Tommy Searle and I go back to a time that we both realized together on the podcast, that we almost don’t remember. It was around 2011 when Tommy was living out a childhood dream of racing in the United States, and I was caught up in the whirlwind of traveling the world filming dirtbikes; earning in the process the very namesake of this podcast.

As we both reflected during the 3 hours that we sat and talked, that time in both our lives was about as ‘in the moment’ as it has ever gotten for either of us. Social media was in its infancy, there was no one taking photos or posting stories of the shenanigans but they were happening at a pace that both of us had never experienced.

Tommy is a guy that I always really enjoyed being around. He is as dry as they come in terms of humor and extremely British in that sense. We tried to work out how long it has been since we actually hung out and it would have been over ten years ago, but it felt like we talked all the time when we actually sat down to do the podcast.

I had heard crazy stories of Tommy’s dad at the races when he was just a kid, but it wasn’t until this podcast that I got a true appreciation of just how unique his upbringing was. He was the complete opposite of the fabled ‘mini-dad’ that almost everyone in the sport has at some point encountered, and when you hear some of the stories it makes me think it would be impossible to ever become a professional racer in the modern era with that as your foundation.

Not only did Tommy go on to become a professional racer, he proceeded to finish runner up in the MXGP World Championship multiple times and in the process become the most winning British MX2 rider of all time. It was epic to hear about Tommy’s rise through the ranks and professional career on the world stage, but equally are epic to get his take on the sport in general. 

We have been trying to make this podcast happen for a while and when the time came it didn’t disappoint.