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So Cal, CA
US
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846th
Edited Date/Time
8/27/2022 8:06am
For those that have had to step away or chose to step away from riding for an extended period of time, how long were you away for and how did you deal with it?
I have unfortunately come to that time in my life where I have to step away from riding completely for now (not that it was much the last few years anyways) to focus on making sure my kids can do the things they want to try and things they enjoy as often as possible. For my son, riding is included in that so at least I’ll be around it still and working with him.
I’m not sure how long it will be, but it will for sure be a while. So how did you guys deal with it?
I have unfortunately come to that time in my life where I have to step away from riding completely for now (not that it was much the last few years anyways) to focus on making sure my kids can do the things they want to try and things they enjoy as often as possible. For my son, riding is included in that so at least I’ll be around it still and working with him.
I’m not sure how long it will be, but it will for sure be a while. So how did you guys deal with it?
Don’t sell your tools, or anything that will work well in the future.
In retrospect, I should have kept a bike and settled with just getting to ride sporadically.
His skill and speed have come so far in 2yrs that he just moved onto an 85 early and I'm thinking of getting another bike because he's about at the point where I can ride with him on the track now.
The Shop
But every family has a different threshold. I know your history as far as moto goes. You’ll NEVER get away from it. 😀 just go with flow, mini bikes are next on the list. Consider yourself lucky 👍
Like someone else said, don’t sell your stuff and get out when you can.
Slowly you fill your time with other things and then, at least for me, the thought of riding just kind of fades away when life gets really busy. One day you realize and think holy smokes I haven't been on my bike for a while and you start to really miss it. That's the stage I'm at right now.
Once my shoulder clears up I will be getting back on the bike and hopefully racing a few motos in 2023. If I'm really feeling good I'll hit Washougal Amateur Days next year. Last time I raced was in 2013. I really miss that feeling of being on the starting line.
Played golf. A LOT of golf. Threw myself into work. Had 2 kids. Learned what non-moto people did on Sunday.
Then I got a call from my doctor one day in 2000 while I was driving thru San Antonio on the interstate. Sir, we hate to tell you...but your that mole biopsy was malignant Melanoma. We have you set up to see a surgeon and an Oncologist. I was 40.
I delt with that for the next 12 months as well as a job downsizing. Decided that enough was enough and figured if I was gonna go out, I was gonna go out swinging. Found a 1981 Husky 430 that needed restoring. Bought a KDX175. Eventually ended up with 14 bikes in the garage.
Started racing again in 2002. Bought myself a shiney new 2003 Honda CRF450. Started finishing what I started back in 1971. Had another Melanoma diagnosis in 2012. Took care of it and didn't look back. I'll be riding until the day they plant me. Hell, I'm only 62...I've got at least 20 more good years of riding left in me. And I'm down to 7 bikes in the garage. For today.
The absolute biggest thing that helped was going to my number 2 hobby/passion (golf for me) with the same attitude as moto.
Our competitive spirit will never fade, so don’t try and suppress it, just focus is elsewhere that’s a bit safer and easier on the budget.
Also, if you have the means, Matty a side by side was life changing. I can load in the wife and kids and we have an absolute ball. The kids get the experience we all loved being in the dirt, but you have a cage. Plenty of places to go around CA away from the knuckleheads that give side by sides a bad name.
Good on you for putting the wife and kids first, retired life ain’t bad!
It’s a bummer and it was a tough thing to have to accept because riding is pretty much the one thing that resets me. I’ve got video games once the family all falls asleep, but that comes nowhere close to resetting me like moto and takes time away from when I should actually be sleeping. I look at it on one hand as I’ve done it for 29, almost 30 years so I’ve had my time and I owe it to my wife and kids to focus on them, helping my son learn more and help him to enjoy it like I always have as well as support everything he and my daughter want to do and try. But I’m man enough to admit it’s hard to step away from something I love this much. Like I said though, I know that it is just temporary, but damn it’s hard not riding and knowing I won’t be any time soon
I'll never allow things to get to this point. People always find a way to do what they need to. Maybe buy a 125 on the cheap and ride when time allows? Good luck. I stepped away for about a year and a half over racing burnout and college and can say it'll never happen again.
Got the bug again and currently searching for a new bike
1) 2003 - 2007 I sold my bike and truck with the intention to buy a new bike and new truck. I had been saving for some real-estate as well. My dad passed the day after I sold my bike (he was 58) and I inherited a mortgage, land, home, etc. I couldn't afford to make those payments at age 23 and buy a bike, gas, track fees, etc. Life lead me into the military and as I was returning from Iraq in 2007, I met a guy in my company who used to race too. We became friends and bought bikes when we got back home. I bought a used '02 YZ250 and he bought a 250F. We're dear friends to this day.
2) 2010 - 2012 I worked in Afghanistan as a contractor. I did build a little supercross track at Camp Dwyer USMC base and had plans to get a YZ125 shipped there. Some of my old platoon buddies were flying drones out of that base, so they could splash me a few gallons of VP 110 leaded per week and I could use Rocky or other online place to get premix and whatnot... My stateside buddies didn't get me the bike in time to do it. Two more years with only a few rides while on R&R back to the states.
