Motorcycles, especially dirt bikes, offer an entire world of possibilities to have fun, get your heart rate banging, learn something new, and better yourself. But the sport is still sometimes seen as a “guy thing,” and some women might find it intimidating to swing a leg over a bike, even if it’s something they’ve long wanted to do. For the past decade, women who either ride dirt bikes or want to ride one have had an event just for them. I just got back home from Dirtastic, the epic celebration of all things dirt bike just for women. Some 200 ladies from across America showed up at a forest on a mountain in Oregon, and the best part wasn’t even the motorcycles.
There is a misconception out there that women simply aren’t interested in cars, motorcycles, planes, and other vehicles. Historically, you were most likely to find men working on cars, riding motorcycles, and flying planes. However, that doesn’t mean women weren’t or still aren’t interested in high-octane fun. Over time, women have been getting out there and have absolutely killed it on bikes, flying planes, and even going into space. I am happy to say that about a fifth of our readers are not men.
But parts of the world can still be unkind to women who want to get into motoring. Who hasn’t heard an insult about how “badly” women drive? I know women who went through the work to become commercial pilots, only to press pause on their airline dreams because of poor treatment in the industry. It’s no different with bikes. A woman who wants to learn how to ride a dirt bike might encounter judgment or ridicule for not knowing how to ride.
At the same time, if you are experienced in the art of making a dirt bike go fast, you might feel alone in a sport with generally lots of testosterone around. Where can you find other women who like getting dirty on two wheels?
Dirtastic is the place to find other ladies who know how to work a two-stroke engine, but it isn’t just an event for experienced dirt bike riders. Dirtastic’s Main Event, which is held in Oregon every year, is staffed by experienced motocross riders and instructors. Many of them have been riding for most of their lives. These inspirational women are there not just to promote the fun and thrill of dirt bikes, but also to teach women everything from the basics to the hardcore technical skills. Click here to read my story about the history of Dirtastic.
I didn’t even know Dirtastic existed until Dan from Stark Future reached out to me with an incredible pitch. I was invited to fly out to Oregon and join some 200 women at Dirtastic, and I’d get to do it with a Stark Varg EX between my legs. I had never ridden a dirt bike in my life, yet I’m not sure I replied yes to an invite faster.
(Full Disclosure: Stark Future and Dirtastic invited me out to Jacksonville, Oregon, to experience an all-women’s moto and camping event on a Stark Varg EX. Stark Future paid for my travel and accommodations.)
A Totally New Experience For Me
Going to Dirtastic was a big deal for me. My own motorcycle journey began in 2018. Back then, I reached a point in my life where I had become confident enough to really chase my dreams. My bucket list had only a couple of entries crossed off, and while I was young, time only moves in one direction for humans. I concluded there was no better time to start crossing off those items than now.
One of the biggest dreams I have in life is that I want to take command of as many vehicles as possible before I punch the clock one last time. I want to drive a semi-tractor, fly a Boeing 747, steer a container ship, drive a train, do barrel rolls in a plane, collect my favorite motorcycles, and more. I’d love to do something like Dirty Jobs, but my version would be about driving all of the planet’s awesome vehicles. Could I be good at driving a mining truck? I’d love to find out!
One of the blessings of being an auto journalist is that I’ve been able to achieve so many of these dreams. I have driven a vintage diesel-electric locomotive, did “wheelies” on a supercharged 325-horsepower Sea-Doo, jumped side-by-sides with Tanner Foust, performed loops and barrel rolls in an aerobatic plane, and even went fast in a supercar. I have also amassed a dream vehicle collection with eight of my favorite motorcycles and something like 14 cars. I’ve even owned a city bus and have bought and sold something like 60 motorcycles. I will never take this for granted and will forever be thankful for getting here.
Yet, somehow, I’ve never been on a real dirt bike until now.
