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Dirtbike History

I've never really been interested in dirtbikes, at least, until I went to the Victoria, BC, for Mike N's wedding stag. His best man, Jonathan M, set up a weekend to be remembered. Three dirtbikes, two 250cc two-strokes and Jon's 500cc two-stroke, were gassed and waiting for us.

It was pretty cool, we went to a local gravel pit, a huge coal pile that only Jonathan dared climb, and spent the whole day hooligan-ing around. Power wheelies in third gear? I had no idea dirt could be so much fun.

Dirtbiking in Victoria:

Will, Mike, and Jonathan (600x450:202Kb)

Will with coal dust mustache (600x450:186Kb)

After that I moved to California, bought the VFR, started racing, and didn't have time for dirtbiking. A year later, I started to think more about dirtriding and supermotarding (sliding a dirtbike around on asphault) as a method of training for roadracing.

Some friends and coworkers - Larry S, Ram M, and Mike P - and I rented a dirtbike from EagleRider in San Francisco. Nice deal; $100 for 24 hours of dirtbiking. Scratches and dirt no charge. We got a brand new Suzuki DRZ400, and we beat the snot out of it!

Larry was all talk about how I was going to crash the DRZ first. On the ride up to Cow Mountain, in Ukiah CA, he talked so much smack it was pure karma when he biffed before I did. Sure Larry, it was the bike's fault you crashed, suuuuure. We rode all day long and I ended up spending the last half hour sliding the rear tire around in the parking lot. Too much fun!

DRZ400 in parking lot:

Will sliding the DRZ (600x450:156Kb)

More sliding (600x450:142Kb)

After that I needed a dirtbike. I didn't have a lot to spend, so I got a beat-to-hell XR600R. Mike (of pocketbike racing fame) and I went back to Cow Mountain. I borrowed a helmet from Larry that had no internal padding, which I didn't know until we got there and unloaded everything, so I had to make my own. It looked stupid, but the shirt wrapped around my head worked fine. I think Larry was getting back at me for laughing about him crashing the DRZ.

Cow Mountain with Mike:

Will on XR600R (600x450:180Kb)		This is a large helmet (600x450:168Kb)
Wrapping head with tshirt (600x450:160Kb)		Putting helmet on (600x450:148Kb)
Top of a monster climb (600x450:135Kb)		Mike's bike on the monster climb (600x450:164Kb)