Frid’Eh Update #5 | Tyler Medaglia Interview | Brought to You by Dirt Care

Frid’Eh Update #5 | Tyler Medaglia Interview | Brought to You by Dirt Care

Week #5 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update belongs to Tyler Medaglia from Brookfield, Nova Scotia, and is brought to you by Dirt Care.

By Billy Rainford

Welcome to Week #5 of the DMX Frid’Eh Update brought to you by Dirt Care Cleaners and Lubricants, a Canadian company! Yes, we’re still in the deep freeze here in Ontario. It dipped below -20 Celsius overnight and it’s currently -12 in the sunshine. It’s so cold that cars actually get good traction on it because there’s just no melting on tire contact. And it sounds great!

I won’t be making the trek to Houston, Texas, this weekend for Supercross. I’ll be taking yet another round of racing in from the couch. However, I got a very random message from my cousin who told me he’ll be at NRG Stadium in Houston shooting video for Monster Energy. He said he had to attend a safety meeting before being allowed on the track and I told him we have to do that every singe week!

Of course, I also told him to make sure he introduces himself to Brown Dog Wilson at the safety meeting. He shoots the Monster Girls each week so he would be a good in at the event.

We’ll have 3 Canadians there this weekend, so he said he’ll grab as much content of them as his time allows, so we’ll see what he can do.

Tyler Medaglia is this week’s honouree as career #5. I always look forward to our conversations when his turn comes around. I’m not sure if I have more photos and video of his or Cole Thompson‘s career, but he’s definitely in the top 2.

We can sit and blab about moto or let ourselves wander off on hundreds of different tangents. I never like to call him up and record an interview if my plan is to transcribe it into text because they’re always just too long and I’m still not able to type without looking at the keyboard. I’m close, but not quite there yet.

So, this interview is posted as a podcast interview. The good thing is that Apple Podcast automatically transcribes for you and there are many AI programs that will do it for you for free, as well, so that has helped. Otherwise, I’d be typing this one out until I was recording next week’s interview with #6 Ryder McNabb!

With that said, this week you have the option of reading or listening to our 47-minute conversation.

Tyler mentions a pretty amazing stat during our conversation that he has had a podium in every year he’s raced the Canadian Triple Crown Series Motocross Nationals (and all previous incarnations). That means every year since he turned Pro in 2006! Unfortunately, he talks about how that streak came to an end this year at Gopher Dunes.

However, he had an amazing summer of racing. A summer that may even rank as his best ever? Read/listen on!

Here’s what Tyler Had to say this week from down in Florida:

APPLE PODCASTS

Direct Motocross: Well, of the top two people who I have photos of, done interviews with, and hung out with, this next gentleman is one of those two. I have got none other than Tyler Medaglia on the phone. It is his week for the Frid’Eh Update, week #5. He’s still got that number, moving forward. Tyler, thanks for chatting with us.

Tyler Medaglia: Yeah, man, it’s been a while. It’s good to hear from you.

I know, I mean, I guess I send you some random old photos from time to time.

Yeah, you do, and then I made a post with an old movie reference, and I didn’t know, you didn’t really comment on it or anything, so I didn’t know if you’d actually seen it or not.

Oh, I saw it. Monty Python.

Yeah, the Monty Python one, where they’re just waiting and waiting. Where he’s running towards them and running towards them. It’s the same clip over and over again. I think very few people got that just based on the amount of feedback I got from it, but the people who did get it, yeah, thought it was pretty cool.

You know what, I got it, I got it, but I’m not big on commenting on things, so I guess I should have done that, sorry.

No, no, it’s all good, I just, yeah, I tagged you in it, so I was just, whatever, it’s all good.

Something’s up with the Instagram algorithm these days. Yeah. Okay, well, let’s get to some chatting here. Where the heck are you?

I’m down at Bostwick Creek MX. This has kind of been my home away from home the last couple years down here in Florida. I just, I really enjoy this place.

It’s got a good variety of, good variety of riding, plus it’s kind of tucked away, so I can, you know, you don’t have to worry about leaving your stuff out at night, and yeah, the owner of the property’s really cool, and Talon and his son are buddies, and Talon’s buddy, Ryker, from home there, they’re in this little pack, and so, yeah, and it’s been good. We had a, I definitely had an eventful drive on the way down, but we’re here now, and it’s good.

Was this weather related or trailer blowing up related?

My trailer stuff related, yeah. So, the only one, when you come down to 95 from, like, the Maritimes, you go through New York City, and you gotta go over the George Washington Bridge.

Doesn’t that freak you out, that it puts you that close to downtown New York City?

Oh, yeah, yeah, it’s super sketchy. And they were doing, yeah, so any, there’s, like, so many horror stories from that, and, like, detours, and people ending up in the Bronx, and stuff stolen, and yeah, it’s kind of dicey, so there is a way to go around it that saves you a little bit of time. Well, I don’t think it’s, I don’t think you make time, but, like, it saves all the bullshit, really. But, anyways, I’m going through the thing, the bridge, and it’s, like, echoey, and kind of noisy.

I’m, like, ah, so I look in the mirror, and I notice that the line on the trailer is, like, one side is super low compared to the other, and I was, like, oh, boy, this is not good. So, like, I started, like, sweating. It’s, like, 11 o’clock, 11:30 at night. I’ve been driving since, like, six in the morning. So, I’m kind of, I’m cooked, I’m tired, and I’m, like, really want to get farther than New York City just because it’s busy, and then, so I see that. I pull into the next truck stop, which is, like, the biggest one in North America, it seems like, the Vince Lombardi one. There’s trucks everywhere. Like, there was, like, felt like there was 1,000 trucks, and I was, like, pulling up.