I had no real idea what to expect when I stepped off the plane in Medford, Oregon. I knew that I’d be taking at least one of the Dirtastic instructional clinics. I also knew that my steed for the whole event would be a Stark Varg EX, the fastest electric off-road motorcycle in the world. But what would an all-women’s motorcycle and camping event look like? I had no idea.
Bikes And Conversation
I would be joined by the lovely Amber DaSilva of Jalopnik. We hopped into Dan’s rented GMC Sierra and climbed dirt road switchbacks above Jacksonville, where we found ourselves on land owned by the Motorcycle Riders Association non-profit group.
Contained within MRA’s lands was the Lily Prairie OHV area and the Lily Prairie Staging Area, where Dirtastic was headquartered for the weekend. MRA closes down its 1,300 acres for Dirtastic for the weekend. In other words, the population of this mountainous region of Oregon becomes 99.9 percent women for a weekend. Even better is that Lily Prairie is so far from civilization that there is no cellular service. Unless you rock a Starlink, you’re totally disconnected from the outside world for a whole weekend. As someone who supports the idea of logging out of social media and enjoying the beauty of this planet, I was excited to see every bar of coverage disappear.
Thursday was an easy day. Amber and I arrived on scene, set up our campsite, and had Dan show us how the Stark Varg EX works. I’m going to write about this motorcycle in a separate piece. Just know that it’s one of the most ridiculous motorcycles I’ve ever ridden, and it’s brutally fast.
Once Amber and I settled in, we sauntered over to the heart-shaped fire pit in the middle of the event headquarters. It was there that we started getting to know who we’d spend the weekend with. I quickly found out that Dirtastic attracted women of all stripes. There were older women, young ladies, skinny women, tall women, and really every variation you could think of. The evening firepit was a melting pot of diverse ladies, each with a unique story to tell.
Some people told me that they had only just purchased their first dirt bike a few weeks ago, and they decided to dive headfirst into it. Some said that they rode dirt bikes in the country when they were kids, gave up on it when they went to college or had kids, and now they’re back to what they loved decades ago. Some of the women there were just getting into motorcycles for the first time in their lives. Some were experienced dirt bike riders and wanted to meet other moto-obsessed women. Others were scratching off bucket list items or conquering their fears.
Experience levels ranged from people who hadn’t touched a dirt bike before coming to Dirtastic to women who could leap a dirt bike higher than Superman could fly. Yet, everyone was there for a common goal: To have an absolute blast loving, embracing, and learning about dirt bikes without judgment, without pressure, and without men. Boyfriends and husbands were able to help set up camp and unload bikes, but they otherwise had to stay out. The few men who were there were largely in the background as EMS, catering, rescue, or, in Dan’s case, representing a sponsor or vendor. Otherwise, if you saw a dirt bike, you knew a woman was riding it.
The organizers of Dirtastic found a clever way to break the ice with the crowd. We were given a Bingo sheet and, in order to fill it, we had to ask other participants about themselves. We had to find people who rode two strokes, who have ridden on a track, who wrench on their own ride, and more. Personally, I didn’t really care about the card. I just wanted to talk to people to figure out how they found themselves standing on a mountain over 4,000 feet above a town in Oregon. I heard stories about terrible boyfriends, stories about women on quests to reinvent themselves, and ladies looking for their next hit of adrenaline.
There was also another clever way to strike up a conversation. Dirtastic bolted the frame of a dirt bike to a giant spring. The goal is to board the bike and use a little muscle, some technique, and some balance to get the bike back perfectly on center. If you fail, it could throw you off, not too unlike a mechanical bull. I sucked at this infernal challenge. While I got the bike off the stand, I never got to balance it. On the other hand, Amber made it look easy.
What was heartwarming was that regardless if they succeeded or failed, the women always cheered on the rider. If you mounted that bike, you instantly had 100 or so women hyping you up and giving you advice. Sometimes, the crowd clapped even when people fell off. This alone was such a wild departure from what I’m used to, where you’d normally get laughed at for sucking at a skills challenge like this. But the Dirtastic community wasn’t like that. Everyone wanted to empower each other, not put them down.
