What a surprising weekend this turned out to be! The weather forecast for our area when the weekend began was for snow and cold temperatures. Fortunately for us, the weather forecasters were wrong; turns out Sunday afternoon was bright, sunny and close to fifty degrees. When my buddy Kyler texted me Sunday morning to see if I wanted to go to the Bijou at about one o’clock to ride, I jumped all over it. I sent out another text to see who else wanted to go, and four other people showed up besides Kyler and me. In the group were myself, my brother Brad, buddy Mark, buddy Jason and his son Jaxon - all on dirt bikes; Kyler was the lone ATV rider. A good time was had by all on this surprisingly mild January day.

Loading Up

After a quick trip to the gas station to fill one of my five gallon gas cans with 91 octane fuel for the Big Red Pig, I went to the motorcycle garage to arouse the bike from its winter’s nap. I turned on the fuel valve, opened the choke and gave the kick starter a few tries. It did not start, as it has been pretty cold in that garage for the past couple of months. In order to help it warm up, I decided to simply set it in the sun for a few minutes while I did some other chores. After about ten minutes of lounging in the driveway, soaking up the bright sunny January day, it started right up! Now that I knew the pig was going to run, it was time to get loaded.

While the bike was idling, I put my gear bag with my motorcycle helmet, boots and other protective riding apparel into the back of the pickup truck. I also loaded the aforementioned gas can, a few tools and a lawn chair. This day, I was traveling light, since the Bijou is only about four miles from home. I didn’t take the usual extra tubes, air compressor and tire irons to the Bijou; if I have problems, I would usually just head home to make necessary repairs. However, as it turned out later, I would have the need for my tire tools.

The Ride

I was the first to arrive at the riding spot; I wanted to be there a little early since because I wear knee braces, it takes me a little longer to dress for the ride. By the time the others began to arrive, I was dressed and had the Big Red Pig unloaded. While the other guys were getting ready, I got the motor started. Then Jason came to me and asked if I had my air compressor because Jaxon had a flat front motorcycle tire. I told him I did not have the compressor along; however, I did have some CO2 cartridges in my pack that we could use to pressurize the low tire. That seemed do the trick, and it made it through the afternoon.

We never went on one large group ride; we paired off and went for short rides instead. The Bijou is a smaller, private riding area; most of the area can be seen from the parking zone. So what everyone would do is make a loop through the sand, over the whoops, up the hills and down the ravines. Then we would all convene back at camp to talk about the trail conditions and how much fun we were having. I remember the comment that I made most often was how happy I was to be out in the warm winter sun. After the first couple of loops, guys started to leave for one reason or another; Kyler and I were the last ones to leave just before sundown. We were the two that brought everyone together on this day, so it was only fitting that we be the last ones to leave.

The Bijou is a somewhat sandy riding spot; it has some nice loamy dirt on the hills and in the ravines. The conditions on this day were excellent, since there was still  moisture leftover in the ground from some pre-Christmas snow. The moisture provided for excellent grip in the corners - I really never felt the rear tire sliding. The only problem with grip that I had was on one very sandy trail; at times during the year this trail is actually a river. My motorcycle tires were just not right for the sand; they are made for intermediate to rocky terrain. I just did not have any control on this particular trail; I am not complaining, but the bike is just not set up for the sand.

Conclusion

What a great day! I know I can speak for myself and possibly the others who were there on this day; we all had a good time. Most would think that January in Colorado would not be a good time or place to ride OHVS; however, we live in a part of Colorado which does not get as much snow as the mountains. Days like this are not at all unusual; every winter we can usually get in a few weekend days of riding. Though we do still have many winter days in front of us, it is nice to sneak in some riding here and there over the long winter months. This day gave us a little taste of what’s to come in the warmer months. We may only be a couple of months away from loading up the camper and the motorcycle trailer to hit the mountain or desert trails for some epic riding. I can’t wait!

James Parker

We did make it to the Grand Junction, Colorado area to ride over the Thanksgiving weekend; however, things did not go as smoothly as planned. As Jennifer says, “Not every trip is going to come off flawless.”

Wednesday

Because of family commitments and the shorter days of winter, we were unable to fit in as much riding time as I had hoped. Originally, I wanted to get a couple of hours of riding in upon our arrival Wednesday afternoon, after making the three hundred plus mile trip. But because of the shorter days, we only had about an hour of daylight left upon our 4 o’clock arrival that afternoon. So Wednesday was out for riding.

Thanksgiving Day

The next morning was Thanksgiving Day and the plan was to visit Jen’s grandfather in the hospital first thing in the morning (no worries there, the World War II veteran is doing well and is recovering from heart surgery), go riding around midday and then have dinner later in the day. Grandpa has spent many hours offroading out in the desert area where we were headed and he offered a few pointers and told us to have fun. We assured him we would return later that day with Thanksgiving dinner.

