The ramblings of an old moto-xer.
All week long I sat at my desk writing computers programs thinking about next Sunday and what CMA had in store for us. Saturday was set aside for getting the bike ready. Back then power washers were something only the pros had, they were ridiculously expensive. That meant to get the bike clean all the plastic had to come off to be washed, what takes 15 minutes with a power washer now took hours back then. It took all morning to get the bike ready but back then it was something I actually enjoyed. How things change.
Four Months of racing flew by. This was something totally new to me, I had never competed in any kind of sport before. We were loving it. Fortunately for me when I decided to take this sport up my wife, Debbie, decided that if I was going to do it she was going to be right there with me. To this day she is my best critiquer, dunno if that is a word but it gets the point across. She knows more about not only the sport itself but what I am supposed to do on the bike than half the guys I race against. As if a new sport and everything it entails weren't enough of a change to our lives Debbie had her own little surprise for me somewhere around mid-summer, she was pregnant.
Surprise, excitement, oh oh what will this mean for racing ? Debbie's answer to that was 'You better build boxes on the trailer for your "racing crap" because I am going to need the trunk for the baby's stuff'. Guess that answered that and I was told. We finished out the 86 season with Deb a little larger at the end of the season than when we started.
Over the winter I built 2 boxes on the Canadian Tire trailer for all my "racing crap". They ran the full length of the 4 X 8 sheet of plywood that made up the deck, low enough to go under the foot pegs, just enough room in between for the bike. At least it gave me somewhere to paint name and number etc.
March 27, 1987 Christina Lynne Chorley makes her grand entrance. Debbie , of course, takes it all in stride, 30 minutes after giving birth she walks down a couple of flights of stairs to have a smoke. Yes kids back in the "good ole days" you could smoke in a hospital. Tough as nails my wife, absolutely no complications , short recovery time and mom and daughter are ready to come home. Mother Nature it seems had other ideas, freak snow storm shuts down the whole city. My Mom had been up visiting from Florida , she was scheduled to fly home that morning. We got up in time for me to drive Mom out to Pearson and get back to North York General to pick up "my girls", or so we thought until we looked out the front window. Mom called the airport, everything was canceled, not just a couple of flights, everything. Mom calls Dad and tells him while I set off for the hospital, I arrive late. It took longer to get from Scarborough to North York that day then it would have taken to get from Scarborough to Pearson and back to North York on a dry day. The girls are ready when I arrive and we set off home, not as bad going home, the plows were finally making a dent in the mess.
Fast forward a month or so and racing has started for 87. CMA at Mono Mills, Christie makes her track debut. Totally un-phased by the whole thing she sleeps thru the day. A pattern has been established. Remember, these were the days of 2-stroke 125s 250s and 500s, no 4-stroke moto-xers back then. None of it phases her, she sleeps literally right beside the track.
Fast forward to Christie's 3rd birthday, Yamaha PW50 with training wheels and a bell helmet. Down the back yard, crash into the hedge. Dad rescues Christie from hedge. Up the back yard, crash into the back of the house. Seems Christie is going to ride her bike the same way she has driven her electric jeep for the last year, when it is time to stop, look for something to drive into. Has another pattern been established , only time will tell.
Fast forward to the summer after Christie turns 6. Dad why don't I get to race ? What to buy , what to buy? A young bike mechanic buddy from Cycle World East has his freshly rebuilt cottage bike , a 1979 Honda XR75 up for sale. The cottage boys have decided to upgrade to mono-shock trail bikes. We strike a deal and Christie's first race bike comes home. Oh oh no room on the Canadian Tire trailer for 2 bikes. Grampa to the rescue. My Dad has a much bigger, 6 X 10 flat bed trailer built for us and we can now haul 2 bikes, is this a sign of things to come ? Not much racing for Christie that year, Dad (that's me) has been told by the boss (the would be Debbie) that there will be no "hockey dads" allowed. Christie races when she feels like it. We spent a fair bit of time in the Ganaraska Forest so that Christie could adjust to the clutch. One particularly frustrating day in the forest with Dad's nerves fraying a hero appears on the horizon. Dad and daughter both get invaluable lessons that day. Christie is taught how to use the clutch and Dad is taught how to teach Christie. Thank you, thank you, thank you Richard Lawrence.
