Truckin’ Hell!
Published: 20th December 2007
Author: Billy MacKenzie
Who needs a swanky Merc when you can give it beans in a beat-up blue pick-up?
Recently I bought myself a little blue pick-up truck - nowt fancy, no big bling wheels or sound systems, just a standard old blue pick-up to hack around in. I got the idea after listening to Jamie Dobb telling me to RENT a sweet ride for a year. Yeah, rent! I didn't get it either - why would I wanna waste money on something that isn't even mine? So I done the opposite, bought an Auto Trader and looked for the s****est looking thing in there! There were a couple to choose from but I knew when I saw it that it was the one! 130,000 miles, two-seater, lots of room for a bike! Perfect.
First thing I did was drive it to Jamie's mansion to show him - I think he was even embarrassed to have it sitting on his driveway! But, hell, I'm like 10K better off than I would be if I had gone with his really clever idea of renting a Merc! I'm pumped! It's called Big Foot and since I've been back home in Scotland it has been the main source of banter during the rainy days!
The route to the gym in the morning has a few little rally routes. There's one jump, a couple bends where you can light the rear end up with a heavy dump of the clutch and, well, that's about it. But it's enough to have me excited about driving to the gym! Every morning I pick Bry up at 8.30pm and we bomb down the road leading to the sports centre. We've been steadily hitting the bridge jump a little faster every day - we started off at 60mph and built up by 5mph a day until we felt we reached the limit. It's easy to go over the top on the roads - kind of like how we do on our bikes sometimes - but there's no protection so after we launched it at 75mph we've kind of backed it off a little now!
On the way back it was the same, trying to light the rear up and get it drifting at every opportunity. It had been raining so the roads were pretty slick and we were literally 20 metres from Bryan’s house when I tried to get the back end out on a left-hand off-camber. I dumped the clutch but the wheels didn't slide so I was still going pretty straight. I jumped on the brakes but it was all too late, we skidded straight into the opposite neighbour’s hedge and made him a new parking place! Boys will be boys eh? Safe to say we drive like adults now!
Another time we were coming back from the local practice track at Duns. There’s a little dirt track road on the way that if you get right would save ya a couple seconds. Bry and I were behind another motocross van and I was blasting out 'Uptown Girl' by Westlife - a CD I found while clearing out my dad’s garage - when we decided to go for it, hitting the horn to get the sheep out the way. There were rain ruts and unexpected bumps and we were going down at around 20-30mph which is pretty fast considering the steepness of it! It was going well and we were holding on tight - I was trying to avoid any bumps and ruts but by the end it was impossible and we hit the biggest bump and bounced out onto the road in front of the other MX van, my stand bounced out onto the road and we had to stop and strap everything up again! Good fun though!
We still had a couple weeks to kill before training started again so we all took up a bit of golf. Seems everyone is doing it these days so I got myself up the local course to try my hand. On my first attempt I scored a 119 on a par 70 or something? Pretty shocking but it was my first time and I beat Bry by one! But since then he has been back up and scores under 100 so I need to get back up there. I just like driving them! It's sweet when you get a good drive - I may just be a driving range pro like Happy Gilmore.
We had a karting tournament recently. Big Dave McVie, the guy who owns Duns track, had an invitational up at the local Raceland. As you all know or can imagine, motocross riders and go-karts are a slightly good and bad pick and mix. We can hit the apex and get the power on at the right times but we also know how to punt the driver in front through the tyres! Bryan smoked us all, Johnny Hamilton was second and my brother passed me with four laps to go to claim the final podium position. I was mad! I hate getting beat by my brother – he’s slowly making a list of all the things he can kick my ass at and it’s getting bigger!
So we've started training again and hell it's tough. I've been flat-out twice a day for a couple weeks now and it’s time to stop the s**t food, fizzy drinks and late nights. Gym at 9am, out by 11am. Home, grab a recovery drink, sleep for an hour then running at 1pm! It's always tough to get back into it but I'm really enjoying getting some routine back. Our off-season always throws me because we miss out on so much during the season so I always try cram as much in as I can in that one month. Holidays, other sports, nights out with old friends, it all adds up - so much so that some nights I don't even get to sleep!
But sleep isn't a problem now and this is the first day that I’ve been late going out for my run. It's 1.30pm now as I write this and Bry came round for me all suited up at 1pm to find me crashed out in my bed. As I got up he sat down to watch Lost while I got ready and he fell asleep! So right now he has climbed up into my little bunk bed thing and hasn't made a peep! It's important to remember that rest is just as important so if we are both this tired it's worth having an hour before we train.
Its nice being home again. I’ve been living away from home since I was 16 but it feels now like I have everything I need at home - tracks, training facilities and Edinburgh Airport on the doorstep. I'm looking forward to next season, I feel comfortable with what I'm doing and I think having a solid routine and structure is what's going to help me make that top step more often. The winter really makes Edinburgh a beautiful place and most nights I'm grabbing some food there or walking round the German market in the gardens with friends. It's good to be home!
I'm guessing this issue’s out in December so everyone have a brilliant Christmas and New Year. I'm jetting off to France over New Year for some skiing with Bryan and Stevie. We are meeting up with Easty out there too so it should be awesome fun! And remember, next time you see me I'll be in red!