, so dieting seemed to be the main thing and it hasn’t worked. The more I try to diet, the worse I feel and it’s led to horrible cramping and gas which at one point had me stuck in bed with a fever for a day. When I eat, I feel good and happy, so I’ve been eating and my weight has been increasing due to being sedentary. I recall a time not long ago, where I was feeling the same way and riding dirt bikes really helped a great deal with burning off fat and feeling good. 

So where are we today? I don’t know because frankly, I can’t afford to get back into riding MX. With no local tracks open during the week, I’d have to go weekend OR do a long ass drive, which would be very expensive. With no van, I’ll have to spend quite a small fortune buying one and outfitting it for carrying the MX bikes. With old gear that all needs to be replaced, I’ll need to basically start over again from boots to helmet. Plus, my boyfriend wants to ride as well, it’s not like a one person thing. So we have some decisions to make, the main one comes down to the van. We need another vehicle, so getting a van is for sure in the cards and the first step. The second step would be to buy one cheap bike that would eventually become my boyfriend’s and see if riding is what I want to do. I have a few friends who still ride, so maybe even going out with one of them would be a good start. I can do my job remotely, so I COULD go ride during the week, I could even schedule it, so that’s one positive thing. The only downside is that it wouldn’t be a regular thing and I just don’t know how much riding I could actually do, it maybe be only 2 times a month, but maybe more if I shoot for Sunday’s as well. 

With all that said, I feel like I need to do something. I feel like riding my bicycle may help and I plan on getting that running again. But it’s not as rewarding as MX and for sure not something that stresses my body anywhere near MX. The other problem is where to ride. Currently, the only tracks that are worth their grain of salt are Perris, State Fair MX and Fox Raceway. I guess the only good thing is that all of the lights that were at Milestone are now at Perris, so we could ride afternoon/evening out there, but man is that a long drive home late at night. They do have an “unlimited MX” program still, which means there is a flat fee of $80/month to ride at Perris and State Fair, which isn’t bad actually. Ride 3 times a month and you’ve already paid for it. That would at least keep the cost down. So it’s still doable, but man such long drives! 

So yea, that’s kind of what I wanna do… but who knows if everything I want to do will happen in 2022, but I need something to do. I need to get outside and start exercising again. This time I have a great job, so hopefully that will allow me to pursue these activities without worrying about getting injured and/or wasting money on riding. Where I don’t regret taking time off from riding as I did continue riding up until the very end of milestone, I do kinda regret selling my bike. At the time of selling, I knew KTM had something new in the works, but I didn’t know it would take until 2022 before it was released. That’s right, KTM’s all new bike hits the showrooms in a few months and that’s something I’m very intrigued about. More on that subject soon. 

On a side note, I’m going to drive out to the old Milestone complex soon and shoot my final episode of MX The Beginning. If I do get back into MX, I really want to do something different. My boyfriend is going to help shoot something on a regular basis and seeing as I kinda know how to ride, I think I’m going to make the show more about being a mid-life rider, rather than simply how to ride. I’d love to do a more successful series than MX The Beginning and really bring some traffic to my channel, so that’s for sure in the cards as well. So I will for sure be producing my final episode soon, hopefully in the next few months. 

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I’ve made any posts on here, but a lot has changed.

First and foremost, 2019 wound up being a pretty decent year. Not only did I work on some amazing productions, but I got a full-time job that has allowed me to work harder at my career path than ever before. I’ve been able to pay down debt and work at making my documentary Beyond the Mask more of a reality. 

As a consequence, riding dirt bikes became nearly impossible. My daily life was chuck full of work and the weekends brought even more work. My dirt bike kept sitting and not being used, which was frustrating. Eventually we all got the news that Milestone, my home track, was closing. This was expected as in April of 2019 they sold the land and we didn’t know what was happening, but we figured it out very fast. Where I tried so hard to ride one last time, mother nature prevented it from happening. Every weekend was pissing with rain for nearly 2 months straight, the track wound up not even being open on the last two weekends, which is when I had planned to go. I visited the track a few weeks later to see roofs already pulled off the buildings, construction crews clearing tree’s and fences, it was very sad. I used the time there to capture one last video for my series MX The Beginning and I felt horrible. This is the place I learned how to ride a dirt bike and it would be no more. I always said if Milestone closed, I would be done with Motocross. 