The XR75 lasted for that season and about half way thru the next season. Christie has discovered that she loves to jump the bike. She's not too interested in braking or cornering or going fast in a straight line. Too much to be seen off the track, people to wave to, stuff like that. But jumping, now that is a whole different story. The rear shocks on the back of that poor XR75 just were not made to take the kind of abuse that Miss Tiss (Christie's latest nickname) is handing out. Time for an upgrade. Enter the 1985 Honda XR80. The XR75 is kept, ya never know when we might need it again Deb. 2010 and the XR75 is still part of the Chorley stable. Never used by a beginner rider to learn on again as Miss Tiss is an only child but it has seen service as pit bike and fun bike to this day. Don't worry Deb the mono-shock rear suspension on this bike will handle the jumping and this bike will last her a few seasons. 2nd last time I ever made a prediction like that. The second half of the season goes great, Christie loves the much superior suspension and all around better performance of the newer bike.
Boring cold winter, yay spring and racing can start again. A couple of races into the new season and Dad's prediction, and hopes, from last summer of multiple seasons on the XR80 are shattered. Dad I hold the throttle wide open and everybody just gets away from me. Christie, apparently, has decided that she wants to race and not just site see out on the track. Who knew?
Enter the 1989 Honda CR80. A new pattern is established with the arrival of the significantly more powerful and faster CR80. It will probably take her the rest of the year to get used to this bike Deb, it is a lot faster. This was the last prediction about Christie and racing that I ever made. First race day on the CR80, practice looks a little bit tentative. First moto, first time the throttle on the CR80 is twisted wide open. That's more like it Dad , this bike is way better. Christie has shown Dad that she is nothing like him. It takes me a long time to adjust to a new bike, it takes Christie literally minutes. This is a pattern that will repeat itself time and time again over the life of Christie's race career.
Several seasons are spent on the CR80, thank the moto-x gods for small mercies. Moto-x and hare scrambles seem to be totally natural for Christie. One winter, some where in this stretch of time on her CR80, a family of racing friends, the Sheppards, pointed out that hey the PJ1 Arenacross series has an event in Niagara Falls New York, why don't we go down and try it. Off we go to Niagara Falls in January. First time we have ridden anything like this, wow is the track narrow and tight. Dad is tentative but finds out that hey I like this tight stuff. That remains the same to this day. Christie, of course, is totally unphased by the tight track and just thinks it is cool to ride indoors. We did not know it untill she rode her main but Christie was the only female competitor that weekend. She finished quite well if memory serves me but because she was the only girl racing that weekend they had decided to interview her at the end of the moto. This would have been simpler if Christie hadn't decided to take that extra lap. Apparently so intent on racing that she didn't see either the last lap or checkered flags. At the end of her parade lap Christie was interviewed. Mom had borrowed a video camera for that weekend and somewhere the taped footage of Christie's PJ1 Arenacross interview still exists.
Christie takes on any racing challenge that presents itself and excels.
Outgrows the CR80 and moves up to a CR125. Dad's rules were pretty simple, if you can pick it up and start it you can have one. Christie decides she is ready for a 125. Dad drags his out of the trailer, lays it down on the ground in the middle of the back yard. There ya go, show us you are ready. Dumb ass that I am. Christie walks over picks the bike up, throws her leg over kicks it twice and I am in trouble. There she sits in the middle of the back yard revving my CR125. Christie races Dad's CR125 at LDRMC & OCMC for a little while until we can afford to buy her own. Now up on the big wheel back Christie really starts to show her natural talent on a motorcyle.