Tyler, you know I know where the biggest truck stop in North America is. It’s in Iowa.

Okay, okay. Well, this one is, like, maybe not the biggest, but it’s the gnarliest, it seems like it was. At least it felt like it.

So, I pulled in, and I lean down, and I look, and I’m seeing, like, one of the leaf springs is broken, and one on the other side is, like, one of them is, like, broke off, but it’s still in, like, the same shape, whereas the one in the back was dragging. Like, it broke in half, so there was nothing. So, that’s why the trailer was sagging.

So, you know, I’m parked in, like, a spot that’s not really meant for anything, because I don’t wanna take up one of the camp, the trucker spots, and, you know, money, and I didn’t know, because one guy was yelling at me to park beside the rigs, because I won’t get bothered. So, I did that. Everything’s covered in salt.

At least it was, like, 8 degrees. It wasn’t, like, overly cold. So, that was okay.

So, I, like, tried to sleep while I was looking at places, and then turns out there was a place that did suspension not too far. But, like you said, I had to drive my trailers. 28 feet long, so I’m, like, bringing in, like, New Jersey, and people are honking at me.

I’m trying to get turned around. I’m blocking, like, streets. It was just a fiasco.

So, luckily, the guys hooked me up, and they, you know, they’re really understanding, and they did the work straight away. It wasn’t really that expensive. They put beefier ones in, so it’ll hopefully last a little bit longer.

And, yeah, and then we, well, then we went from there, and we stopped in North Carolina, and just to, like, break up the drive, and, you know, break the bikes in, and, yeah, and just hang out, and then we stayed there for a weekend, and then headed here.

See, you can’t just throw that in there, and all of us listening to that are going, oh, man, he just said break the bikes in. That means new bikes. 

Yeah.

That’s pretty nice.

Yeah, yeah, so, yeah, we had our new bikes. I have a 450, and Talon has a 125 and a supermini with us. And, yeah, so then we’ve been pretty well just, the weather’s been really, really nice.

We got a cold snap here right now, but, I mean, that’s been, that’s pretty much everywhere in North America, it seems like, but it’s still rideable. I rode today was, like, 12 degrees, so can’t really complain about that.

Okay. Nice, man. Now, you mentioned Bostwick. Remember, we were there in 2011, I remember.

Oh, yeah. Jeez. Yeah, I’ve been coming to this place for a long time.

It’s always been one of my favourite places to ride. I really like this track. I don’t know, I just, I find it, when it’s busy here, it gets pretty technical, and, yeah, it’s fun, and I like that it doesn’t matter how much it rains, the back sand track is always good, and there’s trails here for me to ride, and then, you know, when it’s closed, Bernie lets me kind of do, like, a big super track, so I got, like, an eight-minute loop here that I can do, and when we’re just, when I’m just working on cross-country stuff, but then Talon is, you know, track ratting and doing motos, and, yeah, just the, you know, just the standard, it’s just continuing.

Right, right. Hey, you know, just to throw this in there, too, back in 2011, you were running around singing Pumped Up Kicks. 

Was I really?

Oh, yeah, you were.

Yeah, I probably was. I probably still do.

What do you listen to these days?

Ah, actually, a pretty good mix. Not a lot of newer stuff. I think, let’s see here, I can just, just bear with me, but I’m gonna go into my recent songs here, and we’ll go to the bottom, and we got, yeah, we got some HIM, we got some CKY, Coheed and Cambria, Suicidal Tendencies, some old Offspring.

Can you believe Suicidal Tendencies is still putting out music?! They formed in, like, 1980. 

I know. That’s crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so that’s, but I don’t know, I’ve been, like, listening to podcasts, and lately, I don’t know, I just get, you know, it’s the way she goes, change it up.

Right, okay, so yeah, I was actually looking on your Instagram there, and I saw that pretty long video you put up there that shows, looked like some of the real sand track there, and then into the woods and stuff like that, too, is that, are you getting Talon into the woods, too, or what’s he doing, a mixture, or is he sticking to the track rat stuff, like you say?

Yeah, he’s popping in and out. Like, we’re working on a good variety of stuff, just because I want him, he’s gonna do, he’s gonna race both, like he did last year, and I think it’s good to keep him doing both. I think I should have done a little bit more of both growing up, just because I think it teaches you a lot of good techniques.

Like, he’s really good now at, he’s pinpointing stuff on the bike where he doesn’t like it, and we’re making changes, and, like, you know, fiddling with suspension, and he’s starting to notice things and giving me proper feedback, so I think that he’s actually feeling his way around now instead of just, you know, burning gas, so, yeah, so that part’s good. We’re gonna do both, and he’s gonna do some, we’re gonna do some woods racing, first couple rounds at GNCC, I think he’s gonna race YXC1, and, yeah, and then we’ll race his qualifiers, and, yeah, and then, hopefully, we get a nice early spring up home.

[Since we talked about that 2011 winter down in Florida, here’s an interview Kyle Carruthers and I did with Tyler and Jeremy Medaglia at Waldo MX. Wow.]

Wow, okay, well, what about, actually, a couple questions there, what, Talon, I know your plan, your goal, of course, would be awesome to have you and your son, Talon, race a national together. I guess it could happen pretty quickly when he turns Intermediate, but how old is he, and when does he turn Intermediate? Would he be doing, you said he still has a new supermini, so he’s not even Junior yet?

