We have lost track of Carson Brown. He was one of our original DBT testers. But we’re pretty sure He got sick of writing tests, his Mon and Dad got sick of writing his tests for him and it was easier for him to dream that he may some day be a factory rider like Ryan Villapotto. That Pacific Northwest breeds a certain kind of disrespect for traction. Yet we found him on Facebook thrashing bikes and keeping his Dad Dwayne busy rebuilding them instead of creating exotic BBR minibikes for rich guys who think four-strokes should be air cooled and with two-valves. But we found him here. Muddy, dreary, slop and slime. Not like the limelight of California where 70-degrees and sunny is a bad day. Tracks prepped to perfection and only a few other magazine test riders clogging up the track getting photos shot of them for covers or two-page spreads, whatever those were. For the kids, that is like Instagram with 180,000 likes on a phone the size of a pit board that says “one lap, relax, win breathe”. Between sipping energy drinks and having the sag re-set after short two-lap sprints where decisions are made about how a bike performs–or how it will sell and rank in the ever-so-important shootout. You suffer in mud. You gear gets wet. You may have to wash it. Do you have a girlfriend or two to handle that like the California kids do? You only had one photographer shooting you? You had to wear your own helmet cam?
But you gave up the limelight. Or did you? Was DBT just a stepping stone to bigger and better fields? Maybe Dirt Rider needs someone to fill in for everyone in the all important corporate sales meetings. Dirt Bike’s photo model got arrested at the club (country club with the boss, not the club we were at…). You happen to have an orange helmet and MXA’s test rider crashed into TWMX’s test rider while they were both 1.5-hours late to the introduction of a new bike on the I-15 racing to Glen Helen. You have to fight off the traffic here going to the track–just like you have to shove aside the pit tootsies (with awesome tans) while trying to get from your leased touring car back to the bike being prepped for you. I know it sucks, but these are compromises.
Carson, you embody the spirit of Dirt Bike Test with hard riding rain or shine. We’ll ride in the mud some day and say we did it like Carson Brown. And we have pictures of you playing with toys in the garage, don’t forget that. And we control the Internets. Motorcyclistically speaking. Talk soon, texting doesn’t count.