Few weeks later, I put my bike up for sale and it took a while, but in early 2020 I was able to find a great buyer who fit the bike perfectly. I was sad to see it go, this was the bike I had planned to keep forever, but forever came too fast. With the addition of a BMW X5 to the garage, it was too busy for all the dirt bike stuff, so I got rid of everything but my horribly worn gear. 

So here we are, national lockdown is about to hit. The Coronavirus is about to whoop are ass and I’m here talking about dirt bikes, what a strange thing to be thinking about. Alas, I’ve been really been worried about what’s going to happen next for us. Will we all lose our jobs, will all the hard work I put into my filmmaking career be all for nothing? I ask myself questions that are nearly impossible to answer. I think all the time about riding dirt bikes, but all the tracks are closed and most of my friends don’t really ride anymore. They have also moved on, mostly because the convenience factor just doesn’t exist anymore. Milestone was the place, it’s where everyone in LA went and we had a pretty big community. With it gone, there are fewer daily options and on weekends, many of the options are only open limited hours.

The industry is really hurting and it’s only going to get worse. Land owners aren’t going to stop collecting rent, so I foresee the few tracks that exist, some of them closing down for good. I’m also worried about retail, there are so few shops left, if we were to lose a few, it would be a huge problem. The pricing for everything will go up due to less demand and more expensive establishments. Already we’ve seen a few dealers lose their KTM resellers certification, we’ve already seen KTM not releasing new bikes on time this year. Heck, it’s looking more and more like racing maybe shut down this year as a whole. What a disaster that will be for the entire industry.

I don’t know what to expect in the future. I know we want to go trail riding, I know we want to continue riding bikes, but that financially, this economic downturn may prohibit any riding at all. I’ve had one heck of a ride over the last 9 years and I can’t say I regretted any of it. How many people have ridden 2 – 3 days a week for years on end? How many people have been able to ride so many different generations of KTM’s, build their own motors, build their own suspension and race at Glen Helen every week for months. Where I haven’t loved every minute of it, the dedication to the sport, to get up and try again, has really helped me get through the hard times in life. Through thick and thin, I would ride for the satisfaction of being a better rider and I got as far as my 42 year old ass could get. Towards the end, I just went out to have fun because I knew I wasn’t going to get any quicker. My goals for dirt bikes have been met and I’m glad I got my jollies in when I was in my 30’s instead of starting now. I find myself eager for the next adventure, ready for the next life challenge and ready to move on from my dirt bike life. 

I appreciate everyone who has read this blog and kept up to date with things. I know in recent years it’s been sparse, but big thanks to everyone who has come on here and read my updates, I’m doing this more for you than anyone else. It’s also great to look back on my life and see the history that was. I truly love the sport and hope one day financially and time wise, things will be better for me to get back on the bike and send it over some new unexplored jumps. Until then, I will try to update every few months and hope we can all get through this virus safe and without much loss to our loved ones or jobs. 

Be safe everyone and thanks again for being here and reading. 

Wednesday night at around 9pm, the flood gates opened up and it started pouring rain. On a week nearly all of my clients are busy doing something which means I have the time to ride, we were inundated with rain once more. For a brief moment I got upset about the weather because all I wanted to do was go out and ride during this very special time I had available. We canceled all of our plans to ride as it chucked outside and I went to bed wondering when we would be riding next.