Yeah, I mean, he would be Junior this year. I mean, he’s already ripping on the 125, I just, like, you know, he just needs to, I’m not rushing it, I don’t, like, I’m not rushing, especially, I don’t wanna rush him onto the bigger four-strokes yet, just because I want him to, yeah. I learned the hard way from some certain things, and I’m not gonna make the same mistakes with him, just because of, and it’s not like it’s my parents’ fault or anything, it’s just, you know, they didn’t have the same, you know, my dad didn’t race motocross, and he didn’t really, you know, you can be around it, and know it, and be a good, you know, my dad’s a smart guy, he can figure everything out, and he can see what works and what doesn’t work, but, like, he’s never hit a kicker, he just, but he hasn’t, you know, he hasn’t swapped out going wide open and ate shit, he’s never hit a kicker, you know, on a jump face, and endoed, had to jump off, and he hasn’t had, he hasn’t had made the mistakes that I’ve gone through, right, so, and I don’t want Talon to make those same mistakes as me. I want him to be a better rider than me, so I’m doing everything I can in my power to make that happen, and yeah, so that’s why, like, I think, I feel like I was just, like, rushed through the ranks a little bit quicker than I should have, but hey, that’s just, like, a whole nother time, another world, so, but yeah, I think that he could easily ride Intermediate this year, no problem. I mean, he’s riding against, he was, you know, riding the other day against this kid that’s, I think he’s a Pro, and on his 125, you know, so it’s, yeah, he’s good. He’s gotta grow a little bit and put on some weight before I get him on the four-stroke, but I will say, though, it’s getting old working on the two-strokes, man, they, you know, they’re…

They’re easier, but more frequent.

Yes, yeah, like, the kids, these kids are, the riding level is so high now, they’re just pretty much wide open everywhere, and especially down here, right, like, this heavy sand, it’s like a hard load on the motor, like, day in, day out, just wide open, so, yeah. So it’s a lot of, you know, keeping up with the bikes and trying to, trying to stay on top of things, but yeah, that’s, and then the same thing, like, I want him to, you know, at the GNCCs, or, you know, do, he hasn’t really even done a GNCC yet, so I’d like, you know, he’d be competitive in YXC1, and the bike, he can handle it. He could race his 125, too, but I think, yeah, we’ll see. See how he’s rolling there coming into round one.

Okay, so when you say YXC1, is that on the supermini?

Yeah, that’s, like, the Youth, that’s the fastest supermini class. 

Like, what Hayden? 

What Hayden would have done, yeah.

Okay, cool, cool. How old is, how old is he now? 

Maybe Hayden didn’t, maybe Hayden did the other class. I can’t remember what Hayden did.

Okay.

Yeah.

Hayden Dupuis, we were talking about there, by the way. How old is Talon now? 

He’s 14.

So he’s 14, okay. Okay, so you mentioned you came down there, who were you with? Is it just you and Talon down there together from the family?

Yep, yeah, it’s just us right now. Mitch (Cooke) just got down, he rents a house in St. Augustine.

Right.

Him and his kids are down here, so we’ve ridden with him a few times, and yeah, so Talon has a, you know, he can, he’s got a little bit of an escape, he can go skateboarding and hang out at the beach a little bit and get out of the camper and stuff. But yeah, so then we, and yeah, so that’s it. The girls are gonna come down at some point, but we’re trying to figure that out.

They’re enjoying the snow, I think. They’re like, the ski hills are good and they’re playing around the yard and stuff, so it’s cool.

Nice, nice. Yeah, so Talon can go to the beach while you put in top ends in both bikes yet again.

Yeah, yeah, that’s pretty much it, man. That’s pretty much it. I’m like, oh man, he needs like a kid 450.

I was at that house that Mitch stays at last year in St. Augustine.

Yep, they’re staying in a different house this year because that house sold, so somebody actually permanently lives in that now, so they’re renting a place, not too far, just probably like 10 minutes down the road.

Nice. Now do, obviously down there, and I know I rode with Mitch at Graham Swamp last year, what kind of bicycles do you have down there and have you been getting out on them?

I stole Heidi’s E-bike, so yeah, I just been, I haven’t been to Graham Swamp yet. Everybody, like there’s a little group of them, they’re getting ready to do a running race. I think there’s like a 30 or 50K like running race.

30 or 50K?

Yeah, there’s two options, like you can do the 30 or you can do the 50. 

Who’s doing that? 

Mitch is, Mitch is doing the 50, I think.

So he’s been running, he’s been running at Graham Swamp. I think he’s been bicycling too a little bit, but I think they’re all kind of like, there’s a couple, him and one of our buddies from down here too is the guy who owns Larry’s Giant Subs there, he’s gonna do it with him. And then like, I don’t know, man, like my one knee is kind of, kind of flares up, so I gotta like, it’ll take me a long time to build up to do 30K off the hop, so.

Yeah, 30K is nothing to sneeze at, and I don’t, and Mitch knows a marathon’s 42, right? And he’s doing 50?

Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s, he’s like, the other day he did like a 25K run, I was like, no, no thanks. I did those when Heidi was getting ready to do some Ultra stuff, so I would go with her for like 20Ks at a time, like, and she would like keep going for another, so it was just, just insanity. And then like, yeah, I’ve, the cycling stuff, I was more into that because it was pretty, I don’t know, just easier on my body, so I just like to, I’ll run just light to do like warm-ups and stuff, but for the most part, if I’m riding a bicycle, it’s one of the E-bikes, for sure.

Okay.

Or the trainer.