So off to the desert we went! This area is just on the north end of Grand Junction surrounding the Grand Junction Regional Airport. We like to return to the same spot when we go out there to ride because it is a somewhat secluded area out of the way of other ATVs and dirt bikes. After Jennifer, Joey and I found our spot, we began to unload our riding apparel and machines, having about a two hour window for riding. As I was unloading the first bike (Joey’s Piglet), I heard Joey exclaim, “My pants are too small!”  I told him that he would just need to make due for the day and maybe he would get new ones for Christmas. My thought was that that would be our one flaw for the day and it was going to be a good day.

Once I had the dirt bikes and ATV unloaded, I did my pre-ride checks and began to start the motors. This is where the day really took a downward turn; I push the electric start button on the ATV and nothing happens. The battery is dead; it was fine just a couple of days before when I checked it at home. There are two simple solutions: I could use the SUV to jump start it or use the rip cord to start it by hand. I decide on the latter, and after setting the choke and pulling the chord a couple of times; the motor came to life. Okay, we still had about an hour and a half to ride at that point—all was good.

Next I went to start the Piglet. I turned on the gas and fuel began to leak out from the overflow on the carburetor. Okay, Joey could still ride it in this condition…he would lose fuel while riding, but he could still have some fun and I can figure it out later. I went ahead and started the motor to see what would happen; it started right up, but I couldn’t get it to idle. I had to restart it several times and kept thinking that if it ran awhile it would warm up enough that it would idle. It just never hit that point, so as a temporary field fix, I turned up the idle screw. After Joey rode for awhile, though, it began idling way too fast, so I ended up turning the idle down again after it had warmed up. Luckily Joey was content to just ride around the area where we were parked; he was not so adventurous on this day.  

Finally I got to my bike (the Big Red Pig), and it had no issues. The problem now was that we were running out of time. We only had about forty-five minutes of ride time until we had to start packing up in order to make it back in time for Thanksgiving dinner and to fix a plate for Jen’s grandfather to take to the hospital.  I decided to take a short ride of about twelve miles toward the north. This is the area I picture being a part of the hare scramble that may be held here in the spring. I spent this short time working on some techniques I learned from a video I watched the night before; picking lines in the trail for a possible future race. I was not going all out on this ride; I just did not feel the strength that I normally do when I ride the desert. Probably because of all the mechanical problems upon our arrival.

We had previous plans for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so this was the only chance we had to get our ATV and motorcycle tires out on the desert terrain. It was not the desert offroading weekend I had originally hoped for, but we all got a small taste of the Grand Junction desert.

Absent Buddies

I was bummed at the outset of the trip when I found out my buddy Mike was not going to make the trip; nor was my brother Brad or his son Cody. I had been looking forward to some good, hard riding with the guys on some of my favorite terrain. Oh well, there will be other times to hook up with those guys for some epic riding.

Conclusion

In the end, we made it in time for Thanksgiving dinner with just minutes to spare and made it back to the hospital in time to deliver Jen’s Grandfather his Thanksgiving dinner. He asked how the ride was and we just told him we had fun and the desert was in good condition. 

Most importantly, Grandpa got to spend some time with his only great-grandchild, Joey; making paper airplanes and racing them across the hospital room. For about an hour that evening, that room was a dangerous place to be as paper airplanes were flying everywhere. Those moments shared between Joey and his great-grandpa put the day into perspective - there are more important things in life than riding my dirt bike and ATV.

James Parker

We are now well into fall and I thought I would take this time to review what has happened in my family’s year in offroading. I have fulfilled a longtime dream of becoming a writer about my experiences, my family has become first-time owners of a four-wheeler, and my son Joey has graduated onto his next motorcycle. This has been the best offroad year of my life.

A Dirt Bike Dream Come True

One night last February I was randomly doing internet searches of work-from-home jobs to see if I could find something to offset the cost of an ATV. All of a sudden, an ad for an ATV blogger popped up! At first, I could not believe what I was reading; this is something that I have dreamed about doing since I was in high school. Back then, I always had a motorcycle magazine with me to read at any spare moment that I could find. About the time I was a senior, I began to enjoy writing essays and reports; I remember thinking I would like to become a magazine writer. 

Well, after college, I went in a different direction with both my career and my hobbies. As a broke college graduate, I sold my motorcycle after making an attempt at motocross racing, in order to pay other living expenses. I also stopped reading offroad magazines and was away from the hobby for nearly ten years; during that time I had abandoned my dream of becoming a writer and focused on my careers in construction and fire fighting.

Now, about ten years after I resumed my offroading hobby, I have reclaimed the dream of being an ATV or dirt bike writer. Thanks to the advent of blogging, the internet and modern technology, I have a weekly forum to write about personal ATV and dirt bike experiences. It is not a big-time magazine experience, but it fulfills the dream for me. Also, because of the blog, my son Joey tells his teacher that his dad is a “famous” motorcycle rider; so at parent teacher conferences I have to explain that I am not famous, just a blogger.

