This weekend saw the 7th event of the AMA Supercross Championship season, and I watched a lot of it. I have never ridden a motorcycle or dirt bike. The company I keep is pretty into the scene. I don’t watch every weekend race, nor do I keep up with the standings, but I was not a first time viewer. I believe I’ve been to more Supercross races than I have CT Surf events. I’m not only watching because my friends and family enjoy the culture, but I also watch because I surf.
Surfing and dirt bikes seem to be on opposite sides of the spectrum. Gas, gears, and gauges are in an alternate world to sand, skags, and swell. On the surface. What ties the two together is the extreme skill it takes to be proficient. To the average viewer, my dad for example, surfing comes off as a repetitive, stale affair. Off the bottom, off the top. If the waves are big – drop in, barrel, kick out. Why is one score higher than the next? Clearly a 10 is going to be better looking than a 3, but why was 4 less than the 5? Similar story with Supercross. There’s only going to be one winner at the end of the night, but how did he win? Did he get the holeshot and lead the entire race? How many passes did he have to make? That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The amount of people who ride dirt bikes is colossal. The amount of dirt bike riders who can hit a triple shrinks the field. And the number of riders who can average just over a minute per lap for 10 laps, at least twice a night on race night; 22. At least that’s how many riders are in the Main Event for each stop in the season. There’s around 150 trying to make the Main Event. Do you see the parallels now?
Chances are that if you’re reading this, you know a lot of people who surf. I’d say that number is whittled down if I asked how many of them surf good. And we all know there’s only 34 on the CT. There were 165 that competed in the Challenger Series last year. Much the same.
If you have an opportunity, try watching Supercross. It’s pretty entertaining. Just have an open mind about it. It’s not as flipped-hat, bro’d out as your little preconceived thoughts convey it.
Cheers,
hwilsin