Well, I'm sitting in a hospital right now and for once in my life, I'm not the one in the bed. My sister is pushing out niece #3 for me and grandchild #6 for mom and dad. Of course I've been browsing all the little dirt bike related onesies, booties and hats, because they're just so stinkin' cute. Yeah. I said cute. Cause they are.
After looking at the ridiculous price and ridiculously cute sizes gear comes in, I started remembering the days when my gear was that small. Granted, being 12 weeks premature, I was about the size of a 6 year old when I was 8, but hey.
I can vividly remember riding on my dads gas tank and making runs into some pretty gnarly territory. I remember the day I got my first dirt bike, a 2001 Suzuki JR50, and I ran the poor thing nearly out of gas. I had a loop that I would run from the backyard and into the front yard and I ran that until dinner and then had dad turn the backyard lights on so I could keep running. I can still remember when I was first starting out, Dad would put along in front of me and would give me hand signals of what gear I should shift into. And I remember when I would layout my bike around a corner and stick my foot out (likes the pro's of course) my sisters would get mad at me because they said my foot would get caught on something and I would break my leg. I when whining to dad to see if I really was in the wrong or not, and guess who else stuck his foot out in corners?
Yeah. I won that argument.
All of this got me thinking about how much I love dirt biking. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy snowmobiling, and I especially love the fact that I can ride any sled I please. I can't really do that with a dirt bike. Not on seat heights are created equal with those, sadly. But dirt biking is quite a bit more challenging, while at the same time, you don't have the risk of avalanche, or dying of hypothermia if your sled brakes down. Dirt bikes are quite a bit less expensive than snowmobiles in the long run as well.
But I realized that regardless of dirt biking or snowmobiling, I've been incredibly blessed for the opportunities in my life. How many kids can say they had a four wheeler when they were 5, or their own snowmobile? Now, a lot of kids think that I'm just spoiled. They are partly right. I do have a couple of big ticket items in the garage, but there's a lot more that factors into this.
I was a sickly child as most of you should know if you've read my last post. The doctors told my parents that walking was going to be extremely hard for me (no duh) and that due to lung capacity and asthma and the brain bleeds (stroke) i had in childhood, it would be in the best interest that I would stay away from contact sports.
Well, my siblings had played baseball as kids on the city league, my brother played basketball in junior high if I remember right, and drill team and gymnastics were thrown in there for the girls as well, but we never TRULY got into "normal people" sports.
Dad had oil in the veins. Even mom grew up on fourwheelers and snowmobiles. So when it came to recreation as a family. It was already built in. I was on dad's gas tank as soon as I could hang on, and I never let go. We've probably put more miles on a bike together than I have apart since I've started to ride myself. My older brother was usually there for the ride as well. Eventually, we had 6 snowmobiles and too many dirt bikes to count. We had to buy a bigger trailer just to fit.
I now realize that some of these rides that I've been on with my family, like our trip to Moab a few years ago are some of the best memories I have. Yeah, Disneyland is great, don't get me wrong. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't want to be at Disneyland, and I'm 20. But there's something about being with my family out riding dirt bikes. It's watching my siblings and parents do something out of their normal comfort zone and just being able to take a break from the boring routine of life.
So now, as I try and find some cute pink jersey and pants combo for little Hallie (At least I hope they end up naming her Hallie) I realize that this girl doesn't have a chance. She has a dad that glommed onto dirt biking like a fly to a turd and a mom that is one of the best women riders I know. Not to mention two grandpa's, a grandma, two aunts, four uncles and a cousin that rides dirt bikes too.
And you can bet she'll be reppin' pink gear.
No comments:
Post a Comment