Sit down and tell me where it all started...

[Fe_princess]

So Ladies, where did you get your start?
I want to hear all your stories!
The first time I was on a bike I was 10 years old. It was a Honda 50 and I was in Clear Lake Oaks, ca. I would ride it up and down our drive way. It has turned into, well you know the story...

 

[FireLily]

Hi, Princess!

First of all, your PM was full last night, and I couldn't send a PM to you. Could you please send me your email address to my PM? I have a long email to send you.

Well, as for how I started.....I learned how to ride a motorcycle at Honda's motorcycle school in Fukuoka, Japan! That was when I was 37. I had a BMW R69S which I inherited from my husband, and I thought I should get a license to ride it. So I went to a school and took a course for 400cc under and then another course for 400cc over. It costed about $2,000 altogether! The coolest thing was they had a very expensive simulation set that you could actually sit and ride (in a same position) on while you are looking at a screen in front of you. So you can experience any types of environment, rainy, foggy, night, congestion and so on by instructor's computer control. On the graduation day, they let me ride 1100cc motorcycle (in the course). It was a huge motorcycle for me, though.

I moved California in August '00, and I started riding a dirt bike. Now I wish I started at the age of 10! I imagine it would have made a big difference.....But since I don't have a time machine, I just have to work on improving my skills.

So Princess, have you been riding since 10? How many bikes have you ridden?
Did you race?

Mini:D

 

[bbbom]

Okay, but I can't until the boss leaves this afternoon!!! :aj:

 

[Pegasus]

At 8 my brother inlaw left his go-cart and minibike for my brother to ride..I think I rode the tires bare around and around the block..

At 19 I got my first dirtbike.A Hodoka Super Rat then a Jawa remember those?

After 21 my job (exercising race horses)kept me enthralled and busy so didnt have a bike for 25 yrs..then got an XR 200 , had to relearn everything.I then lived where I could ride out my back door for miles...The rest is history.. Now I have my BBR "Pegasus" (flying Pony)I still ride out my back door...And since being re-hooked to 2 wheels..my stable consists of 2 wheeled instead of 4 legged mounts..BIG GRIN !!

FireLily..After watching you come flying down the "big Hill" and whipping through the washes at Moonrocks Im thinking your skills will be improving very fast :-)

 

[Girlrider]

When I was born my dad was racing and my mom also rode. They were part of the Timberline Trail Riders in Steamboat Springs, CO. My mom said once they found a helmet to fit they put us on the front of their bikes. She said I was 1 when they did that. When I was 4 they got me a JR 50 which I rode until I got a YZ 50. Today I am 29 so I guess you can say I have been riding all my life.

 

[Fe_princess]

ok, ok,

Hey Firelily, I sent you an email! I felt really happy when I read story about the Reno ride and esp. about the last downhill(my achilles heel). Pegasus' comment about your descent makes me think you're a little bit too modest!

I had the 50 until I was eleven and then I got an XL125. I rode that until I was 15 and then didn't get another bike until I moved to San Francisco and I was then 22. I had a MotoMorini 500 (which is how I met SFO) and then I moved to Texas and started racing down there on a '63 AJS Stormer for AHRMA. Did that for four years then raced a Ninja250 at Sear's Point for two years. I was a motorcycle messenger in SF for 2 1/2 years and would ride anything I could; 550 four, KZ 650, RZ 350, RM200, CM400. My Morini was eventually stolen and I then got in bicycles for a while.
I was reunited with SFO and the Sacto Mile nationals and we started hanging out and he asked me if I wanted to go dirtbiking and I thought, wow haven't done that in a while. Well, now I've had the KTM for a year and have ridden it plenty and can't wait to ride again. Motorcycles are so much fun in every aspect!


