Time to open the throttle!
By TMX Archives on 2nd Jan 08
Editor JD looks forward to 2008 and another year of T+MX and wishes you everything you wish yourselves And as we grab hold of the handlebars and run-and-bump the new-born 2008 into expectant life I genuinely mean that!
May the New Year be born on full-throttle and remain wide-open as the new off-road season unfolds in a blaze of glory. There's loads to look forward to in all off-road disciplines and despite everything that those in power do to try and snooker their (our) sport at every twist and turn (like, for instance, cynically twisting the rules to favour four-strokes) we won't let that stop us from enjoying riding our bikes! And more power to the DEP two-stroke MX series...
Whether your preferred off-road tipple is a strong dose of Trials, Motocross, Enduro, Cross Country, Supermoto, Sidecar, Quad, Classic, Twin-shock, Youth, Adult, ACU, AMCA, ORPA or anything in-between or even on either side of the above list, from humble club thrash up to the totally professional World Championships, T+MX will do its very best to give you all a fair crack of the whip during the year! It isn't easy, keeping everybody happy. indeed, no-one else has even dared to try but we really will do our level best to keep everyone, whatever their age - eight to 80 , or whatever their off-road sport, a fair dose of coverage.
And while we have only just crept into 2008, albeit with the usual bevy of traditional Boxing Day and New Year trials, and the competition year stretches ahead, like a long, straight, never-ending road, you can rest-assured that it will gather pace with the strength of an express steam train and before you or we know it, the 2008 Christmas double-issue of T+MX will be upon us and we'll all be sitting in the
clubroom nursing a pint of whallop and wondering, ''Whatever happened to 2008?''
One thing's for sure, the off-road competition calendar has never been so full or so busy. I've just been studying the 2008 T+MX competition calendar from the centre pages of the last issue (you did keep yours didn't you?) and the sheer number of series and championships is almost mind-boggling. The calendar, which is compiled with unbelievable diligence by Mannix Devlin (and again, no-one but T+MX compiles and prints such a comprehensive list of off-road dates from so many organisations) actually comprises over 90, yes NINETY, series and categories spread over the various off-road disciplines. And these are only the main National and International series and dates.
Stir in the various, countless, but equally important to those contesting them - club, centre and regional series plus the thousands and thousands of individual events taking place every weekend and you can begin to see the gargantuan task that we set ourselves each week.
But, no-one said it would be easy when we signed-up and only the weak go to the wall! It is actually a great thrill to see T+MX taking shape each week, starting out as a blank sheet of paper well, lots of sheets of blank paper actually , which fill and swell and are ticked-off on our (pretty loose!) checklist one after the other as they are completed until , hopefully , (and we haven't missed one yet , touch wood!) the current issue rises like a Phoenix from the flames of the previous week's offering.
It is also quite a humbling experience when you meet a reader who tells you that they have bought and KEPT every single issue since the first tiny 36 page offering rolled off the press back in 1977, over 30-years ago.
I reckon that that only goes to show the intense loyalty that off-roaders have for their sport. There are obviously exceptions to all rules (T+MX itself is an exception to most rules!) but by and large, once a motorcylist, always a motorcylist.
That is pretty obvious when you see how popular the Classic scene is with riders in their 50s, 60s and 70s going at it hammer and tongs in trials and scrambles. Some have never taken a break and competed week-in, week-out all their lives. Others have been through a conventional ‘retirement', sometimes (whisper it) having been persuaded by their families that perhaps it was time to stop playing around on silly motorbikes, but have just been unable to resist the lure of the noise, smell and general atmosphere.
To paraphrase the mighty Liverpool manager Bill Shankly: ''It's not like riding off-road is a matter of life and death '' it's much more important than that!
Have a brilliant New Year off-road with T+MX!