Ever wish you could get the chance to hang out with a group of your favorite MotoGP and AMA racing stars? George Shaw (www.divinepenguin.com), the designer of our humble website, recently got the opportunity to do just that in the Great White North, where a group of top riders had traveled to attend a charity event to benefit the British Columbia Kids' Cancer Foundation.

Hero Worship
Story and photos by George Shaw

As I’m writing this, I’m watching Vincent Haskovec fighting with Aaron Yates and Jason Pridmore at Daytona. What makes these guys so fast? What makes an elite athlete so elite? Are they bigger, stronger, smarter, braver than everyday Joes? I think the best way to find out would be to ask a couple of elite athletes. Which is why I was really looking forward to going to Vancouver to spend some time with Colin Edwards, Jason Pridmore, Josh Hayes, Rich Oliver, Richie Alexander and Mike Sullivan. They were there to participate in a seminar on motorcycle safety to benefit pediatric cancer. I was asked by the organizer, Dat Louie of Action Motorcycle School, to write about it for www.roadracerx.com (I explained over and over to Dat that I’ve got way better command with pixels than I do with the English language, but he insisted I show up anyway). I booked some tickets, talked to Dat to make sure I had a place to stay, and off I went.

A few years ago, I went out boozing with pro skateboarder Natas Kuapas. In case you don’t know, Natas helped reinvent skateboarding in the mid 80s. I had posters of him on my walls when I was growing up. We drank far too much, got kicked out of a posh Beverly Hills bar, and generally had a rip-roarin’ good time. Similarly, I recently put together an art show and then went and rode motorcycles with the god of AMA 250cc racing, Rich Oliver, at his school in California (the similarity was that I was with another celebrity; Rich doesn't drink). As it turns out, Natas and Rich are regular dudes who happen to be really good at riding skateboards and motorcycles.

Would Colin be a “regular dude” too? Or had the high-paced world of MotoGP changed him into a jerk?

Getting off the plane, I met up with my traveling partner for the trip, John Hardin, an instructor at Reg Pridmore’s CLASS school. A Canadian immigration officer having a REALLY bad day did her best to keep me out of Canada. It didn’t help that I barely knew where I was going or what I’d be doing during my stay in the Great White North, that I had stupidly checked the “traveling on business” box on the immigration form, or that I had nothing to identify me as a being affiliated with Road Racer X. But after almost two hours and endless jokes at the expense of Canada’s immigration staff, good sense prevailed, and I was permitted passage.

The next day, we picked up Colin, Jason, Josh, and Richie from their hotel to spend the day driving around Vancouver, visiting the motorcycle dealerships that had sponsored the event. The guys looked a bit haggard from a night out dancing the night before, and the first thing Colin said was “we need to stop at a 7-11 so I can get some Skoooal…” in his sleepy Texas drawl.

I was immediately surprised at how regular these guys were. They had hangovers like anyone else. They needed to go 7-11 like anyone else. Of course this sounds obvious—of course they’re regular guys—but somehow it caught me by surprise. I design websites for major movies in my regular line of work, so I get to meet the occasional actor or big-time Hollywood director; I can tell you almost without exception that those are not regular guys. Fame and money turns a lot of Hollywood folks into arrogant prima donnas, so it was really refreshing to see that renown and a few extra dollars had left guys like Colin still acting more or less just like guys like Colin.

It was startling to me to see these guys shift in and out of “famous racer mode.” We’d be driving around, making crude jokes, talking about girls or bikes or whatever, and then we’d arrive at a dealership and they’d instantly transform into the guys you see on TV, smiling and signing autographs and giving canned-response interviews. It was weird, but pretty cool to be a part of that transformation again and again.

After we’d been to just about every place in Vancouver that sells motorcycles, and the guys had signed a million autographs and taken a million pictures with fans, we stopped off at a restaurant to wait until it was time for the seminar. Jason Pridmore had a bunch of buddies in Vancouver with him, as they were hoping to do some snowboarding at nearby Whistler after the seminar. His whole crew showed up at the restaurant with us, and everybody started getting rowdy and having a great time. A couple of drinks were consumed by the racers to loosen up for the public speaking they were about to do. By the time we got to the hotel where the seminar would take place, everyone was plenty “loose.”

The seminar consisted of Colin, Jason, Josh, Rich, Richie, Mike, Steve Dick (two-time Canadian Champion and WMRC Superbike Champion) and Mark Kruger (2004 WMRC Superstock Champion) sitting at a table at the front of a big hotel ballroom, with a few hundred enthusiastic bikers sitting on folding chairs, listening intently. There were two big screens displaying a PowerPoint presentation, and a table at one end selling beverages.