Hey Bbbom, I'm anxiously awaiting;)

 

[gospeedracer]

Well, one day out of the blue, when I was about 15 my dad brings home an RM125 and just says "here". I didn't know anything about riding and he didn't really give me and pointers much less any gear. I hoped on and just sort of figured it out I guess, after many, many attempts to get out of the driveway! ;) At the time, I lived where I could ride right out of our garage into the desert. Later my bike was stolen and I didn't get back into in until about 2.5 years ago. My roommate's boyfriend rode, so she got into it then I got into it. I got another RM125, rode that for nearly 2 years and now I've had my KTM200mxc since June. That's my story and I'm stick'n to it! ;)

 

[bbbom]

Boss is gone!!!

It all started a very long time ago. I was born into a family that rode and raced. My dad drag raced his Triumph and raced some cross country on bikes and sleds. My uncles raced anything from MX to desert or crosscountry races to hillclimbs. They rode trails that Karl would love - you know the trails that aren't really trails but just an area where there is kinda an opening in the trees and brush and most of the time it goes either straight up or straight down with lots of downed trees, rocks, roots & ruts.

My mom got into trouble when she was in her early 20's because my grandfather told her girls couldn't ride - so she took off on my uncle's 500.

From my earliest memories, there was always a race somewhere be it dirtbikes or snowmobiles that my family was involved in and grandma's upstairs was filled with trophies. My younger cousins 4 of them started out racing by age 4. My bro and I were the oldest and my parents weren't as gung ho about the race scene plus I was interested in horses back then so my bro raced but I was usually a spectator. We did ride snowmobiles together since I was about 5 years old, grandma, grandpa, mom & dad, cousins, aunts & uncles.

My oldest uncle (of 2 of them) climbed Widowmaker on a stock 500 shortly after the guy in "On Any Sunday" made the first successful climb (so the family legend goes). Most of my cousins are still racing and mechanicing around the area.

Unfortunately, I never really got into the bikes until I moved home after living in the SW for 15 years.

I rode as a kid on whatever the other kids would let me use. I remember on one College break, one of my cousins had stopped by on his bike probably a 125 or so. I hopped on it and took it for a spin (it had been a very long time). I kinda missed my turn and rode down the ditch for a while as my cousin almost wet himself laughing at me. I guess it was his way of getting even for all the torture I had inflicted as the family babysitter.

When I moved back home & onto my property, my bro and his friends would come riding through my place to get to the trails while I was working on all my building projects. So, finally, after the millionth time of my bro giving me garbage about not riding I bought a used KLX300 (cause he had a KLX250 and I wanted to one up him!).

I rode the KLX for 1.5 seasons and learned a ton thanks to my bro and his buddies being patient and picking me back up many many times.

Then, after spending oodles of dollars and lots of time shopping at the shop Karl worked at and someone telling Karl that I thought he was a nice guy and cute too - Karl shows up to ride with my bro on Mother's Day. My son and I joined them and a couple of Karl's 500 riding nutcase buddies.

I had a new riding partner ;) and soon after that fell in love with the CR500.

So that's where it all came from - it's a mental deficiency in my family and I have happily passed it onto my kids!

 

[CJ Rider]

Hey Firelily... Pegasus' comment about your descent makes me think you're a little bit too modest!

HA; This is a VERY perceptive statement! FireLily kicks butt and she had us all snowed! :aj:

OK. The story. In the beginning, motorcycles of any kind were touted as evil instruments of death. No kidding. This was how it was growing up. Then I left the nest, went to college, and tried everything my parents told me not to. Some things turned out good, some bad.

When I turned thirty, my hubby picked up a couple of beater motorcycles. My first was a 300 million pound 1974 Kaw 2-stroke enduro dubbed "the green weenie". 'Couldn't kick start it, load it, pick it up, or bearly ride it by myself. 'Sold it for $1 to a friend who was riding it around his back yard when it spontaneously combusted and caught his fence on fire. 'Wasn't too excited about riding.

THEN (a few years later), my hub got me an XR100 about the same time my very good friend Sara got devorced, hawked her ring, and bought an XT225. We became women obsessed with riding. My hubby was happy about it. We were old, we were uncoordinated, but we were gonna learn to ride... and what do you know, we did learn to ride!