ATV Owner

After so many years of riding dirt bikes, we purchased an ATV this year. This was a purchase made due to the fact that my wife Jennifer has a back condition that makes it harder to ride a motorcycle; also, she feels much more comfortable on the ATV. Her back does not take as much of a pounding on the four-wheeler and she is not as stiff and sore after a day of quad riding as she was on her motorcycle. This past summer when we were at Taylor Park, Colorado, Jennifer rode trails that she would not have attempted on our five previous trips to the area. She was able to take some absolutely gorgeous pictures from the ATV that have been used in many of the posts to this blog this year. Without the quad, those pictures may have never been taken; both of us would have been too busy maneuvering the trails on our motorcycles. 

I have learned many things about ATVs this year, and the many different ATV accessories that are out there. I have written a bit about the many options for accessories, including snow plows, winches and tire chains that could help with work at the farm or moving snow in town this winter. The accessory we added this year was a back rest for the rear storage rack. We put this on so that Jennifer can sit back, stretch and relax while on a water break on the trail; not for carrying a passenger. These containers also offer ample storage space for jackets, shoes, tools or even food for a longer ride with the motorcycles and other ATVs.

I learned that the optimal ATV tire pressure is around four psi; after experimentation and friendly advice from my friend Dave, this is the number I ended up using. We have had the quad on the rocky mountain trails as well as in desert conditions. 4 psi has worked well in both of these terrains; it has given Jennifer a smooth ride in the desert areas and has absorbed the shock of maneuvering over basketball-sized rocks on the trails of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

The ATV was a wise purchase for my family; it helped Jennifer find new experiences she could not have had aboard her motorcycle. With the addition of the rear storage container, the quad has become somewhat of a supply wagon for the motorcycles out on the trail. It also has the potential of becoming a workhorse for us at the farm or moving snow at our house in town this winter. My neighbor Tony has mentioned that I should put a snow plow on the quad this winter; he had to shovel the sidewalks of our corner lot last Christmas while we were in California on vacation. I don’t think he enjoyed it all that much; especially since as a reward I sent him some nice pictures of the California beaches while he was cleaning our sidewalks. 

Joey’s New Motorcycle

One day, while on my sales route, I stopped to eat my lunch in the parking lot of Fay Myers Motorcycle World in Denver, and I ended up purchasing Joey’s new motorcycle while I was there. I was going to just “check out” a couple different sizes of motorcycles, but I found a deal that was just too good to pass up - it even came with freshly-mounted Dunlop motorcycle tires! I came home with the bike and surprised Joey with it that night when I sent him on a mission to the garage. He was so excited we didn’t think we would get him to sleep that night.

Joey has had a couple of ride days on the new motorcycle since the purchase; his mother and I marvel at how he can control a motorcycle. We think that we have introduced him to a lifelong hobby. Hopefully the boy can pass dirt biking and four-wheeling fun onto his own family some day.

Conclusion

What a year it has been! I have been able to fulfill a longtime dream, we became ATV owners, and Joey got his new motorcycle. This is more than a hobby for myself, this is a family hobby. We have enjoyed many hours offroading as a family over the years. With the additions and improvements made this year, we should have many more family hours to look forward to in the future.

James Parker

Well, the adventure continues! After some riding the weekend before at our farm, Joey got a second chance to ride his new motorcycle (nicknamed “the Piglet”).  This time we went with some friends to a private offroad park about an hour and a half from our house. Joey got to experience a ten mile desert course, a taste of some rock crawling, climbed some hills and was even able to get some air. It was quite a memorable experience for all of us, and the day gave us a chance to reconnect with an old friend.

Tire Problems

After paying our entry fee and finding a place to park, we unloaded the machines.  First thing we noticed was that my Big Red Pig had a flat front tire. I then realized that my handy, portable air compressor was not with me, because it was on loan to my friend Mike. Not to worry, though, I always carry CO2 cartridges in my tool bag on the bike. I got it out, aired up the tire and the day was saved. I was a little embarrassed that I was not as prepared as I ought to be; however, I did have a back-up system. So, I guess I did the right thing in making sure to have that secondary air filling system.

The Desert Course

Once the motorcycle tire situation was resolved, we were off on the first ride of the day. We decided to take the ten mile desert track. Those who were along were our friend Jason, his son Jack, Joey on the “Piglet”, me on the “Big Red Pig” and Jennifer on the four-wheeler. Since I had spent the most time on this particular track, I was chosen to be the leader initially. Joey, who is a second grader, and Jack, a sixth grader, loved this ride. They took the corners just as they should, hit a few of the smaller jumps and took turns leading each other around. 

