Here is the best of the best, or so you thought anyways.
Here is the best of the best, or so you thought anyways.
Every time we add up the listeners to the Pulpmx Show or the Steve Matthes Show podcast our numbers grow. And much like those shows, pulpmx.com is also growing as the calendar pages turn. What started out as a blog for me to put some random stuff up has turned into a place where you can get a mix of instant news and updates from the races, some old school stuff and then whatever Moser wants to do.
I’ve got myself a little staff on my hands as well from Swizcore who keeps everything going behind the curtain as well as his entertaining and thought provoking Swizcorner column after each race (I like to think of it as what does the everyday man on the couch think of the races) to Blazier who specializes in the old school stuff and loves lists to Moser who’s idea it was to highlight the riders that don’t get highlighted to Mike Sweeney who’s old photos take us back to a time when motocross seemed cooler. Don’t look now but I’ve got myself a little machine called Pulpmx that is rolling along.
Like we do every year, we list the most read columns of the year but this year we’ve got a bit of a twist- our number one column was conceived and completed by an intern and our two and three columns are over a year old. One thing I’m learning about what people like is that you just don’t know what people will like. Different strokes for different folks would seem to be the motto here. Some things just travel around out there on the internet superhighway and you’re never really sure how they got there or when they’ll stop.
Our Ryan Villopoto video up on the Pulpmx YouTube channel (go subscribe now! https://www.youtube.com/user/PulpMX ) that’s over two years old is still gaining viewers and comments all the time. It’s insane.
So here are the top stories on Pulpmx for 2013 and obviously something we put out in January has a better shot at making this list than something in November but it’s still fun to look back at the things that made an impact. Thanks to the folks at Racer X for linking to some of there, thanks to Swiz, Moser and Blazier for their contributions to this story and most of all, thanks to you guys for coming back for more.
1- Ellie Reed Interview
http://pulpmx.com/stories/twenty-four-minutes-thirty-seven-seconds-ellie-reed
This is a little hard for me to grasp but I suppose it shows the power of Chad Reed, social media and the desire to read about someone who doesn’t get talked about very much. Our intern at the time asked me if he could do this and I said sure, why not? So Klinton reached out to Ellie, did a good interview and bing, bang, boom it’s the number one read story on Pulpmx.com in 2013.
Who knew? Shortly after this our intern quit and I haven’t heard from him since- like Barry Sanders, he went out on top I suppose.
2- Worst Bikes Ever
http://pulpmx.com/stories/worst-bikes-ever
Blazier- Well, considering this article made the top ten and I actually wrote it last year, I think it is safe for me to start living off my past accomplishments. If only I had four District 7 motocross titles and a wrenching career to wax on about, I would be set. That said, I can certainly understand why this article has been my most popular. In general, people love a good train wreck, and this article is chock full of them. The TM400 Cyclone, the ’81 CR450R, the Cannondale, these are machines that have transcended the usual motocross mediocrity to become legends.
I had a lot of fun researching and writing the tales of these woeful machines, and I am glad so many people have taken the time to take that journey with me.
3-Bikes that changed Motocross
http://pulpmx.com/stories/bikes-changed-motocross
Blazier- This was another one from last year that apparently smoked everything I put out in 2013 (how in the world my Fat Cat Classic Steel did not win #1 is beyond me). While I am glad people have continued to find it and (hopefully) enjoy it, I am somewhat disturbed by the trend. It would seem that I may have peaked in 2012, and like McGrath in 2002; my winning days might be over. Quite frankly, it may be time to fire my man-friend, switch trainers and start my own gear line. Oh well, if all that fails I can just go back to the well and write a nice article on another J-Law comeback. Hookers and blow = can’t miss.
4-Swizcorner Oakland
http://pulpmx.com/swizcorner/swizcorner-oakland-2013-shots-fired
Swizcore- There are some stories which are very hard to figure out as to how they ended up being so popular. This is not one of those stories. It’s simple, there was a big crash in the whoops at Oakland and it involved possible contact between career-long rivals, James Stewart and Chad Reed. Add to that, I included a “Zapruder-style” breakdown video of the sequence, including my own theory on what happened (a theory that was deemed inaccurate by one JS7 himself) and it’s just a little different view on a typical race weekend during Supercross.
