The Code Cave

BRUSH VALLEY–On many weekends, John Logan hauls his Yamaha YZ 250 to area dirt tracks and kicks up some dust on the amateur motocross racing circuit.

But Logan, 46, noted he isn’t a “hard core” competitor in this sport where victory can hang as much on timing of turns and jumps as it does on power and speed.

“I’m not out to try winning trophies,” he said. “This is a hobby for me.”

Besides, his weekends aren’t entirely devoted to off-road adventures. On Sundays, he has a standing appointment at the Brush Valley United Methodist Church, where he has served as pastor of the 120-member congregation for about eight years.

“Folks in the church are kind of resigned to the fact that I’m not quite the orthodox (pastor),” Logan noted.

But, as he describes it, serving the spiritual needs of his flock and taking part in a sport noted for loud engines and spectacular leaps isn’t such a mismatched combination of interests.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Logan said of his racing efforts, which he began this season after years of watching from the stands.

“Christians are normal people,” he said, “but we’ve got a different motivation for living: we want to enjoy life and use the gifts God’s given us.”

Though he may not be in his regular work place or dressed in clerical attire, Logan doesn’t stop being a minister when he kicks his dirt bike into gear.

In keeping with his religious calling, Logan has chosen “316″ as his racing number.

It’s a reference to the oft-cited Biblical verse, John 3:16–”For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

“Being a pastor, I thought it was appropriate,” he said.

Logan noted his lifelong love of dirt bikes, begun as a boy in Greensburg, has allowed him to bring his ministry to others in new, unexpected ways.

In the 1980s, after he completed seminary school in Massachusetts, Logan received a pastoral assignment near Brookville–where he soon organized dirt bike trail rides with members of the church youth group.

When his duties took him to Saegertown, Crawford County, he got away from motorbike excursions for a time: “I didn’t know of any places to ride.”

But his riding days resumed after he arrived at his current post in Brush Valley, in 1994.

He recalled his thoughts turned once more to his favorite pastime when “I was visiting a parishioner (Tim Pavelchick of Penn View Mountain) about having his baby baptized and I noticed he had a motocross bike.”

One thing led to another: after he “succumbed to spring fever” and did some window shopping at an area bike shop, he found himself purchasing a model similar to Pavelchick’s.

He began taking trail rides with Pavelchick and his wife, Barb, who accompanied her husband and their pastor on a quad runner. Since then, the couple’s son, Adam, 8, also has become involved in off-road recreation.

“It’s like family time, tooling around out in the woods,” Logan said. “It’s a social thing, an exercise thing and a fun thing.”

According to his father, Adam Pavelchick currently competes on a 50 cc Polini XR3 racing bike in events at the Westmoreland County fairgrounds. But his parents, preoccupied with a home construction project, have backed off from the sport.

Tim Pavelchick said their shared hobby has made the relationship between pastor and parishioner that much closer.

“He’s a pretty cool guy,” he said of Logan. Instead of a figure one usually associates with a spiritual ideal rather than physical reality, Pavelchick said, “It was nice to see your pastor come in limping like you do once in a while, with brush burns on his arm”–the result of the most recent trail ride.

Another parishioner, Tom Hampton, often accompanies Logan to area motocross events, either to watch or to compete.

“I think it’s really great that he rides,” Hampton said of Logan, though he noted it took some time to think of his pastor as “just a regular guy” when the pair takes to the trail or track.

Like Logan, Hampton fell in love with motorbikes at an early age: “I’ve been riding since I was about eight years old.”

He had been racing in local motocross events, on and off, but had quit for a while as a result of an injury.

Renewing his involvement in the sport, he convinced his pastor to follow suit, beginning this season.

Hampton noted, “I got him talked into it on Friday nights,” when arena-style motocross races, designed for shorter tracks, are held at the Westmoreland fairgrounds.

“I thought I’d give it a try,” Logan said. He noted, no matter one’s age, “When you try something new, you still have butterflies.”

Such was the case when he first began racing on his Yamaha dirt bike: “Before I took off, my mouth was so dry I started grabbing a handful of raisins to chew and suck on.”

Also before a race, Logan said, “I usually pray with whomever I’m with. We pray for everyone to be safe and have a good time.”

Logan won a first place plaque at one of the fairground races, which are sanctioned by southwestern Pennsylvania’s District 5 of the American Motorcycle Association.

But he noted it was an assured outcome since he was the sole competitor in his division.

Hampton explained the District 5 “D” class is for motocross beginners, but they are prohibited from attempting a double jump–wherein the bike launches into the air on the entrance slope of one earthen jump and lands on the exit slope of the next jump.

“I like to jump, if I can,” Logan said, estimating his bike has gone airborne for distances of 60 feet or more.