At one point, Joey was leading the entire group; I was following him and finding that I was actually going pretty fast in order to keep up. I looked behind and his mother was quite a ways back in distance on the ATV. We even found a dry creek bed that I had not ridden on previous trips to the park; it was a lot of fun for all of us to cruise through the loamy soil and rail around the berms. The end of this dry creek led us to the end of the lap and back to the trucks. After doing that first lap of ten miles it was lunch time, so we went back, had some lunch and listened to the two boys talk about who was having more fun. From what I saw it was pretty much a tie.

Rock Crawling

After lunch, we began to wander around the park to see what else it had to offer.  We went back toward the dry creek and found another channel to follow. That channel led us to the rock crawling area; and yes, we couldn’t resist giving it a try. This area is constructed out of used concrete culverts, and although I wanted to try a couple of the culverts on my motorcycle, with the two boys following me, I picked a nice easy line to follow up the hill. I did stop to survey the scene and decided that this would be a good place to practice if a person wanted to try his hand at endurocross. On my next visit, I do want to try climbing some of the culverts; I think that I could do it.

Joey Mountain

After we left the rocks, we came to a hill which Joey called “Simply awesome.”  This hill was about a story and a half on the side going up, but on the other side it was about a three story drop down at about a forty-five degree angle. Well, when we came to it, Joey was in the lead; he went straight to it, motored up and cruised right down that three story drop! When I got to the apex of the hill and dropped over to the other side, I couldn’t believe that my eight-year-old had just done this hill! At the bottom, I couldn’t catch up to him because he was tearing back around to do it again. We stayed here for quite some time while Joey rode up and down about ten times. This hill was the best part of Joey’s day; we nicknamed it “Joey Mountain.”

The Sweet Jump

After the awesome hill, we took a short water break and started following the dry creek once again. Then we found what Jack termed as a “sweet jump.” The two boys rode this table top jump over and over, perfecting their jumps.  The first time Joey hit this one, he had the throttle pegged; as a worried dad, it seemed to me that his motorcycle tires were at least five feet in the air.  I don’t know how high he actually got, but it seemed too high to this old dad. I talked to him about slowing down some; Joey did listen to my advice and his air time got shorter on the following jumps. I think for Jack, this was the best part of his day; I talked to Jason the next day and he said Jack couldn’t stop talking about the “sweet jump.”

Conclusion

What an awesome way to spend a warm, autumn day!  Jason and I have known each other since Kindergarten and were roommates for a semester in college. Like what happens many times with childhood friends, we lost touch for many years.  After getting reacquainted, we realized that we were both into offroading and decided we had to go riding together for a day. I think that this is just the beginning of a renewal of our friendship. We have already talked about other trips we should make in the future. Jason and his family had wanted to go to Taylor Park with us this past summer, but he had a previous commitment and could not make it. We are already kicking around dates for next summer for a Taylor trip, so hopefully Jason, Jack and the rest of their family can make it. My point here is that without dirt bikes, a childhood friendship may have been lost forever; now because of motorcycles and ATVs, Joey and Jack could become lifelong friends. It just amazes me at how offroading can bond friends and family together.

James Parker

Well, after a couple of weekends with jam-packed schedules, Joey finally got the chance to ride his new motorcycle. That Saturday was a very exciting day at our house!

The Big Helper

When we got up on Saturday morning, I informed Joey of the day’s plan: we had chores to do and I had to finish a side job that I had taken. If everything got done, we could go riding later in the afternoon. Well, we had quite the helper all day long! I and my nephew, who had been helping me with some of these side jobs this summer, went off to do our work. Jennifer needed to go to the grocery store, so Joey went with her and they got the shopping done in record time. When they got home, Joey carried the groceries into the house and then cleaned his room. So when I got home, it was time to ride!

Let’s Get the Machines Loaded!

All three of us then went to the garage and got the trailer out to begin loading; I decided in order to help Joey the best, we would just take his motorcycle and the ATV. The four-wheeler is an easier way to follow Joey around with his new motorcycle, because if he crashes or breaks down, it is easier to park and get off to help him. So we got out the four-wheeler, checked the fluids and ATV tires and loaded it onto the trailer. Next, we got the new Honda CRF 70 out of the garage and gave it a once over. I checked the Dunlop motorcycle tires and the oil level. The motor is air-cooled, so there is no coolant to check. Then I started it and made sure the front and rear brakes were in working order, along with the throttle. When everything checked out, we loaded it up onto the trailer and were off to the farm.

Let’s Ride!