5- 7 min, 48 Sec with Millsaps
http://pulpmx.com/stories/7-minutes-48-seconds-davi-millsaps
This is the most recent interview with Davi about his switch to KTM and how he was feeling about it. It’s not particular long or anything like that (Millsaps seemed very distracted while doing this so I wrapped it up early) but it’s with one of the sports top riders who just switched to a new bike and again, who knew? Simon Cudby was generous enough to let me use a photo of #18 on a KTM and I appreciate that.
6- Washougal Pro Circuit Pulpcasts
http://pulpmx.com/content/pro-circuit-washougal-pulpcasts
You want views and listens in 2013? Just do anything with the word “laser” in it and watch the people flock to it. This was the post-race Pulpcasts from the infamous Lasergate race at Washougal and although I didn’t get an interview with Mike Alessi I did get one with Ryan Villopoto almost immediately after the confrontation with Tony Alessi, Mike Genova and Jeff Alessi so the emotion in it is real and raw. I actually went to talk to the #800 about his pretty good race when all the shit went down. So I suppose people wanted to hear about RV and his thoughts about the whole deal.
7- 31 Min, 45 sec with Jeremy Albrecht
http://pulpmx.com/stories/31-minutes-45-seconds-jeremy-albrecht
Jeremy Albrecht is always a good interview. As team manager for JGR Yamaha, he’s honest almost to a fault about his riders and team. Albrecht has been around for a long time and worked for a lot of different riders that have won championships so he’s certainly got a grasp on things. This interview was done after a year that was pretty frustrating for the JGR guys and you can tell Albrecht isn’t happy. Again, he’s a good interview because he’s not scared to put it out there.
8-15 Greatest 125 supercross riders
http://pulpmx.com/stories/15-greatest-125250sx-riders
Reader Paul Quesnel is a fan of the numbers. He’s usually submitting stories that rely on and back up his thoughts with stats. It’s thought provoking stuff and he puts a lot of work into it. James Stewart being the best 125SX rider ever shouldn’t be a surprise but what about Brian Swink being second best? Yeah, exactly- that’s why you should read this. Good stuff.
9- MX Captured Rick Johnson
http://pulpmx.com/stories/tell-us-story/motocross-captured-2-rick-johnson
This was Mike Sweeney’s MX Captured story #2 with a big help from Rick Johnson. Sweeney is a freelance photographer who shot a lot of races in the area in the 90’s and MXA used his photos quite a bit. And Mike’s got a lot of archives stuff that he was showing on Instagram when I approached him to give him a few bucks and use them on Pulp. And thanks to RJ for coming on and talking about this photo. It’s an interesting look at what was Johnson’s final national and as usual with Rick, he knocks it out of the park with his memories.
10- Ugliest Team Bikes ever
http://pulpmx.com/stories/look-back-old-moto-mags/gps-classic-steel/five-ugliest-team-bikes-ever
Blazier- Here is another one I had a great time doing. I always enjoy a good bench racing session and that is basically what this article with Swiz was. I can’t say I agreed with all of his choices, but that is what makes it fun. In spite of his blind affection for the god-awful ’04 Pro Circuit bikes, I respect his opinion in matters of moto. In fact, he actually turned me around a bit on the 1993 Hot Wheels KX’s. Now I think they are only slightly goofy, instead of world-class fugly. Maybe in 2014, we can debate the finer points of Women’s Motocross and finally take the top spot.
11-Muddy Creek Pro Circuit Pulpcasts
http://pulpmx.com/content/pro-circuit-muddy-creek-mx-pulpcasts
I have no idea why people wanted to hear what the riders had to say after Muddy Creek. But I’m thankful they did.
12- Tell Us a Story Jason Thomas
http://pulpmx.com/stories/tell-us-story/tell-us-story-jason-thomas
Our guy JT$ writes a little story about his incredibly awful year while being a factory Husqvarna rider. Good times indeed and I remember being really happy for my friend when he got the rider with Husky and then somewhere around the middle of the year feeling very, very sorry for him.
13- 20 min, 5 sec with Zach Osborne
http://pulpmx.com/stories/twenty-minutes-five-seconds-zach-osborne
Swizcore- I feel like this story had some legs just because it was immediately following Zach’s first professional off-road race, where he podiumed. It’s no secret that we fans and enthusiasts of racing always find it pretty damn cool when one of the elite from the ranks of SX and MX venture into the type of racing many of us enjoy on the regular. There was also some discussion of him losing the “338” in the coming year. Few numbers in moto carry the weight of the three-three-eight.