The Main Event
Friday was the start of the big event. Dirtastic officially started with a speech from its current owner, Courtney, and a speech from its original founder, Kalin. The ladies also introduced all of the instruction team, and all of the instructors were as diverse as the women they were going to teach. Some of the instructors were former motocross racers, some just loved riding dirt bikes in the woods. Some instructors got into motorcycling later in life, while others probably knew how to ride a motorcycle before they could spell. All of them were pumped to teach us new tricks.
Since Amber and I signed up for Dirtastic late, most of the early clinics were already full. So, we spent most of our day on Friday hitting the trails with Dan, getting used to the Starks. Amber broke a brake lever on her Stark only five minutes into riding it, while I crashed one maybe 10 minutes later, darn near punching a hole into one of my thumbs. Oh yeah, these Starks are fast, alright. But that’s a story for my review.
Later that day, Amber and I joined an introductory dirt bike class. As I said, I have ridden off-road, but hadn’t touched a dirt bike until Dan gave me the Stark, and as I just established, a Stark is one of the fastest things in the dirt. Forget the 125s or 250s some folks start on, my first-ever real dirt bike experience was an unruly full-size thoroughbred.
I expected the fundamentals class to have a lot of things I already knew, but I started learning from the very start. The instructors gathered us around and demonstrated the proper dirt bike riding position. Sitting is terrible for control, so you’re supposed to stand up with your arms out and knees bent slightly. Now, instead of the bike controlling you and bumping you around, the bike does what your body tells it to. My mistake, at least before the class, was riding while standing straight up, which apparently isn’t much better than sitting down.
The instructors then ran us through a gauntlet. Some of the material would be review if you’re an experienced street rider, such as finding your clutch’s friction zone and how to ride slowly. However, this material was still important because a lot of the women at Dirtastic were entirely new to motorcycles. Also, the clutch and engine behavior of a two-stroke dirt bike can be very different from that of, say, a Harley-Davidson Street Glide.
Something new that I learned, aside from riding position, is that dirt bike riders will intentionally slip their clutches to keep their revs high when in ruts, mud, corners, or other situations that would normally take their engines out of their optimal rev range. This is different than what I learned in a street riding class, where slipping your clutch more than necessary was viewed as a great way to kill the clutch. I also learned that many racers don’t even use the clutch once they’ve launched out of the gates; they grab gears just by moving the shift lever.
Once the class nailed their riding position and clutch work, the instructors started combining those skills with new lessons. Soon, we found ourselves learning about weight distribution and braking. If you’re braking fast on a dirt bike, you don’t just hit your brakes like you would on the road. You want to transfer some of your weight to the rear of the bike while you’re braking, which helps keep traction in the rear tire and reduces the chance of throwing yourself off the bike when braking down a hill. So, we spent some substantial time getting weight transfer right. The proper braking position sort of resembled how you’d look if you were bracing for a really hard stop.
We also learned how to use our hips to shift weight during turns. The most proficient way to turn a dirt bike isn’t just to ride it around a turn, but to get your hips and your weight to the side of the bike that’s on the outside of the turn. This, in turn, allows you to get more speed through the turn without wiping out.
We also practiced walking the bike with its clutch up a hill. Not only does this teach proper clutch control, but it can also save your bacon if you drop your dirt bike on a hill. Admittedly, the clutch lessons didn’t mean a whole lot to the all-electric Starks, but Amber and I learned a lot. We’d later use what we learned in the class to hit a trail with far more confidence and with far fewer crashes than we did only the day earlier.
There were lots more classes during Dirtastic, including how to ride through turns fast, how to climb hills, how to blast through obstacles, and more. Sadly, Amber and I didn’t have time to do all that we wanted to learn!