So now, okay, so you also, I saw on your Instagram too, you went to, you’re doing the tour, hitting different tracks, I saw you were at Waldo?

Yep, yep, just to keep it, mix things up, we’ve been to a couple of places. There’s like a national forest that we can go ride in that’s got some, you know, it’s got a sand track and then there’s some actual like, some more like, more different, like different trails than here. Yeah, we went to Waldo. I went down and visited Mitchell Harrison, so we went to Jack Chambers‘ place.

Oh, nice. 

That was pretty cool, because they have like the two Supercross tracks and Talon was, yeah, he rode around on his 125 on the one Supercross track, and Carson Brown was there, so it was like me and Talon and Carson Brown doing motos on the outdoor track while the guys were doing Supercross, so that was kind of cool, and it was nice that, you know, Julian (Perrier) and them let us come out and was around. 

Carson was on a ’73 Hodaka?

Yeah, he was doing like a moto on a KTM 150, and then he went on the Supercross track on a supermini with a 125 engine in it.

Yeah, that’s nuts.

And then he went back out on the moto track on like a CRF 230.

See, here’s the thing, you could do all that, I mean, you’re small enough that you could do that, I mean, it’s a pro-level rider dropping down to a supermini, I mean, I can’t think of anything that’d be more fun than doing that.

Yeah, I rode Talon’s when we were having issues at Loretta’s with the heat. I rode his supermini around, and yeah, it was pretty fun. I could, yeah, it wouldn’t take very long to go pretty quick on it, but yeah, I don’t know, man.

I was, I just like, I like the, I didn’t really, 125’s were my least favourite bike, so yeah, I just, I like the bigger stuff. I’m more interested in getting on a T7 or something than riding the mini bikes. When I was a kid, I broke my leg on a pit bike, and I don’t know, I just like, I don’t know, they just annoy me more than anything, so.

And like, with all my kids, with my kids and my nieces and nephews, they’re just like, it’s just a revolving door of me fixing junky, destroyed pit bikes, and they leak oil over my goddamn floor.

Derrick, Derrick, are you listening?

Yeah, no, it’s payback for sure, and my dad thinks it’s hilarious, right, so. But yeah, yeah, I just, I’ll stick to the, I’ll stick to the big bikes.

Okay, well, I like talking about the family, too, so we just mentioned Derrick, so we got to talk about him. I know, last time we did talk, you were starting to do some stuff with, I know he’s the big Kawasaki K’s, do you say K-Zee or K-Zed?

Oh, K-Zed, we’re Canadian. 

I know, but I thought maybe he’d, because they deal so much with, you’re kind of, you’ve been dragged into that, too, right?

Yeah, I mean, he has so much stuff, and he needs to teach somebody how to figure it out and do the same stuff and learn all the tricks of the trade, right, because it’s very particular and it’s only going to last so long because these old-timers are just going to, you know, the value is, it fluctuates with different types of motorcycles. So, yeah, so he’s just really, we’ve been, getting set up is the biggest thing after he moved from Ontario, it’s just, he has, like, he had five 40-foot sea containers packed all the way to the doors to the end, like, you open the doors and it’s just like a wall of stuff started, and we had to move stuff around, and he brought so much shit, and half of it, like, you know, I’m moving toolboxes and welders and glass beaters and lathes and all these machines, and nothing has four wheels, nothing rolls properly, it’s all heavy shit. And I still, like, I’m looking at my finger right now, one of my index fingers, I’m going to lose my nail here soon from working on that stuff. 

It’s insane, but, like, we would do that, and then we would start, then we would work on a bike, and he would start teaching me, like, you know, to do it from the frame up and do it and kind of figure out, like, more of a puzzle instead of, like, having the bike built, disassembling it and reassembling it, you know, how it would be easy that way. 

Yeah, that makes sense. 

He was kind of teaching me how to do it from, like, finding parts, and, like, we start with a frame and then start, like, finding parts and organizing where everything is and what washers go where and what triple clamps go for what bike and the forks are different and gauges, and he’s just got, there’s so much stuff, and I need to take, someone needs to learn where it is and how to do it all. 

So, I mean, it’s been really fun, and I spend, you know, and then spending, because it’s been, you know, I moved to Nova Scotia in 2009, so I haven’t spent that much time with my parents, not like this, right, so I’m with them every day, and it’s been a lot of fun.

I really enjoy it, and, yeah, it’s just, you know, he’s definitely scattered some days, like, we’ll be, like, mid-working on, have an engine, like, the head off of the engine, and then he’ll be like, okay, we gotta go feed the chickens. So then, like, we stop everything, put the tools down, and then go outside and feed the chickens or fix the chicken coop fence, and then I, like, look back, and he’s in the skid steer, and he’s like, hey, we gotta go, we gotta put, we gotta move this tree.

Yeah, but he’s also, he’s also answered his phone six times and made five phone calls, too, in that time. 

Oh, yeah, it’s crazy, and then we get done burning, he’s like, okay, let’s go in the basement, then we’re gonna, so then we go in the basement, we’re doing drywall, you know, it’s just, every day, it’s crazy. 

So the biggest delay of getting down here was because my, we had to build an accessibility ramp at one, at my mom’s cafe, so for the food inspector and just, you know, just jumping through the hoops, and so we had to build this crazy apparatus, and it was me and one of his buddies, Will, and we were out, it was like, you know, building a, randomly building a ramp for accessibility into the, into the cafe. So that’s been, that was winter on what I was doing, so it was crazy.

