STARTGATE

When the editor asked me to write this issue’s Startgate, I said ‘great, what’s it about?’ He said ‘all you’ve got to do is say a few positive words about whatever you want’. I said ‘positive?’ Excuse me but my girlfriend has just dumped me, and my van has been written off in a stupid accident by an old blind man, leaving me looking for something that’s steady, reliable, has tidy body work, and not too many previous owners, oh yeah and I need a new van too…Ha.

Backyard tracks are all the rage these days, and why not? You can travel the world visiting great countries and experience some super riding, and get fleeced by the locals, but more often than not the best fun you can have on two wheels is in your very own back garden. No jet lag, no foreign language, no strange cuisine to worry about, just a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits, you and your mates, big smiles, a pump track, a couple of dirt jumps, a wooden kicker and a big ol’ pile of dirt. Whatever the set up its bloody good fun, it’s cheap too. I’m kicking myself because I’ve been trying to build one all summer, but it never seemed to be the right time, there was always something else to do, something more important. Now I realise that building that track was the most important thing ever, you just need to get your priorities right in life, and more often than not that means putting you and your bike first. So what are you waiting for? Get your mates together, get the spades out and start digging, you know that you’re worth it.

Billy.