Dirt Bikes

So there I was...coming out of one of my favorite burger places a few days ago on the shores of Lake Ontario when I heard the high pitch whine of 2 cycle engines coming from a connecting bay.  Going to investigate, I found a long curvy circular track made on the ice of the bay from the shoveled snow and orange cones set at strategic corners.  Motorized dirt bikes with studded tires, made to grip the ice, were circumnavigating the track at high speeds pushing the limits of gravity and centrifugal force.  As Kim and I sat and watched these risk-takers, I thought back to the days when I owned a Yamaha 250 Enduro dirt bike while living in Missouri.  We lived out in the country and I remember a blizzard coming through that made all the rural roads impassible.  The daughter of a friend, that lived nearby, was very sick and needed medication from a pharmacy about 10 miles away.  So he and I jumped on our dirt bikes and took off into the deep snow, crossing farms and wooded land cutting our own path to town.  Many slips, falls and challenges later we made it and returned with what his daughter needed.  I also remember the time I was navigating the bike through a wooded area that was extremely inhospitable with steep hills and dangerous drop offs.  Heavy rains had created muddy puddles everywhere and as I approached one at a good speed I guessed it to be six inches to a foot deep.  I was wrong.  As I hit the four foot deep mini pond the bike went under water as I flew off into the mud.  It took over an hour to get all the water out of the engine and carburetor but it eventually started and the only thing hurt was my pride.  The time I can picture most about owning the bike is when I would take my 18 month old son with me.  With this mammoth helmet on his head, he would sit in front of me hanging onto the handlebars as we motored out of the driveway, up the dirt roads  and into the woods with him laughing and squealing all the way.  Returning home we'd find Kim standing out front wringing her hands with nervous anticipation relieved to see that I brought her baby back in one piece.  Good times.