A Morning Ride

Loud roaring sounds had woken me, with thunderous sounds roaring from several dirt bikes, sand rails, and quads that screamed across the Buttercup sand dunes. I unzipped my sleeping bag and threw on some riding pants, long socks and a jersey. Hydration and food was necessary before a long day of riding. Slowly, my family and family friends in our camp started waking up. Surprisingly my hangover this morning was not as bad as I had expected it to be. I gathered my motorcycle helmet, goggles, chest pad, and gloves. We quickly ate the most appetizing chorizo burritos that my mom made us.

We were so excited to start the day off with a morning dirt bike ride. The first ride of the day is only for the early birds that have the ambition to go hard because everything is so fast paced. Usually one or two riders in our group are already warming up their dirt bikes before I can even put my riding boots on. It is straight though, because it motivates everyone to get ready faster.

An extremely large smile formed on my face once I had finished getting everything together. I gained my composure as I walked across the rippled sand towards my dirt bike. After topping off my gas tank with some needed gasoline, I twisted the cap tightly and gripped my hands tightly around the handle grips. While I pulled in the clutch, I raised my right foot with my left touching the ground. However, kick starting the bike was not necessarily easy. In order for the dirt bike to properly warm up, I had to turn the choke on. My bike revved up after I kick started it while everyone else in our group started getting situated with their dirt bikes, quads and sand rails.

I turned off my choke and strapped my helmet tightly, with the strap fitting tightly underneath my chin. Everyone anxiously started looked around at each other to make sure everybody who was coming was not left behind. And before I knew it I had already cycled through the first four gears, going as fast as my bike would let me. Everyone headed towards the first set of sand dunes to make one final stop before we started riding gnarly lines around the mysterious Californian/Mexican Sand Dunes. The wind from the night before erased all of the tracks from the day before leaving no other trails to be found.

As I ventured out towards the first set of dunes—I began to get more comfortable on my bike having so much fun while doing it. After popping a wheelie and holding it for longer than I ever had in my life, I brought my bike down onto two wheels turning towards a perfect bush jump that I had lined out in my run. I preloaded and hit the perfectly formed hill with a small desert bush on top of it. Flying high in the air on my dirt bike created an amazing adrenaline rush that got me so amped up as I landed smoothly on the sand. We all finally regrouped at the first set of dunes, realizing that it was already time for a beer break. To be continued…