Upon our arrival at the farm, Jennifer helped Joey get out his riding apparel - he has a motorcycle helmet, boots, gloves, pants, jersey and chest protector. He now also has a pair of knee pads, too, which he did not wear on the old Yamaha PW50. We decided that with the bigger motorcycle, he should wear these now. By the time Joey was dressed, I had the new Honda and the Kawasaki ATV unloaded, gassed up and ready to go. I had Joey sit on the motorcycle as I laid out some rules for the new machine. I told him to stay in the grassy field, practice starting, stopping, turning and controlling the bike. He did an excellent job with this task; he looked so natural from the beginning that we let him just play around and get to know the bike. Pretty soon, I felt comfortable enough to just let Joey ride, so I went to take care of some farm chores. Jennifer got on the quad and followed him around for an hour or so, just playing on the roads, hills and trails of the Parker Farm.

Conclusion

All in all it was an awesome day; we got our work done and a very excited young man got a chance to test his new ride. Jennifer and I commented on how natural the kid looks on a motorcycle; I am beginning to wonder if Joey should be teaching me how to ride. When he rides, he shifts his weight on the bike in the right direction; he leans to the left or the right when he turns. He leans forward when he needs to get weight off the rear tire; he leans back when he wants to get more traction. I have to remind myself that he is eight years old now; which means he has been riding a motorcycle for half of his life already! I think the boy has quite a future in motorcycles; he just seems to be a natural. The only thing that I would like to see from him now is that HE start checking his motorcycle tire pressures and doing the general maintenance on his bike himself. That will come in good time!

James Parker

Motorcycling has taken me up to my 63rd year now! Daring youth, fast bikes, track days, faster bikes, much touring and camping while criss-crossing the country. In years past it was the Middle East, Africa and Europe (as my birthplace was France); that was a past life, since I have now been in the U.S. a bit over 30 years. Today, my buddy Spirit and I have been on the road full time camping for the past 5 years - with a hack, “Old Faithful” I call her, barely broken in with 257,000 miles on her odometer.

In a few days, it will be 5 years from the time I decided to leave it all behind, after losing my son and only child, to find some therapy outside of doctors prescriptions with chemical properties.  It has been quite a journey so far, climbing the mental and physical steps one at a time; up one, back two, up three more. There is truly nothing like putting a helmet on (both of us!) and feeling the wind on our faces while enjoying the freedom of the surrounding space in an “uncaged” way. Mother Nature is of a generous…nature. I can attribute my longevity to luck, much serious riding education, and a wise path - maybe never reaching 100% of my inner ability or exceeding my desires; yet respecting the blind curve that was always, and remains to be, a big one.

What I truly rest our riding success on, though, is the constant attention I pay to my motorcycle tires; including their pressure, cold or hot. A daily visual inspection, gauge in hand, is time wisely spend. I always have a 12V compressor along. We ride alone 99% of the time, and when with others, I can feel their impatience start in the morning. “Go” I say, “go.” My time spent here checking my tires is much more pleasant than time I could be spending in a building adorned with a large red cross. Yes, an engine has to run, brakes have to work, bearings have to roll, fresh oil is often needed; but it all rests on the tires.

There isn’t much that compares to the feeling of rolling on new tires, deep threads and good rubber; and I take care choosing the correct pressure, depending on the terrain. It is not a false sense of security - it is real, very real. Tires have a funny lifespan, however. Once not long ago, a good friend of ours was riding from Ohio to Colorado to camp with us for a few days, when I received a call from him. Brent was looking for a new rear motorcycle tire on a Saturday morning while only 250 miles from us! He thought his tire would make the 2500 mile round-trip. A seasoned rider himself, he had yet to learn that the ending of a tire’s life approaches much faster over the final miles than one might think. I think he learned this time. Maybe?

My rule is, if I think my tires are going to last another 1000 miles, they will in actuality only last 500, if lucky. Riding with the cords showing is someone else’s thrill, never mine. He spent a small fortune that day at the mercy of an independent dealer instead of having it ordered ahead of time and delivered to the comfort of his home. I myself lean a bit the other way, staying ahead of the curve with the ability of the sidecar to carry a couple spares for when I know that “moment of insecurity” is approaching.

Riding goes on, and our path is simple - stay south in the winter and north in the summer. My GS is a dual sport and I enjoy the offroad capabilities, as the most beautiful spaces of this vast country we live in are not reachable on paved roads. While the sidecar has slowed me down, and photography and writing about our experiences have taken over; there is no regret - my buddy Spirit is with me! And…I don’t fall anymore!

Ara and Spirit
www.theoasisofmysoul.com - Our Journal
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What started out as a good place to stop for lunch turned into the purchase of Joey’s new motorcycle! I was at my day job, going through a normal Thursday sales route when I decided to stop and have my lunch in the parking lot at a dealership I frequent, Fay Myers Motorcycle World in the Denver area. My original intent was to eat lunch and walk through the dealership to get some ideas for Joey’s new motorcycle. He has asked for a Honda CRF 70 or CRF 80; this is because I have the Honda XR 650R and he wants to look just like Dad.