Thursday morning at 8am my alarm goes off to remind me “we’re going to ride today”, but I already knew that wasn’t going to happen, so I turned it off and went back to sleep. Few minutes later my phone started to buzz, it was Golan and he was on his way to pick me up. I was like, bro it rained last night and there is no way the tracks are good. As I was saying that, I looked at Milestone’s instagram and they said “no rain last night” and I flopped back into bed. I was so exhausted from helping my friend move boxes and dealing with some of my boyfriends issues the night before, I didn’t wanna go honestly. So there I was with Golan on hold, my BF asleep in bed and I had to make a decision. Golan made it for me “I’ll be there in 15 minutes” :click:.

That must have been the quickest wakeup, food, poop, exit I’ve done ever. We were on the road to milestone a few minutes after loading the bike up. I was tired, but also excited. As we arrived to the track, it looked exactly how they said, no mud or signs of rain anywhere. There were clouds in the sky and it was no more than 68 degrees, PERFECT! Soon after we arrived, I confirmed with Stan that he would be there too and the game was on! See, I haven’t been able to prove my abilities to Stan since I came back to riding. So it was very important for me to ride with him and beat him so I knew where I stood in my skills.

First moto was great, track was nicely rutted in, a bit dry amazingly enough and nearly right from the start I was clearing the back table again, which honestly felt good. This was it, I could finally hammer out some laps on this new layout without feeling like a slow poke. Second moto was even better, focused on carrying speed around some of the longer bowl corners and honestly, I really felt present but sadly I was horribly hungry. See last night I had a home made meal that made me a bit sick, so I had nothing in my system outside of some cereal in the morning and that screwed any chance of me doing well on the bike for long periods of time.

By the time Stan showed up, I was ready to go. Track had just been watered and I gave him some time to get warmed up before going out. Our first moto together was 2 laps, I let and he had to catch after me. Man, I kept him behind me the entire time and even pulled a gap in some sections, it felt really good. Later we did a 3 lap moto together where at the end I had nothing left in the bag and let him go, but man did that feel good to lead him for a while. Not saying he wasn’t quicker then I was, but it just felt good to have some pace in me and not get passed after a few corners like my first few times back at the track.

Towards the end of the day, we did a super long moto, but I was spent and couldn’t keep up with his pace. Funny enough, he wound up lapping me in our nearly 15 lap moto, but I had proven what I went there to prove. I’m slowly coming back to the abilities I had few years ago which felt great. I also was able to keep a lot of people behind me and even chase some people down/pass them, so all of that was a good sign for the future.

Now for the long wait as the storm system due this weekend, will for sure put the tracks out of commission for quite some time. :sigh:

Well, So Cal winter has hit us really hard. Normally we get around 15 days of rain for the entire winter, starting in December and going through April ish. We are in an El Nino phase however, so this means more rain and more severe storms. So of course, the moment I was getting up to speed, it started to rain and boy oh boy did it rain. We’ve had two huge 5 day long storms nearly back to back. The tracks were so flooded, they literally looked like lakes. Every time it seemed like things were coming back together again, we’d get another day or two of rain that would set the tracks back even further. All of us kind of gave up trying to ride. We all watched supercross and washed our bikes hoping we’d be back at it some day soon.

At the tail end of February we finally got the break we all needed. Three days of sun back to back in order to get those tracks dried out and boy did it work. We set a date, the 24th and called in everyone to come ride at Milestone. Damon, Golan, Maverick and myself were the four who decided to go and on the day, our plans fell apart. Milestone was having a race, which meant the place was closed. It didn’t take us long to realize Pala was our only hope, so we saddled up and made the trek down to Pala.

Pala has become a very different place, it has actual concrete buildings on campus which is a very new addition since Fox bought them a year ago I think. With that said the vet track was very familiar and the moment we arrived, I knew we were in for one heck of a day.

Sadly, the rain had done so much damage to the track, it was still a bumpy, rutted mess. Jump faces had fallen apart, there were huge breaking bumps everywhere and nice deep ruts that had turned into sand. By the time we arrived after our Milestone debacle, it was noon ish and the place was packed. I haven’t seen it that busy in years, which I guess is a good sign. A quick first moto revealed the layout was a lot of fun, but challenging due to the bumpy situation. I had it covered as my suspension works great, but still holy crap did it beat me up. First moto was meh, second moto was meh, but once people started going home, the track became a lot more fun. We had a lot of fun chasing after each other, but I was quicker then my compatriots all day, which made me feel good. By the end of the day, we were all rolling around it as if we had all been riding for years there, but reality is, I was the only one who knew the place.