Over her career Christie has raced many type of events. Moto-x, hare scrambles, indoor arenacross in Niagara Falls, Skydome (I don't care what they call it, it is Skydome), at London Motoplex, multiple winters of ice racing. The TV room in the basement is crowded with the trophies from all of these that Christie has accumulated.
Never content with any one format of Racing Christie has taken on Snowcross and pocket bike racing.
Snowcross was something. A racing buddy, Rick Amyotte, looked at Christie one frosty October afternoon in 2002 up at their place and said hey I have a sled that Christie can snowcross this winter. 3 of his sons were already racing snowcross. Without skipping a heartbeat Christie spins, can I Dad ? At this point a little explanation is required. We had owned snowmobiles when Christie was younger, we kept that at my Mom & Dad's place up in Bobcaygeon. Christie had ridden on mine with me once or twice but had never driven one, she was much too small at that point. Once the 50 km/h speed limits started to become so wide spread and was being enforced by the OPP we decided we should get rid of the sleds so that I could keep my driver's license. Back to Oct 2002, I tell Rick that she has never driven a snowmobile. Having watched Christie race her bike for several seasons Rick is totally unphased and says not to worry she can handle it. And so starts Christie's season of snowcross. We wait anxiously for the snow, it is 2 weeks before the first snowcross race in Ontario before we get snow. That weekend we go up to the Amyotte's place and Christie rides the Skidoo MXZ500 around their several acre back yard for a few hours. I ask Rick if he is sure he wants to let Christie race this one year old, in perfect condition, sled. It only has a few hours on it total ride time. Un-phased Rick just tells me not to worry about it. This was one of the few times Debbie did not get to watch Christie race, most of the snowcross events were way up and gone in Northern Ontario. Debbie did make it out to the Peterborough events and that is where the pics were taken. Christie adapted immediately and rode the sled like it was a bike. The best way to race snowcross in my opinion. Christie ran mid pack all winter, an amazing feat if you ask em given that all the other girls had ridden and raced for years and Christie had zero experience. Snowcross it turns out is ridiculously expensive for an amateur sport. The events are over 2 days, Saturday & Sunday, each day a separate event. So you are looking at 2 nights accommodation in a motel or hotel. Lots of traveling, most of the events were in Northern Ontario. Even with the full sponsorship from Rick, we did not have to pay for the sled, the fuel it burned and we took Rick's Ford Excursion every time so we did not have to even pay for fuel to get to the track, the cheapest weekend we had was over $500.00. Too steep to repeat this adventure for us.
Now we jump to race season 2004. Four stroke moto-xers are now taking over. Christie on her CR125 is definitely at a disadvantage but I am not ready to buy a used 4 stroke because I am not comfortable with working on their top ends. Besides, at this point I have been racing 2 stroke for 20 years and I will race them till I can't throw my leg over them any more. Ya know one of these days I am going to have to stop making such definite statements I just keep making myself look like a jackass. I am pretty sure it was early fall when I crashed and took myself out in '04. It was a 2 day event at Four Winds MX Park, our home track. Saturday afternoon I hit a kicker in the face of a jump, apparently, and went over the bars. Multiple cracked ribs and another concussion kept me at home on the Sunday. Debbie & Christie went up to race on Sunday. Our buddy Rick was sponsoring a young fella that year to race 250 & 450. There were 2 CRF450Rs and 2 CRF250Rs in the pit. Christie asked LFR (Little Fat Ricky) if she could please ride one of the 250s. Rick who can't refuse a kid anything said of course and gave her the backup CRF250R for the day. I'll just let everybody go and ride at the back Mom. Well that was half true, she did let everybody go but half a lap later with the feel of the bike conquered off she went. Christie took to the 4 stroke like the proverbial duck to water. Christie has always been a short shifter, a style that does not work too well on a 125 2 stroke and she had had to battle with that her entire career. On the 250 4 stroke that riding style works perfectly. Winter 2004/2005 goes by, Debbie comes up with the money to get Christie a brand spanking new Honda CRF250R from Machine Racing. 2005 was Christie's best season ever, she flew on that Honda CRF250R. Yet again showing her innate ability to adapt virtually instantly.