Bright Personalities
One of my highlights from the class was this wonderful lady, Paris (above). She, one of the best dancers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, had probably the most incredible story of the whole event. She flew in from South Dakota and rented a Jeep Gladiator camper from Turo. Then, only an hour before the class started, she bought a random dirt bike from a guy on Facebook and shoved it into the bed of the Jeep.
She then ordered all of her camping gear, food, and motorcycle gear from Instacart and DoorDash. I didn’t even know you could get an entire suit of moto gear from Instacart! Paris lives by the full send mentality of having an idea and just committing to it, no matter how crazy it sounds. Here she was, thousands of miles away from home and totally unprepared, but she put it all together in such an alarmingly short time.
This bike was just as chaotic as Paris was. It had no kickstand and no electric start. It was also tuned so that the engine wanted to do nothing but run at redline. So, she had to kick the little two-smoker into life and then constantly keep the throttle grip turned to keep the engine alive. This was hilarious because the bike stalled so much that it practically became a running joke of the weekend. When it did run, it had a power band that resembled a rock face. It was a bunch of nothing and then a whole crazy rush of power. It wasn’t as ridiculous as a Stark, but a rather rowdy ride for a beginner. Apparently, the seller of the bike messaged Paris later on just to make sure she was still alive.
Oh yeah, she was. She grabbed that green monster by the bars and had that thing tamed by the weekend.
Another one of my favorites from our class was Meredith. She started the weekend being one of the more timid riders in our group. She fell off her bike a lot, didn’t go very fast, and didn’t seem to trust herself or her bike. But by Saturday, she was ruling the trail. There were times when Amber and I threw ourselves off our Starks while Meredith rolled by, making hills and ruts look easy.
I don’t think it was just the class, either. We learned a lot in the class, but that happened in a parking lot. I think a lot of what helped out there on the trail was the camaraderie. We always cheered each other on, and when someone fell, we helped them get back up and back on the bike. We didn’t leave anyone behind and went at a pace everyone was comfortable with. We also stopped a lot and talked about what lines to take for obstacles ahead. There was a lot of strategizing, even though we were on a trail marked as being easy.
In doing so, Amber, Meredith, Paris, and I totally beat a trail that some of the women said was way harder than advertised. Who cares that we never exceeded 30 mph, we were having a total blast!
The Grand Finale
Later on Saturday, I took part in a Party Tricks class, where we had a slow race – last person across the finish line wins – and learned how to do wheelies. This instruction was awesome, and I finally learned how to initiate a wheelie myself rather than using engine torque to do it for me. Unfortunately, I got a little too confident and cocky too quickly, and wheelied the Stark so hard that I busted my knee and ended up in the back of an ambulance, but that’s for my other story. While I was in the ambulance, the rest of the class got to learn how to do dirt donuts.
Saturday moto rides ended with minibike games, where everyone dressed up all silly-like and then raced each other on tiny motorcycles.
Once everyone had had their fill of the trails, races, and instructional clinics, we all gathered for a neon rodeo-themed party. This was a frenzy. Out came dresses, bikinis, Stetsons, and the booze.
Paris won an award for her unbridled craziness, and others got prizes from a raffle. Then, we all settled into dancing, drinking, and chatting the night away.
The Real Magic Of Dirtastic
It’s hard to describe how amazing this was. Normally, I’m the person who sits at a table by herself and watches the action. But here I was, talking with so many fascinating people, collecting phone numbers, and punishing my hurt knee by getting low and twerking.
Meredith even set up a minibar with the cutest little cleaver to cut limes.
The energy was high in the air, and the low temperatures didn’t stop the fun. I saw lots of kissing, making out, and red Solo cups. Amber boggled my mind by walking around in a bikini with an invitation to touch her on it. A lot of women took her up on her offer. Meanwhile, Paris taught me how to twerk like a pro. I also found out that she works not too far from where I live, and she’s offered to take me on summertime adventures in Northern Wisconsin.
