Any parents/mid-career people in here step away from riding?

I took roughly a 10 year hiatus. I've always had jobs that required a lot of overtime, so my ride time started to get less and less, so in 2013 I sold my beloved 05 RM250. Later I made the massive mistake of marrying the wrong woman (very long story) and spent several years living at work trying to keep her from bankrupting me. Divorced in 2022, and through copious amounts of overtime, and some help from my old man, I was able to get my finances back in order. December 2023, at the age of 39, I bought myself a 2024 YZ250X for Christmas, that I have ridden, and continue to ride, the absolute shit out of.

2024, I met my new wife, we ride together as often as we can, and have many great adventures together. I had mentioned a few times to her that I wanted to race. She bought me a 2021 Husky FC450RE. 

The good lord has blessed me with an entirely new lease on life, and I do not intend to piss it away.

I took a break from racing when my daughter was born, but never once considered not having a bike or riding at least once a week….made me a better father to have a release and some down time from being a new dad…now that my daughter is graduated from college and working in another state…..I sometimes think about how I could have spent more time with her back when she was younger…. But I”m a guy, I did what I felt I needed to do to survive…. We are close and she always loved the fact that I was different from most dads at the soccer games….I miss my little girl😘

I think about this a lot. I have a 2 and 5 year old. In my opinion, the most important part of parenting is modeling the behavior you want your kid or kids to adopt. About every other week, I drop my kids at daycare/school, go do two 30 minute motos, and get home in time to work a half day. When the weather is nice, we do a track day with the 5 year old on his ee2. I bring my bike every other time. I try to balance showing my kids that riding is a great hobby that I enjoy, and sometimes I do it alone, sometimes with them, and sometimes it is all about them. I wish I got to ride 2-3 times a week, but am happy I get to ride 2-3 times a month. It train a ton off the bike so that I can ride well when I do, and that keeps me healthy and happy. Parenting involves making some adjustments, and sometimes sacrifices, but you also have to be happy and the person you want your kids to grow up to be. 

This is advice from a guy who has a lot regret raising kids. Put your hobbies on hold and enjoy the stuff they want to do. Raising kids is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and they grow up fast.  
 I spent a lot of time making money and chasing status in my chosen hobby. I was ferociously competitive in work, and my hobby and it was all about me. 
 I always thought I made the money and paid the bills, so I should be able to do what I wanted, I was extremely selfish and my family paid the price. 
  I’d give up anything o have all the time I pissed away with my children. 
 I learned the hard way that time is our most precious commodity, and we just spend like we have a lot of it, in reality, we don’t. 
 If your kids love riding, good on you, keep riding with them. But if they enjoy something else, learn to love that. 

Solid advice.

A lot of us have had to, and a ton of us took up mountain biking. 

59 never took a year off. Never will. 

I'm 32, stopped racing at 25 to go out and get a real job, house, wife, kids. Now I'm back at the track, but MX is just too hard on my body after all the injuries I piled up racing in my teens and early 20s. It started with MiniSBK racing and now its evolved into lightweight class road racing on a Ninja 300. Off-road experience made the switch easy and I was instantly one of the faster guys in our riding group. Fastest of the older group, slowest of the younger, full time racer group. 

My oldest is 5 now and obsessed with riding. Part of my reason for doing it again is so that he has memories of his Dad riding like I do with mine. Hopefully in a few years we can share a track together. 

ps, I still played soccer (and still play😎) coached soccer and track & field and rode a couple times a year on family camping trips on my hiatus from consistent riding.  My point is stay active, its good for your mind, body & soul. imo of course. ☮️

I have a two-year-old, and just sold my bike a couple days ago. I never really got into racing, always just hit practice days for fun. Couldn’t justify the risks associated with moto anymore, my wife and daughter need me more than I need to be out jumping dirt bikes for fun. But it’s not a goodbye, just a “so long for now”. I’ll probably get back into it when the kid is old enough and less dependent on me.

That being said, I’m taking the bike money and either building a gnarly sim-racing PC rig, or buying a kart to do some Briggs LO206 racing at the local kart track. Haven’t decided yet. 

