Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128644
World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards II It's All About .~ • By H EN NY R A Y A B RAMS f;J olin Edwards left home wh en h is stepmother caught him sp itting in the shower. He wa s 14 . T he way he describes her brings to mind a c ross between Norman Bates and Cuj o . Tha t she lis tened to him showering may prove his point. The sp itting inciden t isn't wh at ca used him to leave , it was th e smashi ng of the te levis ion. Ed wards started riding when he was thr ee, rac ing wh en he wa s th ree an d a ha lf. He did it co ntinuous ly until he was abou t 14 , at which point he was burnt out. Instead of riding he was working , cl eaning o il stai ns off garage floo rs wi th gaso line and k itty litt er. It w as hard work but it pa id well and befo re long he'd m ade his first m aj o r pur chase - a $250 co lor tel evision . Embodied in that T V was ev erything he 'd wo rked for t o t hat p o in t , which is wh y it hurt so much to see it dest royed . "My dad's new wife had probl em s w ith me. Come to find out she's schizo ," Edwards says . T he argument over the shower inci dent had ende d and she 'd gone away, on ly to ret urn with evil inten t. " She comes ba ck , rip s th e TV off the co unter and smashes it on the fl oor. I m ov ed o ut th e next da y . It was j ust a bad situation ." With his fath er's blessin g , he m oved in w it h a fr iend of t he famil y . He's been on his ow n eve r since. "I thin k th at' s halfwa y wh y I'm th e way I am ," Edwards say s of his decis io n to st ri k e out on his ow n. "I was out of th e house earl y . I t ook ca re of myself early ." Edwar ds recoun ts t he story witho ut t he slightest a t inge of regret. "It worked out good . I wou ldn 't cha nge a t hin g ," Edward s sa id from the driver's sea t of his oversized \::J 8 J ANUARY 3 . 2001 • cue I e n e _ Dodge Ram dually driv ing from George Bu sh Interna ti onal Airport in Hou st o n t o C onro e , t he town h e grew up in and c all s home about ha lf an hour north of Hou ston . Edwa rds is driving , ta lk ing, and spitting . Because of his fondness for snuff - Sk oal Roug h Cut - he alway s has a can or a bottl e nearby . an ything to dr ai n his lower lip of th e sy rupy mix that look s like a m i xture o f din osaur pus and espr esso . On c e , at Monza , when he ran out of sn uff. he brok e o pe n a cigarette and stuffed tha t in his gums. Co lin Edwards has a fie rce ly independent st reak . It 's in his blood . His father, Colin Sr. , is an Australian w ho worked in t he oil business and chased wo rk wh erever he cou ld find it. T he younger Edwards wa s born in Hou ston , then moved briefly to Australia , then to Aberd een , Scotland. Th e Edwards cl an set tl ed back in Houston when Colin was t hree and he beg an to rid e and so on be gan to race . The ra cing wa s ex t rem e, Frida y night and Sunday , up to three c lasses, t wo differ ent bikes. 4 0 week ends a y ear, but th ere was neve r an y pressure from h is fathe r. If Colin gave 110 percen t. Colin Sr. would g iv e 1 10 percent of h is time and money. "I th ou ght we were loaded ," Edwards said . " Com e to find out we we re $40 -50 ,000 in deb t at the end of the y ear. It was never a m atter of how we we re going to pa y th e bills. T he order was wh er e was th e race? Wh er e were we going to eat? How were we goi ng to pay our bills?" Colin Sen ior 's pr ized possession wa s a Rickman fra med CB · 750 wi t h a su per charged engi ne . He t rad ed it in fo r tw o Kawasaki KX -60s and a KX -80 . By t he time Ed wards was eight he had ov er 250 trophies. A hou se fire cla imed m ost of t hem and th e rest he donated to a loc al moto cr oss t rac k . s Plenty to smile ab out: Wo rld Superbike Ch ampion Coli n Edw ards at home on Lake Co nroe with his wife Alyssia. ....., ,..... He burned o ut on m otocross by the time he moved out of h is parents ' hou se . He was al ready a facto ry rid er. Tom Halver son , who heads Yamaha 's road race t eam. worked on hi s m achines at Loretta Lynn's . When he was hom e he'd get picked up after school, rid e for t hree or four hours , c lean t he bike, wash t he fi lt er. wash the ridi ng gea r, get ready to ri de t he next day, eat a little d inn er , do a little ho mework, t hen cras h . T h is went o n for three years. "M y whole life to tha t point was ridi ng ," he says . "It was g oo d , b ut there was no t im e to be a kid . I was working for a goal that was 10 years down the road ." Was it dedica tion, passion , or zea lotry? A li ttle of each , but m ostl y just that he 's an extremist. In t he lak e ho use he shares wit h h is wife Alyssia and their three dogs fo r th e t hree m on th s of a year he 's home in Con roe , he works on hi s golf game. For hours at a t ime he'll practice his golf swing on a piece of AstroTurf in the living roo m , iro ns and wedges first. When he t ires of t hat he bre aks out a few balls and putts them at a t in of Sk oal on the liv ing room floor. Golf is on ly hi s latest pass ion fo ll owi ng tennis , pingpon g , bowling , and wakeboard ing . When he wa s int o wa ke bo ard ing , he 'd do it day and night, his wife holding a sp otlight on th e pitch -bla ck lake so he and wh oeve r was dr ivin g th e boat co u ld see whe re th ey we re go ing . Photograph y is also a passion , and hi s wi fe is ofte n his w illing subj ec t. He has a closet full of eq ui p m ent an d a m ini - studio on th e seco n d f lo or o f h is ho u se . Th er e i s pro gress in h is pictu r es , wh ich are m ostl y portraits in bl ack and wh it e.