Vicki Golden has certainly been keeping herself busy during the so called “off season.” Between traveling the world, getting stranded in airports, and announcing a new partnership with an incredible organization, we were able to get Vicki on the line for a quick phone call. Check out our conversation with The Golden Girl and find out how she’s been spending her time rounding out 2013.
MM: The last time we spoke, you were getting ready to head to Geneva, Switzerland to compete in a Supercross race. How did everything go for you across the pond?
VG: It went good! I went over there to do the women’s supercross race and the freestyle show. When I got there, I got the bike together and everything was good to go. Freestyle practice ended up being first, so that kind of made it interesting just building a bike and then going off and hitting ramps straight off on a bike I had never rode (laughs). It was a cool experience, but everything went good. After practice they asked me if I wanted to do Speed and Style along with my women’s race and the freestyle show, so I ended up doing all three, which was cool!
MM: How did your women’s race go?
VG: It was good. It wasn’t really a race for me to go there and prove anything; it was just more of a fun race. I didn’t really put any pressure on myself, and I just kind of rode my deal. The first night I ended up getting a third and third, and then on the second night, I’m pretty sure I got a third and third again. Like I say, I just kind of rode and didn’t really try to push too hard. My asthma wasn’t really the best over there, so just trying to breathe and race was interesting.
MM: Now let’s talk about Speed and Style! You obviously competed with the guys in that one; how was it?
VG: Speed and Style was super fun! It was right up my alley since I couldn’t breathe too well with my asthma. It was only two laps, so it was like perfect for me, which is sad to say, but it was fun! Just racing with all of those guys was fun. Villa and I were practicing together all before X Games, so it was fun to actually race with him and stuff. I think I ended up getting fourth in Speed and Style against Villa, Rebeaud, Torronteras and Drake McElroy. It’s pretty crazy trying to jump and race and do a nac nac (laughs). Even though that trick is nothing compared to what they were doing, it was still weird for me to have to do that in race mode.
VG: It was a solo mission. I was going to bring a mechanic but all of the bike work that I needed was pretty basic. All I brought was my suspension, bars, a throttle tube, a clutch perch, a pipe, and a sprocket and chain, so it was all stuff that I could swap out. Bringing a mechanic didn’t seem to work out with my current mechanics schedule and I could do all of the bike work myself, so I just decided to run it. It wasn’t really that big of a deal. I had Jessica Patterson’s mechanic help me with a few things, but that was about it! I travel a lot by myself anyways and I guess it was a little different since it was like Europe and stuff, but it was totally fine. We don’t really get to go out anywhere anyways. It’s basically just airport, hotel, and arena, so it wasn’t really a big deal going by myself.
MM: Did you have to ship your bike overseas, or was there one already in Geneva for you to ride?
VG: Well in previous years, I’ve gotten brand new bikes straight from the bike manufacturers in that country. The first year I went I was on Honda’s, and I got a brand new bike straight from Honda of Switzerland or Honda of Europe, whatever it was, and it was the same deal for Kawasaki. This was a little different though. I ended up getting a borrowed 2014 KX250F. It wasn’t really a bad thing, but I just didn’t know who rode it before and how much the maintenance was kept up on it. It gets a little scary in that point, but being a 2014 model, there isn’t much that could be ruined that quickly, so I was all right with it. On the plus side, the bike was actually broken in and it wasn’t super ridged like it is with a brand new frame, so that was good. The only downfall was that it had a tire that just wasn’t suited for what I was doing. I’m pretty sure it was a sand tire and we were obviously in a hard packed arena and on ramps, so I ended up having about half a knobby left by the end of the weekend (laughs).
MM: So it sounds like you had a pretty good trip then?
VG: Yeah it was a fun trip! It was a huge pain in the ass getting home though. It took me about two and half days to actually get home, compared to one day, so that sucked.
MM: The last time we spoke, you mentioned that you had some big news coming up. Can you talk about that yet?
VG: Yes I can! I am now an ambassador for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. This is something that has been in the works for about a month or so with myself and Angela LaChica from LaChica Sports. We worked with them to put something together so that I can help bring awareness and support to the foundation, and we finally got to debut my involvement over this past weekend, so that was cool to finally be able to let everyone know what we’ve been working on.
MM: For those who are not familiar with the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, can you give a brief overview of what the foundation is and its purpose?
VG: The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is a paralysis foundation. Christopher Reeve was a well-known actor who was paralyzed, and he built the foundation to raise awareness, prevent, treat, and try to cure paralysis.
MM: What does it mean to you to be involved with such an incredible organization?
VG: It’s awesome to be apart of something like this. My dad was paralyzed from riding dirt bikes, so it hits pretty close to home. Christopher Reeve was a gnarly guy to do everything that he did and it’s really cool to be apart of it all. It’s a huge foundation already and for them to bring me on board as a brand ambassador is pretty huge.
MM: As a foundation ambassador, it looks like you are going to have to dump the skinny jeans every now and then and put on a dress. Can we expect to see you dressed up more now?
VG: (Laughs) I’m guessing so! I can get away with skinny jeans for Mulisha interviews, heck I could run a sleeve cut off and nobody would care, but I’m pretty sure I can’t walk in there with skinny jeans. I guess the more fundraisers I do, the fancier I’ll have to get
MM: It looks like you have a new addition to one of your arms. Did you get some new ink?
VG: Yeah I got my third tattoo on my right arm a few months ago. It’s a lady and a lion. I initially just wanted to get a lion because my cat of 15 years recently passed away, but I didn’t want to get a cute little house cat on my arm (laughs), so I decieded that a lion would be way cooler. The artist that did it is super good at drawing chicks and people and stuff, so I gave him a basic idea of what I wanted and he kind of ran with it. He came but with the sketch and it was way cooler than I thought of, so we just went for that one.
MM: How long did that tattoo take?
VG: I’m pretty sure it took around five hours. Originally we were going to do two different sittings, but he was feeling it and I was feeling it so we just kind of went for it. That last hour I was super over it, but you gotta get it done I guess (laughs).
MM: Any tears?
VG: (Laughs) No, no way! Like I said, I got pretty over it pretty quick in that last hour, but Matt’s got a pretty light hand and he’s really good at what he does obviously, so no, it wasn’t that bad. I’m pretty sure I’ve had worse pain.
MM: Any plans to get more tattoos in the future?
VG: Yeah. I’m trying to space them out. Obviously they are super addicting and I’m totally down to get more. Every like week or so I’ll think about it but then I just remind myself to wait a little bit. I’m trying to hold off and as long as I can to space them out, but my will power isn’t holding out too well.
MM: So what’s next in the life of Vicki Golden? Continuing to stay busy?
VG: I’m actually just kind of working on getting my 450s set up. I just dropped my suspension off today to get valved for ramps and stuff, so I’ll get that back on the bike in the next few days and get working on ramps and getting used to that new 450. I actually hit some ramps on it the other day, which probably wasn’t the best idea because it had super soft moto suspension on it and the gearing wasn’t anywhere close to a ramp set up. I wanted to wait until the bike was all set up, but I’m a dirt bike rider; I’m not that smart, so I just went for it. I’ll just blame it on my home-schooled stupidity. And if not that, I’ve hit my head a few times and I’m blonde, so that helps. I’ve got three legit excuses to cover anything stupid that I do (laughs).