THEN (a few years later), Sara says to pack up the bikes after work because a shop guy told her about a a "spodefest." We had never heard of a "spodefest" before. We drove a couple hours in POURING rain to set up camp after dark. 'Woke up the next morning to... FIFTY rough-looking guys and NO other girls in the entire wilderness. WE WERE SCARED! However, we stayed and had a GREAT weekend riding with the RMD and DRN folks there!

Four bikes and many many many DRN friends later, it's more fun than ever!!! :)

 

[slideways11]

my riding bio

In Canada in 1984, at age 14 I had several fun experiences on a boyfriend's dirtbike before being banned from riding for crashing while showing off on his brother's bike. Only months later I was banned from their tractor too.

I didn't ride again until Tim and I were in the Middle East in 1996 (running a sport fishing yacht for a Sheik in Dubai) and met a crazy Kiwi couple in charge of one of the Crown Prince's yachts. We all had a lot of free time because the super rich rarely have time to play with their toys. They had a kx200 that Chantelle taught me to ride while the boys were busy doing captain stuff. We could ride out of the garage onto beaches and into the desert. We blew the minds of the very Muslim Emirati up in Umm al Quain. Their eyes bugged out of their heads when they saw a couple of girlies on a dirt bike but when we really wanted to freak them out we went rollerblading in bikinis.

When we got back to Florida in 1997 Tim and I got married, bought a BMW R1100GS and rode it up to Alaska and back - 15,000 miles in 2 months. We took a year off and competed in the Florida Skydiving League, in a 4-way formation team. When we left Florida I had over 400 jumps and Tim had over 1300.

We took a job on a 103' motor yacht based in Cozumel thinking we could continue to skydive at the drop zone in Playa del Carmen but it turned out to be too much of a hassle to try and organize formation jumps because they're mainly a tandem drop zone. So we needed another outlet for our energy and another source of adrenaline and we started buying bikes. The first one we brought down was a Suzuki DR650 that was fun but not ideal for what we had in mind. After that, Tim got an XR400 and I got an XR200. We started exploring the trails and quarries on the island and met up with a group of local riders and formed a club. One of them took us to the little motocross track on the island and regrets it to this day because we pretty much abandoned the enduro guys and started playing at the track every afternoon. We sold the XR400 and bought a 2001 CR250 and then in October last year when I was ready to move up we bought a 2002 YZ125 and 250. We race here on the island and in Cancun and Playa del Carmen.

Tim's been riding and racing motocross and superbikes on and off since he was a kid. He's thrilled to be back in the sport and doesn't even think about the ten thousand dollars worth of skydiving gear collecting dust in crew's quarters.
Liz

 

[Rodzilla]

Originally posted by CJ Rider
'Woke up the next morning to... FIFTY rough-looking guys and NO other girls in the entire wilderness.

If I remember correctly, I was camped directly across from you two!

Guess I resemble that remark!:eek:

 

[CJ Rider]

Yup! :confused:

 

[nikki]

The crave for offroading started for me in 5th grade when my Mom dated a guy with a quad. He taught me how to ride it on my own. It shifted, but there was no clutch lever like a bike. I used to ride around the farm a bunch in 5th grade... then my Mom and the guy broke up :debil:

So for YEARS I told my parents how much I wanted a four-wheeler... but it wasn't quite in our budget. Fast forward 7 years (senior in high school)... I started dating a guy that had just bought an old YZ 80 to try and fix it up. Well the bike barely ever ran so I never got the joy of riding it. Soon after, my boyfriend at the time went and bought a '89 YZ 125. This was the first bike I ever rode solo.

We rode a bunch with me on the back and one day he decided to send me on my own. I got going okay but it came time to turn around and come back and I was screwed! I turned a little bit... but ended up going right into a cornfield (corn was about 4 feet high at the time). Fell over, put a few scratches on the bike and me, and I was so embarrassed.