Man, I remember I was at your dad’s place last summer, and he was giving me the tour, and we’re kind of hanging out and stuff, and then he was talking about being out in Nova Scotia, like, the next week. I’m like, dude, you’ve got, like, a month’s work of packing to do here!

Yeah, there’s still, like, there’s, like, seven months worth of unpacking, because we’ve got to, like, organize this shit, and then he’s like, well, I’m gonna, like, man, he’s got cranes there that are moving containers, and they’re stacking behind, like, these, he built these walls, like, he’s building it the way, it’s coming together quite awesome, actually, and his shop is, his shop is really nice, so I think he’s took some of the stuff that he’s, you know, didn’t like from the last one, and some of the things, but it’s still, it’s still crazy, man, it’s still crazy.

Hey, you know what else was funny last year? He had all these iPads or something, and nobody could get in them started, so he left it with me, he goes, let’s see if you can get into it. He went into the kitchen and came back, and he looks at me, and he goes, what are you doing? I go, I’m checking my email. Haha

Yeah, yeah.

So I got an iPad out of the deal.

He called me yesterday, he called me yesterday, he’s like, hey, did you do that new stupid, the update on the damn phone? I’m like, no, I haven’t got the notification. He’s like, don’t do it, it messed up all my shit. I don’t know how to run my phone anymore!

I love it. I gotta give him a random phone call now after this. 

Yeah, you need to.

Okay, one more, we gotta touch on another family member. Any Jeremy stories you can tell us? People are always wanting to know what Jeremy’s up to.

Yeah, yeah, Jeremy’s good. Yeah, he’s been busy, he plays, he’s been playing hockey, and he didn’t really get to ride as much as he wanted to this year, because he was just like, yeah, just busy. 

And then they have this little spot that they ride just close to him that we don’t really go to that much, because we got so many places to ride, so I didn’t really get to meet up with him and ride all that much this year, but he’s got a YZ250F, and yeah, he’s got two kids, his son, Dagger, he’s a little menace, and he’s gonna be on the bikes, he just loves it, right? So his daughter, his daughter Coastie, she’s a bit older, and yeah, I mean, he’s moving too, he lives right across the street, like just down the road from my parents, so he’s gonna, they’re moving to just a little bit more of a quieter spot, I guess. 

I don’t know, he’s always kind of doing things, he’s like, I hear from him probably just as much as you hear from him, he keeps everything pretty close to his chest, so he fills me in when he thinks it’s the time. So yeah, but he’s doing well, I’m happy, and his health is all good, so he’s getting to do all the things that he likes to do again, and yeah, he’s been, yeah, it’s good.

Nice, okay, well I do have a couple more things here I wanted to ask you about. So I think it was last year, you didn’t do any nationals last year, did you? Motocross?

No, no, I got, I went to do Gopher’s, and yeah, I had a good start in the first moto, and I tweaked my bad elbow, and I bent it in further than it had been bent in since I had done the surgeries and stuff, so I broke a bunch of scar tissue loose, and it swole up like crazy, and it was so hot that day that the swelling wouldn’t go. Like I was gonna try to race the second moto, I couldn’t get the swelling out of my elbow between motos, because I was like, I was looking forward to it. 

I just raced the FMSQ there, I felt really good, and I raced for three hours in that heat, so I was really ready to go, but yeah, I was just putting stuff together last minute, and then that happened, and yeah, I was just like, you know what, we were there for Talon to do the pre-mix anyways, because I knew that Deschambault was gonna be a stretch with Loretta’s stuff. So I told Kev (Kevin Tyler) that, for Talon’s stuff, I was trying to get them to as many of the Pre-Mixes that we could, because we were gonna miss out on Deschambault. 

So yeah, so that’s really the only one that we got to do, and yeah, so I think hopefully with the schedules this year, I’ll be able to do another one, and I mean, I’ve already done more track days now than I did total last year. I didn’t even ride on a track last year at all, this was all just like kind of woods riding. 

And yeah, and it was a lot of recovery, my elbow took a long time to heal, just with the surgeries and the infection, and it just, yeah, it took a long time to get going, and it was just in time for the FMSQ season, where I was happy with my strength. And yeah, and it’s continued to get better, and even right now, it’s the best that it’s been, so.

Okay, tell everybody, what was the first year you traveled the entire Motocross National Series?

2006.

2006, and was this your first time technically not completing one?

Yeah, that was my first time where I didn’t do it, and the crazy part is, is I had every single year since 2006, I had a podium finish at one of the Nationals. 

That’s got to be some kind of record! 

Yeah, it was pretty cool, so, so I got a podium in 2006 at Sand Del Lee and then my last podium was 2024 at whatever the national it was [He got 4 250 podiums in 2024 and his last one was at Deschambault], so every single year I’ve gotten at least one podium in in one of the other classes. 

That’s a wild stat. I like it. 

Yeah, so that was one thing that I was kind of proud of, and I was kind of like, you know, that’s that was one of the things that I wanted to keep going as long as possible, but…

Right, sure. 

Yeah, last year I kind of—it’s not that I—I think I could have actually done it last year too, to be honest, but I just, yeah, just I was more involved with my off-road side, and like, I didn’t even ride with moto suspension one day, right? 

Okay, well, I was going to, that kind of leads me to this, could this have been your best summer ever?

Maybe, I don’t know. 

I mean, FMSQ undefeated, Corduroy Enduro, going with Talon to the Motocross of Nations bLU cRU thing. Like, where do you rank this summer? Is it almost just as good?

