After that it was a mix of Honda three-wheelers, Yamaha two-strokes, and various quads that took up my time, but one bike stood out because it was so different, so forgiving, and oddly enough, so fun: a Honda FatCat. I didn’t start out big…my first bike was a 50cc Honda monkey bike and I stepped up to a Honda Trail 70 shortly afterwards.

It’s where I fed my addiction for the forces of acceleration and speed, where I learned respect for braking and handling, and where I learned that the fifteen-year-old human body is no match for the thick growth of the brushlands of the Pacific Northwest when you dump a bike after a big jump. Motorcycles is my true root for operating any kind of powered vehicle and the spot where I entered motorsports.

With the exception of the day I tried to drive off in a Mustang II without anybody knowing it when I was about five years old and the occasional trip to the go-kart track in Colorado Springs, my first real experience with anything self-powered involved two wheels.