Next time I tried to ride solo (same bike) I dumped the clutch big time trying to take off and looped the bike right over. Snapped off the rear fender and felt really bad. :mad:

So about 4-6 months after these first few experiences I got the itch to get my own (smaller) bike and started searching in the papers. February of '98, I found a good deal on a '93 YZ 80 and that's where I started. Did my first doubles on that bike. Replaced more parts than I want to even think about on that bike. Had several small injuries on that bike. But... MOST IMPORTANTLY... fell in love with riding on that bike!!

 

[Rodzilla]

Originally posted by CJ Rider
NO other girls in the entire wilderness.

Well Doug was there, that's close!:confused:

 

[FireLily]

Wow, I'm sooooooooo impressed about you ladies' riding history.

Princess, I was specially impressed about your being a motorcycle messanger in SAN FRANCISCO! What kind of woman can do that kind of job in SF? Everybody drives crazy in the city. I would like to know more details how you enjoyed that job. Well, I'm really looking forward to meeting you soon. And I am hoping to get some riding lessons from you......Can I?

I started riding little late than everybody else, but I 'm glad to be in DRN and chat with you all.

Mini

:confused:

 

[Dirtygirly]

I think it all began when I was 2 when my dad took me for a ride on his Honda CL350.

When I was 5 I had a little honda 50cc monkey bike that used to be my dad's. I would follow my brother around the coldisac on it while he rode his '84 XR100. I thought it was the coolest bike ever. In '84 they closed Tiger Mtn. to all off road vehicles so my brothers bike got put down in storage and pretty much forgotten about.

About another 5-7 years later my dad and i went to a motocross race and monster truck show at the Kingdome in Seattle. I don't remember who it was but one of the motorcycle racers crashed coming off a jump and another racer landed right on top of him, they had to bring in an ambulance etc. Of course that was the firt thing I told my mom when I came home and how cool it was, and that I wanted to race and ride motorcycles too! She didn't want anything to do with that idea, so again motorcycles disappeared for awhile longer.

2 years ago I was helping my dad clean up in storage and rediscovered my brother's old XR100. Still brand new, practically in mint condition. No scratches and still had the little hairy things on the tire knobbies.

A few weeks later I finally convinced my mom to let my dad bring the XR to Spokane. I didn't tell her that I had two broken ribs that I aquired at Gonzaga soccer practice at the time. Buttonfly and I met my Dad and Brother in Moses Lake and swapped cars. Dad gave me a painful bear hug, still didn't tell him my ribs were broken...and Button and I took the truck and bike to Richland to clean it up and get it running. Next week when my parents came up to watch my soccer game, my mom was convinced that I broke my ribs from riding the motorcycle...but my roomate and Button backed me up, when I told them it was actually a soccer related injury. Mom just smiled and said if she had known the bike wouldn't have made it to Spokane. Yeppers, Thats what I had guessed :)

October 2000 Buttonfly convinced me to enter a harescramble out at airway heights. I was so nervous I yaked before the race. Did the whole thing Ironwoman. Hehe, was the only chick there. Had to call home that evening to tell the family I got first place. :)

Then I met Firecracker at Bbom's house for a Father's day ride on Mica peak. Now I've got an awesome harescramble race buddy :)

 

[Michelle]

Mini, to make you feel better:
My first introduction to bikes was my cousin when I was 14/15 & he'd take me pillion to go over his place for tutoring in maths once a week (he was a teacher, I was a dumbass). I'd ride pillion with my ex, but never thought of riding myself (changing gear petrified me and I have no sense of balance). I rode scooters for a number of years, but gave up due to bad traffic & worse drivers.

I started riding at age 32. My husband was studying full time, money was tight, but it was the last few months. A friend bought a bike in a box for $200, and took ages to get it together & running (thankfully). I knew that the first time Henk would ride it, he'd be telling me he needed a dirt bike, as he'd had one about 10 years previous. He'd go & ride a quad with another friend occasionally, and would comment he wanted a dirtbike after that, so I knew once Craig had his bike together it'd change to needing one.