70 vs 80 

I was going to compare the size of the two models and think over which one to purchase, but as I approached the doorway I spotted both a 70 and an 80, and immediately decided that the 80 would be too big for Joey. So the 70, with a number 2 on the number plate, would be the one! We had been thinking that we would purchase him a new motorcycle this time around. After sitting down with the sales rep and compared final prices, though, it made sense to go with the used 2005 armed with fresh Dunlop motorcycle tires. In buying the older, lightly used motorcycle, we were saving over $1000.

The original plan was to bring Jennifer and Joey in to look at the bike before making a purchase; but it would be at least two days before we could all make it back in. I thought this is too good of a deal to wait, so I made the purchase less than ten minutes after walking in the door “just to take a look.” Even though the purchase was spur of the moment, I feel very comfortable with the decision.

Tie Down Straps

As I was sitting in the dealership waiting for the paper work to be completed, it dawned on me that I was driving the work truck and I have no motorcycle tie down straps with me. I am always hauling building materials for my day job, so I did have a plethora of ratchet straps. I decided those would work as long as I didn’t pinch the forks down too tight. Also, I would need to be especially careful since I did not have a fork saver. A fork saver is a block that keeps the forks from being tightened down too much, which will blow out the fork seals. I have one of these that I purchased and several others that I made myself from 2x4’s, which work splendidly. As soon as I get a chance at home, I will custom build one for Joey’s new motorcycle.

Planning the Surprise

On the ninety mile drive home, I was thinking of different scenarios of to how to present the bike to Joey. Jennifer was fully aware of what was going on because I had texted her and sent pictures of the bike. Joey, however, had no clue what was happening; he knew that we would be purchasing a new motorcycle for him soon, but he didn’t know it would be this soon. He would be in for quite a surprise when we all got home that night. 

I was a little fearful, too, remembering the day we went to Denver to buy his Yamaha PW 50 and coming home just in time for me to be called away to a structure fire. I had a premonition that there would be a fire call on my arrival home; and sure enough, not five minutes after my arrival, the pager was sounding an alarm for a haystack fire. Haystacks are long, drawn-out affairs to begin with; and a day of high wind warnings with gusts up to 60 mph could have made it an all-nighter. Fortunately, some bystanders had the fire contained upon our arrival. Since Joey had some after school activities that day, he was not home yet when I got back from the fire, so I will still be able to see the look on his face when he found his new ride!

My presentation plan was formulated; I decided to set the new bike, “The Piglet,” next to my Big Red Pig in the motorcycle garage. At our house, the ATV and the motorcycles are in a separate garage from the cars, tools and other junk. When Joey got home, I would have him take a ratchet strap into the motorcycle garage where he would discover that he now has two motorcycles. I think as the proud dad, I was just as excited about his motorcycle as he would be when he came home.

Surprise!!

Finally, all the after school activities were done and Joey came home. I give him the strap and told him to take it to the motorcycle garage. With no “kid” argument at all he took the strap, walked the fifty feet across our backyard, opened the walk-in door and turned on the light. He began to look around to decide where to put the strap. He looked at the new bike, turned his head away and then took a second look. There was a two second pause and then he exclaimed, “MY NEW MOTORCYCLE IS HERE!!” 

We pulled it out of the garage and pushed it up toward the house so that it was in the light from the back of the house (it was already dark outside). At that point, Joey inspected it to make sure it was up to his specifications. Upon completion of the inspection, we got the thumbs up!

How excited is the boy? Extremely! When we asked him what he thinks of his new ride, he says, “this is just what I wanted.” He is now planning rides for us, including a hare scramble in the spring (which is a subject for a different post). I am not sure who is more excited about the new motorcycle, Joey or me; I am such a proud father when it comes to the dirt bikes. Joey is such a good rider at eight years old; he just seems so natural when he is on the bike. It also puts a soft spot in my heart when, without prompting, he asked for a motorcycle that looks like mine so that he could be “just like Dad.” Joey, Jennifer and I have a lot of good, quality, family time to look forward to in the coming years on our ATV and dirt bikes.

James Parker

The most memorable quote from our last trip to Taylor Park was when our group reached a significant water crossing on the Lily Pond single-track trail, miles from our camp. Mike volunteered to ford the crossing first. Once across, he parked his bike and shut it off so he could hear us speaking. Dave, the one who had just led us on a harrowing journey through the forest, over rocks and trees, around corners and through other smaller water crossings, hollers at Mike, “We changed our minds, we are going golfing!” The look on Mike’s face on the other side of the water was priceless. The odd look was probably because there is not a golf club owned between the three of us.

We are offroaders. We all live to ride these trails. For us, there is nothing better than putting our motorcycle tires on the surface of these trails. The point I am making here is that while we like to joke around, we take our offroad riding seriously. Just as many golfers spend time and money perfecting their game; we do the same with preparing and riding our dirt bikes. All three of us will arrive at camp with finely tuned machines. 