Honestly, I can’t wait to go back when the rain goes away. Looks like it’s going to rain this coming week again, big storm coming in on friday through sunday, so there goes any chance of riding again for a while. Hey, we need the rain, so no complaints!

Well today was the first day I was at Milestone on a Thursday since April 2017. It was great catching up with Stan and having fun with him on the track. It’s unfortunate the assholes who run the water trucks, still have no common sense. When I arrived, my first Moto the track was pretty wet. Within a few minutes, they had the water truck out and turned it into a pile of mud. This wasn’t so bad because the sun was high and it dried to the point of being rideable in half an hour. However, they watered it 2 more times over 3 hours and by the end of the day there was standing water in most of the corners. I just don’t get it and it’s part of the reason why I stopped riding. Ya get one good Moto in between waters if you’re lucky and by 3:00, the track isn’t a mess from people riding on it, the track is a mess because the assholes don’t understand anything about dirt. They’re told; “water the track every hour” and they do it, without even glancing down to see if they stepped onto the track, it would suck them in and they’d be stuck.

Anyway, I had better stamina today, but probably because I was riding a bit slower then Saturday. I had decent confidence coming into the day, but I wasn’t comfortable with the two bigger jumps yet. I re-watched some video I shot and they both seem stupid easy, but I’m just scared. I don’t know why really, but I just assume I don’t think my body strength is up to par in order to resolve any issues that may happen if I under jump too badly. I’ve had some close calls already and it’s easy to ride around at 80%, but those big jumps take a lot from me and I’m just not ready. Perhaps spending more time on the track will help push me through it, I don’t know. What I do know is I had fun and the process of coming back to this sport is working. An interesting side note is how well the suspension is working on the 250SXF. I’ve been pretty happy with the setup and it hasn’t been keeping me back at all.

My BF had a kinda shitty day because the beginner track was bumpy and hadn’t been groomed in a while. It was sad to see because he wanted to ride a bit, but felt the track was too mucked up. I did a lap and yea it was kinda messy, but totally ridable. I showed him the video of me riding on the vet and he laughed saying he could do that and I was like, bro you’d be stuck in the first rut you saw and I’d see you 30 minutes later after having done only one lap and the bike would be covered in mud, whose laughing now? Hehe

We’re going to attempt the long and expensive journey down to Pala on Sunday. Prep the night before, get up early, get down there around 11 ish and stay till close. It’s gonna rain a tiny bit Friday and Saturday night, but only light sprinkles. It should be mint as mint can get come Sunday afternoon. I can’t wait to see Scotty and Gina. I also can’t wait to see the new “Fox Raceway” which is what they call Pala now. Evidently Fox bought them and they’ve built an amusement park out of the property with a store, food and lots of other goodies. Pala was always great and I hope it doesn’t disappoint this time around. It maybe the last place we can ride!

For the record, today was probably the best time I’ve had riding a dirt bike since I stopped riding in September of 2016. Let me set the stage. It was a dark, cloudy day with moist tracks, but not muddy. As it being the first weekend of supercross, everyone was home or in Anaheim for the first race of the year, so Milestone was pretty quiet for a Saturday. After giving my BF the bike for some beginner track circles, I ventured over to the vet track and started opening up the throttle again. So this is what riding dirt bikes is all about, I reminded myself as I started picking up speed. Within a few laps, I had the track pretty dialed and felt just as comfortable as I would have been had this been two years ago. Few sessions later, I was taking the inside ruts and hitting corners pretty hard.