Yeah, it was one of my best ones. Yeah, one of my better, it was very enjoyable. Um, you know it was new, you know, the pressure was on most of the year to be, you know, keep everything going and it was a lot more driving than I was used to, but having said that, it’s it’s, you know, it’s been good. I spent a lot of time with Talon so yeah it’s just like, it was good times. 

I was really happy with with the bike. My bike was really really good all year and uh yeah and luckily like Kirk from Valley gave it to me as a as a trophy, so… 

Oh nice! 

The last race I did on it was a charity race that we did in Nova Scotia and it’s got all the same stuff on it. Then I raced that one, I had two, well, I had three bikes and then I rode that one most of the time I had the other one just it was basically brand new. I had it brand new for Gophers and then that was just like a parts bike, so I was really comfy on the one bike and I didn’t really, you know, the chassis was well broken in. 

And then it’s the trophy bike and yeah it was a good season with the Cord and and the FMSQ and yeah, like you said, with the bLU cRU stuff with Talon too was was cool. It was a shame that we had a bit of a mechanical, but it’s part of the game.

A quick question there: compare going there with the pressure of being, you know, Captain Canada, versus being there as Moto Dad, and you’re watching your kid getting to race on that stage, what’s the difference there? 

It’s actually, it’s harder. There’s so much, like it’s so it’s such a big deal and he was such a good, like he was so good about it and you know he he showed up and and he was ripping right like all the boys were ripping, you know. They all did well but like yeah Talon was was really uh on it and yeah unfortunately, and even in practice and after the what his qualifier because they only had the one I was I was watching him and he was trying to do that big jump that you got the photo of… 

Yeah, little video. 

That was pretty cool and like he was struggling to get over that because it seemed like the bike wasn’t wasn’t going, you know. I was watching some of the other kids go by and I’m like, “Why is his bike seem like it’s not going because it was brand new?” and everything was dialled in. We did the test day and it was perfect and then, yeah, like I said, there’s the one small bolt on the on the top of the carburetor was just slowly backing off and that’s what happened on the hot lap. 

He came in off the hot lap and he says his bike was cutting out on him. I’m just like, oh my God. So then I was looking, I was, you know, it was panic even like yeah I mean he just being up on on the line and you know like Josh Coppins‘ kid who’s right beside us and where you know you could see you know the it’s just a big cathedral there’s people everywhere. It was a lot of. My heart was racing like I was, it was way it both times man it’s been it’s been, uh yeah. 

Racing it is a totally different thing because everything is under my, you know, I feel like it’s my control right and I and I really never struggled a lot with with being nervous with my own racing. I think that was one of the…one of my strengths as a racer. Just, you know, it was always there whether I was at a local race or at a, you know, at MX of Nations it always felt the same to me when right before the gate drops, so it didn’t change much. 

But I definitely, it’s definitely way more nerve-wracking and especially how, you know, how kids are going now they jump everything like that jump that he did was huge all those jumps at at like Matterley Basin that that he was doing like I remember doing those jumps and be like man these are pretty damn big, right, and like and then he’s launching them on a, on a minibike! It’s just wild. 

Well, some of our riders at Matterley Basin actually admitted they were nervous. 

Oh no, yeah, no, it’s it’s it’s tough. I mean, there’s always going to be, like, nerves and butterflies and stuff, but you have to—yeah, in that situation, you have to be able to handle that sort of that sort of pressure. I mean, and… 

I mean the actual track itself, they were scared to do those jumps and things, and there’s Talon doing it!

I know. It was just like 20 minutes before they were out there, you know, it’s not even that big, Yeah, so I think it’s good to just like get, especially this opportunity they have with the bLU cRU thing. It gets them into that sort of environment, and then you get to, once it’s your turn to turn Pro, you know, it’s seen, you know, it’s less pressure than what it should be, you know, because they’ve already gone through that experience at the highest level. There is like Motocross of Nation is the biggest dirt bike race on the planet, right? You know, bar none, so yeah, it’s cool. 

No, for sure. Hey, are you Talon’s trainer?

Yeah, yeah I gotta like make sure that he doesn’t, uh, just wear everything out. I gotta put him on a leash almost because he will just go and go and go and then he just eats like a savage and eats all our food. Yeah, yeah, so yeah, no it’s training and then there’s a couple of kids that have shown interest in doing some personal training down here, so I might do this March. I’m gonna train one or two kids personally. So yeah, just to you know something like the big schools and stuff aren’t my thing but you know I really enjoy when we have a small tight-knit group like how we how I always kind of did things. I don’t mind that. 

So okay now do you foresee that changing as Talon gets a bit older. 

What, like just me training him? 

Yeah, like “Enough out of you, Dad! I’m moving on.” 

Oh yeah, yeah. But, the good part about him is that, you know, he really listens to me. 

Oh, good.

I don’t have that issue yet. I mean, I’m sure it will be, but I can still smoke him, so my time is, you know, I’m on borrowed time right now with him, but I can still show him the way around the track. And we’re together so much that it’s a good, it’s a good thing. I think, that when the time comes and the right person, you know, when I feel like it’s time to let him do his own thing, then we’ll take that step when we get there. 

All right? Okay, well, so your 2026 plan—is it kind of similar to what you did last year, then, or what’s your plan? 

Yeah, yeah, very similar. I’m gonna do the the full FMSQ series and then I have a couple like have hopefully have a couple projects going with Yamaha to do some cool stuff like a couple of video projects and then Talon’s gonna race both like some motocross stuff and some off-road. He’ll do non-conflicting FMSQ’s and then I’ll take him to as many races that we can and and get him to do all kinds of different races all in different places and that’s pretty much it. I don’t want to, you know, it’s hard to not to overdo it, you want to make a schedule that’s that’s, you know, attainable and not gonna burn everybody out. 