So he prefers to compete in the amateur “C” class, or against other older riders in senior or veteran classes–which offer separate categories for those over the ages of 30, 40 or 50.

In about as many races so far this season, Logan noted, “Six or seven times I’ve managed to stall or fall. So much is going on at one time.”

His short stature is an additional challenge for Logan to overcome while riding a modern bike with a suspension that is high above the ground. “I have to work on my dismount,” he said, noting, “I fall a lot.”

But that hasn’t dampened his enjoyment of the hobby.

His best finish, so far, he noted, was in a motocross event at Hopp’s Switchback Raceway near Butler.

With only three other riders in his age category, Logan said, “I beat some guys even though I was giving up 16 years to them.”

Logan and Hampton recently competed in an annual amateur motocross event at the Unadilla track in New Berlin, N.Y., northeast of Binghamton.

“It’s an old-style track that takes advantage of the natural terrain,” Logan explained.

Of the 1,800 people who turned out for the race, he said, two-thirds were over 30 years old. Each entrant completed two “motos,” or heats, of four laps each.

Logan finished near the rear of a group of 36 cyclists, after stalling his motorcycle twice.

“What felt good was, before I stalled, I was passing and catching up with other people,” he noted.

“There were 36 people lined up and they all were going for the same spot in the first turn.”

Logan noted he is less aggressive than some other riders. Instead of charging for the front of the pack right out of the gate, he said, “I wait for other people to fall and I try to pick my way around them.”

He feels he and many older men involved in the sport “don’t’ take cheap shots. People have to get up and go to work on Monday.”

Logan’s cycling experiences also have provided fuel for a sermon or two during services at his Brush Valley church.

One Sunday, he drew upon an incident at the Unadilla race, noting two spectators in the crowd–though neither knew him personally–waved their shirts and cheered him on, shouting, “Go, go, go.”

On one hand, he said, an onlooker might wonder, “What are these guys drinking?” But, “When I was on the receiving end of that, I grabbed my throttle a little harder.”

He told Brush Valley Methodist worshippers, “God is doing the same thing, encouraging us to go for it.”

He linked the racing anecdote to a passage from Romans 8: “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Logan acknowledged the Almighty may not be so thrilled with motocross’ competitive aspect and its physical hazards. “A lot of bodies are getting broken and beaten in motocross,” he noted.

“Prolonging adolescence gets a little bit harder every year,” he added with a grin.

He recalled he broke his heel two years ago on a practice run at the Fox Raceway motocross track in Marienville.

He said the mishap occurred because he “chickened out” and didn’t apply the throttle enough on an attempt at a double-jump. The bike came down short of his intended landing, and “My foot slipped off the peg and I hit the heel.”

Tim Pavelchick won’t soon forget the episode: “I was there. I carried him off the track.”

Logan now wears special gel and plastic inserts in his racing boots to help cushion the pressure on his feet. “Your arches and the balls of your feet take a pounding,” he noted.

In addition to a helmet, knee and arm pads and a chest protector complete his safety gear.

He pointed out the chest protector is a welcome precaution against rocks flying up from the dirt track. It’s also a must for trail riding through wooded areas, in case a rider runs up against a low-hanging branch.

Unfortunately, local trail riding has become a thing of the past for Logan and about a half dozen riding buddies.

He said they used to take their dirt bikes out for a spin over an old bony pile near the Center Township village of Tide. But, since the area has come under the control of the state Game Commission, motorized vehicles no longer are allowed.

Luckily, about a year and a half ago, the men found a sympathetic resident along a rural road in Burrell Township. He let them develop a short dirt practice track, complete with jumps, on his private property.

Logan noted he enjoys practice sessions more than actual races.

“I just like riding,” he explained. “Sometimes, you race just so you can ride.”

Logan said he has no desire to try the really hazardous “freestyle” motocross events, in which riders perform all types of tricks, including executing backflips with their bikes.

He finds fulfillment enough when he’s able to improve his performance in a standard motocross event.

“I’d like to increase my speed and improve my technique,” he said, noting, “I’d love to get faster in the turns.

“It’s similar to a golfer, who tries to do better than he or she did the time before.”

Logan estimated he has reached speeds of 30 mph in practice sessions.

“He’s faster than I’ll ever be,” Hampton said of his friend.

Logan doubts he ever will earn enough points in one season to automatically advance to intermediate “Class B” competition.

Hampton noted riders may voluntarily move up a level, but they then must remain in the more competitive category, unless they sit out a season and start all over again.

If nothing else, Logan said he intends to return to Unadilla next year, noting, “We had a blast.”

Besides, he reasoned, “I won’t have my bike paid off for another two years, so I’ve got to ride it.”