Days like this are what I needed to rejuvenate my love for the sport. It’s been such a long time since I’ve had a day like this, where I could just go out and hammer some laps out. I felt so confident, I was passing people on the inside and legitimately racing a few guys. Now my stamina sucks, it’s always been an issue. However, even though I couldn’t put in hard laps consistently, it’s just a matter of time before I will be able to. I’m still not clearing the big jump in the back either, very close, but not quite there. All the other jumps I got dialed and it’s a pretty simple layout. It’s probably one of the best layout’s they’ve had in a while, because it’s twisty, but not overly technical which means less people crashing. It also has a whoop section, which ends with a corner, so I gotta work on that and hopefully dial it next time I’m out there.

My BF on the other hand, he had a difficult day. He crashed twice, one really bad. He whisky throttled off a jump and landed on his side, the bike flew away from him. Luckily he’s ok and the bike damage was nothing to be ashamed of. He’s just gotta be a bit more careful on a super dry track next time. I’m trying to help him get through this difficult beginner phase where you’re not quite up to speed on body position and what to do incase of things going wrong. I did have a few close moments trying to ride hard on the vet track. One of them I lost my front tire entering a rut and dabbed really hard, with the result of umm, hurting a lot hahaha. The other time someone crossed my line and I had to slow down exiting a rut, that was strange, but I survived unscathed. I guess once you know how to deal with this stuff, its not so bad when you’re sore and old, it’s just like getting back on the horse.

In summary, it was a great Saturday and we both had a blast. I got a lot more riding in then the previous weekend and best of all, I was able to throw down some seriously nice laps that got me impressed and reminded me that somewhere in the back of my mind, I do know how to ride. After all the frustration with the 150SX in 2016 and eventually getting the 250SXF as it’s replacement, I finally feel close in skill to where I was prior to all that mess. However, I’m 2 years older, a lot weaker and my schedule prohibits me from riding more then 2 days a week. Still, that’s a lot of riding and I’m blessed to be able to ride whilst Milestone is still around, before they “potentially” close. I finally have medical insurance which was my biggest issue with riding before. Now all I need to do is score a decent job and I’m off to the races so to speak. I hope the rest of 2019 goes this way because frankly, we’re kicking ass and taking numbers so far!

I’m still in shock… so get this. Milestone, my home and now only local track, is on a huge piece of property that the city wants to re-zone for other purposes. They hate the fact people ride dirt bikes there, it does nothing but muck things up for them. So they’ve been doing everything in their power to kick Milestone out for years. The only thing keeping them there has been a 10 year land lease. Turns out, the lease ends April 2019 and we just found out the land was purchased and there is a new developer going in there, with intentions on being finished with construction in 2019.

At first when I heard this, I didn’t believe it. However, a quick search online provided enough evidence. I found all of the land re-purposing documents, all the plans and most importantly, the contracts to the new owner. It does look like everything is in a proposal phase, nothing has been completely approved. However it’s clear something is going on and it’s happening fast. Milestone has no comment about this, I’ve asked around and nobody knows jack. Milestone’s website has events clear through the summer on their calendar. Milestone is also falling apart. They aren’t taking care of the tracks. They have less bathrooms and even the bike washers are down. Heck, the private track out back which was for pro’s only is now open for the public as well, which means they have no added contract/cash coming from it.

The writing is on the wall in my opinion and I’m so sad because I’m finally riding again and now the only track I can ride that looks like it’s going to close. In 2018 alone, Piru, Comp Edge and AV Motoplex closed. Yes, LACR reopened a few years ago, but it’s only open during the weekends and honestly, it’s farther then Milestone. Pala would basically be the only track available and it’s a 2hr drive each way. Honestly it’s frustrating to me because there is plenty of usable land in the metropolitan area. Tracks do make money, they can survive on their own through sponsorship’s from the large brands, Pala just got a Fox sponsorship to stay afloat.

The problem really comes down to who rides dirt bikes and frankly, I’m feeling the population of riders has stagnated. I use to ride with a pretty large group of people and one by one they all stopped for various reasons. First it was family/kids reasons. Then it was too busy/schedule reasons. Then it was not enough money. Now I’m feeling people aren’t riding because their friends aren’t riding. I understand that, but it’s a real shame to give up something you love just because you’re incapable of making new riding friends. By the end of 2015, only three of my originally dozen riding friends still rode; Stan, Scotty and Alan.