3) 2017-2019 I hung up my boots while I was in college in my late 30's. January 1st 2019 I rode at my friend's farm on his private track. School has been a real drain on my life, but I completed a degree in mechanical engineering May 2022.
4) 2021 (July) - NOW A guy crashed me at the Washougal old-timer national. It destroyed my knee (meniscus, ACL, MCL, and my femur is down to bone). I had the ACL done in February and I rode the parade lap with a bunch of other veterans (including my buddy from Iraq 2007) and my old racing buddy's kid lead us around (Kitchen).
I'm real close now, the knee is getting stronger and my fitness is great. I got into mountain biking and have some great local trails two miles up the road... The two stroke dream race is this weekend at 'Shougal and I could go win the Warrior class if I raced it. Unfortunately I'll be standing on the sideline this year watching. I'm letting my 62 year old pal race my KX500 in the 500cc class and I'll be screaming my head off leaning over the fence fist-pumping with one hand and a beer in the other.
Stay connected to the sport as much as you can in whatever form you can while you're off the bike. Go to some local races and hang out with your buddies if you can. I've been to three or four races this year to see my pals.
If you can get a bicycle and ride some single-track, that's probably a big win. I grew up riding dirt bikes in the local trails and just this week I've found that I love mountain bikes. It's not motocross, but it's the next best thing until I can mix up some fuel and kick-start a bike to do some laps. You don't even need the latest and greatest bike, get a good used bike from ten or fifteen years ago, change the suspension oil, install a fresh chain and go have some fun.
Don't lose your grip on that passion for moto that we all have. It's hard on your body, but it's real good for the soul.
Pit Row
Fitness went completely down the pan, we then had our first child and that is what somehow made me buy another bike and get back out there. Completely straightened my head out and not to be dramatic, turned my life back around. I guess if it’s in you it’s in you!
My kids are 9 and 4 now, I accept I only race about 6 times a year and just practice when I can, it’ll come round when they’re a bit older and are too cool to hang out with dad.
My dad recently bought a bike again at 67 so it’s never too late. Sister hasn’t rode in years but we’ve still got her 2007 crf 250 she bought brand new if she ever decides to come back.
Sorry for the life story 😄 if life allows it, just try and keep a bike even if you only ride once a year, that buzz just does something to your brain nothing else can. Don’t need a £10000 450 to have fun either.
Good luck with it all mate and if you have to sell up, there’s always next year!
Matty, you gotta do what you gotta do, nothing is permanent and getting a bike again is no biggy and I'm sure it'll come around, but I'll second what a few people have said, keep some kit and tools around, there's no real money in them to sell but there is a fair outlay to buy again later. I guess with your lad riding at least you'll keep the tools and transport handy. I do wish I'd kept an old bike around even if it was semi-clapped and I barely rode it, just having it there for if/when the opportunity arose would have been worthwhile, but I always sold up when I had to.
It is a plus having your son riding too, I more often than not miss riding to get work done or take care of other stuff, but I'll do my best to make time to take my niece and nephew out for a putt round on their PW and Pitbike respectively, and that's fun in itself, just a different kinda fun.
Then i crashed. Nothing major, just broke my collarbone and had to pause for a few weeks. Done that before and always came back without even thinking about stopping. But this time, only a few days into the brake i started thinking and somehow ended selling all my stuff before i even recovered. To this day i don't exactly understand why it happenend and why it was so easy, as i never regretted it. Probably just tired from having just this one thing in life.
With the cash from selling all the dirtbike stuff, i bought a mtb bike. Started loving cycling and now i'm into it even more than i was into moto.
From time to time i visit friends at the track and follow the sport online and in social media, but never had the itch to start riding again.
The work load is insane on top of working full time, commuting, I’m not sure I can lose all of Saturday and then half of Sunday being wrecked from Saturday.
Sheeesh.
I found out over the years, that if I‘m not riding at all, I get into this deep state of boredom after a few months. So I know that I have to ride from time to time to keep me sane.
My advice is: Have a bike standing around and have it and your gear always ready to ride. So when you find the time and the itch, you just grab it and go!
If you have to wrench on your bike for 2h before even thinking about riding, you‘re not going to do it.
Buy a fuel injected 250f (easy to ride, no jetting and s..t) and always have it on standby!
I‘m actually really looking forward to my Stark Varg, because it’s going to be even less maintenance, less stuff (no gas can, no oil, no air filter and less spare parts) in the garage and tuneable to my current fitness. Just having it charged with a fresh set of gear and I can ride whenever I want within 5 minutes.
Best of luck with finding what works for you. There is definitely something out there that’ll help with the transition, just may take some time to find it.
I lift weights/workout 3-4 times a week for the mental/physical. Plus when we have baseball practice a few nights a week, I'm that coach who runs around with the kids.
Good vibes on your dad life journey. Keep your tools, a 2-stroke around, and riding gear for those random days you can get out.
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