We took a few winters off and then in the winter of 2005/2006 we gave ice racing another shot. It was fun but the tires on the CR125 were getting tired by the end of the season so come winter 2006/2007 we decided to bite the bullet and put out the $750.00 for a new set of ice racing tires.
The first weekend in January 2007 brings the spring bike show at the International Centre which Deb & I attend of course. We walked the show and found an interesting booth in the racing hall. We had no idea that day but finding that booth would introduce as much change into our lives as the decision to take up moto-x all those years back in 1986.
I had looked at pocket bikes in the past but they were priced way too expensively to buy them just as something to putz around on. The bikes on display in the booth, the OPBRL (Ontario Pocket Bike Racing League) booth, all European liquid cooled little rockets, just furthered to cement in my mind that they were out of reach. The young fella working the booth, the bikes were all his, was very helpful and when I told him the bikes were too expensive as all our money was tied up in racing moto-x he very helpfully volunteered the information that the OPBRL now had a class for CAGS. Maybe it was the blank expression on my face, I don't really know, but after a few seconds he explained that CAGS were air cooled Chinese knock offs and they were cheap. How cheap could they be ? $250.00 he says. No I mean the whole bike not just the tires. No, the whole bike costs $250.00. Just go over to that booth right over there and you will see he volunteered. The booth in question was the Daymac booth and sure enough there they were, pocket bikes for $250.00. I spun and looked at Debbie. She had that damn, here we go again look on her face. But Deb $500.00 for 2 pocket bikes is cheaper then $750.00 for a new set of ice racing tires and the OPBRL are racing indoors this winter so it will be warm. Thank the racing gods the young fella at the OPBRL booth had provided me with that little tidbit of information. We walked the entire show again looking for more places selling the Chinese pocket bikes and there were quite a few. We ended up back in the racing hall where I got the info about the OPBRL from the young fella at the booth. Then we went back over to the Daymac booth and it turns out they have a store in Oshawa where we live, oh happy day. Bright and early the next day we are off to the north end of town and 2 nice shiny new pocket bikes came home. One red and one blue.
I am a Ducati freak, when we win the lottery, never mind laughing our time is coming, I will get an 1198s and a HyperMotard. Christie had wanted a Yamaha for years, absolutely nothing to to with the bike you understand, Princess's favourite colour is blue. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. Deb applied her creative and artistic talents to make the red bike look as much like a 1098s as possible and the blue became a mini R1.
The next weekend we took the bikes over to the warehouse for the trucking company I work for to get in some seat time before we went up to the OPBRL race the next weekend. We took off down between 2 rows of storage racks. I am going slow trying to feel it out, a little weird having the handle bars between your knees. I am about 3/4 of the way down between the racks on the first half of my lap when Princess blows by me like I am standing still. What the hell ? She has lapped me, I have done not even half a lap and she has lapped me. Typical Christie, ok yep the throttle is where it is supposed to be , it has wheels not skis and a track, brakes on both handle bars like a bicycle. Ok I have it. Bam the throttle is wide open and she is gone. We rode for an hour or so and then packed it in. Everyone is excited about next weekend.
We had a few problems with the bikes that first weekend at OPBRL but luckily that helpful young fella from the OPBRL booth from the bike show was there with his Dad, both named Lee, and they were extremely helpful. They told us to change the carb, the reeds and the exhaust and that would cure all the ills with the bikes. They gave us the name of a place in Hamilton, where they live, Tsunami Bike, that literally has everything under the sun for pocket bikes. Tsunami being so far away in Hamilton, we went back up to Daymac that week and got carbs and after market exhaust for both bikes. Not only are the bikes inexpensive but the parts are too. The carbs were an ongoing saga. After several races at OPBRL we decided to make a trip to Tsunami the next Saturday. Luckily the young fella showed up and we got the gear and another set of carbs that we needed.