That, I think, is what made Dirtastic better than just motorcycles in the dirt. Yes, riding a dirt bike for the first time ever was thrilling. I also learned a valuable life lesson in never giving up that weekend. But there isn’t a two-stroke or electric bike in the world that could replace human connection. Dirtastic had that in spades.
It was at Dirtastic where I learned I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t the only weirdo into unique motorcycles. I was far from the only plus-size lady there. I wasn’t even nearly the only person of color there. I didn’t feel like I was tagging along with someone else’s group like an awkward third wheel. No, I was in this group.
This event was powerful in so many ways. The instructors gave me the skills to be a better dirt rider, and I hope to keep the new friends I made along the way for a long time.
I’ll Be Back!
But, more than that, Dirtastic was like therapy. There was no hate, no judging, and no mockery. Everyone was genuinely invested in your success. I got to watch in real time as myself, as well as perhaps 200 other women, become more confident, more sure of ourselves, and so ready to go back home and tackle the world. These women learned how to do some seriously impressive work on dirt bikes; they can do whatever they want.
It’s wild because when you go to the Dirtastic site, you’d swear that this event is about dirt bikes. Really, the dirt bikes are just a vehicle for something greater. I left Dirtastic a better version of me, and I think so many other women did, too. I can’t wait to go back next year.
So, if you have even a passing interest in dirt bikes, I recommend making the pilgrimage to the Dirtastic Main Event next year. If you can’t make it, smaller Dirtastic events are held in eight states and Canada. If you’re on the fence, just do it. You’ll go into it without any idea of what you’re doing, but you’ll come out feeling like a heroine. I know I did.
All images: Author
All I can say is.. Hell yeah.
“To have an absolute blast loving, embracing, and learning about dirt bikes without judgment, without pressure, and without men. Boyfriends and husbands were able to help set up camp and unload bikes, but they otherwise had to stay out. The few men who were there were largely in the background as EMS, catering, rescue, or, in Dan’s case, representing a sponsor or vendor. Otherwise, if you saw a dirt bike, you knew a woman was riding it.”
A true celebration of sexism.
The only way I can think of responding to this respectfully is with this comic
Cute but misses the mark. In this case it’s men being excluded, not the women being kicked out of their own club as implicated in the comic.
Imagine the utter shitstorm if one of the men on staff had published this:
“To have an absolute blast loving, embracing, and learning about dirt bikes without judgment, without pressure, and without women. Girlfriends and wives were able to help set up camp and unload gear, but they otherwise had to stay out. The few women who were there were largely in the background as EMS, cooking, cleanup, or, in Danielle’s case, representing a sponsor or vendor. Otherwise, if you saw a dirt bike, you knew a man was riding it.”
ARE there any dirt bike clubs like this? If so call them out here.
Men have, historically, been extremely exclusionary and sexist to women in pretty much any hobby. Especially motorsports/powersports.
Hell, I could write a book on toxic interactions I had just from being a dude running neon pink wheels on my daily for 6 years.
And yes, this includes women being “kicked out of their own clubs” when men join. A toxic environment evolves fast.
The majority of my friend group is made up of women, including my best friend of 17 years until her untimely death. This situation is unfortunately the norm, not the exception.
Making events like this are important. It creates a safe environment for women to enjoy [thing] without receiving the worst of the culture.
It’s literally one event for women, because ALL THE OTHER EVENTS are male dominated and often toxic to women. It’s ok to not be the target demographic occasionally.
This is akin to people who bemoan “why do we have GAY pride and not STRAIGHT pride?” When you are used to privilege, equity feels like oppression.
I figured the comic summed it up, but I forget just how unaware some people are of the realities of women just *existing* places. Which is, in itself, a privilege.
“Men have, historically, been extremely exclusionary and sexist to women in pretty much any hobby. Especially motorsports/powersports.”
Sure there are jerks. Are the husbands and boyfriends who came along to this event those kind of jerks? Why are they excluding the men they CHOSE to be in their lives and who cared enough to come along from joining in on the fun?
