Posts
582
Joined
9/29/2009
Location
Stephenville, TX, USA
Edited Date/Time
2/4/2015 2:16pm
So my son was a decent rider in his day. He made Loretta's 4 times and raced with Anderson, Tomac, etc growing up. In 2010 he was doing the arenacross stuff, got a small injury (arm) and I pulled the plug for reasons not related to the injury.
He joined the army after high school and has been in now for 3.5 years. He came home from Afghanistan last June and was as expected a different person. He recently came home to Texas for a month before he heads to Korea for a year. I have a honda 250f I bought to fix and sell and he said hey dad can I take it to village to ride. I was like ya that's cool. He had a great time and I saw a spark of my old kid I thought got left behind in Afghanistan.
Fast forward a week, he rode everyday and said hey let's go to freestone to the first round of the winter series, I'm like sure why not. He ended up 9th overall in the 250 pro sport with 15 guys on the gate. It was fun being there just to have fun and hang out.
Anyway, I was reading jakes dad post about having fun and I was reflecting on my experience as well.
He joined the army after high school and has been in now for 3.5 years. He came home from Afghanistan last June and was as expected a different person. He recently came home to Texas for a month before he heads to Korea for a year. I have a honda 250f I bought to fix and sell and he said hey dad can I take it to village to ride. I was like ya that's cool. He had a great time and I saw a spark of my old kid I thought got left behind in Afghanistan.
Fast forward a week, he rode everyday and said hey let's go to freestone to the first round of the winter series, I'm like sure why not. He ended up 9th overall in the 250 pro sport with 15 guys on the gate. It was fun being there just to have fun and hang out.
Anyway, I was reading jakes dad post about having fun and I was reflecting on my experience as well.
Military culture isnt all that rosy of an environment and its pretty cool you two were able to spend some quality time together before he goes over to Korea for *GASP* a year.
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Good hearing from you.
Give that kiddo a hug and tell him Thank you for his Service.
I remember watching this when he was doing AX.
Tell your boy we all said thanks for his service.
Pit Row
Ever.
"War is Hell" is Oxymoronic.
HELL is War.
In the ME.
I am very happy for you to have your son back. I actually did two different tours in Korea, he will have a good time there and the best part for you is he is non-deployable from the ROK as our forces there are on ready deployment for the whole tour. Depending on his MOS he may even be in a pretty kick ass Camp, hell even in Seoul if lucky enough.
But I dunno Hater, sure the Army changed him but a few weeks ago we got to ride together. He still made fun of me because i'm old, slow, and short. He still roosted me at every chance, he still tried to take my frontwheel out, and he still challenged me to a whip contest (now he's barking up wrong tree). Man, we laughed so hard that day. Some dude almost looped out on the uphill step up, panic-reved himself out of it. We all watched in horror yet couldnt help but laugh our asses off. Truth be told, lots of things have changed over the years. Riders have moved on, we lost several, work, life, etc.. .but for those couple hours at Village Creek it felt like the old days. For that i'll always remember Ryan for the impression he leaves and not what he does on a bike
Ryan in his mini days
Ryan destroying the sand at I35MX
Ryan on the cover of Holeshot Mag (Haters avatar)
Ryan and myself 3 weeks ago at Village Creek MX. No short jokes, the dude is huge!
I went to a few qualifiers for 25+ and my dad came with me. Was a great experience for both of us. It had me feeling 15 again, and we set into our usual gate prep rituals and I saw a fire in my dad that I haven't seen in a long time since we stopped racing. Didn't make it to the big show and elected to stay home from the regional. Wouldn't of made it anyway I don't think, lol but we had a great time.
But we did race quite a bit more locally the last few years and I just feel awkward at the gate without him.
I thank your son for his service. And I hope that both of you will make a run at 25+ in 2019.
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