Things got underway, and we got to hear some really honest stuff about racing motorcycles. Not that anyone said anything earth shattering (any fan already knows which bikes have bad brakes or which ones explode during practice, catching their riders on fire) but it was unusual to hear this stuff from the racers themselves. Helped along by a few bottles of “Canadian truth,” the guys confirmed suspicions about certain bikes’ suspension and motor problems, team politics, and other paddock gossip. This was true insider stuff, and the audience was getting in on it. The crowd got another revelation too—racers, like many other people, occasionally drink a little too much and say some dumb things.

Rich Oliver didn't need the help of Canadian Truth to get the room in stitches as he described his first motorcycle (the handlebars, after Rich had gotten done with them, were held in place with rope). Josh Hayes was hilarious, stealing the show with every comment he made. What does a top AMA racer do when he feels like taking a ride on the street? He throws on a pair of shorts and cruises down to the beach, looking for girls, of course! When asked the perennial favorite technique question, “How many fingers do you use on the brakes,” Josh replied, “Well, that depends how much I’ve missed my brake marker by!” Funny stuff.

Beautiful television host Dagmar Midcap (http://www.dagmarmidcap.com/) was one of the emcees for the event and did an excellent job adding a professional air to the proceedings. Bernie Ryan, who works at Action Motorcycle School, was the other emcee and did all he could to keep the Q & A on track amidst the increasingly off-track responses from the racers on the panel. However, once one of the racers said, “Man, that question sucks! Let’s hear from the audience!” there wasn’t much Bernie could do. The guys on the panel had become their very own force of nature, and since the crowd was ecstatic, Bernie and Dagmar kicked back to enjoy the show along with everyone else.

The fact that this whole event was a benefit for the British Columbia Kids' Cancer Foundation (http://www.baldingfordollars.com/) wasn’t lost on anyone present, even amidst the “enthusiasm” and fun everyone was having. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in being touched by a presentation given by the Cancer Foundation, which showed some amazingly brave eight- and 10-year-olds finding a way to kick cancer’s butt. Periodically throughout the seminar, Colin’s expression would change slightly, and he’d say something about “Don't forget why we're here!" This was a guy who really did care about the cause he was there to help.

Things wrapped up around 11 p.m., and the racers all hurried back to the hotel to prepare for another festive evening. Unfortunately, I never made it out on the town with the racers, as I was helping Dat and the Action crew pack up after the event. I’m not sure I could have kept up anyway; I’m getting kind of old to stay up so late. Which racer ended the night strutting up and down the streets of Vancouver, talking trash and wearing high heels? I think it’s better if I don’t name any names!

The next day, as if perfectly planned to contrast with the vibe of the previous one, Rich, Mike, Dat, Dat’s wife and I drove around sightseeing and visiting art museums. Rich is an avid painter (http://www.decontrol.com/rich_oliver), and he was enthusiastic about seeing the cultural side of Vancouver. We had a couple of great conversations about the artists whose work we were admiring and the state of modern art in general. We also talked a bit about Rich’s decision to remain clean and sober through most of his racing career, a decision that he says put him in a fairly small minority in the AMA paddock. He was careful to make it clear that racing is very serious business, and although plenty of guys liked to blow off steam when the racing was done, he’d never seen any racer allow alcohol to get in the way of his ability to do his job. It just wasn't for him.

The most we see of racers’ personalities is often through their riding. We assume we can tell who’s timid or tough, arrogant or humble, merely by the way they conduct themselves on the track. The post-race, press-conference interviews rarely tell us much about what a racer is thinking or feeling. I wish everyone could spend a day driving around with his or her racing heroes, telling jokes or talking about what’s really going on with the top-level machinery they’re paid to race on. Even though I missed out on the last evening of hilarity with the boys, I had a great time and am looking forward to this year’s season even more now that I feel like I know Colin, Jason, Josh, and Ritchie a little bit better.

Back in the present tense, Vincent just won the race at Daytona! I guess that makes another celebrity I "know," since I once got the chance, at a Willow Springs club race, to ask him how to go faster. (His wise answer: was “Just don’t think about [crashing]. Just go out there and do what you came here for … Ride the bike.”

Thanks to Dat Louie, Roy Yamada, Bernie Ryan and the rest of Action Motorcycle School, Pacific Yamaha, Burnbay Kawasaki, Motorcycle World and Carter Motorsport, Dagmar Midcap and everyone else who made the event happen, and especially to Colin Edwards, Jason Pridmore, Josh Hayes, Rich Oliver, Richie Alexander, Mike Sullivan, Steve Dick and Mark Kruger.