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Fifty years ago, a film fueled an explosion of interest in motorcycling. Twenty years ago, a magazine assignment introduced me to one of the most passionate and fascinating subcultures in motorcycling. One year ago, a pandemic upended everything.
All of those events come together for me when I watched the new video produced by RIDE Motorcycles with support from KTM, Husqvarna Motorcycles, GasGas, Troy Lee Designs and the United States Motorcycle Coaching Association. "The Year of the Jubilee" is a three-part series produced by Troy Adamitis and directed by Nate Scribner and and the first episode is now out on YouTube.
The film 50 years ago was, of course, "On Any Sunday." By showing the fun of riding and racing motorcycles, it boosted the boom in motorcycling. U.S. motorcycle sales peaked in 1973, even though the population then was less than two thirds what it is today. "The Year of the Jubilee" hopes to capture some of the magic of the film back then and again fuel interest in off-road motorcycling.
It was 20 years ago that I first went to the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championships at the Loretta Lynn Ranch to cover the event for American Motorcyclist, the AMA magazine (the year James Stewart came in and trounced everyone just days before turning 16 and becoming eligible to turn pro). I returned for several years, writing for the magazine and the web site, sweltering in the humid heat and dust (or mud, depending on the weather) of Tennessee. As a street rider, for me those assignments were a fascinating immersion into a motorcycle subculture that matches the passion of any I've seen.
Families spend a huge amount of their effort, sweat, money and vacation time to allow their children to qualify for and get to Loretta Lynn's. The shared sacrifices and family bonding I saw were some of the best elements of motorcycling. Then there were, to be honest, moments that felt a lot more unsettling. "Little League parent" syndrome is a pale imitation of what some motocross parents do. Fortunately, it's at least partially a self-correcting mechanism. If it's the parent's dream, not the child's dream, it usually doesn't get far or last long.
Episode one of "The Year of the Jubilee" takes us inside Loretta Lynn's. If you're mainly a street rider, like I was 20 years ago and like most RevZilla customers are today, this 20-minute film will introduce you to a motorcycle world that is foreign to you but shows a passion you'll recognize easily.
As for 2020 — well, you know that story. But for many of us, the biggest surprise of the pandemic was how it caused a surge in sales of off-road motorcycles. A lot of that was families getting together to do what they could do when all else was shut down.
Will that surge of interest last? Or will we return to the long-term trend of secular decline in the U.S. motorcycle industry, as the number of young people taking up motorcycling is smaller than the number of people aging out?
The world of 2021 is too different from 1971 for there to be another "On Any Sunday," in terms of impact, but "The Year of the Jubilee" is aimed at doing its small part to preach the joys of off-road motorcycling.
