Dirt Demons Part Deux

With the plan of hooking up with my friend and his two boys and their 50cc bike, Lauren was finally on board to try the dirt bike. Conveniently I discovered it loads nicely in the back of the Subaru.

She was actually pretty psyched to try it and ride with the other boys.

Poof! Instant transform to dirt bike girl.

There was more activity at the dirt bike lot than previously. The nicer weather brought out more people, but everyone was very courteous and gave the girls plenty of room. They were plenty excited to see and hear other people riding/playing through the woods. Unfortunately my friend and his boys didn’t make it. but the girls had a blast anyway.

Abigail started first to show her little sister the ropes.

Then it was Lauren’s turn. At first I had to hold her upright and continually repoint her in the right direction for the first 2 or 3 runs. I actually thought I’d never be able to get a picture of her because she required so much assistance. Then in an instant she was off on her own. She caught up to her sister ridiculously fast, then started pushing the limits that Abigail had set.

Seeing new boundaries to break herself, Abigail wanted to go again, and again, and again.

The girls rode for roughly 3 hours. They rode past the point of hunger (we didn’t bring lunch). They just wanted to keep riding and keep taking turns. Each time going a little faster, farther and rougher.

They easily exceeded the convenience of 1 bike. I’m already on the look out for a second. They’re also quickly approaching the performance limitations of this one. It has an exhaust restrictor plate that reduces the power output. I’m either going to have to remove the plate or start drilling out the restriction little by little for incremental performance gains.

Depending on weather, we’ll probably put the riding away for the season and essentially have to start over in the spring. Based on the progress so far, I don’t expect that to be an issue.

There’s some more gear we’ll need. I’ve already upgraded to a neck brace for them to share. Obviously now I need two. And Lauren needs boots. The sooner they learn to ride in dirt bike boots (they’re very stiff and well armored, hence making it difficult to “feel” the controls), the better.

The other question is the bike to get. I was originally thinking the same model, so that they’d share similar performance/handling experiences. Now I’m thinking of a Honda because it’s got more gears and it’s just different. I think switching between the different characteristics of the bikes will only make them stronger in the end. Who knows I might end up with two Hondas. I have a friend at work looking to get his daughters riding in the spring. He’s got 3, so he’ll definitely need a bike. I could sell him the JR50, and upgrade to another Honda.

We shall see.

– b