He bought a KTM 250 (89) the week after him & Craig went riding Craig's YZ125 (82/3/4 bitzer). I'd go along & sit in the carpark reading & generally relaxing. After a couple of weeks of this & the guys nagging me to try one of their bikes, I told them they could find me my own bike. I found a 79 DT125 for $50, Henk got it going (new clutch cable & can't remember what else, nothing major). I rode that for a few months, then sort of hinted I'd like something a bit more modern. I spotted a 1966 Ducati GTS250 & fell in love with that, but when I discovered it was for sale, I found I didn't like the weight of it. But Henk had fallen in love with it, so we compromised - he could have the Duc, I could have a new dirtbike. Found my 99 YZ80 (6mo at the time), and haven't stopped riding since then (so early 99 I really started, I guess, the DT didn't really count as a bike even, it was a POS).

I too envy those that started earlier, but hope I'll be riding for many years yet.
Michelle

 

[LoriKTM]

I've always had a lifelong interest in motorcycles, but unfortunately finances never allowed me to fulfill that interest.

I dated a couple guys in high school who had motorcycles. Even rode pillion a couple times in the dirt. Without a helmet. :eek: What the heck did I know? I remember seeing commercials on TV for the Honda XL125, and that looked like the perfect bike for me. Went to college, and lived the life of a destitute college student. It was interesting, though, because even though I wanted to ride, I had a number of people discourage me. I was too small, too weak, to handle a motorcycle-- and besides, they were dangerous. Well, after being out of college for a few years and earning some money, the bug hit again. I went through a bad breakup with a boyfriend, and I was determined to do something for myself. So I signed up for a MSF class, and got my street bike license. It was really pretty easy! My brother knew some friends who had a Honda Rebel 250 they would sell, so I had my first street bike.

Shortly after that, I met Dave. He had two bikes, a Yamaha XT350 and a Husky 250. We would tool around on the street bikes, and then one day he took me down to Buffalo Range in Ottawa (IL), summer of 1992, I think it was. I parked my Rebel, and had my street helmet on, and he put me on the back of his XT350, and we went through a few of the trails (and sand!) down at Buffalo Range. I was giggling and laughing the whole time, even when he almost dumped us over in the sand. The rest, as they say, is history. I rode his XT a couple times, but knew that I needed something smaller and lighter of my own to learn on. I also think that bike just didn't like me. It did everything it could to spit me off at first opportunity.
I read every old issue of Dirt Bike and Dirt Rider magazine that he had, and decided on an XR200. Actually found one, but it was an '87 with an '83 motor in it. That should have warned me, but I sooo wanted that bike I didn't care. It ran for awhile, but it was unreliable. It ended up trashing the transmission, so we parked it and I bought a KDX. Getting that bike was like riding a sports car compared to the XR. I was immediately going over hills and riding over logs that I never would have considered with the XR. I was ecstatic. Rode that bike for 5 seasons, and then got the KTM. And here I am today. I still wish I was a faster rider, but I'm just glad that I can get out there and ride.

And to those guys that tried to discourage me from riding all those years ago, I just say kiss my :moon: !

 

[The Ant]

Hi all, I'm still grinning thinking about Moonrocks, what a blast.
Well, I started street bike riding back in the 70's after my bicycle got stolen - didn't know anything about them or any other riders, my parents were dead set against it (but I was 25, so hey). Finally found a boyfriend who rode - many years later, and when he bought a dirtbike (after a long hiatus) and started heading off with his friends... well, I wanted to do that! So at age 44, I found an XR200 in the paper, played on the beginner's loop in the woods, crashed a lot, got muddy, had a grand time. And now 5 years later, I'm in control of my 2nd childhood - and it's way better than the first time around!
And note to Liz - we spent a week in Cozumel a couple of years ago, it was wonderful, hope to get back there sometime. Sounds like we missed some things!
-Susan