A few days after returning home from the ride, Dave said his favorite quote of the trip came from me. I had said, “Let’s get on our motorcycles and try to see how far up the creek we can get.” Dave says it takes a serious offroad rider to think this way; most casual riders wouldn’t say something like that. They either want to ride easier trails that are not so much work or to see how fast they can go. We consider ourselves to be technical riders; my buddies and I relish the chance to take on difficult trails that test our riding skills.

Not only do these trails test our riding skills, they test our mechanical skills as well; meaning that if maintenance on the machines is not done properly, it would not take long on one of these trips for a poor maintenance routine to rear its ugly head. Since so many of the trails are very rocky and have many obstacles, I don’t think I would want to begin to travel them without being confident in my maintenance regimen and the parts I have used on the machines.

To me, first and foremost is to make sure to have good, sturdy tires and tubes. I am picky about tires and do a lot of research before purchasing them to make sure that I choose the correct tires for my style of riding.

Good quality riding gear is just as important. Remember, not only could you be miles from camp, you could be hours away from advanced medical help. Protecting your body in case of a crash helps to ensure your injuries are less severe. As a firefighter, I have some emergency medical training; Dave likes to joke that this is the reason he lets me go riding with him. He thinks it is funny to tell people that he has his own personal rescuer along on the ride. However, in our miles and miles of riding, I was  the one to have had the most serious crash resulting in knee ligament damage. All he could say to me as he was picking my bike up was, “That looked like it hurt.” Trust me, it hurt a lot! That is the day after which my protective apparel was upgraded tremendously. 

The point of all this is that our little group of riders is not just a hapless group of guys who go out to ride on a whim. We come prepared and we make sure our  motorcycles are well-maintained, from the clutch cables down to the motorcycle tries. We dress appropriately and for safety so we are protected on more challenging ride trails. Enjoying the good company of our friends is only the beginning when it comes to having a good time offroading.

James Parker

As the Taylor Park trip came to an end, I realized that I did not get to go on a ride with just my family. Labor Day weekend gave us the opportunity to render that situation. We took a trip to a private riding area about an hour’s drive from our house, and since none of the usual suspects (otherwise known as my riding buddies) were able to come along, we took a family ride with just the three of us.

We had a prior commitment in Denver on Saturday, so we made a reservation at an RV park where we could stay with our machines that night and left Sunday morning to the OHV area.  When we finally arrived at the riding area on Sunday morning, we found the caretaker, paid our “ten dollar per person per day” entry fees, asked where we could set up camp and got on with our riding day. 

The first order of business was to unload my Honda XR650R (The Big Red Pig), Joey’s Yamaha PW50 and Jennifer’s Kawasaki Prairie ATV. This would be the first time it would be just the three of us riding simultaneously since we got the four-wheeler. We all donned our riding gear, including helmets, gloves, chest protectors and boots and gave it all a once over. 

The four-wheeler and the Big Red Pig both started right up, but when we got to Joey’s little Yamaha, it wouldn’t start. I was doing everything I could think of to get the little motor going as Joey began to look sadder and sadder. It just wouldn’t start. So to the toolbox I went; I grabbed my sockets, a rag, a wire brush and my trusty can of WD-40.  My first inkling was to pull the spark plug to see what it looked like; once out it looked a little oily and burned. I sprayed it with the WD-40, scrubbed it with the wire brush, sprayed a little more WD-40 on it and put it back it the motor. After fiddling with the choke and kicking the starter a few times the tiny motor came alive. My spirits rose when I heard Joey coming out of the camper excitedly yelling, “Dad, you fixed my motorcycle!” That little boy just made my day, and I was a hero to him.

So we were off on our little adventure! This riding park has something for everyone - from an MX track to rock crawling, and from rally cars to a ten mile desert course. We chose the desert course, as we thought it could offer something for everyone in the clan. Jennifer and I first discussed whether or not Joey could go that far, but we decided to just get out there and see what happens. Well, after about thirty minutes of uphills, downhills, corners, whoops, gullies and switchbacks, we had made the ten miles and were back to our camp. I asked Joey if he was feeling okay and his response was, “Dad, I want to go around again!” So we were off for the second ten mile lap; we did it even faster and took a few extra turns that we didn’t take the first time which actually made the lap even longer. 

Since this was the first extended riding I have done with Jennifer since we got the ATV, I got to watch her handle her new toy. She looks so much more comfortable on the four-wheeler than she did on the motorcycle (because of her back pain). There were many sections of this course that we would not have been able to do if she had been on two wheels instead of the four ATV tires. She was absolutely railing through terrain that would have stopped her dead in her tracks on the motorcycle. Joey gets better as a rider every time we go out; since I was in the lead I didn’t see it, but Jen said that Joey actually caught air going over some of the jumps. I don’t know if I am ready for the boy to be jumping his motorcycle! He is fearless on his bike so I know the jumps are only going to get bigger.

