This has been the theme of our household for the past month or so. As I mentioned in my last entry, my longtime friend and mechanic Jesse Black and I partnered up to start The Dirt Lab - a full service retail, service, performance and accessory shop that sits like a hat on top of Phoenix, AZ. A lot of my days have been spent doing inventory, making signs, mopping floors or just sitting behind the computer ringing out customers. It sounds kind of mundane, but in truth I am really enjoying the change of pace. Plus our shop smells like new Dunlop tires, so that is a bonus.

Last Sunday I raced at a local track in Arizona called Firebird Raceway. Zack McKinley, the race promoter, has been trying to get me out there for a while and I finally gave in. I can't even tell you how much fun I had doing such a low pressure race and just hanging out with my family and my new friends that I have made since opening The Dirt Lab. There are a great group of guys that go to MMI (The Motorcycle Mechanic's Institute) that hang out at our shop and bench race. A lot of them are aspiring young riders themselves, and quite talented at that. Long story short, I am really glad I went out there and battled it out with some fast local pros, and even made a little spending cash for the week. Racing at the AMA Professional level is fun, but racing your buddies at the local track on Sunday is equally cool.

Speaking of cash, my wife and I have resolved to cut up our credit cards and go cash only for a while. It has only been three days but I can clearly see that I am much better at this than her. She has been dipping in to my supply and I am already down to $149.00, which has to last me for another week. I will keep you posted on my spending habits, or lack thereof, but it is looking like I will be packing my lunch from here on out.

One last thing on The Dirt Lab before I put it to bed. Jesse and I would like to thank everyone who has helped us get our doors open. Bob White from USA Sport for our gargantuan sign and track banners, Zack McKinley for helping us with promotions and metal projects, Tyler Harshman for your long hours of welding stuff on our behalf, our awesome interns for cleaning the commode, Chip and Amy Rish for your never-ending generosity, FLY Racing, WPS, Rockwell Watches, Kingdom, Factory Effex, Dragon, Yoshimura, Pure Pain and every one else who has had a hand in making our dream shop a reality. Last and so far from least, I have to thank my wife Cassie for always believing in me (even when she has good reason not to). She is my best friend, my love of my life, and my "Weird Science" girl.

Thanks for reading my rants.

RC

It has been a long time since I sat down in front of a screen and just wrote for the sake of writing. There has been a whirlwind of activity in my life, both good and bad, since the last time I reached out. As I sit here and gather my thoughts to put out for the world to see, I feel like I am in a really good place. Not exactly the place I expected or intended, but a good place nonetheless.

It is no secret that times are tough in the industry right now. People are hurting, companies are hurting and the industry as a whole is just in a funk. So what better time than now to start up a motorcycle shop? At least that is what me and my longtime mechanic/friend Jesse Black thought. So we started up The Dirt Lab in early January, and to everyone's surprise it has done very well. The goal is to expand to online retail, but for now we have our hands full with what we are doing. This has been years in the making, but we finally got our ducks in a row and pulled the trigger.

Team Solitaire, my life's work and the dream that I just could not turn my back on is still marching on, although the economy has slowed our progress. It is a tough time to race motorcycles for a living. Five years ago I was making great money and living comfortably even though I was a tenth to fifteenth place guy in the mains. There are far fewer rides available today, and the bonus money and manufacturer's contingency has gone in the wrong direction. Kudos to all of the guys out there still making a go of it and living out their dreams in these meager times. I have faith that things will turn around soon, but until they do the competition in the pits will only get tougher as more riders fight for fewer opportunities.

I always have to talk about my family. When everything else in the world is turbulent and unpredictable, there is no better feeling than recognizing the innocence and purity of my children. They are oblivious to money problems, stressors and the host of other daily drags that rear themselves so frequently. Sometimes I wish I could be like them; but then again they can play with the same toy for hours on end and not get bored. I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

I haven't ridden my motorcycle in two weeks. I thought I would take some time off after the series went to the East Coast to heal my body and find the fire again. I have realized one thing over the past two weeks that makes me appreciate even more the life I have been living: Riding a dirt bike is the one thing in my life that I am in complete control of. I can make it do what I want, when I want, 99% of the time. Aside from mechanical issues and other riders, I control my own destiny aboard my motorcycle. I am good enough that whatever I think just kind of happens. Sure I crash and make mistakes, but I also control, like no other aspect of my life, the outcome each and every time I get on my bike; and that gives me a great feeling of accomplishment.

I think I will go ride tomorrow.

RC

I am sitting on the couch of the owners of Redux Beverages somewhere in the hills of San Diego County. I started on a little Arizona-to-California adventure yesterday morning at 4:00 AM from my house in Phoenix that culminated with a round of golf and dinner at our primary. I made the five hour drive to the motocross mecca of Corona as the doors swung open at Dubach Racing Development. After dropping off some exhausted exhausts and picking up some fresh ones, I stopped in at MB1 Suspension to do the same thing with my forks and shocks. At the end of the outdoor season, the team had 13 motorcycles strung out between New York (home of Bob Kiniry) and California. When the race was over at Steel City, the task of piecing 13 bikes back together and selling them began. Since the sale of those bikes factors into our race team budget, the quicker I can sell them off the better. So instead of shipping everything out, I decided to combine a trip of dropping things off with some meetings and also a doctor's appointment with the world famous Dr. Steve Navarro to get my body back on track after a long and taxing season.

Looking back on the year, it was a pretty rough one for me. It had a few bright spots, like my rides at Las Vegas Supercross and Mt. Morris, and several low points, like injuring my foot at Mt. Morris and the spectacular crashes at Indianapolis and Steel City. But all in all, I have to say I am very disappointed with my results. I came into the year with high expectations, but everything slowly came apart and I never managed to get back on track. But the season is over, and I have some time to heal up, regroup and come back in 2009 more prepared. I plan on doing just that.

Despite my personal disappointments, Team Solitaire had its best season ever. Bob Kiniry scored us our first podium finish at San Diego, and we had great results throughout the season with Bob, Kyle Partridge and Ryan Grantom. On top of that, working with our new primary sponsor, Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator, has been so much fun and really allowed me to be creative and unique in our approach. We have renewed our deal for 2009, and we are tooling up to create an even more fun and competitive program.

So, just as always, you can read my rants here at the new site, and you can keep up with my schedule and race reports at www.teamsolitaire.com.

All the best,

Ryan

My son started pre-school on Monday, and my wife and I were really sad not to have him around for five mornings a week. He, on the other hand was excited as could be at the idea of going somewhere with a lots of kids, a train table, a sand box, and an endless array of books. He waved goodbye to us and thus began the next 20 or so years of his life spent in a classroom.