About this point in time is where the "pocket bikes being cheap to race train" kinda came off the tracks. Christie of course is now fully aggressive on the pocket bike. Oh yeh I forgot to mention, that R1 replica lasted 2 weeks, on the 3rd week she crashed it into the tire wall on the inside of the main corner so heavily that she bent it so badly that it was not even worth fixing. We gave Lee Jr the money and he got a better bike for her from Tsunami. Ok only $350.00 bucks for the new bike and all the after market stuff from the bent one fits. Not that bad you say. Again I need to explain something at this point, the women in my family only give me enough info to barely keep me in the loop and they only do it when they feel it is timely. Here is a prime example of that in action. To this day I do not know how much Christie's Alpinestar one piece race leathers cost. Tom from GP Bikes gave us a really good deal is all I was ever told. Thanks Tommy. We raced that entire indoor season with OPBRL.
That summer Christie announces that she is not going to race moto-x but instead will race pocket bikes with Lee at OPBRL. Ok, OPBRL only races every 2nd weekend so we will race pocket bikes one weekend and then I can race moto-x the next. Yeh ok, sure. It turns out that pocket bikes take stupifying amounts of work to keep running on race day when you are racing outdoors and not on a pristine indoor facility, who knew ? For one the carbs suck their air literally right off the back tire. These things need attention literally after every heat. So much so that Dad cannot keep both bikes running and race. That ended Dad racing pocket bikes. My Ducati replica pocket bike sits, to this day, on top of the bar fridge in the TV room in the basement. I spent a couple of weeks wrenching for Christie and then Lee Jr's Dad Lee Sr came to the rescue, he took over wrenching duties on Christie's bike. At that point I went back to racing moto-x and we went to a few pocket bike races to watch. For some reason Christies's bike had gotten a lot faster under Lee Sr's care. Lets just say that the bike was not exactly stock any more. The man LOVES to tinker, tune and get the last ounce a bike has to give. With this much improved machine under her Christie rode to the class championship. This was not a ladies class as there are not enough women in the sport to warrant that. It was the class for the bike she was riding, men and women combined. Christie didn't just win the class she ran away with. On the 3rd last weekend of racing when Christie crashed and broke her collar bone, for the 3rd time I might add, she had enough points that she had already won the championship. She raced the final event of the summer with a broken collar bone, to make a statement I guess.
Now I said that finding the OPBRL booth introduced big changes into our lives, so far it is just another form of racing that we have tried, no big change. Somewhere along the way Christie and Lee Jr, formerly known as the young fella from the OPBRL booth, started dating. Here's that thing where I am only given the info the women in my life feel I need thing again. Ok you say so they were dating not a biggy. Well Lee is now my future son-in-law and also the father to my 10 month old grandson Hayden Victor Chorley Kuhn. How's that for changes ?
When Christie found out two weeks after racing Walton in 2008 that she was 2 weeks pregnant when she raced Walton she, for all intents and purposes, retired from racing. She has graduated college as a Registered Practical Nurse and is a mom so they tell me that means she cannot race full time any more.
This piece is entitled "Things Are Changing" not because of what I have told you about in my ramblings to get to this point but because at this year's bike show Gramma & I (they tell me that makes me Grampa but I refuse to accept that, I'm too young) were looking at what mini moto-x bike we will get for Hayden to start his racing career on. Full circle wow.
I fear there will be some competition between the Grampas about what Mister Hayden is going to race. I don't understand it at all. Just because his Dad is a Canadian Shifter cart champ, a multi time multi class Provincial champ on pocket bikes, the number 2 national plate holder for 2008 Parts Canada Superbike series CBR125 class and will be campaigning a 2010 Triumph Daytona in the 2010 Parts Canada Superbike series is absolutely no reason to think that he will do anything other then race in the dirt.
But that is fodder for a future post to the blog.
Well see y'all.
Until the next time kids.
My Dirt Bike Information Website
Christie's Online Race Resume
Our Team Website