All right, hey, does this mean he’s homeschooled? 

No, no he went to school all up until we left and then his teachers gives him work and he has this Google thing that they yeah it’s like correspondence kind of and does it. No, my kids are going to school. I want them to get that for sure, right, there’s no no skipping. 

How long are you staying down south then? 

There’s a Loretta Lynns Northeast Qualifier early April at Lake Sugar Tree, so that’s probably, we’ll probably hit that on the way home. 

It’s only January! 

No, I know. No, it’s almost February. Like, it happens quick, man! 

So you’re staying down there that long? 

Yeah, well, I’ll probably go back. I’ll probably go back home at some point for a break and a visit and then the girls are probably going to come down here. 

Okay. Wow, that’s a good long stint down there. 

It is. We kind of like I said that we were supposed to go to that auction that we were supposed to bring the two bikes down and we were ready to be here early and then with that I was like okay well, I’ll start the first GNCC because then with that amount of time I should be able to be 100% ready, you know? I mean, not like half-assing it, right? So I can start the first GNCC in February 15th or whatever it is and know I’ll be ready to race at my full potential instead of like, you know, normally when I go it’s like I’ll be on motocross suspension and I’ll, you know, three weeks into training after taking the entire winter off and just trying to survive out there. 

So I’ll just give her a go and I’m really happy with my bike right now. The new 450 is actually definitely a step in the right direction from from last year’s bike, in my opinion, so it’s a lot more manageable. It’s really good to ride and yeah I’m enjoying it.

How old are you now? 

I’m 38. 

Is that hard to say? 

What’s that? 

Do you like saying that? Are you okay with saying it? 

Oh yeah. No, I feel good. There’s certain things that change, you know, like the days of going to like, when I go into a gym, like a workout, like just the smell of it is just repulsing, so I don’t even, you know, I’d rather go cut trails and logs or you know do other stuff for training, like unloading my dad’s sea cans. 

I definitely noticed that like my strength has gone up because I think we moved like something like 90,000 pounds worth of shit, so um yeah, so that was kind of my workout. And then I’m still like, there’s times when I feel my age but at the same time it’s like well maybe it’s just I’m just tired that day, I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I feel good riding so… 

And you’re not cycling like you used to either, right? 

Yeah, my volume is down on that type of stuff. It’s just tough because, like, just burying myself all the time for so many years, man, I didn’t take any seasons off. I didn’t take, you know, it was just like a metronome really. Like, it was just a lot to do and a lot to… to, there’s a lot of abuse on my body so I just dial it back with the cycling and you know focus more on the stuff that’s a little bit more important. You know, less distractions I guess you should say because I already got enough on my plate with… not to say that I’m crazy busy or anything but I take my daughters to gymnastics and soccer and all the mountain biking and then Talon is a full-time job, really, just feeding him for crying out loud! It’s good. I’m really, you know, enjoying. It’s just the things… the way things evolve, you know? 

Hey, will you do ISDE again? 

Yeah, so ISDE this year is the 100th running of it, so that’s a pretty big thing and it’s in Portugal and I really enjoyed the one that I did in Portugal the last time. So I’m definitely looking forward to doing that. 

Oh, good. All right, hey, one last thing too, I’m wondering, while we’ve got you, how are things at Callus? 

Yeah, Callus is good. We’ve been pretty, you know, it’s tough right we got the Supercross guys so the PRMX and there’s a lot of like, it’s tough now with tariffs and all that other crap that’s going on, so shipping and stuff is a little bit… it takes a little bit longer and it’s definitely pricier for shipping, so it’s a bit of a kick in the teeth for that, but it’s still at the at the size where it’s enjoyable. And we can still have input on the gear like the colourways and what we’re doing and we still can get small margins so we can have limited runs of stuff and find out what people are liking. No, it’s been it’s it’s good. It’s healthy so yeah, I think it’s growing, growing at a good rate. 

And you know, I mean, like it’s all about just putting everything we get from it goes right back into it and try to build it and make it, you know, make gear that people would want to race it and want to ride with. I mean, we put it through all its tests and we get samples and we try, you know, we’re continuously trying to make it better and we’re both, Mitch and I, are both, and Talon for that matter, like, we’re all like pushing everything to its limits and and really like trying to refine it as as best as we possibly can so that way you know Mitchell Harrison’s confident enough to, you know, loving it racing Supercross and people are enjoying it.

Nice. All right, well, hey, it’s been 47 minutes here. We can keep going; I’ll just go off off the paper here and just start blabbing about all kinds of stuff, but we better let you get on with your life here.

Yeah, it’s good to catch up, and it’s good to, uh, yeah, take a second to talk about these things that don’t really get brought up all that much, and yeah, I give it, uh, maybe some, some, um, perspective for some people to see what, you know, what goes on. And this kind of dirt bike lifestyle. 

Well, I will see you down there at the Daytona time and the old Hog Waller time.

Yeah, Hog Waller. I should, I’m not too far from there, and, hopefully, I can do another, have another good performance there, so I’m looking forward to that.

Hey, do you go over the bridge and pop into that Subway? I’m just having all these memories of driving around to those tracks in that area.

Yeah, no, we go to that Larry’s. We go to Larry’s Giant Subs now. A buddy has it and it’s really, really good and they got this, they got this buffalo chicken sandwich that’s just deadly, man. Like, I enjoy the riding there, but I enjoy stopping at Larry’s just as much because, yeah, I get… it’s an excuse to get sweet tea, like it’s like that sweet nectar down here that you can’t get back home.

