My parents bought a Yamaha PW50 for my first bike when I was seven. It was more like a Toy for me & my neighbor friend, Dustin Baker. We would ride it on the hills behind our backyards. My Dad & I would spend Saturdays together flying radio-control airplanes, flying in his Cessna Plane or just piddling on our motorcycles. When Dad was younger, he raced enduro races on his Maico 490. So we started riding trails thru the woods together. Gradually I moved up to bigger bikes, and started riding with the Southern Enduro Riders Association, (SERA Series) which is racing trails.
I saw a new challenge, in riding the outdoor racetracks called MotoCross Series. This taught me even more skills and techniques. These tracks consists of tall hills, sharp turns, jumps, long straight-of-ways to gain lots of speed, and little hills, really close together, called woops! A real skill challenge to say the least! Then the indoor races called Arenacrosses, during winter, are a compact version of the Outdoor tracks. with everything pushed into an arena, needless to say! These all have their own tricks & challanges!
My parents have always supported me, (in more ways than one $$) and taught me to do my best and enjoy making friends. I have a great Mechanic Dad who goes everwhere with me. Some of the trips can be sort of long and take up his weekend, but we have a good time and I learn more, each competition.
Well, my neighbor Dustin and I have moved to different areas of town, but yes, he continues to ride also and is still a great friend! Since those days, the airplane has long been sold (probably for dirtbike funds - Ha) and the radio control planes gather dust on a shelf, but I still love the sound, and smell of dirtbikes! Guess you could say that racing is the one thing that really gets me Pumped Up!