Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
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2019 FIM SUPERENDURO & AMA ENDUROCROSS CHAMPION COLTON HAAKER P130 Interview off of the track in the back yard with all the stuff I did there, the videos I did. It was the dream, right? To have your own piece of property in Southern California, your own track in your back yard and your workshop and basically I was able to ride my dirt bike in any direction as far as I want. It was a dream situation. And it was a dream, for about six years of the seven. [laughs] As much as it was convenient, it started to become a hinder- ance. I had the track in my back yard and I had a skidsteer and my own tractor and I could do whatever I wanted to do. That was the convenience part. But the hindrance part was I could never get away from it in my mind. I never had a reset button. I never could, say, get away from that line in the back yard, the track, that mistake or whatever it was that day, I was thinking about it. And not just that, but I also just stayed there all the time. I didn't leave. Because I was like, 'Well I have everything here, why would I go anywhere?' But you need to have diversity in your riding, in your life. I didn't have that. It was also becoming difficult for us to do what we needed to do as a family. We have to drive an hour plus to San Diego to go do stuff as a family, to go to the museum, or go to a park or go to the beach. It's just a long ways to go do things. The daycare we wanted to bring our daughter to was, like, 30 minutes away. It was like we were running around and spending more time driving rather than just having time to do things. And you're now heading to Idaho? Yeah. I visited Idaho this sum- mer—I already have a house there and I spent a month there rid- ing—and when I was there I spent time at the gym, I spent time at the lake, I spent time at the park playing basketball, and downtown eating good food, stuff like that. It was the convenience factor of all the other stuff that I was missing in Southern California. Moving to a place that is more family oriented, hopefully it's going to give us more time to focus on our growing family. It's going to give me more time to focus on the things I need to continue racing a motorcycle at a high level. And hopefully focus on living in the mo- ment and being happy. You mentioned your growing family. I hear you have another (Left) Haaker accepts his latest number-one plate from AMA Off-Road Racing Manager Erek Kudla and EnduroCross announcer Laurette Nicoll. (Below) It's not just about his career any more. Haaker shows off his daughter, London, on the podium.