Its good to have friends...
You know that phrase "Its not what you know but who you know"? Allow me to add my twist to that phrase: "Its not what you have but who you know that has what you need." Yeah, that's it. See, I don't have a dirtbike nor do I have the land a dirtbike requires (our 0.33 acre lot is barely big enough for Lil' G's 50cc dirtbike). But, I'm lucky enough to have a couple of friends that not only have dirtbikes and the land but they are nice enough to let me use 'em. Oh lucky me. And lucky Gavin.
This past saturday I loaded up the family into the Jolly Green Giant and we headed down to Pearl, MS to spend the day riding dirtbikes at The Cornerlot Resort, an offroad park for motorcycles only. My friend Mark T. and his wife Ada built the Cornerlot out of sheer love for riding. Mark recently completely overhauled the area by adding a new supercross track, a new kids MX track and completely overhauling the big MX track. In addition to those three tracks, there are miles of trails in the woods and a really fun grass track to boot. Yeah, plenty of stuff to keep any bike nut happy for a long time.
We began the riding by hanging out in the shade of some big oak trees and just watching Lil' G ride the kids MX track. He had never seen anything like it and was a little hesitant at riding up some of the bigger tabletop jumps but after a little while, he was riding the whole track and having a blast.
About 10:30 or so, I threw some chicken on the smoker in the hopes that we'd have something decent to eat around 1pm or so.
While the chicken was absorbing some sweet hickory flavor I attempted to ride Marks 2007 Honda CR250 2-stroke. Let me just say that riding that bike was my first time on a dirtbike and my first time on a big two stroke. I think my eyes probably looked like this: (0) (0) the entire time! It was intimidating for sure. I cruised around the MX track a couple of times and ran it up and down a grass field and decided that was about all I need of that machine for a while.
The only downer to Saturday is that it was really hot, like 110 heat index hot. So after lunch, Angela took the kids to hang out at Jason and Christy Smith's house. They are on the process of moving to Little Rock but were kind enough to let my family cool off in the A/C. Thanks y'all!
After lunch, another friend of ours, Lee arrived after driving in from ATL. Lee happened to be pulling a trailer with two bikes and one of 'em was for me to ride, a KTM 400 EXC. The more linear power curve of the KTM's 4 stroke motor made it much less scary to ride but it would still run faster than a raped ape if you let it. In fact, there were a couple times that I ended up eating dirt (or tree branches) because of my poor dirtbike skills. The good thing is that I was going slow so no harm done to me or the bike. Lee was kind enough to lead me through some of the trails and give out a few pointers here and there. I really enjoyed it and had visions of my whole family cruising through the woods on dirtbikes. That would be tre cool.
Angela came back a couple hours later and Gavin spent the rest of the time lapping the kids MX track. I think he's addicted because it took a bit of prodding to get him to finally turn the bike off.
Eventually, all good things come to an end, and around 6pm, it was time to call it a day. I was completely worn out as was the rest of the family. We loaded up on grease and carbs at a local Burger King (tip: avoid the Angry Whopper, it doesn't quite live up to its name) and then pointed the Jolly Green Giant back to Caledonia.
This past saturday I loaded up the family into the Jolly Green Giant and we headed down to Pearl, MS to spend the day riding dirtbikes at The Cornerlot Resort, an offroad park for motorcycles only. My friend Mark T. and his wife Ada built the Cornerlot out of sheer love for riding. Mark recently completely overhauled the area by adding a new supercross track, a new kids MX track and completely overhauling the big MX track. In addition to those three tracks, there are miles of trails in the woods and a really fun grass track to boot. Yeah, plenty of stuff to keep any bike nut happy for a long time.
We began the riding by hanging out in the shade of some big oak trees and just watching Lil' G ride the kids MX track. He had never seen anything like it and was a little hesitant at riding up some of the bigger tabletop jumps but after a little while, he was riding the whole track and having a blast.
About 10:30 or so, I threw some chicken on the smoker in the hopes that we'd have something decent to eat around 1pm or so.
While the chicken was absorbing some sweet hickory flavor I attempted to ride Marks 2007 Honda CR250 2-stroke. Let me just say that riding that bike was my first time on a dirtbike and my first time on a big two stroke. I think my eyes probably looked like this: (0) (0) the entire time! It was intimidating for sure. I cruised around the MX track a couple of times and ran it up and down a grass field and decided that was about all I need of that machine for a while.
The only downer to Saturday is that it was really hot, like 110 heat index hot. So after lunch, Angela took the kids to hang out at Jason and Christy Smith's house. They are on the process of moving to Little Rock but were kind enough to let my family cool off in the A/C. Thanks y'all!
After lunch, another friend of ours, Lee arrived after driving in from ATL. Lee happened to be pulling a trailer with two bikes and one of 'em was for me to ride, a KTM 400 EXC. The more linear power curve of the KTM's 4 stroke motor made it much less scary to ride but it would still run faster than a raped ape if you let it. In fact, there were a couple times that I ended up eating dirt (or tree branches) because of my poor dirtbike skills. The good thing is that I was going slow so no harm done to me or the bike. Lee was kind enough to lead me through some of the trails and give out a few pointers here and there. I really enjoyed it and had visions of my whole family cruising through the woods on dirtbikes. That would be tre cool.
Angela came back a couple hours later and Gavin spent the rest of the time lapping the kids MX track. I think he's addicted because it took a bit of prodding to get him to finally turn the bike off.
Eventually, all good things come to an end, and around 6pm, it was time to call it a day. I was completely worn out as was the rest of the family. We loaded up on grease and carbs at a local Burger King (tip: avoid the Angry Whopper, it doesn't quite live up to its name) and then pointed the Jolly Green Giant back to Caledonia.
Comments
I love hearing about your biking escapades--your family is so fun, you put us to shame.