This is essentially what my dad did for me. Went from horses to moto 

I took some years off when the kid was born, best time in my life. 

Here is my perspective for what its worth...

I am 43 with 2 boys age 13 and 14. Unfortunately or fortunately, neither of them took to dirt bikes or motorcycles like I did at their age. Their interest are football, x country and video games. I would ride 4-6 times a year when they were younger but always felt guilty because I wasn't spending time with them and honestly went a few years not throwing my leg over a bike, had several street bikes but didn't ride them either. As they have gotten older it has allowed me the opportunity to ride if I wanted, however I purchase a dual sport bike a couple of years ago and enjoy it just as much as I do my dirt bike with the perks of not having to load up and drive to go ride, I just pull out of my driveway, go for a 60' ride and the itch has been scratched.

You can always keep a dirt bike, just like I did and if you get the bug you can go ride and if not its there when you want to. 

But as mentioned earlier, spend time with your kids, they need you more than time on a bike. They grow up way to fast, literally in a blink of an eye. Once they are grown and gone you will miss it.

Do you have MTB trails close to your house?  For most of us, riding dirt bikes  is 1/2-3/4 day MINIMUM time commitment.   On the other hand, most of us have MTB trails less than 30 minutes from home,  so a good MTB ride can be only a 2-3 hour time commitment and still  provide a rush.  You can also ride early or late, especially  with lights. 

I quit riding when my son was born.  He is 14 now and has zero interest  in dirt bikes. I figure i might get back into it when he is grown and gone, but I'm  gonna be old  and rusty as hell by then.

The more of these posts I read the luckier I feel that I was able to turn my love for riding into a family thing through desert camping / riding. I know not everyone has open areas to camp and ride like we have, and that made it easier to get the family on 2 wheels and having fun. Ca might have some fucked up policies but there are some redeeming qualities, open blm land with free camping and riding being one of them.  Both kids enjoyed it. My son started going to othg races with me and eventually got fairly fast. My wife still wants to ride dual sports all the time so I got stupid lucky.  Now we have grandkids coming into the picture, we will see how they take to it. I agree with if it isn't their thing don't push it, and concentrate on what they like.  

I stopped riding when I was 32 to concentrate on work , started again around 46 and now I'm 58 . I ride more now than I ever did and now hoping to retire early and ride till I can't do it anymore physically . Do not regret anything 

I found a hobby in four-wheeled racing/sim racing, personally. If you have an outdoor karting track near you, maybe see if they have a club-level racing series. It’s not moto by any means, but it can definitely scratch the speed itch for the same(ish) budget as moto. 55 MPH when you’re sitting on the ground feels pretty fast. Or get into autocross, maybe? 

I thought about maybe getting a project car to whip around town to have fun in, but I feel like you’re still just confined to the rules of the road. Especially if you’re selling the bike to find a more responsible outlet, you’re probably going to respect the speed laws these days, lol. At least with karting/autocross you can go all out with it, and scratch that itch of always trying to be a little faster, to get a little better of a lap time.

I say all that to say, this is what I was comfortable with after days and days of my own contemplating about selling my bike. I’d definitely recommend finding another outlet that will scratch the itch before selling the bike though, and if you can’t, just ride within your limits and wear all the protection you can. I think everyone will agree that if this is really the one hobby you have that helps with your mental health, don’t give it up.

As my kids were growing up I was still able to ride most weekends due to them sleeping in, watching cartoons etc. on Saturday or Sunday.  Used to leave early and be back just after noon and the rest of the weekend was all about them.  Would try and squeeze a ride in somewhere, working around, baseball, soccer, and dancing but if I didn’t, no biggee. Try again the following.  Kids first, but there will be windows of opportunity to squeeze rides in.  

1st time a really got to see how important that was is when my youngest decided she wanted to start training judo and jiu jitsu with me. She always bragged about me training to her friends but it didn’t sink in until I got to share the mat with her. Kids really do get there energy and inspiration from their parents if your involved. If you aren’t that only leaves them with friends as there only influence and that can go sideways pretty quick.