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What’s really going on with your bike’s exhaust system? More than just a tube of metal shooting out burnt gasses, exhaust pipes are a blend of hard science and artistic metallurgy. 

We wanted to start with the basics of what exhaust pipes are all about and head into the weeds a bit with cone angles, gas velocities, and pressure, sound, and heat waves. With nearly 20 years at FMF, and more time working on exhaust before that, George Luttig is the R&D Director at FMF Racing the perfect guy to talk to about all things exhaust related. Not only is he in charge of creating new pipes for all the motocross and off-road machines that we, the general public, buy, he’s also the guy working directly with the race teams to come up with factory-level equipment that is custom-tailored to each and every rider. Sit back, relax and get ready for some serious talk about hot gas. 

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One of the pleasant surprises at this year’s Monster Energy Cup was Jeremy Martin’s return to racing. If you recall, Jeremy suffered a seriously broken back at Muddy Creek during the summer of 2018 after tangling with another rider in mid-air. Even worse, he later suffered a series of infections, as well as complications from the unsuccessful initial surgery. This was obviously a major hiccup in not only his career plans, but life in general. We caught up with him before he lined up at the Paris Supercross to talk about the time off, how he’s been doing since getting cleared to ride, and a whole lot more.

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Are you fishing for something new to listen to? So were we, and when  we hit up James "Bones" Bacon about doing a podcast, he said, "Sure, as long as we can go fishing while we do it." Bones headed up the suspension side of Pro Circuit for over three decades,  Over the years he got to work with all of Pro Circuit's legendary riders from pro to amateur, and in off-road, freestyle, MX and Supercross. While he slipped into retirement about a year ago, we couldn't let him get away that easily and headed up to his place for a chat. 

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For Broc Tickle, the last two years have been something quite different than the rest of his career. In 2011 he won the 250 West title, and he's been a reliable top ten rider in both the 250 and 450 classes ever since. After being on the sidelines for nearly the last two years following a positive test for a banned stimulant, he's counting down the days until February tenth. That's when he'll be able to return to action. While he's been looking forward to lining up again at the races, he's been helping train other riders, while also ramping up his own training and riding program. At this point, he doesn't have a ride lined up, but he'll be ready to rock in case something comes up.

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Just before Eli Tomac wrapped up his third-straight 450 national MX title, we sat down with his dad, John, to record this Inside Line. I've known him for quite a while, back to his early BMX days, and throughout much of his legendary mountain bike career. It's pretty easy to see how Eli would have picked up a lot of early examples of what it took to be a champ, with the training, skills, and work ethic that he was exposed to. We talked about that, plus a whole lot more. It was fun to catch up with John, and I hope you guys enjoy this one.

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Normally our Inside Line podcasts are a little longer conversations, but with some of the forum chatter over the recent selection of Team USA, we wanted to drop this one in with three different voices. We've got one from the AMA side to explain a bit about the selection process, one of a rider on team U.S.A. talking about how this year's team structure and prep will be different; and finally, a story of when none of the selected riders wanted to participate for Team USA.

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It's always fun chatting with Hall-of-Famers, and Jeff Ward is no exception. He's been at it forever, from effortlessly wheelying his minibike in the intro of the original On Any Sunday movie, to winning a whole bunch of National championships, Supercross, and Supermoto titles. And that was just his first chapter. He later moved to four wheels with Indycars, Off-Road Trucks, Rallycross, and has had some success in each. Now when he's not out training or racing on his mountain bike, he's out giving TT races a whirl. Wardy's one of our favorite adventurers, and the subject for this week's Inside Line. Sit back and enjoy.

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If you were going to pick the most successful motocross trainer of the last 20 years or so, it'd be pretty much impossible to not to select Aldon Baker. From individual riders like Ricky Carmichael, James Stewart, Ryan Villopoto, and Ryan Dungey, to nearly the whole current Red Bull KTM and Rockstar Energy Racing Husqvarna rosters, he's been helping build winners for a long time.

In here he talks about how he got started, the difference between training an individual rider versus a whole stable full of talent, the struggles of starting his own facility, and a whole lot more.

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Freddie is the last man standing from the MX Heaven Swedish invasion of 2011. Since then he's done everything from a full privateer effort to filling in with Team Honda HRC. Now it's a family affair, with his wife Amy, and daughter, Jolie, making the rounds. We caught up with him after the third round of the 2019 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship at Thunder Valley.

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Christina Denney has been the team manager of the CycleTrader.com/Rock River/Yamaha team for the last decade, and she had a rather interesting route to ending up in the team manager's spot. She lets us in on that story, plus what it's like to be the lone female team manager in the paddock in this week's Inside Line.