P100
CN
III LOWSIDE
W
orking at Cycle News
is full of perks, bikes
coming and going and
opportunities for riding every-
where you look.
I'm a street bike guy to the
core, with my area of expertise
surrounding knees and apexes
(I'm not cool enough to go drag-
gin' elbows—probably never will
be). But one area of riding that's
been staring me in the face for
years that I haven't taken full
advantage of is motocross.
Motocross and I have never
traditionally gone together. I'm
much more comfortable with 180
mph than being 18 feet in the air
on a 60 horsepower beast that
could snap me in half if I didn't
give it the respect it deserved.
I think my fear of motocross
stems from a childhood trauma
I've buried deep within the dark
reaches of my soul that I'll share
with you now and deal with the
nightmares later.
A school friend of mine,
Peter Benson, was given a 1985
Honda CR80 for Christmas back
in 1993—a stellar piece of equip-
ment considering the tackle
I had at the time was a 1980
Honda XR250 (a big bike, I'll
grant you, for an 11-year-old).
Being snobby brats grow-
ing up on the North Shore of
THE ART OF MOTO
I looked but there are no photos of
me jumping a motorcycle in our CN
photo files to accompany this story.
Photographers tend to look the other
way when it comes to me and jumps.
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