“Making events like this are important. It creates a safe environment for women to enjoy [thing] without receiving the worst of the culture.”
Why bring the men at all then?
“And yes, this includes women being “kicked out of their own clubs” when men join. A toxic environment evolves fast.”
Citations please.
“It’s literally one event for women, because ALL THE OTHER EVENTS are male dominated and often toxic to women. It’s ok to not be the target demographic occasionally.”
None of which changes the fact this is, however anyone tries to justify it, a sexist event.
Look, I can’t force you to be right. You’ve decided you know better than women. Which is the entire problem.
You don’t have to force anything:
“Sexism describes prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender.”
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/what-is-sexism
The only things I’ve decided is that
1). This event as per this reporting of it fits that description, which it does.
2). That your comic missed the mark for this specific situation.
3) That if the sexes were reversed this event would have been lambasted, which it absolutely would have been, including by myself.
If women want to host an event where they officially and gleefully exclude all men, including the men they have otherwise chosen to share their lives with because some men out there are jerks that is their decision, not mine.
Can’t wait for more adventures with Paris! I need to understand how one can lead such a chaotic life free from anxiety.
One of my favorite people I ever worked with was an awesome lady named Beth Watts, who was one of the performance test drivers at Mack Trucks Powertrain. I was in charge of tuning the MP7 diesel engine in the test cell, but no calibration of mine would be released until she drove it and signed off on the performance, drivability, and feel.
Beth was not only an expert truck driver and gearhead, but she had also been a high caliber Motocross rider ‘back in the day’. She had been sponsored by WD-40, and to my delight she brought me in a WD-40 yellow pocket protector that she had left over in her stash of promotional swag. I still have it and display it proudly whenever I feel the need to flaunt my nerd cred.
One of the cool things we got to do as part of the performance development group was go on extreme condition calibration and validation trips twice a year – one cold weather test to Mt. Washington every winter, and one hot and high altitude test trip out to the Colorado Rockies and Death Valley every summer. The calibrators worked hard, typically double shifts every day, but we always planned something fun to make it worth the grind. One year we planned to spend a day riding dirt bikes at an off-road park in Colorado. Beth and some other folks strapped down their dirt bikes in the test trailers for the trip across the country. The rest of the engineers rented machines when they got there.
Beth’s bike was one of the smallest displacement machines on that trip, I can’t recall if it was a 125 or 250 2-stroke, but nobody could hang with her on the trails.
Beth was kind, confident, and flawlessly competent in everything she did. I consider myself lucky to have known and worked with her.
that sounds like so much fun
This sounds amazing, I love hearing stories about camaraderie like this
This reminds me a lot of women and mountain biking. A few years ago, I was selling my old Kawasaki and the guy who came to buy it saw all of our (non motorized) bikes in the garage.
He wanted to know why there were two of every bike type on the rack. When I explained that half of them were my wife’s bikes, he asked “What’s THAT like riding with HER”??
“Uhh, she kicks my ass…” was my answer. Two wheeled sports are a great unifier and equalizer for the genders methinks.
Also, cool that you got to hang with Amber.
In my limited experience off-road riding should definitely leave you both smiling and injured.
Learning how to wheelie and then immediately going way too hard and ending up in an ambulance might be one of the most Mercedes stories I’ve ever read.
Heck yea this sounds like a great time. I would love to do something like this.
Hell yeah! The kid and I just started trail riding this month, almost entirely double-track so far, but even a gentle putter through the woods is fun while we build up our skills.
I know the club we’re affiliated with hosts a yearly women’s ride, getting more people involved is great!
You have proven countless times that something like would never stop you.
I rode on the street for almost 10 years before I got a dirt bike, and it was/still is a struggle compared to how I formed my skills. Everything you mentioned, plus how loose the bike gets, it’s a lot different. I really can’t imagine an electric dirt bike for a first time ride, that sounds intense!