14- An Honest Look at the 250MX Points
http://pulpmx.com/stories/honest-look-250-national-points-0
I do these columns after the sx and mx seasons and I’m sure they hurt some feelings but it is what the title says- I go back and honestly look at a riders season and assess it. And sometimes, it ain’t pretty. Why the 250MX points column made it and none of the others, again I don’t know.
15- 24 min, 32 sec with Andrew Short
http://pulpmx.com/stories/24-minutes-32-seconds-andrew-short
It’s Andrew Short talking about a bunch of things in his usual way and you people liked it, what can I say? I wonder how many clicks were from a guy in Spokane just hitting it over and over?
64th- Backpacks, Boots discussion
http://pulpmx.com/stories/backpacks-boots-and-boards-discussion
A special note to a couple of columns that I did where I enjoyed myself quite a bit. One is that I’m not happy about this recent trend of mechanic’s looking like Sherpa’s climbing Everest when they go to the gate. And also thinking that these little boots they wear can help a 55-horsepower bike not break loose from a rut. It’s simply ridiculous and I went around the pits at Oakland to get some thoughts from some different mechanics on this great debate. I had a good time doing it, learned a few things but in the end, I stand by my thoughts. I also guarantee you that this is the only article on any motocross website that deals with mechanic’s and what they wear to the gate.
185th- Greatest Feats of the Rollerball
http://pulpmx.com/stories/greatest-feats-rollerball
I was on the plane to Unadilla when I just decided that this column HAD to be written. Yeah, I know totally not really anything interesting to anyone outside of myself but I had to do it. When I got to my room that night I spent about four hours reading and searching old Cycle News to get the stories behind some of Ross “Rollerball” Pederson’s results. Sadly, it’s numbers indicated that not many of you gave a shit.
We wanted to get Moser’s take on his most-read column of the year which came in (much to our delight) at 162nd and again to our delight, he didn’t take it well. So he wrote up this little essay for all of us on his thoughts:
Moser- If 2nd place is the 1st loser what is coming in 162nd place? I can’t say I’m particularly proud of this statistic, last year at least I broke the top 100 with the 99th most read article. Overall I’m happy with how my writing has progressed. I look back at some of the first articles I wrote and I question why Steve even put them on the website. Do I make numerous grammatical and punctuation errors? Yup. Do I take the time to adequately proof read? Nope. At this point I’d hate to let down my loyal readers (all 29 of you) by providing something polished it “wood” be selling out. Here are the notable articles of mine for 2013, in my opinion.
BTO Sports Team profile: Interviewing the entire BTO Sports Team, through the drunken haze that is my Seattle SX viewing experience I managed to interview almost everyone on the team. I did lose my prepared questions for Shorty but rebounded with my first recorded phone interview.
http://pulpmx.com/stories/btosports-ktm-team-profile-1
Jimmy Albertson: I finally got a complete Jimmy Albertson interview after he spent all of 2012 not returning my texts, and emails.
http://pulpmx.com/stories/just-short-11-vol-2
Ronnie Stewart: This man doesn’t exist on the internet and social media and after ranting for months my voice was finally heard and a sponsor of Ronnie’s got me in touch with him. Just goes to show you the squeaky wheel gets the grease. I made it my solemn goal to get Ronnie on twitter and he promised me he would, I’m still waiting.
http://pulpmx.com/stories/27-minutes-46-seconds-ronnie-stewart
Nate Alexander: Matthes favorite mechanic and Shorty’s practice and race bike mechanic. Nate was not a fan of Moser when we first met, I can’t imagine why. Nate has come a long way from living in a tent and showering with a hose in the back of the Eleven10Mods shop. He’s had an interesting journey to become a professional mechanic and lots of entertaining storys. I still don’t think Nate likes me.
http://pulpmx.com/stories/29-questions-withnate-alexander
I covered riders who came up Just Short, had some type of Shortcomings, interviewed an entire team and some privateers in between. None of which are my most read article. What got read the most? My drunken exploits in Moservations Washougal. It’s ironic that Steve was not a fan of this article yet it was my most read of the year. I remember arguing with him back and forth via text after I submitted it. The proof is in the pudding from now I’m only going to write about drinking to excess while wearing short shorts and a unicorn mask. Bring on 2014 I’m coming in hot.
http://pulpmx.com/stories/2013-washougal-moservations
Until next year. Please send any and all comments to jasonw@racerxill.com
Moser