Awesome, all right, Tyler. Well, do you want to thank before we let you go? 

Just, you know, my family for continuing to support this this wild life and Kirk at Valley Yamaha, he’s, without hesitation, steps up to the plate for Talon whenever and everybody from Yamaha and Callus and just, there’s a lot of people behind our our program, so yeah, Enduro Engineering rims. Talon runs 100% and we get stuff from Matrix Concepts and Newf we’re lucky that we’re able to get hooked up with some great people and we run, well, I was trying to get the thing going with Callus and people running Fox helmets and boots so JC hooks us up so we’re trying to keep nice and uniform and we appreciate it. 

Well, that was a great catch-up. I hope everybody enjoyed hearing all that stuff about what’s going on in Tyler’s life and Talon’s life and everybody’s life down there. Good luck with the rest of your stay. I guess, what will your first, well, it’s not really a gate drop, what will your first race actually be, Hog Waller? No, there’s more before that, I guess.

Yeah, I’m going to race this weekend. There’s an FTR race, so there’s a Florida Trail Riders race three hours south, and then there’s a U.S. Sprint Enduro that’s like in Climax, Georgia, so over by Tallahassee, right? And, this weekend up there is going to be like zero degrees up by Tallahassee, I don’t know how enjoyable that is, so I was looking at other races. So the one further south is going to be, the weather’s looking a little bit better, so that might be the first one. 

Okay, nice. We’ll have to check some results and see how you do. 

Yes, thanks. Thanks for the call, and we’ll be talking.

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Zach Ufimzeff Thanks Guaranteed Comfort MX

Zach Ufimzeff from Mountain Country, BC has made a post on his Instagram page thanking Guaranteed Comfort Honda for all the support. He’s been going through some tricky health issues the past couple years so we wanted to find out what he’s got planned for the future.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Zach Ufimzeff (@zachufimzeff_44)

All he said back to me when I fired him a message was, “See everyone at Round 1.” I replied, “It better not be Premix!” To which he replied, “I’ll be racing the KX300...” 🤣

I guess he’s not ready to spill the beans just yet. If he’s healthy, he’s a great addition to any engine displacement class. Good luck, Zach.

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Blake Davies Interview

When we heard that #585 Blake Davies from Mission, BC decided to hop into his truck and pull his trailer from Kevin Urqhart‘s place in Menifee, California, to Houston, Texas, by himself to race Round 4 of 250 West Supercross, we had to give him a call.

We caught up with him as he was nearing NRG Stadium after his 22-hour drive and had a great chat. If you haven’t yet, you can listen to it here:

APPLE PODCASTS

Find it where you get them!

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Tyler Gibbs Elbow Update

I spoke briefly to Tyler Gibbs this afternoon to find out if there was any new news on the condition of the elbow he injured mid-week that took him out of Supercross at A2.

He said, “Hopefully, will be able to ride next week and be all good to go for AZ. I’ve got some physio tomorrow.”

That’s great news. Good luck, Tyler.

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Risi George Starts His Own Shop in BC

I got in touch with our old friend Risi George and he gave us an update on his new venture:

The Moto Lab is coming to Squamish, BC — a next-level powersports repair shop founded by a former Triple Crown race mechanic. Built on race-proven experience and an obsession with doing things right, The Moto Lab services all makes and models of dirt bikes, snowmobiles, ATVs, and side-by-sides. From dialed-in maintenance to full repairs and performance work, every machine is treated like it’s on the starting line. If you ride hard and expect your equipment to keep up, this is your shop.

Good luck with it all, Risi.

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Houston Supercross | Round 4

Times are Local/Central time

2026 SX 450 Championship

	#	BIKE	RIDER	POINTS	POINT ADJUSTMENTS	1: Anaheim 1	2: San Diego	3: Anaheim 2
1	3		Eli Tomac	70	0	25 1st	25 1st	20 3rd
2	96		Hunter Lawrence	62	0	18 4th	22 2nd	22 2nd
3	4		Chase Sexton	57	0	14 8th	18 4th	25 1st
4	94		Ken Roczen	56	0	22 2nd	20 3rd	14 8th
5	21		Jason Anderson	46	0	17 5th	11 11th	18 4th
6	1		Cooper Webb	46	0	15 7th	14 8th	17 5th
7	32		Justin Cooper	44	0	16 6th	16 6th	12 10th
8	17		Joey Savatgy	42	0	9 13th	17 5th	16 6th
9	26		Jorge Prado	41	-3	17 3rd	9 13th	15 7th
10	14		Dylan Ferrandis	37	0	13 9th	13 9th	11 11th
11	7		Aaron Plessinger	27	0	12 10th	15 7th	0 22nd
12	24		R.J. Hampshire	27	0	4 18th	10 12th	13 9th
13	28		Christian Craig	27	0	11 11th	7 15th	9 13th
14	46		Justin Hill	23	0	8 14th	8 14th	7 15th
15	27		Malcolm Stewart	22	0	0 22nd	12 10th	10 12th
16	45		Colt Nichols	22	0	10 12th	6 16th	6 16th
17	12		Shane McElrath	13	0	5 17th	4 18th	4 18th
18	33		Austin Forkner	12	0	7 15th	0 39th	5 17th
19	36		Garrett Marchbanks	8	0	0 28th		8 14th
20	52		Mitchell Oldenburg	6	0	6 16th	0 41st

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Have a great weekend, everyone.