The DK Report

By Dylan Kaelin

The off-season is a long, slow, cold time of the year for any motocross enthusiast that lives in the great white north. Countless hours are spent day dreaming of riding, praying for warm weather, but most of all, WORK. It’s the harsh reality that comes with being a Pro in Canada. Only few are lucky enough to be on a salary-type contract that allows them to avoid the regular 9-5 job.

This off-season has been completely different for me. Years past it was spent hanging around home, working on school and at part time jobs, but for the most part traveling to Florida and riding daily. After the Montreal SX this year my life took a massive step into the reality of the real world. Three days after racing in front of thousands of people in the Olympic stadium, I boarded a plane for Alberta and set up shop in Killam. My parents had been renting a house there for the past few months, as my father has been working in Alberta for over a year now. I spent from Oct.9 to Dec.9th working for GLM Industries doing shift work as a labourer. 10 days on, 4 days off, and 10.5 hour days was how the shift work went down at the GLM site. I was lucky enough to get some racing in during the Future West Arenacross series on my days off. Spencer Knowles and G.A Checkpoint were nice enough to let me race Spenny’s practice bike. I really enjoy the racing scene in B.C., but unfortunately on Dec. 9th GLM was forced to shut down their work site in Hardisty, Alberta and lay off over 30 workers.

The next two months were the longest, most frustrating and hair pulling days of my life! Everything I was trying to work on seemed to be back firing faster than a 4-stroke with the hot start seized on. I called every team owner, only to be turned down or ignored. There were days when I called people up to seven times in hopes to get a hold of them. It wasn’t for lack of effort, that’s for sure! Yamaha kept pushing me back and eventually broke the news to me that there would be no budget for my program in 2013. This also happened the same day they signed Jeremy Medaglia, a bittersweet time to say the least. I am happy for Jeremy as he landed a good program for 2013 and the Yamaha 450 will treat him great. More head scratching and frustrating phone calls left me with one option. After many calls back and forth with Andy White, my decision was clear.

Insert KTM Canada…Hello 2013! Finally I had found a deal that would allow me to race the nationals again in 2013. After a few weeks and half dozen dealerships later, Andy and I had teamed up with Apex Cycle Sport in Waterloo for the season.  Anybody in the area should take a look at their site and swing by and check out their new shop, www.apexcycle.ca. I can’t thank the guys at Apex and KTM enough for helping me to compete this season in the MX2 class on the SX250F.

Now that I got my deal, how the heck am I going to afford all the gas and bills that go along with racing? Back to work it is! A few phone calls, couple strings pulled and back to Alberta I go! In order to make enough money in our off-season, Alberta is a must for most Pros. Long hours, hard work and good pay are the bonuses that go with the frozen oil filled province that we flee to. Packing up my recently purchased used sprinter van with good friend Drew Roberts, we hit the road. I packed almost everything I could imagine into my van.  Work gear, clothes, parts, blankets and the list goes on and on!  In the matter of 8 days, I drove from Grand Bend, Ontario, to Lloydminster, Alberta, to Conklin, Alberta, and worked a total of 50 plus hours. Then I traveled another 1500km to New Westminster, B.C where I enjoyed some downtime with my girlfriend Summer and her family.  To say the least, It was much needed after that adventure!

Currently I am 5 days into my 14 day shift in Conklin where I have been labouring for Foremost Ind. on their Jackfish 3 site. It is amazing the amount of money the oil field brings in. I have been staying in a brand new camp that is home to about 800 workers. Each employee has their own room that is just like your basic single bed hotel room. They have kitchen staffs that cook breakfast and dinner daily.  They have a full size gym, theatre, basketball and racket ball court, hockey rink, and an arcade that is at our finger tips to keep everyone busy after 12 hours of work. I have yet to see a movie or spend time in the arcade as my nights have been filled with time in the gym, plus emails and calls for racing.  It’s a grind that keeps me motivated and my mind on the task at hand. Which, at the end of every day, is to be prepared so I can race to my full potential. It’s a hard one to wrap my head around when I have only ridden twice since November 2nd and do not have my own bike to ride at this time.

Motocross will soon be taking a front seat in my priorities. I get excited knowing what my future holds, waking up every day with only one worry.  How can I go faster on my dirt bike? That’s what it boils down to, right? I’m betting my friends and family can’t wait for it either. That happiness you get deep inside while doing something you love will finally be back!

After this shift is finished, I will travel down to Calgary to meet up with Drew Robertson at Evolved Nutrition. A personal trainer is something I have never been able to afford in my past years. It should be a great help to further improve my daily grind. Once our training has finished, I will be heading back to Vancouver to retrieve my 2013 KTM SX250F. To say I am excited to have my own bike again is an understatement. I can’t thank my neighbour, girlfriend and Spencer Knowles enough for letting me ride/race their bikes during the off-season!

I am looking forward to sharing my life and thoughts with the MX world this season. Thanks to Ryan Gauld for letting me go ahead and write my own article. It’s something I have always wanted to do! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  Feel free to email me your thoughts or some topics I could touch upon in 2013!

I would like to thank my sponsors for their continued support – KTM Canada, Apex Cycle, Kal-Gard, FXR, Dunlop, DT1, Mika Metals, VP Fuels, Oakley, Forma, Atlas, Matrix Concepts, Superior Suspension Settings, Hindle, Rekluse, Wiseco, Kutvek Amerika,Marin Ortho-Flex, My PKG, RKI Industries, Cycra, Pro Wheel

 

Have a Good one!

DK #21

Follow me @DylanKaelin22