Ok, I've been riding dirt bikes for 40+ years.
Over the years the people I have rode with have all stopped riding excluding by Father who still rides his MX bike and can wheelie for miles.
Some of my friends stopped riding because of various injuries and others the ravages of age have taken their toll.
Yet, I still love it and can do it all day long.
It is strange to be sitting around the camp fire after a hard days ride and have the people I'm riding with say things like, “You ride pretty fast for an old guy”.
I usually reply, “Oh, I didn't realize you were racing”.
Sometimes it's even true smiley
Even though my age seems to be double or more of those I ride with I still ride fast but I don't typically do anything hairball.
I try to make up for that by being smoother and choosing my lines more cautiously.
Last year I was heading to Christmas Valley Oregon.
Before I left I was speaking to my Uncle who gave me the BE CAREFUL SPEECH. You know the sand changes and is unpredictable Yada, Yada, Yada, you have to be very careful..... I've heard it all before.....
So after riding for 3 hours to get there I was amped up and ready to ride.
I fired up my k5 and headed across the dunes like I have a million times before.
As I came to the top of one of the larger dunes I noticed that one of my friends was having a tough time going over a little blow off..
In fact, he disappeared going down the back side of it, then re-appeared and he fell over.
I laughed.
Here we had only been there for 5 minutes and one man was down.
I could see that he was alright as he was trying to re-start his flooded H5.
So as I was riding over there I thought to myself “Ok, I'm going to show him how to do this jump”
I'm coming up to the dune in 3rd gear at about ¾ throttle and as I am getting closer I realize that this dune is a little different than most others, it seems to be a little steeper.
When I hit the transition point my suspension bottomed out and I realized that it was a LOT steeper than I thought.
As I came to the crest I couldn't see the bottom which meant only one thing, It was steep on both sides of the dunes which is very rare.
Unfortunately it was too late to do much of anything so I bailed off.
When I finally hit and rolled over on my back I looked up just in time to see my bike landing on top of me.
Needless to say I spent the next 5 minutes trying to get air back into my lungs as the pipe actually landed on my ribs and broke all the mounts.
It was odd, that the steel broke and not the rubber.
Anyway I knew that I had some trouble when I tried to move my arm and It wouldn't move.
Yeah, it was jacked up!
I tried to pick my K5 up with the intent of riding it back but with 3 broken ribs and a shattered Clavicle I couldn't do it.
So, I sent my friend back to camp to get someone to come and get me on a Quad.
We were only about 3 miles from camp but I didn't feel much like walking.
After my friend left I laid back and tried to relax.
15 minutes went by, then 30 minutes... I was starting to get worried so I did a 2 legged 1 arm climb to the top of the dune that I just wrecked on and sat there.
Every now and then I could see people on quads riding around looking for me about a mile or so away.
They were looking in the wrong direction because my friend was lost.
I was thinking it was time to start walking back because it was getting dark.
In the high desert it gets real cold at night and I wasn't going to spend the night out there.
So I climbed back down and got my jacket and helmet because I wanted something warm to wear.
As I was starting to leave a family of four all on quads was driving by.
I flagged them down and bummed a ride back to camp.
That was one LONG BUMPY ride back.
So, off to the hospital 3 hours away for x-rays and some idiot poking my ribs and twisting my arm around and asking, “Does that hurt?” I asked him, “Did you go to school to learn that or do you do that for fun?”. He had no sense of humor.
Anyway after a year, two surgeries and 15K in doctor bills I'm heading back out to Christmas Valley in a week.
Yes, I will be more careful but I intend to have fun.
I just picked up a new helmet cam so maybe next time I can have some video if I do something dumb again.
Here's a sample of what being dumb gets you.
Be careful....
