So who first inspired Cody more than a quarter-century ago? His sister, Anna, who later became a racing champion herself. “She was the first to take me out to the desert to ride,” recalls Cody, a Santa Ynez resident and Solvang native. “In the winter, it would rain in the mountains so we needed motorcycles to get in and out of our ranch.”
Cody continued to compete until his late teens and early 20s, but put on the brakes due to a lack of funding. Before the age of 25 rolled around, however, he turned serious and hasn’t since lifted his feet off the pedals.
Turning serious involved intensive training, a regimen that entails steering his road bike around the Valley three to four days weekly and working out with a personal trainer in Montecito. “It’s high-intensity training,” says Cody. “I get the heart rate up and try keeping it up.”
A broken shoulder, circa 2001, all but forced him to quit for a half year. But given his dedication and determination, the man’s success should hardly be considered a revelation. In time, persistence paid off as Cody began emerging victorious, taking top prize last month at the 42nd Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 — his second such crown (his Honda team previously won in 2006).
“It was a really sweet one,” he says, citing serious competition from the Kawasaki squad. “It came down to the final minutes; we started behind, adjusted our time, and eventually caught back up.” Cody’s crew, consisting of Tim Weigand and Kendall Norman, seized Class 22 on the back of a Johnny Campbell Racing Honda CRF450X. More than 300 racers from dozens of states and 14 countries traversed terra firma for almost 700 miles in Ensenada, Mexico.
Baja events are comprised of three-man teams who grind through 250, 500 and 1,000 miles, says Cody, who races nationally in California and Nevada deserts — including solo contests up to 100 miles long. He also enjoys practicing on his father’s ranch and within the Los Padres National Forest. It’s the sheer exhilaration and lack of restrictions that keep Cody going, even when he experiences a grueling day on a particularly challenging track.
“The love of riding, the freedom — you try to forget about everything else while you’re riding,” Cody says. “Racing is a way to do what I love, while people help out and support me to do it.” He will do it again during the national races in January and at the Baja 500 a month later. And he continues to call the Valley home, for good reason. “I was born here and love this area; it’s beautiful,” he says. “It’s easy for me to do what I want.”
Cody’s perspective remains equally simple when he’s asked how he would like to be remembered a half-century from now. “As someone who did what he loved to do and tried his best at it.” Read more about this motorcycle man at quinncody.com
jluksic@syvjournal.com