So where we are, 2019 and tracks are closing left and right. The IMS shows across the country are doing poorly, with brands like Yamaha, KTM, Kawasaki and Harley not making appearances at all the shows, which is a first. In Dallas Texas, Harley didn’t even have a booth at the trade show this year, evidently a first for them. The sad part is that nobody is coming to the rescue. The AMA (American Motorcycle Association’s) job is to deal with issues like Milestone, they’re here to get motorcycles on the road and fight for us. However, they’ve always done a shit job and now it’s getting to a tipping point where I think the joy of riding motorcycles for younger people, just isn’t worth it to them. My generation has either ridden and stopped or has no interest due to family situations and now the only people riding are older people with time on their hands. Harley opened up a new factory in Asia and is laying off people in the US factory yet again. If they can’t make money, then nobody can make money.

This industry is dying and nobody but the dwindling riders really care. I’m saddened and frankly depressed about the possibility that my home track will be gone at any time. I’m going to live it up and ride as much as I possibly can until that date, but I fear it will come too soon. The question is, what next? Without a close track, is it time to finally give up track riding for off-road or like everyone else, close the garage forever. I will say this much, some of my friends will not give up and maybe one of them has enough connections to open a new place… only time will tell.

I can’t believe it’s been 16 months since I’ve ridden a dirt bike. I thought my previous 6 month break was a lot, but this is a whole new thing. Honestly, I’ve been ready to sell my beautiful bike, but I couldn’t force myself. I finally built exactly what I wanted; simple forks, well setup suspension, full titanium exhaust, fastest-lightest 250 on the market. Plus, I nearly own the thing… only a few grand left on the loan and it’s mine. With 20hrs on the clock, I was not in a place where I wanted to sell it. So for the last 16 months it’s been silent, until now.

My BF has wanted to ride motorcycles since we got together, it was clear I needed to take him to the track. So I bought him some riding gear over Christmas and we went to Milestone on the Sunday before New Years. I was slightly nervous because frankly, last time I rode in September of 2017, the Vet track was a bit above my pay grade. So we arrived, unloaded the bike and got geared up near the beginner track. I basically spent the entire day with him explaining how to ride the track, as we had already ridden around the neighborhood to teach him the basics. I swung my leg over the bike on that horrible beginner track and did a few laps and it was ok. Honestly, most of the time he was riding because I just wanted to ride the vet. As the day progressed, he got better and then crashed. Ugg… first time the 2016 250 had been down. :sigh: Still as he lay upside down, there was a part of me that was like, eh this is what dirt bikes are for!

Towards the end of the day, he was totally spent and I decided to go over to the vet track, just to put in a few laps. To my shock, it appeared to be above my pay grade. I struggled to get the thing around the pretty muddy track and frankly, a lot of bad memories came to my forefront about the last time I rode and how shitty it was. There are always good days and bad days on dirt bikes and I was more happy to let my BF ride anyway, that’s where the real fun was for me. Frankly, I could care less about putting in laps until I feel more comfortable on the bike anyway.

As we wrapped up, I felt my BF really felt happy with how things went. We planned our return for this coming weekend and I’m psyched. I hope we can continue this because frankly, I do miss riding quite a bit and now that I have someone to go with, it’s gonna be a big change in my life. We’ve already talked about getting him a bike, so that’s a great start!