“I’ve even owned a city bus”
Owned? Past tense?
Did you and the city bus part ways?
Maybe she replaced it w/ a Honda…City.
I’ll see myself out…
The bummer about The Patriarchy bullshit is that most men would benefit from a supportive judgment free environment like this.
Not me of course, I’m a cool bro.
My first thought was that more women could benefit from a touch of misplaced confidence, and more men could benefit from a touch of chill. 🙂
That said, I took a DirtWise class one year, as a first-time dirt rider wearing street gear instead of dirt gear on a heavy old DR-Z400, and every single person there was tolerant and supportive despite my slowness and confusion.
Well said! I’m being a little facetious of course, and generally most experienced folks are genuinely excited to welcome beginners and grow their main interest, but many activities still have enough overly-competitive douches participating to make it really off-putting for a newcomer. I guess it falls heavily on organizers to set the right tone… sounds like DirtWise is doing it right!
Side story time: years ago my partner and a friend would participate in an all-women triathlon. It can be an intimidating sport when you’re starting out so for a lot of beginners the women-only race was a great option. I spectated this event for 2 or 3 years and always noticed a single guy lined up at the start in his speedo with all these women like it was NBD, maybe looking slightly uncomfortable? I heard later some other competitor asked him basically “what’s the deal?” and he responded that he felt it was exclusionary to not allow men to enter, so he asked to be allowed in, and the race organizers told him sure, you can race. He said he enjoyed it so much he kept coming back in subsequent years. WTF!?
Great story and sounds like an amazing time. I’ll second that the few times I can participate in events of any type, it’s always the people that make it memorable.
Great piece, sounds like a killer event, and thanks for always sharing your personal journeys Mercedes!
This sounds like a blast. I am way, way too chicken to ever start riding motorcycles, but I love that events like this exist.
(Paris is absolutely my kind of people. Always commit to the bit. Always.)
Considering your experience I’m sure you’ve heard this advice before, but you should take an intro course like MSF if you haven’t already. Even if you never ride again it’s a ton of fun and you’ll learn a lot.
With that said, I’ll never ride on the street again; I have enough other interests and don’t need put my life in the hands of a dipshit watching TikTok while they drive.
A lot of folks say that dirt is the best way to start riding, and you don’t have to ride street ever if you don’t don’t feel like it. These events sound like a hoot, but I can also recommend DirtWise, they take all levels and have great folks.
What did Paris even do with all the stuff she bought for the trip, like getting a dirt bike and camping gear on a commercial flight home would likely be expensive.
She often travels across America and, if I understood her story correctly, one of her next destinations will be Washington. So, the bike and the gear will be getting shipped north.
Glad to hear it got more than one use.
Slightly sad that I only get 10 vacation days a year.
Man. I need to find a woman who does cool stuff!
Do cool stuff and they find you 🙂
Sounds like a great time. It always feels awesome when you fit in.
This sounds amazing! Think I’ll definitely add it to my list of “Things I Really Want To Do”.
It can be a very wonderful feeling to be where you don’t feel like the only fill-in-the-blank person.
I’m sooo glad you got to team up with Amber! It’s always great to have a familiar face, and both y’all been overdue for this kind of big hoopy fun.
Aww, that sounds like it was a ton of fun, Mercedes! I’m glad you got to have that experience and I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that you continued to be a valuable and enjoyable voice at The Autopian.
Separately from that, I wonder if I might enjoy dirt bikes, myself. I’ve always liked the idea of a motorcycle, but I do not like the idea of other people on the roads while I’m on a motorcycle…especially in my state, where we have people tailgating and doing triple digits in three-quarter-ton and one-ton trucks’ on our 80-mph toll roads. But dirt bikes would maybe be a more enjoyable and “sandboxed” way to have some two-wheeled fun.
Sounds like you had a fantastic time and found a place you belonged.
Great to hear.
P.S. Northern Wisconsin can be awesome!
Glad it was turf-y and not terfy