For me, this wasn’t a challenging technical ride like I am used to; nor was it a fast ride like I would do with my usual gang of friends. It was better than that; it was a ride with my two best friends, my wife and son. All my worries were gone for the time being, because I was captivated by how our little family can have so much fun doing this activity together. We are not sports fanatics or television watchers; we like to go camping, we like to go riding, and most of all we like to be together.  What a better way to spend a long weekend than to be with my family enjoying our outdoor toys.

James Parker

I have found that there is one thing better than riding my dirt bike, and that is to watch my son Joey ride his motorcycle.  Last week I had promised Joey that we would go to the farm after work on Wednesday, but because of work and weather we were unable to go until Saturday morning.  Once we finally made it to the farm, it was well worth the wait.  Jennifer and I got our work done while Joey was able to do some riding and get his motorcycle dirty.

Next month Joey will be eight; he has been riding his motorcycle since he was four.  One can easily see that he is an experienced rider.  This may be a proud father speaking, but when I watch him ride his motorcycle, he looks so natural.  It is almost as though riding a dirt bike is his calling in life.  He can seat the bike as well as many adult riders I know; he rails around corners and has done a few jumps here and there.  Not that I am any kind of freestyle, extreme motocross rider, but I know a couple of tricks.  I have spotted Joey doing some of the same tricks that I know - at the age of seven!  I did not know how, nor had the nerve to try them until I was well into my thirties.  If we are not careful, the boy may be providing for our retirement as a professional freestyle motocross rider.  Whatever happens, it is his life to live and those are his decisions to make.

During the summer months, I like to keep the motorcycles and the four wheeler on the trailer, so that we can just hook it on and go at a moment’s notice.  Saturday morning, we got up and headed out early. Jennifer and I had some mowing to get done, and normally when we are doing farm work, Joey will either ride his motorcycle or go cart.  This day, he decided the dirt bike was his vehicle of choice, so I did a once-over of his motorcycle tires before we left the house, and we took  off to get fuel and head to the farm.

Joey is big enough now that he can put on his own riding gear, including his motorcycle helmet and boots.  He can now help to load, tie down and unload his motorcycle.  He is not quite big enough yet to do it all by himself; however, I tell him if he is going to ride, he is going to help.  So after he is dressed for the ride, we unload the little blue bike.  Joey has always known the process required to start his motorcycle, but hadn’t yet done it himself; this day he chose to try starting it himself and succeeded!  This was a big moment in his motorcycle life; this is now one less thing that I will have to help him with.

Once his motor was running, Joey was off like a shot.  He headed up the field road to the top of the hillside.  He rocketed around a corner and headed down the hillside toward the creek; the creek is running full right now.  Luckily he made the decision not to attempt to do the water crossing.  This would have just swallowed the PW 50 and we would have never seen it again.  This is a nice, grassy hillside that offers a lot of cushioning in case of a spill.  Fortunately, though, the J Dog doesn’t crash very often.  Once along the creek, he rode it upstream for about a quarter of a mile and looped around back toward the top of the hill. 

I decided the farm work could wait for a few minutes, so I grabbed the four wheeler and led him down some more field roads that run throughout our corn field.  Out in the field we found a muddy spot - anyone who knows Joey knows that he cannot resist mud - and he shot right through it.  The mud was so thick on his little motorcycle tires that the wheels would not turn.  I made him clean the mud off enough so that the bike could be ridden.  He did this task and we moved on; when Jennifer took a break from mowing, Joey talked her into following him so that this incident could be repeated in its entirety.  She was so impressed!  We both told Joey when we got home it would be up to him to get the power washer out to clean his bike.

After the mother/son ride it was time to load up and head home.  Joey took care of his riding gear and helped me load the ATV and the motorcycle.  Back at the house, we unloaded the bike and parked it on the lawn next to the water faucet.  I reminded Joey where in the garage I keep the power washer; he retrieved it for me and I helped him get it all set up.  I left to do some other chores while he cleaned the bike with some supervision from his mother.  Soon Joey and the clean PW 50 appeared in the garage.  We reloaded everything onto the trailer: the PW 50, the ATV and the Big Red Pig are ready for another scoot.

This has been the first summer since Joey has begun to ride motorcycles that he has been able to help with things like loading and clean up.  As time goes on, I plan to give him more and more responsibility for his equipment and his motorcycle.  I am thinking that by the end of this summer, I will be having him check his own oil and the air pressure in his motorcycle tires.  Some would probably tell me that eight is not old enough for that kind of responsibility, but I remember what my Dad used to say when I was a boy: “You can’t learn any younger.”  I really didn’t understand that statement until I began to teach my own son about life.  My lesson learned this weekend: riding with Joey is becoming more and more fun as he learns how to take care of his motorcycle and riding apparel.

James Parker, “Rock Slayer”