Well, it’s been one heck of a year. I figured it was worth making one post to discuss what’s going on and the sale of my 2016 150SX. My BF moved in with me a few days ago and it’s been pretty great to have him around, even though he brought a lot of shit with him. My poor garage was in pretty good shape and he brought mound of crap that will probably take a decade to sort out. It’s been a pretty busy summer, been to Pittsburgh and Denver in the last few weeks for my documentary. I’m also going to Seattle and Chicago before the year is out. Things have been going well with that project, but money has been ultra tight. I really had hoped to fundraise this year, but alas there isn’t enough footage to do any fundraising right now. I’m focused on just getting the basic stuff and meeting people. Once I feel satisfied in my cast, then I’ll go and re-shoot stuff. I haven’t even seen what I shot because I can’t afford to transfer it from film to video! :sigh:

Now in terms of bikes. I don’t know if I said this, but I’ve been riding around a pretty cool 2005 Ducati Multistrada 1000S for a while. I traded it for my BMW, quite a while ago and I’m shocked I never mentioned it. Anyway, the bike has been a mess recently. Few months ago, the entire tail light assembly snapped off the holder for it, just poorly designed. It’s hard to fix tho so I’ve just been dealing with the consequences of a loose tail assembly until I can find replacement. I ride the bike every day though, it’s my main vehicle. It’s been a lot of fun, gobs of torque and not too uncomfortable like my previous sport bikes. I gotta say this one maybe a keeper.

Now to discuss the 150SX. What a tragic story. As I’ve written before, I was very upside down on the bike and I was waiting until the used value matched what it was worth. That date was a few weeks ago and I quickly posted it on craigslist where it sat for a while. The typical people offering trades, even when it said “no trades”. The typical idiots asking me what it was, as if google doesn’t work. Even got a few Spanish responses in my e-mail. Finally I got a real bite, someone who was a bike builder looking for something for an up and coming kid. We talked for a week straight and he came out to see it and bought it right on the spot. I only got $4200 for it, having spent what… close to $8k after taxes and such? I’m still in shock I spent so much because my 250SXF was only $7k after taxes. I also owe way less on the 250SXF even though I bought it later. Man, I was glad to see the 150XS go really. It’s been a physical thorn in my side since the moment I got it. My thoughts about that bike are pretty negative and sadly it’ll probably be the last 2 stroke I own. Yea I got interest in a 300 for trail riding, but eh. I’d probably rather have an EXC-F honestly.

My final thoughts on the 150 as I close this chapter. KTM did make the best super light, small bore 2 stroke ever made. However, the bike is built for a pro rider, much like the modern 250SXF. The only difference is that the 150SX is lighter and harder to ride then the 250SXF, so in the end drains ya even more. I miss the old days with the 07 144SX, where the bike was very different then the current lineup. You’re not just riding a different engine, you’re riding an entirely different bike. I do miss my old 144SX, it really was a great motorcycle in every sense of the word and I feel bad for selling it to some kids to destroy. I bet it’s a pile of parts sitting in a garage somewhere, the bike I made from scratch, the bike I loved and rode my brains out on. It’s sad thinking about that, but I really connected with that bike and sure it wasn’t anywhere near the speed of the 16′ 150SX, it was a very cool bike with lots of character. I re-watch my videos from years past and reminisce about the bike and it’s issues. I do think the 144 made me a better rider and I appreciate that aspect. It also got me through a very rough time in my life and gave me something to do. I’m thankful for having it and even though it’s been gone for a few years, I’m probably find the money to have it back in my garage right now.

Time flies when you’re having fun and even if you aren’t, it still goes by faster than you expect. I always knew this day would come, but didn’t realize it would come so soon, or so sudden. Honestly I tried to put it out of my mind and stay the course, but alas it hasn’t panned out that way. As you can probably guess from my disappearance this year, I haven’t been riding at all and it’s been a very difficult and “trying” year.

I’ll first talk about the riding issues, which of course are the most important. As I’ve talked about before, in the past I had a killer deal to ride at Milestone, my main motocross track. It meant I could go as much as I wanted and basically pay for 2 rides a month. That deal ended and I got into a fight with the management about it because frankly, I’ve been going there since they first opened, sometimes 3 days a week. The new management didn’t care and there is no deal, which means the cost to ride was basically triple what it was previously. This, mixed with a horrible layout which was not fun at all, gas prices increasing, bad medical insurance and a super busy schedule, meant I was just uninterested in riding. The final nail in the coffin for me was my “final” ride with my friend Damon who had just picked up a dirt bike. I went out there to celebrate his new purchase in the summer and had a god awful time. I simply hated the entire experience from the moment I loaded the bikes, to the moment I rode the new track. All I wanted to do was go home and that’s when I realized, I was done riding for a while.

So here we are, it’s rapidly closing down to the end of 2017 and A LOT has changed. The biggest change is my new hobby, which may sound funny for your MX riders, but hear me out. At the tail end of 2016, I wrote a script for a feature film about a character who is a furry. For the record, furries are a community of people who are fans of anthropomorphic animals. Quite a few of them draw and write stories about their very original characters. Others, commission costumes where they can run around in costume as their character. They attend meets, go to conventions and are an over-all pretty tame community of fun people. Whilst researching the community, I found a lot of mental health issues and decided it would be a great backstory for a web series that I’ve always wanted to develop. Instead of going and meeting people, I decided to develop my own character and become a “furry” to experience the whole thing. What I didn’t know is that I’d be sucked into the performance art aspects of it and will have attended countless meetup’s and 5 conventions in 2017 alone. I’ve traveled to Reno, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Chicago so far, which has been wonderful to help break my “traveling” fears, which is an added bonus. So this is where a lot of my spare time, energy and money has gone this year, which is part of the reason I’ve been too busy (and broke) to ride. So far, I’ve had a great deal of outside interest in my web series from a few producers and the show is moving along nicely, with hopes of starting production in spring of 2018.

Meanwhile, I’ve been very busy working on a few industrial films, four of my own short films and a feature that I start very soon. So my schedule has been, to say the least, all over the place. This is another reason I’ve not been riding much, I’m just scared of getting hurt because the repercussions could bankrupt me. I do ride my street bike daily, but keep it to short jaunts, using the van for longer excursions. It does suck, but it’s kept me out of trouble and that’s what I need to be focused on.

The hard part for me now is looking at my 150SX and 250SXF, realizing that if I don’t ride either one of them soon, there really isn’t any purpose in owning them. Obviously, the 150SX has been up for sale but no qualified bites… the 250SXF on the other hand, would sell in a jiff if I posted it. Honestly, I don’t know what to do because part of me says, get rid of them and if I have the time to go ride someday, buy another bike. The other part of me says, what if something happens and I suddenly have the time to go ride again. If I wasn’t so stressed for time and cash, that could be a reality, even if it was once a week. The other part of me says, my spare time should be spent working on projects, rather than riding dirt bikes. As my garage gets more and more cluttered from my new hobby and more filmmaking equipment, I’m slowly starting to realize this maybe a lost cause. The catch 22 is that I don’t own either bike, the bank does. So where the 250SXF I owe way less than what it’s worth, the 150SX I’m upside down on the loan. So I need to pay it off a bit more before selling, so at least I don’t have to come up with a big nut. I knew it was a mistake to buy that bike when I bought it, but at least the payments are low and it’s not really killing me financially. So we’ll see how the next few months play out. If things go well, then maybe I’ll keep the 250SXF, if not then it may be off to craigslist.

I’ll keep coming back here and updating when I get a chance, but this will probably be my last entry for a while. I have truly loved writing this blog, but since I’m not riding and I’m busy working on other things, I don’t feel the necessity to update it as much. I remember when I stopped roadracing and how hard that was for a while, but I found a new outlet in dirt bikes. Now that I have another outlet -maybe not as cool- it allows me to focus more on creative productivity instead of downtime fun. I still want to ride with my friends, but it’ll be a while before I get that opportunity again and it will be just the occasional ride, rather than the more serious riding I did in the past. So thanks for reading and I’m sorry to my friends and fans that it has to end this way, but all good things must come to an end eventually. I will for sure write more entries when I ride and/or if I sell my bikes. So check-in monthly and see if things have changed.

This is the last pix of me and the 250SXF from our last ride.